Kerouac Night, New T-Shirt Design Contest

The bi-annual Kerouac Night was a smashing success at the Flamingo Sports Bar this past Saturday. The poets and live bands brought their fiery passion to the fore upon a small front porch stage.  Enjoyed meeting new faces and seeing some regulars at the event planned around the anniversaries of the famous beat poet, Jack Kerouac's birth and death. Someone usually brings a cake and the mood is celebratory and never somber. It's quite the scene if you've never been, come and check out the next event in March. Or just stop on by the Flamingo Bar to shoot pool, have a drink, or check out my mural in the parking lot. There is an interactive game to play with that mural, find the initials buried sneakily into the background.

The Friend's of the Jack Kerouac House Charity have been gathering money for years and negotiating with members of the Kerouac estate to purchase and preserve the local St. Petersburg, FL house Jack lived in, which has stood practically untouched like a time capsule since his death in 1969.  T-shirt sales are a big part of how this 501C-3 charity collects donations. 

I will be hosting a design contest for fresh ideas on the traditional Kerouac shirt. The famous "mad ones" excerpt from the novel "On The Road"  remains on the back. The front of the shirt is open for a redesign contest: two color design in Black and White, without the portrait of Kerouac, something that evokes his spirit, journey or unique style. Calling all artists to submit work either in person or via email ( james@artbyjamese.com ) deadline is December 1st 2017. File types excepted are .png, .jpeg, .pdf, .psd and vector files. Dimensions 8.5 by 11 inches.  Top three finalists will receive a prize for their efforts and compensation for the winning design, subject to final approval by the FOJKH Charity board.  The new shirts should be available for purchase at the bar by the holidays.

Please help to spread the word about this shirt design contest to any artist you know of, both near and far.  Jack Kerouac is a part of the often untold history of St. Pete, events like this one, run by a grassroots charity help to breathe new life into understanding the roles artist played in shaping the tradition of expression in this city.  By looking backward we can appreciate the past more and illuminate what the future holds for the next generation of artists, writers and "mad ones."