"The Streets of San Francisco" by John P. Brady

"The Streets of San Francisco" by John P. Brady (2013, 4 pages)

March 1 to March 31

John P. Brady

Dublin/Sicily 

If you are interested in participating in Irish Short Story Month III (plenty of time left) please e mail me.   

Recently I received an e mail from one of my favorite Irish based online journals, The Bohemyth-A Literary Journal, indicating they had just published an issue  with stories and non-fiction centering on "Beat Generation" writers like Jack Kerouac with stories set in San Francisco and one set to Bob Dylan's classic album, Highway 61 Revisited I felt sure I would enjoy reading the stories.  (I admit I confirmed for this month that the writers were Irish before I read their stories-rude of me I know.)  

San Francisco was The Holy City of the Beat Generation.  In On the Road Salvatore Paradise takes a bus to San Francisco to revive his spirit after a divorce.  That was in the early 1950s.  "The Streets of San Francisco" by John Brady takes us on another road trip to San Francisco, this one about 50 years later.  Our lead character is an Irish man drawn to the city by its liberated reputation.  He arrives in the city after a four day car ride, it looks like he picked up a ride somehow and it is all a bit vague as Beat Generation work should be.  We do not know why he left Ireland, why he ended up in the USA and I suspect his answer to these "old person" questions would be "because I felt like it".   The story has the perfect feel of a young self confident man seeking something and he will know what it is when he finds it.  Questing road stories have their roots in Don Quixote whether they know it or not.  I suspect Don Quixote would not seem too out of place on the streets of San Francisco as depicted by John Brady in this great story.  I think he would head over to City Lights Book Store to listen to Alan Ginsburg read "Howl".   I would love to hear he and Sancho talk about their experiences of the city.

As the story opens the man is checking into The New Amsterdam Hotel in San Francisco.  The woman at the check out desks notice he has an accent.  I really liked this perfect lines.

"I used my shamelessly lost Irishman line once again.
“So where does a guy go to have fun in this town?”“You have an accent!” a girl responded as the five of them turned around in unison.“Where are you from?” another asked.They were eager to show me the city.“Come with us we’re goin’ out now!”
Moments later I was in the back of a Chrysler careering through the streets of San Francisco with Lia, a beautiful Persian-American girl, on my lap. This is it!"

OK we knew it was coming, there had to be come kind of romantic encounter here in a city known for total sexual liberation (I suspect this was very much of a cultural shock and a great gift  to our hero).  Brady takes us along for the ride as he goes clubbing with the ladies and back to one of their places.  Back in the apartment the man wants immediate sex, after all this is San Francisco but the Persian woman basically says not with a man leaving town in two days.

Lia takes him on a tour of the city.  If you want to see how it ends, you should read this great story that really captures what San Francisco must have felt like to a young man from Ireland.  

John Brady really makes this story real for us. There is a lot left about the life history of the Irish man and the Persian Princess (I guess they are in short supply back home in Ireland) but that is the way a story honoring Jack Kerouac should be!  

I really enjoyed this story and hope one day to post on a short story collection by John P. Brady.  (you can read the story here.

Author Bio (from his webpage)

John P. Brady is an Irish writer, blogger and freelance journalist.  He divides his time between Dublin, Ireland and Sicily, Italy.  His interests include travel writing, social comment and short stories.

He formerly wrote for Dime Zine, an independent publication based in Dublin, under the name Peter Pescado.  He also contributed articles to Irish American News and has short stories published by Roadside Fiction and The Galway Review. He is currently working in Sicily as a teacher and translator.

He is available to write feature articles on social, travel, and comic issues.

• He has a BA International in Ancient History and Spanish from University College Dublin.
• He speaks fluent Italian and has studied an additional year of Medieval History in Italy.  He has a strong interest in Italian culture, food and history.
• He was a music teacher for 3 years.  Areas of interest include Traditional Irish Music, Progressive Rock, Folk and Jazz.
• He worked in the Tourism business for 7 years.  This experience has helped him to write colourful and effective Travel articles and short stories.
• He has lived abroad in the USA, the UK and Italy.

 
Principally a storyteller, he conveys by means of personal accounts and impressions, something of the “other” life that is often considered not fashionable enough to be covered by everyone.
 
He is from Ireland and when fortunate enough to be back there, spends most of his time enjoying the fantastic culture, music and company of people that can be found in Dublin’s fair city.
 
He has undertaken sizeable travel to destinations such as:

Italy: Rome, Naples, Cinqueterra, Milan, Turin, Genoa, Venice, Bologna, Florence, Pisa, Rimini, Riccione, Ravenna, Lucca, Viareggio, Livorno, Cecina.

Sicily: Catania, Palermo, Syracuse, Taormina, Trapani, Marsala, Agrigento, Ragusa, Messina, Cefalu, Milazzo.

Sardinia: Alghero, Cagliari, Oristano, Sassari.

France: Paris, Toulouse, Montpellier, Carcassonne, Narbonne, Rodez, Albi, Lourdes.

You can learn more about his work on his very interesting webpage.

He has kindly consented to do a Q and A Session for ISSM3 so please look for that soon.

Mel u