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Home of Michael Perry – Author, Humorist, Singer/Songwriter, Amateur Pig Farmer

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Archive for March, 2009

Facebook Reminder

You may have noticed the logo over there in the lefthand column, or you’ve already visited, or you’ve just come here from there, but in case you missed it we wanted to let you know there’s a Facebook page set up for Mike right here.  This site will remain headquarters, but Mike does drop in at the Facebook page and say howdy now and then, and it’s fun to read what folks have to say.  It’s also one more way for us to get the word out about new books, tour information, etc.

You will note we (Royal We, the majestic plural) occasionally speak of Mike in the third person here.  This is because Michael Perry is rarely allowed to refer to himself in the third person around Michael Perry’s own house.

Cadaver Palaver

If you pick up the current (April) issue of Men’s Health magazine, you’ll find an article called “Life Lessons from Dead People,” in which I describe – among other things – a visit to a human dissection laboratory.  There was a bowl of Tootsie Rolls just inside the door.

Frugality and Follicular Optimism

Frugal as she is, my wife tends to shop at those places where you can buy partially crushed cans of beans and off-brand toenail clippers.  This morning in the shower I found myself trying to hoist a $1.28 bottle of shampoo the size of an oxygen tank.  This is a lot of early work for a fellow of my scalpitude.  I did note that the shampoo was specially formulated to Revitalize and Thicken.

I eagerly await the results.

Yin and YAAAAHHHNNNGGG!

This sorta sums up why I like how things work around here: The same guy who recorded and produced this also recorded and produced this*.  And while the Long Beds and Desolatevoid are unlikely to split the bill on any given Saturday night, we will give each other the farmer nod at the coffee shop or gas station on any given Tuesday.  At the core, it’s not about genre or taste or better or worse, it’s about punching in.  Grab your lunch pail and have at’er.

*Heads up: While there are times (cleaning out the pole barn, doing taxes) when I fancy a little homegrown grindcore, you should not click the link if fast-and-nasty puts you off your feed.  For my part, I spend most of my time mooning around wishing I was Greg Brown or even Patty Griffin.  However, should you find yourself burning an afternoon searching for misplaced receipts, may I recommend “Isolation Embrace” with a “Friend Placebo” chaser?

Confluence

Wherever I am standing when I say it, I am from – and of – New Auburn, Wisconsin.  Nothin’ without Nobbern.  And these days I get my mail at the Fall Creek post office (where Shirley knows your name).  But beginning in the fall of 1983 and running right up into the present, the river city of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, has forked me into tangents I never saw coming.  That’s a story I’ve already told.  What I like about this story is how it focuses on the new generation and what they’re doing.  (Full – as they say – disclosure: in addition to his writing career (and dare we say it, banjo career) Andy Moore is also the Wisconsin Public Television producer who converts my bloopers into what has become known around here as “The Clodhopper Report“).

New Auburn population 562 sign

New Auburn population 562 sign

The yellow stripe in the background is the outfield fence of the softball field adjacent to the beer tent which serves as the epicenter of Jamboree Days.

Mullet? Or Not Mullet?

pop485-author-michael-perry-1-compressed

This vintage author photo was taken by my friends John and Julie just prior to the release of Population 485. I maintain that I was not sporting a true mullet, as ALL of my hair was long. However, it was getting thin enough on top that one of my friends called it a “skullet”.  It’s fairly short in this photo.  Usually it was waist-length.

The t-shirt was a gift from my editor/friend Bill. I wrote for Road King trucking magazine for years. The t-shirt was my favorite, so much so that as described in TRUCK: A Love Story I wore it on my first date with my future wife. Seven years later I have more lines and less hair, but my single eyebrow is still heartily intact.

Freelancing

I love what I do and am grateful I am allowed to do it.  And yet, as a freelance writer I never know for sure where the next job is coming from.  Freelancers live from magazine piece to magazine piece, from book to book.  There is a reason I spend so much time on the road, always with notebook, paperbacks and CDs (and sometimes a guitar) at hand.  But it’s a good life and as I said, I’m big-G Grateful for it — especially in these times, when even traditionally solid jobs seem prone to evaporation.

I said all that so you know I mean no disrespect to tough times when I say I love how this freelance writer describes the uncertainty of freelance writing in the very name of his blog: Eight Days to Amish.

Nice one.