Been doing the presbyopia thing for a few years now (those are my “cheaters” in the photo above…one bow, good to go), but after a month-or-so break from the road I did a speaking engagement this week and discovered much to my chagrin that suddenly I can’t quite make out the words in my own books even when the book is resting on the podium at a decent distance.
Tick-tock…
Really getting into the music of Smokie recently (discovered them as a result of rediscovering this) especially like “Living Next Door to Alice” and “Lay Back in the Arms of Someone.” The cheesy 1970s Euro-television sets are over the top and I especially enjoy how Chris Norman treats lip-synching as an opportunity to clown. This version of “Alice” is particularly surreal.
Tangentially, Smokie led me back to Slade and Sweet. And then London Quireboys.
And yup, I’m aware of the alternate version of “Alice.”
If you’re within range of one of these stations tonight (Saturday, August 5th) we hope you’ll join Mike as he hosts another edition of Tent Show Radio from Big Top Chautauqua. Information on streaming the show here.
The musical guests will be Laurel Canyon 1970 Featuring The Blue Canvas Orchestra, and in this episode’s monologue – delivered from the backstage dressing room with the one lonely little lightbulb burnin’ – Mike talks about finding love on Highway 13.
You can join the Tent Show Radio Facebook page here.
When I am deep into writing a book, I return to certain reliable sources, poetry among them. And so deep in the muddy vortex of stubborn prose I was relieved when something crisp and new from my long-time friend and mentor Bruce Taylor (I wrote of him in Truck) popped up yesterday. You can read it here. Also do be sure to click the audio link and note that despite all the cheese in Wisconsin Bruce has never quite shed his east coast mother tongue…
Here is a previous Bruce post.
And it was Bruce who introduced me to the work of Lucille Clifton.
If you’ve dropped by because of this interview, welcome!
Info about Mike’s background is here.
Info about Mike’s books and other productions here.
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Here’s a video of Mike describing the farmer snort.
And here are this year’s pigs, eating above average pig food.
…and Chelsea, and Fort Lee, and Hoboken, and Greenwich Village, and Central Park, and Chinatown, and SoHo, and Manhattan, and the West Village, and the subway and the sweaty, sunny tumult…
Just back from a fast trip to New York City. Business, also a chance to visit relatives in New Jersey. I am country to the sod beneath my boots, and it was good to shoulder a bag of feed and carry it out the green lane for the hogs in the early-morning quiet today, but New York City ranks high among my favorite places. The energy, the smells delightful and otherwise, the endless sidewalk flow of people proving there are a million ways to be beautiful, the canyons of steel and glass, the taxicab cacophony, the subway crush, the sweaty laborers in the crosswalks shoulder-to-shoulder with the $uits, and in the middle of it all the amazing green gathering place of Central Park. We – I – love to talk about small town hospitality, but at one point while shuffling up the subway stairs amidst every creed and color it struck me again how in the big picture your average New Yorker has to get along with all sorts. It’s not about the friendly nod (although against provincial stereotype, your requests for directions or subway line info from the average New Yorker will average well over 90% helpful) or the hug or the backslap or bonhomie, it’s about simply agreeing to coexist in the moment so that each may get through their simple day.
One of my favorite moments this trip was waiting until after dark and then taking the subway to Times Square with my wife. She has traveled over much of the United States, Central and South America, and Europe, but had never been to New York City. To come up out of the ground at 1o:30 p.m. and be greeted by the full-on otherworld daylight glow of Times Square while holding her hand was at once utterly unreal and yet somehow soothing. There is this temptation to say something self-deprecating about being hick tourists, but I am not possessed of enough post-hipster cynicism to pretend that the sight and the hum and the gawk of Times Square on a fine summer night is anything other than fantastic.
Although for my money, walking hand-in-hand through the Ramble or sneaking a kiss here ranked a tad higher…
I continue to work on the next book, but between writing sessions, we’ve been working to finish another project we hope to release in a matter of weeks. We even dropped a couple of hints here and here.
No more hints, here’s the deal: Over the past couple of years I’ve been working up a thing I call “The Clodhopper Monologues.” It’s just me, a microphone, a friendly crowd, and a bunch of stories: some drawn from the books, others simply added along the way, and a couple made up on the spot. Last spring we recorded one of these shows and we’ll be releasing it in a double-CD and digital format very soon. We’ll post additional details as well as pre-ordering information (all pre-orders will be entered into a drawing for door prizes, just like at the fire department banquet) soon. If you’re on our mailing list, you’ll receive all the details in advance – if you’re not on our mailing list, we respectfully request that you join up here.
In this sample cut, I’m talking about how I learned to read…kinda:
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