Books

Easy Writer: Minnesotan Richard 'Dead Eye' Hayes lives life on the road

Filed under: Q&A , Q&A , Q&A , Q&A

Photo by Sue Kearns

A one-eyed Buddhist Harley rider and a 70-year-old writing teacher probably seem like an unlikely pairing.

Yet it works for Richard "Dead Eye" Hayes and Mary Gardner. The two formed a friendship after Gardner began researching motorcycles for her fourth novel, infiltrating the biker community with her homemade cookies. With her editing help, Hayes eventually penned his autobiography, Outlaw Biker: My Life at Full Throttle. In it he details years spent in the Twin Cities dealing drugs, helping to run a bike shop, and raising two daughters, plus high-stakes gambling in Vegas and kicking ass in general. Both Mary and Dead Eye took a moment between writing to speak with City Pages.

CP: You and Mary are an unlikely collaborative pair. Can you talk a little bit about how you two became friends?

Dead Eye: About five years ago a friend of mine, Butch, passed away. I met Mary at his funeral. She was an author that had hung around the shop while researching her fourth novel, which had some bikers in it. I ended up meeting her just shortly before it came out. She asked me to do a blurb for the book, which I did. We got to be friends. She suggested I write my life story, and she talked me into giving it a try. So I ended up giving her 30 pages of childhood experiences. That was the start of it.

CP: Did you ever think you would pen your autobiography?

DE: No. I dropped out of school in ninth grade, and I'm a terrible speller. So writing a book was not on my list of things to do. When I did sit down to write it, I really didn't think it would ever get published; I did it more as a cleansing thing. Then all of a sudden we had agents and the manuscript was accepted. I was faced with the realization: Shit, maybe I shouldn't have written a lot of the stuff I had. It was nerve-wracking. I showed the book to my daughters and other family members. Some of them had had some idea that I had been involved in certain things, but some stories were a complete surprise.

CP: Mary, as you were editing did you ever find yourself censoring things from his past?

MG: I think there was a certain amount of self-censorship with Dead Eye. I think the book is amazingly open for a man of that generation who has led that life. To be able to put all those experiences down I think is a tremendous expression of Dead Eye’s nature and to his honesty about himself.

CP: Do you think Dead Eye had any worries about having so much of his life out there?

MG: I think he’s afraid of losing some of his street cred. I think it’s not so much the violent stuff he had done. His concern was that I might be upset. Of course it didn’t upset me at all, because it’s just his life. He also reveals a lot of tenderness about himself. There might be a little concern that he will be seen as too nice.

CP: Mary, what was it like hanging with bikers? Were you ever completely out of your element?

MG: Not at all. I felt honored that I was accepted because it is a very closed community. I always thought they were beyond imaginable fun. I was one of those girls that played cowboys all the time. I'm not a tomboy, but I find that outlaw image very interesting. You have to realize, in biker society, members can be violent with each other and into criminal things, which isn't true so much now as when Dead Eye was young. Bikers are also almost always chivalrous to children and old ladies.

CP: Mary, do you ever get frustrated by negative perception people might have of bikers?

MG: I think a lot of us have trouble imaging how a life that isn’t like our life is a valid life; not just with motorcycle people. I’m not a crusader, I don’t speak for or against bikers, people just have their lives. Obviously, Dead Eye has perceived some things in ways I don’t perceive them. But we aren’t put on this earth to make over other people perceptions. I’m sure Dead Eye finds many things about me different to say the least.

CP: Dead Eye, you've really seen the Twin Cities bike scene come of age. How has it changed over the years? Has it changed at all?

DE: I think it's changed a lot, especially in regards to motor clubs. Thirty years ago a lot of the clubs where just forming. People were fighting for positions, and everyone was building reputations. We were laying the groundwork. The whole atmosphere was different. It was more "wild west." Twenty-five to 30 years ago, there was a lot of conflict between clubs. Now, I am vice president of the Minnesota Motorcycle Club Coalition, which encompasses 20 different motorcycle groups. The lines of communication are now more open between clubs. You can pick up a phone instead of a bat. I think everything has to evolve. Twenty-five years ago it was looser and rougher. I myself was involved in drugs. Now, everyone has moved on from that mentality. People have jobs, we're working, and we have families.

CP: You mention in later chapters that you practice Buddhism. How has that affected your day-to-day life? Many of your past occupations (drug dealing, collections bounty hunter, chef) strike me as a little un-zen.

DE: I try to be more understanding. I’m not quite as quick-tempered as I used to be. I do a little inner searching before I do something. Some old habits are hard to break. I try to be more understanding with people, but sometimes it doesn’t work.

CP: I find it intriguing that it's not entirely uncommon that motorcycle enthusiasts to practice Buddhism. Do you have any theories as to why?

DE: Maybe it’s the openness, the honesty, the inner searching you spend on a motorcycle just thinking. A lot of people turn to inner thoughts when on the road; I know I do a lot. I can be having a terrible day, and every thing is going badly, yet when I jump on a motorcycle, it just blows out all the cobwebs.

CP: Anything upcoming events that you are excited about?

DE: We’re putting on several poker runs this year. The money for one will go to Camp Courage, and another is going to Fishing without Boundaries, which helps handicapped kids. We’re also doing a toy drive around Christmas. We do work to change the biker image. A lot of people are stuck with the 60s mentality of what motorcycle clubs used to be, especially the police.

CP: Why the recent harassment?

DE: They’re looking for guns and drugs. They’re 25 years too late. We’re not really into that anymore.

Hear Dead Eye and Mary discuss Outlaw Biker, which is in its third publication and has recently been published in England, tonight at Magers & Quinn.

Posted by Jessica Armbruster at April 23, 2008 4:20 PM | Comments (2)

 

Marya Horbacher discusses Madness

Filed under: Books , Books , Books

Marya Hornbacher was only 22 when she received critical praise for her bestselling memoir, Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia, which recounted her childhood and teen years spent cycling through health care facilities, state institutions, and family homes in hopes of breaking destructive cycles. The true root of her problem wasn't determined until several years later, when she was diagnosed with Type 1 rapid-cycle bipolar, the most severe and difficult to treat form of the disorder. In Madness: A Bipolar Life she recounts the struggles she's faced in managing the illness with intelligence, honesty, and even humor. The award-winning journalist, lecturer, and author took a moment to chat with City Pages.

City Pages: There are moments early on in Madness where you express embarrassment that you suffer from bipolar. Yet you talk very openly about your experience now. How were you able to become more open?

Marya Hornbacher: I think Wasted was not as difficult because I was a little bit… younger. I think when you’re younger its easier to say, “To hell with it! This is the deal, this is what I have experienced, these are my thoughts on the larger issues, this is the story.” With Madness, I had to suck it up and say, “Alright, I think this is an important issue. I think there are a lot of people that go through this, and are curious about bipolar disorder. This is something I want to write, as a writer.” In the end I wanted to write a book about this, and it’s an important story.

CP: You’ve written two memoirs. Do you ever find it difficult or upsetting that so much of your life is out there?

MH: Yeah. It would be more comfortable if I had never written a book about myself. They’re books about my life, but not so much about me. When you’re writing memoir, it’s a shaped story; not just about my life. My life story would be drastically boring; nothing really happens. Yeah, people have 300 pages about something I know about, and alright, there are some deep, dark secrets. And I don’t exactly come out squeaky clean, but this is just one aspect of a 34-year experience. That fact—that it’s only a segment of my life—makes it a little bit more comfortable.

CP: Due to your illness, you have chronological gaps in memory. Was it hard to write a memoir with missing memories? Or was the experience therapeutic in any way?

MH: For me, writing is not therapeutic. I think most people have this idea about memoir and writing; that you write to get it all off your chest. I wasn’t feeling particularly burdened by the story; it’s just a story. I have a really great therapist who I pay a lot of money to help me. Writing Madness was extremely difficult on a personal level. On a technical level, I did a lot of research. I interviewed family, friends, doctors. I went through everything I could find: photographs, letters, medical records, postcards, journals. When you have a fragmented memory, you use tools and triggers to try to fit the rest of the pieces. There are things that are totally AWOL from my head. I don’t remember my 30th birthday party. There are plenty of stories from the book that are gone. But when you are writing a memoir, you have to edit pretty heavily anyway. What happens with memory loss is that it can be inconvenient for the purposes of writing the book. It was annoying, it was challenging, but it’s also not so different from what you do with any memoir, which is shape your recollection.

CP: Do you ever use the act of writing to gage wellness?

MH: I do a lot of keeping track of what’s going on during the day. When you’re manic, the language part of your brain lights up. You think everything you say is fabulously important. So I find that if at the end of the day I have written half a notebook of really fascinating thoughts, I do begin to wonder. The days when I can’t work, it feels like writer’s block. It’s sort of surreal knowing that the language center of my brain has slowed down. I am directly impacted when I hit a mood cycle that’s going to not allow me to write. When I am high, I write a ton, but when sliding down, the writing slows up. So I am able to gage by whether or not I can write whether or not I am on the verge of losing my mind.

CP: Do you feel your illnesses have improved your writing in any way? Hindered?

MH: One of my favorite subjects! I think people have a very lovely idea that mental illness, or rather the concept of madness aids you. I am willing to entertain the notion that the 8 months a year when I can actually function, that it could be helping, but during the 4 months a year I can’t function, doesn’t help so much. There are a lot of people in the arts with mental illness, and they do know that there is a certain degree of connection. People with mental illness often come from families with high rates of mental illness and high rates of creativity, so there’s a genetic link. But on a day-to-day practical level, I am certainly no better at writing because I have mental illness than I would be if I didn’t.

CP: You write about expressing bipolar symptoms at a very young age. Do you think we need to re-evaluate how we diagnose our kids? Is it possible that mental illness starts younger than previously assumed?

MH: It absolutely does. They’ve known for a while that depression can have a pretty early onset. They’ve known for a shorter while, that there was such as thing as early onset bipolar. There’s this idea that we’re over-diagnosing and under-diagnosing. I think the understanding of bipolar is changing so rapidly that we don’t always know which form we are looking at, we still don’t know how many forms there are, or whether we’re looking at ADD or bipolar or both. It’s very confusing with children because childhood bipolar looks different that adult bipolar. Kids with bipolar often also have ADHD or ADD. More research money needs to be spent on understanding the lifelong development of mental illness. We know what illnesses look like in one form, but we don’t always know what it looks like in children, in the geriatric community, or at other various points in life. This is especially important when dealing with bipolar, which is progressive until it is arrested and managed. We have the capacity to know more. I sincerely hope people start looking into childhood diagnostic.

CP: Do you ever get frustrated with the way mental illness is portrayed in the media?

MH: Yes! I think it's one of those things that gets worse before it gets better. We all jump up down saying, "Oh, we're being so understanding. People are crucifying Britney Spears, but she has bipolar, so doesn't that make us fabulous because we are trying to understand mental illness?" We're not trying to understand living with mental illness; we're trying to entertain ourselves with a thing that is still viewed as freaky. It's sort of talked about, so we think we know what it is. Or, like when I see an episode of Law and Order, and there's a bipolar character. He goes manic and pushes someone in front a train, and then he's immediately sorry. I think that's one of the more pervasive and problematic perceptions: That people with mental illness are more violent, which is not true. There's absolutely no higher rate of violence or violent crime among people with mental illness than those without. The whole perception is that when one has mental illness they are across the board crazy. You're not psychotic all the time, and even when you are, you probably don't look that psychotic, you're often just psychotic quietly.

CP: You talk about the importance of pacing yourself in order to maintain good mental health. How do you integrate a schedule while working in a very unscheduled profession?

MH: I do work in a high pressure job. I am also driven, not because I am bipolar. I love my job, and not because I am bipolar. So there are these things that enable me, as well as things that make it harder. Right now I am on tour. I am running 20 hours a day, which is not ideal. Knowing that living day-to-day this way could cause mania--that’s terrifying. My tendency is to push on through it, but I can’t pretend. Working daily, pacing yourself as much as possible is important. I also know that I can’t go 24-7 anymore just because it’s fun. I have to keep track of every single minute, which is tiresome, but in the long run keeping me sane.

Marya Hornbacher reads Thursday, April 17 at 7:30 p.m. at Barnes & Noble (3225 W. 69th St., Edina; 952.920.0633).

Posted by Jessica Armbruster at April 16, 2008 5:46 PM | Comments (0)

 

Sen. Chuck Hagel In Town

Filed under: Books

Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel, one of the few politicians that makes CSPAN enjoyable, will promote his book America: Our Next Chapter: Tough Questions, Straight Answers today at the Nicollet Mall Barnes & Noble at at 12:30 this afternoon and the University of Minnesota Bookstore at 7 tonight.

Nebraska's Senior and soon to be former senator. Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel, one of the few politicians that makes CSPAN enjoyable, will promote his book America: Our Next Chapter: Tough Questions, Straight Answers today at the Nicollet Mall Barnes & Noble at at 12:30 this afternoon and the University of Minnesota Bookstore at 7 tonight. In his book, Hagel, an outspoken critic of the war in Iraq, outlines the ways in which he thinks America can best handle the war and more importantly mend relationships with the world. Hagel draws on his past, his war experiences, and what he's experienced in Washington to form an ideal of America, and sets forth a plan he thinks will get the country to back to his ideal. He's announced that this term, his second, will be his last, and declined calls for a presidential run. As he heads into the retired life, the book will almost certainly will be the birth of a new career as political pundit, which means he'll be one of the few people that makes Lou Dobbs and Bill O'reilly enjoyable.

Posted by Ben Palosaari at April 16, 2008 10:05 AM | Comments (0)

 

Ode to St. Paul

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It's fair to say that St. Paul is often overlooked by those that dwell in Minneapolis. Though there have been some efforts to "freshen up" Lowertown, for example, those that wander around downtown St. Paul during the weekend or after 5 may be disappointed to find businesses closed for the day, empty skyscrapers, and nary a resident in sight. Yet St. Paul does have one thing that Minneapolis doesn't have. For the past two years, St. Paul has had its very own almanac.

Now in its third year, the 2009 St. Paul Almanac is in search of submissions from residents, or anyone who digs the city on the east side of the river in general. So, if you have something to say about St. Paul, now's your chance. Suggestions listed on the official site include stories on local businesses (still running or long gone), funny things you might have experienced at St. Paul festivities like the Winter Carnival, the MN State Fair, or Taste of Minnesota, your experience in St. Paul as an immigrant, or a little poem on birding around various parks. Have a St. Paul-based rant or rave? Now's your chance to get it out there without the aid of a blog. The almanac people are open to format busters as well; poems, song lyrics, creative writing, and even graphic fiction submissions are all welcome.

Intrigued? Got a story? Check out there website herehttp://www.saintpaulalmanac.com/submissions.shtml for rules and information on how to submit.

Posted by Jessica Armbruster at March 3, 2008 3:39 PM | Comments (0)

 

Minnesota Book Awards Finalists Announced

Filed under: Books

Now in it’s 20th year, the Minnesota Book Awards announced its nominees this week. Helmed by the Friends of the St. Paul Public Library, four authors were nominated in each of the eight categories by 24 judges from the state.

Nominees include Kevin Kling’s hilarious tales of life with a dog in The Dog Says How, Jim Walsh’s oral history The Replacements: All Over But the Shouting, and Wing Young Huie’s colorfully fascinating Looking for Asian America: An Ethnographic Tour. For a complete list, check out the Friends website here. Feel strongly about a local author? Visit Twincities.com during March to take part in the Readers’ Choice Awards.

Posted by Jessica Armbruster at January 31, 2008 5:31 PM | Comments (0)

 

Katrina refugee: A Q&A with author Michael Tisserand

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Michael Tisserand is the former editor of Gambit Weekly and author of The Kingdom of Zydeco. His new book is Sugarcane Academy: How a New Orleans Teacher and his Storm-Struck Students Created a School to Remember. It's an eloquent, moving chronicle of how Tisserand's family and friends struggled to piece their lives back together in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. He'll be reading from the book at Magers & Quinn on Sunday. I spoke to him last week by phone from his new home in Evanston, Illinois.

City Pages: What are you doing in Evanston?

Michael Tisserand: I have been writing, to this point at least, only about New Orleans. I was the editor at Gambit. But that first week of Katrina I sort of became a writer again. At this point I haven't stopped doing that, writing about New Orleans. As odd as it seems I've been living in Evanston and writing about Louisiana

CP: Why Evanston?

MT: Tami, my wife, lost her job. That was our biggest personal impact from Katrina. We didn't lose our house. We didn't lose our neighborhood school. We didn't lose any family. But my wife lost her job. That was the thing that made us figure out our next move. She's a pediatrician. We didn’t know how many kids were going to be back in New Orleans. She found work up in this area. If we were going to live anywhere besides New Orleans it'd be back in the Midwest because we have family across the Midwest. My mom's in Minnesota. Tammy's family is in Wisconsin. My dad's in Indiana. So returning to family was part of it also.

CP: You write about the immediate aftermath of Katrina and the impact on your family and friends. The focus turns to getting this school up and running. Why did that become so important in the weeks after Hurricane Katrina?

MT: It was the first thing we could do to take something in our hands for ourselves at that moment, and for our kids. Which is every parents first concern. What are the kids going to do? Our lives were shattered at that point. But the kids weren't. They were dealing with what they were seeing and hearing, and absorbing the grief that their parents were feeling, and they were confused. But our kids could still be cushioned in some way, and we had evacuated together. Our kids kept together a splinter of their kid community, of our neighborhood. The only option, because Katrina hit the first week of school, would be to separate them, because we had evacuated to different small towns around rural Louisiana. So they would all be separated going into little small town schools. The thought of separating the kids, who had been getting together every day since the flood, was just unthinkable to us.

CP: When did you determine that there might be a book to be written about this experience and the experiences of other schools that were formed in the wake of Katrina? Was there a particular moment when it crystallized in your mind?

MT: Yes, when my editor said this should be a book. It really wasn't me. I wrote a book about zydeco music a few years back and the editor of that book and I became friends. It was said that after Katrina you found out who would show up at your funeral just by who sent you emails to see if you were okay. And he was one of the ones that did. We started talking and he asked what I was doing. I was starting to do some writing for the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies, a series called "Submerged," which ran on a lot of alternative weekly web sites and in a few papers. And he said, "What are you doing about your kids?" I told him that we started this school and it was a one-room schoolhouse and the kids named it Sugarcane Academy, and we don't know what's going to happen to it or to us, but that's what we've got going on right now. And he said, "Stop, I think that's your book. I won't talk with you about it anymore. Have your agent call me."

CP: So at that point you hadn't written about that particular aspect of the storm at all?

MT: No. Actually the first thing I had done was a first person piece. The first day that we realized that the levies broke and the city was flooded, another person I spoke to was Richard Karpel, who's president of the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies. He said that a lot of weeklies wanted to hear from Gambit. He wanted to know if I would write something. So I sat down in the house where we were staying and just wrote like I'd never written before. Literally from start to finish. This became the first of the series. It was a very bleak piece. The first sentence was "New Orleans is gone." That's what it felt like. So I wrote about that. I wrote about my love of New Orleans. I wrote about not knowing where my friends were, especially Katy Reckdahl, Minnesota's own. One of our last phone calls was from Katy asking my wife if she thought it would be safe to go to the hospital. I just sort of poured it all out.

CP: You mentioned the zydeco book that you wrote. How was the writing process different for this book?

MT: I wouldn't even describe them as the same process at all. The zydeco book was writing about other people. This book was writing about myself. The zydeco book was a very exciting adventure. I lived around Lafayette, Louisiana. I spent a year doing nothing except roaming around interviewing accordion players and telling their stories. This book, whenever I had writer's block, I would actually think, what makes me cry the hardest? And that's what I wrote.

CP: At this point in time how would you characterize your optimism, or lack thereof, for the future of New Orleans?

MT: Every small step that people take in New Orleans is incredibly inspiring. Last weekend I went to this production of Waiting for Godot, which a theater company from Harlem staged in the Lower Ninth Ward, right near the levee break. Hundreds of people turned out and hundreds of people had to be turned away from the production. Everybody there has a connection to a play like Waiting for Godot now. Everybody knows what it's like to wait for something that never seems to show up, whether it's a trailer or old friends who moved away or promised money to help rebuild a house. Today I just found out that the merry-go-round in City Park is back up and running again, and they've taken the first test drive of the streetcar. These are symbolic and they pale in comparison to the still thousands of families living in desperate straits in FEMA trailers or apartments, still trying to get back on their feet again. Nonetheless you get comfort and inspiration from these moments, because there's still a cloud of anxiety that hangs over the city.

Everyone knows that the levees have been rebuilt maybe to failure level at best, to where they were when they failed during Katrina. Which everyone in New Orleans knows wasn't a category-five storm, but a fast-moving category-three storm, the kind of storm that the levees were supposed to protect the city against. So stacked against those big issues we have to be excited about the streetcars and merry-go-round and individual successes and neighborhood successes. You have to take some comfort and inspiration from those moments because that's what we've got.

CP: Do you think the media two years out has done an adequate job in following up and documenting the aftermath of Katrina?

MT: The short answer is no because [Michael] Chertoff still has his job. If the media had done it's job Chertoff would no longer have his job. The role of the federal government has been cast as something that should be diminished. Conservatives have successfully taken control of that conversation and so the federal government is a bad thing. This is an example of what happens when you don't consider a strong federal government to be necessary to protect the lives of American citizens in times of need. When you allow an agency like FEMA to become a political game for a presidential administration, when you don't raise an uproar over the appointment of incompetent hacks to head vital agencies. In that sense I think that these kinds of long range, serious discussions, both about what is needed to protect New Orleans and what is needed to rebuild a government capable of responding to this kind of disaster, I don’t think those kinds of conversations have been had in the media. So in that sense I think the media has still failed us.

There has been a lot of good reporting and there's been a lot of alternative sources of reporting as well. You can go to youtube and see a lot of great citizen journalism. This guy Josh Neufeld has this online graphic novel that's lovely. It's called "After the Deluge." It's a series. It's up to chapter seven now, just showing people coping with the flood coming in. There's a group called the Neighborhood Story Project that worked with a social aid and pleasure club in New Orleans to document how they came back to the city. It's an amazing first-person account of the kind of spirit New Orleanians have exhibited to get themselves back on their feet and to reclaim their communities. So I consider that part of the media as well.

CP: Do you ever see yourself living in New Orleans again?

MT: Everyday I see myself living in New Orleans again.

CP: Realistically do you think that will happen?

MT: Yes. I don't know how yet, and I don't know when. I've been back about once every month or two. I was there last weekend. The family hasn't missed a Mardi Gras yet. I brought the kids there for a month this last summer. They went to an arts camp and we checked in with our friends. A lot of people who left, myself included, without a doubt feel a degree of guilt for leaving, because our friends are trying to rebuild a shattered community. We pulled our little piece out of that. By keeping in touch and going back and doing my work I feel like I’m paying off a little bit of my debt to the city which has given me so much—or at least that's my attempt.

Posted by Paul Demko at November 21, 2007 2:38 PM | Comments (0)

 

It's Minnesota Beer Time!

Filed under: Food , Food , Food , Food , Food

It's no shocker that the Midwest, often referred to as the Grain Belt, makes great beer. And though lately Minnesota has experienced a beer renaissance of sorts with brands such as Surly and Summit, as well as notable brewpubs like Town Hall, Minnesotans have been producing beer as far back as colonization. Doug Hoverson, a beer judge, teacher, and drink enthusiast, has meticulously reconstructed the history of Minnesota beer, from homebrews to Hamms to the present, in Amber Water: The History of Brewing in Minnesota. He took a moment in his busy schedule to chat with City Pages.

CP: What originally peaked your interest in Minnesota beer and its history?

DH: When I was at college I had some friends that got me interested in beer other than the readily available, heavily advertised, light beers, and when I came back to Minnesota it was just as Summit and James Page was starting to bring out their new beers. From there I started experimenting with different types of beers to see what was out there. I didn’t really have the idea for writing a book for another 10 years— I was looking at some old newspapers from Morehead back in the 1880s to for a paper I was writing on the Northern Pacific Railroad, and I came across some ads from old breweries I had never heard of. At that point I started to look around to see if there was a book on MN breweries There wasn’t. I thought it might be a fun book to write so I got started.

CP: I see that you’re a beer judge. How does one become an expert in the subject? What are some of things you look for during competition?

DH: The process for training is basically, local homebrew clubs put on a 40-hour class usually 3 hours a night over 12 to13 weeks. At the end you take a three, three and a half, hour and a half test where you describe beer styles, write sample ballots on mystery beers, and describe the brewing process. It’s a fairly tough test. You have to know a lot of trivia about types of ingredients and particular styles. Judging it, it’s really more like a dog show than anything else— it might be the cutest dog ever, but if it doesn’t look like what that particular type of dog is supposed to look like, it can’t win. With beer it’s the same thing—it might be your absolute favorite beer, but if they’re claiming it’s a pilsner, and it doesn’t have the right characteristics, it’s not a winner.

CP: Have you found you have a greater understanding and appreciation of chemistry through your beer research?

DH: Definitely! When I was working on the book, as well as training to be a beer judge, I had to learn things about amino acids and temperatures of reactions—things that I paid no attention to when I was doing chemistry in high school and college.

CP: What are some common misperceptions about beer—be it historical inaccuracies, or just general beer misperceptions that irk you?

DH: One of theories that comes up is what exactly bock beer is. There seems to be a perception that bock beer, because it’s much darker, is whatever is left in the tank at the end of the year, and they scrape that out and turn it into bock. There’s never anything left in the tank at the end of the brewing cycle, it’s absolutely clean afterwards. Bock is simply made stronger, with a darker grain mix. It would be like saying you made a pot of tea, and whatever you scrape at the bottom is coffee— you have to make coffee, and bock is an intentional product.

CP: It’s curious that the beverage industry often reflects trends in society more so than many other products. Why do you think that is?

DH: Beer is ultimately a luxury product. I think because of that it is more sensitive to trends. You don’t have to have it, so you’re going to choose it for enjoyment and the types of things that cause enjoyment change with the culture. There’s a big move with organic beers for example, because that has become important to people. For some, being accepted by a big group is what’s important, so Miller Lite, Bud Lite, and Coors is what you are looking for in a luxury product.

CP: It sometimes seems like we are moving away from local and independent businesses—bookstores being an obvious example. Yet the exact opposite seems to be happening with beers—Surly, for one, has become quite a local superstar.

DH: I think one difference, especially in the case of bookstores or small independent newspapers, is that it's hard to enjoy beer over the internet. There's something about the place where you're enjoying the beer. A lot of the enjoyment is the setting. One of the reasons Coors was so popular in Minnesota in the '70s, and Fat Tire is so popular now, is that it's a beer that people had out West on vacation, and so it has a good association.

CP: Are there any recent local beer developments that have you excited?

DH: Surly brewing is one that has to be mentioned. They’re products are always creative. I think it’s interesting that they decided to start canning instead of bottling. That way, it also finds a different customer group—people that play ultimate Frisbee or take it to the beach— the outdoorsy set The scene around the Twin Cities is quite active with Surly, Flat Earth, and the old standbys. There’s a lot of good beer being made—raising the standards so hopefully we can get away from people having to have 12 Miller Lites to have a good time, how about 3 or 4 nice beers. We’re not quite Milwaukee or Denver, bu we do have a lot of good people. It seems like all of the brewers really get along. There’s competitiveness at tasting events and festivals, but they’re all friendly and complimenting each other.

CP: I’ve noticed a certain stigma amongst beer snobs with canned beer…

DH: Which is another misconception. Let’s face it—the inside of a keg is an aluminum can. Most of the negative association comes from that when people drink straiggt from the can, they can taste whatever was on the top of the can. Plus, the beer hasn’t had a chance to get rid of the excess carbon dioxide from being poured into a glass.

CP: Amber Waters lays out a timeline of beer brewing and consumption in Minnesota that actually predates Minnesota as a state. What were some of the methods you used to reconstruct this history?

DH: There were a fair number of limitations because a number of the documents from the time are long gone. Sometimes I knew a brewery was in a town before the town had a newspaper, sometimes I would discover just by luck that someone else had recorded it and that info made it into a history book. Sometimes I would find references in family histories to someone starting a brewery. A lot of the earliest material was really tough to find. Once we're into the 1850s, almost every town had a newspaper, and at that point I could track info on a much more reliable basis. By 1862, the excise taxes were collected by the federal government, so I had incredible details on who brewed how much and when because the government needed their money.

CP: What are some of the more interesting examples of breweriana you came across in your research?

DH: I hadn’t realized that some of the first beer had been packaged in stoneware bottles. There were a number of early brewerina (items produced with beer logos on it)— and really early, it’s few and far between, but by the 1880s, breweries were buying taverns and stocking them with extremely fancy signs, and furniture with the logo on it.

CP: Do you keep a hefty collection yourself? I noticed that a lot of the pictures in the book are credited to your collection.

DH: Not particularly. Most of my stuff is fairly cheap. I collected mostly because I knew I would need them for the book.

CP: Do you anticipate another bust in small, local breweries in the future? Do you view the new era of microbreweries and smaller brewers as a progressive success, or is the industry cyclical?

DH: In this particular case, if there's a bust it will be a long ways away. There was a little bit of a shake-out in the craft breweries in the mid-1990s, but there weren't too many Minnesota breweries affected by it since there weren't too many at the time. Minnesota breweries have been creative and smart about making sure that they aren't duplicating each other's product. Schell is famous for their pilsners, wheat beer, and Octoberfest. Summit is more famous for their pale ale and porter. Surly makes beers that defy style guidelines.

CP: What do you think have been the strengths and weaknesses of MN beers, both past and present?

DH: Well, I think the brewers that function in Minnesota are as good as any in the country. We have some really top-notch people doing really creative work. One of the limitations of Minnesota brewing is that some of the laws are more restrictive than in other states. So, some people interested in starting a brewery somewhere might not pick Minnesota because of the tangled laws that they have top cut through, and there are a few that were interested in Minnesota, and they just discovered that Wisconsin was easier to deal with.

CP: Any tips for people interested in getting into homebrew?

DH: The best tip would be to check in with people at homebrew stores, and join a club. We have an upcoming event—on Saturday November 3, a bunch of homebrew clubs will be meeting outside at Barley John’s Brewpub in New Brighton. We’ll be encouraging anyone interested to watch ask questions and watch a series of batches being brewed.

Come see Doug discuss all things beer in Minnesota at several lectures through the city, including one at the Summit Brewing Company (be sure to get there early). Free. 7:00 p.m. 910 Montreal Cir., St. Paul, 651.265.7800. Also 5:00 p.m. Sunday at Magers & Quinn Booksellers (3038 Hennepin Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612.822.4611). Check out calendar for other related readings and talks.

Posted by Jessica Armbruster at October 25, 2007 1:08 PM | Comments (0)

 

Land of the tea and the home of the crepes: Welcome to Michael Mannske's nightmare (and book)

Filed under: Books

Ever wondered what would happen if the UN invaded the U.S., and France occupied the Upper Midwest? Plymouth resident Michael Mannske has. In fact, he's written a book about it—a "novel of freedom," to be precise—that's set to hit Amazon.com (he's self-publishing) on July 4th.

Inspired by "talk radio" and "history," the author explains, he has set his high-stakes thriller "in the near future," during "the coming US-UN war." Although the book is Mannske's debut, it is part two of a planned trilogy. As we join the action, the nation's president has ceded power to the UN via the "Declaration of Dependence" and the evil internationalists have invaded our shores. A rebel force of true patriots in the "Middle States" (read: Bible Belt) is doing its best to repel the foreign intruders.

Sadly, Minnesota, just a little east of center, is a French protectorate.

"I'm trying to ask a lot of questions," Mannske says, explaining the thinking behind Foreign and Domestic: Campaign II - Battle of the Middle States. "The revolutionaries reached their tipping point at a 14 percent tax on tea. Are there still people out there like that? Where is our tipping point?"

Posted by Jonathan Kaminsky at June 22, 2007 2:28 PM | Comments (0)

 

From actor to activist to author

Filed under: Books

M*A*S*H star Mike Farrell recounts tales from Hollywood, Rwanda, and death row in a new memoir

Millions of Americans remember actor Mike Farrell for his eight years as army doctor B.J. Hunnicutt on the classic sitcom M*A*S*H. But as he reveals in his new memoir, Just Call Me Mike: A Journey to Actor and Activist, Farrell has spent decades traveling to El Salvador, Rwanda, Somalia, and Bosnia, delivering humanitarian aid and educating the American public.

Farrell's book touches on his difficult early life in West Hollywood with his St. Paul-born parents, his stint in the Marines, a life-changing self-help program, numerous acting and producing anecdotes, and his work with organizations such as Human Rights Watch and CONCERN/America. City Pages spoke to Farrell by phone during the Ann Arbor stop on his book tour.

City Pages: You state in the book that following your tour in the Marines, you still lacked direction. But were there lessons you learned in the service that you've integrated into your life as an activist?

Mike Farrell: Well, you learn a lot in the service, and in the Marine Corps they imbed you with a lot of the lore of the Corps. But I think the primary lesson I learned was the dehumanization process people have to go through in order to do what you need to be able to do. I saw a black and white world that I found troubling. When I was stationed in Okinawa, I was told not to go into certain villages because there were Communists there. And it was to protect us, but it was also a biased way of looking at things, [which] I didn't appreciate.

One of the things I learned in the service was how to take care of yourself and there was a certain value to that. The rest of it was a little too much regimentation for me.

CP: Regarding the therapy-oriented self-help program "The House" in which you participated following your stint in the Marines, it seems like the love, respect, and attention you sought for yourself are also the needs of those whose causes you champion. Can you talk about how your experiences at The House?

MK: The lessons I learned there remain writ large. They've been engraved in my soul. Some of the lessons had not only to do with what they taught me about every human being wanting love, respect, and attention, and the problems people get into when they don't get that in their lives--it was the people from whom I was learning them. People who my father would have dismissed as detritus, just tossed away.

It's the issue of some people being beyond caring about because they have somehow crossed the line into unacceptable behavior, and that somehow that makes them less than human.

At the base of it all was the continued insistence that there is value here, whereas that was not the concern in the Marines, where they break you down to make you respond to a command. On some levels the dynamic was the same but the process, ultimately, was very different.

CP: In your travels around the world, it sounds like the trip to Rwanda was the most gut-wrenching.

MK: The Rwandan trip terrified me from a lot of perspectives... It was at once the most horrible experience I've ever had, and one of the most reaffirming experiences I've ever had, because of the fact that so many people survived [the 1994 civil war genocide] and so many of the survivors were able to, and willing to, reach out and, if not forgive--although some of them forgave--make the determination that they had to bridge the gap, and find a way to make their society come together and work again. But the experience itself, walking through the church in Ntarama was something that I will never forget. Seeing the bones of the people in the yard, and seeing the body parts carpeting the dirt floor of the chapel, it's like descending into hell. You just think nothing could be any worse than this.

I was so shaken by it that they got us back into this wagon that they were driving us around in, and when we got down the road from the church I said I've got to get out. I had to walk around, and breathe, and allow myself to experience what I've just seen. I did, and realized I was the only white man around in this village of people who didn't speak my language and were certainly curious about me, and soon gathered around me. Not all of them were happy about my being there.

At that point, it was not how can I help, but can I help? Is there any help? Is there any hope? How can we move beyond this? Seeing the physical evidence of what happened was so devastating that I couldn't sleep. I couldn't comprehend it, and it takes awhile to allow that to settle in, to allow yourself to revisit those images and re-connect, if you can, with the people that you met. I talked to everybody that I found there, black and white, people who were there to help and people who were there that experienced it, just to get a sense of How are you able to be sane and alive, and how can you smile after that? And yet they could and that, ultimately, gives me the greatest hope.

CP: Was there a particular incident during your travels where you felt you weren't going to get out of it alive?

MK: The death squads in El Salvador were horrifying. We knew from the bodies on the side of the road and the body dumps, that [getting killed] was a real possibility, although there was always this sense that having an American passport in your back pocket is, many times, a bridge to safety. On the other hand, there are those who simply don't recognize or honor that bridge, and I know too many people who have died as result of having assumed that they were safe when they weren't.

In Somalia, walking through these clinics--they were like mangers, bamboo structures where children were dying of starvation--because I had a white face, children would look up at me, or their mothers would look at me, and say, "Doctor, doctor, can you help?"

So, there are times when you just feel so bloody hopeless and helpless, and other times, as in Honduras, where there was a woman who said, "All of us have jobs to do, and perhaps your job is to be here and witness this, and go back and tell the American people about it."

CP: In writing about your work to abolish the death penalty, you introduce us to inmate Joe Giarratano, who, in 1979, woke up from a blackout to find his roommates murdered, and was sentenced to death following a quick trial. Do you have an update on his progress?

MK: It's an awful story. Joe is living, breathing proof that this system must be ended, and that it goes beyond the death penalty. It's the political calculation that goes along with all this stuff. Joe remains in prison, they've moved him from one "super-max" to a slightly less-intense "super-max," but it's the same thing. The treatment he's receiving now is largely because of his having survived death row. [Then-Virginia Governor Douglas Wilder had commuted Giarratano's sentence to life.] And that's, to me, one of those things that is inexcusable: these politicians and people in the system that are abusing their power. People who use their power over others are people I hold in contempt, and I want to be able to struggle with every time I get the chance.

CP: Do you think a Democratic Congress will make any difference in furthering your causes, or will it be more of the same?

MK: On some levels it's going to be more of the same. But I think on the fundamental level of the Iraq War, and some other real issues, I think it's going to be a different story. And part of that is because the Bush Administration and the neo-cons have driven us so far to the right that I think people now have begun to understand the danger of a one-party Neanderthal system, and what kind of damage it can do, not only to the people in this country, but to the image of the country abroad.

So, I'm hopeful. I try not to be cynical, I try to be optimistic. I think there is significant leadership available to the Democratic Party, if they have the courage to grab onto it.

CP: One M*A*S*H question: In the final scene of the final episode, was that actually you tearing down the hill on the motorcycle like a maniac, or was that a stunt driver?

MK: They wouldn't let me do it! I said Come on! You know I can do this and they said All you have to do is break your leg and then we are in serious trouble. I rode it up [to the helicopter pad], but they wouldn't let me ride it down. And when they shot that, if you watch it closely, the back wheel started to come loose, and that guy almost lost it. The director looked at me and said Ah huh. The M*A*S*H experience was a wonderful one for me, one I'll never forget, and will always cherish.

Mike Farrell will be reading from his new book on Thursday, April 5, 8:00 p.m., at Central Presbyterian Church, 500 Cedar St. in St. Paul, and Friday, April 6, 7:30 p.m., at Magers and Quinn Booksellers, 3038 Hennepin Ave. S. in Minneapolis. Both events are free.

Posted by Corey Anderson at April 4, 2007 2:58 PM | Comments (2)

 

Jonthan Lethem: You Don't Know Me Yet

Filed under: Books

For his sixth novel, Jonathan Lethem (Fortress of Solitude, Motherless Brooklyn) travels from his native Brooklyn turf to the lighter side of Los Angeles. In You Don't Love Me Yet, Lethem tells a tale of ridiculous romance, binge drinking, and debatable plagiarism. His protagonist, Lucinda Hoekke, is a bass player in an unnamed band suffering a creative slump. To make ends meet, she takes part in an art installation, answering phones for a complaint line in a staged office setting. There, she falls for "the complainer"—an anonymous caller whose witty phrases and frank sexual retellings work their way into her band's lyrics.

City Pages: So many of your novels take place in Brooklyn. What made you want to write about L.A.?

Jonathan Lethem: I see this novel as a return to a daffier tone. I spent almost a decade of my writing life dwelling on the part of Brooklyn that I came from. I think it was really good to surprise myself and recover the sense of license to do anything I please. There's something very seductive and gratifying in the way that I have been acclaimed as "Mr. Brooklyn." But it's also very dangerous for a writer to let any kind of mantle be put around their shoulders. So this is sort of my way of reclaiming my amateurishness. To write about a place I didn't really know about, you could say I was intentionally disarming myself.

CP: Did you have any bands in mind while writing the novel?

JL: There were loads I was thinking of, the bands that I loved that were a little less famous in the world than they were in my mind. Some went on to have little careers and others kind of vanished without a trace—the Feelies, the DBs, Big Dipper. I was also trying to evoke the feeling of bands that not only have gender-mixed lineups, but also have a history of romantic entanglements within the band, like Fleetwood Mac and the White Stripes. There's something very mysterious and evocative about bands like that.

CP: What's the strangest job you ever took to make ends meet?

JL: Some of the small bookshops I worked in were pretty eccentric. There was one I worked in that was a used bookstore and puppet theater. There were all these shelves that would convert into seating and they would suddenly erect a little stage and put on puppet shows for kids.

CP: If there was a real complaint line, what would you call in to talk about?

JL: Oh, I've got no complaints. I am a happy camper. I guess airport food is as bad as it ever was.

CP: "The complainer" writes bumper-sticker slogans for a living. Is there a saying that you subscribe to?

JL: I am very fond of one of Carl's that was actually made up by one of my friends: "All thinking is wishful."

Jonathan Lethem reads Monday April 2 at the University of Minnesota Bookstore. Free. 7:00 p.m. 300 Washington Ave SE (Coffman Memorial Union), Minneapolis; 612.625.6000

Posted by Jessica Armbruster at April 2, 2007 5:18 PM | Comments (0)

 

Vincent Wyckoff: Tales of a Letter Carrier

Filed under: Books

A letter carrier in south Minneapolis for 15 years, Vincent Wyckoff sees the full range of humanity on a daily basis. In Beware of the Cat: And Other Encounters of a Letter Carrier, he recounts some of his more memorable moments--from heartwarming elderly birthday parties, to violent attack cats, to delivering a lost letter mailed from Saigon in 1976.

City Pages: What drove you to write this book?

Vincent Wyckoff: For years I told these stories around the dinner table when our children were younger. It was an attempt to get them to talk about their day. How was school today? Fine. What did you do? Nothing. My stories were an attempt to create a dialogue. A couple years ago, my wife asked about a story I’d related years earlier. It took a while for me to remember, so I decided to write them all down before they were lost for good.

CP: You have so many stories packed into each chapter. Were there any great ones that failed to make the book?

VW: All the little anecdotes and short vignettes just popped up as I wrote the main story lines. They were either too sweet or poignant to leave out. On the other hand, there were the depressing stories, with less-than-desirable characters, that for the sake of this book I chose to omit.

CP: The tone of your book is very optimistic. Do you ever find it hard to be positive in such a hi-stress job?

VW: Much of the tone comes from the folks on the route. After all, these are their stories. But if you remember Newman, from the Seinfeld TV show, when he described how the mail just keeps coming and coming, or Cliff Klaven on Cheers, when he laments his hard day because the Sears catalogs came out, I can relate to that! But you have a choice how you want to see things. I mentioned Lady in one of the stories, a big black lab that adores me. Every single day she greets me, and her loyalty and obvious affection would bring a smile to even the staunchest curmudgeon. It’s all about what you choose to focus on.

CP: How do you feel about the shift from letter writing to the Internet? Would a "Saigon-letter" be able to happen today?

VW: It's true that first-class letter rate volume is down. But as long as there are devoted employees doing all they can to get a letter to its proper destination, a “Saigon”-type letter will always be possible.

CP: A new guy comes into the post office, his first day of work. What do you tell him?

VW: My advice: Prepare to lose 20 pounds. Drop the ego, and focus on survival.

Vincent Wyckoff reads from Beware of Cat tonight at the Lyndale United Church of Christ. Free. 7:30 p.m. 810 W. 31st St., Minneapolis. For more info call Magers & Quinn at 612.822.4611.

Posted by Jessica Armbruster at March 21, 2007 2:14 PM | Comments (0)

 

Now who will write poems honoring Vanessa Hayden?

Filed under: Books

Renowned poet and WNBA superfan Stephen Burt is leaving the Twin Cities. The chairman of the Macalester College English department has accepted a position with his undergraduate alma mater Harvard University. The prolific poet and essayist's work has appeared in The Believer, the London Review of Books, and Modern American Poetry. He's also found time to publish three volumes of poetry (the most recent being Shot Clocks: Poems for the WNBA) since arriving at Macalester in 2000. Not to mention the amusing blog that he co-authors with his wife.

Burt anticipates that the scholarly demands of achieving tenure at Harvard will force him to temporarily scale back his other writing pursuits. "It means that some of the sports writing and music writing that I'd like to do in the next two years will not be done in the next two years," he says.

As for hoops fandom, Burt says that his allegiances have always been split between the Lynx and the Connecticut Sun. "As long as they don't move the Lynx to the Eastern Conference there won't be much of a problem," he says, noting that his wife is originally from Connecticut. "We've always supported the Lynx and the Sun."

For a recent example of Burt's work, see "Dulles Access Road," published last week by Slate. He will be reading with fellow poets Kathleen Heideman and Bryan Thao Worra on April 10 at Black Dog Coffeehouse, and will begin teaching at Harvard in the fall.

Posted by Paul Demko at March 19, 2007 3:00 PM | Comments (0)

 

Neil Gaiman: Break-in at DreamHaven Books

Filed under: Books

Neil Gaiman recently passed along (via his blog) the following bad news from Dreamhaven Books owner Greg Ketter:

We had a break-in on Saturday night. They got a bit of cash but wreaked terrible havoc on the store and my office. Damages will be costly but insurance should cover a lot of it. But after the lull in current business, this really will hurt. I don't like charity but if you could encourage people to maybe buy an extra book off us soon, it may help. Three bookstores have closed in the Twin Cities in the past two months and I don't want to make it four.

For those who value DreamHaven for its longtime devotion to kinky and/or radical books, zines, and comix, it's one of those Minneapolis cultural institutions that's easy to take for granted, and has probably suffered as a result--I patronized both its now-closed Dinkytown and Calhoun Square outlets for years. As Gaiman describes the store: "Good people, good bookshop (and comics shop, and toys, oddments and even, in the backroom, eye-watering reading matter for adults only shop). (I don't know of any other shop that has 'Vintage Sleaze' as a category for used books.) ...Go buy books from them. And tell other people. This is me being selfish. I want to buy books at DreamHaven for a long time to come. Good things die when people forget."

So make this "buy something at DreamHaven" week: Dreamhaven Books is open Monday through Friday, 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., Saturday 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Sunday noon to 6:00 p.m. at 912 West Lake Street, Minneapolis, MN 55408-2857. 612.823.6161. dream at dreamhavenbooks dot com

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at February 16, 2007 6:49 PM | Comments (0)

 

Nightstand confessional

Filed under: Books

Spending night after night in darkened bars and coming home with ears ringing is hard work. We tracked down some local venue bookers and asked what they're reading to unwind.

Under the Banner of Heaven by John Krakauer
I just finished it because the Mormon religion is fascinating to me. It was really good in that it gave a lot of background history on how it all started and what the basic fundamentals of their religion are. I'm still reading Companeros, about Che Guevara's journeys through South America and when he hooked up with Fidel. It's kind of a hard read so I've been in the process of that one for quite awhile. And then I just got On Michael Jackson, which I hadn't heard of until a friend loaned it to me today. He said it tells a lot about why he's the way he is. --Kim King, Fine Line Music Cafe

Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto by Chuck Klosterman
I was told this was a prerequisite to Fargo Rock City (which is next on my list). History may not reflect the X-genners as the world's greatest generation but maybe they are the most loveable slackers in our short history. --James "Taco" Martin, the Cabooze

Only The Strong Survive: The Odyssey Of Allen Iverson by Larry Platt
It details his rise from underground legend to cultural icon. It's hard not to be intrigued by the life story of a player as awesome and controversial as Iverson. It's a shame he wasn't selected for the national hoops team. --Sonia Grover, First Avenue

Now I Can Die In Peace by Bill Simmons
It's a collection of some of his columns he wrote for ESPN.com between 1998 and 2004 when the Red Sox finally won the World Series. Being springtime, all I can think about is baseball. --Nate Kranz, Seventh St. Entry

The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork by John C Maxwell
This book is really good at getting you to think introspectively. It constantly challenges me in personal growth and seeking to better appreciate those working around me.
The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
I just finished rereading this series. I have to say that I enjoyed it much more this time through than when I was a child. It helped me remember what it's like to think "like a child."
Proverbs: King Solomon
This book always challenges me to stay ethical, moral & keep my focus on what truly matters in life: God, family, friends. --Mike Pappas, Club 3 Degrees

Posted by Lindsey Thomas at March 9, 2006 2:12 PM | Comments (0)

 

Send New Orleans your copy of A Million Little Pieces

Filed under: Books

A couple of different organizations are working to restock the bookshelves along the Gulf Coast. The New York Foundation for the Arts website is encouraging folks to send any and all hardcover and paperback books to the New Orleans Public Library. Some will be stocked and others will be sold for fundraising. When mailing, be sure to ask for the library rate from your friendly neighborhood postal worker. The address is Rica A. Trigs, Public Relations, New Orleans Public Library, 219 Loyola Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70112.

Book Relief spreads the literary love to the classrooms. Nine book distributions have already been held on the Gulf Coast, with over 1.5 million books being distributed. Book Relief's goal is to donate at least five million books to organizations, schools, and libraries supporting the evacuees, and replenish the schools and libraries being rebuilt on the Gulf Coast. Click here for donation information.

Posted by Corey Anderson at February 21, 2006 2:01 PM | Comments (1)

 

Oprah: "It's not sad for me. It's embarrassing."

Filed under: Books

Today on "Oprah," talk-show host Winfrey brought out James Frey, author of A Million Little Pieces, who is probably understandably nostalgiac for the days when he had the support of his one-time backer (read Emily Carter's take on things in this week's City Pages). His self-styled credibility as a bad-ass two-fisted addiction survivor was deflated considerably by a recent piece in The Smoking Gun that revealed, among other things, that Frey's story of beating up, and being beaten up by, several cops was actually a minor arrest without incident that saw him freed in a couple of hours.

Posted by Quinton Skinner at January 26, 2006 5:40 PM | Comments (2)

 

Frey gets fried

Filed under: Books

Augusten Burroughs, author of Running with Scissors, among other memoirs, might not have had that Santa Claus-looking kook of a caretaker he claimed he did. And local writer Nicole Lea Helget, author of The Summer of Ordinary Ways, might not have been a progeny of a mentally ill father who once killed a cow. Questions surrounding recent memoirs' authenticity haven't hurt book sales (or movie deals), though certain literary circles have shunned both Burroughs and Helget for fictionalizing certain aspects of their "memoirs" like repressive parents banned Paul Reubens in the 90s for porning up his mid-afternoons in Florida theaters.

James Frey, author of the million-selling addiction memoir A Million Little Pieces, is also taking a beating for allegedly fabricating his memoir, and he can't claim this one caused him to loose his teeth and show up on a cross-country flight looking like he'd been dipped in a vat of human excrement: Forget waiting for any reaction from Oprah Winfrey and the Harpo employees who got all teary-eyed and sychophantic when an oddly stoic and visibly uncomfortable Frey appeared on Oprah in October after The Op selected the memoir for her book club; it's those in recovery who became part of the thousands of Frey followers and enthusiasts who have been quick to publicly criticize Frey and admit they feel the most betrayed by the author's supposed embellishments.

For those of you who have read the memoir (teary-eyed Harpo employees included!), here are a few questions: Were his stories about what he encountered at Hazelden believable to begin with? Why would a dentist doing a root canal deny Frey novocaine? Like it'd really have an adverse affect on his recovery? Friggin' NOVOCAINE? Who's ever heard of a novocaine junkie? Did any of this seem credible to begin with?

And is it of any real consequence if parts are fictionalized? If a memoirist uses a skeleton of their life to tell their story, filling in with embellished bits that lead to the next chapter of their life, does it really matter if, in the end, they end up in the same place? Does it matter if they got there by spending three days in jail or three months? Or is Frey, who has been an inspiration for numerous addicts, immoral for fabricating parts of his story?

Posted by at January 11, 2006 12:52 AM | Comments (11)

 

Nightstand confessional

Filed under: Books

The Minnesota Rollergirls square off in monthly bouts at the Roy Wilkins Auditorium, and on January 29, a traveling team will take on Raleigh, North Carolina in an interleague match. So what does a Rollergirl read to pass the time in the tour bus, the penalty box, and the hospital?

I am currently reading Christopher Moore's The Stupidest Angel. I've always felt that Christmas tales should include more zombies in them, and this book fits the bill. --Scarmen Hellectra

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. While I read this I constantly think about my grandpa's life growing up during the dustbowl and the depression. This last summer I visited his hometown in Kansas. I can see everything in the book so vividly and it is making a huge impression on me. --Contessa M.

I am reading The Da Vinci Code at the moment and am completely friggin' addicted. I start reading earlier ever night. I love it. I'm reading it because I've wanted to read it since the buzz started and I just found it at an estate sale for $3--hardcover even. Bonus. In addition to keeping me on the edge of my bed, its extra cool cuz they're in the Louvre and I've been there a couple times so I can totally picture it. I can't wait for the movie. --Flora this-is-only-the-second-book-I've-read-in-the-last-year-cuz-I'm-too-busy-with-roller-derby Flipabitch

I just finished re-reading the entire Chronicles of Narnia series by C.S. Lewis. I hadn't read it since I was younger, and after seeing the film, I wanted to read them all over again. Reading that collection as an adult was just as enjoyable. --Pain Gretzky

Right now I've been enjoying books involving pirates, history, or the Wild West. I started out with Isabel Allende's Daughter of Fortune and then Pat Murphy's Nadya, which involves not only crossing the prairie in a covered wagon but also features a lesbian werewolf! Currently I'm working my way through Louis L'Amour's Sackett family series after roller derby practice. Unfortunately, I don't expect pirates to return after the first two books, but I'm sure there's still plenty of knife-fighting and musket shooting to come. --CleoSPLATra

I'm currently re-reading The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. It's an amazing story about a young girl as she comes to terms with her death after she was brutally raped and murdered. The story is narrated from her "heaven" and takes the reader through her murder investigation, her family and friends' lives after her death, and ultimately her acceptance of her own death. I love this book--it reminds me to live each day to the fullest. --Hot Karla

I'm currently reading Dr. Zhivago by Boris Pasternak. I majored in Russian language and literature and watched the movie as part of a class. I have also read some of his poetry in both English and Russian. Reading the classic literary work was the logical next step. --Dr. D. Bauchery

Currently, my boyfriend is reading me the The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. He is so romantic. --Jackie Mehoff

I just finished reading The Celestine Prophecy. I started reading this book because a friend and I were talking about people's energy that they give off and how you can pick up on different energies. The book basically is about being able to tune into your own energy and see other people's energy in colors and about achieving a higher state consciousness. --Sinderella

I am currently reading Born Confused by Tanuja Desai Hidier. It is about an American born, 17-year-old girl of East Indian descent who is going through the normal teenage dramas but also starting to tackle the issues of being bi-cultural and what that means to her. It interested me because it is a light-hearted, engaging novel about coming of age (in a modern, realistic way) and I am also very interested in Indian culture. --Supersonik!

I am reading In Cold Blood by Truman Capote because a few weeks ago the husband and I saw the movie Capote and he irritated me so bad I had to read the book. So far I am liking his writing way more than his awful voice. --Chastity Belt

I'm currently reading The Tin Drum by Gunter Grass. It's truly a great book. Full of obscure and obvious humor with just the right amount of disturbing, yet titillating content. The main character is German man who lived through the Nazi nightmare and has managed to stunt his own growth to a mere 3 feet tall using only his only strong will to stay little. Of course the book starts with his autobiographical worldview from the mental institution where he lives. I'm so far very pleased, but not yet finished reading. --Holly Go-Fightly

I am reading Woman by Natalie Anger. It is a book about everything anyone ever needed to know about a woman. From menstruation to what kind of birth control is the best or worst. She even describes a hysterectomy in intimate detail. I am reading it because I have always been extremely interested in female health and anatomy. It breaks down a lot of myths woman hear about their bodies. It has really empowered me already even though I am only half way through it. --Flogging Molly

I'm reading A Million Little Pieces by James Frey and it is amazing and I am in love with him even though he is a drug addict and an alcoholic, but he writes so well and goes through such pain. I'm reading it because I got it for Christmas from a boy I like right now after I told him I like to read about drug addicts. He did so well. --Rolls Wilder

Right now I'm reading Villa Incognito by Tom Robbins. Although I'm only about 50 pages in, it is typical Robbins style in that he never writes about what he's actually talking about. In this book, 3 airmen get lost when their B-52 bomber crashes in Laos. So far, I love it! --Knocker Blocoff

The Fuck-Up by Arthur Nersesian. Set in NYC, the "hero" of the story's life goes from bad to worse, as he manages to survive when everything gets taken from him piece by piece. What begins with a fight with his girlfriend on the same day he loses his job soon spirals down to places you and I would hope to never be. Perhaps because it's his own choices that cause him to end up in the worse situations, the book somehow keeps from being an exercise in depression. I picked this one up because a friend recommended the book as a favorite. Plus, it offends ninnies when they see the title, is almost square, and fits perfectly in my purse for waiting room enjoyment. --Honeydew Felon

I'm reading Memoirs of a Geisha. I got it as a Christmas gift! Very good book! --Lil' Hellion

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey. And Classroom in a Book: Adobe InDesign CS2. --Barbie Brawl

Currently, I'm reading Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond. Why? Because it'd been out for several years now and it's been referred to so often; I felt like it was time. It's a heavy read (non-fiction, historical, lots of scientific information), but it's also incredibly interesting and not as tough to slog through as I thought it might be. It's giving me a better understanding of cultures around the world, and making me more curious about them. --Norah Torious

I just finished Tipping the Velvet, a very sexy lesbian fiction. --Mandelicious

I am currently re-reading The Edible Woman by Margaret Atwood. There's something so viciously tantalizing about her baking a cake version of herself and devouring it when her lover refuses. I imagine her licking her fingers, one by one, with a gleeful smirk upon her face--finally satiated and free. --Kitty Whompass

Posted by Lindsey Thomas at January 10, 2006 3:43 PM | Comments (2)

 

Guess your present: Books edition

Filed under: Books

Here are the top-selling books heading toward Minneapolis just in time for Christmas, according to Amazon.com:

1. A Million Little Pieces by James Frey
2. The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century by Thomas L. Friedman
3. The Chronicles of Narnia Boxed Set [Box set] by C.S. Lewis
4. Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner
5. The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
6. The Truth (with jokes) by Al Franken
7. Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis by Jimmy Carter
8. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
9. Rachael Ray 365: No Repeats--A Year of Deliciously Different Dinners by Rachael Ray
10. Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin

Posted by Corey Anderson at December 21, 2005 10:40 AM | Comments (0)

 

Another reason to leave your Sundown Town tonight

Filed under: Books

Sociologist, historian, and author James Loewen will speak at the U of M's Coffman Memorial Union Tuesday night at 7:00 p.m. The event is free. The author of the critically acclaimed Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your High School History Textbook Got Wrong, released his most-recent book, Sundown Towns, about the creation of whites-only communities, in October. Lest anyone forget that those kinds of ordinances didn't just happen below the Mason-Dixon line, the 500-plus-page tome about the hidden history of racism reveals Edina, Minnesota's origins were as a segregated town whose antiquated rules were enforced well into the 1960s. A typical restrictive covenant for Edina property as outlined on page 116 of Loewen's book:

"No lot shall ever be sold, conveyed, leased, or rented to any person other than one of the white or Caucasian race, nor shall any lot ever be used or occupied by any person other than one of the white or Caucasian race, except such as may be serving as domestics for the owner or tenant of said lot, while said owner or tenant is residing thereon. All restrictions, except those in paragraph 8 (racial exclusion), shall terminate on January 1, 1964."

In other words, Loewen notes, the restriction to the "white or Caucasian race" was to continue forever. Today, Edina's African-American population hovers around one percent.

Posted by at December 6, 2005 4:00 PM | Comments (1)

 

Nightstand Confessional

Filed under: Books

In honor of this week's Winter Books issue and an appropriate turn in the weather, here's what CP staffers are climbing into bed with these days.

The Devil's Picnic by Taras Grescoe
The Canadian author travels the world in search of forbidden fare, and arranges a nine-course meal of ba