Quote of the Day: “The world exploded into love all around me/And every time I take a look around me/I have to smile…” — Bob Schneider, “The World Exploded Into Love”
Those of you who read The SPB Q regularly already know about my fixation on Daniel Alarcon, the East Bay-based writer who’s brilliant, sad, visionary War By Candlelight rocked my world last year. He has an essay in the Washington Post this week. This brotha can write, y’all; it’s always exciting for me to find a fiction writer whose non-fiction can be as layered and fascinating as his stories.
One of Alarcon’s stories can be found in a great new book out in August called A Fictional History of the United States (With Huge Chunks Missing), co-edited (and with short stories by) by Adam Mansbach and T Cooper. Other writers featured include Amy Bloom, Kate Bornstein, Alexander Chee, Ron Kovic, Paul La Farge, Tommy O’Malley, Neal Pollack, David Rees, and Sarah Schulman.
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Gotta tell you how much I enjoyed the current issue of Vogue, from the timeless photo of Linda Evangelista on the cover to the tight profile of Ellen Barkin, the hottest divorcee in town. I was one of those shallower-than-thou early-to-mid-90s boys obsessed–yes, I was, believe it or not, sort of a “modelizer”– with supermodels and runway shows and designers, so this issue, in which Anna and crew “celebrate” the old girls and the graceful way they go about aging, gave me a hard-on for the old days. Like the Ghost show that opened with Naomi waiting at the top of the runway for Donna Summer’s groans to get us wet enough for her to start her strut. Like Isaac’s show in the hot warehouse on Lafayette Street back in ‘92, when Veronica was a hot girl who used to ride her bike around the East Village and meet us for brunch at Time Café. Like sharing Marlboro Lights at the U2 concert with Christy Turlington. Yes, kids, I know…I’m name-dropping. But I’m an old man now, cherishing memories, so it’s okay…That pic is from a book we passed around back in the day, a fun secular “bible” of sorts.
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According to Playbill.com, Tony-winning actress/singer Adriane Lenox will be bringing her cabaret show back to The Triad in late August. She was the bomb in Doubt on Broadway a coupla seasons back and is about to go on tour with the play. Check her out if you can.
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Congrats to the great Sarah Weinman for her Anthony Award nomination for her continued smart, funny, necessary work over at Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind. Anyone who reads mysteries and thrillers should go to Sarah’s site everyday for the latest and greatest on the field. Sarah also reports on the book industry over at Galleycat with Ron Hogan, who’s also a pretty cool kat.
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