Usually when I’m asked which writers have had the most
influence on me, I point to those who did so in the area I’ve been published—the
crime genre. George V. Higgins was the
most influential, no doubt. His first
three books (The Friends of Eddie Coyle,
The Digger’s Game and Cogan’s Trade)
were masterpieces by any standard (in any genre). Higgins was a master of dialogue with a
wealth of material from his days serving as an Assistant U.S. attorney for
Massachusetts and later a defense attorney and a journalist.
I’m at the end of my second semester in the program and for
the second time one author has not only awed me with his brilliance, he’s regenerated
the juices that make this stuff so much fun.
He’s also a master of dialogue and although I was first introduced to him
during the first semester as a master of the short story, I’ve now come to
appreciate his novels as well. One, in
particular, has kept me up nights (reading, thinking and writing).
Good Evening Mr. & Mrs. America, and All the Ships at Sea, by Richard Bausch.
A religious, idealistic, polite, naive young man with
Presidential dreams comes to terms with an America in the 1960’s he’s managed
to view with blinders for nineteen years.
From his desire to be good and liked and to help others and never want
to hurt anyone, he awkwardly steps into a marriage proposal he immediately
resents. He’s in love with another
woman, a German woman he’s met at a school he attends nights. This woman he purposely asks to marry him,
because he’s sure he’s in love with her.
The dilemma will hold your attention for the length of the novel and the
resolution is an eye opener.
Both women are a bit older than he is, both come from
different backgrounds and both are much less naive than the young man. He’s going to school nights to become a
broadcaster, except he’s already decided he doesn’t want to do that once he’s
graduated. He lives with his mother who
likes her tea spiked with any cordial on hand and she’s created a dilemma of
her own; she’s going to marry a man she doesn’t love and the young man can’t
respect (her boss at work).
There are civil rights issues in the background and the aura of
Camelot. The young man wears his hair the
same way as the fallen president and often practices JFK’s speeches. This is going on during the escalation in Vietnam
under Johnson and the race riots that marred both the landscape and the ideals
of a nation born of freedom. The book’s
title comes from the Walter Winchell phrase and is most appropriate, I thought.
It’s a great novel, amici.
Bausch is a great writer. There’s
nothing to do but read him and learn; whether it’s his craft you admire (as a
writer) or what he has to offer as a novelist (to his readers). This is a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful,
novel. I have Mitch Wieland and Jessica Anthony to thank for introducing me to Bausch. That in itself, has been worth the price of admission, amici.
Bausch has officially joined my personal club of “most influential
authors” and takes his place alongside Mr. Higgins. His writing, to put it mildly (and in my
Knuckesian way) has put a rocket up my ass.
It may well fizzle at some point, but for now it’s a beautiful
thing. I haven’t worked this hard (at
writing) and enjoyed it so much in forever.
Laura Nyro ... Last week I learned I had to produce 40 pages
of new fiction within six days for our two peer groups in the MFA program. Apparently I wasn’t paying attention to the
school emails. That plus I was finishing
up the draft of the Star (shutter) Island book, Jimmy Mangino (the ten year
sequel to Jimmy Bench Press). So I’ve
been to bed late nights (even working between periods of the Rangers games) and
up extra early to catch up. I even took
off Friday from work to make some more headway.
I do love deadlines, but considering the fact I have my last semester’s
packet to get off before May 26 (30 more pages of new fiction plus two craft
essays), this was kind of pushing it.
So Thursday night I needed to take a break for at least a
few hours. I watched some of the 2012 Rock
and Roll Hall of Fame inductions on HBO (a repeat, I guess). It’s always fun (and scary) seeing some of
the groups I enjoyed as a kid get up on stage.
There were a few inductees I can’t even remember one day later, but I enjoyed
the Freddy King presentation and then was completely mesmerized by the Laura
Nyro induction (by Bette Midler). Who
knew one person could’ve written so many wonderful songs? Truly amazing. Talk about terrific writers, amici. How’s this for list of songs/hits (with my
favorite of the bunch from the induction)?
Sara Bareilles performing Laura Nyro’s Stoney End ...
Songs written by Laura Nyro.
1."Wedding Bell Blues"
2."Blowin'
Away"3."Billy's Blues"
4."Stoney End"
5."And When I Die"
6."Lu"
7."Eli's Comin'"
8."Stoned Soul Picnic"
9."Timer"
10."Emmie"
11."The Confession"
12."Captain Saint Lucifer"
13."Gibsom Street"
14."New York Tendaberry"
15."Save the Country" [mono single version]
16."Blackpatch"
17."Upstairs By A Chinese Lamp"
18."Beads of Sweat"
19."When I Was a Freeport and You Were the Main Drag"
20."Smile"
21."Sweet Blindness" [live version]
22."Money" [live version]
23."Mr. Blue"
24."A Wilderness"
25."Mother's Spiritual"
26."A Woman of the World"
27."Louise's Church"
28."Broken Rainbow"
29."To a Child"
30."Lite a Flame (The Animal Rights Song)"
31."And When I Die" [live version]
32."Save the Country" [live version]
Another of my favorites (and some very nice words about Ms. Nyro):
The Rangers ... Oy vey, my new love of playoff hockey has
been interesting. Providing breaks from
reading and writing (and permitting me to ignore baseball), I’m really getting
into this stuff. I love the protocol after
a series whereby two teams that have beaten the shit out of one another shake
hands. I like it. I like it a lot.
As for the Rangers ... they seem to be begging a
disaster. How they didn’t show up in
D.C. the other night with a bit more determination than they showed was too
much like the way they handled the Ottawa series; not playing hard until they
had to. We all know the problem with
that. You (they) may get surprised. In game 6, the Capitals played with
desperation and determination and deserved the win. Ovechkin is a holy terror to the Rangers, as
is Chimera. I’d like to see the kid,
Kreider, on the ice a lot more (I’m a big proponent of speed in any sport) and
this kid has it. Holtby has played right
there with Lundqvist. Christ, I just
realized I’m memorizing their names.
They better show up tomorrow night or they’ll disappoint a lot
of fans (old and new). I’ve actually
watched a few other teams and right now if I had to make a prediction, the In
Knucks We Trust Bucks would go squarely on either the Kings of L.A. or
the Devils of New Jersey. The Rangers
still have something to prove—consistency.
The Knicks ... well, at least they took one game, and it was
a very gutsy performance, so kudos to them.
The Heat managed to completely obliterate the Knicks 3-point game,
rendering Steve "Novacaine" Novak pointless on the court. Barren (the turnover King) Davis went out
with a nasty injury, but the Knicks responded.
Game 5 was going to happen no matter how hard what was left of the
Knicks showed up. As for next season, I
vote for retaining Mike (Tone Loc) Woodsen and staying with young Mr. Lin. The Knicks won’t be good enough to win it all
next season and trading a young Lin for an old master like Steve Nash won’t
guarantee them anything but another first or second round washout.
—Knucks
No opera today, amici ... here’s Ms. Nyro’s herself with one
of her MANY hits ...
And one more, this time by the Fifth Dimension ...
And since Etta James passed last year, here’s Mr. and Mrs.
Knucks-Principessa’s wedding song:
