2/26/2009
You I-40? The old Route 66? When you're headed west, maybe as far as Holbrook AZ or someplace like that. There's a red cliff with big plastic eagles and mountain goats glued to it, and an "Indian Trading Post" down below, with a buffalo in a cave. You know that place?
I walked in there one day and the man working inside suddenly cried out, "I can't take this shit no more!" That was great, but even greater was the female cry from the back room: "I can't take this shit no more too!"
Tonight, again, Floodland. The new expensive sump pump was not expensive enough to stop the big Naperville rainstorm from inciting our subterranean well/spring/river from blowing out of the earth and filling the basement. Again. We were down there calling out teen: "Help! Help!" She was apparently offended by our lack of politeness, and wanted to explain to us that the flood was not fair to her.
Mops! Brooms! Shop-vacs! Panicked phone calls at nine at night! Yet another plumber! Yet another sump-pump! More aching backs and frozen feet and a late night of trying to salvage our stuff! Another big freakin' check!
See, it's the domestic stuff. I think that's why I write. I really do. I couldn't deal with the grind of my old life, and I wrote to escape. It's still the domestic stuff. And look at me right now! Cinderella is in the basement standing in cold water, and I'M HERE TYPING TO YOU!
I write because I can't take this shit no more too!
Yrs., Ahab
Rock On
I walked in there one day and the man working inside suddenly cried out, "I can't take this shit no more!" That was great, but even greater was the female cry from the back room: "I can't take this shit no more too!"
Tonight, again, Floodland. The new expensive sump pump was not expensive enough to stop the big Naperville rainstorm from inciting our subterranean well/spring/river from blowing out of the earth and filling the basement. Again. We were down there calling out teen: "Help! Help!" She was apparently offended by our lack of politeness, and wanted to explain to us that the flood was not fair to her.
Mops! Brooms! Shop-vacs! Panicked phone calls at nine at night! Yet another plumber! Yet another sump-pump! More aching backs and frozen feet and a late night of trying to salvage our stuff! Another big freakin' check!
See, it's the domestic stuff. I think that's why I write. I really do. I couldn't deal with the grind of my old life, and I wrote to escape. It's still the domestic stuff. And look at me right now! Cinderella is in the basement standing in cold water, and I'M HERE TYPING TO YOU!
I write because I can't take this shit no more too!
Yrs., Ahab
2/22/2009
The teenage rock and roll dream comes true. The mighty Sidewinders allowed me to use their great song, "Bad Crazy Sun" in The Devil's Highway. Then Calexico cut "Across the Wire." (See below.) Then Eric Holland cut "The Devil's Highway" and "Teresita" on two separate CDs. Then my BLOOD Shawn Phillips did the musical soundtrack to the Hummingbird's Daughter audiobook, and is releasing his own "The Devil's Highway" on his new live album. Then the punk godfathers, Squirtgun, recorded their own "Across the Wire" on their hot new live CD.
It can't get any better than this. Except IT JUST DID.
Hello, Bain Ennis, folk/bluegrass shaman of the southwest. He has recorded a video of his awesome new track, also called "The Devil's Highway," and it's posted on Youtube. I am so moved and grateful for all this Art flying around. Check it:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeQhf9K2iRk
God Bless the Singers.
Ever Yrs., L
Let's Play
It can't get any better than this. Except IT JUST DID.
Hello, Bain Ennis, folk/bluegrass shaman of the southwest. He has recorded a video of his awesome new track, also called "The Devil's Highway," and it's posted on Youtube. I am so moved and grateful for all this Art flying around. Check it:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeQhf9K2iRk
God Bless the Singers.
Ever Yrs., L
2/21/2009
Let's hook up on Twitter. We can chase each other all over the world.
And I'm over on Goodreads, if you wanna compare books.
Watch for the cool new luisurrea.com that's about to debut--featuring the new Into the Beautiful North theme. Mo' color! New gizmos!
Send me a Tweet.
Luigius Napervillius Urreaux
Thank you, University of Florida!
And I'm over on Goodreads, if you wanna compare books.
Watch for the cool new luisurrea.com that's about to debut--featuring the new Into the Beautiful North theme. Mo' color! New gizmos!
Send me a Tweet.
Luigius Napervillius Urreaux
2/19/2009
Thank you so much for selecting The Devil's Highway for your Common Reading program. I hope this book changes the world for you in some small way. See you in the fall!
Why I'm Smiling Today
2/18/2009
I've mentioned this before, but there have been these strange events where people have been writing songs about or inspired by some of my work. For a guy like me who, if I could have figured out a guitar, would not have written any books at all, this is the coolest thing ever.
Calexico. "Across the Wire." From their album, Feast of Wire.
Here's a video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkryXbJ14dE
PS--thank you to all the bloggers and twitterers who are starting to comment on Into the Beautiful North. I can't wait for it to get out into the general population. You have been very kind.
PPS--on to Hummingbird 2!
Yo, Chi-Town! Check It!!!
Calexico. "Across the Wire." From their album, Feast of Wire.
Here's a video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkryXbJ14dE
PS--thank you to all the bloggers and twitterers who are starting to comment on Into the Beautiful North. I can't wait for it to get out into the general population. You have been very kind.
PPS--on to Hummingbird 2!
2/15/2009 Keith Wilson
2/11/2009
One of the great southwestern masters died yesteraday. Keith Wilson, a good friend and a wise shaman of poems passed among family members in New Mexico. An exit full of love, which is what I would have wished for him. If you have never read Brother Wilson's wonderful verse, get a few volumes and rejoice in it. And, just for a moment, send up a bit of cedar smoke and a song for his soul. Weep that you did not know the grand old man of Mesilla and Las Cruces.
Adios, maestro. We'll catch up to you soon.
L
I Hear My Train A-Comin'
Adios, maestro. We'll catch up to you soon.
L
2/07/2009
A little tired. But the Illinois sun has broken through the icy sky, and the grass has appeared for the first time in months. I am back from Denver, Salt Lake and San Diego.
It seems there is real excitement out there about Into the Beautiful North. Thank you to all the librarians and independent booksellers I met: a solid hour signing for the former, and two and a half hours for the latter! My pal Jane Hamilton was on the flight with me to Salt Lake. We discovered each other in the back of the plane--same last row, across the aisle from each other. "Must be the cheapest seats on the plane," she said. We sat together at the same signing table in Salt Lake. It was a homey scene.
In Denver, the astounding Craig Johnson spoke before me. You must read his excellent mysteries. I wanted to pay my respects to him and the other authors on the stump, but you know thos elibrarians--party animals. We were swamped by our various supporters. A happy situation.
San Diego. Ah, San Diego. I spoke at Point Loma College--yo, they have the best surfing dorm in the USA! My host, Dean Nelson, was awesome. A progressive Christian in the Bono and Larry Norman mode. We were locked in ecstacies of laughter, revelation and even prohecy! Git down, Dean! You are a mad man! I know I catch flak from the snipers if I mention "famous" peeps on this blog--I am, I am often reminded, a whore--but, you know, that's who's out there. So, rock and roll fans will recall The Buffalo Springfield. Neil Young and Stephen Stills, et al. Among those pioneers was Richie Furay. I spent a cool day zooming around with Dean looking for Richie's guitar. I felt like a kid writing his first rock and roll column for an underground paper.
I won't bury you with tour-trivia (Sandy Dijkstra's unbelievable art collection, etc.) but I will say that the Point Loma event was pulsing with life. Something larger than us got in the room. Dean said, "The room was throbbing with love." Very, very, good. William Blake would have been happy--angels were burning in the corners.
Hey! Back to teaching English! But I will be coming to your town soon. I look forward to seeing the Heavenly Host with you.
Remember what Neil said with the Springfield: "Well hello, Mr. Soul, I dropped by to pick up a reason/ For the thought that I caught that my head is the event of the season/ Why in crowds just a trace of my face could seem so pleasin'/I'd cop out to the change but a stranger is putting the tease on...." Happy to be here. Happy to see sun again. Happy to write. Happy to meet you. Dude--live in Joy: it's a choice.
Yrs.,
Mr. Soul
It seems there is real excitement out there about Into the Beautiful North. Thank you to all the librarians and independent booksellers I met: a solid hour signing for the former, and two and a half hours for the latter! My pal Jane Hamilton was on the flight with me to Salt Lake. We discovered each other in the back of the plane--same last row, across the aisle from each other. "Must be the cheapest seats on the plane," she said. We sat together at the same signing table in Salt Lake. It was a homey scene.
In Denver, the astounding Craig Johnson spoke before me. You must read his excellent mysteries. I wanted to pay my respects to him and the other authors on the stump, but you know thos elibrarians--party animals. We were swamped by our various supporters. A happy situation.
San Diego. Ah, San Diego. I spoke at Point Loma College--yo, they have the best surfing dorm in the USA! My host, Dean Nelson, was awesome. A progressive Christian in the Bono and Larry Norman mode. We were locked in ecstacies of laughter, revelation and even prohecy! Git down, Dean! You are a mad man! I know I catch flak from the snipers if I mention "famous" peeps on this blog--I am, I am often reminded, a whore--but, you know, that's who's out there. So, rock and roll fans will recall The Buffalo Springfield. Neil Young and Stephen Stills, et al. Among those pioneers was Richie Furay. I spent a cool day zooming around with Dean looking for Richie's guitar. I felt like a kid writing his first rock and roll column for an underground paper.
I won't bury you with tour-trivia (Sandy Dijkstra's unbelievable art collection, etc.) but I will say that the Point Loma event was pulsing with life. Something larger than us got in the room. Dean said, "The room was throbbing with love." Very, very, good. William Blake would have been happy--angels were burning in the corners.
Hey! Back to teaching English! But I will be coming to your town soon. I look forward to seeing the Heavenly Host with you.
Remember what Neil said with the Springfield: "Well hello, Mr. Soul, I dropped by to pick up a reason/ For the thought that I caught that my head is the event of the season/ Why in crowds just a trace of my face could seem so pleasin'/I'd cop out to the change but a stranger is putting the tease on...." Happy to be here. Happy to see sun again. Happy to write. Happy to meet you. Dude--live in Joy: it's a choice.
Yrs.,
Mr. Soul
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