We can change the world

Thanks Dave vE for reminding us!

The Virgin Project

The Virgin Project, Real People Share Real Stories by K.D. Boze & Stasia Kato (Girlie Press, $25.00)

The first temptation is to approach this book with a sly snicker. So, go ahead and get that out of your system now. It would be a shame to dismiss this earnest volume out of hand. Kevin Boze and his cousin Stasia Kato interviewed attendees of the Seattle Erotic Art Festival to solicit these true stories. You can still submit your story on their website. First names have been changed and yet, you'll find yourself recognizing these people. Some stories do produce smiles and laughs, but many also show a darker side to the circumstances of the "de-flowering". A few these accounts start out lightly, hesitantly, and then suddenly the remembering is too much, one woman rips off the sign she's been wearing around her neck and declares herself a "victim" no more. It becomes obvious as you read these accounts, how empowering the telling of these stories can be. What might have seemed a light hearted chuckle has become very human by the time you finish this graphic anthology.

Kevin and Stasia's drawings give a special lilt to the pages. While celebrating the joy of the human body in all its forms, they can also portray cringe worthy teens awkwardly caught by the folks mid-tryst.

K.D. Boze will sign copies of the Virgin Project next Saturday, April 19th between 2 and 4pm

I wanta give a shout out!

One of the most amusing people I've found on myspace is Gay Bigfoot.

he's the D00d behind Golden Gals Gone Wild!


nuff said!

LOLberta!

Scrolling through old photos, I captioned this tonight. Those of you who were there, know what I'm talkin' about.

Billy Collins, Forgetfulness

the Church of Arlo

I saw in the Friday book listings, that Arlo Guthrie would be appearing at the Richard Hugo House this morning at 11. At the last moment, Ricardo picked me up and we dashed to Capital Hill, arriving five minutes late. Luckily there was a parking spot right in front and two vacant chairs at the end of the row. We sat down just as the woman introducing finally finished her question about artist's process involving bees and spiders and the various methods of storytelling and seeds of inspiration at 11:15 and Arlo said "I don't even know how to answer that!" For the next hour and a half we sat in the restored Victorian homes' front parlor and heard from a master story teller.

He assured us that in the words of his father, he was here to tell us something we already knew. Thereafter the stories rambled here and there and there were songs about cornbread, peas and black molasses and the Calumet Miner's Strike in 1914. He spoke of Pete Seeger and the marches he had been to. At the last unfolding of the AIDs blanket he suddenly realized there was no music. The organizers were trying to re-create something they hadn't been to, they didn't have history with, and they hadn't brought music to the movement.

Arlo gave us a good history lesson of his father's songs, and the history they recorded. Woody's photographic memory could recall exact situations years later. At the Italian Hall Disaster, 73 children were killed when someone shouted "Fire!" during a 1913 Calumet Christmas party thrown for the striking miner's families and the doors to the hall were blocked by the thugs. It wasn't in any history book until Woody recorded it years later and the song became popular.

For many years, there were no recordings of Woody in a live appearance. No way to know how a song was supposed to be played. Sheet music had the scores, and some songs were recorded at Woody's NY publisher, but no concert footage. Last year a guy brought in a wire recording he had made in 1949, Woody being introduced to NY society by Arlo's mother. Woody's stories rambled here and there no matter how made she tried to steer him back towards a song. Finally being able to hear his father in front of an audience, Arlo realized he hadn't "invented" himself, the rambling style of Alice's Restaraunt, Woody had!

What a lovely way to spend a Sunday morning! Hope yours was equally nice.

Baseball Season!

Mike Urban has mad photo skillz!

Ah, the first pitches have been thrown, the first swings have been taken, and the season starts. How could April be the cruelest month, when baseball is here? In Seattle, Safeco Field had the roof closed for the Mariner opener; outside there was snow, then hail, followed by bursts of sunshine, as if the game were being played in the Midwest in early spring.

There is an adage when it comes to sports writing that the smaller the ball, the better the writing. I’m not familiar with great writing on golf or tennis, so I guess that leaves me to recommend some new baseball books.

Jim Reisler’s The Best Game Ever: Pirates vs. Yankees October 13, 1960 (Carroll and Graf $26.00) is fine baseball writing. After years of cellar dwelling, the Pittsburgh Pirates had slowly rebuilt their team during the 1950’s, signing good pitchers such as Vernon Law and Bob Friend, as well as position players like Dick Groat and the great Roberto Clemente. In 1960, the Pirates put it all together and won the National League pennant. In the Series that year they faced the Yankee juggernaut, a team that included Whitey Ford, Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris and Yogi Berra. In the seven game series, the Yankees proved very dominant indeed in the games they won, beating the Pirates by scores of 16-3, 10-0 and 12-0. But the Pirates hung tough and won three games of their own, going into game seven.

Reisler weaves his account of this game around each inning with deft social history and biography of the people involved. Pittsburgh was still ‘steel town’, a working class city that at that time ranked 16th highest in US city population. (It is now 51st). The players did not belong to a union, and though they were well-paid for that time, they were certainly not rich, and most held off-season jobs. 1960 was also an election year, and both Kennedy and Nixon campaigned heavily in Pennsylvania.

The game itself was a see-saw affair, with the Pirates taking the early lead, only to lose it to the Yanks. Pittsburgh came back to lead again, only to see the Bronx Bombers tie it up in the top of the ninth, setting up Bill Mazeroski’s at bat against Ralph Terry in the bottom of the ninth. As Reisler reminds us, no one who was alive in Pittsburgh on that day will ever forget where and when they heard on the radio Maz’s shot over the left field wall of old Forbes Field to provide the only walk-off home run to end a seven game World Series.


Another fun book is from the group at Baseball Prospectus and edited by Steve Goldman, It Ain’t Over ‘Til It’s Over (Basic Books $25.95), which examines some of the classic Pennant races over the years. It looks at such teams as the 1967 ‘miraculous’ Red Sox, the 1964 Cardinals that won over a Phillies team that had lead most of the way, the 1944 St. Louis Browns in the only year that franchise won a pennant, and, my favorite, the 1959 LA Dodgers who blended an old team of the “Boys of Summer” with new players like Sandy Koufax and Maury Wills. (My favorite because I was a nine-year old lad who was fortunate enough to have his grandpa take him the third game of the World Series that year; the Dodgers beat the White Sox 3-1.) This book is geared to statheads, but isn’t limited to them. The races are well-narrated so that even those fans who don’t like stats will enjoy the book.

Both of these books are available at Jackson Street Books and fine Independent Bookstores everywhere!

Well, I’m off to my fantasy baseball draft. Wish me luck.