Greetings from the West Coast. Just realized I haven't reported on the two readings so far, Saturday night in Santa Cruz and last night in Berkeley. Both were fantastic (thanks for coming, all!) and we met lots of nice new folks and sold some books.
Santa Cruz is a beautiful city--complete with sea lions lolling around under the pier [photos to come] and an amusement park on the beach. S & I stayed at a great place with gorgeous garden and a little patio. Even got some writing done. Jen stayed with her friend Nick in San Jose, who came down for the reading too. Hit all but one bookstore in town and scored Creeley's Collected 1945-1975 (lots of stuff I didn't have, including pieces published only in magazines), The Vandals by Alan Michael Parker (our Davidson, NC host a few weeks ago), and best of all, Lush Life by Bill Berkson. It's #623 of 750 copies, from Kenward Elmslie's Z Press. A bit of foxing on the back cover, and a scar from an antitheft tag inside, but for $9 I couldn't pass it up. Also, Jim Maughn suprised me a copy of his DIY chapbook With Out Much. (Don't know if it's available for purchase, but if it is, I'll add the link to the other blog!)
Then yesterday we drove up to San Francisco, where we immediately hit City Lights (and I got Captive Audience by Bob Perelman, A Thousand Devils by Kasey Mohammad--Jen and I fought over it, I won--and Susan Wheeler's novel Record Palace. Damn, I love that store. Noted with delight Justin's chapbook displayed face out in the consignment section! Wanted to also get the Koch collected, but thought better of packing it. Then Cafe Vesuvio for a beer, an Italian joint up the street for lunch, and coffee from Cafe Trieste before heading to the hotel for a little nap. The reading last night was great fun--despite one INSANE dude in the audience heckling, harrassing, and stinking up the place. Got to congratulate Ilya on his amazing award in person, meet Pappy Rob's friend Bree (sp?), Jen's friend Roxy, hang out with Chris Stroffolino, and finally meet Clay, who's a doll. Went for a few drinks at Beckett's (deep-lined portraits of the writer everywhere and Irish-style snugs) till I got terribly sleepy. Perked up for some pool-sitting after our 30 minute Bart trip.
In a bit we head up to Ashland to see Kasey. Jen's gonna freeze because she packed for CA and Texas, not Mt. Shasta. And the forecast all the way up 5 is rain turning to snow in Ashland this evening. But surely we'll spot a Target from the HOV lane...
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