Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    

Didn't a famous honkytonk guitar player cut off a knuckle 
of a non-critical finger on the bar there?  To satisfy 
a bet?  That's a story I vaguely remember.

dgans:  re another T Bone,  I don't know another.  
I wonder if the demand for the music he serves up
for soundtracks like O Brother is sufficient to warrant
competition.  I bring it up here because I think Kathi 
knows enough of the different facets of that vein of music
so she could make a judgement.   She could do it herself.
So could you,  Gansito.  But is the demand for this kind 
of music sufficient?  

Kind of a rhetorical question,  which only instinct can
answer.  
  

    
did I miss your Bay Area book signings? Or are they coming up?
  

    
Whoa--I never heard that knuckle-cutting story! 

About booksignings...they're coming up starting Sept. 20 at Readers' Books 
in Sonoma. Here's the whole list, so far:

9/20: Readers' Books, Sonoma, CA 
9/23: Booksmith, San Francisco, CA 
9/25: Books Inc., San Francisco, CA 
9/26: Book Passage, Corte Madera, CA (with band) 
9/27: Cody's, Berkeley, CA 
9/28: College of San Mateo Book Festival
10/1: Bookshop Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 
10/3: Copperfield's, Santa Rosa, CA 

10/8: Phoenix, AZ 
10/9: Tucson, AZ 
10/10: Tattered Cover, Denver, CO 
10/12-10/13: Southern Festival of Books, Nashville, TN 
10/14-16: Memphis, Birmingham 
10/18: DeMarco's 23 Club (Friends/Family/Press party with band) 
10/20: Northwest Festival of Books, Seattle, WA 
10/23: Barnes & Noble, NY 
10/29: Borders, Sacramento (with John Lescroart) 
10/30: Rakestraw Books, Danville, CA 

11/4: Powell's, Portland, OR 
11/9: National Kidney Foundation, Sacramento, CA 
11/11: Detroit Jewish Book Festival 
11/12: Atlanta Jewish Book Festival 
11/16: National Kidney Foundation, San Francisco, CA (with band) 
11/21-24: Miami Book Fair 
(includes 2 performances with the Remainders, on the 22nd (Scotty's 
Landing, Coconut Grove) and 23rd (Bayside marketplace, Miami)
  

    

So what are we in Silicon Valley, chopped liver?  No book appearances at
Borders or Kepler's?  Harrumph.
  

    
yeah, I guess they didn't request signings. That's how they do it, by 
store requests and who supports the book with good-sized orders...at least 
that's how we do it at Harper San Francisco, my day job.
  

    
Though actually there was some talk about Borders...I'll have to ask and 
see what happened.
  

    
In case anyone missed this offer in news: I have a copy of the book I can
lend to anyone who wants to drive up into the Berkeley hills to pick it up.
  

    

Kathi, you've spent much of your adult life surrounded by authors:
professionally, as a literary escort and at Harper San Francisco, as well as
socially and even, for better or worse, musically. Did being around all
these writers make it inevitable, or at least easier, for you to write a
book, or was it at times an obstacle? I think I might be intimidated to even
write out a grocery list if I was hanging around with Amy Tan.
  

    
man, this is exciting, being here with <leroy> and <kkg>, two of my
heroines on the Well! 

if my car wasn't kerplunkt, i'd drive up to your house, <pk>, to
borrow the book, since barnes and noble in el cerrito said yesterday
that they won't even have it until mid-september (what?!). but, i
suppose (fervently hope) that i can get one tomorrow at the books, inc
signing. and, of course, i'll be soliciting a ride to hear your band
monday night in corte madera, kathi. this is all SO cool!

ok, enough gushing interruption; carry on...  
  

    
Email from Sam:

I loved this book--it was a fun, bittersweet ride through honky-tonk
music land. Who do you see playing the lead in the movie? And Kathi, are
you writing another book? --Sam
  

    
And when did Bob Wills record "...Shoes..." before Ray Price? 
  

    

Bob Wills and Lee Ross wrote the song. I don't know when it was first
recorded, but I think Ray Price had his big hit with it in 1957. This was a
time when Bob Will s was going through some major health and financial
problems, so maybe he didn't record it himself until later. I don't think
most people think of it as a Bob Wills song.
  

    
Dang right they don't. Nor do I recognize the name Lee Ross. Anyway,
back to our regularly scheduled program. 
  

    
I'm not sure--I know that Bob Wills and Ross Lee are credited with writing 
the song, but Ray Price had the hit.

As for writing, Elizabeth, it's a little of both. When I had to come up 
with a chapter for the Remainders' book, Mid-Life Confidential, that would 
hold up in a series of essays by the likes of Amy Tan, Stephen King, and 
Barbara Kingsolver (the answer to Stephen?) I was pretty paralyzed. I 
would think I was getting somewhere and be kind of porud of my work, and 
then Amy would call to read a paragraph for fact-checking, and I'd hear 
this perfect jewel coming across the phone lines, and throw mine away. But 
I got through it, and the process, the actual writing, was more intereting 
and fun than I'd anticipated. With the Rock & Roll joke book (which was a 
pretty stupid book, really) Dave Marsh and I worked together. I really 
couldn't tell you who wrote what, or who found which jokes, except for a 
couple. The most important thing about that project was Sandy Choron, 
Dave's agent, who took me on as a kindness to him, became my friend, and 
ultimately (based on a series of funny emails) urged me to try writing 
comic fiction.

Around that time, I showed up at a writers conference where the Remainders 
were scheduled to perform. The good ladies in charge of the event were 
very aware of social heirarchy and so all the authors were invited to 
parties throughout the weekend, and because I wasn't an "author" I wasn't 
included. I'm not saying it wasn't more FUN to hang out with the drummer 
and roadies, but as the organizer of the band, the one who brought 
everyone together, I felt dissed. I mean, you can trash my writing and I 
won't care. But don't leave me off the party list--I'll hold a grudge.

I gave myself a little "I'll show 'em" pep talk, and got started on 
"Shoes" shortly after that weekend. Now, these are not the conventionally 
accepted motives for writing a novel, and I'm not proud of the fact that 
it was not the irresistable, burning urge to write, but ruffled feathers, 
that sent me to the keyboard.

A year later, when I shyly and proudly presented by first draft to Sandy, 
her response was: "You listened to me? NO ONE ever listens to me!"

I felt like a big, wet dog presenting its owner with a dead bird.
  

    
woops--leroy slipped, and it's Lee Ross, not Ross Lee!
  

    

Ha! Good for Sandy. She's right about comic fiction: this book is a
veritable cornucopia of fine puns (my favorite is the title of the limo
driver's autobiography--I hope you're going to follow up on that in a future
novel). And personally I think "I'll show the bastards" revenge is a
perfectly good motivation for wirting.

In the book, when Sarah Jean finds herself up the creek, she goes home to
what turns out to be everybody's dream--an extended family that is so
utterly nurturing, accepting, encouraging, affectionate, and endlessly
entertaining, I wanted to curl up under the sofa in fetal position and wait
for them to come adopt me. Do you think part of the reason why you're so
creative and talented etc. is because you grew up in a similarly validating,
encouraging environment full of role models?
  

    

I can't find any inofrmation on either Lee Ross or Ross Lee. Reckon who the
heck it was?
  

    
I feel like I'm losing track of the questions here, a little...

(leroy) mentioned Amy Tan back there, and I have to say she has been an 
amazing supporter of "Shoes"--she read my manuscript while we were flying 
around the country on a Remainders tour. I sat next to her on planes, 
pretending to be reading "White Teeth", while trying to notice the pages 
on which Amy giggled, or --once--fell asleep (p. 142--I ripped it right 
out of the manuscript!). She supplied a blurb before the book was even 
sold, and of course she is the inspiration for the "Amy" character, one of 
Sarah Jean's friends. Just don't ask me anything about "White Teeth", OK?

As for the next project...I have an idea about four old women trying to 
finance their breakout from the convalescent home. Haven't started yet, 
but the characters are starting to assert themselves. That seems to come 
first, plot is harder and requires long walks and actual time to think.
  

    
(leroy) slipped again! >>Do you think part of the reason why you're so
 creative and talented etc. is because you grew up in a similarly 
validating, encouraging environment full of role models?<<

Absolutely! Hey, did (betty) ask you to write that question? Seriously, 
for those who don't know, (pk) is my little brother and (betty) is our 
mom. There was an unusual amount of acceptance of peculiarities in our 
family, I think, and a lot of good-natured teasing and joking. My parents 
were NOT honky-tonk musicians, but they certainly supported my passion for 
music, Paul's passion for sailing, etc. Aside from the fact that we were 
never allowed suger or white bread, it was great fun!


            
  

    
Also, someone said something about a reading coming up this week! Nothing 
happens till the 20th of September, I'm afraid...
  

    
Hey, read White Teeth when you're not so nervous. Really funny book,
and if it upsets you how good she is at her young age, remember that
she's said that there's this upcoming novel and the next, and then
she's gonna quit. 
  

    
Chalk me up as another who wondered where the CD was, Kathi.

I found this a fascinating read--just as good on BART as it must have been
on that boat to Hawaii.

What are your connections to Clear Lake, Kathi?  Do you have family or 
property there?  
  

    
Email from Sam:

What's the difference between song-writing and fiction writing? What's a
nice Jewish girl from Long Island like you doing writing about goy
country singer?  What's a nice goy guy like me doing asking a question
like that? --Sam Barry
  

    
Aha! Sam checks in. Some of you may know Sam as the guy with the suitcase 
full of harmonicas at the SingThings.

Anyway...>>What are your connections to Clear Lake, Kathi?  Do you have 
family or property there?<<

I have dear friends who live there, and have visited many times; also, we 
do an annual summer pilgrimage so Tony can see Weird Al perform at Konocti 
Harbor. The place fascinates me. It's gorgeous, but old-timers whine about 
the mercury levels in the water. The county boasts the highest percentage 
of parolees in the state of California, and every time I go up there there 
is something in the paper about some teenager's basement methamphetamine 
lab getting busted, or some scandal with the high school football coach. 
There are Pomo reservations with gambling casinos, Native American 
legends about the origins of the mountains and the lake, odd spiritual 
communities nestled in the hills, survivalists, and goat cheese farmers. 
Everyone coexists in this sort of back-to-basics small-town America 
atmosphere.                

I wrote a lot of the book in a little cabin at the Skylark Shores Resort 
in Lakeport. My ritual upon hitting town was checking into my room, 
collecting whatever I had left there accidentally on my last visit (from 
the proprietors of the motel) and my desk chair (from my friends, 
who kept it for me), and making an appointment for a manicure, pedicure,
 wash and blow-dry at Tangles, the neighborhood hair salon.
 That is the BEST way I know to hit town as a stranger and catch up on
 all the gossip in one afternoon.

I'll answer Sam's questions in the next post.
  

    
>>What's the difference between song-writing and fiction writing?<<

About 300 pages (rim shot!)

Seriously, a song and a novel can both tell a story, of course. But a song 
can be a reflection of one teensy moment in time, one feeling, one point 
of view. A hook can be three words long, and repeated over and over again. 
A novel has to have a plot, and your editor will complain if you repeat 
things. The characters have to be developed into at least 
semi-believable people. On the other hand, most people expect most songs, 
especially country songs, to have some sort of rhyming and rhythmic 
structure, where a novel allows you to spread out and play around a 
little more, with voice, structure, and time. 

Writing a novel is a much longer and more intimate experience. It's also 
lonelier. I've written a lot of songs with other people--that would be 
unthinkable with fiction, though I'm not sure why. I'm a great appreciator 
of good editing, that's for sure.

 >>how did a nice Jewish girl from Long Island...?<<

When I was in Junior High, everyone I knew had a little plastic transistor 
radio. Mine was turquoise, and cracked along one side, but it worked fine, 
and like all my classmates I stuck it under my pillow at night in order 
to hear my favorite rock & roll stars on WMCA and WABC, after lights-out.

But what I got instead was WWVA, riding in on a clear-channel frequency 
from Wheeling West Virginia after the sun went down. Patsy Cline, the 
Louvin Brothers, Porter Wagoner, George Jones, singing these amazing songs 
with gut-wrenching stories and wonderful harmonies. And then there was 
Brother Al the evangelist, and commercials for stuff I'd never heard of, 
like chewing tobacco. I was hooked! But I was smart enough to know it 
would be social death to go around talking about this stuff at my school, 
so it was kind of a secret. Later on, I jumped on the folk music band 
wagon pretty early: learned some guitar, started performing at school 
hootenannies, went to the Newport Folk Festivals starting in 1964. After 
college, when the LA country-rock thing (and later, the Urban Cowboy 
thing) were happening, I found that I actually had a foundation and a love 
for that music. I was in a few bands, which I quickly discovered was a 
very good way for a nice Jewish girl from Long Island to justify hanging out in 
sleazy bars.