Michael Perry's Blog, page 401
January 27, 2010
Thank You, See You
Thank you to everyone in Rhinelander. Especially everyone who worked so hard behind the scenes to bring it together. Got introduced by a true "Nobbern" girl! Seats full, my heart too. And thank you to the EMS and FD "vollies" in attendance. Earlier I discussed writing and bear-skinning at a local school and was treated to the finest pasty I've had in ages. For those of you checking in from somewhere other than Cornwall, England (or da U.P.), it's pronounced pass-ty. I had the basic...
January 26, 2010
Mister Montaigne
Been re-reading Montaigne. Devouring him, in fact. Among other things, it is bracing to read 430-year-old essays and be reminded that human inconsistency is ever consistent.
January 25, 2010
COOP on the Radio
Weekdays from now until February 12, Jim Fleming will be reading Coop: A Year of Poultry, Pigs and Parenting on Wisconsin Public Radio's "Chapter A Day." Jim has a wonderful reading voice (I have learned he is a favorite of rural mail carriers) and you can listen to a live stream of the reading right here.
Getting Closer
We'll have some more album news on February 1. In the meantime three tracks are still streaming on MySpace.
January 23, 2010
Hanging Out With Mother
Just received a note from New York City informing me that over on the Mother Earth News website, they're running an excerpt from Coop.
The chickens will be just tickled.
January 22, 2010
IHalloween
Came across a photo from last Halloween. A certain number of you will recognize my costume. The block on my head was actually the same red as the rest of the costume but the flash made it look pale.
January 21, 2010
Fire and EMS for Real(ity)
Quite a bit of first responder training lately*, and even a call or two. With every year (20 of'em now, if my math is right), I grow more grateful that I wandered into the firefighting/EMS world. I cherish the camaraderie, I cherish the shared language, I cherish the action, I cherish the privilege of being able to get in there and do our best to help, and above all I love how carrying a pager keeps me centered on the idea that each and every one of us is a mortal vulnerable being, so...
January 20, 2010
Both Backwards
As you know I publicly track my authorial errors with an Oops! tag. Therefore I enjoyed this entry on Terry Teachout's blog, especially since a few sharp-eyed readers have noticed that the image on the hardcover of Truck: A Love Story is similarly reversed. The Pops biography is terrific, by the way. It was one of those books I parsed out so as not to devour it all at once. Teachout is especially thought-provoking when addressing Armstrong's lifelong navigation between artistic endeavor a...
January 19, 2010
Singing on Sunday
For reasons I've written about at length in other places, I call myself a bumbling agnostic. But I love to sing hymns. So I resonated with this quote from a longer article on Brian Eno:
"I belong to a gospel choir. They know I am an atheist but they are very tolerant. Ultimately, the message of gospel music is that everything's going to be all right. If you listen to millions of gospel records – and I have – and try to distil what they all have in common it's a sense that somehow we can...
January 18, 2010
Miscellaneous Law Enforcement Tips
Talked to a retired sheriff's deputy last night. He says the key to successfully breaking up a bar brawl is to turn the siren on about a mile out and slow down so everyone has plenty of time to clear out…
