Michael Perry's Blog, page 55

That’s a Cassette, Kids

Back in the day I made little homemade displays, then drove my 1989 Ford Tempo to every Hwy 53 and I-94 Kwik Trip within 80 miles of New Auburn, introduced myself to the manager, and self-stocked these bad boys. Made the rounds when I could to restock and settle up. Just re-read the J-card and had a flood of memories. A special nod to a Rice Lake bookseller who stocked these and then stuck by me for 20-plus years on a ride neither of us expected.

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Fishing With “Chuck”

2009. A good day fishing with Charles “Chuck” Hanson.

I wrote about musky fishing and what led up to the photo above in the book Danger, Man Working:

Hanson, whose curly hair turned white long ago, is fishing a bucktail specially constructed to slip through weeds without snagging. He designed the lure himself, but as he points to a tackle box jammed with lures of every concoction, he says, “There’s nothing new under the sun . . . everything’s a variation on a theme.” His take on all the doodads available to today’s musky hunter is equally dismissive. “I used to study solar tables, lunar tables, subscribe to all the magazines, learn all the theories. Now my theory is that the best time to go musky fishing is whenever you can make it!”

Mr. Hanson died in the year following that fishing trip. What a pleasure it was to share that day with him. It remains a treasured memory.

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Michael Perry: A clear-eyed reflection on fitting in after a redeye flight from LA

Every week the Wisconsin State Journal runs “Roughneck Grace,” a weekly column written by Mike (many of the columns will be adapted from Mike’s Tent Show Radio monologues). This week’s column ‘Michael Perry: A clear-eyed reflection on fitting in after a redeye flight from LA‘ can be seen online here.

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Michael Perry: Regarding hummingbirds, brunch, country music and Jeff Bezos

Every week the Wisconsin State Journal runs “Roughneck Grace,” a weekly column written by Mike (many of the columns will be adapted from Mike’s Tent Show Radio monologues). This week’s column ‘Michael Perry: Regarding hummingbirds, brunch, country music and Jeff Bezos‘ can be seen online here.

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When the Binder Was a Movie Star

 

Throwback to when the ol’ Binder went from being in a book to being in a movie.

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Michael Perry: Blinded by the light, revved up by the misuse of another scanner in the night

Every week the Wisconsin State Journal runs “Roughneck Grace,” a weekly column written by Mike (many of the columns will be adapted from Mike’s Tent Show Radio monologues). This week’s column ‘Michael Perry: Blinded by the light, revved up by the misuse of another scanner in the night‘ can be seen online here.

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Shoulda Got A Finer Grind

It was a very large mug of very dark roast. I nursed it for nearly two hours. The final swig (yah, yer lookin’ at a spit-back) had some odd grounds in it. Coulda been worse.

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Michael Perry: Outside the USA, Fourth of July is just another crystalline summer day

Every week the Wisconsin State Journal runs “Roughneck Grace,” a weekly column written by Mike (many of the columns will be adapted from Mike’s Tent Show Radio monologues). This week’s column ‘Michael Perry: Outside the USA, Fourth of July is just another crystalline summer day‘ can be seen online here.

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Startled Little Buddha

“In a photo taken at three and a half months, I am sitting naked in the bathroom sink, my eyes are wide and my eyebrows are raised. I look like a startled little Buddha.”  – Truck: A Love Story

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The Cover Story – Million Billion

A while back I received the following email from a reader working his way through Million Billion:

Just received my copy, and as always I enjoy musing along with you at my own pace, always eager to embrace a new topic. I’m sure it comes as no surprise that it’s perfect sitting-on-the-john reading…you could market that angle. The question is what is the meaning of the cover artwork? I wish that were addressed.

First things first: When it comes to marketing, if someone at a book signing is wavering about buying one of my collections, I unabashedly invoke the “sitting-on-the-john” readability factor. I described this in the introduction to Roughneck Grace:

The last time we compiled a collection of these short pieces (From the Top), a man approached me at a signing, pointed at the stack beside me, and said, “That’s a great bathroom book!” Humbly, I nodded.

I just write’em. I don’t care where you read’em.

Some book covers I like at first sight. Others go through seventy-three iterations (the story of the original Truck cover is a doozy–one day I’ll write it up). The Million Billion cover was one of three designs submitted by graphic designer RT Vrieze of KNorth Studios (I worked with RT for years before it dawned on me that the “K” was silent…I’d been saying “K-North” like a doofus). Here are screen caps of the other two designs:

I like how this one invokes both wilderness and dollars.I’ve been a sucker for wood block printing ever since I visited Hatch Show Print in Nashville back in the 90s. And the scattered letters reflect the scattered nature of the essays.

Both of these designs appealed to me, but the final choice was easy. There was something about the openness of it; the greenness of it. I also enjoyed the informality of the torn labels, the way the ridiculously long subtitle was lain in on the Y-axis, and how the mosaic effect represented the multitude of short pieces included in the book. And this kicker: The soybean field picture was taken right down the road from our place.

RT wrote this about his design:

I think it…has a little bit more of a modern “high art” look to it while still feeling inviting and approachable. The idea behind that one was to have a picture of a field (back 40 reference) and it’s in a bunch of pieces to play on the collection of short essays that that book contains. Also, I wanted to use some tape, scrap paper and sketch lines to play with the kind of ongoing process this collection is… feels like it’s kind of a collection of marks and random bits that could have been collected over the period of the essays

The choice was easy. That cover makes me feel both peaceful and matter-of-fact about what I do, and what the book contains.

I close with thanks to RT. As someone mostly keyboard-bound, I marvel at anyone who can convey content and spirit through imagery.

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