Levon Helm, 1940 – 2012

Levon Helm died yesterday. A few days after announcing to his fans that he was in the final stages of his battle with cancer, he died surrounded by family, friends, and bandmates in New York.

In the time between the announcement on his website and his passing, there was an absolute outpouring of prayers and remembrances. Rightly so. On The Politics Blog, Charlie Pierce wrote a wonderful post, “Whip to Grave: Levon Helm, the Real Voice of America,” which placed Helm, The Band, and Music from Big Pink in their broader cultural context. At the same time, Albany’s Times Union posted an article about Levon’s meaningful connection to Woodstock and Ulster County. Levon was cherished as both an icon and a neighbor, and he will be sorely missed.

Those of you who visit this blog know that my novel draws its inspiration from folk music icons like Levon Helm, Bob Dylan, Dave van Ronk, and their contemporaries. While researching the book, I spent a lot of time reading profiles, memoirs, and interviews of these musicians, and on more than a few occasions, I was struck by the love and affection people had for Levon Helm. He seemed to be truly himself. And this authenticity endeared him to many.

There are too many articles and posts to list, but check out Michael Eck’s piece from the Times Union as well as the Rolling Stone article and NPR’s Fresh Air interview from 2007.

Reminder: Lauren Groff at NYSWI

Lauren Groff’s new book Arcadia is getting a lot of much-deserved attention these days. Including a review by Janet Maslin in The New York Times,  a review by Ron Charles in The Washington Post, a Must Read pick at The Daily Beast, and interviews with some of my favorites like Largehearted Boy and Brad Listi’s Other People.  (The list goes on, but you get the picture.)

Groff, who originally hails from Leatherstocking Country, will be in Albany today as part of the New York State Writers Institute’s Visiting Writers Series.  As usual, the Seminar will begin at 4:15 and the reading will start at 8:00.  Both events will take place in Assembly Hall at the University at Albany.

For more information on her books as well as links to cool stuff, visit www.laurengroff.com.

March, March, March

Well, it’s March 9th, and there’s a lot going on in Capital Region. I thought I’d take a moment to highlight some upcoming events and activities. March and April are always busy months, but it seems that the early spring/non-existent winter has a lot of people wandering around like zombies, soaking in the sunlight, looking for brainy events to attend. Here are a several happenings on the literary side.

Mini-Conference: Write Here! ~ Saturday, March 10th at The Arts Center (Troy)

The Arts Center of the Capital Region and the Hudson Valley Writers Guild have joined forces to present a “mini conference for and about writers and writing in and around the Capital Region.” This daylong event includes workshops and panel discussions. It should be fun. Here’s the link for more information or to register.  I’ll be there – so please say hi or pass me a knowing head-nod.

Reading: Margot Livesey and Jo Page ~ Tuesday, March 20th at 7:30 in the Albany Public Library (Albany).

Note: This event is part of the New York State Writers Institute’s Visiting Writers Series. The Writers Institute will also offer a 4:15 seminar in Assembly Hall, Campus Center at the University at Albany.

Confession: I love Margot Livesey. I’ve heard her read a couple times (Inkberry and NYSWI’s Summer Institute at Skidmore), and I was blown away.  Eva Moves the Furniture and The House on Fortune Street are both extraordinary novels (some of my favorites). Her new novel, The Flight of Gemma Hardy, is a retelling of Jane Eyre. I highly recommend fitting this event into your life.

Some of you may know Jo Page as the writer of “Reckonings,” a column in Metroland, but she’s also published fiction and nonfiction in various literary journals (Quarterly West, The South Carolina Review) and  taught writing workshops at the University at Virginia, Hudson Valley Community College, the New York State Writers Institute.  Another confession: I was a member of her NYSWI short fiction and creative non fiction workshop. She is wonderful, and I’m very excited that she’ll be reading with Margot Livesey.

Curiosity Forum: Memoirama with Marion Roach Smith ~ Sunday, March 25th from 2-5 at Hubbard Hall (Cambridge, NY).

Marion Roach Smith is the author of The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text of Writing & Life, a commentator on NPR’s “All Things Considered,” and a teacher. See her full bio here. Her website is full of useful information for writers.  This afternoon workshop springs from her popular Writing What You Know workshops at The Arts Center.  It’s a great kick in the pants for anyone interesting in writing memoir (or any genre for that matter).

Note: Curiosity Forum events are a collaboration between Battenkill Books, Hubbard Hall, and Leslie Parke Studios. They offer some amazing events in Southern Washington County. Check them out here or follow them through the website or their twitter account (@curiosityforum).

Reading: Lauren Groff ~ Tuesday, March 27th at 8:00 in Assembly Hall, Campus Center at the University at Albany.

Note: This event is part of the New York State Writers Institute’s Visiting Writers Series. The Writers Institute also offers a 4:15 seminar in Assembly Hall, Campus Center at the University at Albany.

Lauren Groff is the author of The Monsters of Templeton and Delicate Edible Birds. Her new book Arcadia is due out this month. From her website: “In the fields and forests of western New York State in the late 1960s, several dozen idealists set out to live off the land, founding what becomes a famous commune centered on the grounds of a decaying mansion called Arcadia House. Arcadia follows this lyrical, rollicking, tragic, and exquisite utopian dream from its hopeful start through its heyday and beyond.” I can’t wait to read this book.

Reading/Presentation: Rachel Maddow ~ Sunday, March 31st at 1:00 at Manchester Elementary School (Manchester, VT).

This event is presented by Northshire Books, but, due to the anticipated audience size, it was relocated to Manchester Elementary School. It’s Rachel Maddow. Enough said. See this link for more details.

God, I Love This

Dave van Ronk – Gambler’s Blues / St. James Infirmary, 1959

Have a great weekend.

Open House: Little Red Schoolhouse

This Sunday, Kate (my wife) and Mackenzie of Meatbagz will host their first annual Open House/Holiday Sale at the Little Red Schoolhouse in Cossayuna, NY. Cossayuna is about 30 minutes east of Saratoga Springs or 60 minutes north of Troy. The Open House promises to be a great event. Unique. Handmade. Local. Check it out. (The poster provides the essential info.)

Now, I realize that many of you don’t live within driving distance to the Little Red Schoolhouse. If that’s your excuse, you can always visit the Meatbagz Etsy shop or check out the Meatbagz blog.

Chadwick Stokes

Really wish I could’ve seen Chadwick Stokes (and Amy Helm) last night at good ol’ Valentine’s, but, alas, it was not in the cards. I was home – burned out, exhausted, and buried by grant proposals. Actually, I spent about an hour staring at the binding of The Brothers Karamasov, trying to will myself to crack it open and read a dozen pages. One measly chapter. That’s just how it is.

BUT…that said…there’s always the internet.

If interested in Stokes, see if you can find last night’s interview on WEXT (www.exit977.org), which was just what I needed to drive me home last night. I’ll try to locate and link to it later. Let me just say that Stokes and WEXT talk about old school train jumping, cross-country rail riding, Carly Simon, and the execution of Troy Davis.  Great interview and a couple great songs (including “All My Possessions”).  I’m disappointed that, at this point in my existence, I don’t have time for such impulsive endeavors (there is no “on a whim” these days), but at least WEXT and YouTube give me something. Every little bit counts.

Mr. Clemens and His 176 Candles

It’s the last day of November, which means that it’s Mark Twain day for the literary-minded (and Google’s home page).

For my part, I’ll leave you with a couple quotations, an image, and some silent film footage. Also, you can visit the PBS “scrapbook” Twain site here. It was created to accompany the Ken Burns documentary, which, for the love of God, you should watch if you haven’t already.

You need not expect to get your book right the first time. Go to work and revamp or rewrite it. God only exhibits his thunder and lightning at intervals, and so they always command attention. These are God’s adjectives. You thunder and lightning too much; the reader ceases to get under the bed, by and by.

- Letter to Orion Clemens, 23 March 1878 (www.twainquotes.com).

I confess. I thunder and lightning all over the place…

And here’s film footage of Mark Twain at Stormfield, 1909 (taken by Edison):

I came in with Halley’s Comet in 1835. It is coming again next year, and I expect to go out with it. It will be the greatest disappointment of my life if I don’t go out with Halley’s Comet. The Almighty has said, no doubt: ‘Now here are these two unaccountable freaks; they came in together, they must go out together.’

Tom Perrotta @ NYS Writers Institute

Well, today, Tom Perrotta will be visiting the New York State Writers Institute in sunny Albany. Perrotta’s new novel, The Leftovers, begins with a Rapture-like event called the Sudden Departure.  But it’s not the Rapture that so many thought it would be. Many Christians “couldn’t help noticing that many of the people who’d disappeared on October 14th–Hindus and Buddhist and Muslims and Jews and atheists and animists and homosexuals and Eskimos and Mormons and Zoroastrians, whatever the heck they were–hadn’t accepted Jesus Christ as their personal savior.”

Offering his own suburban, satirical take on post-apocalyptic literature (The Left Behind series for one), Perrotta creates a cast of recognizable small town characters who struggle to forge new connections, save old relationships, find meaning in their post-Sudden Departure world, and come to terms with their “leftover memories.”

Here’s the link to NYSWI’s profile on Perrotta.

Of course, you may know Perrotta from Little Children, Election, or The Abstinence Teacher. (Has anyone out there read The Wishbones? If so, I want to talk to you.) Word is that The Leftovers is being developed (adapted by Perrotta) as a series for HBO (See the LA Times piece).

As always, the Institute will host a seminar at 4:15 and a reading at 8:00 – both in Assembly Hall in the Campus Center at the University at Albany. Should be a good time. Hope to see you there.

Problem-Solving Pitfalls

Sometimes, in life and in writing, you run into problems you just can’t solve by yourself. That’s when it’s time to call in the big guns.

Still, despite how it turns out, I’d hire him in a flash (if he could write). At least it would be a productive march to oblivion.

I’ve Got Nothin’ … So Let’s Get Random

Three seemingly random thoughts w/links to throw your way…

First, Megan Abbott’s reading at Frequency North was a good time. Her writing has a real pulse to it, a noir-like urgency. So, for those of you looking for a good crime novel/psychological thriller to beat back the autumn chill, check out The End of Everything. Here’s the Indiebound link.

Second, I woke up with this song in my head. Even though it doesn’t make much sense, I can’t help but wonder if Veterans Day brought it on (my father’s father was a WWII veteran). Here’s a link to The Civil Wars official site. Why not? It’s Friday, and I’m a linking fool.

“My Father’s Father” by The Civil Wars

Third, thanks to the writing workshop, this piece has been floating around my head since Tuesday night. As my Twitter feed points out, I’m also reading “The Erlking,” a short story by Sarah Shun-lien Bynum, which appeared in the New Yorker last year. Read the Goethe poem here.

“The Erlking (Der Erlkoig)” – Schubert’s take on Goethe’s poem.

So there you have it.  Don’t say I didn’t warn you.