Packing and Unpacking

Make It Stop in the Midwest, John Albert, Sisu

Greetings from 30,000 feet! When you read this I’ll likely be en route to Madison, Wisconsin. Or, I could be eating curly fries at DFW. Who knows? It’s all part of the cosmic unconsciousness.

In today’s newsletter I’d like to tell you about this week’s events, recap my trip to Arizona, share some somber news, and recommend a hella violent movie. Let’s get to it…

Make It Stop Midwest Tour Part 1

Here are the events I’ve got planned this week. Please note, some details may have changed since last week. Also, next week I’ll be in Detroit, Columbus, Indianapolis, and Cleveland.

Thursday May 11
Black Saddle Bikes in Madison, Wisconsin at 7pm.
I’ve never read at a bike shop before but we can thank Ben Leroy for this event since he’s the one who invited me out and help put it all together. Thanks, Ben! Also, bags of CORPORATE COFFEE SUCKS! will be available for purchase.

Friday May 12
SubText Books in St. Paul, Minnesota at 7pm with Emma Johnson.
I planned the events in St. Paul and Chicago to coincide with a pair of OFF! shows and I can’t wait to get my face melted off by some ripping conspiracy-core. Emma is an old acquaintance, longtime Razorcake contributor, and an all-around rad person.

Saturday May 13
Exile in Bookville, Chicago, Illinois at 7pm with Joe Meno & Amelia Estelle Dellos
I haven’t seen Joe since the last time I was in Chicago when I did a reading for Forest of Fortune with him and Erika T. Wurth. He published a new book last year I’m looking forward to checking out called Book of Extraordinary Tragedies. I don’t have accommodations for Chicago so if anyone has recommendations I’m all ears. I’ll be in Lincoln Park to see OFF! and looking to head north to Milwaukee in the morning if that helps…

Monday May 15
Lion’s Tooth in Milwaukee, Wisconsin at 6pm
Technically, Sunday is a day off so I’ll be looking to get into some mischief. What kind of mischief? Would a secret show with a Razorcake contributor qualify? Hmmm… On Monday, I’ll be presenting at Lion’s Tooth and the co-owners, Shelly and Cris, could not be more welcoming. I’ve never been to Milwaukee and I’m excited to see what’s shaking.

Zig-zagging through Arizona

The Make It Stop Southwest Tour with J.D. O’Brien (aka Joe) was a ton of fun. I couldn’t ask for a better traveling companion. It’s been fun to see people get excited about his novel, Zig Zag, which I think is going to make some noise during awards season when all is said and done. It’s a remarkably accomplished debut and you owe it to yourself to check it out. The most surprising thing about Joe? He knows everything. From pulp crime novels to ‘70s trucker movies to straightedge hardcore, he knows a lot of shit about a lot of shit.

We started out in Scottsdale, which is not a place where I’ve spent a lot of time, even though I lived in the state for three years and have been back to Arizona dozens of times since, but I enjoyed my stay this time around. We got a really cheap rate at a golf resort even though the weather was ridiculously good (usually Arizona resorts get cheaper in the summer) and it was remarkably understaffed. The place didn’t feel deserted per se but this air of permissibility hung over the grounds, like the moment we stopped acting like proper guests chaos would erupt.

We also received an exceptionally warm welcome at Poisoned Pen, the bookstore devoted to crime, mystery, and thrillers. Patrick Millikin was the host and he wowed us with the depth and breadth of his knowledge of our books. All the heavy hitters in the crime world have read there and it says a lot about Patrick that two indie writers got the same treatment. He’s also a big Bad Religion fan (we’re everywhere). I could go on but here’s a video of the event if you’re interested.

Next we headed down to Tucson where Joe’s press, Schaffner Press, set up an event at Wooden Tooth Records. I love events in record stores. There’s more energy and the vibe is more casual. In addition to meeting Joe’s editors I got to meet Tucson writer Stacey Richter and Green on Red’s Dan Stewart. We stayed at a little hotel that had been renovated in the retro style and they served the most powerful coffee I’ve tasted in years. It was so strong I was practically levitating.

The following day we drove up to Flagstaff, my old stomping grounds. It was a little weird to be in Flagstaff again after having just been there. We did a book signing at Bright Side Books who squeezed us in at the last minute. Lots of my old friends and colleagues came by. Chelsea Hodson, who lives down the road in Sedona, stopped by. She’s launched a new press called Rose Books and a memoir by Thursday’s Geoff Rickly called Someone Who Isn’t Me is the first title. Exciting stuff happening in northern Arizona!

Afterwards, we went to Uptown Pubhouse, which my old friend James Jay owns with his partner Aly, and signed more books. It makes no sense that a pub in Flagstaff should have some of the best fish and chips I’ve tasted on this side of the Atlantic but James plays hurling and he knows Irish hurlers won’t tolerate dodgy fish and chips. You can now find signed copies of Make It Stop and Zig Zag in the pub’s lending library. Yes, the pub has a library and no televisions. It’s also the only pub I’ve found in the U.S. that serves non-alcoholic Guinness. I may move in.

After spending two nights in places that were much nicer than we expected them to be, we stayed at a cheap roadside motel in Flagstaff and regretted the decision. Not only was it the opposite of nice, but after fees and taxes our lodgings weren’t inexpensive at all. I need to crack the code on cheap places to stay in the city in the shadow of the San Francisco Peaks.

The next day was an off day and we drove down to Sedona, up to Jerome, and out to Prescott. We took backgrounds to San Diego and went through the Granite Mountains, something I’d never done before, down to the desert floor. Absolutely stunning.

I can feel the pull of Arizona—I’ll be back for another event at Changing Hands Books in Tempe on June 7—but the best part of the trip was connecting with my old roommate Danny Clarke in Scottsdale, my colleague and former officemate Molly McCloy in Tucson and all my old friends in Flagstaff. There was a time when I thought I was done with Arizona but apparently Arizona isn’t done with me.

My final event with Joe was a book signing at Strange Daze Books in Barrio Logan. You’d think that after a week of driving around Arizona Joe and I would be sick of each other but we had plenty to talk about right up until I dropped him off at the airport. Joe will be back at the end of the summer for Bouchercon, which is being held in San Diego this summer.

John Albert

Our trip got off to a somber start when I heard the news that John Albert passed away last week. John a key figure in the LA punk scene and an important writer. He was one of the founders of Christian Death and was a drummer for Bad Religion for a brief period in the mid-80s between Into the Unknown and Back to the Known, which is how I got to know him. I talked to John for Do What You Want and spent time with him on a few occasions when I was interviewing Brett Gurewitz, with whom John was close. One of John’s friends reached out to me about writing something about him for the Los Angeles Times and we made it happen.

I liked and admired John but listening to his friends and family tell stories about the kind of person he was gave me a fuller picture of what an extraordinary person he was. I don’t know if that comes through in the piece. In fact, I know it doesn’t because how could it? The way our loved ones remember us is always going to be more intimate than what a casual acquaintance writes in a newspaper. I know I’ll be reflecting on John and the kind of person he was for a long time.

Sisu

Last month I made a note to go see Sisu when I read a review in which the writer said they nearly walked out because of the excessive violence. Then I forgot all about it until a friend (Hi Josh!) said I had to go see it. Sisu takes place in Finland in 1945 when the Nazis are fleeing Europe, leaving a string of burned out villages in their wake. When they stumble upon an old miner they assume he’ll be an easy kill, but they are sadly mistaken. This was exactly the kind of escapist grindhouse glee I needed. Warning: strong language and gore (obvs).

Thanks for reading. Stay safe, be well, and remember you can save 10% on Make It Stop when you use code MAKEITSTOP.