Hats Off Blog

A great Blog

The Man in the Blizzard: The Video

July 22nd, 2008
in Books

Responses

Subscribe to this post comment rss or trackback url
Laozi said, on July 25th, 2008 at 12:11 am

I’ve got the book pre-ordered so I’m looking for a taste of Dashell Hammet, SF city boy

fjbnheipsssf said, on January 30th, 2009 at 11:51 pm

fjbnheipsssf…

Anyway, you should do your best ;)…

BRETT said, on July 21st, 2010 at 6:40 pm

< blockquote >< a href=”http://medicamentspot.com/”>MedicamentSpot.com. Canadian Health&Care.Special Internet Prices.No prescription online pharmacy.Best quality drugs. Online Pharmacy. Buy pills online< /a >…

Buy:Cialis Super Active+.Soma.Propecia.Zithromax.Maxaman.Cialis Soft Tabs.Super Active ED Pack.VPXL.Viagra Professional.Levitra.Viagra Super Active+.Viagra Super Force.Viagra.Cialis.Tramadol.Viagra Soft Tabs.Cialis Professional….

Write Your Comment Here...

 Username (*required)

 Email Address (*private)

 Website (*optional)

Please Note: Comment Moderation Maybe Active So There is No Need To Resubmit Your Comments

blizzard_thumb.jpg

AUGIE’S ALPHABET OF APHRODISIACS 

Augie Boyer is a pothead Minneapolis private investigator  and the hero of my forthcoming novel, The Man in the Blizzard, to be published in August. I thought I was finished with the dude, or that he was finished with me, but, obviously, he’s not done. Here he’s compiling a curious alphabet. I just try to stay out of his way.

 

A 

 

 

 

 

ABSINTHE

My taste for this stuff goes back to early childhood in San Francisco. It was an ice cream store on Balboa called Frosty Bosty that featured exotic flavors, including licorice. Which is why I take my absinthe on the rocks. When I’m back in S.F. I visit Absinthe Brasserie and Bar on Hayes.

 picture-17.png

 ANNA AKHMATOVA

My detective buddy Bobby Sabbatini turned me on to the Russian poet and tried to talk me into memorizing one of her poems. I wasn’t having any of that. Then he showed me a picture of her on the back of one of her books. I don’t know which affected me more, her eyes, her cheek bones, or her clavicle. I took the book to bed with me. By morning, I’d nailed one of her poems. You can get a good hit of her here.

 

B 

 

BALINESE DANCE

I’m knocked out by the sound of the gamelan. And check out the way each women’s arms move, both supple and disciplined as if they were multiple limbs. All I got to do is put on a CD from Bali and I can see it all. Here’s a good place to start.

 blood-orange.png

BLOOD ORANGE CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES

It was an Israeli client, whose wife I was tracking, that first turned me on to the blood orange chocolate truffle. After I handed him photos of the wife in a compromising position, the dude had a box of a dozen shipped to my office every month for a year. They never failed to impress. Here’s where he got them.

 

C 

picture-16.png 

 CLIFFORD BROWN

All I’ve got to hear is the bright, buoyant head to Clifford Brown’s “Joy Spring” and I’m ready to participate. The fact that poor Clifford died at twenty-five, returns me to that age and I could swear I’m channeling the virtuoso of swinging bop.

picture-3.png

CONCH

Nothing awakens romance in me as easily as the sound of the ocean, even if the sound’s only an illusion.  I’m reminded of my romance with a girl named Jeannie and our teenage trysts at China Beach in S.F. Although Jeannie’s long gone, I have a nice collection of conch shells. But be careful, it can be bad luck to bring them inside. I keep mine outside on the porch where I visit them when I want to be roused by the sea. You can fill your needs at Sea Shell City. 

 

D  

delores.png 

DELORES DEL RIO

I heard that Orson Welles was nuts about her. I’ve never actually seen one of her movies. But I came across a picture of her in a used bookstore in Mankato, one of those movie star files. I took her home with me and had her matted. Delores Del Rio. I just like saying her name. 

picture-6.png 

DUNGENESS CRAB

I spent the summer I turned seventeen hitching up and down the west coast. The best part was being picked up by a woman, twice my age, in Coos Bay. She brought me home with two enormous crabs. Three pounders. I watched her clean ‘em and crack ‘em at the kitchen sink. We ate and ate. Sweetest meat I’ve ever had. 

 

E 

ebony.png

EBONY

An ebony-finished grand piano is clearly one of the most sensual bodies I’ve ever run my hands over. One summer during college, I took piano lessons in the studio of Berkeley matron who’s Baldwin baby-grand was a pleasure to sit down to. The woman did nothing for me, but the curves and the deep, black finish of her piano truly turned me on. Now, in middle age, I’d be happy with an upright.

picture-11.png 

EGGS

Eric Burden, the ancient rocker from The Animals, got his nickname, Eggman, because he loved cracking eggs open on the bodies of naked girls. I’ve never so indulged. But the egg, symbol of both fertility and fragility, is a constant wonder to me. I have taught myself to crack them open with one hand and pour them into the sizzling butter of my fry pan. Salute the sunny side up beauties, my version of a morning miracle.

 

 

 

  • Subscribe to feed

Categories

  • Art
  • Books
  • Family
  • Film
  • Jazz
  • Minnesota
  • Music
  • Personal
  • Politics
  • Publishing
  • Self Promotion
  • Theater
  • Uncategorized
  • Writing

Archives

  • August 2008
  • July 2008
  • June 2008
  • April 2008
  • March 2008
  • February 2008
  • November 2007

Links

  • Art

    • Art Forum
    • Be Jackson Pollock
    • Guardian Unlimited: Art
    • Guernica
    • Magnum
    • Mnartists.org
    • Modern Art Notes
  • Blogs

    • About Last Night
    • Andrew Sullivan’s Daily Log
    • Brad Zellar’s Yo, Ivanhoe
    • House of Mirth
    • The Elegant Variation
    • Tom Tomorrow’s This Modern World
  • Culture

    • About Last Night
    • Gawker: Manhattan Media News and Gossip
    • Hats Off!
    • Pitchfork
    • Radar: Pop, Politics, Scandal, Style
    • Rolling Stone
    • Rue Rude
    • Tom Tomorrow’s This Modern World
  • Literary

    • Big Bridge
    • Book Forum
    • Brad Zellar’s Yo, Ivanhoe
    • Critical Mass
    • Flurry
    • Hats Off!
    • House of Mirth
    • Man in the Blizzard
    • Paper Cuts
    • The Book Babes
    • The Elegant Variation
    • The Exquisite Corpse
    • Title Page TV
    • Writers’ Rooms via the Guardian
  • Media

    • 23/6
  • Music

    • Jazz Beyond Jazz
    • Jazz Corner
    • Jazz Wax
    • musicovery
    • Pandora radio
    • Pitchfork
    • Radio David Byrne
    • Rolling Stone
    • Saint Paul Sunday
  • News

    • AlterNet: The Mix is the Message
    • Gawker: Manhattan Media News and Gossip
    • Magnum
    • Media Bistro
    • mnpost.com
    • The Book Babes
    • The Raw Story
  • Politics

    • 23/6
    • AlterNet: The Mix is the Message
    • Andrew Sullivan’s Daily Log
    • Chris Weigant: reality-based political commentary
    • Daily Kos: State of the Nation
    • Guernica
    • Radar: Pop, Politics, Scandal, Style
    • Taegan Goddard’s Political Wire
    • The Raw Story
    • Tom Tomorrow’s This Modern World
©2008 Hats Off Blog
Powered by WordPress | Theme Engine by Pragya. Theme Style by Miriam Block.