i did eventually get to Moscow, and ate a memorable breakfast across from the train station. but i wonder if either of us will ever really visit Belarus? the new national library is vast and sparkling. very Orwellian--a huge symbol of freedom of expression in a country known for censorship.
A great evening organized by Rats of Las Vegas publisher Enfield & Wizenty (the literary imprint of Great Plains), at the most excellent Yellow Dog in downtown Winnipeg. Kudos to poker queen Susie Moloney for winning the evening's 7-card stud game--her prize was an enduring reputation at the card table & a serious bottle of booze. And many thanks to the other players, who were a treat to deal for: crime authors Michael Van Rooy and Mike McIntyre, McNally Robinson's David Lawrence, and Great Plains publisher extraordinaire, Gregg Shilliday. (photos courtesy of a cellphone...nicely atmospheric, i say! and for further multimedia, imagine the really marvellous selection of whiskey at the Yellow Dog)
We hear a good deal of complain that gambling should be allowed on the passenger-trains in this State. A few weeks since a man was swindled out of $50 in a Maine Central smoking-car by a blackleg, who introduced him into the beauties of "three-card monte." To be sure, it is strange that any man is so green or devoid of common sense as to be inveigled into card-playing and betting with strangers on railroad-cars--but such people there are in the world, and we do not think our railroads should be in the field for such knaves to ply their pursuits in. We have recently noticed warnings posted up in the Eastern Railroad cars, like this: "Beware of strangers who ask you to play cards." That is a very useful placard, to say the least."in Paris, i used to walk past a three-card monte game every weekend, near the Clignancourt flea market, where there seemed to be an endless supply of people 'green or devoid of common sense' enough to be inveigled by the older dude running the game. Because hope springs eternal. Or something. photo by Nelson Minar, 2006
i got to do two very different readings while in Montreal--a Friday lunchtime reading at the venerable Atwater Library, accompanied by the very fun & cool sax player Dave Turner, and the second at the Pilot Reading Series, which takes place every month or so at the Sparrow, a bar which is now on my all-time favourite top ten bar list for the planet earth. this, based on three essential facts: it has excellent Quebec beer; it has a beautiful staircase that goes nowhere; and it is conveniently close to an all-night bagel bakery. it also has some of the most beautiful wallpaper i have ever seen, in a bar or elsewhere.Toronto-based Lisa Pasold's debut novel is as enticing as the lit-up Las Vegas strip and as satisfying as a winning hand at poker.
wow, it's been a week since the RATS OF LAS VEGAS launch party, hosted by This Is Not A Reading Series at the fabulous Gladstone Hotel, and i've mostly gotten the feathers out of my hair...
that's me, in the dress, and Craig Davidson, on stage, hoping i answer his question coherently...
Bremner Duthie sang the crazy Dyin' Crap-shooter's Blues (my special request) and then burned up a set of lounge lizard standards with his jazz trio...
a blurry photo of the divine Alejandra Ribera singing a knock-out Stormy Weather
the burlesque grrls waiting to do their tribute to Vegas...
Skin Tight Outta Sight had a little somethin' for everyone in their Vegas-inspired end-of-the-evening show...
getting into the spirit of things before the poker game (no cash, just points) organized by Joe LaFortune...yes that's really his name...the problem with fiction is, if i used a name like that for a poker player in the novel, no one would believe in him!
lounge singers, poker chips, burlesque dancers, and an audience that actually laughed at my jokes...it was one helluva launch & i owe BIG thanks to everyone involved.
