.jpg)
...but, heretofore, none of them were in Fresno, which is where I'm headed this week to do a reading at Fresno State on Thursday night at 7:30pm in the Alice Peters Auditorium. I don't know what I'm reading yet, apart from knowing it will be from my upcoming collection Other Resort Cities. I think I might read Mitzvah, which appeared in Las Vegas Noir and contains no less than 100 bad words. But I figure, you know, if I'm going to read in Fresno, it's okay to play blue, right? Isn't Fresno the kind of town that appreciates a foul mouthed Jew spouting obscenities? My feeling is that if Bakersfield can make a legend out of Buck Owens, I'm pretty much allowed to sacrifice a monkey on stage and eat its fecal matter in Fresno, right? I might also read Walls, which appeared in Barrelhouse last year and is a personal favorite, but contains references to the 1970s, which to undegraduate students and youngish grad students is like referencing your favorite silent movies. Alternately, I might read sections of the local newspaper in poet voice, with a little added poetical interpretation just for flavor:
"And the Lakers...upon...the court...we're like flowers in the hair of...a...prostitute...upon...the breast...of...the sport...the sport...the sport of life...upon the burning bush...George Bush...defeated, soiled, destroyed...the opponents...like my father...defiled...my...emotions...I hate...you...Jesus..."
Anyway, if you happen to live in the Central Valley and don't have cable television and need a diversion from the crumbling fortunes of the land, come by and say hello Thursday night.
Your Auntie Esther's niece still lives in Fresno and since she had kids my age we visited a few times during my childhood. If not for that, I don't that I ever would have set foot in that town.
Posted by: Mike Barer | March 27, 2009 at 09:40 AM