Coppa

After months of waiting, Coppa has finally opened its doors.  I was lucky enough to find myself there just a few hours after they had announced they would be opening one day early, on Tuesday.

An unassuming little place in the South End, as I was begin seated, Chef/Partner Jamie Bissonnette throws me the sign of the horns while his wife Courtney, the General Manager, slings drinks from behind the bar while directing traffic and chatting up the bar customers.

I've been waiting for this for a bit.  Ken Oringer, Jamie and Courtney made Toro the best place in town for tapas, and I couldn't wait to see what they did with Italian.  I was especially excited about a rumor I'd heard that they were doing a bone marrow and oxtail pizza.  And, holy shit, The Blue Ribbon nearly slayed me. Braised oxtail, mozzarella, tomato, bone marrow, and horseradish tried to take me down in fatty, rich texture and flavor.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.  We started off with the Buratta and bresoala, which were fresh and perfectly seasoned with sea salt.  Having sampled the cured meats Jamie was working on at Toro, I jumped right on the salumi section of the menu with the duck pastrami.  Smooth, smoky and perfectly sliced on the antique hand slicer behind the bar, this was the shit.

And the pizza.  Fucking hell.  Enough said.

The wine list is filled with some awesome italian stuff, but my favorite part of the drink list was the Pony Farm (5 Miller High Life 7oz bottles) and, of course, Schaefer in a can.

Good people, good eats, good atmosphere, good times.

If you've got an hour to kill and $20 in your pocket and don't want to have to shell out big bucks (which you won't anyway) to taste what Coppa has to offer, get a drink and a stuzi at the bar and call it good.

I can't wait to sample the rest of the menu and knock into the cocktail menu.  To give you a quick idea, the restaurant kicks as much ass as the website - Coppa.

Go.

Eat.

Enjoy.

Review: Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson

I listen to audiobooks as well as reading the physical pages.  I have not gotten much into ebooks, but that's probably because I don't own a Kindle, don't plan on owning a kindle, and I'm not sure I would like to use it at all.  I prefer to do my reading on something that won't short circuit if I fall asleep and drool all over it.

So back to the audiobooks.  I have gone through countless through the year thus far, from Dan Brown's Digital Fortress (I would only recommend this to the 17 hardcore Dan Brown fans out there.  The man can imagine a compelling plot, but the writing itself is shit for the most part and does not give the reader any credit) to John Grisham novels - I think I've completed nearly everything that hasn't been turned into a movie.

Recently I picked up Tree of Smoke from the BPL, having attempted to read this book in hardcover about a year or two ago when it first came out.  It was a tough one to get into at the time for me and I dropped it.  The audiobook, read by Will Patton (Armageddon, Gone in 60 Seconds) was much, much better.  I've always liked the way Johnson does everything.  His writing is superb, from Jesus' Son to Fiskadoro to a few short plays I've seen in McSweeney's.  And to be accompanied by Patton's performance really made this audiobook work.

The book itself, is set in Vietnam.   Being much too young to have experienced the war the way so many others had, I've studied the war.  I've read everything Tim O'Brian has written about Vietnam since I was first made to read The Things They Carried and carried my way forward through all of the post-war novels which I felt were equally as good.  I've watched Apolcalypse Now far too many times and still occasionally run quotes from it in my head at random.

But Tree of Smoke is not about that Vietnam.  There is no constant firefight keeping the troops on their toes.  For the most part, there are no troops.  The lead character is Skip Sands, a CIA operative who is tasked with intelligence sorting and gathering, though the tasks he is.  Skip's uncle, known as The Colonel, is described as Coppolla's Kilgore about another decade down the line and with vast amounts of knowledge from Langley.

The story is one of the human condition in an environment as throuroughly fucked up as Vietnam was.  Johnson writes truthfully from every angle.  From the locals, to babyfaced troops fresh from training, to VC double agents, to CIA assholes running what amounts to a version of Internal Affairs, to the women who were left at home in the square states while their sons went to fight, Johnson tells the version of the truth he sees and leaves room for what he didn't want to write about.  He doesn't lead you into a determination of a character through dialogue and action - he allows the characters dialogue and action to flow in a way that forces to you to try and work out the motivations and end goals. 

There is no spoon-feeding here, you've got to want to figure these characters out.  And in the end, I'm not sure I was able to.  The story ends in a far more realistic way than anything about Vietnam that's ever been in a movie - where these characters end up, how thier lives are ended or allowed to continue.

I'm already ready to read Johnson's newest book Nobody Move.

Oh yeah - for those of you who aren't familiar with Denis Johnson's work (and seriously - why not?  Pick up Jesus' Son and read it cover to cover tomorrow.  Shouldn't take you more than an hour or two) and are more concerned about what Oprah or Good Morning America are suggesting you read - Tree of Smoke did win a National Book Award.  So it's got that going for it, which is nice.

"Rubes, Rakes, Rogues & Roustabouts" now available on Amazon

Although I am a huge supporter of IndieBound and all things independent, the decision has been made to put the book on the evil Amazon. I made this decisions simply by stating the obvious - I'm an independent author who needs max exposure for his product.

The price on Amazon is the same you will find on my site, the only difference being that I have not signed all of the Amazon copies and if you order from them you don't have the opportunity to get potentially strange items included in your package.

Now that the book is in distribution I am working on getting it into all New England independent booksellers and eventually it should end up on IndieBound, where I will promote the hell out of it much more furiously than telling people to go to Amazon because "Rubes" qualifies for FREE Super Saver Shipping. Which it does.

In the meantime - buy my book on Amazon, because it's the right thing to do.

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Side note (or more accurately, bottom note - but that sounds dumb): If you have a book review blog, or happen to be a reviewer for the New York Times, please contact me with your info for a free copy. If you pretend to be a book reviewer and just want a free book, I will take your information and sign you up for several things barnyard related you may not wish to have delivered to your house.

Hit & Miss in the World of Self Publishing

My first attempt at self-publishing came during an alcohol and type-writer fueled haze. I was working a second shift job, getting home around midnight and having several hours in my tiny studio apartment alone.

That is to say, my first attempt at self-publishing had nothing to do with self-publishing. Once my novel of sorts, Making News, was complete (in my mind, at the time) I proceeded to receive rejection letters from nearly every major and minor publishing house in the US. And a few in Canada. And maybe one in the UK.

Then I learned about self-publishing. I was living in Monument Square in Portland, Maine at the time, and directly across the square was Longfellow Books, a kickass little store if there ever was one. I spend a lot of time flipping through the books, trying to figure out what made a book a book, how authors were able to hook into the publishing world.

I found a lot of shitty looking books by local authors (self-published books of poetry and woe-is-me fiction) and I thought to myself, "Self - you can do that. At least you can't be any worse than these folks."

And I wasn't. I wasn't any better - but I certainly wasn't any worse.

In retrospect, the book wasn't ready and I didn't care enough to promote it because I knew it wasn't ready, I just wanted to have something I could put on a book shelf and say, "I did that."

I have since learned quite a bit more about all sorts of publishing - online, magazine, on-demand, mini-press.

I see a lot of potential in this thing called self-publishing. With tools like Twitter, Facebook - fuck - the entire fucking Internet, there isn't a place an author can't get to. Working into the Book Expo or a large city book festival may take a little work, but the book wasn't written without any sweat, and it sure as hell isn't going to sell without any.

I'm waiting for IndieBound to create a self-published author section (the indie of the indie) but all in good time, I guess.

My most recent book project, Rubes, Rakes, Rogues & Roustabouts started out as some pictures I was going to hang on the wall. It became it's own beast, morphing into some humor and typography-driven thing. While I was writing it and putting it together, I kept a list of all the ways I would market the book.

That's how this was different - I didn't think of a publishing house touching this one. Besides the fact that it's too difficult to categorize, review, or get into a bookseller, I just wanted to do it myself.

I designed the whole things, scrapped half of it and redesigned it again. And I loved every minute of it. I used some crowd-sourcing for cover ideas and content.

The future of self-publishing is not the authors with a desire to do it themselves, the future is having the full plan before word one is written. Writing is such a solitary venture by necessity, but by getting the word out that you're working on something, people want to know more about it. Let them interact. Let them engage you while you're engaged in your writing.

What do you think about self publishing? Let Backward Books know here.

Bits and More Bits

Rubes, Rakes, Roges & Roustabouts available for purchase. Several copies sold so far - working on wholesale marketing.

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Working on rereading McSweeney's 16. I really love Mudder Tongue by Brian Evenson and There Is No Real Name for Where We Live by Hannah Pitard. Two stories with (for entirely different reasons) fabulous words woven together.

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Just tonight I have signed up to collaborate with ACME Cocktail on a new project that will, for now, be untitled. Once we flesh the little bugger out, that may change.

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Even though I made fun of it at first, I must admit I have consumed more than one Budlight Lime this evening.

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I'm excited about a new publisher in Brookline launching in October. Madras Press. Can't wait to see what they have to bring to the party.

New Site Design Launch

While I hash out a few shipping errors with the good folks publishing Rubes, Rakes, Rogues & Roustabouts, I have taken the time to redesign my site, NickSeagers.com. Took down much of the clutter and nonsense and I'm quite happy with what's going on with it. Drop me a line and let me know what you think.

Open Letters to Recently Deceased Celebrities

Dear Michael Jackson,

I loved you when you were black.

Yours truly,
Nick

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Dear Farrah Fawcett,

I am truly very sorry. No one deserves to go like that. You will be missed.

Yours truly,
Nick

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Dear Billy Mays,

I WILL MISS YOUR SHOE-POLISH BEARD AND SEEING YOU IN THE WIND TUNNEL ON THE 'MIGHTY PUTTY' COMMERCIAL. REGARDLESS OF WHAT THE CORONER SAYS I BLAME VINCE SHLOMI'S JEALOUSY FOR YOUR DEATH.

(if you're reading this and you don't get why that's all in caps, you don't treasure Billy the way I did.)

Yours truly,
Nick

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Dear Ed McMahon,

Star Search was the bomb.

Yours truly,
Nick

Beat the Reaper

Like books? Read this one.

Like amazing characters and plot? Read this book.

Like knowing there are worse hospitals than the one you got your head stapled shut in? Read this book.

Josh Bazell does it right with his novel Beat the Reaper. The simple fact that he wrote this while doing his residency makes me not ever want to sit on a paper covered table with him and simultaniously makes me want to follow him on rounds.

Tough economy getting you down and can't fork over the dough for a new book? There's this thing in your town called a library. Use it.

Boston Phoenix Gets It Done

I have been hopeful that the journalism for the Boston Phoenix (and Portland Phoenix by extension) would become steady and constant. With the front page article in the most recent issue (5/28/09) they get it done. Legalize Pot Now delves in to not only the most recent battles of the speed bumps decriminalization and legalization advocates have experienced.

While the story fell slightly short of the goal line in my opinion by not exploring the possibility that since Mexican drug traders make up to 75% of their profits from illegal marijuana sales, there may be some extra pressure being put on those in power to keep marijuana on the books. Extension perhaps more for a book on the subject (there are many and I'm sure many more to come) but it was the cutting edge of the article I craved.

Mike Miliard did a great job at getting to the heart of the story and gave good supposition for what to expect in the future.

Whathaveyous Of The Week

Plans coming to fruition...everything congealing like a nice soft cheese.

And verily I say unto you: If I speak gangsta to my fish is that, in fact, animal abuse or just an obscene hobby?

Short list of great whathaveyous from the week:

Steal Our Ideas
Jay Walker (yes, his real name) on the world's English mania

Digging For Dirt just got added to my to-read list.

Things Magazine

F My Life - Sample:

Today, I was standing around looking out the window at work when it became really dark and windy and started to pour. I watched a shopping cart fly across the parking lot thinking how funny it'd be if it hit someone's car. It hit mine. I need a new headlight. FML

And finally, a classic. Makes me want to play pool by the pool.

A recount of the past few weeks is in order. After this there will be a much more cohesive plan toward this blog. I'm feeling a new direction, a new focus, shooting through my fingertips to your inverted retinas.

Let's begin:

On Saturday, April 25th I was married to the beautiful Carol at Gibbet Hill in Groton, MA

After no sleep for a day or two and several plane rides down to Central America we landed in Costa Rica and began a week of hammock naps and pinto. And pina coladas....and more pina coladas.

On our second morning in Manuel Antonio, during the iced coffee portion of our show, we saw monkeys taking over the jungle outside of our place. Chewing breakfast bananas and mangoes, one monkey became a bit too frisky and decided that coming in to get a closer look was a good idea. This picture of our friend was taken after I told him that coming onto our porch was a bad idea.

He approached carefully atop the roof, the sneaky ninja that he is, and swung down over the edge to say hello.

"Monkey, no." I said, bracing my bride back toward the safety of the door. I soon realized that the monkey did not speak English as well as I had hoped - not nearly as well as most of the bartenders in the area. This was a Costa Rican monkey, and thus I needed to speak to him in his native tongue.

"No, mono! No!" Seemed to do the trick. He went next door to see what was going down over there.

While we were away, the media terror that is swine flu attacked the sensibilities of all around. Coming back into the states from Central America I was sure we would have a hard time at immigration in Miami. The several people in San Jose wearing face masks confirmed this.

Having sourced out a pharmacy in San Jose which sold prescription allergy medication by the pill (for which I had no prescription) I made sure neither I, nor my beautiful bride would give so much as a sneeze or cough on our way back to the Northeast. Although I had a sneezing fit at Miami International, luckily we were already cleared.

We are now safe and sound in the comfort of South Boston and life is working on getting back into a rhythm. Thank you to everyone who lent a hand in the ceremony and showed up to help us celebrate.

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I've talked several times about all of the good things that 826National and the rest of the chapters do for kids and now they've let me become part of the help. While I am an approved volunteer for 826Boston, I find it difficult to make it into Roxbury at a time during the week when i would have the ability to work with the kids.

I sent some emails. Actually, I sent all of the emails I could to every 826 chapter, asking if they could use a hand with some design work ffor their Twitter pages. The way I'm seeing social media evolving, it may be the absolute perfect tool for non-profits. The only overhead they really have is time. So I lent a hand and designed backgrounds for 826LA and their store, the Echo Park Time Travel Mart.

I'm also currently working on a similar project for 826michigan. It's a robot thing - you wouldn't understand.

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Random cool shit:

What's a BBQ without bacon-wrapped-bacon? A crappy BBQ.

Fish Slaps A Baby: Missing Dodgeball

Student suggest building organic wall to contain the ENTIRE Sahara Desert. (That's really, really big for those who don't know.)

Smashing Magazine: 40 Stunning & Creative Graffiti Artworks

20 Of the World's Most Kickass Libraries

FOOD, Inc. (poached from Acme Cocktail Co.)

From the back shelf - the Arcata Eye :: Police Log

Ahhh...tis Easter

Ahhh...tis Easter.

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The other day a German woman, for reasons yet to be explained, jumped into a polar bear habitat at the Berlin Zoo during feeding time. She was, of course, mistaken for food and bitten until the staff hauled her out. Had they not been able to haul her out, the staff would have been forced to shoot the bears. It would seem easier to shoot the woman, no? The link above was selected primarily because there are no pictures. I've got a lot of dark thoughts, but I still don't want to see a bear try to eat a screaming woman - that's one toke over the line.

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For those of you who are not familiar with 826 National, 826 Boston, or any of the other chapters, GET WITH THE PROGRAM. What 826 does for kids should be touted from every rooftop in every city. They provide after school tutoring, writing workshops, and most importantly a place where imagination is fostered and encouraged, as opposed to the majority of the schools these kids go to.

Got some extra cash laying around? Donate it. Spare computer parts? Office supplies? Stamps? Donate it. Each chapter has different needs, so check out their respective websites to see what is needed.

I just dashed off (read: copy/pasted) emails to each chapter and 826 National offering my services to help spread their good word through Twitter. Awaiting responses.

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News rundown:

Medical Marijuana is gaining acceptance

Glenn Beck is insane....again

Fast and the Furious is sucking out movie executives brains

Ten Songs For Friday

Below are ten songs I couldn't have made it through the day without listening to. There are a few different genres and styles here and even if all of it isn't your bag after the first few notes, give it a chance.

Gang Starr - Code of the Streets

If you saw the 2007 film Freedom Writers with Denzel Washington (which I did not) you may recognize this song. That's not why I love it. The words climb the beat like a tree, ready to drop some crazy thoughts down. I've come to listen to a lot of Gang Starr in the past few months. Great stuff. Guru and DJ Premier kill this song.

Danger Doom - Sofa King

The flow of the lyrics bind together they way that old Nickelodeon Gak would get into the weave of your sweater at Christmas. MF Doom and Danger Mouse made this entire album with the Cartoon Network and the Adult Swim crew. From his success off The Grey Album (Beatles + Jay-Z) and after all of the attached lawsuits were quelled, Danger Mouse produced this album with innovation and dedication, combining cartoon voices with the rhymes that would pop through the mask of MF Doom. If you've never listened to it, explore the entire album from start to finish.

Wax Tailor - Que Sara

The album Hope & Sorrow is a fantastic mix of black and white voice clips mixed with the freshest ideas. Wax Tailor, a.k.a Jean-Christophe Le Saoût, is a Frenchman who does things with the English language that should be described in colors, not words.

Nobody - Wake Up and Smell the Millennium

Found on Pandora. Don't know much about them. Can't find much about them on the interwebs. Crank it up and let it fly. My head won't stop rocking to the beat while I listen.

Arctic Monkeys - Leave Before the Lights Come On

The story's been told over and again, and the song rings true as some people's lives. Like the inside track of your mind during the smokey hours at the end of the night. Last call coming up. All the way through the morning. Arctic Monkeys have had several successes and deserve many more. They need to be listened to in the rain with ass loads of clouds rolling overhead and a sneaking suspicion that things could go awry at any moment.

The White Stripes - Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground

From kicking the shit out of a guitar on Go It Alone with Beck to his newest collaboration The Dead Weather, Jack White can rock. More importantly, he knows how to. Bringing Loretta Lynn through with a hit album and touring/recording with three bands as well as doing solo sessions, collaborations and producing 14 albums, the man won't stop. The vast majority of music I've heard that he's been a part of has left me with pleasant feelings in my toes and eyebrows. Oh, yeah, and Meg White could drum the other arm off of Rick Allen.

Kings of Leon - Fans

I don't understand half of the crap coming out Caleb Followill's mouth and I don't care. These guys fucking rock, no bones about it. Guitar timed perfectly with drums and background vocals makes my spine go numb. The pull to crack a beer comes each time I hear them. Sex On Fire brought them up more to the mainstream, but their earlier stuff is just as good as the new album.

R.L. Burnside - Rollin' and Tumblin'

Blues. Southern blues. Mississippi. R.L.'s voice tugs at something in my chest that won't be named any time soon. If you can find an album, buy the album.

The Black Keys - The Flame

Their most recent album Attack & Release was another project of Danger Mouse and produced several good songs, but all of their previous stuff would kick that album's ass in a street fight. Dan Aeurbach and Patrick Carney are two guys from Ohio who play music like they bubbled up from the bayou and cross-pollinated with Zeppelin. The Big Comeup, Thickfreakness, Rubber Factory and Magic Potion are albums which must be sampled if this band moves you in any way. Lyrics heaped atop masterful guitar heaped atop raw percussion make this something I wish I was able to do.

Joe Cocker - Bye Bye Blackbird

Yeah - he sang the song they used for The Wonder Years - what of it? Joe Cocker could take a song, rip out its guts and sew it back up with such love that Mother Theresa would shed a tear. The background singers in this song weaken me. The guitar, the piano and Joe's voice just kill it. Bottom line, the best song to cover whatever kind of day you may be having.

Open Letter to Kallmann McKinnell & Knowles

Dear Kallmann McKinnell & Knowles,


For the first time in my life I have had the (dis)pleasure of entering Boston City Hall this morning. I have often driven by, curious if the bowels of your structure were as horrendous as the exterior. Many things have been said about the building since it was unvieled. Ugliest Building in the World. "What the hell is that?" Historic landmark.

I agree with the first two.


My reason for visiting City Hall was to secure a marriage license. Some said it would never happen, yet it shall. My lovely wife-to-be Carol joined me for the excursion. Upon entering the building I wondered how long I would be incarcerated. Dark concrete is the bones and the skin. Admittedly I only made it down to the Birth/Marriage/Parking portion of the building. I cannot speak for the seven floors I didn't visit. How can a building be so physically clean and dingy at the same time?

Your city structure makes me wonder about how things got to be this way. I wonder how you won the contest to build the damn thing in the first place. I wonder about the mental acuity of the judges of said contest. I wonder about Mayor Menino's plan to sell off the building and surrounding plaza (in the middle of f'n Government Center) and building a new City Hall in Southie (now suspended due to the kickass economy).

I have never built anything on par with what you have created. I am not attempting to drive your collective heads into the sand and tell you how children weep in fright when they look at what you've done. I am simply here to ask why.

As I've told a few friends who asked me about their new tattoos, "What made you think that was a good idea?"

Sincerely,

Nick Seagers

Currently reading Dexter Filkins' book The Forever War. If you need an objective look about what's been going on with the US occupations overseas, read this book. If you want to explore fantastic writing that you can feel, read this book. If you think that the US is right, read this book. If you think the US is wrong, read this book. If you like fuzzy bunny slippers, read this book. I don't care what the hell you think as long as you read this book.