This week, I crisscrossed the Midwest to see some beloved artists & writers.
First, I took the two-lane highways north from Tulsa to Omaha, Nebraska, to catch up with old & new friends. Dylan, my best bud from Denver, writer/music critic/video director/minion-enthusiast, and Eddie, musician/STL’s sweetest son, met me there and we went to see Pinegrove. I was lucky enough to write the album bio for their 2018 album Skylight and am writing the bio for their upcoming release Marigold. I’ve been living with the album for most of the year, and it was super moving to hear some of the new songs come alive in front of us. Always good to see Evan, and to connect in person with the rest of the band/crew. Plus, after the show they blasted Counting Crows’ “Omaha” and we saw a kid standing alone and rocking out. So we called him over, in solidarity as kindred Duritzheads—& it turned out he’d never heard the song before! Always love an opportunity to educate the children.
Then I went to my hometown of St. Louis where my sweetheart Edgar Kunz was reading with incredible poet/pal Aaron Coleman at the STL Book Fest. It was the first time my family & oldest friends had the chance to hear Edgar read, and that meant so much. Plus we got to roam the Central West End (and its upscale still-smoking-allowed (?) bars) & get into some trouble with Aaron and new novelist friend Kalisha Buckhanon.
Back in Tulsa, memoirist/editor extraordinaire Nicole Chung read & spoke about her book All You Can Ever Know. It was an insightful event, and so lovely to meet Nicole, who accepted & edited an essay of mine for Catapult.
Lucky for these friends & this art & this mobility. Go listen to them, read them, know them.