Petites Annonces: Andrew's Americanface, American Junkie & the Devlin's Bench Miners.

My old chum Andrew Struthers has a lot on the go today, and not just because he's putting in his first day as a temporary office-mate with me and my pal Aaron Hill while he finds new digs. Today is the beginning of Andrew's Americanface project, a feature-length film which began unspooling at the Tyee this morning and will continue daily through its 64 parts until it's done. I've seen a good bit of it in rough and raw form over the past few months and I can tell you it is brilliant, weird, sublime and hilarious.

Visitors to this weblodge may remember Andrew from his 20-million-viewer smash Spiders on Drugs, and also his book The Green Shadow, which was the third title in my Transmontanus Series with New Star Books.

Speaking of books. . .

Tom Hansen, my student/comrade in the Writing Department at the University of British Columbia, was kind enough to get Emergency Press in New York to rush me a copy of his memoir American Junkie, and it just arrived this morning. I helped Tom wrestle the story to the ground as a special project & thesis over a couple of years in my capacity as his teacher. After all, what's the damn point of "teaching" a writer if the result isn't a book or something, yes? And what's a point of living a life like Tom's unless you're going to write it down? From the blurbage:

"It’s a story that takes us from the promise of a young life to the prison of a mattress, from budding musician to broken down junkie, drowning in syringes and cigarette butts, shooting heroin into wounds the size of softballs, and ultimately, a ride to a hospital for a six-month stay and a painful self-discovery that cuts down to the bone. Through it all he never really loses his step, never lets go of his smarts, and always projects quintessential American reason, humor, and hope to make a story not only about drugs, but a compelling study of vulnerability and toughness."

No saccharine redemption involved, either, which is to say Oprah Will Not Like This Book. Which is to say, it's too good for that sort of imprimatur.

And speaking of the arts, have a look at this gorgeous photograph taken by my buddy Bill Horne, and you will understand what I mean when I say I Support The Devlin's Bench Gold Miners:

Further explications here. The lad on the right is Dave Jorgenson, and Rob Dakau's is on the left.

Thanks, lads. I stand with you.