Top 10 Bad Ass Things About DOGZPLOT In PHILLY
1. I grew up in Eastern Pennsylvania so that part of the country always holds a special place in my heart. Just to have the good fortune to write a novel that actually found a great publisher and to be able to kick off the readings for the novel a few miles from my hometown is pretty special. No matter what else I ever do or have done before that. It's all downhill from here.
2. Took my daughter and niece to see all the historic city sites. Independence Hall, Liberty Bell, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, walking through the fountain. Rode the big red tour bus. Learned some pretty useless but interesting facts about Philly and its art and architecture. Here's a gem. The huge statue of George Washington on the horse is not really George Washington. French royalty were invited to the city and they wanted to see the new statue of Washington. However, the artist commisioned to design the statue was still working on Frederick the Great. So the city panics, lops of Frederick's head and replaces it with a much smaller head of Washington. if you look close you can see the regalia Washington is wearing is actually Prussian and his head is a different color and much much smaller proportionately to the rest of the body.
3. Hanging with all of my family the day after the reading in my hometown, Paradise, PA. It's always a great time when we get together. Then crashing over at my cousin Barb's for swimming and cards and beer and bourbon.
4. Getting to hang with all my Rutgers road doggs. Thanks for showing up and reading and lending your support on a very beautiful Saturday in July. Seeing all you guys means a lot.
5. Getting to hang out with all the Philly / Dirty Jerz literary rockstars. All of your readings were pretty amazing. Thanks for reading and hanging out.
6. Rita's Italian Ice and a kick ass fireworks display over the Delaware River. Great end to a great night.
7. Hearing Sarah Rose Etter read from her award winning collection, Tongue Party, then getting to read my favorite story from it.
8. Getting to spend one more night in my old apartment before my old roomie moves back to Portland and it's gone for good. Lots of good times in that place. Cherry Hill Mafia. Recognize.
9. Mr. Wildwood (called Mr. Wildwood because he once graced the cover of Rolling Stone Magazine when they did a feature on Wildwood, NJ. If you're into old RS covers, he's the guy sitting on the bench down at the Jersey Shore) hooking me and the kids up with the fattest fucking chicken sandwiches and fries. All on the house. He even let us go back to the apartment and he delivered it to the door when it was done.
10. Crazy fight at Paul's Tavern. So these two guys come in behind me. One of them orders a beer and starts throwing up after one sip. Bartender tries to throw him out. Shit gets talked. Beer bottles get cracked over heads. Turns into a pretty nice size parking lot battle royal. Cops get called. Good times.