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New for October Jeez, it's October already. (Actually, as I type this, it's been October for four days and change.) Time sure flies when you're typing your fingers to the nubs in pursuit of truth, justice, and a fistful of almighty dollars. All of which is to say that September was a busy month for me, though given the sorts of lead times I'm working with these days, there won't be much to show for it in terms of verbiage for you, the reading public, to consume for weeks or even months. Think of it as like the reconstruction of New Orleans, only with fewer Halliburton contracts and charges of "ethnic cleansing." I did have one new article hit hot type last month: As promised, the September/October issue of Extra! carries my article "Media to City: Play Ball," on the reaction of New York's ink-stained wretches to the collapse of the proposed West Side Olympic stadium deal. (Hint: They weren't quite as thrilled by it as I was, if the phrase "stubborn, high-handed wrong-headedness" is any indication.) Unfortunately, it's not available online, so you'll either need to pony up for a subscription, or seek out the latest Extra! at your neighborhood magazine rack. Other than that, the fruits of my recent labor are all in the future. My update on the New York stadium mess is queued up at the Village Voice, so keep an eye on their website the next couple of Tuesdays. (The print newspaper comes out Wednesdays, but it's on the Internet starting Tuesday at noonish.) And I'm very happy to report that I've finished my chapters for the Baseball Prospectus book project that I mentioned last month - if the other contributors' chapters are as fascinating as they sounded in the outline I was shown, by next March you can expect to have a powerful new weapon for beating baseball know-nothings about the head and shoulders, whether the topic is the worthlessness of new stadiums or the meaninglessness of runs batted in. And with that done, I have another new book project I'm working on - I'm just Captain Anthology these days, apparently - this one helmed by the illustrious Jerilou Hammett of Designer/Builder magazine. More details as we get close to a pub date; for now I'll just say it focuses on two of my obsessions, New York City and gentrification. Also, I should mention the happy news that "America's Mayor" has gone into a second printing. (Apparently both copies of the first printing sold out.) Buy it now, before you wake up one day to find this grim visage staring at you from the Oval Office. And now it's four and a half days into October. I've gotta learn to type faster. Shoutouts: Two of the best bands in the world, both musically and politically, are on tour this month: The Waco Brothers bring their "Bloodshot Revue" to the East Coast, then Freakwater hits the road on its first tour in six years. I'll be there front and center at Southpaw and the Mercury Lounge, respectively. ... I haven't read Gabriel Brownstein's new novel "The man from Beyond" yet, but I did read his excellent short-story collection "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Apt. 3W," and I'm a sucker for anything set in historical New York. Also, I used to play frisbee with Gabe in historical New York (are the 1970s historical yet?), so I'm especially eager to get my hands on his first novel. (And no, before you ask, I have no idea why Booklist seems to think Gabe is a "she.") ... Joss Whedon is a friggin' genius - especially when you consider how hard it is to get anyone in Hollywood to tell a decent science fiction story these days. |
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