Tour Wrap
Under the heading of “Better Three Months Late Than Never,” I thought I’d better put the Gutshot Straight January world tour to bed.
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The Frozen Midwest
After a relatively slow-paced interlude in Minneapolis, it was back to the tour’s typical whirlwind, Amazing-Race, Move-Your-Ass-Like-the-Armenian-Mob-Is-After-You pace. I flew into Milwaukee, rented a car, and drove two hours down to Chicago, where I did a few drop-in signings and then gunned across town
Minnesota Nice
The best time to visit Minneapolis, I’d been warned, is not January. But despite the cold and the snow I still found the city to be an inviting place with a lot of character. Which also accurately describes the crime/mystery bookstore Once Upon a Crime.
Midtown America
My red-eye flight from Seattle to Newark was uneventful, if by “event” you mean any kind of sleep whatsoever. I was too tired to calculate how many, or few, hours of sleep I’d had over the past few days, but I did manage despite my grogginess to find the shuttle and make it to my hotel in Manhattan
Coast to Coast
Next up was one of the more challenging, Amazing Race-esque stretches of the Gutshot Straight book tour: from Oakland to Seattle for an event at the Seattle Mystery Bookshop, then right back to SEA-TAC for an overnight flight to Newark, followed by a day of drop-in signings at bookstores in Manhattan.
Back on the Bay
Next stop for the Gutshot Straight world tour was the San Francisco Bay Area. My wife and I lived here for nine years when I was teaching at Saint Mary’s College in Moraga. The Bay Area felt like home the first time I saw it, and it still feels that way
L.A. Confidential
After Vegas, I flew into Burbank (travel tip for those, if any, who care: Burbank is a much easier airport to navigate than LAX).
My first stop was downtown Los Angeles.
My first stop was downtown Los Angeles.
What Happened in Vegas
My next stop on the book tour was beautiful Las Vegas. And it was beautiful – mild January weather, crystal-clear air, the distant mountains in such sharp detailed relief if was like you could reach out and tap one.
Home Court Advantage
It’s been a blur of shapes and colors these past six days – Oklahoma City, Las Vegas, Thousand Oaks, Los Angeles, Corte Madera, San Francisco; airports and rental cars; on-ramps and parking lots; bookstores and bookstores – and I can’t believe it’s only been six days.
Deep in the Heart of Texas
The GUTSHOT STRAIGHT world tour started last week with a two-stop jaunt to Texas. I can’t speak for anyone else involved, but I had a total blast.
I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide
GUTSHOT STRAIGHT goes on sale next Tuesday and I hit the road the day after: 18 cities in 25 days (full book tour schedule here). By the standards of any self-respecting indie band living out of a 1988 Ford Econoline van, it’s not that brutal of a schedule, but I won’t have the redemptive power of rock and roll to sustain me. Or roadies.