I'm glad in light of all this devestation and scary judge confirmation hearings and the long, stupid road toward accepting that gay and lesbian people deserve the right to marry, that Somebody has got some good news.

In other news, normally I don't talk in much detail about the interviews I do...that is to say, I won't tell you what I really think of a writer if what I think isn't purely positive. That's because it's tough enough in this culture to interest people in reading, and I don't want to dissuade anyone, nor do I want to make enemies before I've even stepped into the playing field. But I interviewed T.C. Boyle in person yesterday and came up with some insights. I was shocked actually that he agreed to come to little 'ole KRCB, since usually we have to fight to geteven the slightly-knowns to come up. I figured he was probably confusing us with another bay area station, which shall remain nameless, but I wasn't arguing. I don't really have anything bad to say about Mister Boyle, though I am confident that he could handle anything I could fling if necessary. He seems quite comfortable in his own skin, in his career. He's written enough books and seen enough success that he doesn't really have a whole lot to worry about now. Even a terrible review at this point might actually work in his favor.

But I have to say...I was raised by hippies, many of whom transitioned quite seamlessly into yuppies or suburbanites or corporate yuckety-yucks, or just regular people who watch a lot of tv, buy stuff they don't need and take regular vacations once a year. But there are a few, most of who drift on the periphery of my life now, who never quite made it into normalcy, who pride themselves on being able to spout Bukowski-isms, can tell you exactly how many times they dropped acid and what they saw when they did, who have the privelege of either living on the fringe, or comfortably on their duffs due to inheritance, drug sales or a well-to-do spouse. These folks have the luxury of being eccentric. Perhaps they have suddenly taken up a new art form, or they live on a boat and only wear cowboy boots. Perhaps they are learning a barely-spoken ancient language, like sanskrit or aramaic.

The point is, I think TC Boyle is one of these. I'm not sure, and he's well-spoken enough to make me question how much of his persona is just that...persona. But I'm glad he came in studio, because I've heard him interviewed before and I drew him in my mind's eye to be a sort of haughty intellectual, not the converse-wearing, necklace-ensconced bohemian with quite possibly the most interesting hair since Don King. This is to say that people surprise me, and I'm glad of it. How dull if TC Boyle was exactly what I expected him to be, not the goofy, sweet-faced, prolific writer who does not seem to suffer from the same lack of confidence so many writers do. I'm not calling him arrogant, because I don't think he is. I think he's so sure of himself he CAN wear red converse and a necklace and do that do. If he wanted to, I'm sure he could tell me how many times he jacked up heroin or learned a nearly dead language. And why shouldn't he?