I gave a reading last week and the youngster in the front row said, “You suck,” and no matter how hard I tried, the verbal jabs kept coming:
“Man, I wish I had some ear plugs.” “This blows major chunks.” “When I was at Boysville there was this woman, now she COULD write!”
I’d had enough and felt quite comfortable confronting him. “You’ve been mighty fucking rude,” I said. Then, since he stoked my interest, I asked, “What writer are you talking about?”
Of course none of this happened at the Lawrence Street Gallery performance (more on that in a later post). No, I’m referring to my “dry run,” my practice reading in front of a room full of convicts.
The youngster upfront knew the writer by last name only—“Reardon,” he said. “She wrote crime fiction.”
When I asked him, “What exactly did she do at Boysville?” he didn’t seem to know.
“But she worked there,” he stated, as if I were ready to call him a big fat liar.
“So,” I continued, “can you name some of her books?”
He couldn’t. Instead, he countered, “You don’t even know who I’m talking about.”
Unfortunately, at least for him, I did know exactly who he was referring to. When my basement flooded, her water-soaked novel, “Billy Dead,” made the trash heap. I wasn’t particularly fond of the novel, but still she’d gone the distance—more than I could say.
“She shot her father in the ass,” I told my number one heckler.
“You’re full of bullshit,” he said.
“Sorry,” I said, “but she shot her father in the ass.” I wasn’t trying to be funny; violence is not funny. I was stating a fact.
He refused to believe me. “She was a really nice lady.”
Her name’s Lisa Ann Reardon. Her criminal offense happened on 8/21/09. Her ERD (Earliest Release Date) is 8/20/13. Her maximum discharge date is 8/20/26. I wonder whether she’s still writing. Whether the Michigan Department of Corrections will allow it without demanding profits from her latest work?
As I’ve said before, “We are all capable of violence.” In this case, Reardon claims she needed to protect her nieces from a sexually abusive father; none of which has been proven. Then there’s the other side of the coin, her mental condition at the time of the shooting, her references to Godfrey, her lost cat.
Her website can be accessed here: Lisa Reardon.
As for the LSG reading, check-out Rick Moore’s review here The Writer and The White Cat. And, no I didn’t pay him or hold a gun to his head. Rick, you’re too kind.
7 comments:
I count myself lucky I've never had anyone tell me I really suck to my face. Course, I pick my audiences pretty carefully.
The real irony, Charles, is that I feel at home amongst the criminals ... but wait, can I take that back ... I most certainly felt at home sitting in the pub two doors down from the gallery. Also, my wife and Mark struck up a nice little conversation regarding the photographer of Mark's latest book. My wife has worked in property management in Detroit and wanted to speak to the photograph regarding his pictures, but he ducked out before she could ask him whether he had permission to be in some of those abandon buildings.
JR-Glad to have been a part of your interested and respectful audience. You were great!
Fantastic, man -- fantastic!
Yes, we are all (or most of us anyway) capable of criminal acts given the right circumstances. Before anyone objects, let's start low on the scale with speeding on the highways . . . technically a criminal act. The other day, I saw eight squad cars chasing a guy in a red Camaro; he was probably going over 100 mph, a little higher up the scale than most, but still -- it's a matter of threshold and degree. (They got him down the road).
Sounds grand on the reading. Looking forward to hearing & seeing some audio-visuals, or at least seeing photos. Congrats!
Unfortunately you can't expect much better than that from most convicts, of course.
The question is was she aiming for his ass or his balls? It was a good night Jim.
Sounds like a good night.
I wanna see the video.
I know that one exists...Just has to.
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