Friday, October 29, Reading at Saki in Chicago

Dear readers, how many of you live in Chicago? How many of you want to hear me read from my short story collection, I Like to Keep My Troubles on the Windy Side of Things? For the rare breed of reader that both lives in Chicago and wants to listen to me say words I have written, you are in luck. I will be at Saki in Logan Park Friday, October 29. The event starts at 6:30 so we won’t take up too much of your night. I’ll be there with my pal Veronica Liu, the mastermind behind Fractious Press. There will also be local talent, including John Paul Davis, an old friend. Tell all of your Chicago friends!



And just so no one thinks that Madonna of the Toast stories don't happen if I don't keep up with them, here's one from last week. According to the Winston-Salem Journal, Bill Johnson found this fallen branch in his yard and discovered "what appears to be a robed image of Jesus with an outstretched hand." Johnson has sprayed the wood with polyurethane and plans on keeping this fallen treasure. I have to say, he looks good holding it.

Is Something Burning?

The world just can’t get enough of foodstuffs infused with iconography. After mucking about in these Madonna of the Toast waters for as long as I have, this doesn’t surprise me. What does surprise me, however, is how commercial interests make headway into the mainstream with outlandish products. Burnt Impressions out of Vermont is the latest on the scene with its Jesus Toaster. Company owner Galen Dively, III, asks: "Why buy one ‘miraculous’ Jesus toast from some online auction site when you can be with The Lord every morning over coffee or tea?”

Of course, Dively is not the first one to try to cash in on DIY Jesus toast. The Jesus Pan has been around for a while, as have other similar types of molds and presses featuring God’s son and Mary. Aahh, the burnt smell of novelty commercialism!

Nationally syndicated cartoonist Ted Rall has also noticed the prevalence of these stories, in Afghanistan of all places, as a result of his “Afghan Notebook” series. This installment speaks for itself.



Lastly, I've been in Spain for a bit and, among other things, read a book that inspired this piece that went up on The Millions.

It Must Be Summer

It’s been a hot, muggy summer here on the East Coast, with air conditioners humming nonstop and pools and beaches overrun with folks seeking respite. Even up in New England, the days have been unseasonably warm, which is good news for places like Liquid Planet Water Park. Located in Candia, New Hampshire, the past couple of summers had been rainy so business was slow. But, according to this Union Leader report, not too long after opening for the new season, Liquid Planet employees noticed the face of Jesus on the red cross of the lifeguard flag. According to Kevin Dumont, one of the park’s owners, this year’s weather has been perfect and business is up 200 percent.

Dumont’s sister, Kelly, thinks the form is more a likeness of a gladiator, or a rendering of the Beatles (minus Ringo, I presume). But lifeguard Sara Schlachter recognized Christ as soon as the flag was unfurled, though she is not religious. Either way, you can’t argue with hard numbers, so whether it’s weather (ha!) or divine intervention, it seems like this is one small family-owned business that will stay afloat for another year, which in this day and age is an impressive feat.

I know it’s been a while since I posted a Madonna of the Toast tale, but it’s not because the heat has sapped me. I’ve been busy elsewhere, and if you’re interested you can see what I’ve been up to.

The venerable magazine Print, which I have contributed to over the years, has recently started an online forum called Imprint, and I’m one of the regular contributors. If you have any interest in keeping up with visual trends, from typography to art, branding and packaging design, you’ll find something worthwhile.

I also wrote recently about the amazing Tara Books for The Living Principles. If you like the idea of book as object, you have to read about Tara.

Until next time . . .

Talking Books and Stuff

Greetings from London, where this time of year cool evenings and late sunsets make for a wonderful break from New York City humidity. Always fun to kick around here, highlights have been the opening of The Family and the Land, an amazing retrospective show of Sally Man’s photography, and the necessary visit to Borough Market where you can get your eat on with all sorts of local delicacies.



If you happen to be in Amsterdam on Saturday, June 26, be sure to check out the American Book Center’s Urban Arts Festival, where loads of artists and craftspeople will be doing what they do best. Yours truly will be talking about illustrated books with Kate Bingaman-Burt and Peter Giljam of Buzzworks (nice name, right?).

Should you show up because you have read this, be sure to let me know. I will be duly impressed!

Also, for all of you clamoring to buy I Like To Keep My Troubles On The Windy Side Of Things, copies are starting to pop up on Amazon and B&N – so now you have no excuse!

Tree Falls, Story Ends

July 2007: I shared with you the story of a Virgin Mary Cottonwood tree in Brownsville, Texas, which had attracted the devout and curious for more than twenty years, besting weather and even an arsonist. But, according to this Brownsville Herald story, “when heavy rains swept through the Rio Grande Valley on Tuesday, winds toppled the tree to the ground and left it resting in pieces outside of the now abandoned boarding house where it was located. Purple and red plastic flowers were crushed under the soft, wet wood.” (Great image!)

According to a local resident, people didn’t flock to the tree like they used to, which in my mind explains the plastic flowers (real flowers dry and decay). I’ve long been fascinated with the lasting power of Madonna of the Toast stories. This tree’s story spanned four US presidents, outrageous technological developments and plenty more. Sure, this Cottonwood was no Giant Sequoia, but these days it doesn’t seem like anything ever lasts that long. Here ends one tree’s unique tale.

Out and About

Greetings one and all. I've been busy with some non-Madonna of the Toast related projects of late. For the curious among you, here are some dates and links loosely related to said busyness:

This Saturday I'll be reading from I Like to Keep My Troubles On the Windy Side of Things as part of May Day at Ding Dong. I read around 2:30pm and I can say from experience that the Ding Dong Lounge is a fine venue for early afternoon drinking and literary revelry. There will be zines and indie presses a plenty - including the wonderful Fractious Press - plus some minstrels, including Ed Askew.



On May 12 I'll be on Washington Heights Free Radio, talking shop, reading various words and spinning some tunes. Why? Because I have a poem in the latest issue of We'll Never Have Paris.

For those of you who prefer reading over listening, you can check out an essay about "obsession" over at The Millions.

And for the hardcore readers amongst you that still like to hold paper in your hands as you read, the latest issue of Grafik includes my review of Cartographies of Time.

Be the Ad

Last year on April 20, I posted a little tidbit about this strange Kit Kat Jesus, and asked, A brilliant Nestle publicity stunt or a divine snack? Turns out it was the former and now the truth is ricocheting around the interweb, thanks to a website and several Youtube clips like this one:



One of my favorite blog entries, he typed modestly, is Thoughts About News Covering the News of the News. We live in an infotainment culture and Madonna of the Toast stories thrive in such an atmosphere.

According to a comment at Digital Buzz Blog, the ad agency behind this viral marketing is UbachsWisbrun/JWT (will look into this). No matter if that’s true or not, the creators tapped a cranial fold with this concept. In four days this story found its way onto 140,000 websites (including this one), ranging from personal blogs to bona fide media outlets. Because of the candy’s catchy slogan everyone, myself included, riffed on “break me off a piece of that Kit Kat bar” – a no-brainer.

But you know what? The narrator of this case study video points out that everyone who posted and re-posted the story, everyone who read it and talked about it with others, we all became the advertising – ingenious and emblematic of our era to be sure. Because of technology's acceleration we have lost a sense of distance and separation and this funnels all of us into the same media environment and we become the media and the environment.

Marshall McLuhan was the first to say it, so I leave you with his words, from The Medium is the Massage:

Electric circuitry profoundly involves men with one another. Information pours upon us, instantaneously and continuously. As soon as the information is acquired, it is very rapidly replaced by still newer information. Our electrically-configured world has forced us to move from the habit of data classification to the mode of pattern recognition. We can no longer build serially, block-by-block, step-by-step, because instant communication insures that all factors of the environment and of experience coexist in a state of active interplay.

That was written in 1967 – it’s all the same today, just faster . . .

Thanks to Tom Hamling for sending me the video!