Tonight: Dia de los Muertos (no drumming)

Mark Pritchard — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:34:13 +0000

Tonight’s the annual Dia de los Muertos event in the Mission. Unlike previous years, the procession starts at 24th and Bryant rather than in front of the Mission Cultural Center. The event starts at 7:00 p.m.

Bring pictures of dead loved ones, wear black, feel free to dress in skeletal attire. Kids are welcome.

Just a note to tribal/Burning Man types: leave your freaking bongo drums at home, OK?

Vollmann launches super-sized ‘Imperial’

Mark Pritchard — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 16:42:28 +0000

Sacramento author William T. Vollmann, whose last novel “Europe Central” won the National Book Award in 2005, brings out a new book this week about the California-Mexico border. Titled Imperial, the non-fiction tome has a length of 1344 pages and a weight of 3.8 pounds. In a Twitter message, author Luis Alberto Urrea, who has also written extensively about the border and the human and cultural traffic that crosses it, called it “a monster.” The New York magazine reviewer referred to it as “Moby-Dick in the desert.”

Also being released is a photographic companion to the book, also titled “Imperial,” with 200 photographs Vollmann took of the border region during his years of research for the non-fiction tome.

Vollmann appears in the Bay Area this week to read from and talk about “Imperial,” on Wednesday at 7:30 at Moe’s Bookstore in Berkeley, on Thursday at 12:30 pm at the Mechanic’s Institute, 57 Post St. in San Francisco, and at 7:30 pm at Booksmith on Haight St. in San Francisco. More tour dates on booktour.com.

San Francisco Metblogs » Mexico

Tonight: Dia de los Muertos (no drumming)

Vollmann launches super-sized ‘Imperial’