For those who were there, you already know that last night was a special night for literary Southern California. For those who weren't, Tony O'Neill and Dan Fante read together for the the first time ever, at Skylight Book in the Los Feliz District of Los Angeles.
Dan opened things up reading from Kissed by a Fat Waitress, his latest book of poetry and his previous volume of verse, a-gin-pissing--raw-meat-dual-carburetor-V8-son-0f-a-bitch from Los Angeles. Tony then read from Songs From The Shooting Gallery (a book that I had the great privilege of editing, as well as writing its intro) and then from Down and Out on the Murder Mile, his latest novel.
I also was able to hang out with Tony a bit before the gig. This was very cool, because even though Tony and I have become friends thru our many email exchanges and the work we've done together, I'd never before met him in person.
All and all it was a wonderful night--great literature, good people, and a excellent venue. It was the kind of night that reminds me why I got into the writing game to begin with.
For anyone's who's interested, the LA Weekly just posted a Ryan Ritchie's review of the reading and his short interview with Tony O'Neill.
Photo: L to R--Tony O'Neill and me having a drink at the Dresden Inn on Vermont in Los Angeles before the reading. (Man, could we be any more different stylistically?)
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