[Photo Credit: Ebet Roberts/Redferns, via Getty Images]
Thursday
September 17, 2026
Since 2002
New York Minute
What we’re reading…pictures by Reinier Gerritsen.
Dog Soldier
“Life is a means of extracting fiction.”
The above quote comes from Brooklyn born Robert Stone, one of the great novelists of the last half-century, who passed away on Saturday at his home in Key West at the age of 77. Stone’s most recent novel was 2013’s fine The Death of the Black Haired Girl, but he’ll likely always be best known for his 1974 novel Dog Soldiers, which won the National Book Award.
Dog Soldiers was adapted by Stone himself for Karel Reisz’s 1978 film Who’ll Stop The Rain, starring Nick Nolte, Tuesday Weld and Michael Moriarty. As literary adaptations go (aside from the asinine title change), it’s quite effective, retaining Stone’s strong dialogue and weary world-view. His other books of fiction included his first novel, 1967’s A Hall of Mirrors, 1981’s A Flag For Sunrise, 1992’s Outerbridge Reach, the 1997 short story collection Bear and His Daughter (which includes his widely-lauded, gut-wrenching story “Helping”) and his 1998 novel Damascus Gate.
I’ll never forget spending that Yankees-filled summer of 1998 lugging my hardcover copy of Stone’s 500 page novel back and forth to the beach. He also published a memoir of his early years in 2007, Prime Green: Remembering the Sixties, which touched on his friendship with fellow novelist Ken Kesey as well as his time spent in New Orleans as an encyclopedia salesman among other episodes. Wherever Stone traveled and whatever subjects he took on, his interests and point of view were uniquely American and not by accident. As he stated in an interview with The Paris Review from 1985:
“What I’m always trying to do is define that process in American life that puts people in a state of anomie, of frustration. The national promise is so great that a tremendous bitterness is evoked by its elusiveness. That was Fitzgerald’s subject, and it’s mine. So many people go bonkers in this country—I mean, they’re doing all the right things and they’re still not getting off.”
Earlier in the interview, he states, “That is my subject. America and Americans.” From his first novel to his last, few have ever written about them as well.
Beat of the Day
This one brings me back. A cousin from Belgium visited the summer it came out. She bought the record and my sister, brother and I listened to it until there were a few scratches. Our cousin got so pissed that she bought a new one. But we were happy because, after all, what are a few skips? I can’t even tell you that I like this song. It doesn’t matter because it is so evocative that I can’t hear it without remembering where I was the summer it was released.
[Picture by Andre Juillard via This Isn’t Happiness]
Where & When: Season 2 Game 12
Welcome back to another exciting round of Where & When! Let’s pick up where we left off with the interest from our last post as we continue to stir the cocoa on the hot stove. What other kind of ordinary moves will Cashman spring upon the Yankee faithful? Meh, not our issue here...
This is another place where I’ve worked in or near in the last few years. Of course it doesn’t have this kind of style anymore, but what goes on indoors is obviously something else entirely. All we need to decide here is where this place is and when this picture was taken. As a bonus, perhaps you’ll know what does go on inside at that time and now. So you know the rules, have at it. Hot chocolate for the winner, rum candy for the rest (and maybe a shot of bourbon for the bonus). See you later!
Photo Credit: Once Upon A Town
Beat of the Day
I worked on a movie called Belly that he did a track for. I remember him coming by a screening room, really short dude. He and his boy kept sneaking off to the stairwell to smoke an L.
Where & When: Season 2 Game 11
Happy New Year! Welcome back to another round of Where & When; where distinction knows no clock or calendar. Nevertheless, I know some of you have been waiting patiently for the next game to pop up randomly; to that end you can thank Mr. Alex Belth for his fervent support for the game by referring a new source to me to pick from. Already I can tell I can find some worthy places to highlight; to wit, here is the latest post for the newest year:
When I was a temp, I worked “up the block” from this address. There is a lot of history not only to this particular region, but the address in general; especially within my current career field. What can I add to this particular post? How about a hint: no bull.
So you know the deal, figure out where this is and when the picture was taken, and bonus brownies if you can give us any particular information about the building featured as to why it is a standout feature among other buildings in the region. First person with correct or nearly correct (as the case may be) will get a large and steamy mug of hot chocolate with whipped cream, and the rest of us who play will share a piece of rum-infused chocolate to keep us warm. Have fun, folks, no peeking at the link (but if you come across it during your research, it’s okay). See you again at or after the HoF announcement!
Photo Credit: Once Upon A Town
I’m With Stupid
Today’s water cooler chatter is all about the baseball Hall of Fame. The latest inductees will be announced in a few hours and word has it that Pedro, Smoltz, the Big Unit and Craig Biggio will all make it.
[Drawing by Larry Roibal]
BGS: Lee Marvin Shoots from the Hip
Dig Robert Ward’s Rolling Stone profile of Lee Marvin:
“Ford,” he says reverentially. “Fucking Ford. You’ll never see skillets and steaks like that in anybody else’s picture. He’s like the Dickens. It’s all about bigger than life. That’s what the old guys understood about movies. If it’s not bigger than life, put it on television.
“We got along from the start. Maybe I knew how to deal with him. The first day of Liberty, I was hanging around waiting for Ford to come in. Everybody told me how tough he was and not to say anything or he’d single you out and get on you the whole shoot. But as he walked in, I got up and saluted him. There was a dead silence. And then I said, ‘Well, chief, when the admiral comes aboard, the first mate has to pipe him in.’ He never got on me after that. He was a great lover of the navy, and he liked me because of it. He called me Washington. Because my family is descended from George Washington’s brother, James. Which few people know or expect.”
Which is an understatement. The standard guess on Marvin might best be summed up by a writer friend of mine who said, “He looks like he carne out of nowhere. He had no father, no mother, just spawned out there in some gulch and has spent his whole life hating the world that vomited him up.” Marvin would love that, for he’s worked hard to create his image. People don’t come over in bars with a glad hand and ruin his lunch. The reason is simple: they’re afraid if they do, he’ll kill them.
"This ain't football. We do this every day."
--Earl Weaver
--Earl Weaver