"Peter Principle" > wrote in message
...
> On Fri, 19 Jun 2009 21:49:35 -0700 (PDT), Bobo Bonobo®
> >
> wrote:
>
>>On Jun 19, 11:08 pm, "Mr. Joseph Littleshoes Esq." >
>>wrote:
>>> Bobo Bonobo® wrote:
>>> > On Jun 19, 1:48 pm, "Mr. Joseph Littleshoes Esq." wrote:
>>> >>When i was a child i had an uncle who would pay us kids a
>>> >>penny per crawfish to catch them for him and i remember me mum making
>>> >>stews from them and uncle Al liking them with just butter and lemon.
>>>
>>> > Have you ever read "Trout Fishing in America"?
>>>
>>> Nope, its been recommended to me before though.
>>>
>>> I didn't think much of Walton's "The Complete Angler" or "Zen and the
>>> Art of Motorcycle Maintenance." And Kerouacks "On the Road" was only
>>> slightly better.
>>
>>I feel that way about those too. Truthfully, Trout Fishing in America
>>is not Brautigan's best stuff.
>
> <snip>
>
> It is, however, some of his most entertaining stuff. Brautigan isn't
> generally feted as a comic writer, but there's some laugh out loud
> passages
> in Fishing.
>
> When I lived in The City I was lucky enough to hang out with Brautigan at
> a
> weird little place in the Haight called Persian Aub Zam Zam, IIRC, which
> is
> a story in and of itself. This was probably '84. He'd come in looking like
> a
> street corner bum, order a toonie and stare into it until it was empty,
> then
> order another.
>
> The first time I ran into him I don't remember how we got into a
> conversation, but we ended up talking for more than an hour. After he left
> the bartender told me he'd never seen him say more than two words before.
> I
> commented that not many bums drink straight up toonies. That's when he
> told
> me the bum was Brautigan.
>
> Drank vodka martinis with him several afternoons/week for a couple of
> months. He was crusty, weird and iconoclastic, but he was also hilarious
> and, under his prickly exterior, a genuinely sweet guy. Too damn bad he
> did
> the Hemingway thing.
>
> Anyway, I loved Trout Fishing, though I agree, there's better Brautigan.

Brautigan. What a lightweight.