Soul Train, KFC and Percival

I am sitting here eating some fattening KFC chicken, watching Soul Train and trying to write. Obviously I am already proscratinating because I am actually paying attention to Soul Train. Yes it still comes on, it was news to me as well. They have three groups that I have never heard of. Right now there are five young kids from Harlem singing: "The girl is amazing, her body is blazing, you know what I'm saying." Wow. And who is this host? He asked the kids how has Harlem influenced them and one kids says "Ya 'mean, we, ya' mean, we lived the life, ya' mean". No what does that mean? I feel like Bill Cosby now.

The no name host asked them about their musical influences and they ranged from Lenny Williams, Stevie Wonder, and The Tempatations to Boyz to Men and Dru Hill. A little redemption for them. But why must they try to be so cool? Trying to have this player posture, ughh.

Enough about that.

Some fabulous books have come in that I am sooo excited about:

A new book from Percival Everett. Isn't he so prolific that you can't keep up with him? He is constantly coming out with books that I don't even know about. So I have to do better looking out for his books. His imagination and literary range is incredible. One minute it is the story of a decapitated man and the next moment it is a satirical look at the world of publishing.

The new book is called Wounded (September 2005) and is described as a politically charged murder leaves no easy answers. I'm starting this one tonight (yes I said tonight as in Saturday night).

From the publisher: Training horses is dangerous--a head-to-head confrontation with a 1,000 pounds of muscle and little sense takes courage, but more importantly patience and smarts. It is these same qualities that allow John and his uncle Gus to live in the beautiful high desert of Wyoming. A black horse trainer is a curiosity, at the very least, but a familiar curiosity in these parts. It is the brutal murder of a young gay man, however, that pushes this small community to the teetering edge of fear and tolerance. As the first blizzard of the season gains momentum, John is forced to reckon not only with the daily burden of unruly horses, a three-legged coyote pup, an escape-artist mule, and too many people, but also a father-son war over homosexuality, random hate-crimes, and—perhaps most frightening of all--a chance for love.Highly praised for his storytelling and ability to address the toughest issues of our time with humor, grace, and originality, Everett offers yet another brilliant novel.

I just have to comment on the book design. Graywolf has published a beautiful book. Bravo!