August 24, 2001:

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Endangered Species

Readers seem to have no qualms disregarding interviews in magazines and newspapers. The story isn't always evident in them. In a profile of someone, you'll get a sense of the story by the end of the first paragraph. Q&As; look lengthy and kind of stilted, like they're a lot of work to get through. And really, a lot of them are; sometimes the interviewer is keen on nabbing as many words in the article as the subject and that's always a little painful to watch. I think I could read Lawrence Grobel forever, though. "The interviewer's interviewer," as he has been called (and "the Mozart of interviewers" by Joyce Carol Oates), Grobel has written for Playboy, The New York Times, and Rolling Stone, among others, and has asked thoughtful and impertinent questions of many famous people you might want to know more about. His previous books, Above the Line: Conversations About the Movies, Conversations With Capote, The Hustons, Conversations With Brando, and Talking With Michener, are textbook studies in the nimble, alchemical art of interviewing someone -- listening well, asking improper questions when necessary, and transforming the somewhat artificial setup of an interview into intriguing dialogue. Grobel's new collection of interviews, Endangered Species: Writers Talk About Their Craft, Their Visions, Their Lives (Da Capo Press, $18), is full of the unexpected and often revelatory narrative interviews that he has become known for. But with famous writers the rewards seem a little bit greater, since the figures Grobel probes in this book -- Oates, Saul Bellow, Joseph Heller, Neil Simon, Allen Ginsberg, Alex Haley, and others -- are by and large a reticent group. "I know you define God as an Irish female comedienne," he tells controversial priest and novelist Andrew Greeley. "Was that a revelation or just wishful thinking?" In fact, Endangered Species is as notable for what these writers are saying about everything but writing as it is for their thoughts about the ostensible subject at hand. Saul Bellow talks about being married five times, Oates confesses her compulsion to write even while she's being introduced to an audience, James Ellroy talks about being a caddy at a private golf club, and Simon divulges the cruel lessons he has learned from success. Grobel deserves a chunk of your reading time; he's able to take you in directions you didn't think you'd be heading.

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Food for Thought

Since it was established in 1995, the Austin Public Library Foundation has raised nearly $1,000,000 for the Austin Public Library system and increased awareness about the library's importance to the city. The Foundation is continuing the mission by throwing a party on Tuesday, Aug. 28, at 7pm, at La Zona Rosa. Called "Texas Tales: Food for Thought," the benefit will be emceed by Mayor Kirk Watson with Marcia Ball, Louis Black, and documentarian Paul Stekler (George Wallace: Settin' the Woods on Fire) showing movie clips of their favorite food scenes; Kinky Friedman, Molly Ivins, and Angela Shelf-Medearis reading passages about food from their own work; and Steve Fromholz performing. $40 per person, food will be served. Call 499-7346 for more information.