Mani Mir and the Reader
George Mitrovich, Sandra Dijkstra, Mission Hills book club, Andy Lakey, Clifford Newman, Psychotic Waltz
Richard Reeves and George Mitrovich. "You know how long it takes to read 1200 pages?"
Mir was gifted writer invited to come from Berkeley to San Diego by Judith Moore. He wrote feature stories in the late 1980s and 1990s for the Reader.
Editor's picks of stories Mir wrote for the Reader:
- "My library, which is more than a couple of thousand volumes, has been accumulated over a 35-year period. It’s the most diverse personal library that I’ve ever seen, and that includes the libraries of friends." (April 25, 1996)
"You start with the New Yorkers at seven in the morning, before they go to lunch, and you finish with Hollywood after five, when they wake up."
- "I think that I have a sort of natural editorial tropism; it’s sort of innate in me. I have a sort of irrepressible publicist in me. I help my authors get the word out." (April 26, 1990)
- Andy Lakey: 'I was born in '59. My mother and I moved to the United States in 1963. We're from France. My mother was an artist — and her mother, and her mother's mother." (April 25, 1991)
Clifford Newman
- “Then these three guys come and I’m still on the phone with the dispatcher. And they’re standin’ there — with the gun and the burritos — and she goes, ‘Well, do you still want us to send somebody out?’’ (April 12, 1990)
- “Mysteries,” says the sign above the shelves. From rows of books below, John Parker removes one hardback, examines the cover, opens to a page, not the first page. He reads a few lines." (September 21, 1989)
(Clockwise from left) Dan Rock, Buddy Lackey, Ward Evans, Norm Leggio, Brian McAlpin. “We’re tryin’ to put every type of feel into a metal groove."
- "Some people are naturally rude,” Norm says. “Being in El Cajon here, everyone’s a crystal fiend, except for us. Every day we deal with weirdos and sketchers comin’ up that we can't stand.” (August 3, 1989)