I was only a little let down when the pilot played Enya over the comm as we lifted off for this chopper pass of Juneau because, after all, i was in the cockpit of an AStar-B2 and we were batting the air over Southeastern Alaska. I was riding shotgun. Z was in the back with Lou, who was shooting.

If i’d had my druthers, i’d have chosen this section of live audio of Jerry and the boys from MSG in September of 1991 so i threw this together quick-like in QTPro as a meager, self-indulgent attempt at redemption – special thanks to
http://vimeo.com/tweeprise

If we still lived in Juneau, this is where we’d still be parking our Subaru wagon.

Last week, the Soobi would have been buried under this:

Zach Falcon, 37, of Iowa City, earned the recognition for his story “The Malamute.” The honor came from the United Kingdom’s Bridport Prize, which will be announced today. The Press-Citizen received an embargoed copy of the announcement and originally posted it (this version has been edited for clarity):

“I was delighted. I know writers sometimes make too much of it being a lonely and solitary endeavor, so I don’t want to complain about it. Any sort of recognition is exciting,” Falcon said in a telephone interview.

The annual competition recognizes top submissions for stories and poetry. The contest is open internationally and received over 14,000 entries from more than 75 countries.

Falcon, who was born and raised in Alaska, is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, as well as the University of Michigan law school and Columbia University. After college, he returned to live in Alaska until he came to Iowa City to attend the Writers’ Workshop in 2007.

He graduated in May and stuck around to finish a collection of short stories and to work on a novel, he said.

“The Malamute” is set in his hometown of Kodiak, Alaska. The story explores the trials and tribulations of a small-town community.

“I was frankly surprised (the judge) selected it,” Falcon said. “It is a fairly grim story. It doesn’t have a lot of humor or levity. The (criterion) asked for something a little more lighthearted. I sent it anyway, and I am delighted she selected it.”

“The Malamute” will go into an anthology with the other winners, Falcon said. Falcon was pleased that the voice of an American, and more specifically an Alaskan, is being recognized in an international competition, he said.

“It’s a major award,” the local man said (no he didn’t)

Some comments from competition judge Ali Smith were included in press material about the prize.

“All good writing is about economy, edit, rhythm and precision; the short story form demonstrates this to the other literary forms. An end, when it comes, should always send you back to the beginning, because a good story, like any real art, demands revisitation. A good short story is lifelong,” Smith wrote.

Cheers to Randy Crow

Our pals have at last found a home for themselves in our old neighborhood of Juneau, Alaska.

Jorden and Bret close on this sweet pad on the 14th.

Congratulations!

Our pals, Sean and Becky Janes, gave Andy Summers and his son the tour of Southeast recently via their outfit Above and Beyond Alaska. That’s Sean on the right in the picture below.

Highly recommended if you’re thinking about making it out to the Last Frontier – but of course, we’re biased:

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As the PFD checks were delivered to Alaskans [$3300 this year] Saturday Night Live parodied Palin, played by Tina Fey. The resemblance is uncanny :

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Zach Falcon is a great storyteller because his whimsical muscles are completely intact and functioning optimally.

Most of us stop using these muscles somewhere between the ages of 8 and 10. We start conforming to our risk-averse culture, playing it safe as we say, leaving the inspirations of youth behind and stop listening to voices of mischief that often enough lead us down mysterious paths to discovery.

Falcon has managed to protect his sense of curiosity with an amazing non-stick coating, which keeps it safe from such ridiculous notions. This, combined with a rigorous training regimen for said curiosity and other, related muscles, keeps him fit and dextrous as he delivers these tales with clarity he owns.

This is the stuff that powers great storytellers who’s lives haven’t been spent only in the telling.

Perhaps, that explains how the Alaska native was able to leave his post as Assistant Attorney General in that fine state to pursue his natural gift for writing at the Iowa Writer’s Workshop in Iowa City, Iowa.

His work, like “Cloud Fishing” published in Spider Magazine, is moving in a way that will help keep us all continuing to exercise this most-important-of-all muscles : our imagination.

Without it, we’re all just player pianos that might be able to reproduce a tune – but haven’t even a thimble full of the spirit of the real thing.

Don’t count him as just another sweet and jovial kid’s fiction writer, though. When he’s not writing or starring in subversive films, he’s a stone-cold Hollywood pimp.

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