"He loads his head full of coal and diamonds shoot out of his finger
tips. What a trick. The mole genius has left us with another digest.
It's a full house - read 'em and weep." - Tom Waits
Born from Bukowski's columns, the LA underground press of the 1960s,
Bukowski defined his early alter ego, Hank Chinaski, as a self-described
dirty old man who eyes his defeatist attitude about himself with his
clarity to see humor and holiness in others. Addictive and instructive
listening, Bukowski delivers the humanity and intelligence of all the
unseen. Filled with his usual obsessions - sex, booze, gambling -
Notes features Bukowski's offbeat insights into politics and
literature, and his tortured, violent relationships.
"People come to my door - too many of them really - and knock to tell me
Notes of a Dirty Old Man turns them on. A bum off the road brings in a
gypsy and his wife and we talk...drink half the night. A long distance
operator from Newburgh, N.Y. sends me money. She wants me to give up
drinking beer and to eat well. I hear from a madman who calls himself
'King Arthur' and lives on Vine Street in Hollywood and wants to help me
write my column. A doctor comes to my door: 'I read your column and
think I can help you. I used to be a psychiatrist.' I send him away...."
"Bukowski writes like a latter-day Celine, a wise fool talking straight
from the gut about the futility and beauty of life...." (Publishers
Weekly)
OBIE winner Will Patton (Remember the Titans, The Good Wife,
Armageddon) recreates Bukowski in his visceral prime, along with every
eye-popping character in his life, each adversary, lover, and stranger
in a lost city.
