Rest In Peace, Fred
I just recieved an e-mail telling me Frederick Busch died last Thursday of a heart attack in New York City. Just last fall I was interviewing him, elated to be talking to such a cool writer, and now he's gone at the relatively young age of 64. Another reminder of the brevity of life, that we can be taken at any time, no matter what we've achieved in our lives.
Rest in peace, Mr. Busch.
Blogagaard Loves to Ponder
About Me
- David Oppegaard
- St. Paul, Minnesota
- I am the author of And the Hills Opened Up, The Suicide Collectors, and Wormwood, Nevada.
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14 comments:
That's a damn shame, it sounded like he was a real cool guy. I know he liked his whiskey though, was he a smoker too?
What a shock. He was so warm and sweet. Terrible.
Very sad. I learned a great deal from him in those two days we were lucky enough to spend with him this fall.
Oh and thanks Dave...this was the one place I figured I could go with this for certain & share this sadness with people. And of course, you didn't disappoint.
I don't know if he smoked, but everyone should drink some sour mash tonight in memorium.
Here's a mix that I bet Bush would have liked:
Black Tooth Grin
2 oz Crown Royal Whiskey
Splash of Coke for color
I didn't know Bush at all (to my regret I missed the interview due to class), but I morn the loss of someone so thoughtful and intelligence.
Heh heh. Mike mispelled "intelligent".
What was it about his writing that really stood out (for those of us learning about him just today)?
For one thing Becca- he wrote about human interactions in a very honest way, capturing small moments- observations & feelings that most people don't usually talk about. But Dave read more of his books than I did, so I'm sure he'll have more to say & will probably say it much more eloquently than me.
Hey, intelligence is a word, I just used it in the wrong context. Like a moron.
It is a New Moon, if you look to the left margin. Zero percent full.
Ah, you guessed wrong, Shannon. I will say, though, that Busch loved his characters and did a great job flushing them out. I'd recommend "Girls" if you'd like to read a book of his. How many books have you read with a sharp witted campus cop as the main protagonist? And the campus the cop works at really seems to resemble St. Olaf, though it's based on Colgate College on the East Coast.
A new moon.
A new day?
I was thinking about how Smeiding's child was recently born, just days after Busch died. To quote the strumming minstrel Jack Johnson: "One goes out, one comes in."
My favorite line from that song is "The doctor gave him two weeks to live/I'd give him more if I could."
Imagine a "Days" bank. I might be willing to chop off a couple years past 90 to give to others.... (of course, I say this 58 years beforehand in the abstract).
I was just going to ask for a "first book" recommendation, so thanks.
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