RIP Tom Robbins

[teleee]

Even Cowgirls Get The Blues remains one of my all time favorites.


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[bobz]

Cowgirls is one of the few that didn't click for me. My first was Still Life With Woodpecker, whose fun prose completely won me over, like oh how about:

On the right side-panel of the verbose and somewhat tautological box of Cheerios, it is written,

"If you are not satisfied with the quality and/or performance of the Cheerios in this box, send
name, address, and reason for dissatisfaction - along with entire boxtop and price paid - to:
General Mills, Inc. Box 200 - A, Minneapolis, Minn., 55460. Your purchase price will be
returned."

It isn't enough that there is a defensive tone to those words, a slant of doubt, an unappetizing broach of the subject of money, but they leave the reader puzzling over exactly what might be meant by the "performance" of the Cheerios. Could the Cheerios be in bad voice? Might not they handle well on curves? Do they ejaculate too quickly? Has age affected their timing or are they merely in a mid-season slump? Afflicted with nervous exhaustion or broken hearts, are the Cheerios smiling bravely, insisting that the show must go on? One thing you can say for the inscription, it makes you want to rush to the pantry, seize a box of Cheerios, rip back its tab (being careful not to tear it off lest there come a time to send in the boxtop, which must be entire), part the waxed paper inner bag with both hands, dispatch a significant minority of the Cheerio population head over heels into a bowl, douse them immediately with a quantity of milk (presumably, they do not perform when dry), sprinkle some white sugar on top, and then, crouch, face close to the bowl, watching, evaluating, as the tiny, tan, lightweight oat doughnuts, irregular in size, tone, and texture, begin to soak up the milk and the sugar granules dissolved therein, growing soft and soggy, expanding somewhat as liquid is absorbed; and you may be thinking all the while about the toroid shape, the shape of the cyclone, the vortex, the whirlpool, the shape of a thing made of itself yet mysteriously distinct from itself; thinking about rings, halos, men overboard, the unbroken cycle of life, the void as nucleus, or, best of all, bodily orifices; thinking about whatever the trove of toroidal trinkets might inspire as, center holes flooded with sugary milk, they relax and go blobby in the bowl; but appraising, even as your mind wanders, appraising, testing, criticizing, asking repeatedly: do Cheerios measure up to Wheaties with beer, would they mix well with batshit in times of strife, would Ed Sullivan have signed them, would Knute Rockne have recruited them, how well do these little motherfuckers perform?

From there, it was the adventures of Plucky Purcell in the catacombs of the Vatican, and more and more. I think Jitterbug Perfume is why I still include some beet when I grind out some fresh juice. Robbins' writings are pure pleasure; so sad that he's gone.

[TBS]

My favorite was Another Roadside Attraction mostly because there was a hamburger stand, wild animal farm and Bigfoot museum in Toledo WA owned by my grandfather’s friend Ray Wallace, the noted Bigfoot hunter/hoaxter. It wasn’t a large stretch from there to the hotdog stand/animal farm in the book, especially when ingesting hallucinogens.

[bodywhomper]

Sad he’s gone. Loved his proses. Always made me laugh and smile.


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[Woodsy]

Jitterbug perfume was my fave but loved them all

He was a force of nature that made life better

Aside from all the sci fi & fantasy I got started on from my dad's shelves Robbins, Vonegut & Irving shaped adolescent into young adult Woodsy

[TurxSki]

Human beings were invented by water as a device for transporting itself from one place to another...

"It's never too late to have a happy childhood."
[emoji7]