Rise Above

Introducing a memoir

In Deep Voices #55, I wrote about the music I was listening to after my son died suddenly. Bill Callahan, Bill Evans, Peter Garland. Four years later, those names are largely the same. What helps helps. I’m not looking a gift horse in the ear.

All three of these artists, and many more, appear in my book Rise Above, which will be released by Random House this summer, on July 26th. It’s about the immediate time after he died, about grief and music, about fatherhood, about art, about thrifting, about work, about yoga, about friendship, about love, about cookies, and about Henry Rollins. It’s a book about the day-to-day of being alive, the annoying and wonderful privilege of that.

Here is its cover. The photo is by photographer (and regular Deep Voices commenter) Daniel Arnold. Thank you Daniel. The book is available for preorder now. I’m proud of it. I always wanted to write a book, though this is not the one I imagined I’d write.

I don’t know if memoirs have spoilers, but here’s a song I talk about in the end of the book that has been very important to me. Take a listen.

Playlists will return soon! Thank you.