GREETINGS EVERYONE,

 

I’m entering the last few weeks of my tour. It’s been a magical one so far, and sometimes a bit of mystery. But I like mystery.

  

PORT TOWNSEND WA.

Jefferson County Historical Museum/ Sunday, July 8th at 2 pm. / reading from Sell the Monkey and showing Passport.

 

Within these grand old Victorian buildings in Port Townsend is the Jefferson County Historical Building, which not only houses a rich tapestry of Port Townsend history, but has done a stellar job at developing art exhibitions by celebrated local and regional artists. I do hope to see you here on Sunday, July 8th at 2 pm.

Ester, Alaska

Malamute Saloon,  Friday, July 13th, 6 pm

 

This is pretty much how the Malamute looked when I worked there back in the summer of 1963. It was here, back in those early days that I met many of the wonderfully eccentric characters I write about in Sell The Monkey: Dirty Earl, Greasy John, Tom Dooley, and, of course, my mother, Ida Lane.

Galen Garwood brings history to Ester with reading, poetry and lecture

Artist and author Galen Garwood will introduce his memoir, Sell the Monkey, during a reading and lecture 6:30 p.m. Friday July 13, at the historic Malemute Saloon in Ester. He will read an excerpt from his chapter ‘Cinnamon Screamers’, which takes place in the Malemute Saloon, and speak about his art, history and life journey. Garwood is the son of the late Ida Lane Clausen, who played ragtime piano at the Malamute Saloon in Ester between 1959 and and 1970. The memoir is dedicated to her and her contributions to the world of music. The event will open with Garwood reciting “Ida’s leg and last rag” a Robert Service-style poem written months after her death in 1989.

Sell the Monkey, a 282-page autobiography published by Marrowstone Press, depicts Garwood’s sometimes difficult life journey and voyage of self-discovery. Romuald Dzemo in the Seattle Book Review writes, “Sell The Monkey is a captivating story of family, love, and abandonment, and man’s search for his identity. The story is told in clear and powerful prose, and the reader is pulled in from the very beginning by the ruthless honesty with which the narrator looks at his life. … There is a grittiness and a powerful sense of pathos that makes this memoir a gripping story. I found it to be as riveting as it is psychologically deep.”

Born in 1944, Garwood spent most of his youth on St. Simons Island, Georgia and in Charleston, South Carolina. In 1966, after one year of art at University of Georgia, he moved to Fairbanks, Alaska, where he majored in Art and Music with a minor in English. He moved to Seattle, Washington in 1971 and began exhibiting paintings at Foster-White Gallery in 1973. In the decades that followed he has exhibited his paintings in the United States, Europe, and Asia. His creative contributions have also been expressed in award-winning writing, poetry, multimedia and film. Since 2002 he has been living in Thailand working on visual art and writing.

The John Trigg Ester Library, a volunteer operated community membership library, is delighted to host Garwood for this book release event. Find more info on the artist/author Galen Garwood at galengarwood.com

 

 

EDMONDS, WA / CASCADIA ART MUSEUM,  Sunday, July 15th, 4-6 pm

Cascadia Art Museum, 190 Sunset Ave, Edmonds, WA 98020

I’m delighted and honored to be reading at this remarkable museum, which specializes in the creative spirit of Northwest artists. The place is an absolute jewel for both Edmonds and the community at large, focusing on the many artists that made Northwest art what it is today.

 I’ll be reading  from several sections of the book, including the Chapter about my friendship with Morris Graves. 

 

 

Panom

Galen