Scott Martelle
journalist/author


Some of my
journalism

ARTICLE:
There's more to Gilroy than garlic
ARTICLE:
On singer-songwriter Peter Case
REVIEW:
On Jon Clinch's Kings of the Earth
ARTICLE:
On anthropologist Jennifer Perry, and California's Channel Islands
ARTICLE:
A look at political polemics in hardcover
REVIEW:
Of Scott Turow's Innocent for the Cleveland Plain-Dealer
ARTICLE:
Interview piece with Scott Turow
Op-Ed piece
On Ludlow, and the West Virginia mine tragedy (for the LA Times)
ARTICLE:
On Exene Cervenka for Orange Coast
ARTICLE:
On Mark Twain's image problem
ARTICLE:
Profile of Elif Batuman for Publishers Weekly
ARTICLE:
On Terry Teachout and Pops, his new bio of Louis Armstrong.
ARTICLE:
A look in the LA Times at the launch of Sarah Palin's memoir.
REVIEW:
On The Fourth Part of the World, a history of how America got it's name, in The Washington Post
ARTICLE:
On Barbara Demick's forthcoming Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea
ARTICLE:
Short profile of critic Terry Teachout on his forthcoming bio of Louis Armstrong.
REVIEW:
Kazuo Ishiguro's short story collection, Nocturnes.
ARTICLE:
On Dan Brown and The Da Vinci Code
ARTICLE:
"Harry Helling's Uncertain Voyage"
ARTICLE:
Profile of author Maile Meloy.
TRAVEL:
On AAA baseball in Fresno, the budget alternative to the bigs.
REVIEW:
Pat Conroy's South of Broad, not up to his full narrative power.
ARTICLE:
Fun piece on a yacht club without a yacht, a dock or, nowadays, a clubhouse.
BOOK REVIEW:
Of Nick Reding's Methland, exploring the devastating effects of meth on small-town America.
BOOK REVIEW:
Another version of the Reding review, this in the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
TRAVEL:
A road trip up the California coast -- from brewpub to brewpub.
BOOK REVIEW:
Elizabeth Edwards' Resilience in the LA Times.
BOOK REVIEW:
Of J. Robert Lennon's Castle in the LA Times.
ARTICLE:
Short interview/profile of Reza Aslan, author of No God But God and How To Win A Cosmic War.
ARTICLE:
On Barry Rillera, former Righteous Brothers guitar player who shared a secret with The Beatles.
BOOK REVIEW:
Ifill and Asim books on Obama, race and politics.
ARTICLE:
On Detroit's Focus:HOPE
TRAVEL:
"It was cool outside. The rain had stopped, but the dampness seeped into our bones with the chill of death."
TRAVEL:
A piece on eco-friendly travel to San Diego.
TRAVEL:
Advancing the annual Hatch, N. Mex., chili festival.
ARTICLE:
An Hour Detroit piece on bipolar disorder and Heinz Prechter's suicide.
BOOK REVIEW:
Rick Wartzman's book on the burning of The Grapes of Wrath.
PROFILE:
Long-shot presidential contender Duncan Hunter.
TRAVEL:
On the semi-annual opening of the Trinity site - where the first atomic bomb was detonated

Readings

Quite the World, Isn't It?


On Peter Case, Jon Clinch, and garlic

July 14, 2010

Tags: books, music, travel

This is kind of a journalistic trifecta. In the past couple of weeks I've had a few freelance articles pop up, one on singer/songwriter Peter Case, another on author Jon Clnch and the third on the city of Gilroy, California, the self-anointed Garlic Capital of the World.

The Case profile was a lot of fun. I took along my son Michael, a guitar player, in part to hear what Case had to say about his music, and in part to use the car-pool lane for the long drive from Irvine to Santa Monica. It's all about the traffic out here. And the occasion for the Case profile was the release of his new album, "Wig!" Some of his strongest work in years. There's a video embedded below from his show at McCabe's Guitar Shop the other day in Santa Monica -- same place where I interviewed him.

I also loved Clinch's new novel, his second. Kings of the Earth: A Novel is a fictionalized look at a bizarre death and murder case in Central New York. He nails the terrain, and it serves as a great follow up to his debut, Finn, picking up the story of Huck Finn's father where Mark Twain left off.

As for the Gilroy travel piece, well, how can you not like a place that smells like an Italisn restaurant?

"Somebody Told the Truth" (Live) by Peter Case from Tom Weber on Vimeo.

Comments

  1. July 14, 2010 4:44 PM EDT
    I'm in good company, apparently. I've been sharing the review with everybody on the planet. So glad the book connected with you.
    - Jon Clinch
  2. July 14, 2010 5:17 PM EDT
    Glad you liked it, and hope it helps draw some attention to the book. As you can tell from the review, I thought you did a stellar job with it. Best of luck with the next one. ;-)
    - Scott Martelle

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