May 21, Wednesday evening -- Reading Fleetwood

Hanging with the chess players at Powell and Market Street

This is his book! Hip-Hop Tried 2 Kill Me. It comes out on Friday. Come to his release party at Marcus Bookstore at Fillmore and Geary Street, Friday between 6:30 and 8:30.

When he was young, he loved reading Maya Angelo and Sydney Sheldon, a lot, a LOT of Sydney Sheldon, who took him out of the neighborhood, all over the world, to the diamond mines of Africa, where he learned about exploitation.

His favorite book--the Bible. Favorite verse-- Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

I've started reading his book. It's very humbling. He begins by talking about his mother's death and how he couldn't get off the couch from smoking weed to go see her just before she died, and how much he loved her---she was a church going woman, a social worker, and the young girls in the neighborhood would come to her to get their hair fixed for church services and their cheerleading outfits sewed. She left him her house when she died and some money that he bought a nice car with and would get beer and weed and drive around with his "niggaz" and have parties at the house. ...and then there's an intervention.

Anybody up for going to the book party? I'll be there.