King of the Baja

A friend sent me news that Underground Voices will be publishing King of the Baja: The Writings of Robert Guskind in the fall:

"Guskind was a former Washington Post reporter whose life unraveled after years of heavy drug use. He sustained his drug habit on a string of minimum wage jobs and petty crime. Eventually, he returned to reporting after cleaning himself up. Over a period of two years, Guskind sent Underground Voices "test pages" that he hoped would become his memoir covering the drug years. His memoir never came to fruition but UV has gathered his pages and will publish KING OF THE BAJA, his "unfinished memoir," hoping it comes close to what he would have wanted.  Tony DuShane, columnist at the San Francisco Chronicle and former editor of Cherry Bleeds, has written the intro for the book. "

Some of this material has long been available online, but I'm happy that it will be collected in book form.  Many New Yorkers - especially Brooklynites - will know Guskind best for his seminal blog Gowanus Lounge (you can find the archives here), an informed and passionate chronicle of development mayhem, with some abandoned sofas & good music thrown in for good measure.  Maybe the best written & most influential of any blog in the borough.  Buy a copy of the book.

Here's a video tribute to Bob by NewYorkShitty,  made in 2009 - "a tale of two cities."  Beautiful.  Please buy the book.