Jon Nigbor
My apologies if this feels a little spammish, but we're getting the word out
to friends and fans about Random House releasing "Metal Cowboy" in
paperback. I hope to see you at one of the release parties/performances and
hope you will pick up a copy for yourself and anyone who enjoys a lively
read.
Also, You'd be doing me a great service and promoting the cause of bike
touring, travel adventure and storytelling in general, if you'd forward this
little message ( see below) with a short note from you to friends,
coworkers, anyone on the West Coast who might like to catch the shows and/or
to anyone in the country/world who
can't make the shows, but might like to get a copy of the paperback release,
(new, improved and no harsh aftertaste) of my new book. There's even an
excerpt from my next tome. Thanks.
Cheers,
Joe Kurmaskie
www.metalcowboy.com
Come have some laughes with Joe Kurmaskie
"THE METAL COWBOY"
-A WRITER/ENTERTAINER WHO'S PEDALED FARTHER THAN MOST OF US WOULD DRIVE -
HE'S SURVIVED GEESE ATTACKS, NUDIST COLONY WEDDINGS, ELVIS IMPERSONATORS AND
DISGRUNTLED RODEOCLOWNS. HEAR ABOUT THE WILD CAST OF CHARACTERS HE MET ALONG
THE WAY AND THE TRIUMPHS AND TRIBULATIONS OF TWO-WHEELED TRAVEL.
Joe will be performing new stories from his next book: "RIDING OUTSIDE THE
LINES: More Misadventures With The Metal Cowboy" cracking wise, answering
questions about his adventures (Enron accounting practices, how to make a
good can of soup every time, anything really) hawking the long awaited
Metal Cowboy caps and shirts, and signing copies of Random House's new
paperback release of his first book. (Priced right for the frugal traveler
or arm chair explorer). There's even a chance his new line of bikes will be
on display.
It's always a lively evening when the cowboy is in the house.
West Coast Tour Schedule:
WEDNESDAY, MAY 8 at 7:30pm
Powells Books
1005 West Burnside
Portland, OR 97209
THURSDAY MAY 23 6pm
RiverCity Bicycles
706 SE MLK Blvd
Portland Oregon
WEDNESDAY, MAY 15 at 7:30pm
Village Books
1210 11th Street
Bellingham, WA 98225
360-671-2626
THURSDAY, MAY 16 at 7:30pm
Eagle Harbor Books
157 Winslow Way
Bainbridge Island, WA 98110
206-842-5332
5/17: SEATTLE BIKE TO WORK RALLY 7am City Hall
FRIDAY, MAY 17 at 6:00pm
Third Place Books
17171 Bothell Way NE #A101
Lake Forest Park, WA 98155
Contact: Judith Chandler
206-366-3320
store: 206-366-3333
SUNDAY, MAY 19 at 5:00pm
Book Passage
51 Tamal Vista Blvd
Corte Madera, CA 94925
415-927-0960
METAL COWBOY:
TALES FROM THE
ROAD LESS PEDALED
BY JOE KURMASKIE
Wednesday May 22 4pm-7pm show at 5pm.
Cody's Books
2454 Telegraph Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94704
"An infectious celebration of life. Kurmaskie uncovers what is sweet and
good among people." -Boston Globe
"Kurmaskie is possessed of an astute ability to channel his life experiences
into stories with a universal element." -Sacramento Bee
"Joe Kurmaskie's stories are full of optimism, zaniness, and depth; a
winning combination." -Seattle Times
# # #
Joe Kurmaskie is a regular columnist for Bicycling. He has written for
Details, the Arizona Star, Oregon Cycling, and Midwest Bike, and has
appeared on numerous radio and television programs. He lives in Portland
with his wife and two sons. Joe's next book, Riding Outside the Lines, will
be published in 2003 by Harmony Books.
# # #
Get Your copy of Metal Cowboy at any bookstore, Amazon.com etc.
METAL COWBOY:
TALES FROM THE ROAD LESS PEDALED
By Joe Kurmaskie
Three Rivers Press
ISBN: 0-609-80911-3
Publication date: April 30, 2002
$13.00 (paper)
----------
From: "joe kurmaskie" <mtco-@teleport.com>
To: jjach-@multidyne.com
Subject: Re: Your cousin's coming back to town and he's bringing
reinforcements!
Date: Tue, Mar 28, 2000, 10:28 AM
Hey, I don't mind a spot on the floor. Looking forward to seeing everyone
again!
Cheers,
Joe
----------
From: "Jim Jachetta - MULTIDYNE Inc." <jjach-@multidyne.com>
To: "joe kurmaskie" <mtco-@teleport.com>
Subject: RE: Your cousin's coming back to town and he's bringing
reinforcements!
Date: Tue, Mar 28, 2000, 7:48 AM
Sound like you've been busy. It will be good to see you. Shannon's
Grandpa
I think will still be here that week. If you don't mind a pull-out
couch,
your welcome to stay.
Jim
-----Original Message-----
From: joe kurmaskie [mailto:mtco-@teleport.com]
Sent: Tuesday, March 28, 2000 2:16 AM
To: jjac-@optonline.net; tammara kaestner; lydia sainz; laurie dugan;
laura & jim gutweiler; kelly kofsky; joe b ryan; connie tollner; cindy
wastweet; chris muat
Subject: Your cousin's coming back to town and he's bringing
reinforcements!
Jim and Shannon,
Hope you can help me get the word out to all the family, friends etc
about
my second book/performance tour. We'll be at
Barnes and Noble, April 24, 2000, 8 PM 1542 Northern Blvd Manhasset, NY
11030 (516) 365-6723.
My book has done really well. It's about to go into a second printing and
all sorts of crazy good stuff is happening. TV
program nego and I'm getting my own line of bicycles... no kidding.
Rodriguez custom bikes out of Seattle has contracted to produce a metal
cowboy signature series of bikes. They sponsor me already with all sorts
of
bikes and equipment. Anyway read all about it, the book and performance
tour
etc. below, then mark this date down on your calendar and bring friends
family etc.. I'm trying to give you guys some lead time this go around so
maybe you can see the show. It's really a blast... we've got big time
sponsors and I'm bringing one of my best friends and fellow
performer/writers Willie Weir... he's damn good.
At any rate, hope all is well on the homefront. With the second boy due
at the end of July this book tour is gonna be my last venture away from
home for a bit.
See ya soon,
Cheers,
Joe Metal Cowboy Kurmaskie
PS. forward this email on to donna and rich, friends etc.
The "Willie and Joe Show" All Across America in April and May
Beaten in Albania. Treed in New Hampshire. Jailed in India. Taken in the
Outback and they are still laughing and pedaling through it all.
I would like to introduce you to two of the most entertaining
adventure/bicycle travel writers in the world today. Author/Bicycling
Magazine columnist Joe "Metal Cowboy" Kurmaskie, will be joining Willie
Weir,
author, award-winning public radio commentator and columnist for
Adventure
Cyclist magazine on a 30-plus city national performance and book(s)
signing
tour, spanning from San Diego to Boston, sponsored by Bicycling Magazine,
Ortlieb and the Adventure Cycling Association.
Note: The authors have a scheduled meeting with Chicago's Mayor Daley on
Thursday, April 6 to talk about his own planned bicycle journey across
the
U.S. this summer, take photos and basically get the royal treatment.
Their individual travels have taken them to the likes of Cuba, India,
Australia, Bosnia, South Africa, Ireland and points in between, and
they've
brought back adventures for the rest of us. Weir's book, Spokesongs, is
being
released in April (second edition) and Kurmaskie's Metal Cowboy is headed
for
a second printing. Both titles are published by Breakaway Books.
The travel editor of the Sacramento Bee says, "The "Willie and Joe Show"
is
a
captivating hour of storytelling, theater and back-and-forth banter in
the
style of National Public Radio's "Car Talk" brothers Click and
Clack-except
that the "brothers," in this case, are more like young Charles Kuralts."
I have attached their schedule as well as the article quoted above.
Please call or email for more information or to receive a full media kit
and/or books for review.
An online media kit for the tour can be found via www.breakawaybooks.com.
Sincerely,
Michael Pace
Pineleaf Productions
206-723-2191
They will be performing at Barnes and Noble, April 24, 2000, 8 PM 1542
Northern Blvd Manhasset, NY 11030 (516) 365-6723.
Check out all the festivities at:
http://www.willieweir.com/WJS/WJSindex.html
www.metalcowboy.com
or www.breakawaybooks.com
Again it's at Barnes and Noble
April 24, 2000
8 PM
1542 Northern Blvd
Manhasset, NY 11030
(516) 365-6723
4/3--Hungry Mind/Ruminator Books--St. Paul, MN
4/4--REI--Madison, WI
4/5--REI--Brookfield, WI (Milwaukee)
4/6--Barbara's Book Store--Chicago, IL
4/7--Bookstall at Chestnut Court--Winnetka, IL
4/8--Schuler Books--Okemos, MI
4/12--Indianapolis-Marion County Library--Indianapolis, IN
4/13--Joseph-Beth Books--Cinncinati, OH
4/14--Barnes & Noble--Columbus, OH
4/15--Borders--Beachwood, OH (Cleveland)
4/17--Barnes & Noble--Pittsburgh, PA
4/18--Borders--Bailey's Crossroads, VA (Wash, DC)
4/19--Bibelot--Timonium, MD (Baltimore)
4/20--Borders--Philadelphia, PA
4/21--Barnes & Noble--Whitehall, PA (Allentown)
4/26--Barnes & Noble--Farmington, CT (Hartford)
4/27--Rhythm and Muse--Jamaica Plain, MA (Boston)
5/15--Barnes & Noble--La Mesa, CA
5/16--BookStar--San Diego, CA
5/17--Distant Lands--Pasadena, CA
5/18--Changing Hands Bookstore--Tempe, AZ
5/19--Borders (Paradise Valley)--Phoenix, AZ
5/20--Bookman's--Tucson, AZ
5/22--WNMU--Silver City, NM
5/23--Page One Booksellers--Albuquerque, NM
5/24--Barnes & Noble--Glendale, CO (Denver)
5/25--Boulder Bookstore--Boulder, CO
5/26--REI (Flagship Store)--Denver, CO
Much-traveled bicyclists spin their tires and true tales in books, talks
By Janet Fullwood
Bee Travel Editor
(Published Oct. 17, 1999)
Pedal a bicycle across a continent or two, and what do you get? Killer
thighs, of course. But
beyond that, anyone who spends months on the road with their face in the
elements and their worldly goods in a pair of panniers has got to come
away
with stories. Lots of stories. Stories that if told well can make a
book --
and provide material for one heck of an author's tour.
Willie Weir and Joe Kurmaskie are adventure cyclists, journalists,
authors
and kindred spirits who have teamed up on a "Take it Outside" tour that
blasted through Sacramento last Monday and will hit Davis on Friday. Each
has
a book on pedaling to peddle (Weir's is "Spokesongs: Bicycle Adventurers
on
Three Continents," Kurmaskie's is "Metal Cowboy: Tales From the Road Less
Pedaled"). But just as those volumes are, in Weir's words, "about cycling
.
.
. and not about cycling," so is their presentation about the books . . .
and
not about the books.
The "Willie and Joe Show" is, instead, a captivating hour of
storytelling,
theater and back-and-forth banter in the style of National Public Radio's
"Car Talk" brothers Click and Clack -- except that the "brothers," in
this
case, are more like young Charles Kuralts.
Weir, 38, a regular commentator for public radio station KUOW in Seattle,
grew up in Sacramento, graduated from California State University,
Sacramento
with a degree in theater arts and for years earned his living as an
actor.
It's that professional confidence that lets him sing "Daisy" to his book
tour
audiences without a shred of self-consciousness, and follow up with a
vigorous rendition of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" -- sung backward.
Newly married, Weir has put more than 40,000 miles under his wheels (most
recent destination: Cuba) and been exposed to every facet of the human
condition. Through Africa, India, South America, the Balkans and the
United
States, he's come away an optimist.
"I tell people, 'If you want to be pessimistic about this country, watch
TV
news for one hour a night. If you want to be optimistic, to see how
wonderful
this country really is, ride a bicycle across it,'"
The travel tales that Weir tells, in person and in his book, aren't so
much
about grease and gears as they are lessons in life, cleverly related.
Sometimes touching and often hilarious, his stories are always
insightful --
and blessedly free of the egotistical musings that mar so many travel
narratives. No matter how foreign the culture, how great the language
barrier, how difficult the conditions of his travels, Weir manages to
find a
silver lining, and to revel in it.
Kurmaskie is the slightly younger (32), much huskier and equally witty
member
of the tag team. Tall, blond ("It's the aging surfer look") and the
father
of
a toddler, he is, like Weir, outgoing and possessed of an astute ability
to
channel his life experiences into stories with a universal element.
An avid cyclist since age 5 and an experienced journalist, Kurmaskie has
pedaled across the United States, Australia and New Zealand, finding
humor
and pathos wherever he goes.
"When I discovered bicycle touring, I was like a noisy drunk at a Quaker
meeting -- you couldn't shut me up," he says of the pastime that opened
up
not only new roads to adventure, but new roads for his writing.
Kurmaskie's tales describe stranger-than-fiction encounters with the
sharply
sketched characters he meets along his way. There are the hard-drinking
Aussies who call his bluff in the Outback, and the cycling companion who,
after a long, difficult day, sits down in a restaurant and, much to
Kurmaskie's shock, removes not one, but two prosthetic legs.
Kurmaskie's book title, "Metal Cowboy," was bestowed by another memorable
character -- a blind rancher who materialized at a traffic light on a
rainy
morning in Pocatello, Idaho, to explore Kurmaskie's touring bike with his
cane.
"He told me two things," the author relates: "Keep the wind at your back.
.
.
. And find where the innocent sleep. I interpreted that to mean that if
you
go out and look for the best in people, the best is what you'll find."
--end story