I took a summer workshop from him in 1997, before he was Jonathan Ames, when I lived in Jersey City surrounded by crack vials, murder, and fire. Well, he was still Jonathan Ames, just not as much (at the time I didn't know about the thing with the hairbrush). I didn't know what I was doing back then, so I didn't get much out of it. Not that I know what I'm doing now, but I have a better grasp of what questions to ask.
These days he's doing quite well, and is only five years older than me, which makes me feel small and doomed. Here's a recent profile of him in New York magazine.
These days he's doing quite well, and is only five years older than me, which makes me feel small and doomed. Here's a recent profile of him in New York magazine.
Ames, ever the showman, calls the crowd to attention. Then he apologizes. The knife-thrower is running late.
"I wanted Miss Saturn, she's this hula-hoop person. But she wasn't available," he tells me later. "So then I wanted Ula the Pain-Proof Rubber Girl--I once broke a cinderblock on her belly while she lay on a bed of nails. But she wasn't available either. So she suggested Throwdini." More than anything, he loves to put on a show. Despite the harrying demands of a TV series, he describes the process as fun, like "putting on a big wedding." On set, he looked around and said, "All these people! All these trucks! There's a truck with a spigot on the side where coffee comes out! All because I wrote something. This is beautiful."
I am looking for the short story "I wanted to know why" by Jonathon Ames - What collection is that story in? I would appreciate any help in locating this story. Thanks.
There's a chapter with that title in his novel, "I Pass Like Night." I don't know if the story exists in a collection, though.