 Red Room Writer Profile
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Sam Barry's Blog
November 26, 2009
- On the day before Thanksgiving we were robbed. During the night thieves gained access to our home and stole Kathi’s Stratocaster guitar, my keyboard, some amps and other musical equipment, our car, and Kathi’s son and my stepson Tony’s car, which was parked in front of our house. It was a disaster and we were all miserable. Some of what was stolen can’t be replaced. Our home was violated, ...
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November 22, 2009
- This week I am attending the annual convention of the Society of Biblical Literature (motto: making the Bible even more baffling than it already is) in New Orleans, Louisiana on behalf of HarperOne. Barbara Brown Taylor, author of An Altar in the World, told me she rode in the elevator here with two drunken men who couldn’t remember if they had eaten dinner. They decided to count the cash in ...
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November 20, 2009
- I should have known it was going to be bad day when the traffic reporter on KQED radio said there was still a problem on the N line after telling us about an as-yet undiagnosed problem on the L line. San Francisco’s mass transit system (MUNI) of buses, light rail, trolleys, cable cars, carrier pigeons, sleds, and roller blades always has its problems, but it usually doesn’t make the traffic ...
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November 16, 2009
- This weekend I was in Miami for the Miami Book Fair International, promoting my book How to Play the Harmonica: and Other Life Lessons—a book that will change your life and a really great gift idea at only $9.99. They put me up in the Hyatt Regency, which, as it happens, was the setting for the official launch of the Trump Network. “Success does not just happen,” Donald Trump has said, ...
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November 13, 2009
- Last night I attended a combined benefit for Glide Memorial Church and celebration of Cecil Williams’ forty-five years of leadership there. Glide serves people who need a helping hand by providing over 750,000 free meals a year, mental and health care, women's programs, after-school programs, literacy classes, job skills training, drug and alcohol recovery programs, free legal services for the ...
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November 10, 2009
- Canada is invading the United States. But before I get to that, I need to tell you about Leo MacDonald, Head Sales Honcho for HarperCanada, and his career in law enforcement. When he was very young and foolish Leo flew to Hay River to see a woman who had been or was his girlfriend. Hay River is located in Canada’s Northwest Territories and was Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer’s hometown. When ...
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November 5, 2009
- I am in Montreal for the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion on behalf of my company, HarperOne (represent!). Montreal is a beautiful city, but the people in Canada are delusional, stubbornly holding onto the old myth that this is an independent nation. The people in Montreal go even further—many of them insist on speaking French, a language that was outlawed under provisions of ...
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November 2, 2009
- Halloween is a national holiday here in San Francisco. This isn’t simply because people get to dress in sexy costumes borrowed from their wives’ closets or purchased at one of our local leather emporiums. Yes, it is a time when people get to come out of their shell and walk around the streets of a major city expressing their inner slut, but there is more to it than that. It’s really about ...
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October 30, 2009
- It has been a very, very long time (four months) since I wrote about the assault of the pigeons on the West coast of this great land, and in particular on the light well outside my kitchen, and no doubt many of you have wondered about the status of this epic battle for the soul of America. My sense is you have all been holding your breath, terrified that these pernicious monsters were winning and ...
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October 27, 2009
- People often ask me why I wrote How to Play the Harmonica: and Other Life Lessons. This is a tough question, because there were several reasons:I wanted to make billions of dollarsI wanted to be more famous than Paris HiltonI wanted to stop the human race from destroying itselfNow that I have accomplished these goals I could sit back, put my feet up, and heave a big, self-satisfied sigh. I could ...
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October 25, 2009
- On a beautiful day in San Francisco 16-year-old Laura Ruth Barry had no trouble defending her San Francisco Parkside tennis crown, beating fellow American Sam Barry (who is, in an extraordinary coincidence, her father) 6-1 and 6-2. The match was actually more lopsided than the score would indicate; basically, Barry kicked Barry’s ass. You might say that Barry, who has beaten Barry before, beat ...
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October 22, 2009
- I was doing some laundry this morning before work when it hit me. However, before I explain that statement let me just say that I am a big admirer of the renowned Buddhist teacher Jack Kornfield, not least because he is the father of Uma Thurman. No wait, that’s Richard Gere. Still, I am a big admirer of Kornfield, author of After the Ecstasy, the Laundry. I never read the book, but I intend to ...
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October 19, 2009
- All you need is love, says the song. But that’s ridiculous. You need a room, too, and a harmonica. What were the Beatles thinking?Still, I miss those times when pop artists wrote songs that meant something, and none more so than Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs, a quintessentially American band led by singer and organist Domingo “Sam” Samudio, best known for their hit "Wooly Bully." ...
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October 16, 2009
- I used to be a Presbyterian minister. That was back in the days before they found a cure (rim shot). But seriously, folks, take my Bible—please!I kid. Well, not about being a Presbyterian minister. I really was one, in Omaha, Nebraska, serving a little church called Florence Presbyterian. When I tell people I used to be a minister I get a variety of reactions, but when I say “in Omaha,” ...
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October 14, 2009
- Tonight I will be attending and participating in the Litquake event honoring Amy Tan at San Francisco’s Herbst Theater. If you don’t know what Litquake is, you should check it out. Litquake makes San Francisco cooler than New York. In fact, Litquake makes San Francisco cooler than San Francisco.Tonight’s occasion is the presentation of the Barbary Coast Award to Amy, a literary gem of this ...
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