Books, of course. I love David Sedaris, especially Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim. Other writers who are lifelines for me include Ed Ochester, Philip Levine, Lorrie Moore, Nazim Hikmet, Mohammed Mrabet, Dave Newman, Chuck Kinder, Jonathan Ames, Gerald Locklin, Joan Jobe Smith, Pablo Neruda, Ernest Hemingway, Gerald Stern, Chuck Kinder, James Wright, Judith Vollmer, Bob Pajich, Greg Bottoms, the Wolff brothers, and so many more.
Music
The Replacements. Always. I love old (Ramones, Rancid) punk. And Marah (www.marah-usa.com) is just amazing. I have Irish roots and am a drunk table-pounder at heart, so of course The Pogues. Jesse Malin. Bright Eyes. The Sex Pistols (screw the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame; o.k., Johnny). Social Distortion. Townes Van Zandt. And my husband's in this great new Pittsburgh band, The Little Steven Fosters. So I'm the worst kind of groupy you can imagine, but seriously... these guys are like a cross between Woody Guthrie and The Replacements. Pure Pittsburgh gritty. You can check them out at www.purevolume.com.
Movies
Annie Hall and Jaws. Manhattan. Capote. Sideways. I'm romantic. I've owned fedoras. I don't go in the ocean. Ever. The Brooklyn Bridge is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. Philip Seymour Hoffman AND the story of the greatest creative nonfiction writer ever. Plus pinot and lots of it. Perfect.
Television
Jon Stewart. Steven Colbert. Smarter than anything on CNN. Anything on Comedy Central except those redneck idiots.
Books
More! Now, to add to the Interests list -- Bukowski's Ham on Rye and Post Office; John Fante's Brotherhood of the Grape; BJ Ward's The Gravedigger's Birthday; Dave Newman's Punch; Chuck Kinder's Honeymooners; Greg Bottoms' Angelhead; F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby; Charles Dickens' Tale of Two Cities and David Copperfield; Denise Duhamel's poems (all of them); Alyson Noel's Fly Me to the Moon; Dinty Moore's The Accidental Buddhist; Bob Pajich's Everyone Exquisite; and many more.
About me: O.k., so I wasn't ever crowned Miss New York. That's just the title of my book, Miss New York Has Everything. It's my first real book, so I'm pretty giddy. It's a memoir from Warner Books. It's sort of Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs meets Coffee, Tea or Me. Mostly, it's a pop-cult journey of self discovery, with plenty of zombies, rabid poodles, drug-addicted nuns, talent-show rejects, Mile-High-Club horror stories, and other essentials along the way.
Other things you might want to know about me:
My last name rhymes with Tequila.
My hometown, Trafford PA, is also the birthplace of Lauren Tewes, who used to play Julie the Cruise Director on the Love Boat. (Before she was canned for a nasty coke habit and her tendency to chunk up.)
My hometown, Trafford PA, is widely thought of as the birthplace of the chocolate-covered pickle.
I love deep fried food and have a romantic impulse towards Iron City Beer. I have deep roots.
I'm also a poet. I have a chapbook called The Regulars. It was published by Liquid Paper Press in Austin, Texas.
I've always been afraid to fly. I was a flight attendant for six years. Go figure. Come visit me at www.lorijakiela.com.
You have surely heard about the tragic death of Neda - a brave young woman who was murdered in Iran just for peacefully protesting with her father on the streets of Teheran.
Thank you for being a friend. I look forward to getting to know you.
During this month, I've started a Summertime recipe exchange on my blog. I will be posting recipes sent to me from various authors, so stop on by and check them out. Plus, I have monthly contest for free books. This month's is coming soon!
If it's too far from your home, if you have better things to do, if you're scared to go out...discover
Jack Dupon's video almost live at a private concert...
Oppression
Si c'est trop loin de chez vous, si vous avez mieux a faire, si sortir vous fait peur... Découvrez la vidéo de Jack Dupon presque en live lors d'un concert privé filmé sur Clermont-1ère en octobre 2008...
