rob roberge profile picture

rob roberge

author of MORE THAN THEY COULD CHEW and DRIVE & the upcoming WORKING BACKWARDS FROM THE WORST MO

About Me

to email me, drop me a line at:
[email protected]
i write books, including the critically acclaimed neo-noir MORE THAN THEY COULD CHEW (Dark Alley/Harper Collins), which gets called darkly funny or depressing and disgusting, depending on who you're talking to...and the just re-issued DRIVE (Hollyridge Press)...MORE THAN THEY COULD CHEW is out in France with a dark and cool cover...I have a book of stories WORKING BACKWARDS FROM THE WORST MOMENT OF MY LIFE coming out next year on the new, super cool Black Arrow Press (more details to follow)
i do monthly (or semi-monthly) columns for:
www.myrareguitars.com
and:
www.SandM.com
and
seismicmag.com/
also,i play guitar and sing in the danbury shakes (www.myspace.com/danburyshakes), who sound like Neil Young & Crazy Horse...i play guitar and sing in the violet rays (www.myspace/thevioletrays), who sound like Link Wray and Woody Guthrie got into an accident and formed a band...i get to make really loud avant-pop noise on the guitar with LA punk veterans (class of 78), the Urinals, and we sound...well, we sound kind of like the Urinals (www.myspace.com/chairsofperception)....
I play, in order of competence, Guitar (6 & 12 string, though not 4 string tenor), Mandolin, Bass (sound very much like a guitar player playing bass--), LAP Steel, Pedal Steel (10 string, 3 levers....much more than that and my mind wanders) Banjo and (awkward drum roll please), drums. I sing, too, but that's just because I have to and I'm not sure where it would belong on the list
i restore vintage quack medical devices (violet wands and muscle units)...i rebuild vintage guitar amps, mostly Magnatones and Valcos...i annoy the neighbors when i test vintage amps...i teach at ucla extension writer's program and at antioch's MFA in writin' program...
DO NOT ask to be my friend so you can spam me, ask me to join ANYTHING (I don't join groups or blogs or...anything...stop asking me...it's nothing against your group, i just have too much shit to do and read every day as it is...plus, i hate groups...especially, of course, any that would have me as a member)...Do not be my friend only so you can leave commercials in my comments section. I will delete you as soon as I get off my lazy butt to do it! Sort of quickly!

My Interests

rebuilding/fixing tube amplifiers & quack medical devices, BDSM, reading, writing, guitar, lo-fi recording...surfing

I'd like to meet:

charles nelson reilly and brett somers

Music:

bob dylan, dream syndicate/steve wynn, handsome family, miles davis, television, tom verlaine, nels cline, velvet underground, neil young, throwing muses, virginia dare, liz phair, wilco, 13th floor elevators, south san gabriel, bennett & burch, mike watt/minutemen, SCOTS, howlin wolf, john coltrane, centromatic, the gourds...mike martt...mingus...john frusciante...jimmy bryant & speedy west...the rolling stones...dinosaur jr, X, the replacements, westerberg solo...barbara manning...dick dale...pavement...the silver jews...slight pieces...don't mean maybe...many more

Movies:

five easy pieces, fat city, chinatown, in a lonely place, the last waltz, radio bikini...many more...seemingly nothing of late x-cept documentaries...

Television:

simpsons, arrested development...whatever Tivo tells me i like...

Books:

friends whose writing i love: tod goldberg, craig clevenger, anne marino, joan kelley, darrell spencer, francois camoin, steve almond, katie arnoldi, peter craig, joel brouwer...john steppling...wes walker...
writers i love but who i don't know well enough to borrow $ from (in a few cases cause they're dead): amy hemple, denis johnson, richard yates, jim thompson...hunter thompson...a bunch more to be added later...fitzgerald, hemingway's short stories (but not the novels)

Heroes:

they call them grinders where i'm from. or hoggies.

My Blog

WORKING BACKWARDS is available! Order info here...

Ok, folks.  Sorry about the mass posting here, but you know I love you enough to lie to you and borrow moneythat's how close we are.  Why the mass email?  Well, because my new book, ...
Posted by rob roberge on Fri, 24 Oct 2008 12:39:00 PST

urinals on tour this week...east coast dates...

As part of the 30th anniversary of the band, we're finally hitting theEast Coast this week.  We're excited about playing both old and newtunes for audiences that most likely have never seen us.Th...
Posted by rob roberge on Thu, 16 Oct 2008 11:07:00 PST

This week’s shows...FRI and SAT

FRI the 3rd&.It's our 30th year&come see the Rolling Stones of Obscurity!  The Urinals with NO AGE It's our last LA show before the East Coast Tour&it's NO AGE'S last show before their world tou...
Posted by rob roberge on Tue, 30 Sep 2008 10:50:00 PST

New piece up at Caught in the Carousel

Hey All-I have a piece up on this (just past) anniversary of Gram Parsons death at Caught in the Carousel, a great music mag:GP at the Joshua Tree InnPeaceR...
Posted by rob roberge on Mon, 22 Sep 2008 02:16:00 PST

Upcoming shows & book appearances...(April 26-)

There are a bunch of shows and appearances coming up&for instance:TONIGHT:Urinals are helping our pal Jonathan Hall (Motorcycle Black Madonnas, Backbiter) celebrate his birthday with an evening of pun...
Posted by rob roberge on Sat, 26 Apr 2008 02:32:00 PST

Danbury Shakes Show THIS Thursday

Hey all   We are back at The Old Towne Pub(e?) this Thursday night.  We will be joined by our good friends Plasticsoul.  Rob from The Shakes and Steve from P-Soul will be opening up the...
Posted by rob roberge on Wed, 16 Apr 2008 11:13:00 PST

Horns in Rock & Roll

So, driving home from LA back to the desert, I see a billboard announcing a CHICAGO show at one of these eyesore casinos out here....and it got me thinking about horns in Rock and Roll.  And wond...
Posted by rob roberge on Mon, 07 Apr 2008 12:05:00 PST

Reading, Sunday April 6th in LA

Hey Folks...I’ll be reading my story "Border Radio" from the new anthology SANTI (Black Arrow Books).  There will copies of that available, along with signed copies of my novels DRIVE and M...
Posted by rob roberge on Sat, 05 Apr 2008 03:12:00 PST

Great new Anthology

Hey folkshere’s a great book.  Not just because I’m in it (which does, however, make it dear to my heart).  But this is probably the anthology I’m most proud to have been ...
Posted by rob roberge on Sat, 15 Mar 2008 10:22:00 PST

New Guitar/Amp Column

Hey guitar geeks and freaks...here's a new column from the My Rare Guitars website.  This one's about a very cool, semi-rare amp, The Alamo Futura Reverb.Alamo Futura ReverbPeace & have fun r...
Posted by rob roberge on Thu, 06 Mar 2008 02:03:00 PST