From jazz fantasy camp to running a movie studio; from a fight
between an old guy and a fat guy to a fear of clowns--Carlo
Rotella's "Playing in Time "delivers good stories full of vivid
characters, all told with the unique voice and humor that have
garnered Rotella many devoted readers in the "New York Times
Magazine," "Boston Globe, " and "Washington Post Magazine," among
others. The two dozen essays in "Playing in Time," some of which
have never before been published, revolve around the themes and
obsessions that have characterized Rotella's writing from the
start: boxing, music, writers, and cities. What holds them together
is Rotella's unique focus on people, craft, and what floats outside
the mainstream. "Playing in time" refers to how people make beauty
and meaning while working within the constraints and limits forced
on them by life, and in his writing Rotella transforms the craft
and beauty he so admires in others into an art of his own.
Rotella is best known for his writings on boxing, and his essays
here do not disappoint. It's a topic that he turns to for its
colorful characters, compelling settings, and formidable life
lessons both in and out of the ring. He gives us tales of an older
boxer who keeps unretiring and a welterweight who is "about as rich
and famous as a 147-pound fighter can get these days," and a
hilarious rumination on why Muhammad Ali's phrase "I am the
greatest" began appearing (in the mouth of Epeus) in translations
of "The Iliad "around 1987. His essays on blues, crime and science
fiction writers, and urban spaces are equally and deftly engaging,
combining an artist's eye for detail with a scholar's sense of
research, whether taking us to visit detective writer George
Pelecanos or to dance with the proprietress of the Baby Doll Polka
Club next to Midway Airport in Chicago.
Rotella's essays are always smart, frequently funny, and
consistently surprising. This collection will be welcomed by his
many fans and will bring his inimitable style and approach to an
even wider audience.
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