Drew Hubner

Drew Hubner was born in Newark, NJ, grew up in N.C. and came to NYC to be a writer in 1984. He’s published 3 critically acclaimed books and fathered 3 amazing children. He's taught writing & literature at over 20 colleges, including CUNY, UCLA & The New School, and is the author of AMERICAN BY BLOOD, WE PIERCE and EAST OF BOWERY.His work has been compared to Thomas Wolf, Cormac McCarthy and David Foster Wallace, though some of the work he’s most proud of is what he did as a bicycle messenger in New York City.

East of Bowery & The Circus Life

Drew Hubner

East of Bowery was what my mother called the place where we lived when I was a kid, and this is the way our family lived: when my mom wasn’t completely drunk yet, and if my dad got high in time, he might come in and Diz, m...

The Sex Pistols: The Dance Band at the End of the World

Drew Hubner

The Sex Pistols: The Dance Band at the End of the World A tall girl in a yellow ostrich feather top and red Bettie Page bangs, simulates oral sex with Sid, who says, Now that's the kind of girl I like and the band starts ...

Writing

Babe Ruth’s Last Game

Drew Hubner

Snow is falling on Sedgwick Ave above the Major Deegan highway east of the Harlem River. Barely light with no sun. The snow blankets the sidewalk, slushes in the streets and gutters and swirls through the gray morning air. ...

Tambourine Man: Gene Clark – Part 13

Drew Hubner

When I awoke at dawn Gene Clark was driving and humming to himself. We’re going to take a side trip to see the folks, he said and then we have a show at Wayne State in Detroit. The car broke down; it would not go ove...

Tambourine Man: Gene Clark – Part 12

Drew Hubner

photograph by Ted Barron A true Operatic, Gene Clark could have sung stage, and his natural style was that of the Elizabethan ballad, songs that he had traded verses with his father since a bare lad. He learned to keep ...

Tambourine Man: Gene Clark – Part 11

Drew Hubner

That night in the dark van, as the stark winter night trees made shadows on the old winding and cracked highway, Gene told us of how writing songs and singing them, sometimes performing even made him feel something like he d...

Tambourine Man: Gene Clark – Part 10

Drew Hubner

When I awoke at dawn Gene Clark was driving and humming to himself. We’re going to take a side trip to see the folks, he said and then we have a show at Wayne State in Detroit. The car broke down; it would not go ove...

Tambourine Man: Gene Clark – Part 9

Drew Hubner

Roger White showed up in Champaign on his motorcycle, a good thing. Gene played all the new songs in a semi-fugue state. Like he was all alone up there, singing, testifying before God. photograph by Ted Barron Gene s...

Tambourine Man: Gene Clark – Part 8

Drew Hubner

For the rest of the show, Gene Clark pitched in with the others. They just had their guitars and used whatever PA was available. They sang to one mike like some old fashioned country round up. They had to go back to their...

Tambourine Man: Gene Clark – Part 7

Drew Hubner

Gene Clark released his first solo album more than a year and a half after Eight Miles High. He recorded it with some of LA’s best session musicians including Leon Russell, Glen Campbell and Clarence White, all of whom we...

Tambourine Man: Gene Clark – Part 6

Drew Hubner

We got our tickets, went up the escalator to find our platform. The buses were so behind by now, getting dark outside as 4:30 turned to six pm. I had to go to the bathroom really bad. Never has a room smelled as bad as th...

Tambourine Man: Gene Clark – Part 5

Drew Hubner

The flurries turned to big wet lazy falling snowflakes that we caught on our tongues as we walked. Diz lit a bone, hit it and passed it to me. The next thing I knew we were walking up on Broadway and I was looking at all t...

Tambourine Man: Gene Clark – Part 4

Drew Hubner

Dad was awake and talking a mile a minute. He saw us and waved his cigarette and the ash fell off. He came out of the truck and gave us both a hug. I’m proud of you guys he said. For what? Hey we’re all still ali...

Tambourine Man: Gene Clark – Part 3

Drew Hubner

Dad's bread truck was the perfect cover. Parked on 7th Street, east of Ave B and Tompkins Park nodding out at the steering wheel. I gave him an hour. From the length of the ash on his cigarette, I could tell he wasn’t ...

Tambourine Man: Gene Clark – Part 2: No Other Tour

Drew Hubner

Mom had tawny hair and blue eyes and for the whole of her bar career guys fell in love with her. I think she modeled her life in some way after Tombstone. She used to cry when she saw it, and John Wayne asked Ma...