David Milch

I've just finished reading my friend and mentor David Milch's extraordinary autobiography, LIFE'S WORK. Pushing aside as best I can the bias of immense love I have for David, I believe I can still honestly say this is the most illuminating look at creativity I have ever read, as well as a brutally, deeply brutally honest story of a man recounting his life and the indignities heaped upon him and those he feels he heaped upon others. And, finally, most painfully but enlighteningly, it is the most literate and powerful look into what Alzheimer's Disease is truly like from the inside. No one who knows anything about David Milch doubts, I think, his brilliance with the written word. But I daresay few are prepared for the level of eloquence he brings to bear on the topics he herein shares his deepest thoughts on. It is a magnificent book, from a magnificent and excruciatingly human man.
I love him with all my heart, for his kindness, his generosity, and for allowing me a small part in his artistic genius at play. If you care about art or creativity or the human experience, you simply must read this book.… (more)

I listened to the audio version of this book. Michael Harney narrates. Probably more than any other audio book narrator I’ve listened to, and I’ve listened to many, Harney was nothing short of perfect. In fact, I often lament the fact that an author chooses not to narrate his or her own book. In this case, I can’t imagine David Milch being any more effective than Harney was.
Now, about the book itself. Much of what I read while looking for a book to listen to sounded like this would be a memoir of a man stricken by Alzheimer’s. Milch did, indeed, talk about this but not until late in the book and there was little dwelling on the subject. And, after all, what is there to dwell on? It is catastrophic what happened to one of the most brilliant television writers of our time. But there isn’t a whole more that could be said than that. Most of the book is about writing, mainly the process of writing. There is also a lot of very interesting information about individual series that Milch wrote: N.Y. P.D. Blue, Hill Street Blues, and Deadwood to name a few. Many others either didn’t make it to pilot, or, if they did, weren’t renewed beyond one season. One thing is true of all of them, however: they were all excellent shows with top notch writing. If I were teaching writing again (I’m a retired English teacher), I would use this book in my class. My guess is it’s used in more than one college writing class right now. Milch’s personal life, filled with addiction (to both substances and gambling), is painful to listen to. His wife, Rita Stern, like many spouses of victims of addiction, is responsible for saving David’s life and the family’s livelihood. Near the end of the book Milch reveals what his wife found out after meeting with their accountant. It is astounding. Most people would go to the garage and hook up the exhaust and wait for the end after being told what their accountant told her. That wasn’t Stern, however. She made a plan to get them out of financial armageddon, part of which meant putting David on a $60 a week allowance. This is a man who spent hundreds of thousands of dollars the we most of us spend $20. Rita Stern is nothing short of a saint. I highly recommend this book to anyone with the remotest interest in writing. I also recommend it to anyone who just enjoys a meaningful memoir, warts and all.… (more)

A rewatch. I absolutely loved and adored Hill Street Blues when it was first shown in the 1980s. I was a teenager and Thursday nights it was sit down and shut up to watch it intently. I loved the characters who were both loveable and flawed. My absolute favourite was Mick Belker who appeared as the rough & tough undercover detective but was actually as soft as butter underneath. And the writers put him through so much. And I also really liked and admired Captain Frank Furillo. It's strange looking back because I can see in his character so much of what has influenced me in how a manager should behave towards their team - both caring about and supporting them but being tough when necessary.
I can't believe this series is now nearly 40 years old, yet in many ways it still stands as a great series.… (more)