Dec 02
Shot of Life: A Review of Danny Shot’s Night Bird Flying By Westley Heine first published at the Rusty Truck Like its namesake the Hendrix song “Night Bird Flying,” this collection of stories builds and builds until you think it’s hit a plateau. Then it builds upon itself again. Largely autobiographical, this book is written in a …
Aug 04
A pop culture Book of the Dead, Apocalypsing begins with David, a freshly deceased ghost, who is more self-conscious about his looks rather than upset about being dead. If he knew he was going to die he would have worked out more and dressed up first. This nonchalant humor sets the tone for a journey that …
Dec 31
review first published in misfitmagazine.net, Issue No. 37, Winter 2024 Westley Heine, Street Corner Spirits: poems and flash fiction, Roadside Press, available from www.magicaljeep.com or your favorite online retailer, 2023, 146 pages, $15 Street Corner Spirits is the second Roadside Press publication for Heine following his novel about trying to make his way as a …
Dec 18
One gloomy spring afternoon at the age of 13 I was feeling bored and restless, sitting at home roiling in adolescent malcontent, when I happened to pick up my brother’s copy of Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s A Coney Island Of The Mind. I was instantly transfixed by the playfulness and whimsy combined with hard bitten cynicism. Here …
Oct 10
The Beats and later Charles Bukoswki cleared the way for the working class poet, the outlaw writer, and the mental outsider to enter literature. After Buk died in 1994 no one has really replaced his mantle. In the vacuum has swelled a generation of writers who seem to think if they get drunk and write …
Jul 26
The streets listen to you — listen to them as you read this book. Knowing Westley Heine’s poetry and prose from previous works, and confident in his talent as a writer to educate, entertain, evoke and empathize (and sometimes all in the same work) Street Corner Spirits: poems & flash fiction, from Roadside Press, was …
Feb 20
Independent, but not alone Michele McDannold, Roadside Press, Gutter Snob Books, and her latest book of poetry By Plane, Train, or Coincidence. I have come to realize that no one is going to save us. We have to save ourselves. I was never charmed by religion or politics, but Hollywood has chewed me up and spit me out twice. Also, I’ve …
Aug 29
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Novel Relives Chicago During The Great Recession From squatting in a West Side practice space to performing at Blues Fest, the tales of misadventure compiled in Heine’s Busking Blues capture a street musician’s journey and a unique time in Chicago’s recent past. CHICAGO, IL, 9/9/22— Westley Heine’s Busking Blues is about giving …
Aug 20
Busking Blues: Recollections of a Chicago Street Musician and Squatter by Westly Heine, reviewed by Alex Stein “When writing what would be considered gritty realism it is important to remember that even gritty realism is as subjective as anything else. It’s a sliding scale. Humans have such different perceptions of reality. This accounts for …
Jul 10
Cover Art by Waylon Bacon! http://www.waylonbacon.com/ Busking Blues: Recollections of a Chicago Street Musician & Squatter by Westley Heine is NOW AVAILABLE for Pre-Order through Magical Jeep Distributing at https://www.magicaljeep.com/product/busking/98 At the height of the late 2000’s recession, a singer-songwriter throws himself at the mercy of the streets. A panorama of pedestrians, workers, graffiti artists, …
