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  1. #1
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    Default Katz is out of the bag

    Our buddy Bill Bryson has a new book out titled "The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid". It has nothing to do with the AT but rather about his adventures growing up in Des Moines, Iowa. It seems that he and Katz have been lifelong friends and had many experiences on the streets of Des Moines. According to the review by Vick Mickunas, Katz is a real person named Matthew Angerer who has come out of anonymity and pretty much admits to being 'Katzy' both growing up in Des Moines and on the AT trip. According to Mickunas, Angerer is somewhat miffed at his portrayal in the book ' A Walk in the Woods' but is enjoying his moment in the sun, as he puts it. The book is # 6 on the New York Times best seller listing. Katz (Angerer) still lives in Des Moines.
    I love the smell of esbit in the morning!

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    You know your favorite admirer, Jack Tarlin, is gonna give you sht over this. He will prove you wrong.

  3. #3
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    I'm reading the book now, but haven't gotten to that part yet. I look forward to the mystery that is Katz. Either way, hate him or love him, Bryson is one funny guy! And I never knew his father was a famous sports writer.
    Anything's within walking distance if you've got the time.
    GA-ME 03, LT 04/06, PCT 07'

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    Quote Originally Posted by L. Wolf View Post
    You know your favorite admirer, Jack Tarlin, is gonna give you sht over this. He will prove you wrong.
    Well, thanks for your confidence! I drank an extra beer - I'm ready. Don't kill the messenger. I only relayed info from a press release.
    I love the smell of esbit in the morning!

  5. #5
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    the new book is probably all bull sht, just like Walk In The Woods.
    don't like logging? try wiping with a pine cone.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by A-Train View Post
    I'm reading the book now, but haven't gotten to that part yet. I look forward to the mystery that is Katz. Either way, hate him or love him, Bryson is one funny guy! And I never knew his father was a famous sports writer.
    Judging from the review Katz is not identified as Matthew Angerer in the book. He was present, and interviewed, at the book signing. Sounds like Katz was just being Katz in the narative. Let us know if that isn't the case.
    I love the smell of esbit in the morning!

  7. #7

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    I've enjoyed all his books and look forward to this one.

  8. #8
    Registered User Swiss Roll's Avatar
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    Talking

    Oh goody, a Katz thread! Nothing livens this board up like Bryson. I'm just gonna stand back and watch the carnage unfold.

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    Long live Katz! Any way you look at it, Bryson is a great writer. I look forward to reading his new book.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Swiss Roll View Post
    Oh goody, a Katz thread! Nothing livens this board up like Bryson. I'm just gonna stand back and watch the carnage unfold.
    Well, I've pretty muched watched the carnage here from the very start of this Board, as well as at the other one before that, and even met 'the other' Bill Bryson during my thruhike attempt in '00. I've been a bit mystified at the utter hostility to Bryson. He's not a bad writer, and not a great one, but readable. He's in the long line of satiric and sardonic travel writers that goes back to Homer (the Greek one, d'oh!). He drew attention to the AT far beyond the purely adulatory books of others, and made it seem like a fun place for the public. Yes, he was wrong in many places; both the Guidebook and Companion are wrong sometimes, too. And he mocked some places and people, sometimes displaying traits in them that might better have been left more private, at least in non-Kazakhistanis.

    He wrote a book, made some money on it, and moved on to other books, and, other than among friends of those who consider hiking the AT ("Hey! I read this book about it, here it is!") and AT fanatics such as us here at WB, his book is largely forgotten by the masses moving on to new reads.

    Bye, Bill. We hardly knew ye (and didn't miss much).

    The Weasel
    "Thank God! there is always a Land of Beyond, For us who are true to the trail..." --- Robert Service

  11. #11
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    Default I know Steven Katz (and Bill Bryson)

    Hello AT lovers:

    Someone e-mailed me about this thread and I thought that you might be interested in some more info about A WALK IN THE WOODS, Bill Bryson and Steven Katz.

    When I reviewed Bryson's recent memoir about growing up in Des Moines in the Dayton Daily News I was not able to include a number of factoids. I have known Steven Katz for 25 years. "Katz" and Bryson are older than I am but we all went to the same high school. When A WALK IN THE WOODS came out I tried to get an interview with Bryson on my radio show (I did an author interview program for many years on public radio). Bryson's publisher told me that he wasn't available (he was in Australia).

    Since I wanted to cover the book I needed to interview somebody and since I was aware that my friend Matthew Angerer was really Steven Katz I called him up and did an interview with him. During that interview he told my audience that Bryson took a lot of liberties with his portrayals of things in the book.

    Some of the funniest things like Katz chasing women around laundromats and his passion for junk foods were (according to Katz) either greatly exaggerated or completely untrue.

    Katz was unmasked as Angerer a couple of years ago. A British tabloid sent some reporters to Des Moines to look for Katz. They drove to his small town and by an amazing bit of luck drove down the street and found him standing in his yard. They wrote an expose' in which they showed photos and got embarrassing quotes about Bryson. Katz was paid for his interview. Bryson, the top-selling non-fiction writer in the UK was not amused. I asked Bryson about it this year. He was still indignant.

    I have interviewed Bryson 4 times now and Katz twice about various books. Katz appears as himself (Matthew Angerer) in the new Bryson book. That fact is not transparent, however Angerer is thanked by name in the credits.

    In regard to A WALK IN THE WOODS fading away: the book has sold millions of copies. Bryson has become a multi-millionaire as a result. Katz still lives from hand to mouth. Everything Bryson publishes now sells like hotcakes because of A WALK IN THE WOODS.

    Last week, A WALK IN THE WOODS was published in a new trade paperback edition and I can assure you that it will sell like hot showers on the AT.

    The book is far from over. Thanks, for your interest.

    Vick Mickunas

  12. #12

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    Thanks for sharing what you know Vick.
    'All my lies are always wishes" ~Jeff Tweedy~

  13. #13
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    and just a little more proof....
    http://www.itv.com/page.asp?partid=6466
    Life's too short not to have Credit Card bills...so Charge It!!!




  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by vick mickunas View Post
    Hello AT lovers:
    When A WALK IN THE WOODS came out I tried to get an interview with Bryson on my radio show (I did an author interview program for many years on public radio). Bryson's publisher told me that he wasn't available (he was in Australia).
    Vick Mickunas
    Vick,
    Thanks for the information on this subject.
    Those of us in the Dayton area miss your radio program; both the interviews and your music selections. We spent a lot of time tuned into the old YSO--back before 'the troubles' changed that station.

    Tom in Tipp

  15. #15
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    Katz appears in at least one other Bryson novel that predates AWITW, namely, "Neither Here Nor There: Travels in Europe." That one too, had me laughing silly because much of it reminded me very much of a similar sort of trip (also through Europe) that I made with a friend in the early 1970s.

  16. #16
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    Default the best stuff gets left out

    Thanks, for your comments.

    It's true, Katz was in that early book. I think that was Bryson's first book. Bryson told me that Katz was almost a cardboard cutout figure in that book. His personality really was not on display.

    There was one incident on that trip that Bryson and Katz took through Europe that was not included in that book. Katz (Angerer) told me about it years ago and Bryson admits that it really happened.

    They were in Turkey and they over-indulged in raki, the Turkish national drink. As they stumbled down the street they were passing by a plate glass window when the boisterous Katz pushed Bryson. Billy smashed right through it. They ended up in court and narrowly escaped incarceration for their prank.

    If things had ended differently, A WALK IN THE WOODS might have been more like MIDNIGHT EXPRESS.

    Thanks, for listening. Happy New Year...

    Vick Mickunas

  17. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by Madrvrfshrr View Post
    Vick,
    Thanks for the information on this subject.
    Those of us in the Dayton area miss your radio program; both the interviews and your music selections. We spent a lot of time tuned into the old YSO--back before 'the troubles' changed that station.

    Tom in Tipp
    WYSO!!!! Holy mudhead, Mackerel. I miss the Village Bakery, the most. Fresh donuts at midnight. Another era...

  18. #18
    usually confused but never lost Fannypack's Avatar
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    Default Katz, a real person

    Thx for taking the time to post here.

    For the record, my father, Tex, and I stayed at the Rainbow Springs campground the nite that Katz & Bryson were there. The reason I say this is because allot of persons I have talked to, thought that Katz was just a made up person (actually he was in a way; e.g., it is hard for me to believe that Katz threw out coffee filters on the ascent of Springer to reduce pack weight). I read "A Walk in the Woods" and most of the things that Bryson described in the camp store & in the bunkhouse were true (for that nite).

    Thx again for your post.

    Quote Originally Posted by vick mickunas View Post
    Hello AT lovers:

    Someone e-mailed me about this thread and I thought that you might be interested in some more info about A WALK IN THE WOODS, Bill Bryson and Steven Katz.

    When I reviewed Bryson's recent memoir about growing up in Des Moines in the Dayton Daily News I was not able to include a number of factoids. I have known Steven Katz for 25 years. "Katz" and Bryson are older than I am but we all went to the same high school. When A WALK IN THE WOODS came out I tried to get an interview with Bryson on my radio show (I did an author interview program for many years on public radio). Bryson's publisher told me that he wasn't available (he was in Australia).

    Since I wanted to cover the book I needed to interview somebody and since I was aware that my friend Matthew Angerer was really Steven Katz I called him up and did an interview with him. During that interview he told my audience that Bryson took a lot of liberties with his portrayals of things in the book.

    Some of the funniest things like Katz chasing women around laundromats and his passion for junk foods were (according to Katz) either greatly exaggerated or completely untrue.

    Katz was unmasked as Angerer a couple of years ago. A British tabloid sent some reporters to Des Moines to look for Katz. They drove to his small town and by an amazing bit of luck drove down the street and found him standing in his yard. They wrote an expose' in which they showed photos and got embarrassing quotes about Bryson. Katz was paid for his interview. Bryson, the top-selling non-fiction writer in the UK was not amused. I asked Bryson about it this year. He was still indignant.

    I have interviewed Bryson 4 times now and Katz twice about various books. Katz appears as himself (Matthew Angerer) in the new Bryson book. That fact is not transparent, however Angerer is thanked by name in the credits.

    In regard to A WALK IN THE WOODS fading away: the book has sold millions of copies. Bryson has become a multi-millionaire as a result. Katz still lives from hand to mouth. Everything Bryson publishes now sells like hotcakes because of A WALK IN THE WOODS.

    Last week, A WALK IN THE WOODS was published in a new trade paperback edition and I can assure you that it will sell like hot showers on the AT.

    The book is far from over. Thanks, for your interest.

    Vick Mickunas

  19. #19

    Default

    I was able to borrow the CD set from my local library and download it into my I-pod. Bryson is the reader (he doesn't sound like he's from DesMoines) and he's very enjoyable and funny. BTW growing up in the 50s in DM dosn't sound much different than Brooklyn in the 50's.
    Last edited by mrc237; 01-05-2007 at 10:12.
    E-Z---"from sea to shining sea''

  20. #20
    usually confused but never lost Fannypack's Avatar
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by mrc237 View Post
    Bryson is the reader (he dosn't sound like he's from DesMoines)
    Does he sound British?

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