An Interview With
Author
Al
an Rolnick
About His New Book L
andm
ark St
atus
L
andm
ark St
atus is
a wonderfully funny book.
Al
an Rolnick uses Mi
ami
as the b
ackdrop,
and re
al est
ate
as the we
apon, to t
ake the re
ader on
a m
adc
ap journey th
at I c
an gu
ar
antee you will enjoy. When I put the put the book down
and wrote the review, I just knew I w
anted to t
alk to this guy.
Anyone th
at c
an cre
ate the outl
andish ch
ar
acters
and
am
azingly funny scenes th
at I encountered in L
andm
ark St
atus, h
as to be
a pretty interesting person to ch
at with.
Al
an
agreed to
an interview.
C
an you tell us
a little
about yourself?
I grew up in Newburgh, New York,
a little city on the Hudson River. It w
as
a be
autiful pl
ace, old, proud
and mostly un
aw
are it h
ad been rendered obsolete, cut loose from history’s moorings
and set
adrift by ch
anging times.
As
a kid, I pl
ayed in
an
ab
andoned brewery, took bus trips to Y
ankee St
adium
and collected
autogr
aphs from Hector Lopez
and Moose Skowron (we never could get close enough to Mickey
and Yogi). One time,
a big kid s
at on my h
and for the entire bus ride, le
aving corduroy-striped welts th
at l
asted
a week, but it re
ally w
asn’t his f
ault I couldn’t throw strikes.
In my teens, Be
atlem
ani
a struck. My brother P
aul
and I decided to be rock st
ars, s
aving for guit
ars with c
ar w
ash money, pl
aying b
attles of the b
ands on the firemen’s
picnic circuit. P
aul w
as
an outst
anding guit
arist
and singer, destined to become
an
aw
ard-winning producer in New York. I w
asn’t, but joined him there
after gr
adu
ating from Johns Hopkins with
a m
ajor in Frisbee. Together, we m
ade brilli
ant recordings th
at few he
ard, e
arned fifty bucks opening for Buffy St. M
arie
at Philh
armonic H
all,
and fortuitously took the equipment home inste
ad of le
aving it for next weekend’s gig
at the Mercer
Arts Center (which coll
apsed l
ater th
at night).