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“Genius & Heroin:” A new book to die for
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Not everyone enjoys a good trek through a cemetery, but Michael Largo and I bonded immediately when we met in Oakland Cemetery, and talked about other graveyards we have loved.
Largo, who just moved to Atlanta, is the author of the new book “Genius and Heroin: The Illustrated Catalogue of Creativity, Obsession and Reckless Abandon Through the Ages,” which he will discuss and sign at 7 tonight at Opal Gallery, next door to A Cappella Books, 484 Moreland Ave. in Little 5 Points.
“Genius” is about the reckless, addictive, obsessive lifestyles of a slew of great aritsts, and how those lives contributed to their sometimes spectacular deaths. His previous books include “Final Exits” and “The Portable Obituary.”
But he’s not the least bit morbid. He’s a fun guy, who wanted me to show him Margaret Mitchell’s tombstone. I knew where it was and showed him, and then we went to lunch at Six Feet Under, the restraurant across the street from Oakland, and talked about death.
I asked him out of all the deathbed stories he has written about, whose deathbed would he have liked to witness personally? Kurt Cobain and Edgar Allen Poe, he answered.
So I put it to you: Whose deathbed would you have liked to have seen personally?
I’ll kick it off with mine: Jesus Christ.
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