Book Details

First Sentence

"MADAME CHAIR, MEMBERS OF THE CLERGY AND JUDICIARY, DISTINGUISHED GUESTS, MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATURE, REPRESENTATIVE OF THE SKILLED TRADES, MY FRIENDS IN THE PRESS, FELLOW ARTISTS, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, CHILDREN OF ALL AGES: few years ago in a poker game I won a membership in a club called The Sons of Bernie and last January, late one night I drove my truck deep into the woods near River Falls to attend the annual Bernie campfire and drunker orgy of song and self-pity standing arm in arm with other S.O.B. around a bonfire under the birches in a raw wind a twenty below zero the snowbank up to ou waists and there under the Milky Way and nearly full moon, we ate chili out of cans and drank bourbon whiskey and sang mournful songs like "Long Black Veil" and "Old Man River.""