ALL BLACKED OUT & NOWHERE TO GO

by Bucky Sinister

Bucky Sinister recounts his life through the sound of punk rock in this loud, fast, poetic memior. His love affair with punk comes full circle as he learns to hate it and then learns to love it again. The pieces in this book take us from his Southern roots, his brief stay in St. Louis, and his journey to California on a quest for punk bliss. Sinister finds himself in Oakland, where he gets exactly what he wanted, but it may just kill him. From recounts of specific shows to metaphorical dreams of Abraham Lincoln to the tragic stories of circus elephants, All Blacked Out & Nowhere to Go mixes tragedy and comedy into a book that's louder and faster than any book of its kind.

Genres: Poetry, Nonfiction

100 pages, Paperback

First published May 15, 2007

Reviews

[Peter Brichs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jeg er ikke den store poesi-Kender. Faktisk er det her den eneste digtsamling jeg har læst fra ende til anden. Og flere gange endda.

Bucky Sinister skriver digte om sit eget liv; om at være punker, narkoman, alkoholiker, mand. Der er digte om håb, om melankoli, om hjertesorger, om sorg...

Specielt to digte får mig nærmest til at græde, hver gang jeg læser dem: "Epilogue", et digt om hvordan han får at vide at hans far er døden nær, og "The other universe of Bruce Wayne", et digt om et univers hvor Bucky har styr på sit lort, og Bruce Wayne er alkoholikeren i en trailer.

Jeg læser egentlig ikke digte, men Bucky Sinister kan sgu noget...

[J · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book and I got surprisingly sentimental at the end. In a good way. Punk rock poetry, can't get over it. This book is the perfect size for fitting in your pocket and reading between bands. The font is the perfect size for reading in low level lighting. The poems are the perfect size for handing to your friend to read really quick.

[Alvin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sheer genius. Bucky is a national treasure.

[Jacinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

He's brilliant, especially if you are the type of person who doesn't really like poetry. Funny and tragic at the same time.

[Johnny No Bueno · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection completely changed the trajectory of my life, and gave me the licence to write from my own depraved perspective and to never apologize for the life that lead me to write the dark spots. Sinister is easily one of the greatest underground voices of Generation X. My only fear is that he never get the recognition he is due.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

You can’t go wrong with Bucky.

[Robert Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bucky Sinister is a poet. Bucky Sinister is a stand-up comedian. Bucky Sinister makes me laugh my head off. Read Bucky Sinister. He and Jon Longhi did a reading at the bookstore back in July, and while I knew what to expect of Jon (and his stories of depressing, yet humorous encounters with depravity) I didn't know what to think of Bucky. I haven't stopped laughing yet, and I've read this collection of poems about three times now while sitting at the bar thinking maybe life is really this funny. Then some drunk stumbles by weaving their way home to a life of medocrity and despondency. Then I read another poem from the "Whisky & Robots" series and laugh out loud at the world drunk on its own foolishness, then I laugh at that drunk who walked by and this one sitting here laughing at the world even if it isn't that funny.

[Matthew Purnell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is one of the best collections of poetry I've read in a long time, and I'm not just saying that because most of them are about the punk "scene" or because they were written by someone who predominantly & accurately describes what it's like to live the punk lifestyle. The stories that these poems create will shock you, cut right through you, hurt you with a deep amount of pain (they'll randomly punch & kick you like you're in the middle of a mosh pit), but more than anything else, these poems will strike you in your heart & stick with you forever. Reading this book is like reading a long letter from a very dear & personal friend who left your life a long time ago but didn't have the courage to write you until he could properly formulate the words you needed to hear. "Catharsis" comes to mind when I think about a single word that can describe this excellent book.

[Matt Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Punk poetry sounds like the punchline to a bad joke, but Sinister does an amazing job with this collection of writing. All the angst, toil, satire & hypocrisy of punk/diy/hardcore culture smashes together with a brutal memoir that unfolds like an oily rag that you found in the back of a garage. Sinister give this niche-within-a-niche what its due; he knows when to give the reader the grungy details and when to include his poignent transitions. With all the ingredients he has at his disposal - his intelligent observations from both sides of the culture, the crushing black & white reality of things, the whisky-soaked doomed romances of a life lived but not lived, he's created a new genre: punk noir. A proper bridge between punk culture and alternative literature, it stands alone, as it should.

[Kit Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've always found poetry to be pretty inaccessible, but maybe that's because I never really read much of it during my school dayz. However, I almost devoured Bucky Sinister's book in one sitting. And it's not just because he writes a lot about the Bay Area, his humor and creativity are really something to marvel at. It made me think back to the times I've been at a wacky, East Bay party where you're looking around and wondering which drunk kids passed out on the couch will eventually try to write about the scene they're in and which of those will actually write something good. Bucky was the guy blacked out on your back porch who eventually got his shit together and turned out to be the best writer around.

[Jessica Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bucky Sinister breaks free of the contraints of performance poetry putting to page with exquisite honesty and powerful imagery his life. Brave AND well written, not the usual combo in this world for sure!

[Adam Hodgins · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not a poetry guy...like at all...but I loved this so much. I want Bucky Sinister to write lots of stuff and I want to read all of it.

[Bucky Sinister · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the new one, easy to find.

[paris · Rating 3 out of 5]

i saw this author read and proclaimed, "a great poet LIVES in san francisco!"

i am very happy that his unpretentious book of free verse was published.

[James Tracy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The poem about white kids in West Oakland is a classic.

[Sarah Sammis · Rating 4 out of 5]

As much as I loved reading the poetry I don't know how to review it.

[W. Benson Cartwright · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let's Go Oakland!

[Janet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Found Bucky Sinister reading with Derrick Brown in LA, and couldn't believe how much I loved his poetry. Very punk, very honest. The real deal

[Carmen Martines · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulous. Powerful, very sad. Great insights to punk/drunk/living in Oakland. Great read.