Last night author Dennis Lehane made an appearance at the Brookline Booksmith, where he read from his just released novel Shutter Island.

In his own words, the chapter he chose to read from was ‘pretty raw’, and he made sure there were no innocent ears in the room before diving into a vivid, fairly disturbing bathroom scene between a painfully distant husband and wife. It wasn’t the liberal smattering of ‘fucks’ that he warned us about (although he did joke “Now I know what that baby’s first word is going to be.”), but a cameo by the dreaded ‘C’ word. Dennis even apologized in advance for his inevitable blushing when he said it outloud (“I’m a Catholic boy, after all.”).

Shutter Island’s ingredients? A hospital for the criminally insane, two investigators trapped on an island, a hurricane fast approaching. Murder, deception, deadly fires, betrayal… wrap it up with what rumor says is a monster pay-off in the final scenes. Although this novel is supposedly somewhat of a departure for Lehane, the chapter he read proved that the writing style was definitely still his own. I’m so psyched to get lost in this book over the weekend, and hopefully Amie will be done with our newly-autographed copy by then.

He took audience questions after the reading, so here’s a few highlights…

– Shutter Island came to him almost completely in a dream, and was actually the first book he ever outlined in advance… he claims he had no choice, as the twists and turns are relatively complicated.

– As many Lehane fans probably know, after his last novel, Mystic River, he planned on writing a novel he’d been thinking about for a long time called “Missing Delores.” He even went so far as to discuss it in interviews while promoting Mystic. Typically, he spends the first chunk of his novels writing about characters, and around page 150 or so, they go out in search of a plot. When he got to that point in Missing Delores, he sent them out in search of the plot, but they came back empty-handed… nothing came to him at all. He agonized about where the novel should head, but was never able to properly work it out. He was forced to bail on it completely and instead wrote Shutter Island. He did, however, steal some of the character names for the new novel, including Teddy (the main character from M.D.), and his wife Delores. If he ever does finish the aborted book, he joked that he’ll have to change the name to “Missing Stephanie” or something.

– He couldn’t be happier with the experience of watching his last book, Mystic River, be turned into a film… he’d had nothing but bad hollywood dealings before, but this changed all that.

– He didn’t visit the set that much when filming started, even though director Clint Eastwood said it was cool … he assumed that was just Clint being gracious. Eventually a friend of Eastwood’s took Dennis aside and said “Y’know, Clint is a little put-off that you’re not coming around the set more often.” Again, that’s usually the exact opposite of the way hollywood treats writers. Lehane was stunned.

– He sat down with Sean Penn (who stars in Mystic River) for drinks one night shortly after filming started. After “about 15 shots”, and the realization that he was sitting there talking to Sean Penn, who was starring in a movie based on a book that he had written… and that it was actually happening… Penn looked at him and said “It’s never going to be any better than it is right now.” Dennis related this anecdote with a gleam in his eye. He had the same look when describing …

– … Two weeks ago, he was sitting in Boston Symphony Hall with Clint, listening to the BSO record the score for the film. 84 people on stage, making music for something that started in his brain, and with his long-hand scribblings. What did Clint and him talk about? Well, women, of course.

– Eli Wallach arrived on set for a day to film a cameo appearance, playing Mr. Lionel Looney. He’s getting on in years, and actually had a tough time raising the shotgun he carries in the scene. Clint, who rarely allows more than 1 or 2 takes, gave Eli about 15. For those who haven’t made the connection, Clint and Eli starred together in western classic “The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly“… Clint played “The Good”, Eli played “The Ugly” (aka Tuco Benedicto Pacifico Juan Maria Ramirez). Lehane mentioned to me after the reading that Clint and Eli hadn’t seen each other since 1965… the year he was born.

– Wolfgang Peterson (In the Line of Fire, Troy, Air Force One) has already optioned Shutter Island for a film adaptation, and as many Lehane readers already know, the rights to two of his Kenzie-Gennarro novels have been acquired by Ben Affleck. “Ben and J.Lo as Patrick and Angie?” he joked. That got a half-laugh / half-nervous chuckle from the crowd of obvious Patrick-Angie fans.

In addition to the photo on the right, I got a few more pictures at the reading, as well.

Few bands have gotten as far inside my brain as Ride did in their heyday. The early nineties, the height of shoegaze (whatever that was), and Ride stood out from all the rest because they weren’t just about a sound. They were about the songs. Those early EPs, the b-sides that were better than the album tracks (which were already amazing on their own), the mind-opening live shows with the best of touring partners (I saw Ride play three different times… one with the Pale Saints, one with Lush, and one with Slowdive. I mean, sheesh, can you beat that?). I was enough of a Ride freak that I still have a framed poster all four members signed before they hit the stage out in Seattle… I even snagged one of Loz’s drumsticks, which sits on my bookshelf to this day.

So, yeah, enough with the nostalgia… you get the point. I love Ride. So let’s talk about last night. 10 years after playing the Paradise with his bandmates, former Ride-man Mark Gardener graces the stage of the Middle East Downstairs with a 12-string acoustic in his hands and a bunch of enthusiastic fans in front of him. He booked this tour under the original premise of promoting last year’s Ride Box Set, and he’s also using it to test the waters for some of his solo material. The setlist leaned towards the Ride-side, but the solo stuff certainly fit in well… to the point where my brain was filling in parts that Andy, Loz, and Steve might have added on their own (ahh, in my dreams).

As far as Ride songs went, he played From Time to Time (“who here bought Carnival of Light? Oh yeah, that’s right, no one did.”), In a Different Place (amazing), Dreams Burn Down (wow), Vapour Trail (dedicated to Andy, who sang the original, and was ‘somewhere in Germany’), Leave them All Behind (worked surprisingly well), Drive Blind (he even did the ‘noisy’ breakdown), Twisterella (perfect pop), and Chrome Waves (gave me chills, it did.). Solo songs included Turn, Magdalen Sky (released a few years ago on a Shifty Disco single), See What You Get (from Flirt), Beautiful Ghost, Snow in Mexico, and To Get Me Through.

Mark has been genuinely humbled and surprised by the crowds and praise he’s received on this tour so far, and Boston did not disappoint. “Well, Boston still rocks.” he said, after a considerable pre-encore round of applause. He was in very good spirits (helped a bit by the red wine spirits on the stage to his left, perhaps), and was quite chatty… as far as I could tell, he never gazed at his shoes even once. He mentioned he hopes to have a solo record out early next year, and wants to return with a ‘backing band’ called Gold Rush to ‘rock out a little more’ next time. Hopefully by referring to them as a ‘backing band’ and not as ‘his new band’, that means he might use ’em to rock out some Ride songs, although it’s a risky proposition trying to recreate the sound that once was.

I’ve posted a few pictures from the show, and even managed to record some mp3s from his radio appearance on WZBC last night. Hey, what can I say, I’m good for the whole multimedia experience.