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Ander Monson, or Anger Monsoon (as he calls himself on Twitter), is a nationally recognized essayist, professor, former hacker and lover of microbrews.
His latest book, "Vanishing Point," is highly interactive: Readers type in key words, leading to ruminative passages on Monson’s Web site. He’ll show people how it works, in addition to reading an essay about karaoke, at a Club Congress book release party April 1. (The Get Right Rounders will also perform.) To get ready, Monson sat down with us at his favorite bar, 1702, to chat over a pint of Slipknot Imperial IPA.
Where do you like to do karaoke?
The Best Western on Stone and Speedway is the karaoke place to go, I think. I’ve only been there on Friday, but that’s the best karaoke I’ve been to in Tucson. Although, Congress has pretty good karaoke, too.
I’ve noticed in Tucson, if you’re between, say, 25 and 45, there’s not a lot of places that cater to you. That’s the thing I’ve noticed most about Tucson. I mean, I lived in Grand Rapids in Michigan before this, which is a very 25 to 45 kind of place. The weather sucks, so everyone just goes to the bar all the time.
What is your favorite restaurant?
If I’m going out for a nice meal, I like [Café] Poca Cosa the best. I’m kind of a finicky eater, but I love that they put the menu on the chalkboard every day. Every time I’ve been there, everything on the menu looks good. There’s no other restaurant I could go to that I like everything they have.
For breakfast, though, I really like Frank’s. They have the best huevos rancheros in town. There’s something about their grill. I think it’s how dirty their grill is. But the hashbrowns there are phenomenal. You want them crispy on both sides, with a little bit of sog in the middle.
Do you ever go see lectures or poetry readings?
[At the UA] Poetry Center. I occasionally go to see things in [UA's] Modern Languages, or I’ve been to a couple down at Congress also. I wish they actually did more of that.
What’s your favorite strange landmark around town?
There’s a lot of weird shit in Tucson. It might be the Tucson Seat Cover Company. I wanna say it’s on Speedway, just east of Swan. Renaissance Sports was around there, but Renaissance Sports closed. If you like to go to Renaissance fairs or do live-action role-playing, they sold swords and bodices and so on, which I thought was really bizarre.
Only Tucson would have a seat cover company that actually has a storefront, and they can make a go of it as a business. I thought that was amazing, partially because it’s fucking hot. Why would you need a seat cover? But also, they have a beautiful neon sign and everything.
Where do you go to relax?
I play disc golf. Sometimes it’s called frisby golf, but that’s bogus. Essentially, you just go out in this open space, and you throw golf disks. There’s drivers, there’s putters, there’s chip shot disks, disks that go left, disks that go right…It’s like golf, except instead of throwing a ball, you throw a disk into a chain link basket, which is usually about 300, 400 feet away. It’s a sport for pot-smoking hippies.
The Santa Cruz River Park has a course, which is one of the first ones in the country. It was put in by the inventor of the game. That’s an old one, but the one in Marana is a really good course. It’s called Marana Rock. And there’s one in Groves Park, on the Southeast Side, which I play most often. You throw over forests of cholla. You can really get injured there. I’m a semi-pro disc golf player; I’m pretty serious about it.
What’s your favorite view in town?
I like the view from Seven Falls. It’s a hike on Sabino, through Bear Canyon. The view down on the falls is phenomenal. Also the view from the patio at NoRTH up at La Encantada, overlooking the city.
What do you do when you get a craving?
The place I have the most cravings for is the doughnuts at Le Cave’s. Those doughnuts are killer. Doughnuts are my weakness—doughnuts and beer. I’m like Homer Simpson.
What’s the most underrated thing in town?
The UA Icecats. It’s a great show. The tickets are cheap, the crowd is extremely profane. Just going to watch hockey in Tucson is amazing...The jerseys have saguaros on them.
