Contemporary Authors

• New York City Bum - 2016 Midway Books, New York, NY

• David Boglioli Home Page - https://davidboglioli.wordpress.com/about/

  About David Boglioli

  David Boglioli was born in Brooklyn, New York. He attended Outward Bound School, Rider College, and the Culinary Institute of New York. He is the author of the cookbook, Canapés That Work, the novella, Wolf Pack, and Detour, a real-life novel. He has been a professional drummer and a professional chef. Mr. Boglioli was the drummer in Billy Joel’s first band, The Lost Souls, and later became a chef at the acclaimed New York club restaurant “21” and the Ritz Carlton Hotel. He resides with his pets in New York City and Vermont.

  Midway Books

  36 East First Street

  New York, NY 10003

  Phone: 800.773.7782 (Cypress House)

• Feathered Quill - https://featheredquill.com/author-interview-david-boglioli/

  QUOTED: "My vision was to move people emotionally as well as to reveal the world of street life. I write for people who are a little out of the box: actors, ... fellow alcoholics, homosexuals, as well as people who would like a look at a life that’s not open to them. People who don’t want to live that life but are curious. ... I have yet to find a book that describes the street, homelessness, and crack as vividly mine does."

  Today, Feathered Quill reviewer Diane Lunsford is talking with David Boglioli, author of New York City Bum.

  FQ: How long did it take you to pen this book (and was it difficult to put your personal experiences into actual words)?

  BOGLIOLI: It took me ten years to write New York City Bum. The book went through many drafts before publication.

  FQ: In line with question 1, were there times you wanted to scratch the project altogether (and how did you get back on track)?

  BOGLIOLI: No, though I went through long periods of not working on the book, due to various distractions.

  FQ: There is a strong tone throughout your book toward justifying the choices you made to become a drug addict. Yet, there is also a tone of ‘the heck with the ones who used to care… it’s my life!’ At the headwaters of diving into the deep end of drug addition, did you ever have lucid moments of remorse and regret? How did you overcome them if you did?

  BOGLIOLI: I don’t think that in my ten years on the street I ever regretted being there. I was where I wanted to be and doing what I wanted to do. I had no desire to go back to the life I left behind. I had a job for a year or two in a fancy restaurant, once I got sober, but then I went back to drinking and drugs. I spent all I made on alcohol and drugs. I found I didn’t want to be part of the establishment any more. I gave the better part of my life to being a member of the establishment, but I didn’t find what I wanted or needed from that way of life. When I started smoking crack, other opportunities opened up to me, headstrong guy that I am. Once I was on the street, once I was used to it, and had learned how to function in that world, it was more attractive to me.

  FQ: Your writing certainly depicts a person who is educated and well-spoken, yet there is a nuance that you thumb your nose at such an existence. Has it always been important for you to make a statement to stand out in a crowd?

  BOGLIOLI: Yes, I think so.

  FQ: Why crack and why not sell it all and move to the mountains to live off the grid as an alternative?

  BOGLIOLI: The first puff of crack made up my mind. That was all I wanted to do. That’s why there was the big epidemic.

  FQ: Do you miss creating with food? It sounds as though you were quite talented in your craft. What turned you off so deeply you resorted to life on the street and drugs?

  BOGLIOLI: I love cooking and I still cook at home. I still do garde manger work for the holidays. However, once I experienced crack cooking fell by the wayside.

  FQ: Do you have animosity toward authority? Have you ever thought to explore this facet of your personality or are you more akin to: ‘people just don’t understand me and I don’t care what they think’?

  BOGLIOLI: I don’t feel that people don’t understand me. I’ve just always had a distaste for authority.

  FQ: I was extremely challenged when it came time to evaluate this read. There were often times I found myself wanting to shout out: “Why are you throwing your life away?” Yet, I kept turning the page to see what was going to occur next. Who was/is the audience you were writing for and was my reaction the vision you intended for your audience?

  BOGLIOLI: My vision was to move people emotionally as well as to reveal the world of street life. I write for people who are a little out of the box: actors, actresses, fellow alcoholics, homosexuals, as well as people who would like a look at a life that’s not open to them. People who don’t want to live that life but are curious and want to understand more about that life. I have yet to find a book that describes the street, homelessness, and crack as vividly mine does.

  FQ: I want to thank you for your time and must say upon finishing the read, you’ve left me with much to think about. This is a story that will linger with me for a while beyond its proverbial ‘the end.’ What’s next? Are you able to give us a teaser?

  BOGLIOLI: There’s a 20-page preview of my upcoming book, Detour, at the back of New York City Bum. I continue to work on my blog, which is an extension of NYCBum: https://davidboglioli.wordpress.com/

  To learn more about New York City Bum, please read the review.

QUOTED: "This book can be profoundly unsettling, and it's not for the squeamish. Boglioli's prose is sometimes eloquent, but it's also heavily embellished and lengthy."
"a gritty, sociologically engaging memoir."

Boglioli , David: NEW YORK CITY BUM
Kirkus Reviews. (Mar. 15, 2018):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Boglioli , David NEW YORK CITY BUM Midway Books (Indie Nonfiction) $9.99 3, 8

A debut memoir that revisits Boglioli's 10 years in the crack-cocaine subculture of New York City in the 1980s and '90s.

The author writes that he'd already begun using crack before his career as a chef--first at the prestigious 21 Club and then at the Ritz Carlton Hotel--came to an end. It was the mid-'80s, and 30-something Boglioli was disillusioned with "the Establishment" and mesmerized by the freedom of life as an outcast: "With crack an entire alternative universe opened for me, mutable, unencumbered by the mores and strictures of society, a savage blossoming of emotions and passions too long held in check." Sometime during his journey through the city's streets, assorted flophouses, and church-run shelters, he cleaned up and secured a job as the head chef for another prestigious (unnamed) restaurant. With a steady income, he began drinking heavily, he writes, and within a year, he was back on crack; amazingly, he managed to last two years in his job before being fired. Ultimately, Boglioli spent a decade immersing himself in New York's seedy underbelly, intermittently holding down a variety of day-jobs to supplement his government assistance. As his 50s approached, he realized that he likely wouldn't survive his lifestyle much longer, so he moved to Vermont for a healthier environment. In this memoir, he paints graphic portraits of the mostly hidden (or ignored) denizens of Manhattan--the drunks, the addicts, the sex workers, and the social service employees who served (and underserved) them. It's also a long, angry, philosophical manifesto condemning what he sees as the hypocrisy and materialism of the dominant society that flourishes in the midst of it all. This book can be profoundly unsettling, and it's not for the squeamish. Boglioli's prose is sometimes eloquent, but it's also heavily embellished and lengthy, and it's easy to get lost in its ramblings: "the deserted streets belonged to the night owls and the underground moiety, emerging from their rookeries, from under their rocks, their burned-out buildings, their favellas, going about their devious monkey business, moving swiftly, surreptitious and secretive." A 20-page glossary will help readers through the more esoteric linguistic choices.

A gritty, sociologically engaging memoir.

Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Boglioli , David: NEW YORK CITY BUM." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Mar. 2018. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A530650583/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=8e897dbe. Accessed 24 June 2018.

Gale Document Number: GALE|A530650583

• Feathered Quill
  http://www.featheredquillblog.com/2018/05/bookreview-new-york-city-bum.html
  Word count: 769

  QUOTED: "Frankly, his annotations and colorful descriptions of his quest to become less than whole was firing on all pistons throughout. Where the story fell short was the flow. Mr. Boglioli clearly is well-spoken. ... However, for the lay person, some of the terminology used requires the companion of Webster’s dictionary to understand the meaning of the word and the context in which it was used."

  Wednesday, May 16, 2018
  #BookReview - New York City Bum @DavidBoglioliNY

  New York City Bum
  By: David Boglioli
  Publisher: Midway
  Publication Date: September 2017
  ISBN: 978-0-9860476-0-2
  Reviewed by: Diane Lunsford
  Review Date: May 12, 2018
  David Boglioli embarks upon an epic journey (and slide) from the throes of reality into the depths of debauchery in his latest body of work and personal account that details his ten-year achievement of becoming a New York City Bum.
  When asked to consider reading and reviewing this book, my initial pull to do so was the title. Titles are the essence of an anchor to hook the prospective reader into what lies between the covers. Moving beyond the title, it is key to have cover art that somehow ties to the title. The display of the American flag, flanked by a flag depicting a skull and crossbones was fitting, in my opinion, to the inevitable dichotomy of the tale that lurked beneath its cover. I rose to the challenge and settled in for a leisurely read of what Mr. Boglioli had to share.
  The book opens with a foreward setting the record straight on the fact that the story is true and ‘…all names and places are real and did exist in New York City at the time of telling (1980s and 90s). Any errors in documentation are accidental…’ I ventured forward to the first chapter. Mr. Boglioli makes it perfectly clear within the first few sentences how very easy it is for one to get ‘lost’ in New York City. He wastes no time in painting the diversity between the haves and have-not’s and in purposeful dialect, he makes it clear while he started out as one of the ‘haves,’ he coveted to live the life of a ‘have-not.’
  There is a formula Mr. Boglioli assumes in his writing of his ten-year experience living (most times barely existing) on the streets of New York in its bowels of drug-infestation, prostitution and down-right perilous situations. He steps the reader through his former life of being a renowned culinary perfectionist working for the Ritz Carlton only to sabotage his own livelihood and well-being for one more dance with crack. All in all, this is a telling of a tale that transcends across 500+ pages of situation upon situation and happenstance of how to live a life of nothing more than day-to-day and hour-by-hour survival with the notion of self-destruction being the only beacon on his horizon.
  This was an extremely difficult read for me to get through. I often set the book down for a day (sometimes more) to reinvigorate that inner person who is committed to reading a book and evaluating its content for two things: 1) does the story flow; and 2) does the premise capture my interest. I would say Mr. Boglioli wins high scores concerning the ‘capture my interest.’ Frankly, his annotations and colorful descriptions of his quest to become less than whole was firing on all pistons throughout. Where the story fell short was the flow. Mr. Boglioli clearly is well-spoken (and I would surmise well-read). However, for the lay person, some of the terminology used requires the companion of Webster’s dictionary to understand the meaning of the word and the context in which it was used: ‘…I was seeking to penetrate, to enjoin the meretricious world of the street… In that I strove inveterately as I needed…’ I’m all for the flair of descriptive prose, but found Mr. Boglioli was insistent to a fault to write at a level beyond 50,000 feet versus using a succinct and powerful punch with action figure verbiage to get his point across. I simply could not connect with the premise of his anti-establishment rant toward the general populace of normality to opt for a ten-year journey to pay homage to drug addiction.
  Quill says: New York City Bum is a demonstrative and slanted homage to the horrors of drug addiction and certainly not a ‘must read’ for the faint of heart.
  For more information on New York City Bum, please visit the author's website at: www.davidboglioli.wordpress.com

• Book Viral
  http://www.bookviral.com/new-york-city-bum/4594163425
  Word count: 384

  QUOTED: "No matter how low we sink, Boglioli is proof that we can find our way back and for this reason alone New York City Bum proves an absolute must read."
  "recommended without reservation."

  David "Hip City" Boglioli, turns his talent to avant-garde literature, with all the passion and ingenuity that has heretofore colored his art. Faced with disillusionment and disenchantment at society and his career, the author turns to crack and soon finds himself homeless on the streets of New York City. Unprepared for the desperate life he now faces, the penman must come to grips with an alien subculture whose values are questionable and learn to survive with nothing but his wits or perish. Having burnt his bridges, does this lost soul long to return to the secure life he s left behind or will he discover a rebel existence that s more appealing and a new conception of individual autonomy.

  Our review......
  Extraordinarily brave, brutally honest and utterly riveting, Boglioli’s memoir of addiction and life on the streets proves near on impossible to put down. Written to neither warm your heart nor shelter you in the comfort of better fortune he takes us into the underbelly of homelessness in New York and reflects on the soul-destroying cycle of addiction to achieve a remarkable level of intimacy with his readers. Describing his life in exacting detail Boglioli combines acerbic prose with a keen intellect to put human faces on the men and women we see huddled in doorways and sleeping under overpasses as he recounts the struggles and challenges he came to face. Often harrowing, bleak and explicit but always emotionally charged, he shares with us the lengths to which he went to survive. How he ate, how he kept warm and yet for all the darkness it is surprisingly uplifting at times and far from self-pitying. Readers will be affected in different ways but perhaps most poignant is an appreciation that hard luck and bad decisions can quickly lead us to rock bottom.

  No matter how low we sink, Boglioli is proof that we can find our way back
  and for this reason alone New York City Bum proves an absolute must read.
  It is recommended without reservation.

• Chanticleer Book Reviews
  https://www.chantireviews.com/2018/06/05/new-york-city-bum-a-new-age-journey-through-the-sewers-of-paradise-ten-years-on-the-streets-of-new-york-city-by-david-boglioli-memoir-social-science-poverty-crime/
  Word count: 853

  QUOTED: "a gritty, hard-knocking plunge into the gutters of New York City in Boglioli’s self-inflicted journey to hell and his subsequent rise. A Dante’s Inferno for the twenty-first century. Highly recommended."

  Portrayals of bums and hobos in American culture are often comic (Red Skelton’s “Freddie the Freeloader,” carefree (Rodgers and Hart 1932 song, “Hallelujah, I’m a Bum,”) or sociological (“Hobos, Hustlers, and Backsliders” by Teresa Gowan).

  Not so in David Boglioli’s first-person narrative of ten years spent on the streets in his aptly titled New York City Bum (Midway Books, 2017): in turn a memoir, guidebook, and first-person exploration of Dante’s Inferno, 20th-century style.

  Readers may want to listen to Lou Reed’s classic street ode, “Walk on the Wild Side” to get into the mood for this book.

  Boglioli started using crack cocaine in the mid-1980s. A highly successful chef (New York’s Ritz Carlton Hotel, among others) from an affluent background, well educated, living the life in a luxurious apartment, he was dissatisfied with his well-appointed life. The “netherworld,” as he calls it, fascinated him: “The street was the gutter, the very bottom of the barrel, always a trek through new territory where experience, caution and instinct are one’s only guide… A long way from anyplace with places that might not even exist. Such was my challenge; my catharsis. My escape.”

  He becomes a bum by choice, with his crack habit as his mentor, releasing the person inside – the person trapped by his Middle-class American roots. He offers no apologies nor excuses for his downward spiral. Instead, he embraces his desire for more, always more of the life. Whether it is trashing several apartments, a methodical listing of all the places for him to score dope, his seemingly endless friendships with hookers that were more about using drugs together than sex, and the sheer paranoia interwoven with his lifestyle of choice, he sets out on his newly chosen life with the intimacy of a diary and the mindset of a reporter.

  The greatest surprises of this book may be his portrayal of how he and his fellow bums find shelter and work in the often-squalid streets of Manhattan. He describes every conceivable way that people survive, from cardboard “houses” to charitable housing provided by churches and other institutions. It is possible to be a bum and yet find life’s basics—provided, of course, that the self-destructive behavior on his part and at the hands of others that went with The Life didn’t destroy these respites from the streets.

  He also shows the many jobs that street people have access to, from fast food places to hotel services, putting enough cash in their collective pockets so they can score more dope. “One’s entire waking existence, which was often incessant for days at a time, was directed towards getting high. Get the money, cop, get off.” He shows how selling stuff, often his own as well as someone else’s, provides a steady cash flow. At one point he makes money by renting out his apartment by the half-hour to crack users or whores. The jobs are there if you know how to find them.

  With all the lengthy description of his life of choice, he is somewhat chaste while describing his personal cravings. He gives us all-too-brief glimpses of his coming out as a cross-dresser and some vague references to his pansexuality, but he gives us few glimpses of his intimate relationships. A typical peek-a-boo remark on the women in his life goes something like this: “Although my steady girlfriends were top of the line, I too enjoyed the scuzziest of skanks, depending on my current level of degeneracy. From five star to closed by order of the Board of Health.”

  Whether he is describing his many walkabouts in New York’s streets or detailing the many ways that people ingest crack, he writes with an almost manic level of detail. He wants us to see his world precisely as he sees it. And while he mostly paints his life and his fellow bums with broad strokes, there are some downright frightening gems, such as the whores who are happy to have contracted AIDS so they can have a warm, safe place to stay and get off the hustle—for a while, that is.

  There is no simple way to explain how his street life ends for him, other than the reality that he had lived it as much as he could. There is no magic friend, family member or therapist, only a bird, some hamsters and his discovery of “the kid” within him that takes him from his mean streets to the streets where most of his readers are only too happy to live.

  A gritty, hard-knocking plunge into the gutters of New York City in Boglioli’s self-inflicted journey to hell and his subsequent rise. A Dante’s Inferno for the 21st century.

  Highly recommended.