Making a living as a freelancer
Every June, I mark the anniversary of leaving my last full-time job, at CNET in SF. It’s been 14 years with lots of highs and lows, but I’ve never regretted the decision to walk away from the rigidity...
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Review of Sarah Vowell’s “Unfamiliar Fishes”
Last year I reviewed Sarah Vowell’s book “Unfamiliar Fishes” for the San Francisco Chronicle. It’s an uneven book, but recently I’ve learned of a book by Julia Flynn Siler that appears much more...
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‘Holy Rollers’ documentary about card-counting Christians
It’s amazing the lengths these young devout Christians will go to gamble. Yet the players revel in their trips to casinos. When Ben gets kicked out for card counting, he starts wearing costumes,...
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Fed ruling may clear path for legal poker
A bunch of guys in a big room playing poker: a typical scene but one that could have led to jail time for its operator. Until a federal judge said game on – here’s the story I wrote for the SF...
View ArticleRick Smith’s luck-fueled journey to World Series of Poker
One of my poker buddies had an amazing route to the WSOP a few years ago, outlasting about 100 players to win his entry into the most popular tournament in the world. Here’s my story for my gambling...
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Abolish the one-game playoff in baseball
Rainbow over the SF Giants ballpark. Well the playoffs worked out beautifully for our SF Giants, but I still think a one-game playoff cheapens the season – here’s my comment for The Press Democrat –...
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Riding the Rails in Wales, American Way
19th-century locomotive on the Talyllyn line on the coast of Wales. Photo by Michael Shapiro, 2012 One of the best ways to see a country is on a slow train. Perhaps the most enjoyable of these are the...
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Cowboy Junkies keep it fresh
In the early 1990s, Cowboy Junkies lead vocalist Margo Timmins performed just for me. I sat about 30 feet away from her and she sang one of her favorites, “Misguided Angel” to an audience of one. But...
View ArticleThe Bird Men of Mazatlan: Cliff divers wait for tide to come in, Mariner
In the fall of 2009, Mariner magazine asked if I’d go to Mazatlan to write about the cliff divers there. I’d watched cliff divers in Acapulco during the ’70s on ABC’s Wide World of Sports but didn’t...
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Barbara Kingsolver interview, Press Democrat
Author Barbara Kingsolver’s most recent book is “Flight Behavior.” I love interviewing authors because they have so much to say. I learned that the easy way when I put together my first literary book,...
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Vin Scully suspended for PEDs
LOS ANGELES — Veteran Los Angeles Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully was suspended today by Major League Baseball for 50 games after performance enhancing drugs were found in the announcer’s booth at...
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Wash Post: Dylan Thomas’s Wales
I’ve long felt a kinship with Wales, perhaps because it’s where one of my favorite writers, Jan Morris, lives. Recently I had the chance to stay overnight and tour Dylan Thomas’s boyhood home in...
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Gambling column: NBA title futures
Here’s my latest Gambling column from the San Francisco Chronicle, on odds to win the NBA title. As expected, Miami is the favorite, but Golden State has it’s best odds in more than a decade. Read it...
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American Way: Ultimate Tequila Tour
Julio Bermejo signs a barrel at Arette distillery in Tequila in August, 2013. All photos by Michael Shapiro In 2004 in Las Vegas I went to a tequila tasting and met Julio Bermejo. A world of spirit...
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SF Chronicle: Holding on to a travel companion who wouldn’t let go
Exactly 10 years ago today my mother, brother and I sat with my father as he drew his last breath. He’d been battling pancreatic cancer for eight months; I’d been on assignment in England, interviewing...
View ArticleMaking a living as a freelancer
Every June, I mark the anniversary of leaving my last full-time job, at CNET in SF. It’s been 15 years with lots of highs and lows, but I’ve never regretted the decision to walk away from the rigidity...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Pete Seeger: 3 stories you’ve never heard
By Michael Shapiro Was sad to hear about the death of folk legend Pete Seeger today – here are three stories you won’t read in his obits. 1. Decades ago, Warren Hellman, then a NY investment banker (he...
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Connie Hale, Michael Shapiro offer workshop on “A Sense of Place” in...
The key to making a travel story – or just about any kind of story – compelling is a convincing sense of place. Readers want to know where they are, and this can be conveyed with everything from...
View ArticleNew gay-friendly Vegas resort to be called Fellahtio
LAS VEGAS — MGM’s newest mega-resort, a gay-friendly hotel which starts construction this spring and will open in late 2015, will be called the Fellahtio, said spokesman Richard Johnson. The building...
View ArticleThe Bird Men of Mazatlan: Cliff divers wait for tide to come in, Mariner
In the fall of 2009, Mariner magazine asked if I’d go to Mazatlan to write about the cliff divers there. I’d watched cliff divers in Acapulco during the ’70s on ABC’s Wide World of Sports but didn’t...
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