
City Pages Best of the Twin Cities, 2017: Best Book (Nonfiction)
Streets.mn podcast: Interview by Bill Lindeke
Podcast and web story of my interview with Tom Weber, Minnesota Public Radio
MinnPost interview with Amy Goetzman about raising "the ghosts of downtown Minneapolis"
"Minneapolis' Long Lost Skid Row": Interview with KFAI's Xan Holston
City Pages interview with Erica Rivera: "The King of Skid Row" revisits Minneapolis' seedy underside
KUMD Minnesota Reads: interview with Lisa Johnson
Access Minnesota with Jim du Bois: The End of Minneapolis's Skid Row
Interview on WCCO AM 830, John Hines Show (April 6, 2016)
Minneapolis-St. Paul Magazine, "Six Must-Read Books for the Spring"
Stan Turner show, KLBB AM, author interview (02-27-2016)
Pioneer Press, recommended spring reads
Skidrow
John Bacich’s “Skidrow,” a 30-minute film, remains the grittiest and most powerful record of Minneapolis’ Gateway District. It grew out of his documentary impulse, and awareness that this place would soon be gone. He shot the film in the late 1950s and early 1960s on a Bell & Howell 16 mm movie camera, in color, but with no sound. It probably would have remained obscure but for a serendipitous meeting between Bacich and Jerome Liebling, the legendary documentary photographer and filmmaker who at the time taught at the University of Minnesota. Liebling’s students, most notably Rod Lazorik, shot additional footage and edited it into a half-hour reel. Bacich added his voiceover in the mid-1980s. Newly digitized from the original film by Thor Anderson at Saving Tape, this version of the video offers vivid colors and sharper images that help bring this remarkable era back to life. Note: This film has some graphic images.
To arrange a reading or appearance:
Heather Skinner
Publicist and Assistant Marketing Manager
612-301-1932
presspr@umn.edu
To reach James Eli Shiffer
james.shiffer@gmail.com
@jameselishiffer
The Gateway District, early 1960s: City of Minneapolis photos, courtesy Hennepin History Museum