John Moe @ The Big Picture

On Wednesday we went down to the Big Picture to the official launch party for John Moe's new book Conservatize Me: How I Tried to Become a Righty with the Help of Richard Nixon, Sean Hannity, Toby Keith, and Beef Jerky.

You may know Moe as the genius behind the Pop Song Correspondences on McSweeney's, a slew of excellent lists on Amazon, or through his public radio persona as host of KUOW's The Works.

Hosted by Seattle Magazine as part of its Book Salon series, the party was much different from your typical reading. The salon series shoots for a less formal atmosphere including a pre-reading cocktail time where readers can mingle with the author and one another. The main event was an interview between Moe and a KUOW compatriot (maybe Ken Vincent?). As expected Moe was very funny though the book seems to be a bit more serious of a study of conservatism than the title might suggest. As Moe explained it, he put a real effort into listening to valid conservative view points and to only make fun of the 'really stupid ones'. Despite coming from a city made up 'entirely of liberals', Moe admitted to having conservative leanings, so it sounds like we can expect a nuanced position that's bound to be more fair and balanced than a certain TV station. Definitely should be a good read.

Conservatize Me site
John Moe's blog
Seattle Weekly review