Name: Paul Mosier
Age: 49
Title: Jam Master, Author, Founder, Father, Second-Tier Ventriloquist
Married/Single: Married
Kids: 2 daughters, no goats
Live: Coronado Historic District, downtown Phoenix
I was born…
for this, into this, too late, at the right time, to be wild, a coal miner’s daughter, in the back seat of a Greyhound Bus, and at St Joe’s in Phoenix on a cold day in the last weeks of the baby boom.
My favorite thing about Arizona…
is that it’s filled with the people I love, and it’s not yet hot enough to combust spontaneously.
I’m listening to…
new music, old music, good music, and always music, but Coltrane is cued in the car and Arcade Fire at home at present. KBAQ is coming from my daughters’ bedroom as they sleep. The clock is ticking on the wall. The refrigerator hums.
My family is…
everything to me. If you’ve met them you understand.
If I could have dinner with anyone it would be…
my girls There are lots of nice people out there, but I don’t idolize any of them, and my wife and daughters are my faves. Plus I know they’re cheap dates. But if they’re busy maybe Bukowski’s ghost.
One thing I cannot live without is…
coffee. It’s all I’ve got left.
When I was younger, I wanted to be…
older. Now I just want to remain always as I am now. Or at least keep my teeth.
I’m inspired by…
the muse.
The one person who motivates me is…
that recorded voice who keeps calling about the mortgage payment.
If I could change anything in the world, it would be…
to eliminate violence. And the rule that I can only change one thing.
The perfect day would be…
similar to a few I’ve already had. But I don’t really trust myself to decide what is perfect, because the best things have been beyond my ability to imagine.
My first job was…
cleaning up construction debris in a new home subdivision, but my favorite crappy job story is when I rode on the back of a garbage truck in Litchfield Park one summer day when I was home from college. It’s a great story of danger, bad smells and humility. I wrote an alright poem about that day.
My favorite escape is…
no longer an option. So it’s no longer my favorite.
My life…
has not been what I would have pictured if you polled me at any time more than 10 years ago, but I love how it has turned out.
I’m currently working on…
wrapping up my second novel, which makes me laugh and cry and which I can barely get my head around, and I’m planning a book that my ten year old can read. I’m also about to do the dishes. And changing broker-dealers for my day job.
Always…
give away the good feelings you have. And buy Breakfast At Tuli’s on amazon whenever possible. Which will give you good feelings you can then give away.
Never…
ask a dog to watch your sandwich. Some kid said that, but I think it’s spot-on.
Favorite Quote…
The first line of Breakfast At Tuli’s is a rather good one, but I can’t say it here. So I’ll say my favorite quote is the review that said “I didn’t think I could make it past the first line… I couldn’t stop reading until I finished the book.”
Biggest Dream…
wouldn’t fit on this format. It’d be like Infinite Jest in terms of length. I haven’t read that book and it’s so long I may never try.
My Pet Peeve is…
dead. How did you know I had a pet named Peeve? He was a good little bug.
