My books are about my passions and obsessions. Garlic seduced me in the 1970s and I spent a decade promoting a garlic revolution—books, a newsletter (Garlic Times), posters, bumper stickers, a garlic fan club (Lovers of the Stinking Rose), festivals in Gilroy, Berkeley, Los Angeles and personal appearances. If I had stayed focused on garlic, I might have ended up the Wavy Gravy of garlic, a combination clown, philosopher, and activist. Not a bad fate! I did have plans for a Mr. Garlic product line that might have paid the bills but ultimately moved on to cookbook publishing (Aris Books) and another passion—making books. I still love the process of creating books—writing, editing, illustrating, producing and publishing them. Both Foodoodles (2010) and Café French (2018) represent my passion for food and café culture, and the craft of producing books in collaboration with editors, designers and printers. As my own illustrator in the last two projects—and now My Little Plague Journal—I’ve enjoyed the challenge of putting words and images together to create an immersive experience for the reader.

I’ve had two opportunities to make documentary films with filmmaker Bill Chayes—Divine Food and Los Romeros. Prior to these projects, I was involved as a character in several films about garlic that followed publication of The Book of Garlic. The one I am most proud of is Les Blank’s “Garlic Is As Good As Ten Mothers,” filmed on locations such as Chez Panisse, the Gilroy Garlic Festival and the home of sausage maker Bruce Aidells. Blank contacted me after he read the garlic book and expressed interest in making the film. I got involved as a featured character, narrated part of the film and organized some of the scenes. When I met filmmaker Bill Chayes I was writing a book about American Jewish delicatessens and he thought the subject would make a great film. I agreed and we found backers for Divine Food. That was such a great experience for me as a writer and producer that we agreed to make a second film about another passion of mine, the classical guitar. The Romero film was co-produced by PBS in San Diego and became a national special and was nominated for an Emmy.

In my role as President of the Harris Guitar Foundation and now curator of the Harris Guitar Collection at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, making recordings using the instruments is a natural byproduct of having access to these wonderful vintage instruments and their unique sound. The world-class players serving on the faculty at SFCM, and the talented students there, are an obvious resource for producing high quality recordings on our Vintage HGC label.

The first CD in the series features the Polish guitar virtuoso, Marcin Dylla. While teaching at the Conservatory, Marcin expressed interest in recording on four guitars in the collection. The second recording is in production and features SFCM’s first chair of the guitar department, the Greek-born virtuoso, George Sakellariou, performing on five guitars from the collection.