As the Spy and thousands of fans of the writer Neil King, Jr. continue to mourn his early death last week, we reached out to our friends at the Avalon to obtain the video of Neil’s appearance with his friend and photographer Jeff McGuines in the Stoltz Listening room in November 2023. They gathered in a filled room to talk about Neil’s book, American Ramble, for one of our Spy Nights, and it seemed like the perfect long-form interview of two close friends delightfully rambling themselves to share with our readers on a lazy Sunday morning on the Mid-Shore of Maryland.
This video is approximately 50 minutes in length.
Dodie Theune says
It was an honor to meet and get to know Neil King Jr. Yes, he is an inspiration to us all and for me, knowing him was pure delight! American Ramble will be read by more and more people curious to share his journey. .As the reader, you will feel as if you are walking beside him and smiling with him as you meet the simple yet quaint (and unkind) folks along the road.American Ramble is a special book that I will continue to read over and over again so I can remember this amazing man. I will never forget Neil
Jeff McGuiness says
Thank you, Dave, for posting this unforgettable evening with Neil King at the Avalon. It is much more than a recording of a book talk. It’s a tribute.
As Neil described his remission in American Ramble, “I like to say that I am in a clearing. Not in the clear, but just in a wide clearing with the forest too far away to see. I may be out of the woods, but I never know for how long.”
While setting up that evening, I noticed he was struggling to get his hands to work properly, and then just before we began, he said something was fundamentally wrong and that he needed to get checked out. A couple of days later, he went into emergency surgery to have a tumor removed from his brain. He must have realized that his several years in the clear had come to an end, yet he carried on that evening with the clarity, equanimity, and grace that characterized his remarkable life, teaching us the importance of always living in the present.
Peg Ford says
Thank you, Jeff for your intimate insight. So sorry for the loss of your friend. Since I did have the opportunity to meet him, it made reading his book so much more meaningful.