Ex-Boulder Weekly editor rouses the Boulder 'vibe' with noir novel 'The Mean Reds'

Feb. 16—Author Dale Bridges, a former arts and entertainment editor at Boulder Weekly, penned a new book that's packed with "so many Boulder Easter eggs."

So many epic Easter eggs. Like the Naked Pumpkin Run.

"The Mean Reds," released in October of 2022 by SFA Press, is based on Bridges' time in the early-aughts living in the People's Republic, a place rich with that Boulder "vibe" that he aimed to capture throughout the novel.

The plot follows college dropout Sam Drift who pens movie reviews for a local rag when he's not wallowing over lost love in a haze of weed smoke or watching vintage crime flicks with his cat, Audrey Hepburn. When his editor calls him with a breaking story he needs to chase down — the death of an exotic dancer — Sam drifts into a maze of politics and crime.

That's when his lying, cheating and stealing ex-lover shows up in town to premiere the movie where she's the leading lady (a film based on the script she stole from Sam).

Bridges' style has been likened to Augusten Burroughs, Chuck Palahniuk and Kurt Vonnegut. He describes "The Mean Reds" as "a demented love letter to the Golden Age of Hollywood; the title lifted from Truman Capote's prose in "Breakfast at Tiffany's."

"The blues are because you're getting fat, and maybe it's been raining too long. You're just sad, that's all," Audrey Hepburn's Holly Golightly explains the difference between the blues and the mean reds to George Peppard's Paul Varjak in "Breakfast at Tiffany's." "The mean reds are horrible. Suddenly you're afraid, and you don't know what you're afraid of. Do you ever get that feeling?"

In the book, keep an eye out for the Pearl Street Mall, University Hill, CU, the Boulder Theater, Hotel Boulderado, the Boulder International Film Festival, Nitro Club and more.

Bridges resided in the Boulder area in the early aughts and left around 2010 "in search of warmer weather and more affordable housing." He landed in Austin, where he lives with his wife.

Ahead of his appearance at the Boulder Book Store at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, where he will speak about and sign "The Mean Reds," we caught up with Bridges via email. He talks about his close relationship with his protagonist, the drink they'd (probably not) share and the economic disparities in Boulder.

Christy Fantz: You worked with the Boulder Weekly as a columnist, editor and writer. Is protagonist Sam Drift a slacker spawn of Dale Bridges?

Dale Bridges: That's a great way to phrase it. When I first started writing the novel, Sam was just supposed to be a narrative stand-in for me. The old sorority house that he lives in on University Hill is a description of where I lived; his obsession with old movies mirrors my own; etc., etc.

Basically, in this novel I'm attempting to examine some of my own worst character defects in Sam and see where those defects take a person. However, as I continued to write, it became necessary to let go of the idea that Sam was me and allow him to become his own person. In that sense, he's more like my child now. I can see myself in him, but I had to let him make his own choices in life.

CF: How did working in journalism shape you as an author?

DB: Journalism had a profound impact on my writing. I also have a book of short stories I published many years ago called "Justice, Inc." Those stories have a more satirical sci-fi style, similar to Kurt Vonnegut or George Saunders.

Journalism kind of forced me to develop a more realistic narrative voice, which is what I used to write this novel. While I was a journalist, I read a lot of nonfiction writers like Chuck Klosterman, Malcolm Gladwell, Susan Orlean, Michael Lewis, Hunter S. Thompson, Tom Wolfe, Joan Didion, etc. I stole from all of them, of course. I learned how to observe the world in an objective fashion and report on it through my writing.

CF: I dig your novel's title, very vintage noir. Does the vibe of the book peek into any influences of cinema's Golden Age or modernist literature?

DB: Oh, boy. This book is basically a demented love letter to the Golden Age of Hollywood. The title, "The Mean Reds," of course, comes from the movie "Breakfast at Tiffany's."

Sam is obsessed with old movies and watches them throughout the novel. Every chapter is named after an old movie that coincides with the theme or structure of that chapter. The movie references are constant throughout the book, and some of them are so obscure that I doubt even hardcore cinephiles will be able to pick them out. There aren't many novels out there for movie lovers, and I hope film geeks really get a kick out of this one.

CF: I like how author S. Kirk Walsh called your book "Smart, funny and slightly sideways." If you were to have a night out with Sam Drift, where would you go and what would be your poison?

DB: I'm not sure I could keep up with Sam anymore. He's still going out five nights a week and getting plastered. But if we were to hang out, I'd probably meet him at the Sundown Saloon for a snort of whiskey. Sam's probably still drinking the cheap stuff, but my stomach can't handle that anymore, so I'd be drinking something a little pricier from a local distillery.

CF: What's the most Boulder thing you experienced in Boulder while you lived here?

DB: Everything about Boulder was very Boulder when I lived there.

However, I did have a couple of extremely Boulder jobs aside from working at the newspaper. I was the manager of a medical marijuana dispensary that was located in an abandoned movie theater across from the police department. It was called Medicine on The Hill. At that time, the standing of marijuana in Colorado was unclear. Obama said he wasn't going to prosecute anyone for it, but you still had to have a certification from a doctor to purchase it.

While working that job, I got roped into organizing an event called the Boulder Cannabis Festival. How Boulder is that? After that job ended, I worked the overnight shift at the St. Julien for about a year. That position really highlighted the economic disparities in Boulder. I wasn't even making a living wage, while the people checking in to the hotel were very privileged...and often a huge pain in the ass.

CF: What, or who, is your muse when writing?

DB: I don't really believe in muses. Writing is work, and I sit down on a regular basis and put the time in like any other job. Sometimes I crank out 10 pages, sometimes I get nothing. I do a lot of thinking in the bathtub with a glass of whiskey. Not a muse really, but it sometimes shakes things loose.

CF: Do you have interest in turning your stories into film scripts, or to go beyond the page?

I don't know much about writing scripts or making movies, but sure, I'd love to see my writing on the big screen. Obviously, I love cinema, and I would be over the moon to see a movie based on my writing. I just have no idea how to make that happen.

CF: What's up next for you?

DB: I've been painting a lot lately. It's kind of weird. I really struggled with my writing during the pandemic. Not sure why. I think there was just this constant level of anxiety that made it hard to concentrate.

My wife is a talented artist, so we have a lot of painting supplies around the house. I started out in watercolor and now I'm mostly painting in acrylic. There's something about it that's very relaxing. I think part of it is that I have no real expectations or delusions as a painter. If I paint a bird and people recognize that it's a bird, I'm pretty happy with it. I don't have an inner critic when I paint, which allows me to enjoy the process more.

But I think I'm about ready to start writing another novel. I'm not going to talk about it yet, because that tends to kill the creative magic that makes the process work, but it's on the horizon.