David Carr

For former Minneapolis-based writer David Carr, writing his life story was painful and embarrassing. Carr, a columnist and culture writer at the New York Times, is earning accolades and raising eyebrows for The Night of The Gun, his blunt, incisive, and thorough autobiography chronicling his drug use in the '80s and '90s. Carr could have been forgiven for writing his story as a melodramatic account of overcoming his life as a physically abusive husband and boyfriend, coke addict, alcoholic, and father, turned editor of the Twin Cities Reader, Washington City Paper, and eventually a respected writer at the Times. But that's not what he did. Instead, Carr hit the streets for two years to report his story like he would any other. Knowing that his memory was damaged by drugs and booze, he set out to understand his past by interviewing people who could help him piece together how he survived his darkest days. Now, Carr returns to his old stomping ground, with all his secrets and shame revealed to the public. He openly admits he was a bad person for many years, but his relentless honesty is at least a baby-step toward redemption.
Thu., Aug. 14, 7:30 p.m., 2008