Tuesday June 4

Solid State Books Presents:

BRAD BALUKJIAN author of

THE SIX PACK: On the Open Road in Search of WrestleMania

$5 ticket / $30 ticket plus book / Red Room / Doors at 7:30

Brad’s story starts back around the first WrestleMania, when he was first pulled into the world of professional wrestling as a child of the ’80s, a six-year-old fascinated with the stars of the day, including the Iron Sheik, Sgt. Slaughter, Tito Santana and, of course, Hulk Hogan. Somewhere between sport and theater, considered by many to be silly and lowbrow, it was for him an outlet that reflected strength and fearlessness.

The ensuing decades took Brad close to one of those early heroes (the Shiek) as they attempted to collaborate on a biography (no book came of it, but quite the story did) while this subcultural phenomenon rocketed in popularity and entered the mainstream. But he yearned to go deeper, get closer, to fully understand it’s underpinnings and why it resonates so deeply with him and so many others. This has been Brad’s calling as a writer: to combine the spirit of a fan with the rigor of an investigative journalist. It’s what led to the success of his first book, THE WAX PACK, about baseball cards, vulnerability, and growing up.

So he spent the last few years on a road trip adventure tracking down former WWF employees, wrestlers, childhood friends, and mutually curious archivists in search of the appeal of wrestling and the humanity of its practitioners; in pursuit of truth in a world predicated on illusion; in a quest to reconcile the his childhood heroes and memories. What Mary Roach calls “less an exposé than a love letter.”