George Pelecanos is a writer, who among other things (including writing
the HBO series The Wire), has written a series of mystery novels set in
the Washington DC area.  In those books, people are frequently
discussing music.  One of those music discussions revolved
around the 1984 album Medicine Show by The Dream Syndicate.

Steve Wynn is a musician who from 1982-1989 was the leader of The Dream
Syndicate (since 2000, he has led Steve Wynn and The Miracle 3 and is
also a member of The Baseball Project).  Steve started hearing from his
friends that Medicine Show played a role in one of George's books.  So
Steve got in touch with George, and they hit it off.

They first collaborated on a song, Cindy, It Was Always You, which
appeared on the album …tick…tick…tick in early 2006.  Later that year, when George's book, The Night
Gardner, was published, George, Steve and The Miracle 3 all came out to
Magnetic Field, a bar/club no longer in existence on Atlantic Avenue
near Long Island College Hospital.  This video is from that
reading/performance.

Although I am not usually a reader of novels, what I heard of "The Night
Gardner" piqued my interest.  But I did not get around to getting hold
of it and as time passed I forgot about it. 

Until last week, that is.  As I was walking down my block I passed one
of the many branches of the Park Slope Stoop Library, which had on
display "The Night Gardner."  I took the book home and finished it in a
few days.  It was quite good, as I thought it would be from the
reading/performance.

 –Eliot Wagner