Dive Bar Jukebox with Ed Anderson
"Another lifetime lived in a long night."
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Welcome back to Dive Bar Jukebox, where every Friday bartenders, writers, chefs, musicians, and a host of dynamic people answer the question: If we were hanging out together at a bar and I put ten credits on the jukebox, what songs would you punch in and why? Their answers reveal thoughts on their favorite dive bars along with a hand-picked, annotated 10-song playlist for your weekend listening pleasure.
Today’s special guest is…
Ed Anderson
Ed Anderson is a James Beard Award-nominated and IACP Award-winning photographer who has shot many books that are likely on your very own bookshelves, including A16: Food + Wine, Secrets of the Sommeliers, Sherry, State Bird Provisions, Food of the Italian South, Mastering Pizza, Bobby at Home, Big Bad Breakfast, Trejo’s Tacos, Collards and Carbonara, My Paris Kitchen, Drinking French, and many more.
In addition to working with publishers like Artisan Books, Abrams, Clarkson Potter, Ten Speed Press, Chronicle Books, Little, Brown and Company, and Random House, Anderson’s clients include Hog Island Oyster Company, The Restaurant at Meadowood, PUNCH, The Wall Street Journal, Wine Spectator, Food & Wine, Peet’s Coffee & Tea, and Sub-Zero among others.
Hailing from Ohio, Anderson, who now lives in Petaluma, California, started out in graphic design and then as a book designer. But his passion for photography developed into a nearly two-decades career specializing in shooting cookbooks and food and drink books, including my own Bitters, Amaro, and Last Call.
Bitters was my first book and one of Ed’s first books, and my publisher, Aaron Wehner, sensing we would get along, arranged a blind date that’s since turned into more of an arranged marriage. In my acceptance speech for the James Beard Award I won for Bitters, I described Ed as “equal parts George Harrison and The Dude from The Big Lebowski.” To pull another thread from the Lebowski rug, he’s also got a bit of the laconic Sam Elliott cowboy in him as well.
I’m fortunate to call the very talented man a great friend, and since 2009 we have spent a lot of time together in planes, cars, and trains across America, here in New York and Italy as traveling companions, creative partners, and collaborators. (Ed also designed the graphics and logo here on LAST CALL.)
Ed just wrapped up a weeklong stay on my sofa working on our new book, Italian Drinks, shooting on location at a number of venues including Dante, Ci Siamo, Maialino (vicino), LUCA, Rolo’s, and Bar Americano. I can’t wait to share some of the early amazing photographs with you. And stay tuned for more BTS adventures when he head to Italy next spring.
Read on for some classic Ed stories about late nights at bars across America and a “very Ed” playlist that will make you feel like you’re riding shotgun on one of his many adventures on the road.
