Publisher's Synopsis
In the days preceding Barack Obama's inauguration, a motley crew of characters navigates the back corners and dark alleyways of the nation's capital, simply trying to find their place in an ever-changing world. An octogenarian bluesman looks to make peace with his past, including a long-ago encounter with Elvis Presley, and finds that the rapid advance of the technology he once feared may offer the possibility of life after death for his music. A worn-out taxi driver takes a shot at easy money with a seductress. A former teen pop star stuck in the midst of a mid-life crisis contemplates the upside of a career revival in a Las Vegas casino, while a down-on-his-luck painter tries to satisfy his debt with a bookie without paying a pound of flesh. An exotic dancer moonlighting as a highly popular blogger works to regain her true identity amidst the chaos of the inaugural events. And a 43-year old activist who, fresh off years of aimless wandering, vows to transport his recently deceased mother's ashes from Roswell, N.M., to the National Mall during inaugural ceremony. The ten interrelated stories in It's Got to Get Worse for a Day explore the challenges of living in a time of unprecedented change. Whether rich or poor, white or black, old or young, not knowing what lurks ahead makes for an uneasy existence.
