Foreword

by Noel Hudson

This is a book of ideas, but to not experience the person behind these ideas – well I wouldn’t want you, dear reader, to miss such a pleasure.  Dupree is just the kind of person you can’t help but wonder what he thinks of this or that which might be on the winds of the public mind.

There he will be, standing at the end of the bar in his well worn overalls and faded hat with his own personal mug of custom, designer beer, a giant bear of a man with a true barrel chest discussing whatever captures the interest of the person next to him.  His ability to talk to anybody and to connect almost any idea with the next one or the last one is a bottomless source of creativity and intrigue.  Effortlessly he moves from topic to insight while receiving at least ten hugs a night from beautiful women, all the while talking, laughing, thinking and connecting all of it into some sort of theory of everything without ever seeming to come across as an intellectual.

He never ends up being quite what one think he is – a denizen of the center city who dresses straight out of the country (more of a Jethro-sexual than a metro-sexual), an ordained minister who seldom sets foot in a church, an actor with a role in a major movie and a European commercial but who enjoys talking bits and bytes with the local techies, the author of a book on relationships and who counsels newlyweds and presides over marriage ceremonies and yet has never been married.  He thinks everything through for his own self, never settling for convention’s settled conclusions.  When he settles something in his mind, you find yourself revisiting your own conclusions.  Once on an all day boating trip Steve politely refused the steaks I had packed along.  Having shared many ample breakfasts with Dupree and our downtown roundtable, it never occurred to me that this Harley-riding, bible-belt monster would not eat red meat, causing me to pause and consider my own largely unconsidered conclusions on such matters.

Such is the effect of his presence.  He is a good, warm, generous friend, a barroom genius, a truly unique American character.  This book is but a sampling of his fine mind and giant spirit.  We can hope, with good reason, there will always be more to come.