Well, dear readers, I’m happy to say that the book signing was a success. We had close to thirty people there – they had to bring extra chairs up. I don’t know what we would have done if the ten people who said they were absolutely coming had actually shown up. I got there about fifteen minutes before starting and people were already there. Let’s see if I can remember everyone: We had Sami and her mom and their friend Tyler, who’s been helping Sami learn all her lines and lyrics for our show. We had our very own Amy and Mark. We had former helper Amy Ennis and her two kids. We had Jenna Lea Rosen, who came with Sydney and Bridget DeMaria and their mom, plus two friends of theirs. We had Arthur Shafer, one of the original Dancing Dildos. We had Shelly Markham. We had author Steven Paul Leiva and his wife and daughter – his daughter Miranda is probably Adriana’s biggest fan, along with her friend Stephanie, who was also there. We had Dan and Kendra Miller and little Hadley Miller. We had friend David Wechter. We had friend Joanna Erdos, and I’m forgetting three or four people.
I read from the first chapter, but stopped short of revealing what Adriana learns at the end of it. And then I read the entire chapter seven, which is the nostalgia drive that Adriana and her mom take down Sunset Strip and then Westwood. Anyone who knew those areas in the 70s and 80s, which a lot of our attendees did, love that chapter. I then took questions and we had some very good ones. I talked a bit about the Sami show and then I signed books and everyone partook of the three cakes – two from Gelson’s that I brought, including our beloved Parisian cake, and one Sami baked all by herself. The whole thing lasted about ninety minutes.
Then a few of us went to the nearby California Pizza Kitchen. I had a Caesar salad with chicken, and we all shared spinach artichoke dip, all very good. Then I headed home.
Prior to all that, I was up at eight-thirty and she of the Evil Eye arrived just before nine. I went and had a little matzoh brei and no bagel or English muffin, then picked up a couple of packages, then did some other stuff. I came home at noon, got ready and then moseyed on over to the bookshop.
Once home, I had a piece of the Parisian cake, not having had any at the bookstore. Then I answered e-mails and stuff, then sat on my couch like so much fish and watched the final episode on disc one of The Honeymooners – some of it was very funny, but it’s ALWAYS Audrey Meadows who makes me laugh – such droll and dry delivery and a stare worthy of the master, Jack Benny. Then I watched a little bit of a film that I loved as a kid, entitled Hand in Hand. For years, it was just impossible to ever see this film. It was never on VHS or beta and I finally, at some point, managed to snag a 16mm print of it and that was the first time I’d seen it since it came out in 1960, when I saw it at the Picfair Theater. It’s about the sweet relationship between two kids – one catholic, one Jewish. I was thinking about it the other day and did a search and found it was just released in the UK, so I bought the DVD. Then I noticed that it had a US release about two years ago, from Sony, so since it was five bucks I got that one, too, and it arrived yesterday. I’ll talk more about it after I’ve finished it.
After that, I buckled down, Winsocki and wrote the entire commentary for the June Kritzerland show, save for the thank yous and final song commentary, so that is so great to have out of the way. And you can blame the commentary for these here notes going up so late.
Today, I shall do nothing but relax. I’ll probably make a small amount of pasta for my meal o’ the day, or I may just get a Subway club – we’ll see how I feel. I’ll probably finish Hand in Hand, watch another couple of Honeymooners episodes and then settle in for the final episode of Mad Men. I’m sure the Internet will be abuzz about it, no matter what.
This week is very busy with meetings and meals and work sessions and seeing shows. I’ll also try to get ahead and start thinking about the July Kritzerland, but I’ve also got to prepare the whole Sami show. I’m seeing what the set designer’s idea is, so I have some sense of how to stage everything and where things will live. And he’s going to make us a couple of things to use, which will help.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, relax, eat, relax, watch stuff, and then watch the final episode of Mad Men. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s free-for-all day, the day in which you dear readers get to make with the topics and we all get to post about them. So, let’s have loads of lovely topics and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy that the signing was a success.