Well, dear readers, this week is flying by, like a gazelle writing with a 1954 Jotter ball point pen from Parker. The gazelle loves its Parker Pens, and also uses the Parker 61 Capillary self-filling ink pen. Like the gazelle, I, too, loved my Parker ball point pens and I had several as a wee bairn. I was always fascinated by the pens in the five-and-dime store and would spend a lot of time looking at all the different models. Of course, at the drug store there was a tonier selection, and that made for good viewing, too. Happily, you can still buy Parker Pens but the Jotter, which they still make, will now set you back twenty-six bucks. Why the HELL am I talking about Parker Pens? Don’t I have notes to write? I do, and they shall be written without benefit of Parker Pens.
Yesterday was a mostly fine day with one major irritant to deal with early on – once again The Federal has booked out our show date to another party. I am quite sick of it, frankly, and while we’ll do the March show on a Tuesday, that will be our final show there unless there are some guarantees. What I’m asking for is that if they cancel and ask us to change dates, they pay for the show. They can build that cost into what they’re charging whoever is booking out the room, but that’s what it’s going to take for me to keep having to endure this. Otherwise, they can offer me another night besides Sunday, some mid-week night, but if they do that then they can never cancel. If those aren’t doable, then I’ll begin looking for a new home for our shows.
The rest of the day was thankfully better than that. I got the musical director I wanted for the Kritzerland show and that means it will be easy to do. I didn’t quite get eight hours thanks to these moron builders all over the neighborhood. They make me want to vomit on the ground. They make me want to stab them in the ear with a Parker Pen. I did some work on the computer after dealing with the Federal situation, then I printed out two copies of the book to give to the other two folks who’ll blurb it, and then I went and had an omelet and a bagel. After all that, I came home.
Once home, I did some more work on the computer, had several telephonic calls, tried to watch a motion picture and gave up, had more telephonic calls, and figured out what the perks will be for the LA show Indiegogo campaign. Doug Haverty helped with that and we came up with some good ones, I think, given that we can’t actually give tickets away to the show, although I may do one perk for the preview performances. I went and got a chicken breast for my evening snack.
Today, I will be seeing Richard Sherman briefly, then I’m having a lunch meeting with Juliana Hansen. Grant has told me he’s starting on the book design today, so maybe at some point I’ll get to go over there and check it out.
Tomorrow I have a meeting with a potential musical director for the LA show – it’s really down to two people now and I want to make the right decision. There’s a book fair this weekend – I may or may not go visit my dealer pals. Certainly I will not be buying anything. I have to finish casting and choosing songs, too, that will be a large part of the next couple of days. Hoping blurbs start coming in. I would really like to have everything to the publisher by a week from Friday or soon thereafter, which would mean we’d have books in hand by mid-March at the latest, which is about a month ahead of when we usually have them. I’ll set up the signing at Mystery and Imagination, but I’m also going to try and do a library event in Burbank again, and see if we can maybe book Larry Edmunds, since this is a majorly Hollywood novel.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, see Richard Sherman, lunch with Juliana Hansen, check in with Grant, and do whatever else needs doing. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Ask BK Day, the day in which you get to ask me or any dear reader any old question you like and we get to give any old answer we like. So, let’s have loads of lovely questions and loads of lovely answers and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, after which I will arise and make some jottings with my Parker Pens Jotter.