Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
Dan Guy -- Thanks for the heads-up on the Tori Amos tickets. I checked
out Ticketmaster and was able to procure some decent mezzanine seats
at the Fox Theater in Detroit. Not too shabby. They're doing the
internet pre-sale at the Fox, and it's already almost sold out.
Frightening.
  

    
DanGuy--I plan on getting tickets for the Indianapolis, at least.  I
wonder if it really is a complete list...no Cincinnati?  This will be
the first tour without it if so.  Maybe she's boycotting us like the
rest of the world.

Speaking of all that mess...yet another person got shot and killed a
mere 6 blocks away from where I was dancing the other night.  The road
was all blocked off, and so I didn't know how to get home.  My half
hour trip home turned into a 2 hour journey.  It is all making it
rather scary to go to the only club that I like.  (Not to mention that
people are dying.  That's bad too.)
  

    
Will -- I live in the D.C. area.  So TN and MN are both a bit far to
go, but... Lori and I really like Tori and are excited at the prospect
of seeing her without the band again.

Bill -- Sorry I didn't think to say something here ahead of time so
that you could have gotten even better seats.

In my previous post, I meant to point out that over half of the
tickets being sold by scalpers on ebay are *really good seats*.  /wipes
tear from eye/
  

    
Hello Everyone. 

Just got back from visiting family in Indiana. It was too quiet there
for my taste...well, exept for my two year old nephew, Tristan. We must
have watched Labyrinth 45 times. He even tries to dance like Bowie and
seems to know all of his lines. He's very cute,though, I probably went
over the limit on Tylenol while with him...whoever said that two year
olds don't understand the word "No" is right. He would just point back
at me and yell "no" and keep going about his mischief. Remind me to get
spayed.

I'm gonna see Tori in Cleveland and am very excited about it. I think
I get to buy tickets 24 hours before they go on sale, according to the
Toriamos.com newsletter. Yippie. 

Angelina- The Murat theater is very nice. 

Adriana- Screenplays are fun and, in my opinion, faster and more fun
to write than stories. However, the chances of getting them lauched are
slimmer than getting a book published, which makes trying to  sell
them depressing. But you never know. Good luck! 

Squeaks- Aren't stalkers scary? Mine went to jail and I luckily
haven't heard from him since. (and yes, write more music!)

Erynn- Who needs to get her ass out of this chair and start cleaning.
  

    
Tori? Tour? *blinks sleepily* aaaw man,... *loads ticketmaster*  Hey,
what, does the Pacific Northwest have cooties?  :-(  I'll have to keep
checking for up-here information. Or Sacramento; I'd see her again
there....

Neil - funny. I forwarded the post to a few movie news sites...

And now I'm late for all you can eat sushi lunch at a very nice sushi
place... good weekend, all!
-Kelly
  

    
There were two reasons I pressed Neil to do the intro for my book.

One was that I knew it would get people who'd never heard of me to take a
chance on it.

The other was that I'd been waiting for years to hear the end of that poem--
  

    
Hi all,...
Nothing much to say but good news. I've been called to audition for
The Weakest Link.  I have two and a half days to not freak out get
stage fright and study,.......any advice?

Jinxie who wonders what she's going to wear
  

    
Victory!!!  ::does dance::  Two years ago I bought my dad Good Omens. 
After me constantly nagging and him going "But it's the apocalypse!  I
know how it ends!" he finally read it this week.  He apparently told
my mom "Oh no, I have to apologize to Jenny... I really like this!" 
And so now I'm supposed to find him the british version (I picked up
the american paperback) and keep him abreast on the movie news.  Heh,
must print out the Journal entries...  Next I'm going to bother him
till he reads all the Discworld Watch books and American Gods.  Hee
hee.  

Jinx - Good luck.  Just remember this to keep you calm during the
audition:  No matter what happens, you can't possibly do any worse than
the people on the Fear Factor episode of Weakest.  Oy.

Jen, who likes Tori but not concerts.  Too.  Many.  People.  Ugh.
  

    
The other thing to remember about Weakest Link is that there's an
extraordinary amount of noise in the process.  If you're the best--you
probably won't win anyway.  If you're the worst, you may not lose.  So just
get on the ride and go with it.
  

    

Good luck, Jinx!  How did this happen?
  

    
Ooh, are Tori tickets on sale already? Must call my connections and
see if I made it on the label's list (crossed fingers) - it's good to
slave in a record store sometimes. Other times it's worse than annoying
because you've been assured to be listed, so you don't buy tickets,
and then something goes all splooey and you turn out *not* to be listed
and you're totally screwed out of a show you really wanted to go to. 

As for Tori, I've never seen her perform. And I *loathe* large venues
and scary capacity crowds, so I'm not sure how much of her I'll be able
to see before I need to leave or pass out from the anxiety. But
damnit, I'm going to try!

Erynn - Yes, they are scary. And we (the SFMM) discussed music today.
We're reformatting the gang so that instead of being a collective of
bands, we're now going to be one big band, full of collaborative
goodness. It takes much stress off of individuals and allows for a
little more creativity as a group. Should be fun. So say goodbye to
Bastet's Dream, 'cause now I'm just Dona Bast of the SF Midi Mafia...
er, the 'n' in Dona is supposed to have one of those little tildes
above it, but I can't pull up the alt code for it.

Jen B - Neil may not be my daddio's favourite author, but he now knows
better than to just skip over his stuff when he runs into it. He seems
to have even really enjoyed AG. :)

Jinxers - Good luck. Fingers crossed for you to do well. And even if
you don't, remember that you're going to do it because it's fun - If
you win stuff, that's just icing on the cake. 

squeaks, who doesn't really feel like doing the family reunion thing
tomorrow, but it's a bit too late to back out now. 
  

    
Linda~ I went to the webpage after the first time I saw it, and
announcing to everyone I know that I was so going to be on it. And was
called about 3/4 months later. I'm not a game show person, but I really
like the pace of this one.

Michelle~ See I've aways thought of it that way. I mean it's not like
I'm losing my own money. After working at the casino for as long as I
have, it all comes down to my money and "their" money. I can risk it
all no problem as long as I'm not paying.

Martha~ I think the only thing that'll truely throw me with be the
what to wear aspect. After managing a comic shop, that ran weekend
pokevil games, and growing up with 6 older brothers, I can concentrate
on almost everything with massive distractions around. In fact I can't
think without noise.

I do have this little half-hearted plan in the back of my mind. If I
get on the show and start to do badly,....I'm voting to throw myself
myself off. That way I can always have that.
There is popular mummers in my crowd of internet friends that think I
should dye my hair purple and wear my Thingie t-shirt with the eyes
Neil drew for luck.

Jinxie who thinks aspiring writer sounds better then casino employee
  

    
Jinx- good luck! 

Did anyone see the celebrity show with Rob Schnieder and Norm from
Cheers? (I can't for the life of me remember his real name right now)
It was horrible. Everyone was stupid except Norm and they voted him
off. I was so sad for him.

Michelle- Yay for colaborative creative goodness! I can't wait to hear
stuff:)
Jess will be recording in someones home studio soon so that he can
send a demo to the record companies that doesen't sound like he's
singing in a bathroom.

Right now The Feast of the Consumption is closing down here in Little
Italy, which is a Very Good Thing. Right outside of our window were
thousands of drunk and overstuffed people and a bad,bad disco cover
band that would play till three in the morning. Yay.

As for Tori tickets...I'm waiting for the ToriAmos.com newsletter with
my presale password to arrive. Hopefully I'll get good seats. All the
other times I've seen her, I've always been in the middle. 

  
  

    
Jinxie - crossed fingers that you have a good time. :)

Erynn - George Wendt. (I have no idea why I know that) 
Oh, and do I understand the 'sounding like you're singing in the
bathroom' thing... :P Collaborative effort should make for some
interesting combinations of oddness... not to mention what it'll look
like if we ever get around to putting on a show (oh, the ideas...)

Ooh, and got my Mommy Dearest to go buy me a Japanese copy of Dream
Hunters... PRETTY! It makes so much more sense to me to see Japanese
illustrations with Japanese text (even if I can't read it), pages going
from right to left. *sigh...

squeaks, who has got to arrange to pick up some Sandman books now.
  

    
Good luck Jinx!!!!!
  

    
Good luck Tracy.


Patrick -- a previous incarnation of Harper Collins was esentially
being run by the warehouse managers, who would decide what happened in
publishing based on allocation of warehouse space, which was why
paperback publication day was also hardback remainder day, and puzzled
authors would suddenly find the ten dollar paperback competeing with a
3 dollar hardback... (whether or not the hardback was still selling --
they needed the shelf space) Editors had, the editors in question
assured me, no place in the equation.


Jenny B -- yay on your dad

Michelle --  the Tori gigs are just her and a piano (and a
harpsichord, and a thing i don't remember the name of), in places with
seating, so it should be not-scary at all in terms of crowds and
suchlike.

I don't think I've heard her completely solo -- apart from just
playing me songs -- since probably Sweden in 94 (?) and am looking
forward to it immensely.

I am VERY slowly making progress on e-mail, so if you're one of the
two or three hundred people I owe e-mail to, hang in there. It'll
happen eventually.

But I made the Ramayana deadline, and now I just have to get the
Washington Post article in, and start on the Death second draft, and
I'll suddenly be not-actually-more-than-five-months behind. This is not
a joke. What happened to 2001 anyway?

Neil.  Who just remembered he forgot about the Coraline rewrite. 
  

    
This cryptic note from the fine folks over at www.comicscontinuum.com:

"The future of Miracleman/Marvelman? "I can't say just yet on way or
another," said Marvel editor-in-chief Joe Quesada. "Give us about two
weeks.""

How is it that it seems like hardly a week can go by without another
Miracleman rumor? Neil, any comment?
  

    
I think the first time I saw Tori Amos it was just her and the piano, at
Bimbo's on the tour supporting the first album that was booked before they
knew how big they'd need the venues to be.  Maybe I'm forgetting a band,
though.

I definitely forgot to see if Tori Amos tickets were going on sale here this
weekend and might find myself groveling for favors again.  But at least it
would only be the second time I had to grovel....
  

    
The first time I saw her she was by herself...and it was so much fun
because no one was standing up and screaming. You could actually hear
what she was saying when she talked to the audience. I liked the shows
with the band and Caton (I'm really gonna miss him) and what not, and
I'm sure that this won't be the same as the first time, as she's much
bigger now, but I am overwhelmed with excitment about the solo thing.
Maybe it will bring more fun improvs! 
  

    

Neil -- I believe that's what you were assured; knowing some of the dynamics
of buck-passing ("The copyeditor did _that_?  How terrible.  Pity it's too
late to change. Those darn copyeditors!"), I'm not sure I believe _it_.

On the other hand, remaindering the hardcover right at the moment of
paperback publication is just stupid enough to be true.  It has, not the
ring, but the leaden clunk of authenticity...
  

    
"because all the things I think about magic and magicians are
applicable to writing, to genre, to comics, to prose and to film. It's
about thinking outside the box, and about craft, and about skill, and
about the willingness to surprise yourself and, maybe, sometimes, to
make miracles. Because even lousy miracles are still miracles." 

... and I think, applicable to programming as well.


Re: Tori. I've seen her twice; both were larger shows (Dew Drop Inn
and Plugged '98)... and they were still quite enjoyable. Tho,
admittedly, I could do without as much screaming noise. 

I found my tour book from the Plugged '98 tour while moving, which was
(regrettably) a few weeks after Neil had swung thru the area on the
signing tour. I would have liked to have had that signed... oh well -
next time!

Yes. Monday. Work. (Sigh.)
-Kelly
  

    
Hey folks... it's been an interesting week, with me being at home sick
as a dog for most of it, but still dragging my sorry but into the city
to run rehearsals. (Neil/Martha, I have a bunch of very happy actors
who are immensely pleased to be working on such fabulous material.)

I'd wax eloquent, but now that I'm caught up I need to see about Tori
availability in S.F. I saw the Choirgirl show, but it was all stadium
and crowd and difficult. I said then that I really only wanted to see
Tori when she was playing smaller venues, even if that takes twenty
years. But it looks like I may have a chance sooner.... *yay*
  

    
A big thank you to all of you who responded with support to my post
about writing the screenplay.  It is going swimmingly, and I am amazed
at myself.  I never knew that I liked writing this much.  The fun thing
is I am writing myself a big old juicy role, and if it gets made, it's
getting made because I'm directing it and casting it.  I'm taking
control of my career and that rocks.  wheeeee!

I am planning to go all out for the Tori tour.  I have been longing to
see Seattle for many years, so I am going to plan it around the
Seattle and Vancouver tour dates.  I also plan on going here in LA, of
course.  It is going to be a very fun fall.

Jinx, as far as the audition and clothing and whatnot, here's what I
know:  My hubby auditioned before the show was on the air and he did
extremely well.  He answered every question correctly and when they did
a trial game he won the game.  The problem was, he wasn't being catty
and voting people out for random reasons like "I don't like him because
he's a lawyer."  He did not end up on the show.  So if you can balance
your intelligence and strategy with a little cattiness, you're set. 
Maybe they thought he was too smart.  I don't know. Also, for screen
testing try not to wear any loud patterns or bright white or black. 
It's best to wear solid colors in muted/pastel tones for television. 
That is the general opinion, but I say you should look as individual as
you want.  What's most important is that you are true to your
personality.  I hope that is helpful!

-Adriana
  

    
I'm also waiting eagerly for tickets to go on sale for Tori's
show in Boston.  And I'm feeling special because I have
seen Tori solo with her piano since 1994, and Neil hasn't. :) Nyah
nyah. She played two concerts in the same week as part of various
radio stations' Christmas celebrations, both within a two hours'
drive of Boston in 1999, and it was very nice indeed.

I guess we make up for our excess of Tori in Boston with our
shortage of Neil on his last signing tour...
  

    
stagewalker, your actors are very very kind.  I'm glad they're enjoying
themselves--god knows they aren't in it for the money!