Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
Umm, none of you New Yorkers were anywhere near the Staten Island
Ferry the other night (unclear which night), were you?
  

    
Neil's going to be in LA?
  

    
San José, actually.  I have no idea where that is in relation to LA.

http://www.litart.org/
  

    
San Jose is 75 or 90 minutes south of San Francisco.  So, not so close to
LA.
  

    
actually it is only a 5 hour drive, not so bad.
  

    
OK, slight little freakout: I'm working here at Atlantic Records and
just a minute ago I hear "MARY, CAN YOU HEAR ME? MARY, LIKE JIMMY
SAID..." blasting through the office next door. So of course I just run
over, and freak out on the poor dude working in there. It's the
newly-recorded version of Mary that will go on Tori Amos' new
collection that Atlantic is putting out. The publicity guy LOVES Tori
and is so sad that this is the last album he'll be working on for her.
He said that she was always really nice and even bought his son an
Eeyore doll when he saw her show in Seattle. He also said that many
people here at Atlantic love her and miss her, which is extremely cool.
He said she's still working on the album and it will be down to the
wire, but Mary is supposed to premiere this weekend on AOL somewhere.
Wheeee.... 
  

    
So, Neil was in excellent form last night, considering he was hopped
up on antibiotics and feeling rather low.

He read his wonderful Gothic story that was pooh-poohed so very many
years ago, Crazy Hair, Portait of Despair, and Sam's speech in American
Gods, as well as answering several questions and reading some poems,
including Inventing Alladin.

It was a VERY large group, and a VERY long signing line, which he met
with good cheer and dogged determination. He seemed a bit distressed
when I spoke with him, because of the Compuserve glitch he didn't get
Martha's email until very recently and wished she was there.

In the future, Martha, I can usually give rides!

Squeaks was there as well, and Mimi-ko! I didn't see any other Wellies
there, although I may have just not realized it.
  

    
The very silly gothic story?
  

    
I'm sorry Neil didn't get the e-mail until too late.  There aren't many
friends I'd spend five hours to spend five minutes with, but if it would
have cheered Neil up in his very reduced state, I would have given it the
whirl.

Actually I had missed that he was going to be in San Jose at all until just
this week.  It really made so little sense with the rest of his schedule
that I still can't absorb they'd've scheduled that!
  

    
Yes, it's the first story he ever wrote and it was rather brutally
shot down and he stuck it in a box and didn't look at it for 20 years.
It was great!

I wouldn't have known about the San Jose appearance either, if my
friend hadn't heard from a friend of hers who saw a flyer about it. For
such a poorly advertised event, it was pretty packed. I think it was a
lot of college students, though.
  

    
I'm glad Neil is well and I wish I could go see him read live more. I
need to be able to beam myself places, dammit.

Adriana- AAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! I am freaking out with you. That's
fabulous and I can't wait for Tales of a Librarian.  I'm so excited and
tingely. I don't think there are really any Tori songs that I don't
like, but Mary has to be one of my favorites. Definitely top ten. And I
love how (looking at the tracklisting) she seems to be telling a story
of her history instead of just making a Plain Jane "Greatest Hits"
album . . . not that I expected any less. This IS Tori we're talking
about, after all. But she's always full of wonderful surprises.

     This has been the weirdest week. My boss' best friend was
diagnosed with terminal brain cancer three months ago and was only
expected to live three months, tops. So she's been taking care of him,
helping him write up his will, plan his funeral, deal with his family
(who thinks that God gave him this cancer because he's gay). I really
don't know how she did it without losing her mind. 
      The other day he fell and hit his head in the bathtub. They took
him to the emergency room and gave him a Cat Scan. As it turns out, he
does NOT have brain cancer. All of the lesions are gone. They say he
had a bacterial infection caused by cat poop.
     My boss came back from the hospital crying tears of confusion and
joy, vomited, and then nearly collapsed. I got to see the looks on a
lot of family member's faces when they heard the news. 
     How often does THAT happen? It's the most amazing thing I've ever
seen in my life, watching people go through all of these emotions...
I talked to him on the phone yesterday and asked him what he was going
to do now that he's going to live. His tearful reply: "I'm going to
get a booth at the antique mall! And . . . I'm going to . . . um . . .
I'm going to go shopping!!!!!"

Now they just have to ease him off the Morphine and Oxycotton. 

 (just thought I'd share this with everyone, because these things
don't happen very often.) 

I'm gonna go get pumpkins!
  

    
Well thank goodness it was poorly promoted or Neil would probably be dead
now.

Thing is, if it's on his blog site, a big core of people are going to find
out.  Except for those people so fixated on the Cubs that they haven't
logged on to a non-baseball site in a month....
  

    
slip
  

    
Erynn, that is the most remarkable story...I don't even know what to
say.  I don't know why but I really needed to read that just now. 
Thank you. 

Oh, and here's Mary: 
http://demand1.stream.aol.com/ramge...73uyh_830oid.rm
  

    
Adriana -- Is Atlantic part of Warner Brothers now?  I lost my
scorecard.

DodgeHolley -- I happened to be reading six-month-old posts the other
day, and... don't you have a birthday this month?

And I remember when the Fab 5 was Duran Duran... sigh....

-Granny
  

    
Erynn -- Holy crow!!!  I am so glad to hear about your boss's friend. 
Wow!  That's got to be the weirdest feeling.

Dang, when _I_ see Neil, he never reads obscure stuff like the first
story he ever sent out.  I'm gonna pout now until that's published. 
}:(

Poor, sweet Neil!  (even more pouting)  I agree with you, man, you've
definitely got to insist on having more days off worked into your
schedule.  Every year you go on a long, relentlessly paced tour, and
every year you come back sick.  That can't be a good habit, even when
you're *not* recovering from meningitis.  (Every time I think you're
fully over that, I read that you're not, so I'm afraid my
typical-firstborn protective instinct is just gonna stay at Orange
Alert until I know otherwise.  <shrugs winningly>  Just humor me.)

You could always blame your new labor demands on the nagging of all
your worried fans.  And you could further suggest that we're not above
bribing with cookies....  >;)

Sending you lots and lots of hugs, and praying you feel much better by
tomorrow night.  <squeeze>  And on a not-so-unrelated note, my package
was delivered to DreamHaven this morning!  I love Internet tracking.

Hmm, I think I'll go to bed now.
  

    
Adriana,  Ooooooooooooooooooooo . . . 

Ok. I just got back from having dinner after seeing BUBBA HO-TEP,
Bruce Campbell's newly released movie. Afer the showing, he showed up
to do a brief Q&A. I had such a fun time. The movie is quirky and
strange and funny and wonderful. You might like it..

Am now waiting for my parents to arrive -- they're spending the night
and tomorrow at my house. I am supposed to cook for them tomorrow
(shudder!). I am very tired, and only want to read. gah
  

    
Well, we usually do like quirky and strange and funny and
wonderful....  Is this another time-traveling one?  Good ol' boy goes
back to ancient Egypt and hilarity ensues?  That's how the title
sounds.  How cool that you got to see him give a Q&A.

-Christy, eating vegetable sushi for breakfast -- because I can.
  

    
No, no time-traveling really, unless you count flashbacks. It boils
down to Elvis and JFK vs. an ancient soul-sucking mummy. The beginning
is slow -- well, actually, the pace of the entire film is sort of slow
-- but I liked it a lot; the pace didn't seem like a detraction to me
at all. It was really, really funny. And very strange, and scary, and
above all, fun.

I've had myself A Week. Not a week, but A Week. I am just tired, and
want some days off to sleep and read, but this is going to be another A
Week coming up. That's starting to sound really odd to me now. I have
a date with a really tall guy with super glasses to see Intimate
Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan:
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0068744/
which sounds like great fun to me. Has anyone seen it? I'm looking
forward to the movie. Oh, and the date too, I think.

Oh, and also, Jill is showing her Scary Godmother Holiday Spooktacular
for the International Animation Festival at the Biograph, so Unusual
Suspects, you should come. She's doing an intro and a Q&A and such
afterward. Oh, where did I put the link? Ah ha.
http://www.comicbookpros.com/thompson/festival.html

And that's all..
  

    
> I am just tired, and want some days off to sleep and read

Man, I know that feeling.  Fortunately, my mom's flat tire emergency
yesterday provided me with an excuse to call in sick, and I actually
don't have to go anywhere this weekend.  This is a very welcome and
needed thing.  :)
  

    
Mimi's in the Journal again!  Thank you, <miko-chan>, for helping our
Neil out.

Aforementioned Neil, I'm breathing a sigh of relief now that you're
home, and in wonderful hands.  (You're so reassuring in your post.  :) 
 )  And I'm very glad to hear that last night went so well.  I was
praying for you a LOT, along with some nice people from
<gratitude.ind.> -- one of whom gave another one a copy of _Neverwhere_
at their CA get-together last night.  The addiction spreads....  <evil
laugh>

I'm getting a real kick out of the fact that you're getting sent a
zillion throat remedies through your FAQ line!  My mom was right about
the astonishing loyalty you engender.  You may not be the most
well-known writer in the world, but you're certainly among the most
beloved.  And that doesn't come from talent alone.

> Time to get better, and rest, and recover.

You do that, dear one.  You have so definitely earned it.  We'll be
holding you in our thoughts.


Time for me to go make music.
  

    
You know what?  Mimi brought me tea, too, which really helped me out
this weekend when things have been a bit too overwhelming.  PLUS she
brought over her absolutely gamazing photographs she took of us, and
now we are karmically indebted.  The girl just rocks.
  

    
How nice!  Will we be seeing these photos on future CD covers, I
wonder?

Hope things are getting less overwhelming for you.
  

    
Erynn--what an amazing story.  Thanks for sharing it.  I think I'll
stop complaining about my students now.....

Maure--I think that's an excellent trip for the Unusuals.  There's a
play being produced right now called Gorey Stories that we may have to
go see as well.  We're thinking about this weekend.

My students got their grades in the mail this weekend.  They now all
hate me.  Perhaps now there will be less fooling around and more actual
work.  I hate this part, though.  I genuinely *like* them, and I hate
having to send out Fs, but someone has to teach them responsibility.  I
just wish it weren't me sometimes.

Some days I think I'm waaaay too hypersensitive for this job.  

Mary (reading Monstrous Regiment in her copious time off -ha!-and
loving it)
  

    
Am back from a lovely weekend.

Erynn: Thanks so much for that wonderful story.

Mary: Accountability is a wonderful thing to teach.  Brava.

Mostly just popping in from the madness to ask...

** Has anyone seen or heard from Davey?  She seems to have disappeared
quite utterly since New York, and I confess that I'm a wee bit worried
about her. **