© Copyright Clive Young

NEWS

JULY, 2008
There was no June update, but that doesn't mean that life has come to a standstill. Instead, I was on the road for most of the month, hitting Las Vegas and California for various commitments.

HOMEMADE HOLLYWOOD: Ever try to edit a book in a food court in Vegas? Oh yeah...now that's a fun time, baby. Thanks to my fool-hardy dedication, the book is nearing publication; I'm finishing last-minute proofreading and edits, and uncorrected galleys are going out to critics and readers in the next few weeks. There's been times when I couldn't wait to shove it out the door into the world, but now, as I make my last correction marks in the margins of the proofs, I'm a little sad to see my baby book go.

SPEAKING: In the meantime, some new speaking dates have come up, including a shocking two days of fan film lectures in November at the New England Fan Experience Con at the Hyatt Regency in Cambridge, MA. I was supposed to read a short story at Oceanside, NY's Monday-night Summer Gazebo Readings Series, but it was anti-rained out--which is to say, it poured in the morning, leading to a cancellation, then the weather was gorgeous for the rest of the day. Hopefully it can be rescheduled, 'cause it's always a fun crowd there. The reading has been rescheduled for July 28 at 7PM--come one, come all. One special talk that did come off as planned was my Best Man's toast for my brother Keith and his bride Jenn at their wedding; congratulations, you two!

MAY, 2008
It's been an insanely busy time, so here's the quick rundown:

HOMEMADE HOLLYWOOD: You'd think that now it's done being written, that things would calm down. You'd be wrong (I was fooled too!). I had to get the photos together, which took weeks, captions, corrections, and more, and now it's a matter of waiting for the layout. There's a bit of time because (sigh) it's now coming out in September.

SPEAKING: It's been a great time recently, talking at libraries, I-Con and, in the biggest audience I've gotten to talk to yet, as host of the Fan Film panel at the New York Comic Con. We had a BLAST and you can read all about it HERE. Next up, a slew of libraries this summer in Westchester, Rockland and Long Island, and a rare chance to read a short story at the Oceanside Schoolhouse Green Gazebo Readings series. I had a great time doing it last year and am looking forward to it once again.

FAN CINEMA TODAY: Semi against my own will, I've restarted blogging on my fan film site, Fan Cinema Today. I nearly killed myself last time, staying up til 2 or 3AM every night to blog 800-word posts. No more. This time, it's mellow all the way, blogging like the rest of the world does--small posts when/if I feel like it. So naturally, it's been a daily thing so far. Some things never change.

APRIL, 2008
HOMEMADE HOLLYWOOD: I believe it was the noted philosopher Tom Petty who once opined, "The waiiiiiiiiting is the hardest part," and no truer words were ever spoken (other than "the check is in the mail." 'Cause it is. I swear it. Honest. April fools!). Where was I?

Oh yeah, the waiting. See, although I finished the writing part of Homemade Hollywood a few weeks ago, I actually didn't hand it in until March 31, the drop-dead due date. Why? Well, I had a lot to do. The book was contractually required to be at least 75,000 words. No problem; flew by that. It was also required to not be more than 85,000. Flew by that as well. My patient editor at Continuum, David, asked that it not go over 90,000 or else. Yeah....well, I flew by that one, too. Damn book landed at 95,330 words--more than 20,000 words more than I had to write.

I had a lot of editing to do, but a funny thing happened when I sat down to slice and dice. The book lost weight like it had a tapeworm. Reading along, I discovered that A) most of it was pretty good, even the parts that I hated when I wrote them, and B) there was still some fat--stuff that didn't go anywhere, places where I used 30 words where all I needed was five, and so on. And any time I got bored, I made like a chainsaw-wielding maniac--because if I'm bored, imagine how stupefied the reader would be.

In no time, the book was down to 87,000 words. I then added some stuff that should've gone in the first time, and now it rests comfortably at 89,100 or so. So now what? (Cue Tom Petty).

Yep, waiting.
Waiting for the last fan film photos to come in so I can send them to David.
Waiting to learn when the new publication date is.
Waiting to find out when we start copy editing.
Waiting for the second half of my advance.
Waiting to hold the book in my hands.
(sigh) Waiting. This is gonna be hard.

SPEAKING: In March, I has the opportunity to be part of Westchester Library Association's annual showcase, and it was a blast. Not only did I get to tell folks about my programs, but it was held at the Ossining Public Library--it was my local library from when I was a toddler to about 10-years-old. I owe my love of reading, books, writing and librarians (well, I am married to one) to the OPL, and it was a little like going home. In any case, I guess I did a good job, 'cause I've been getting booked for library talks in Westchester and Rockland this summer ever since.

Meanwhile, later this month, I'm hosting a panel of fan filmmakers at New York Comic Con, bringing together some of the biggest names in fan films for one hour. Dig this line up:

Fan Films: A History & Future
April 19, 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM; Room 1E07
Panelists include:
Chris Notarile of Blinky Productions
Fanboy Will of Fanboy Theatre
Dan Poole of The Green Goblin's Last Stand
Adam Bertocci, moderator of TheForce.Net Fan Film Forum
Prof. Dan Galiardi of Five Towns College
...and me.

It's gonna rock; everyone will show clips from their flicks (except me--I'm doing history with PowerPoint) and then it's a Q&A free-for-all. Don't miss it!

MARCH, 2008
HOMEMADE HOLLYWOOD: March is almost half over but here's the scoop, finally. The book is done, but it still has a long way to go. (Whaaaa..?) I have until the end of the month to scrape roughly 5,000-10,000 words out of the manuscript, as it landed just shy of 95,000 words. I both love and hate this part, 'cause editing is a breeze compared to writing, but it also means a lot of material is going to get 86'd--cool stories, people I spent hours interviewing, and entire movies are going to vanish from the text. Not only does this process wind up disappointing people on occasion, but frankly, when I worked hard researching, interviewing, transcribing, analyzing and so forth, I want the book to show off that I made the effort. That said, a flabby book won't get read by anyone, so if something's gotta go, it's gotta go.

Last week, I got to do the final interview for the book, talking with Henry Jenkins, who was a wellspring of ideas. One surprise was that the guy was a full-on speedtalker--you don't need to shotgun a six-pack of Red Bull to keep up with his deluge of thoughts and concepts, but it probably wouldn't hurt. He confirmed a lot of loose, woolly ideas I'd been mulling over, but articulated them so concisely, it was amazing. Well, that's why he's at MIT, right?

I also had the honor of getting to read a chapter from a book that's coming out right around the same time as mine. It's called Fear, Cultural Anxiety and Transformation: Horror, Science Fiction and Fantasy Films Remade, and is a collection of essays on...well, the book title says it all, really. Daryl Frazetti's "Distinct Identities of Star Trek Fan Film Remakes" covers a lot of ground in a small space, covering history and motivations behind a slew of Trek fan productions. If you're (hopefully) looking forward to my book, you'll want to give his essay a read, to be sure. Folks who've seen the 1999 documentary, Trekkies, may remember Daryl; these days, he's a professor in the Department of Anthropology at Lake Tahoe Community College in Nevada, but back then, he was probably best known for appearing in the movie as "that guy who dresses his cats in Star Trek uniforms."

Hey, Newsday finally ran that story on fan films that I was interviewed for in December. Nice piece--check it out.

Finally, while I'm no fan of classic rock, it looks like Steve Miller's famed, nonsensical lyric, "Time keeps on slippin', slippin', slippin' into the future," is actually true for once--because the time that my book is supposed to come out keeps getting pushed back. Ignore what you see on Amazon; I'm told now that it's "probably" August.

SPEAKING: It rained like hell on Friday (March 7) when I was supposed to do a "Homemade Hollywood" library talk at the Mattituck-Laurel Library on the North Fork of Long Island, so it's been rescheduled for Thursday, July 31.

FEBRUARY, 2008
HOMEMADE HOLLYWOOD: Y'know, whenever you watch a movie where there's an author character, the first thing everyone says to him/her is 'How's the new book coming?'--and invariably the writer responds with a sigh and a complaint about writer's block.

That never happens in real life, of course--not the writer's block part, but the people asking how the writing process is going, because they don't. Ever. And you can't blame 'em, 'cause every writer I know, including myself, manages to work whatever they're writing--be it a book, play, script or grocery list--into the first 20 seconds of every conversation. People don't ask how your writing is going because they're sick to death of hearing about it.

And since you didn't ask, why yes; I'd love to tell you how it's going.

I'm kickin' ass and typing names. In January, I interviewed Hugo Award-winning author Timothy Zahn, who's written and sold many more books than me--most of them hit Star Wars novels--and Trey Stokes, the auteur behind the Pink Five movies. Looking ahead to chats in the near future, I also set up interviews with major 'gets' for the book--James Cawley, leader of Star Trek: New Voyages, and Henry Jenkins of MIT's Convergence Culture Consortium. It's extremely exciting to get such leaders in their respective fields as a part of this book. But wait--there's more! Chris Gore--founder of FilmThreat.com, movie expert on G4's Attack of the Show and general bon vivant, sent in his foreword for the book, and it's better than anything I could have hoped for (meaning it's great).

While the start of the month saw very little progress, the end of January was all pedal to the metal--or stubby digits to the keyboard if you prefer--as more than 8,000 words poured out of my fleet fingers. With the ol' word count sitting comfortably around 80K, I've passed my contractual minimum by 5,000; that means in theory I could stop mid-sentence now and just type "...and they all lived happily after," send it in, and Continuum Books would have to accept it. They'd hate me and the book, but I'd be done--and there's some kind of strange comfort that comes from that idea. It makes me feel like I'm taking the high road by, you know, finishing the book and all.

Lest it sound like I'm not taking the book seriously, I certainly am, and the folks at Continuum are taking it even more seriously--heck, they're even taking orders for it; just check out the listing for Homemade Hollywood in their Spring 2008 catalog. Now, sure, there's a few errors (Son of Rambow isn't a documentary, and the book isn't due in April, otherwise I'd be a deadman right now), but the catalog copy actually does a great job of capturing the book's tone and topics. Until I hold a finished paperback in my hand and sell a few gallons of blood in order to afford the hardcover edition, reading this PDF is about as real as it gets--and how unreal is that?

SPEAKING: Other than starting up the library lecture circuit for the year, it's been quiet, but that could change. The Westchester Public Library Assocation/System invited me to fill one of 15 slots this year at its annual programmer's showcase in mid-March. It's gonna be soooo cool for many reasons. For instance, not only do I get to perform, but I'll get to visit the Ossining Public Library for the first time in 30 years--the place where I learned to read and borrowed countless Alvin Fernald, Henry Reed, Mad Scientist Club and Danny Dunn books over the years. Going there initiated a life-long love of reading, and that's inevitably where this whole 'book-writing thing' came from. I can't wait to see the place.

JANUARY, 2008
HOMEMADE HOLLYWOOD: The year closed out on a good note as the book landed within striking distance of the end--I'm at 72,000 words, and while I still have two major fan films to cover in-depth and two chapters to write beyond that, the end is now definitely in sight. Then I get to tear it all up and shove it all back together again in a massive loquaciousness-slashing frenzy.

In the meantime, it looks as if Newsday may give the book a little push in February, as I recently did an interview with the paper as part of a feature they're doing on the upcoming Jack Black movie, Be Kind, Rewind. I hear mixed things about the flick, but the director, Michel Gondry, is usually pretty interesting--I actually talk about his early work extensively in my library program, Video Killed The Radio Star: The History of Music Videos.

SPEAKING: It's pretty quiet, but then it always is this time of year. I'll be starting up the library lectures at the end of the month (see the Speaking Schedule section) and in the meantime, I've firmed up what will turn out to be my third appearance at the I-Con SciFi convention at SUNY Stony Brook on April 5, once again talking about--and showing plenty of--fan films.

TRAVELS: Hey, going to the NAMM show in Anaheim, CA this month? Stop by the NewBay Media/Pro Sound News booth and say "Hi." I'll be there Jan. 17-20, talking to the pro audio pros, hearing the latest gear and stalking asking Elliot Easton for an autograph.

DECEMBER, 2007
HOMEMADE HOLLYWOOD: It's really only been two weeks since the news got updated, but things have been edging along. I'm not in the home stretch by any ... er ... stretch of the imagination, but it's in sight. It better be, however-- Amazon is now listing the book, even if they don't have that nifty cover in their database yet. Now I have to finish it (as if having signed a contract with the publisher doesn't count or something?). Still, it makes the end result of this epic quest (i.e. a book) seem all the more 'real.'

Something a little unreal is the hardcover edition of the book. Don't get me wrong--it's definitely a paperback release, but a handful of hard-bound copies will be made; Amazon's got them going for $53.55, so even I may not splurge on one (yep, authors have to pay for their own books, too). The hardcover version isn't some exotic 'limited edition;' apparently it won't have a dustjacket, and perhaps not even the cover illustration. Rather, it's made for libraries (mostly academic ones) that can't be bothered to put that big, fat book tape on the spine to help the book last. Naturally, I suggest that rather than spending $53.55 on a single hardcover, libraries should spend $53.55 on four copies of the final product; that way I might even see royalties from this puppy someday.

Of course, I have to finish writing it first...

SPEAKING: The last week of November found me running around, doing the last three speaking engagements of 2007, making for a grand total of 33 gigs for the year. Throw on top of that a slew of radio interviews last spring, and boy, the live yattering just exploded over the last 11 months. Thanks to all the libraries and organizations that invited me to come out and chat with their crowds. Let's do it again sometime, shall we? Likewise, for everyone who let me entertain them--thanks! [Picture raised devil-horn hand gestures and lame 'we're not worthy'-style bowing here]. You rule!

WEBSITE: Finally, there's been a few subtle changes to the website over the last week or so. For instance, the Amazon ads down on the left-hand side no longer slide around the page when you widen the browser window. More importantly, the bio got slightly refurbished, and there's a new Press & PR section for those who need materials about me and my programs for their newsletters, publicity, etc. Not very exciting for anyone else, but a lot of hard work for me (I code this site by hand, y'know; no Dreamweaver in use here, although the mildly archaic web design probably told you that already). Click through the menus on the left and take a look around!

NOVEMBER, 2007
HOMEMADE HOLLYWOOD: I held back on the monthly update in hopes of unveiling the cover for Homemade Hollywood: Fans Behind The Camera--here it is. Between the good (and patient) folks at Continuum Books and myself, we went back and forth on more than 18 cover designs. In the meantime, the book hit 60,000 words right around the turn of the month. New interviews gathered for it include feature director Joe Nussbaum (Sydney White; American Pie Presents The Naked Mile), NYU professor Dan Streible, Five Towns College professor Dan Galiardi, Iron Fist fan film actor Albert Lamont, and others. Things are humming right along....

SPEAKING: I spoke at the Bond, James Bond: The World of 007 Symposium at Hofstra University; it was a great crowd, and I had a nice time over the course of two days, learning far more than I ever thought there was to know about the man with the Licence to Kill. Other speaking engagements keep popping up for next spring, so it looks like I'll be keeping busy. In fact, my fan film presentation got mentioned in a Newsday article on the Bond Symposium.

OCTOBER, 2007
SPEAKING: October will find me doing a number of talks--not the least of which is the AES Convention, where I'll host the annual Road Warriors panel, talking shop with top concert sound engineers. Between the four of them, they've mixed...oh, let's see...Tom Petty, Def Leppard, Van Halen, Sade, Bonnie Raitt, Rush, Chris Isaak, The Indigo Girls, They Might Be Giants, Julio Iglesias and a host of others. In other words, these are the pros who make the stars sound great even on a bad night, and now they're going to spill the secrets of how they do it.

Another interesting speaking engagement that came together in September is the upcoming Bond, James Bond: The World of 007 Symposium at Hofstra University in Hempstead, NY, November 7-8. I'll be part of a panel on the 7th, talking about fan interest in the legendary superspy, and then presenting clips from some of the better Bond fan films on the 8th. Should be a lot of fun, and it's bound to provide a good opportunity for academics unfamiliar with fan productions to learn a bit about them.

HOMEMADE HOLLYWOOD: Lots and lots going on with Homemade Hollywood recently; September saw some big things take place. First off, I got to interview director Eli Roth for the book, as he explained how he got the famed Raiders: The Adaptation fan film into Steven Spielberg's hands. It's a tale that's never been told in-depth before, so it was a real treat to get the story straight from the man himself. Roth is the writer/director behind the hit Hostel movies and the indie screamfest, Cabin Fever, which have earned more than $100 million combined at the box-office. With a track record like that, I'm grateful (and a little surprised) he took time out to answer questions about a little VHS fan film from the Eighties.

Another big name is going to be a part of the book, too: Chris Gore has agreed to write the foreword--and I didn't even have to kidnap his DVD collection to talk him into it. Chris is a filmmaker, television personality and writer who has built a solid reputation as an outspoken voice in the film world. As a teenager, he founded the brutally honest magazine Film Threat, which has been named one of the top five movie sites on the web by The Wall Street Journal. Chris is the author of several books on film, including The Ultimate Film Festival Survival Guide, which is considered the bible for fans and filmmakers touring the festival circuit. He also co-wrote and produced the feature comedy, My Big Fat Independent Movie (Anchor Bay DVD), which played over 40 film festivals worldwide and can be seen on the Sundance Channel. In addition, Chris appears on television weekly as the film expert on G4 TV's Attack of the Show as well as on Reelz Channel's Dailies show. He has written for The New York Times, The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Video Business, Total Movie, Spin, Blender and Details, and regularly spouts his opinion on his own blog at ChrisGore.com as well as his popular column, "Footage Fetishes," on SuicideGirls.com.

So as you can see, he's grossly unqualified. The best part about Chris agreeing to do the foreword? That's 1,000 words I don't have to write. In all seriousness though, I'm really honored that an indie film guru like Chris is so enthusiastic about my book covering some of the most independent filmmakers ever. Given that the foreword is the first thing people will read, the rest of the book is gonna have a hard act to follow.

Despite all that, yeah, I did actually get some writing done. Not only did I get to write about one of the most legendary fan films ever, The Green Goblin's Last Stand, but I also found a link between--ready for this?--the earliest known fan film and the earliest surviving stag movie. No, really. Did I mention I'm having a blast writing this thing?

SEPTEMBER, 2007
August wasn't quite as nuts as July, but pretty damn busy all the same.

HOMEMADE HOLLYWOOD: The book is now half-complete, which is great news, but now I worry about being able to cram in everything I wanted to cover into the remaining 40,000 words. Just watch--I'll get writer's block at 60,000 and struggle to finish it.

As of this month, there's one important set of words in the book that I didn't even write: the subtitle. I hated the original subtitle, so I held an unofficial contest on a few fan film websites, asking folks to come up with a better one. As a result, thanks to Bryan Patrick Stoyle of Cheektowaga, NY, the book is now called...

HOMEMADE HOLLYWOOD: Fans Behind The Camera.

Bryan gets a free copy of the book when it comes out, his name in the acknowledgements, and of course, bragging rights that he's a more conscise writer than the guy who wrote the book.

Most of August was spent slaving over the complex tale of Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation, one of the most legendary--and least seen--fan films ever. Three teenagers from Mississippi spent most of the 1980s creating a shot-for-shot remake of the Spielberg classic, and their own personal story is so wild that it's being turned into a Hollywood movie, too. Interviewing them for hours and digging through reams of documentation took forever, but it was some of the most fun I've had on this project.

Something else that wasn't quite as fun? Digging up photos to possibly put on the cover of the book. Continuum is getting started on that cover and needed the shot that would convey the passion, expertise, fun and foolhardiness of fan filmmaking. Finding that shot? Not so easy, but a number of high-profile productions contributed a few behind-the-scenes photos that might just be the right pic. Let's hope--I wanna sell some books once I'm done toiling over this thing!

SPEAKING: August was spent running hither and yon across Long Island, giving lectures and then disappearing from whence I came into the heat and dust. Or something like that. I did a lot of lectures, including the largest Star Wars fan film program I ever did, getting over 60 people (Thank you, Hauppauge!). I also booked a few more programs for this fall, including my first non-library gig, at the Riverhead Rec Center. I didn't even pitch 'em so I guess word really does get around if you put on a good show.

AUGUST, 2007
It's been a little insane in my house recently--I did eight library programs in July, made business trips to London (covering Live Earth and Metallica at Wembley Stadium) and Austin (Summer -yawn- NAMM), and managed to squeeze in a two-day vacation. Amazingly, my kid still recognizes me. August finds me doing another seven programs, acting as a groomsman in my old roommate's wedding, and finding time to celebrate my birthday (ok, perhaps I'll skip that last part).

SPEAKING: As noted above, summer is my busy season when it comes to doing lectures, but it's been a great experience, talking to some of my biggest crowds ever. New programs are getting added to October and November, and I even started booking for 2008 (even I can't believe that).

HOMEMADE HOLLYWOOD: With all that travelling, I've still found time to write, and am now over a third of the way through the book. The interviews keep coming together, as I've been getting the inside scoop on a few fan films that are so famous, even your mom has heard of them (well, maybe just my mom). There's some stories that are going to be controversial, but will make for some great reading, and it looks like some more 'name' interviewees will wind up in the book, too. So, despite a scarcity of time, the world's first fan film book is progressing nicely.

JULY, 2007
BULL-ONEY: June was a lotta fun; I wound up doing another radio interview about Star Wars's 30th anniversary, this time with the wise-ass Joey Martin of 94.5 The Bull, a station that proudly proclaims itself "Mid-Western Ontario's Best Damn Rock, Period." Well, OK. Joey was a very funny dude, and unafraid to ask the questions that really matter--like "Was The Star Wars Holiday Special the worst piece of crap ever or just in the top five?" I had so much fun talking to him, I forgot to use the opportunity to "thank" Canada for Nickelback.

SPEAKING: It was a month of ups and downs when it came to the speaking gigs. It started out great, with a well-received appearance--by request, no less--at the first edition of the free Summer Gazebo Reading Series, June 4, on the Schoolhouse Green in Oceanside, NY. In fact, it went so well that I wound up in an article and photo in the local paper, The Oceanside Herald. The article notes that I read from my novel in progress; don't feel bad--I didn't know I was writing a novel either. It's actually a creative nonfiction story that might be best described as "Spalding Gray telling the plot to a John Hughes movie at Jeremy Piven speed." Yeah, it was fun.

Meanwhile, the June 28 Kaboom: The History of Special Effects lecture at Roslyn's Bryant Library had to be postponed thanks to technical difficulties and a really nasty electrical storm while we tried to set up. This is the same lecture that got postponed from April, so hey, third time's the charm, as we'll try to do it once and for all in September. In the meantime, a few more lectures got booked for September and November as well, so it's all coming along nicely.

HOMEMADE HOLLYWOOD: This book keeps taking surprising twists and turns--for instance, let's just say that when I started writing, I never figured I'd wind up interviewing punk rock legend Tommy Ramone for it! It was surely the first interview he's done where there wasn't one question asked about The Ramones; the bemusement in his voice was palpable. In the meantime, I was in touch with a variety of other folks as well throughout June, and have been getting the unexpected but highly appreciated research/nagging assistance of Chris Mason of SuperHeroHype.Com--thank goodness for well-connected friends.

The actual writing of the book is continuing, but it's slow going--I spent the month neck-deep in the 1970s, an era I thought I'd be done with by now. I'm also writing a lot--while I have a long way before I get there, if I keep going at this rate, and cover everything I have in mind as extensively as I'd like to, 85,000 words ain't gonna do the trick. Then again, I'll burn that bridge when I get to it. Part of the slow progress is due to the extensive interviews I keep getting; they're chock full of great stories and inside information, but they take hours to transcribe--an exhausting but necessary evil. All of this means, though, that there'll definitely be nothing quite like this fan film book when it hits the shelves next year!

JUNE, 2007
RADIO, RADIO: Star Wars celebrated its 30th anniversary over the Memorial Day weekend in May, and oddly enough, that meant I got asked to do a series of radio interviews, speaking as an expert on its continued cultural impact. Over the space of a week, I talked with Pete Ferrand on WRJN in Racine, WI, and then a pair of Canadian chatters: Gary Doyle on 570 News in Kitchener, Ontario, and Michelle Hugli on News Talk 980 in Regina, Saskatchewan.

Pete was pretty much all business--we talked about Lucas' creation and fan films, which I'm writing the new book about, so that was great. I loved poking around his station's website because the Photo Album has a photo of R2D2 on display inside a chainsaw store . It's just too surreal for words (and whoever heard of a store that sells just chainsaws?)

With Gary, it was a lukewarm interview on my part but I was distracted--because I was frying to death! I had just finished a lecture on Star Wars and had to run out to my car to have a quiet place to do the interview over my cell phone. Unfortunately, I got to it just as we started talking, and my Mazda had been baking in the 92 degree sun for hours. I hopped in the car and closed the door so they wouldn't hear the nearby street, but I couldn't start the engine or turn on the AC, or it'd get too loud--so I had no choice but to sit there and swelter for 20 minutes.

The interview with Michelle was probably my favorite, as A) she's a real character, and B) she was quite bemused by Star Wars and its fervid fandom. She was also easily the most prepared of the folks I talked to, so kudos to her. That said, I had a great time talking with all the radio hosts and hope to chat with them again in the future.

TALK IS CHEAP: I'm doing an appearance at the first edition of the free Summer Gazebo Reading Series, being held Monday, June 4, on the Schoolhouse Green in Oceanside, NY. Since the green is typically only used for local sports, someone smartly realized that it should host pursuits that are more intellectual than merely kids tackling each other, hence the series. I'll be the last of four readers that night, and since my usual writing fare about compressor/limiters and fan films probably won't go over with a general audience, I have a hair-raising comic story about going to a concert in London to share instead.

Meanwhile, the list of places that I'm doing lectures at just gets longer and longer. Know how I said I wasn't going to do any more lectures this summer because the schedule was too packed? I lied--I added about 5-6 shows since then, making the summer lecture season even more insane than it already was. As a result, I'm actually writing as much as I possibly can for the new book right now, because I just know my output is going to suffer when I start doing two shows a week. Speaking of which....

HOMEMADE HOLLYWOOD: Writing this book is a slow, painstaking process that is driving me crazy, and I love every minute of it. With the first month of work officially done, I've written about 9,000 words or so; when you add that to the 14,000 I'd already written prior to signing the deal, it's a great start on a book that is contractually required to be no more than 85,000 words.

Of course, people don't buy a book based on word-count; they buy it 'cause there's something interesting in it that they wanna read. Well, if you like fan films, comics, sci-fi or history, you're gonna dig Homemade Hollywood; in the last month, I've interviewed people like Sandy Collora (Batman: Dead End; World's Finest); Kevin Rubio (Troops and the upcoming Star Wars CGI TV series); Don Glut (TV writer for He-Man, Transformers, Land of the Lost, film director, and author of the Empire Strikes Back novel); Cris and Cort Macht (The Force Among Us); Bruce Cardozo (Spider-Man Vs. Kraven from 1974); and Michael Wiese (producer of Hardware Wars). Throw in hours of research on top of that, and you have a pretty hardcore month of hard work. It's a lot of fun to write, though, and I'd enjoy talking with these folks even if I wasn't for a book. Ironically, because I'm writing it, I'm the first person to legally make money from fan films!

MAY, 2007
FINALLY, A NEW BOOK! I'm starting work on the first book about fan films; it'll be published by Continuum Publishing, and is tentatively titled Homemade Hollywood. The book will explore different aspects of fan flicks, from their rich history, to their sociological impact, to their implications for Big Media in the future. Plus, y' know, how cool they are and stuff.

There's been a few books where fan productions were mentioned or, in rare cases, even warranted their own chapter, but fan films have been largely ignored by mainstream media. At best, you'll stumble across the occasional newspaper article, or a rare, two-minute piece on a morning news show, where the reporter is astounded that people make their own Star Wars movies.

Meanwhile, I've been covering fan films for ages, first with articles in magazines, then with Mos Eisley Multiplex, a website I founded in 1998, which was the first site devoted solely to fan films. Between those, library lectures and now the Fan Cinema Today blog, I've been following fan film culture for a decade, and lemme tell you, there's much more to this underground movement than providing fodder for some newscaster to chuckle over before going to an Excedrin ad. Fan films have become such a integral part of fandom and internet culture, that I knew they deserved their own book--and fortunately, Continuum agreed.

Continuum is probably best-known to pop culture fans for 33 1/3, its series of tiny books, each devoted to one landmark music album. I've got a few of them: the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds and Beastie Boys' Paul's Boutique ones, as well as the compilation paperback that came out last year. I keep meaning to pick up the Smiths and GnR titles, too, but I only seem to stumble across them when I have $1.58 in my pocket. Anyway, folks interested in theology and spirituality are probably familiar with the Continuum imprint, too-my mom has an Ark-load of the company's Thomas Keating books, for instance.

FAN CINEMA TODAY ON HIATUS: FCT is going on an extended hiatus while I do the book. I can't write for a living at PSN, write a book on the side, write a blog, do library talks and raise a family all at the same time; something's gotta give, and the blog is it.

COMPETITION CLOSE TO HOME: There's more than one writer in the Young household--Michelle has been working on a series of what she calls "Mommy Rantz" for a year or so, comicly expounding (emphasis on the Pounding) her views on being a mom in the modern world. Now one of those essays is going to see print online at Long Island Pulse next month. It'll be one of a series of entries in a new department called Sound Off. Needless to say, I'm mighty proud of Mish.

APRIL, 2007
The Fan Cinema Today blog is blasting away, picking up new readers every day. Folks have been linking to it from around the net, and as a result, I've even been asked to help judge a fan film contest of flicks based on the 1979 cult classic The Warriors. Pretty cool--now I just have to see the real movie, which has been on my mental "Movies I Gotta Watch One Of These Days" list for about 20 years.

Much as I predicted when I started the blog, there is no shortage of things to write about in the fan film arena; there's news every week, plenty of movies to review and lots of different aspects of the hobby and its culture to analyze. As a personal bonus, FCT also makes for a nice place to promote my upcoming fan film library programs. If you haven't taken a look at the blog, just click the link above.

PUBLIC SPEAKING: Since I mentioned the library programs, I have to admit that my speaking schedule for this summer is off the charts. I've actually hit the saturation point where if I'm fortunate enough to be asked to give some more talks, I'll have to demure and offer to give them in the fall. I'd hoped to get a few gigs this summer, but whew--be careful what you wish for 'cause you just might get it. Check out this schedule (as of April 3; for the absolute latest schedule, check the "Speaking Schedule" page by clicking the link in the menu on the left):

May 17, Bryant Public Library, Roslyn, NY Video Killed The Radio Star: The History of Music Videos
May 25, Pt. Washington Public Library, Pt. Washington, NY May The Fan Film Be With You
May 30, Island Park Public Library, Island Park, NY Kaboom: The History of Special Effects
June 28, Bryant Public Library, Roslyn, NY Kaboom: The History of Special Effects
July 11, Southold Free Library, Southold, NY Kaboom: The History of Special Effects
July 12, Islip Public Library, Islip, NY Kaboom: The History of Special Effects
July 16, Hauppauge Public Library, Hauppauge, NY Kaboom: The History of Special Effects
July 19, Hewlett-Woodmere Public Library, Hewlett, NY Kaboom: The History of Special Effects
July 25, Southold Free Library, Southold, NY May The Fan Film Be With You
July 26, Northport Public Library, Northport, NY The History of Rock Concerts
July 30, Brentwood Public Library, Brentwood, NY Kaboom: The History of Special Effects
August 1, Riverhead Free Library, Riverhead, NY May The Fan Film Be With You
August 7, Connetquot Public Library, Bohemia, NY, Homemade Hollywood: The Rise of Fan Films
August 10, North Shore Public Library, Shoreham, NY Kaboom: The History of Special Effects
August 16, Emma S. Clark Library, Setauket, NY Kaboom: The History of Special Effects
August 22, Hauppauge Library, Hauppauge, NY May The Fan Film Be With You
August 23, Hicksville Public Library, Hicksville, NY Kaboom: The History of Special Effects
October 5, Audio Engineering Society, New York, NY, Platinum Roadwarriors Panel (Host)
October 12, Huntington Public Library, Huntington, NY Kaboom: The History of Special Effects
October 14, Franklin Square Public Library, Franklin Square, NY Kaboom: The History of Special Effects

That'll keep me busy!

MARCH, 2007
In an effort to raise awareness of fan film culture, and perhaps stretch the ol' writing muscles a bit, late January/early February found me founding Fan Cinema Today, a daily blog covering the growing fan-film movement. Every week, I'm serving up news, reviews, analysis, a look into gray areas related to fan films, and a bit of history to the movement as well. So far, a few stories have been picked up by aintitcoolnews.com, metafilter.com, cinematical.com and some others, plus I wrote a nifty, self-serving letter to the editor of the New York Press in response to a piece on fan films, and it ran in mid-February. So, for a blog a mere month old, it's getting some good attention.

PUBLIC SPEAKING: The March 22 Kaboom: The History of Special Effects presentation to be held at the Bryant Public Library in Roslyn, NY has been postponed--they're getting a new information desk that week and apparently that's enough to shut down the entire library until it's installed. We're tentatively looking at May or June to reschedule the program. Meanwhile, Kaboom has also been booked for mid-October by the Huntington Public Library, located, surprisingly enough, in Huntington, NY.

JANUARY, 2007
PUBLIC SPEAKING: Some new speaking dates have come together, so if you've yet to exault in the unbridled joyousness that is a Clive Young library program, here's your big chance.

February 21, Pt. Washington Public Library, Pt. Washington, NY Video Killed The Radio Star: The History of Music Videos
March 24, I-Con 26 Convention, Stony Brook, NY, Homemade Hollywood: The Rise of Fan Films
TBA in May, Bryant Public Library, Roslyn, NY Kaboom: The History of Special Effects
May 17, Bryant Public Library, Roslyn, NY Video Killed The Radio Star: The History of Music Videos

Additionally, I've been invited to present at the Suffolk Cooperative Library System's Annual Performers Showcase in March, which is quite an honor. Hopefully that will translate into a few more opportunities to present these programs further out on Long Island.

DECEMBER, 2006
Happy holidays, everybody!

BOOKS: A while back, I contributed to a book on Scottish rock 'n' roll, and lo and behold--it's finally come out. Big Noise: The History of Scottish Rock 'n' Roll as Told by the People Who Made It provides an interesting look at the history of modern Scottish music. I'm typically a facts-and-figures kind of guy, but to really capture the flavor of Scottish Rock without using sound, I suspect you really have to go with the stories, and that's just what the editor, Martin Kielty, did. It makes a nice companion book to Brian Hogg's excellent (and out-of-print) The Guinness History of Scottish Rock & Pop, which was aimed more at musical nitpickers like myself.

Anyway, depsite the fact that I've never made Scottish rock history (or even been to Scotland), Martin talked me into contributing after he read some of my now-defunct website about the now-defunct Eighties band Love And Money. The book leans pretty heavily on the Sixties groups from that corner of the world, but the acts of my teen years--Deacon Blue, Lloyd Cole and others--get a decent amount of coverage. If you dig any of these guys, you'll probably get a smile or two from this book; then again, I'm biased (although, for the record, I had to pay for my copy of the book, so I'm not that biased).

PUBLIC SPEAKING: My talk at Port Washington Public Library, Video Killed The Radio Star: The History of Music Videos, has been moved to Wednesday, February 21, 8 P.M. It was originally scheduled for four days before Christmas, but everyone involved, including me, thought it would be better to move it to a less hectic time of year, when people might actually have free time to see it.

So a very busy year of public speaking ends not with a bang but a whimper. My sincere thanks goes out to everyone who had me talk at their library or event, and just as important, I'm grateful to everyone who came out to hear about music videos, special effects, fan films and my cheap shots about The Matrix sequels. Y'all rule.

OCTOBER, 2006
PUBLIC SPEAKING: The new library program, Video Killed The Radio Star: The History of Music Videos, is a hit. After debuting at Long Island's Bellmore Public Library, word spread quickly and the next day, I was booked to give that talk again at the Port Washington library. I also have some tentative dates set up for 2007 in March and May, and will post here when they come to fruition.

Incidentally, if you want to find out more about the new program, click HERE.

TV: Well, My Three Dads, our winning team from the unaired pilot of VH1's The World Series of Pop Culture, wasn't as lucky the second time out. In August, we were on GSN's Chain Reaction and the show aired October 20, showing the world how we lost to a trio of housewives from Pennsylvania. I--much to my surprise--was great at the game and the loss wasn't my fault; that's all I have to say about it. Well, actually I have one other thing to say as a bit of advice learned the hard way: Friends don't let friends play game shows drunk. Really.

This photo shows everyone's favorite part: the moment where I come this close to slamming my head against the desk in exasperation at [someone else]'s answer on national television (and no, I was not the one who was drunk).

AUGUST, 2006
WEBSITE: CliveCo.Com is now officially CliveYoung.Com. More changes to come.

PUBLIC SPEAKING: Lots of library gigs coming up, and the fall schedule is starting to fill in, too. Additionally, I'm developing a new program on the history of music videos, running from the early Scopitones, to the advent of MTV in the '80s, to today's online epics. That'll debut at the Bellmore Library in October. More info on it coming soon, as I flesh it out.

TV: My Three Dads, our winning team from the unaired pilot of VH1's The World Series of Pop Culture, is returning to TV, as we'll be taping an episode of the new game show Chain Reaction in mid-August. You don't win much money on it (most teams seem to walk away with about $4,000-6,000), but we're ready to rock nonetheless.

JULY, 2006
CRANK IT UP:Not really an endorsement, more of a lucky coincidence.... For all you heavy metal revivalists out there (and you know who you are), none other than M. Shadows, lead singer of Avenged Sevenfold, was recently in the general vicinity of, you guessed it, my book. Take a look at the corner of that photo--'tis my paperback tome. The main focus of the shot, of course, is (from left to right), Pete Robertson, FOH engineer for Coheed & Cambria; Mr. M. Shadows himself, throwing the goats; and Ted Keedick, FOH engineer for the aforementioned Avenged Sevenfold.

Ted is actually in Crank It Up, highlighted thusly in its last chapter for his highly respected work with Rob Zombie over the years. When I dropped in on the A7X/C&C co-headlining tour a few weeks ago at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City, I brought along a copy for Ted, and he merrily showed it off to the singer, who seemed duly--or perhaps dutifully--impressed. The resulting article from my visit will be in the August issue of Pro Sound News.

PUBLIC SPEAKING: I'm doing lots of library programs this month and next, and in the meantime, my The History of Rock Concerts talk was recently written up in Long Island's Baldwin Herald. Coincidentally, that's also one of the programs I have coming up; here's the schedule at this point:

July 26, Bellmore Public Library, Kaboom: The History of Special Effects
July 31, Comsewogue Public Library, Pt. Jefferson Station, NY, Kaboom: The History of Special Effects
August 3, Longwood Library, Middle Island, NY, The History of Rock Concerts
August 8, West Islip Public Library, Kaboom: The History of Special Effects
August 14, Hampton Bays Library, Kaboom: The History of Special Effects
November 6, Freeport Public Library, Kaboom: The History of Special Effects

Be there or...etc.

JUNE, 2006
CRANK IT UP: Well, despite being two years old, the book continues to chug along gently, racking up solid sales for a niche pro audio tomb. In January, I sat in with WHPC's Ken Deep on his weekly paean to '80s metal, The Hair Hut, discussing the book and some of the goofier metal-related stories in it.

More recently, I caught up with Brent Carpenter, who is in the Rush chapter, while he was doing monitors for The All-American Rejects on their recent tour with Fall Out Boy. Turns out that not too long ago, he actually autographed a copy of Crank It Up for an aspiring engineer in Prague, of all places. Apparently, the guy can barely speak English, but he managed to get his hands on a copy of the book; now, every act that comes through town, if their sound guys are in CIU, he hunts them down and has them sign it!

PUBLIC SPEAKING: The library programs are going gangbusters, particularly my new addition, Kaboom: The History of Special Effects , which had an audience of 50 people for its debut, at the Port Washington Library. Suffolk libraries seem to have really taken a shine to the programs, as most of my upcoming gigs are there. An article on my recent The History of Rock Concerts talk at the Baldwin Public Library is due to appear in the June 8 issue of the Baldwin Herald newspaper.

The Hofstra Alumni Success Stories panel that I appeared on last fall went well, as I passed on hard-learned advice and apparently was funny enough that the host suggested mid-panel that I become a stand-up comedian. That, in turn, lead to my being profiled by the Hofstra Chronicle newspaper, placing me back in its pages for the first time since leaving its staff as a graduating senior 15 years earlier.

TV: Yeah, I've been doing TV, of all things, though not in relation to my book, library programs or anything else like that. Instead, myself and my Young family were on Discovery Channel's series, It Takes A Thief. It's a reality show where you watch people rob your house via closed circuit TV ("Oh my God; they took the Picasso and the Matisse!") and then put everything back and install a kick-ass security system. We had a great time with it, and what do you know? The house has been nice and secure ever since.

Then, last fall, I appeared on the unaired pilot of VH1's The World Series of Pop Culture and my team WON, landing us $5,000 in the process. We had to split it three ways, but hey, it's not bad for an afternoon's work (much to my surprise, I rocked the chick flick category--for the play-by-play of our victory, click HERE). It was a great moment for me personally, because back in the late '80s, I lost on MTV's old game show, Remote Control, to a girl who had laryngitis, and man, my friends have never let me live it down. So now, to assemble and then actually guide our team to victory, well, that laid a lot of minor demons to rest for me.

It went well enough that the series got picked up, but we had to try out all over again as part of their nationwide search for teams. In the end, they chose 16 teams...and we were chosen as the 17th team: the alternates in case anyone was disqualified or was hit by a bus on the way to the taping (sadly, everyone survived the weekend of taping). Even if we didn't play, it was cool to be a part of it; you can check out what we did with our free time here at Snappyroo.com. (And yes, I know which team won the show and no, I'm not telling you).

AUGUST, 2005
CRANK IT UP: I recently visited Full Sail Real World Education down in Winter Park, FL to promote my book and take part in a career development panel for students. The audience had great questions and my fellow panelists were among the cream of the hiring crop, with pros from Clair Brothers Audio, Ceasar's Palace, Club Med(!) and other well-regarded entities. The event was taped by students (of course), so I may have a few choice clips from it on the website soon.

Alas, the Hooters Magazine review never happened, as they decided it was "too technical"--I guess those lurid tales of heroin addiction, people buying used hookahs from bums, and simulating earthquakes with loudspeakers just weren't lurid enough.

Even if a major restaurant chain wasn't interested in Crank It Up, at least someone else was. I recently found some nice words on the website of a guy who is much smarter than the average Hooters waitress (or me, for that matter): Edward Tufte, a Yale University Professor Emeritus of statistics, graphic design and political economy. Yeah, the kind of genius who winds up in Wired magazine every few months for inventing something radical like Sparklines. Well, Mr. Tufte had some kind things to say, which you can find over in the Crank It Up Rave Reviews section.

PUBLIC SPEAKING: I've actually done a lot of yappin' recently. July found me presenting May The Fan Film Be With You: An Evening of Star Wars Appreciation Films at the Westbury Public Library. Even though it was a gorgeous Friday night, the place was packed--and no one was more surprised than me. The program got such a great response that the library has asked me to put together another program, this time on non-SW fan films, to present in November. More info as it comes!

Next up is another presentation of May The Fan Film Be With You, this time at the Bellmore Library on August 22 from 7PM-8:30PM. Meanwhile, my alma mater, Hofstra University in glorious Hempstead, NY, has invited me to appear on a panel for students entitled (get this) Hofstra Alumni Success Stories--And How You Can Become One. I tend not to see myself in that bright a light, but I guess I have come a long way from the 10 months I spent unemployed when I first graduated 15 years ago. Thank God for that.

JUNE, 2005
CRANK IT UP: The book got a RAVE review in a recent issue of Lighting & Sound America--the in-house magazine for PLASA; you can read the entire thing on the Rave Reviews page; just scroll down and you'll see it.

Also, look for an upcoming review in (ahem) Hooters Magazine. Yep, you read that right, the ever-controversial restaurant chain has its own publication, and I'm told they'll soon review my lovely tome. Finally, I have a justifiable reason to visit Hooters--I gotta check out the latest issue and see if they wrote about my book yet (and maybe I'll just have a beer or three with the guys while I'm there).

Finally, I've been asked to be on a "live production" career guidance panel at Full Sail at the end of June. Full Sail is easily the best-known college specializing in recording and event production, and it's certainly respected, so I'm honored to be asked.

PUBLIC SPEAKING: Besides the Full Sail event mentioned above, I've been doing library talks on the arcane but fascinating world of Star Wars fan films--mini-epics made by aspiring George Lucases around the world. After presenting at the Oceanside and Port Washington libraries on Long Island, word spread and within days, I'd gotten requests from other libraries to do the same program for them. Now I'll be appearing at the Wantagh Libarary on July 22, and the Bellmore Library on August 22. See the new Public Speaking section for more info.

FILM: Sure, I'm serious about my writing and lecturing, but making movies is purely a hobby for me. Even so, it was killer to show my doofy documentary, People Really Lose On MTV, at the Fifth Annual Arlene's Grocery Film Festival on May 17. It's a 34-minute movie I made last fall, chronicling the adventures of myself and two pals in the late '80s when we were contestants on MTV's game show, Remote Control. Yes, two of us lost, but one of us won--and winning was actually a worse experience!

It's not really meant for public consumption (I don't have the rights to any of the TV footage of us, for instance), but it was fun to show it to an audience just once. People laughed in all the right places, and none of the four babies in attendence cried. As an added bonus, as we left NYC's notorious Slipper Room--the SoHo burlesque club where the movie was shown--1970s Blaxploitation star Rudy Ray Moore (AKA Dolomite) walked by, jewel-encrusted goblet in hand, and complimented us on our lovely children. I kid you not.

TV: Finally, three days of May were spent on-camera, as Michelle, Ava and I were guests on a Discovery Channel reality TV show. The episode will air in late fall, but for reasons I can't get into (yet), I can't say what show it was or what happened. Lots of fun to do, though.

FEBRUARY, 2005
It's been a while since I updated the site, largely due to the arrival of Ava Young, my little baby girl! If you ever think you have too much time on your hands, I suggest you have a baby, because it'll clear the problem right up.

Nonetheless, there's been a lot of book-related activity going on, largely speaking engagements. Primary among them was the opportunity to host the Road Warriors panel at the Audio Engineering Society's annual convention, held this past October in San Francisco. Sharing the stage with legendary engineers like Buford Jones (Pink Floyd, George Harrison, Eric Clapton, The Kinks), Howard Page (Van Halen, Sade) and Bruce Jackson (Barbra Streisand, Elvis Presley, Bruce Springsteen) was a treat. Additionally, I did a number of lectures on Long Island, speaking at the Rockville Centre, Oceanside and Port Washington Public Libraries on "The History of Rock Concerts," which included basic material from Crank It Up.

The book and myself were written up recently in the current issue of Hofstra Update, the alumni magazine of Hofstra University; strangely enough, the sizable article has generated more emails from strangers than the Billboard article last May. Go figure. Additionally, a freelance article I wrote partially derived from Crank It Up will appear in the next issue of American Songwriter. Elsewhere, an excerpt from the Blondie chapter appeared in the premiere Blondie fan magazine, The Blondie Review in November.

AUGUST, 2004
The reviews for Crank It Up keep rolling in, and so far, they're very positive! I'm psyched that the book has such a wide appeal; I mean, it's got to be the only one ever reviewed by both Hit Parader (the long-running heavy metal magazine) and Reference & Research Book News.

I've never seen so many exclamation points used in a book review as in the Hit Parader piece (four, count 'em, four), which said, among other things, "From Rob Zombie's engineer to Tool's guy, this book has it all! And, if you're a music collector, you're going to want to add this insightful book to your summer reading list--today!" Meanwhile, Reference & Research Book News called it a "fun book." After much reference and research of my own, I believe the proper response to that is "woo-hoo!"

JULY, 2004
Crank It Up came out and can be found at your local bookstore. It's been selling well, particularly at Amazon, where its sales rank varies from day to day. It occasionally jumps up into the rarified 4-digit level (which means an engineer's mom bought a copy or two to show at the country club--either that or a crew guy needed something to stuff between truck packs). Either way, it's getting good word-of-mouth and more importantly, people are reading and learning how to improve their mix and break into the biz.

I've been on the radio a few times recently, talking about Crank It Up and the proper care and feeding of live sound engineers. First I chatted with the "Morning Wake-Up Call" crew on WRHU, 88.7FM in New York, which was nice.

Even better was when I was invited to sit in for an hour with the jokesters on Long Island Music Scene, a weekly radio show broadcasting Mondays at 9PM on 540AM, in (you guessed it) Long Island. Some of what we talked about included: why Oasis' monitor engineer thinks Liam Gallagher has a heart of gold; why Neil Diamond is the most technologically cutting-edge act on the road; and how Dave Rat, engineer for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, got into the biz by buying a used hookah from a homeless guy when he was 16. If you want check it out, head to their website, where they have every episode available via streamed audio.

I'll be speaking about Crank It Up and the concert industry in general at two libraries-- Oceanside Library in Oceanside, NY on Tuesday, September 21, and then again, two days later at Port Washington Library in Port Washington, NY, on September 23. I'm going on tour--who'da thunk it? I'll be selling copies of the book, as well as giving away free ear plugs and pamphlets on hearing conservation, courtesy of Shure (the ear plugs are NOT allowed to be used until I'm done speaking!).

I was also recently interviewed by Playback St. Louis , a give-away music mag with a stylish hipster bent to it. Most of what we talked about was advice for local-level bands on how to relate to a club sound engineer and why it's smart to get on his good side. I'll post a link when the article hits print.

Meanwhile, reviews are starting to come in, too, like at ProSoundMixer.Com and U2sound.Com. One of my favorites, however, is actually in the "Customer Reviews" at Amazon for Crank It Up Case in point: None other than Pooch, FOH maven for Limp Bizkit and Kid Rock, left a 5-star review, noting that he wished he'd had a copy of the book when he was starting out. Did I mention Pooch is the man?

Finally, you can win a copy of Crank It Up this month over at Discmakers as part of their Studio Partner Rewards program.

MAY, 2004
What a week! On Monday, Billboard wrote about Crank It Up, and even better, they had nice things to say. I was pretty thrilled, because you can't get a better stamp of approval in the music industry than from Billboard.

On Tuesday, I was booked to be interviewed on "Morning Wake-Up Call" on WRHU, 88.7FM in New York; I'll join their morning air staff on 8:30AM, Friday, May 7--the official publication day for the book! I spent my college years spinning on WRHU, so it'll be fun to see what they're up to these days.

On Wednesday, Marvin Welkowitz, professor of live sound at New York University, called me up to, well, rave about Crank It Up, and to say that he's making it 'required reading' for his classes from now on. What an honor! He also gave me a great endorsement to add to the website ("Without question, Crank It Up is mandatory reading for anyone who mixes live sound"), so that's been added to the Rave Reviews section.

On Thursday, The Blondie Review, a fan magazine/website with a circulation of about 4,500, asked if it could run an exceprt of the Blondie chapter in its August issue, so I'm setting that up. On the same day, my Amazon sales ranking--which admittedly I don't give a lot of weight to--exploded up from somewhere in the 1,100,000s to around 94,000.

On Friday, the long-awaited excerpt in Backstreets, the Bruce Springsteen magazine, arrived in my mailbox, and it looks great. They did a nice job with the layout and gave my baby book a lot of promotion and attention.

And finally, on Saturday, the interview I did with Interference.Com, was posted, answering all kinds of questions about the book and sound engineering in general. Meanwhile, that pesky Amazon ranking crawled up to the 87,000s. Not bad for a book that's not officially out yet.

APRIL 29, 2004
Billboard has a nice piece on Crank It Up in this week's issue (cover date: May 1, 2004; Steve Jobs is on the cover). Ray Waddell's "On The Road" column on page 27 skips around the book to offer some nice tidbits, including quotes from yours truly, as well as engineers John Cooper and Blake Suib. Best of all, there's a nice photo of me by Dave Streich, taken last week while I recovered from a terrible bout of insomina (and boy, does it show!).

Amazon has finally started shipping copies of Crank It Up; My pal Pratt dropped me a line to say he got his copy on Saturday. The book hasn't been spotted in stores yet, but I have my eyes peeled.

I got a few emails from people who wanted to order the book, but not necessarily from me, so I've updated the Order The Book page, so that you have a choice--you can purchase Crank It Up from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Music Books Plus, WalMart and Booksense. Of course, you can still buy it from me, and I'll sign it for you if you like (or not, if you don't like).

Miscellaneous news on the fan tip: My interview with Interference.Com took place last week; look for it to wind up online soon. Meanwhile, more fansites are mentioning Crank It Up, including Eltonfan and U2vl. And finally, issue 79 of Backstreets, the Bruce Springsteen magazine, is out, with its excerpt from Crank It Up.

APRIL 15, 2004
Crank It Up is here! The book has been printed up and man, it looks sweet. Copies are now heading out to reviewers, book shops and musical instrument stores around the world. You can get it from your local shops, or you can also order it directly from me in the Order The Book page.

I've been booked to speak about live sound engineers and the concert industry in general at the Oceanside Library in Oceanside, NY on Tuesday, September 21. It's a long time off, but I'm looking forward to it.

An excerpt of the Paul McCartney chapter is tentatively set to run in Beatlefan. More info once it's confirmed.

Prosoundmixer.Com, a growing web-based community for live sound engineers and crews, mentioned the book recently on its front page. They'll be reviewing Crank It Up soon, and will also hold a contest to give away a copy. The site is owned and operated by Brad Ervin, a veteran of tours with Luther Vandross, George Strait and Mary J. Blige, among others, so it's very legit and worth the trip.

There's a number of fan sites that have picked up on Crank It Up and mentioned it to music lovers out there, but U2 sites in particular seem to have gravitated to the book. U2Sound, U2Log, U2.se and U2tour.de have all mentioned the book--thanks guys!

APRIL 1, 2004
Pretty soon, Crank It Up will be on the shelves at your local bookstore, so things are really moving along. I've added an Order The Book page where you can get the book directly from me. I'm grateful if you buy it anywhere, whether from your local shop, Amazon or somewhere else, but books that are purchased from me put money into directly my pocket, not the bank vault of some multi-national conglomerate. You'll be supporting me and the book in the most direct way possible--plus, I'm happy to deface...uh, I mean sign your book with most any inscription you want.

The back cover of Crank It Up has been designed and written. Backbeat Books did a great job of getting to the heart of what this book is about. The nice blurbs help emphasize that non-industry people will enjoy it, too--a great touch. As mentioned below, Jef "JP" Powell, the audio czar for O.A.R., graces the back cover, peering over his console, ready to pounce (or something). You can take a closer look by clicking on the picture at left or clicking HERE.

East End Lights, "The Magazine For Elton John Fans," will be running an excerpt of the Elton John/Billy Joel chapter in its next issue, along with a contest to win a copy of the book. EEL is a nice, high-end fan mag on great paper with writing to match. If you're a fan of the Rocket Man, you'll want to check them out.

Finally, an early rave review of Crank It Up is already online at Barnes & Noble!

MARCH, 2004
I've never been one to drink a lot on St. Patrick's Day; working next door to St. Pat's Cathedral in New York cured me of that one year, after I had to walk past lakes of vomit in the gutter. What a special moment that was. Nonetheless, I could use a drink right now, as I'm typing this on a plane enroute to Las Vegas for this year's NSCA Convention, after sitting on a runway for nearly three hours. If nothing else, it gives me time to pass along the latest news about Crank It Up.

The publishing date for Crank It Up has been bumped back slightly; despite what you might read in the listing on Amazon, the publishing date is now May 9. Another Amazon error: The book is actually more than 200 pages long, not a mere 144 sheaves. You're going to get a lot for your money when it finally comes out!

Oh, another thing--a while back, I mentioned that the Bruce Springsteen chapter of Crank It Up is going to be excerpted in Backstreets, the Bruce Springsteen magazine. Now, in that same issue, there's going to be a contest where you can win a copy of the book. The issue is due out at the end of March, so keep your eyes peeled for it.

Meanwhile, fans of O.A.R. are really psyched that the band's FOH engineer, Jef "JP" Powell, is going to be in my book (I'm not kidding either; they were chatting about it a while back at OARfans.com, the band's message board, but the thread has since been deleted). Now they have even more to be excited about, as Jef is going to appear on the back cover of Crank It Up. It's a great picture of Jef that captures the fun, casual spirit of the book overall; wait 'til you see it!

FEBRUARY, 2004
All authors share certain dreams--like the dream of getting an obscenely huge royalty check for your work; or the dream of opening a box containing the first copies of your latest tome; or even the dream of visiting the publishing house that will send your first book into the world. Well, those first two dreams are gonna have to wait, but today, I wound up in Berkeley, CA on business, just across the bay from Backbeat Books in San Francisco. Backbeat sent me galleys (page proofs) of Crank It Up last week so that I could read through them, make corrections and mail them back. Since I was practically in town, however, I hand-delivered them, and got to meet most of the crew there in person. I may have shoved all the chapters together in the book, but these are the folks who said 'yes' to Crank It Up, who edited my words, designed the layouts, and are now promoting it to the press and retailers across the country. In other words, they're the people who're going to eventually make those other two author dreams come true. I couldn't ask for the help of a nicer group of folks!

Other related news:

An excerpt from Crank It Up will appear in the next edition (issue 79) of Backstreets, the Bruce Springsteen magazine. Backstreets is a full-color magazine with a circulation of more than 17,000 fans around the globe, so it's an honor to be excerpted by them. I just sent them the text today, along with some previously unpublished photos of the crew on the 2002-03 The Rising world tour.

Interference.Com, a great resource for breaking U2 news, will be running an interview with me in May. We're scheduled to chat in April about the 2001 Elevation tour, 1997-98's PopMart extravaganza, a certain book I'm promoting and lots more. I'm looking forward to it, as their site has always been an interesting read.

A lot of cool fan websites are taking an interest in Crank It Up, telling their readers about the book. You can find a complete list of the sites over in the Rave Reviews page.