What Bobbie DeNiro and I have in common

We’re both fans of Queen. (For you young-uns, Queen was a glam/hard/progressive rock band in the 70s through the very early 90s.)

As much of a fan as I am, though, I still don’t think I’d have put money into a Queen musical. And I know I would never call “Bohemian Rhapsody” “Bo-Rhap.”

(Can you picture Robert DeNiro singing along to Queen, like maybe “Killer Queen” or “Bicycle Race,” while driving in his car? Me neither.)

Misery of the midlist author

Many literary blogs are linking to the Salon article, “The confessions of a semi-successful author,” that tells the sad but common tale of an author who has struggled with the horror that is modern publishing.

For a tale of publishing woe that has a happy ending, check out No Media Kings, where Jim Munroe explains how he came to publish and successfully market books. See also the economic argument for self-publishing and concrete steps to get started.

Fight the power!

We’re number one!

Exciting in a self-absorbed way: The Closkey.com site currently comes up first when one searches Google for “closkey.” Number 1 of about 6,940 results! (The fact that the domain name is the search word probably has a lot to do with it, but still.) It beats out all the McCloskey geneological sites, which is no small feat.

Among the other interesting search results:

A press release from 2002 announcing that “Sean Closkey, director of the St. Joseph’s Carpenter Society, one of Camden’s most successful non-profit housing developers, was officially named executive director of the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency.” (Sean is my cousin.)

The score for a match between Glendermott and Ballyspallen, from the Glendermott Cricket Club site. (Glendermott won by 122 runs. I don’t know whether this makes it an exciting match or not.)

A hidden order amid the chaos

Laura Hird has perhaps the largest collection of links to known and obscure literary magazines I have seen. I can’t find any system to the placement of the mags, but perhaps there needn’t be lots of organization: Literary magazines are a pretty jumbled lot anyway. If you’re looking for new things to read or places to submit what you’ve written, you’d do well to check it out.

R.I.P.: J.J. Jackson, original MTV VJ

I’m sorry to hear that J.J. Jackson, one of the original MTV VJs, died Wesdnesday of an apparent heart attack. He was 62.

Of those first MTV personalities, J.J. seemed to have the most knowledge of the music business and to be more down-to-earth/less gimicky than the others with their hair and pretty faces, at least to my teenage perception. I hope the five years he spent helping to found an empire were fun and profitable for him.

It could break your heart if you really thought about it, so you should never think about it

The story “You Are a 14-Year-Old Arab Chick Who Just Moved to Texas” by Randa Jarrar is the winner of storySouth’s first Million Writer’s award. It was originally published in Eyeshot, and you can read it there now.

The fall you moved with your family to America, you were diagnosed with TB, and the old white doctor pointed at the five inch red rectangle on your forearm and said, “That should be three inches smaller.” He put you on a battery of medications which worsened your acne, made you gain thirty pounds, and gave you an overall sense of impending death. As usual, your Mama was jealous of you, and wanted to be the one dying instead; it was her first time without a piano, and your first time without friends to comfort you.

Butler, Pennsylvania: Cultural mecca

A couple of weekend events for those in western PA:

The Butler Little Theatre opens its production of Proof, the Tony and Pulitzer Prize winning drama, tomorrow (March 19). The show will run through next Saturday (March 27), except Monday. It stars my sister Katy Wayne in the role of Catherine; she previously portrayed her in the Red Barn Theater’s production last summer. I’m looking forward to seeing how this production differs from the Red Barn’s. Details on show times, reservations, and directions, see the Butler Little Theatre’s website.

Also tomorrow, Vanilla Soul Revue plays at the Brick House. They’re all about “jazzy funk and soul,” and a good time is guaranteed for all. If you go, look for the most spastically dancing woman — that will be me. If you’re the type that calls out requests, send out a shout for “Summertime.”

On Saturday, the Butler County Symphony Orchestra will be presenting its “March Jubilee” at the Butler Intermediate High School at 8pm. From the Art Council website:

Popular photographer Charles Martin returns to present striking slides as the orchestra play Edelmann’s “Gettysburg.” The college age young artist competition winner will also appear. The orchestra is featured in Tchaikovsky’s “Symphony No. 2” (Little Russian). Reserved seat tickets are available at the Symphony office, 259 South Main Street, Butler. Presale adults $17, students $7. At the door, $17 and $8. For information, call 724-283-1402.

And for those inspired to exercise their creative sides, on Sunday and Monday the Butler Little Theatre will hold auditions for The Philadelphia Story, to be directed by Bob Meals. Relevant information on the BLT website.

Audio books for your iPod

The Guardian Unlimited offers an overview of digital audio book sources.

You’ve loaded your CDs in to your iPod, you’ve assembled playlists and discovered the joys of shuffle mode. But the first flush of gadget love is fading. What can you do to re-kindle the affair? Why not experiment with digital audio books? There are several obvious advantages. With books on tape/CD, you’re often juggling several cassettes or discs. In contrast, an unabridged doorstopper by Tolstoy fits easily on an MP3 player/iPod, with space for more. And thanks to electronic book marking, you can keep your place on several digital audio books at once.

(Link thanks to Maud Newton.)