Another week begins...

...and there's so many links to pass along. First, I noted with sadness the death of Alan King, who I worked with for a bit back in 2001. He was a real gentleman to me, even though it was clear that he was frankly befuddled by the concept of a comedy writer named Gerber who was not only a gentile, but a Midwestern one at that. A nice, very funny man, and I was glad to know him.



The New York Times disgorged something else worth linking to today--an article on literary readings. I noted with pleasure that my old pal John Hodgman was featured prominently. My own relationship with the "reading-as-performance" phenomenon is mixed; NOT having to perform is sorta why I decided to be a comedy writer--as opposed to a standup. Readings-as-performances reward writers with a gift for self-promotion, rather than a gift for writing; furthermore, I wonder if they actually sell books as much as create a very high-schoolish cult of personality. I experienced both of these negatives in my dealings with the Eggers crowd in the late 90s, and all I can say is, yuck. Yuck, yuck, yuck.



Yesterday was "Rampant Beatlemania," on WXRT radio here in Chicago, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. The DJ, Terri Hemmert, has been the patron saint of Chicago Beatles fans for decades, and she always plays a lot of interesting tracks--live stuff, outtakes, interesting solo stuff. Speaking of The Beatles (and when am I not?), Beatle Brain of Britain Mark Lewisohn has just signed a huge book deal to write a huge multi-volume biography of the group. I can't wait--but I'll have to; the first volume's not due until 2008!