 Red Room Writer Profile
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Ben Fong-Torres's Blog
November 19, 2009
- It’s been a rough year for most of us, but I guess I should count myself among the lucky ones. When Chronicle Books began mapping out promotional plans for the Grateful Dead Scrapbook, in late summer or early fall, I turned down one of the first bookstores to invite me for a signing. Lord knows, it could have turned out to be the only one. But it was Clayton Books, in Clayton, which I ...
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October 23, 2009
- Want a video of your readings or signings? Sometimes, they’re being recorded without your even knowing about it. That was the case the other evening when I showed up at The Booksmith in the Haight-Ashbury to flog The Grateful Dead Scrapbook. There was a camera set up, for Fora.tv. And, sure enough, a few days after the reading, an edited version was on its site. At least I hope ...
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October 2, 2009
- Don't let me forget: I've got to mention that my new book is out--it's the Grateful Dead Scrapbook--and I'm giving it a light push; mainly at The Booksmith on Haight St. October 7 (a Wed.) at 7...Anyway: The Banned Books concert at the Main Library here in SF was fun, considering the subject was the censorship of books and other artistic works and expressions. It was partly the weather, which had ...
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September 12, 2009
- Well, this should be fun. Or a complete disaster. Either way, Alan Unger asked for it. He's a friend of mine, and husband of a long-time buddy, Ruby, who I knew from her nights as a talk show host on KCBS. For over a year, Alan's been after me to kick off a speaker series he was organizing at The Redwoods, a seniors center in Marin County. The idea was a good one: Show up and tell your story, ...
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August 9, 2009
- Have you ever had one of your books banned?Me neither. But, every year, usually late in September, an organization known as the ALA (I'll guess it means the American Libary Association) observes "Banned Books Week." I was invited to take part this year in San Francisco, at the Main Library on October 1st. I could read from a banned book, or a banned anything: book, short story, ...
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July 5, 2009
- Lots has been happening, but not that much connected with books … until I got this e-mail from Kathi Kamen Goldmark (who’s added “Barry” to her name, having married HarperCollins SF’s Sam Barry recently). She is famously the creator of the Rock Bottom Remainders, the garage band comprised of best-selling authors (Amy Tan, Stephen King, Matt Groening, Mitch Albom, Scott Turow, Roy ...
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March 2, 2009
- I'm not sure what this means, except that I probably shouldn't expect any royalties for my book on the Doors. Here's what happened: I got this email today from someone named Kelly, asking if the surviving members of the band--and I--ever signed copies of our book, The Doors by the Doors (Hyperion), for Barnes & Noble. Seems Kelly found a new copy at a store for $15 "in the bargain ...
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February 19, 2009
- So, I'm getting the idea that one can blog about damn near anything here in the red chamber. Great. Last week, while I was at El Rio, in SF's Mission District, doing another of my parody songs, to the tune of Dylan's "Rainy Day Women (12+35)," a guy asked if he could post a copy of it online. I said, "Sure," and forked it over. This has happened before, and I still haven't ...
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February 19, 2009
- Don’t you hate it when you read a book—or see the title of a book—and say to yourself, “Dang! I could’ve written that!”Happens every day, doesn’t it? Happened to me just recently, when Da Capo Press sent me a copy of Don’t Stop Believin’: How Karaoke Conquered the World, by Brian Raftery. It’s also about how karaoke conquered Brian Raftery, which makes it more than a ...
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January 17, 2009
- Not every author can do this. You need a big name, connections, or both. But at the end of 2008, I attended two book events that didn’t take place in anything resembling a bookstore. The first one was for Grateful Dead 365, by Holly George-Warren, a dear friend of mine dating back to the early ‘90s, when she served as my research assistant and driver (through Southern towns) for Hickory ...
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December 14, 2008
- Annie Leibovitz, whose latest book, Annie Leibovitz At Work, just earned a positive, full-page review in the New York Times, and is already a best-seller on its hit parade of books, was our wedding photographer. That’s right. Annie, whose subjects have ranged from John Lennon and the Rolling Stones to Arnold Schwarzenegger and Queen Elizabeth II, chronicled Dianne and my wedding day, May ...
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November 12, 2008
- Here's a more fleshed-out version of a note I just sent to Leah Garchik, the San Francisco Chronicle columnist who covers miscellaneous goings-on around the old town:Well, what a night at El Rio in the Mission District. It was Kathi Kamen Goldmark's monthly jam with her band, Los Train Wreck, but it became a musical version of Litcrawl, one of the highlights of the annual Litquake festival.With ...
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October 15, 2008
- OK, so this blog has nothing to do with books, and precious little to do with writing. But I just wrote this parody song about Gov. Sarah Palin, sang it last night (Oct. 14) at the monthly jam with the band, Los Train Wreck, here in San Francisco, and a guy asked for a copy of the lyrics so he could put them online.Fine with me, but, the way things go, he's likely to post it without proper ...
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September 25, 2008
- Almost Famous must’ve played on some cable network again. How else do you explain some of these blogs that have been popping up? One blogger reveals that she now uses me as a swear word; another wonders about hooking me up with another real-life character in the movie in some kind of rock ‘n’ roll buddy movie. And a third uses it as a springboard to a pretty interesting meditation on how ...
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July 20, 2008
- So, let’s say you’ve got an actual audience for your reading. Fantastic! Now what? In other words, I’m wondering if anyone in le Chambre Rouge has tackled the issue of being the best public reader one can be. Not all writers, after all, are natural performers…or, in many cases, even adequate readers of their own work. For many, there’s a reason they’ve chosen a gig that ...
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