Quick note: 2004 Million Writers Award

Just a reminder to place your vote for best on line story, 2004, and I admit it, I'm campaigning for my pal, Alicia Gifford, who wrote this amazing story, Toggling the Switch. Vote here but please, don't just vote, read her story as well as the others nominated. They are all incredible.

Back later with some really great Rock School photos.

Higher Ground?

Anyone know anything about this?

As I was making my usual Google rounds, I see the kids are scheduled for a performance Sunday May 1 at Higher Ground in Burlington, Vermont? I just asked a still asleep Eric, who said he has no idea what I'm talking about.

Sigh...it figures. I'll be on a plane coming home from a book signing in St. Louis the afternoon of May 1.

I'll post more info as soon as I find out about this. Damn it, I always wanted to visit Vermont! Oh well.

Another one bites the dust...

Guitarist Rod Price of Foghat Dies at 57

Thu Mar 24, 9:39 AM ET

WILTON, New Hampshire - Guitarist Rod Price, founding member of the blues boogie band Foghat, died Tuesday after falling down a stairway at his home, a family friend said. He was 57.

The London native's solos drove Foghat to three platinum and eight gold records during the band's quarter-century career. After many years of touring he settled in Wilton in 1994.

Many in town knew Price as a loving father who never missed his son's baseball, soccer or basketball games. Fewer people knew of Price's musical background.

Price had played with Champion Jack Dupree, Eddie Kirkland, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Willie Dixon and Honey Boy Edwards.

In recent years, Price concentrated on his blues projects, cutting several CDs and giving private guitar lessons at his home.

***************

Damn it, this getting older stuff sucks, though yeah, yeah, it does beat the alternative. While I admit I am not a die hard Foghat fan, I was in fact a die hard Savoy Brown fan, which is the band from which Foghat arose. Also, another member/producer of Foghat was Philadelphia native Nicky Jameson, who started out with the American Dream, and if anyone out there ever gets their hands on that CD (I have the album), you can name your price and I'll pay it.

Yeah, the rock world as I know it is slowing crumbling. John and George are dead; my man Eric Clapton will be sixty years old next Wednesday. My brain can't comprehend that. And ugh, 2005 started out as year of the dead drummer - within a month we lost Jim Capaldi, Keith Knudsen, Elvin Jones, and Spencer Dryden. If you don't know who they are, use Google and learn, damn it.

And for fuck's sake, if one more person tries to discuss American Idol with me today, I promise you, I will climb up in a tower with a high powered rifle and start shooting. Got it?

I do not watch that show; I will not watch that show; I hate everything connected with that show. It's not music. It's dogshit. It's what Republicans want kids to watch so they won't actually pick up instruments and write protest songs.

The end.

Thursday's news...

That's a picture of where my daughter is right now, gorgeous Costa Rica, and I'm dying of jealousy as we are getting torrents of rain here and I'm so freaking sick of winter I can't take much more. Julie instant messaged me yesterday - yep, she's got a computer and dial up service where she is - told me it's magnificent, sunny and hot, and she's having a blast.

I miss her and I see the future - she's going to end up somewhere exotic and our relationship is going to dwindle down to a series of daily instant messages.

Nah, I'm gonna follow her wherever she goes. Muhahahahahahaha.....

So, I've made the big time - I'm on Craig's List today, where it says "Phaze is setting the romance world ablaze with a new line of erotic romance fiction, available in ebook and print formats."

Of course I'm worried I shouldn't exactly be rejoicing because I know I read somewhere that Craig's List contains anti-semetic material, so I need to check that out further because if I find out it's true, Craig's List will get "the treatment" here - sort of similar or worse to how I feel about Republicans, which at this point is pretty damn horrified. I've expressed my mortification over the government's involvement in the Schiavo case, and to see Florida governor Jeb Bush now grabbing those headlines as well, trying to take custody of Terri Schiavo, makes me shudder at the possibilities of the next presidential election. This family thinks they not only walk on water and have a direct line to God's ear, but that they are the "Royals", except the "Royals" back when they had power...and it makes me nauseous that the American public bought into this.

I'm sure we'll have another terror scare shortly to put us all back into our cowering corners. These people work by fear and intimidation.

But anyway, getting back to Craig's List and my own selfish little life, I am giggling that I am currently tearing up the best seller list in cyber world with Three Days in New York City, currently #1 rated in erotica and #2 in sales in that genre; #7 in best sellers crossing all genres. I didn't write Three Days in New York City as erotica, I wrote it as a comedy, but there you have it...put in a few sex scenes and you get that erotic romance label. So, I'm currently the number #2 smut gal in the United States, wedged in between #1, "Teaching the Au Pair to Submit" and #3, "Office Slave".

I dunno, I find that hilarious. Though I'm thrilled to again report that the book will be in print shortly and I'll have to ask Phaze if I can set up a pay pal account so that readers can order autographed copies directly from my site.

In the meantime, I continue to work hard on the revisions to my mainstream memoir, The Tour, as well as the sequel to Three Days, "Another Bite of the Apple", which is why my posting here has been sporadic lately.

Anyway, that's it for now, I think...though I haven't spoken with the still-sleeping Eric yet and he was supposed to have attended a seminar at Rock School last night which sounds really interesting...all about band promotion and how to make it in the business. Eric seemed pretty dubious; his band Flamingo is already making progress on their own and they like it that way. But who knows. I'm sort of learning to stay quiet after all these years and allowing both Eric and Julie to figure things out by themselves.

Let me tell you, it's not easy.

Staying quiet, that is.

Can you say POLITICAL GRANDSTANDING???? (but of course there's Julie and Eric news, too)

Law Bush signed as Texas governor prompts cries of hypocrisy

Mon Mar 21, 7:22 PM ET

By William Douglas, Knight Ridder Newspapers

WASHINGTON - The federal law that President Bush signed early Monday in an effort to prolong Terri Schiavo's life appears to contradict a right-to-die law that he signed as Texas governor, prompting cries of hypocrisy from congressional Democrats and some bioethicists.

In 1999, then-Gov. Bush signed the Advance Directives Act, which lets a patient's surrogate make life-ending decisions on his or her behalf. The measure also allows Texas hospitals to disconnect patients from life-sustaining systems if a physician, in consultation with a hospital bioethics committee, concludes that the patient's condition is hopeless.

Bioethicists familiar with the Texas law said Monday that if the Schiavo case had occurred in Texas, her husband would be the legal decision-maker and, because he and her doctors agreed that she had no hope of recovery, her feeding tube would be disconnected.

"The Texas law signed in 1999 allowed next of kin to decide what the patient wanted, if competent," said John Robertson, a University of Texas bioethicist.

While Congress and the White House were considering legislation recently in the Schiavo case, Bush's Texas law faced its first high-profile test. With the permission of a judge, a Houston hospital disconnected a critically ill infant from his breathing tube last week against his mother's wishes after doctors determined that continuing life support would be futile.

"The mother down in Texas must be reading the Schiavo case and scratching her head," said Dr. Howard Brody, the director of Michigan State University's Center for Ethics and Humanities in the Life Sciences. "This does appear to be a contradiction."

Brody said that, in taking up the Schiavo case, Bush and Congress had shattered a body of bioethics law and practice.

"This is crazy. It's political grandstanding," he said.

Bush's apparent shift on right-to-die decisions wasn't lost on Democrats. During heated debate on the Schiavo case, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., accused Bush of hypocrisy.

"It appears that President Bush felt, as governor, that there was a point which, when doctors felt there was no further hope for the patient, that it is appropriate for an end-of-life decision to be made, even over the objection of family members," Wasserman Schultz said. "There is an obvious conflict here between the president's feelings on this matter now as compared to when he was governor of Texas."

White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan termed Wasserman Schultz's remarks "uninformed accusations" and denied that there was any conflict in Bush's positions on the two laws.

"The legislation he signed (early Monday) is consistent with his views," McClellan said. "The (1999) legislation he signed into law actually provided new protections for patients ... prior to the passage of the '99 legislation that he signed, there were no protections."

Wasserman Schultz stuck by her remarks when told of McClellan's comments.

"It's a fact in black and white," she said. "It's a direct conflict on the position he has in the Schiavo case."

Tom Mayo, a Southern Methodist University Law School associate professor who helped draft the Texas law, said he saw no inconsistency in Bush's stands.

"It's not really a conflict, because the (Texas) law addresses different types of disputes, meaning the dispute between decision-maker and physician," he said. "The Schiavo case is a disagreement among family members."

Bush himself framed the Schiavo decision this way Monday.

"This is a complex case with serious issues, but in extraordinary circumstances like this, it is wise to always err on the side of life," the president said during a Social Securityevent in Tucson, Ariz. He didn't mention the 1999 Texas law.

************************
He didn't mention the 1999 Texas law.

No shit.

(He probably doesn't remember, nyuk nyuk. Sorry. I shouldn't be joking about this. I'm outraged. Let the woman die with dignity.)
************************

Anyway, I'm trying not to be too blue, but daughter Julie left this morning for a week long vacation with her boyfriend, Matt - they're on their way to Costa Rica as we speak. It's their spring break from college.

I'm soooooooooooo jealous.

But on the plus side, I have the house to myself all week now and can use the time to write without interruption. Ever since Julie became interested in gourmet cooking, she's got Food TV blasting 24/7. The good news is she packs me a fantastic lunch every day, and was even kind enough to send me off with something this morning before she left; the bad news is, I am completely helpless without her since she took over the kitchen and will be forced to eat in restaurants all week.

What a shame.

Heh.

Eric of course is never home, between his band and teaching drums and school, and Eric, if you are reading this, I already know - via other parents with whom I spoke at your performance Saturday night -- that you are making plans behind my back to move out this summer. I have only one thing to say on the subject.

Can I come with you?

Love,
Mom

Now on line: The Trailer for Rock School - The Movie!

Okay, how excited am I! Apple.com now has the official Rock School movie trailer on its site and oh god, it features a very young looking Eric and Julie. Eric is on drums both opening and closing the trailer with such short hair I don't recognize him. You can see both Julie and Eric interviewed together briefly about hating the band Bush, there are a couple shots of Julie with her long curly hair playing bass and a couple more of Eric on drums banging himself in the head with his sticks...and that outside scene is when we were at the Zappa festival in East Germany. By the way, that's Julie's bass playing boyfriend Matt with the short dark hair in the light gray t-shirt sitting down who is interviewed a couple of times saying "I suck". (Trust me, Matt does not suck, and when you see the movie and hear the soundtrack, you'll agree.) Anyway, I'm so psyched! I'm at work and I keep watching it over and over again...my boss is going to kill me in about two seconds. Here's the link!

Oh god, it's Monday again...

Sorry to make everyone sick on a Monday, but he's really going too far now. Getting involved in the Schiavo case? Fucking asshole

"The fate of Terri Schiavo once again was in the hands of a judge early Monday following an extraordinary, day-long political fight over the brain-damaged woman that consumed both chambers of Congress and prompted the president to rush back to the White House.

Taking the Senate's lead, the House early Monday passed a bill to let the woman's parents ask a federal judge to prolong Schiavo's life by reinserting her feeding tube. President Bush signed the measure less than an hour later.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said. "This is about defending life."

No, it's about dignity, something you tiny dick Republicans know nothing about.

Here's what else that tool did last week:

"As U.S. oil prices soared to a record high on Wednesday, the Senate gave President Bush's energy plan a major boost by voting to open Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil drilling.

Republicans have tried for more than two decades to open ANWR to oil exploration. The Bush administration, which views ANWR as the centerpiece of its national energy plan, was blocked in the past four years by a Senate coalition of moderate Republicans and Democrats.

Pete Domenici, chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, led the fight to defeat a Democratic effort to strip ANWR drilling language from a broad budget resolution funding the federal government in fiscal 2006. The vote was close, 51 to 49 in favor of keeping the drilling provision in the bill."

What a douche bag. And of course that one per cent of wealthy America who think they are better than the rest of us and don't want to pay taxes and Bible belt middle America are cheering him on.

Let's not even talk about what his election will cost women in the way of freedom of choice.

Sigh...

Anyway, the pics of Eric and the other four Rock School kids who played Las Vegas last week are finally available on the web, but they cost $12.00 a piece and won't allow me to copy them here...first time I ever right clicked on an internet picture and was told "forbidden access" but anyway, I can post the links to the photos, which are fantastic and will be up for a few days. They start right here and then keep clicking on the subsequent links to pages on the top of the page - the pics continue at pages 97-128 all the way to page 192. There are incredible photographs of all the kids both solo and in group shots and oh my God, I'm probably going to spend a fortune today ordering every one of them.

In other news, Eric's band did in fact sell out The Fire Saturday night and the take at the door was $700.00. They also sold their CDs to the audience so they made some money and The Fire invited to come back again! Nice first gig, huh.

Okay, I have to shake off this latest Dubya news and get back to the business of writing.

Of Flamingo, my writer pals, and coffee cups

Well, proud mother moment here. Last night I went to The Fire to see the debut performance of my son Eric's new band, Flamingo, and it was AMAZING. They are so sophisticated, so talented, and just so fucking awesome I had to fight back those embarrassing tears. They do all original stuff, no covers. What also touched me beyond belief was how all of the other Rock School kids, many in bands of their own, and even their parents (!) came to the show in support. The room was completely sold out, everyone cheered and clapped like they were the Beatles on stage, and not to use a cliche, but I thought I would burst. I give credit to Paul Green and Rock School for that; as I've explained over and over again, despite my problems from time to time with his teaching philosophies, this man has worked magic and his students, both former and present, have a closeness and comradery that I've never seen equalled anywhere. Some old friends of mine who I haven't seen in a few years showed up as well and they went crazy over the music and we ended up eating dinner at this incredible Mexican restaurant, Las Casuelas, afterwards -- anyway, it was just a fantastic night. (I had grilled shrimp and a dessert of a three milk cake which was to die for).

In other news, I don't know what to say about my gal pals from Zoetrope, my on-line writing group. Ellen, Jordan, Myfanwy...I owe these women bigtime. I ran the completed synopsis for my book, The Tour, by them for some fine tuning and they came through like you wouldn't believe. Again, big teary eyed moment for me. I was stunned by their generosity. But now that I think of it, I shouldn't be surprised; I've known these women for a few years now and we've met in the real world and connected just as we did on line -- they are truly special, wonderful people as well as incredible kick ass writers. Ellen Meister has a new book which will be published next year (a hardcover deal!); Jordan Rosenfeld is just completing her MFA in creative writing at Bennington and is a rising superstar; Myfanwy Collins is a brilliant poet, writer, and editor of Ink Pot...you will be hearing these names in the future for sure - they are magnificent. Links to all three of their websites are to the right and please have a click and treat yourself to some really enjoyable reading.

Continuing on, both of my stories are now officially on coffee cups for sale at Flash Fiction Cafe and may I respectfully suggest you buy the white mug because it's easier to read the story though the morph mug is very cool (but the story doesn't show up unless you heat the cup pretty hot in the microwave). C'mon, you know you want one. Or eight. Ha.

Ah well. I actually think I may go back to bed now. The dog was restless last night and for some reason decided to come up on my pillow and sleep on my freaking head. That's the first time he's ever done that in seven years. I was worried about him but he seems fine this morning. It was raining pretty hard and I think he got scared and wanted his mommy. But holy cow, he weighs like sixty pounds and he positioned himself right on my head with his face hanging and pressed over mine. He had me pinned down; I couldn't move. I'm sure it would have made a lovely Kodak moment if anyone was nearby with a camera.

Right.

Tonight at The Fire!

Think I'm psyched? My son's band Flamingo, has their very first gig tonight at The Fire and these flyers are hanging up all over downtown Philly. How cool is that. I can't wait; except for one little problem. They have over 100 people coming and the room only holds 100 people and there are no advance sales. So I actually have to stand in line to see my own son play and pray I get in. Arghhh....well, I know me, I'll probably be in line at 5:00 p.m.

Other than that, I've spent the entire day writing a synopsis; I'm finally happy with it but of course that could all change tomorrow.

It's my daughter Julie's one year anniversary with her boyfriend, Matt, and they're going out to dinner at the same restaurant where they had their first date. Aww...

That's all for now. Can't wait to report on Flamingo tomorrow. Knowing me, I'm sure I'll have a story though of course it can't be as good as the time I got moshed. Yep, thrown up in the air and passed from kid to kid. I was praying for death.

Oh, this just in. Found a little article in the Hollywood Reporter which briefly mentions the kids performing at ShoWest in Vegas:


New Movie Reviews - New Upcoming Movie Releases
March 16, 2005

'Shrek 2' promos win big at Showmanship Awards

By Sheigh Crabtree
LAS VEGAS -- Ambitious, creative grass-roots marketers from local theater chains nationwide were honored for their innovative and philanthropic promotional initiatives in 2004 as the 24th annual Hollywood Reporter Showmanship Awards took place Tuesday at a ShoWest luncheon.

Penn Jillette of Penn & Teller presided over the event, which was kicked off by a throbbing live performance by Paul Green's School of Rock band, which will be featured in Newmarket Films' upcoming "Rock School" documentary.

"Teller and I set up a school of magic, but all we were doing was killing rabbits," cracked Jillette, before introducing Robert J. Dowling, editor-in-chief and publisher of The Hollywood Reporter.

Dowling highlighted the importance of local movie promotions during a time when consumers are increasingly distracted by emerging forms of digital media.

"If you think about it, one of the most challenging words in business today is fragmentation," Dowling said. "The consumer market is becoming so fragmented by choices, but the thing that isn't changing is the amount of time that the consumer has to invest in what they're going to do. And you are competing for that time -- both their entertainment time and the entertainment dollar. What you do at the local level has a lot to do with driving home the message and the excitement of the movie. So it's our ambition to honor you and honor the creativity that you bring to your communities."

Eight awards were given from a pool of 200 entries that Dowling noted he would like to see increase to a pool of at least 1,000. Dowling encouraged attendees to submit their work for Showmanship Award consideration "so you can demonstrate to the rest of your community what it is you're doing to make the film business that much more successful and fun for the consumer."

California's Kirkorian Theatres picked up the top Showmanship prize from DreamWorks exhibition exec Pat Gonzalez.

Kirkorian's Reynee Scofield was honored for an exhaustive "Shrek 2" promotion that involved local charities, such vendors as Baskin-Robbins and CompUSA, a raffle, a costume party and a movie-themed look-a-like white steed and a miniature donkey.

Dale Hurst of Carmike Cinemas 9 in Georgia was honored for best use of newspaper for a promotion that published winning "Shrek 2" attendees' names in the classified section of the local paper.

"We're proof that a small theater in a small market can win big," Hurst said.

Local Las Vegas theater owner Johnny Brenden won the cross promotion award for a communitywide outreach around the release of "Catwoman" at Brenden Theatres. Brenden and his team worked with the Palms Casino, the local Jaguar dealership, comic book stores, a local animal shelter for an adopt-a-cat program and a Ducati motorcycle dealership in order to build excitement and bring more patrons into his auditoriums.

The best use of media and stunts award went to Angelique Brunsman from Hollywood Blvd. Cinemas in Illinois. Brunsman hired three of the original dwarves who played munchkins in "The Wizard of Oz" for a rerelease of the movie. The actors were subsequently front-page news and lead broadcast news stories before "Oz's" opening.

The best community outreach award went to Jeremy Kress of Studio 28 in Michigan for a local promotion of "Shrek 2." The theater used "Shrek 2's" release to produce an array of charity events -- from a barbecue to a children's walk-a-thon -- to raise money for the local Cancer Society.

The best presentation binder award went to Pamela Wampler of Premiere Cinemas in Texas. Wampler designed a large scrapbook to tie in with "Ladder 49." Part of the promotion was aimed at bringing in more volunteer firefighters into the local ranks.

The in-theater display award was given to Jodi Pine of Muvico Theatres in Florida. Pine built a scale "Shrek 2" model in the theater lobby complete with a life-size onion chariot and a replica of Shrek's swamphouse staffed by costumed performers.

The gold heart award for philanthropy went to Canada's Famous Players in recognition of the nearly $1 million the movie chain raised for charity.

Jillette closed the event with a fire-eating act assisted by The Hollywood Reporter's Dawn Allen, who lit a cigarette from the magician's flaming mouth.

Different Voices, etc.

So being the Queen of Google, one day a month or two ago I googled my own name and saw it come up on something called Different Voices. Naturally, I clicked on the link because I was curious and wondered if a magazine had picked up one of my stories without me knowing it. (Sigh...this does happen. A porn magazine featuring obese women lifted my very mainstream story, Picnic, from it's original home, Smokelong Quarterly, because there are mentions of a "pretty plump wife" throughout the piece. Wherever the words appear, they have "pretty plump wife" linking up to pictures of fat naked women. I kid you not. I'd post the link to prove it but it's pretty gross)

It turns out that Different Voices is a really cool blog, a community effort, which features Philadelphia writers and they'd read some of my stuff and decided to link me. This is one hell of a project - it's sexy, it's controversial, and I have absolutely no clue who is behind it though I do have my suspicions. They invite writers to "join the revolution"..hahahaha...you know I love that premise and when you click on their link, which is to the right with my other links but I'll make it easy for you and put another here, you'll see what I mean.

Anyway, they were kind enough to write to me and offer to promote Three Days in New York City this weekend and how could I refuse? So even if you already own the book (ha), take a click over to Different Voices for an interesting read.

In other news...

I'm featured author this month at Red Hot Romance and they have a pretty cool page for me and a review of the book is forthcoming so I'm pretty psyched about that.

And yes! My son's band has their website up, and it's a work in progress, but here it is and there's some information on tomorrow night's show. In case you haven't heard me broadcasting it enough or read the billboards I've posted everywhere, his band is Flamingo.

More later...