I wrote this for the Paul Newman Charity Safe Water Network. Chris and Tina did an amazing job with the music!
And it was reviewed by this blogger the first day:
November Tour Dates with Declan O’Rourke
I’m appearing next week in New York at Rockwood Music Hall 2, World Cafe in Philly and FTC in Fairfield. I’ll be playing original songs and reading an excerpt from my novel: My Year as a Clown — which incidentally was chosen by Amazon this month to be part of their Kindle Big Deals.
Thursday, November 13 @ 6:30 Rockwood Music Hall 2, New York City
Friday, November 14 @ 8:00 World Cafe Upstairs, Philadelphia
Saturday, November 15 @ 8:00 Stage One, Fairfield Theatre Company, Fairfield, CT
I will also be appearing at the Ridgefield Library on Thursday, November 20 @ 7 to talk about the documentary I’m making with Deej Webb.
Here’s a clip I took with my iPhone while in the studio with legendary drummer Omar Hakim:
Fitzgerald in Westport: Me and Sam Waterston
Just got this photo from the day of filming at the Fitzgerald home in Westport.
F. Scott Fitzgerald Society Conference in Alabama
Just returned from an academic conference in Montgomery, hosted by the F. Scott Fitzgerald Society. I was there with my documentary partner, Deej, to film and present our Westport Fitzgerald thesis to scholars from around the world.
About 175 Fitzgerald fanatics attended the four-day event, comprised mostly of academics who have dedicated their life to the study and teaching of one America’s greatest novelists.
Our objective was to interview experts on Scott’s early years and The Great Gatsby to ask about Westport’s impact on the Fitzgerald’s writing (Zelda wrote a novel called Save Me the Waltz.
The society and the folks from Troy University in Montgomery were very helpful. In the thirty-six hours we were down there, we got to speak to several leading scholars including the noteworthy German professor, Herr Docktor Horst Kruse of the University of Muenster, who has dedicated the better part of sixty years to the study of Fitzgerald and his writing.
I won’t spoil the narrative as to what we learned, but I can tell you that these people know the Fitzgeralds and the world they inhabited and it was inspiring to be around such passionate people. We came to the right event for our film!
Although our depth of knowledge of Fitzgerald’s work, friends and that era pale in comparison, we knew enough to feel at home.
Pre-film session with Professor Steven Goldleaf and Professor Walter Raubicheck
Saturday night we took a riverboat down the Alabama River with the Fitzgerald devotees. The boat was packed and we ended up at a table with a couple celebrating their 41st wedding anniversary. Besides being Fitzgerald aficionados, Aileen and Elkin Thomas were in Leonard Cohen’s band when he played that famous Isle of White concert (also on the bill: Jimi Hendrix, The Who). Over the years the Thomas’s had their own musical career as well playing with such greats as Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, Earl Scruggs and Waylon Jennings.
Professor Horst Kruse, University of Muenster
Deej and I continue to be amazed at where this Fitzgerald documentary takes us.
More on Montgomery later this week.
