With book... and iPad
Foto by Matie Argiropoulos
I found myself at one of those Times Square tourist hotels… the Paramount. With the room just big enough for a bed and a small suitcase, obviously it was designed for sleeping only. Good mattress though. Except for me, I would venture that almost everyone else in the building was there to sample the bright lights of Times Square.
Now, this could be Times Square
Foto by Jorma Kaukonen
But this could be Times Square too…
Hmmm
Foto by Jorma Kaukonen
I wanted to tell the folks swarming the streets that there was more to America than this, but hey… they all seemed to be enjoying themselves. But I hadn’t come here to be this close to the Deuce just to lollygag around. My mission was to show up at CDM Studios. These folks’ specialty was doing audio books and more and I was there to read my book, Been So Long. Now this was to be a production of Macmillan Audio from St. Martin’s Press.
It’s been a couple of years since I put the first words of Been So Long on ‘paper.’ In a way, it seems longer than that and in another, the time has passed in the blink of an eye. In any case as my project has unfolded I find myself more than grateful to all the people it takes to make a book happen. The writing was only the tip of the iceberg. The editorial team was more than awesome. My sincerest thanks to you all!
In any case, this reading business was something completely new. Again, this is an industry that until now had been way off my radar. Matie Argiropoulos, the producer and director, was sure I could do it. Me… not so much. What the heck. If you want to run with the Big Dogs, you have to get off the porch, and so off the porch I got!
I had two and a half days to do two hundred and eighty four pages and as I began reading, it looked like two and a half days would not be enough. Slowing down to a moderate tempo has always been a problem for me, in music and in life itself. Matie was a real pro and always pointed me in the right direction whenever I would stray! I found some of the chapters easy to read. When I got to the one where both my Mom and Dad passed… it was more emotional to me than I could have imagined. They’ve been gone for twenty years, and writing about it was nowhere near as hard as reading what I wrote out loud. The little poem from my Grandfather that I close the book with affected me as powerfully as it did the first time I read it. You’ll see, if you read the book. I felt good that after all the work I had done on this project I could still be emotionally touched in a very real way.
Finally... a little guitar
Foto by Matie Argiropoulos
After I finished the reading, i got to play a little guitar music to go under the closing credits. The guitar was like an ice cream dessert after the feast that was the reading. I would like to thank Matie Argiropoulos the producer and director of my project. Thanks for the hand holding! It was recorded by Charles de Montebello and Raunak Mukherjee. Post production is by Danny Meltzer and the text copyright 2018 is by me, Jorma Kaukonen. The production copyright 2018 is by Macmillan Audio and of course, all rights are reserved.
I felt more than good as I wrapped this up at noon on Sunday and headed back to the Fur Peace Ranch. The official release date of the book is August 28, 2018. I’d like to think Mom and Dad would have gotten a kick out of this.
i know I did!
Smiles all around!
Selfie by Matie Argiropoulos
