Book TV

My reading last month at the Museum of American Finance in New York will be aired on C-SPAN's Book TV this Sunday, June 26, at 11 AM and 8 PM EDT. Click here for more information.

Seattle, TONIGHT (if it's Tues. June 21)

Took the train from Chicago to Seattle with an old friend. A most memorable trip (though not always in a good way; we ran about five hours late). It's great/amazing/weird to be back in Seattle, where I lived for five years ('88 - '93). It sure has changed a lot since then, I can tell you that. Anyway, I will be appearing at Third Place Books just outside Seattle tonight at 7 PM. Please come see me, old Seattle friends - we're all going out for beers afterwards. Fore more info about the event, click here.

Washington Post review, Philly event

The Post gave my book a pretty nice review today. Click here to read it. This Wednesday (June 15) I will be doing an event that I've been really looking forward to: I will be speaking at the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia at 6:30 pm. This is where Grover Cleveland's tumor is on display, and the museum will be open for the event, so you can come here me prattle on about my book and see the tumor! Click here for details.

JFK Stadium, Philadelphia, August 1982

This is a picture of me and and my sister Joan at a concert at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia on August 21, 1982. The lineup was Robert Hazard, Flock of Seagulls, Blondie, Elvis Costello, and Genesis. Tickets were $15.25. Hard to believe it's been nearly 30 years since this photo was taken, and nearly 20 since JFK was torn down. We went to the concert with Joan's friend Lisa, who recently sent me this picture. Priceless. Thank you, Lisa!

Wheeling, Tuesday, June 7

My event in Wheeling, WV tomorrow (Tuesday, June 7) will be a fundraiser for West Virginia Tornado Relief. Click here for details.

WORD Bookstore, Brooklyn, June 2, 2011

Had a great event at WORD last Thursday, where I was interviewed by my friend (and Washington Post art and architecture critic) Philip Kennicott. Next time you're in NYC, check out WORD: it's a wonderful bookstore!

Happy 125th anniversary to Uncle Jumbo and Frankie!

One hundred twenty-five years ago today - on June 2, 1886 - President Grover Cleveland and Frances Folsom were married. The ceremony took place in the Blue Room of the White House. It was an intimate ceremony: just twenty-eight guests, including all the members of the cabinet and their wives, excepting Attorney General Augustus Garland, who, after the death of his wife several years earlier, had pledged to never again take part in “social festivities,” declining even to attend his own son’s wedding. The forty-nine-year-old groom donned a tuxedo with a white bowtie. The twenty-one-year-old bride wore a gown of heavy corded satin so stiff it could stand up by itself. Grover’s brother William, a Presbyterian minister, presided. In her vows, Frances promised to “love, honor, and . . . keep”--not “obey.” The music was provided by the Marine Band under the direction of John Philip Sousa...

Really looking forward to tonight's event in Brooklyn. Click here for more information.

Brooklyn, Thursday night...

I'm doing an event Thursday night at WORD, a great bookstore in Brooklyn. It will be a little different than the usual reading; it will be done in an interview format, and my interviewer will be my friend and the Washington Post's culture critic, Phil Kennicott. It should be a lot of fun, and I hope my legions of friends and fans in the NYC area will show up. Click here for more information. Speaking of the Post, a book review that I wrote for them appeared in last Sunday's paper. Click here to read it. Oh, and here's an interview I did for the book on WNED Radio in Buffalo.