Gig # 1
November 3, 2005
Brookline Booksmith
279 Howard St.
Brookline, Massachusetts
I am not a fan of readings. Stories and poems are written with a reader in mind and reading is an internal process, an intimate relationship between the author and the reader. From my experience, written work often loses its thrust and elegance when read aloud to an audience of 30 or 40 people perched awkwardly on folding chairs. When we organized our Kilometer Zero Venue series in Paris, one of main motivations was having to attend other readings in Paris and sitting numb and bored while a writer droned on for 40 minutes. There had to be a better way for a writer to interact with an audience, so we urged people to become performers, we limited their stage time, and we asked them to, at all costs, avoid long monotonous passages.
When faced with presenting my book, I wanted to live up to the Kilometer Zero standards. With the voice of the legendary Tom Pancake ricocheting in my head, I came up with a bit of a literary show and tell, something I hoped would engage and entertain people. Did it work? I obviously can’t know for sure, but I think everyone at the Brookline Booksmith had, at the very least, an interesting evening. One person told me she had confused dates and thought it was a reading from a book about the coach of the New England Patriots. She said ‘Instead, I was treated to hearing about Shakespeare & Co. Thank you for that animated and interesting presentation.’ No, thank you Claire.
Boston is a great book town and the bookstore people were fabulous, especially the coordinator Janet Potter, who kept the panic away before the show started and gave me the wonderful gift of Cloud Atlas at the end. (She is the one smiling widely in the picture.) Janet was in Paris in 2000 and knew Shakespeare and Company so it was ideal. The other amazing thing was the old friends who turned up. The parents of Scott Stedman, a dear friend from Paris and a character in the book, were in attendance and were incredibly supportive. And another Paris fellow, Ethan Gilsdorf, biked madly to the Brookline and almost made it in time.
The sign says Jeremy Merger! Why didn’t anybody tell me about this! When is the surgery???