THINGS I'M THINKING ABOUT |
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Belated
Happy Birthday, Ken August 12th was my
friend Ken Blackie [and your loveable young Web-master]'s birthday. Ken lives and works in
Johannesburg, South Africa with his wife and twin daughters. His real job is with a
company that provides computer security, but his full time job is baby sitting with me and
masterminding this Web-site. Only a few months ago I didn't know Ken, and we still haven't
laid eyes on one another . . . but we are involved in enough projects together now that
his continuing to live a long and happy life may well be tied to my doing the same. So,
again, Ken, happy belated birthday and thanks (I think) for dragging me out of space and
into cyberspace. Love to you and likewise to the three ladies in your life who propel you
forward.
The Stanyan House
One of our current projects is a new Website The Stanyan
House which should provide fun and education not just in things Stanyan, but in many
other areas I call "stuff". This is a tough one; a big job to build. It won't be
anything like this site, except that it will have the same parentage. So far we've scanned
about five gigabytes of art, photographs, clippings, album covers, book jackets, stories,
reviews, drawings & other artwork . . . you name it, onto Jaz & Zip discs. With
Waldo's help, I'm in the midst of identifying much of it that will end up on the site.
Lucid Vision will again be the designer and Aggie has some great ideas for this one.
The Stanyan Font
Courtesy of the gang at my favorite font house, P22 Font
Foundry http://www.p22.com we'll have a brand new Stanyan font for the site that will be
for sale to the public as well. I'm playing with the beta version now & having a ball
with it.. P22/Stanyan will re-release my old Beatsville album which has been out of print
for nearly 40 years & for font freaks [aren't we all] it will contain an exclusive
Beatsville font ala their best-selling Daddy-O font.. They will also repackage Daddy-O
with a cover showing yours truly ignoring the most beautiful girl in the world to play
with his Power Book. Don't ask. Should be ready for release next month.
It's not by chance that P22 was chosen to do The Stanyan House Font. This high profile but
low key company dreams up the most unusual, clever, off the wall and best of all, most
useful fonts I've ever seen or used. Their prices are ridiculously low and their sense of
invention seems endless. Eat your heart out Adobe. But don't take my word for it, click
here & explore. http://www.p22.com/index.html
Scram, Get Outta Here
You may know some of the material in Beatsville via the
pirate albums "Rod McKuen Takes A San Francisco Hippie Trip" &" Life
Is" (Yuck). For more on that story you're invited to visit the Scram website, http://members.tripod.com/~Scram/archive.html,
a delightful counter culture Zine & Web-site I've become addicted to. Kim Cooper has
done an interesting and insightful re-review of good old Beatsville. Johan Grobbelaar
brought it to everyone's attention via tara's RM Message Board.
Jay Hagan
Those of you who visit the Message Board are familiar with
that name. Jay often posts my poems on the site & it turns out he's typed about 60 of
my books onto his hard drive [and God knows how many lyrics to songs in albums]. Out of
the blue he offered to share all of this hard work with me. So no more two fingered typing
of poems from past books for this kid. Now I can cut and paste for the Daily Flight Plan,
leaving me more time to write original material, get back to answering Ask Rod &
polishing the new book. This is a wonderful, useful gift and the answer to a lot of
prayers. Thanks again, Jay, your heart's as big as your typing is accurate.
Shiver Me Timbers
Turns out we got a batch of my CD's being pirated in
Taiwan. So far most seem to be taken from the things I put together for LaserLight with
missing tracks etc. For instance, "Speaking of Love", minus two tracks, [don't
know what they had against Six Songs For The Sun & Kearny Street,] has a shot of the
sea on its cover & is now called "La Mer / The Sea, 2". Maybe they're saving
those tracks for the next pirate album "La Mer / The Sea, 3". I couldn't make
this stuff up folks.
Fortunately the US has negotiated an anti-piracy law with the Taiwanese government and I'm
sure we'll get this resolved. Meanwhile, someone living in or visiting Hong Kong, Taiwan,
Singapore and other far east cities who come across this obviously non-sanctioned [or any
other suspicious looking RM] disc, please pick up copies & send them to me at Box
2783, Hollywood Ca, 90028. My lawyers want to see them as badly as I do. For every one
sent we'll think up a suitable reward . . .and, it will be something not available
anywhere else. Am not sure of the other titles, but will keep you posted. The identifying
marks on La Mer / The Sea, 2 is "Bacchus label a registered trademark of Sumner
Records Co., Ltd." & the number of the disc is 32102.
The only licensed purveyor of Stanyan Records in Taiwan is Cisco Music. In October they'll
be bringing out two new CD's. "Pastoral" and a disc containing both my First
Symphony and Third Piano Concerto in a performance by London's Royal Philharmonic. I'll
give you the label & disc numbers in an upcoming Flight Plan.
Speaking of Brel
Eric has updated his Listening to the Warm website with
stats and complete liners and rundowns on the CD's "Speaking of Love" and
"The McKuen/Brel Songbook". Best of all he's added a tribute to Jacques,
complete with a sound sample of him singing Neme Quitte Pas and a literal translation from
the French. This is really worth checking out. http://www.homepage.davesworld.net/~keourazy/mckuen.htm
Finally my heartfelt thanks to all of you for making The Flight Plan & A Safe Place To
Land places I love visiting. And, visiting with you.
- Rod- 8/24/98. |
