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ALMOST DONE WITH THIS
ONE
The rollercoaster that was 1998 is almost over. A year of incredible highs and lows (for
everyone, it seems) and I have to admit to there being times, particularly over the past
few months, when I thought the parachute wasn't going to open. It always did - sometimes
very late, though - and I thank the Chief Flight Controller for this every day. The lowest
point of my year was seeing my little dog torn apart by two Rotweilers back in June.
Tedward had been through the evolution of ASPTL with me - he used to sleep on my lap while
I worked, long after the rest of the family had retired for the night - and I miss him
terribly.
No prizes for guessing the high point of the year - the launch of ASPTL and your
enthusiastic response to Rod's "reappearance". It's gratifying when plans and
dreams work out (how often does this actually happen?) and the birth of this site was no
exception. Of all the letters that have arrived since we launched back in April perhaps
this one from Wendy Johnson, received the day of the launch, best sums up your reaction:
I know I'm silly, but I have to say I feel that a member of my family has returned
from a very long absence. You have been so missed! Your new writing has come when my soul
is dry, and once again you pull me back from the edge. Welcome home, friend. Tell the
stories of where you've been, and accept the warmth of our collective hearts.
Thanks to all of you for helping to make ASPTL a really special site. It's been a
privilege to have been involved with its development and an honour to have met, and become
friendly with, some of the like-minded people who stop by.
BOOK DOWNLOAD
OK so it's a bit late but it's finished at last. Well, almost! Couple of small things to
polish up on and we're ready to go. I figured that seeing as Rod gave you a web site for
his birthday he could give you a book for Christmas so we'll post it on Christmas Morning.
That's Christmas Morning my time, by the way - GMT +2! (Hey, no-one told me this would be
a 365 day a year job!). To ease any possible frustration in advance, I suggest you get
hold of a copy of the Adobe Acrobat Reader for whatever platform you're running - the book
is in PDF format and you'll need the reader to view it. It should be available free of
charge from the Adobe site.
STANYAN HOUSE
While on the subject of late delivery of promised items, the launch of Stanyan House has
been pushed out somewhat. It's a big project, needs a lot of time and planning devoted to
it and that's something I just haven't had at my disposal these past few months. We want
to do it right first time so we're not going to bust a gut getting it out there and screw
it up in the process. Right now we're looking at an April delivery - does this ring a bell
with anyone?
STANYAN MAIL ORDER
Hot off the press - here's a report back from Dwight on the most requested items from
Stanyan by Mail.
TOP SELLING TITLES AT STANYAN MAIL ORDER
As of 12/15/98
McKUEN BOOKS
1. Intervals
2. Love’s Been Good To Me
3. Listen To The Warm
4. Looking For A Friend
5. Too Many Midnight’s
6. Lonesome Cities
7. Stanyan Street & Other Sorrows
7. Watch for the Wind
8. Beyond The Boardwalk
9. Another Beautiful Day, 1986
10. Another Beautiful Day, 1985
CHRISTMAS CD’s
1. McKuen: New Carols for Christmas
2. Benedictine Monks: Noel at the Monastery
3. Christmas Music For Guardian Angels
4. Crosby/Sinatra/Garland: Christmas Through The Years
5. All Star Cast: A 1940’s Christmas
6. McKuen/Monks/Hale: The Spirit of Christmas
7. The Stanyan Brass: Joy To The World
8. McKuen/Garland/Yarbrough: A Stanyan Christmas
9. Stafford/Shore/All Star Cast: Soft Lights, Sweet Christmas
10. Louis Armstrong: Christmas Through The Years
11. All Star Cast: Christmas for Friends and Lovers
McKUEN CD’s
1. Listen To The Warm
1. Greatest Hits Collection/Lonesome Cities (5 CD’s)
2. Music For Guardian Angels
3. Speaking of Love
4. Without A Worry In The World [Greatest Hits Import]
5. Joanna [Film Soundtrack]
6. Beatsville with special Mac/PC fonts
7. Concerto Works
8. Early Harvest
9. Rod McKuen After Midnight
10. Rod Sings The McKuen/Brel Songbook
11. The French Connection
12. At Carnegie Hall: The Birthday Concert
OTHER CD’s & SPECIALTY ITEMS
1. La Mer: The San Sebastian Strings
2. The Sea: The San Sebastian Strings
3. Beautiful Music To Love By (3 CD Set)
3. A Man Alone Sinatra Sings McKuen (Gatefold LP)
4. Best of The Benedictine Monks of St. Michael’s
4. Johnny Mercer: Great American Songwriters
5. Getz/Clinton & Top Tenors: Safe Sax
6. Rodgers & Hart: The Ballads • Great American Songwriters
7. Horne/McKuen/Bassey/Stafford, etc. Love Songs
8. The Sea (LP) & (Cassette)
9. The September Strings play Simon & Garfunkel
10. McKuen/Mercer/Stafford/Sinatra: So In Love
For me there have been some major surprises in this first stab at re-establishing Stanyan
mail order. I wouldn’t have believed that "La Mer" would out sell "The
Sea", but by a close margin it has. Another surprise was The Benedictine Monks tying
Rod for first place in Christmas CD’s. "Music for Guardian Angels" &
"Christmas Music for Guardian Angels" are two of the most consistently ordered
CD’s.
Rod was delighted to see "Intervals" top the books sales chart because it was
his last published work and received no promotion from the publishing company. To no
one’s surprise Sinatra’s "A Man Alone" LP is selling like a CD.
Obviously lots of you still have turntables out there. Would you like to see more
LP’s offered?
Other than continued requests for San Sebastian Strings CD’s, many of you have
suggested such items as the 10 volume set Rod produced called "Songs That Won The
War," more of his crazy Love Handle Lounge series, soundtracks, Broadway shows, The
Some & More of the Best series and the "Legendary Sets" that include Hank
Williams, Billie Holiday, Marilyn Monroe, Dinah Washington & Louis Armstrong. And
everybody seems to want songbooks.
The verdict is by no means in on whether we’ll continue Stanyan Mail Order, but if we
do all of the product mentioned above will be added to the catalog in January.
Meanwhile THANKS & have a Happy Holiday season.
Dwight.
Thanks Dwight - anyone wishing to place a
late Christmas order, or any order for that matter, can contact Dwight at stanyanr@aol.com
THIS AND THAT
The Boss tells me you want sound - he does too. Sound is what you'll get, just don't hold
me to a date! We're investigating different formats and I'll report back as soon as a
decision has been taken.
Some time ago tara conducted a survey on the Message Board to determine your favorite Rod
songs, books, poems etc. We'll be doing a similar survey in the New Year - not because
tara didn't do her usual great job but because we know there are some visitors here who
don't visit the Message Board on a regular basis and vice versa. We may even combine the
two sets of results and come up with a definitive list of all time favorites. Start giving
it some thought and we'll publish the questionnaire sometime in January.
TARA'S NEWSLETTER
For those of you who don't already know, tara has started an e-mail newsletter, details of
which appear below:
"I am starting a newsletter for anyone who is interested in Rod McKuen and his works.
The purpose of the newsletter will be to gather a mailing list, NOT to be distributed, but
to use in mailing out information about news of interest to McKuen fans. The newsletter
will also provide information about items for sale, trade, or give-away. It will also
feature surveys and articles. Most importantly, it will serve to put people in touch who
live in the same area, or who might be vacationing in another fan's hometown."
Sounds good - I know of a couple of fans who are getting together for the first time over
the festive season, possibly as a result of tara's efforts. If you're interested in adding
your name to the list, drop her a line at fairyweb@v-wave.com
FLIGHT PLAN ARCHIVES
These are getting a touch voluminous and our Service Provider is making noises about
additional charges for exceeding our storage agreement. Touchy types, these techies! As
from January we'll archive only the last three months of Flight Plans and anything prior
will be removed. I know a lot of you save these on a daily basis so I don't see it being
too much of a problem - I'll still have the plans stored on my machine and anyone needing
something from way back has only to ask.
CHRISTMAS WISHES
A very Merry Christmas to you all - tara tells me she and Bill are knee deep in snow right
now. You should know how appealing that is to us Southern Hemisphere types! A White
Christmas is something we see only on television.
Congratulations on having survived '98 and may '99 be the best yet!
Blue Skies,
Ken - Johannesburg, December 17
ken@mckuen.com |
