After the Aftermath

First of all, let me apologize to all of you who didn’t get into diPiazza’s due to a long wait in line and the ultimate fire marshal cap of 500 people. That sucked. My entourage noticed at least four midgets—sorry, they told me to say “little people”—so that equals two “real” people, right? So two of my fans didn’t get in? Is that what happened? If so, I apologize, but I had no idea what was going on outside.

For those of you who did get in, you were great! I did a few “oldies” to warm you up, but you responded well to the pieces I did off my new spoken word double CD, et cetera et cetera. I must admit that I did get sick of hearing, “When can we buy it?!” As I’ve said on my Web site and on my MySpace page, it’s coming. It’s being mixed. It’s within six weeks—eight weeks max—of being on the street. That’s all I can say at this point.

Rachel Kann read from her new book of short fiction, and did some spoken word with a musician friend of hers. Her work was solid, regardless of the genre. She performs all over the place, so I hope to meet up with her in the future as I hopefully start doing more shows.

The band that ended the night was a mess of hilarity. Regrettably, I can’t remember the name exactly, but it was something like “Sam Bush and the Track & Field All-Stars.” The “alternative country” (my designation) songs were written by Mark Romer, and he was accompanied by a talented group of musicians who helped wager his hard-luck songs.

I’ll be in touch with news on et cetera et cetera as it warrants. In the meantime, take solace in the bootlegs (you know we saw you recording!).

There are 521 days remaining in Bush's presidency.

Performing Tomorrow Night

I'll be performing at diPiazza's Lava Lounge as part of The Writer's Garage series tomorrow night, Wednesday, August 15, at 8 p.m. I’ll be performing spoken word pieces from my forthcoming spoken word double CD et cetera et cetera, as well as reading a few poems from my books.

diPiazza's is located off PCH at E. Anaheim in Long Beach, CA, and is a great place to see local writers and bands perform, enjoy a meal, and/or a few drinks with friends. Poet Rachel Kann and songwriter Mark Romer will perform at 9:00 and 10:00, respectively. diPiazza's Web site is www.dipiazzas.com. Info on The Writer's Garage can be found at www.myspace.com/thewritersgarage.

I hope to see you there. If not, maybe some other time. Not interested? Not ever? Okay, well, maybe we’re just not that great of friends, now, are we?

Here’s the address:

diPiazza's Lava Lounge

5205 E. Pacific Coast Highway

Long Beach, CA 90804

Time: 8 p.m.

There are 524 days remaining in Bush's presidency.

I've Been Missing

I’ve been missing lately—just busy with work and whatnot. My writing and editing company, Novo, Inc., that I started last year has been doing rather well lately, and I’m doing my best to keep things moving. It often seems to be feast or famine, but I move along. In the meantime, I’ve been putting the finishing touches on my new and improved Web site (www.scottsiders.com), and working on new spoken word pieces for a future record.

Now, then: What’s really been going on? Well, since I last wrote we saw Daniel Tosh at the Irvine Improv. He gets better every year. What else can I say? Do yourself a favor and see this hilarious bastard at a comedy club near you.

Oh, and before I forget, there’s still the issue of the Scott Siders impostor. This guy thinks he’s cute. He actually posted a response to my blog about him, so it’s nice to know he’s reading (or is it?), but I also know that I’m giving him some readers by validating his self-righteous existence. I guess you could apply that label to me, but at least I’m not hiding behind a fake ideology invented to calm the fearful.

Great. Uplifting blog number 99, eh? Okay, well, so be it. He’s weighed in, and thinks this is some kind of joke. Well, I’m flat-out embarrassed by the fact that I share my name with this guy. He can believe in the fantasy world in which he believes, of course, but the unfortunate result is that I can be mistaken as him. I had that hilarious “note and identity clarification” on my homepage until I realized that he, of course, had everything to gain from the “advertising,” which he was quick to point out, and I knew very well but hoped I’d get some goddamn (lord’s name in vain!) supporters. Very few people are looking me up, of course, but, for the few that do, I would rather be mistaken as many other things than this other so-called Scott Siders. Don’t trust him. He runs a company called “Wisdom Consulting.” Guess where the wisdom comes from . . . um . . . yeah . . . from sweet baby jesus. Can you really run a business on fantasy, false hope, fear and, based on his distinguished company in Congress, philandering?

But I ramble.

It’s just so frustrating. I’m trying to get my linkedin.com handle recognized by google, but things are quirky. It will be designated at “The Real Scott Siders” on linkedin.com. I think that fits.

I should move on. Since the Scott Siders imposter weighed in, we’ve seen a couple of interesting shows. We saw Jerry Stahl, author of Permanent Midnight and several other novels, read from his new book of short stories. We saw him at diPiazza’s in Long Beach. He was a little bit of an asshole throughout the reading, and was hilariously sarcastic at the reaction (or lack thereof) of the small crowd, considering the crowd he’s used to dealing with is a bookstore audience hanging on his every word, but he did what he does, and I was impressed to see him do his thing.

We saw Astra (Conor Riley (Allison’s cousin) on the keys) perform the Friday before last. It was Prog Rock down to a T, to use a ridiculous and outdated expression. It’s not my favorite genre of music, but Astra does Prog Rock as well as anyone. It was an evening for the band to perform for a semi-local progressive record label, so I hope they get signed and are prosperous beyond their wildest dreams.

As for me, I’m just working and waiting for et cetera et cetera to be mixed and mastered. It gets closer every day, and I have every reason that it will still be released this summer—assuming that you consider September to be summer (you should).

I’m still set to perform at diPiazzas’s in Long Beach this Wednesday, August 15.

There are 526 days remaining in Bush’s presidency.