It’s been hot, sunny, and summery in NYC these last couple of weeks and I’m just doing my best to stay cool and hydrated. I’m also working away, cranking out lots of new cards – many of which are now up on our site.
I’m also taking advantage of the slightly quieter time I find myself with this month to make some headway on a few larger, ongoing projects; namely, my dad’s book and a huge assortment of wedding invitations (if I thought myself a little more sophisticated, I’m sure I’d call it a wedding collection!). At any rate, I’ll give you a sneak peek at the invites a little later in the week but, for now let’s talk about the book.
This project has been lingering, just waiting for us to drop the cash and make time to make it happen. Since I learned how to print, I’ve hoped to print and bind a book, finally combining the complementary skills I have in what I see as pretty much the ultimate way.
For those of you who don’t know the back story, my dad created/wrote/directed/hosted/set up chairs for/promoted/toiled over (once again proving that you do, indeed, do it all when it’s your business) a live radio variety show (and later TV show, as well) called Liars Holographic Radio Theatre from about 1997 to 2007 at my parents’ gallery in Marion, Iowa. A weekend of shows happened nearly every month for those 10 years, and included an assortment of amazing music, “spurious sponsors”, unexpected insights from one Stubby Digits, and, almost always, a story of my dad’s.
That’s my poppa, Craig Campbell aka Cruz Steele!
The stories were often the core of each month’s show, pulling together the elements of each performance, and putting a fine point on some beautiful thoughts and complex levels of human emotion and reality (not to wax too poetic, but this was pretty powerful stuff). Dad’s put together a small collection of stories and poems from those shows and they make up the book that we’re all creating together. I say “we’re all” because while my dad has written the book, and I’ll be printing and binding it, Matt’s designed the book, and my mom is providing a fantastic frontispiece (opening illustration). This is a team effort and, while it’s been tough to find the time, we’re all very excited to bring this baby to fruition.
Just a few quick shots of the copy I ran through today for proofreading…we’re on our way!
I reread the stories in the book today, in an attempt to get the proofreading portion of the project tied up, and definitely had wet eyes at the end of many of them. This whole project is in its relative infancy, but we’re hoping to launch it in to high gear over the next few weeks, and I’d like to chronicle the process of creating our first edition here. It’s no small thing, to say the least, and I hope you’ll come along for the ride…we’ve got a lot to make, a lot to learn, and a lot to do!
I love seeing you finally get into A BOOK!
Can’t wait to see it come along, and if you need another set of eyes, you know where to find them.
I just may have to use you as an extra set of eyes – that never hurts! It’s a really exciting project and, while it will be a lot of work, I have a feeling it will be one of those too-satisfying-for-words sorts of things!
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Hi Maggie – I’m very excited to learn of this project and can’t wait to get the book in my hands. We missed only a few of those performances and I remember that many of them required a kleenex. For us, Liars Theatre was the best entertainment in town, and we miss the music, the laughs and the thought provoking Sat evenings. Good luck to you! Wendee
Wendee – along with the whole crew of loyal audience members like you & Les – you are a huge part of the reason for this project in the first place! We’re excited to finally share everything in print…fingers crossed that it will be a relatively smooth process and are looking forward to getting it all out in to the world as soon as we can!
[...] (To see what in the world I’m talking about, here’s Part 1) [...]