This has been an especially busy time for me. Some of my favorite recent news is that my old alternative rock zine, Night Times, lives on! The St. Louis Public Library is building an archive of St. Louis publications in their central branch downtown. They are now the proud owners of every issue of Night Times magazine, plus the Auralzine (a CD compilation we did in 1997 with a corresponding mini-zine). I am over the moon delighted with their librarian, Kris Impastato, who, in an hour over coffee, has pretty much redeemed thirty years of my writing. RE: Night Times, they are interested in the process of how the zine was put together and it just so happens that I have kept all the cut-and-paste sheets we made for the printers, all the press kits and photos, etc. We may be donating a lot of what I have been hoarding in my basement to the library, much to my husband’s delight. The old Night Times issues will be digitized by the library and available for research. While Night Times covered a lot of national and international touring acts, it was always with a St. Louis slant. We also covered a lot of local artists. Thanks again to Bob Baker of the old Spolight Magazine for connecting me with Kris.
Kris says that if and when I get the Night Times memoir published, they would love to do a book release there at the central library branch. Meanwhile, my friend Ginger has been reading the memoir and sending me so many positive notes about it. It all gives me hope that ten years of writing won’t go to waste and it will soon be time for Night Times.
I may have other publications to contribute to the library’s archive, as I have had my hand in many writer’s organizations and I sat on the board of the St. Louis Poetry Center, the St. Louis Writer’s Guild, River Styx, and The Writer’s Voice over the years. I have created many newsletters, ads, etc. for all of these organizations–and kept all of that stuff too. I have also hosted many famous writers in St. Louis (Ken Kesey, Allen Ginsberg, Gloria Steinem, to name a few) and written little memoir pieces about my time with them.
If that wasn’t enough, Kris is interested in my Plath work and I will be giving the library copies of my three Plath books for their reference. Fixed Stars Govern a Life: Decoding Sylvia Plath is now out of print and will be in the rare books section.
Kris has a contact at the St. Louis History Museum who may be interested in my years of research for the St. Louis Century of Music Project, which I had to put away due to overwhelm. The scope of the project was just too big for one person to manage–unfunded. And where did I stop? Did I include classical music? Jazz and Blues? Big Band and Swing? Session musicians? Rap? Venues–which have a fascinating history and could be a book all their own as there were speakeasies and brothels right on Clark Street playing the best Jazz and Swing of the day. I have interviews on cassette tapes with old musicians who have now long passed on. I felt that I had failed them and carried a lot of shame and sadness that this project didn’t happen after so much effort, including radio and television appearances. So this would redeem a lot of hard work.
I have some public appearances coming up that I wanted to note:
On May 18th and 19th, stop by and see me in Alton, Illinois’ historic and haunted Mineral Springs Hotel for It’s Raining Zen’s Psychic and Crystal Fair. These events are always a huge success–I think this will be the fourth time I have participated–and you will experience every kind of spiritual and holistic therapy known. Get your auras checked, your aromatherapy, your essential oils, your sound healing, your akashic records read, oracle guidance, every kind of crystal, and of course, tarot cards by yours truly (and others). There are psychics, mediums, intuitives, ghost-busters, music, bellydancing and it is all so much fun!
On Wednesday, May 29th at 5:00 pm I will be guesting on the Dave Glover Show, 97.1 FM once again, and this time I should be taking calls from listeners and reading their tarot cards. I say “this time” because I promoted that the last few times I was on and the DJs had me read for them and only them. Ha. The call-in lines are 314-241-9797 or 314-969-9797. Or check out their Facebook page, where they often post a bit of video and have a comment thread going. Tell them if you like me! 🙂