I've been busy the last day or so finishing a script and also working on the June Foray Celebration. Yes, there are still seats available. That's a big theater. No, we don't care how much June loved you, you may not speak at this event. The program is full. And please understand that this is not a funeral. It's kind of a memorial but we're avoiding that word because it suggests something sombre and sad. We decided to go with "celebration" because it's not going to be that serious. And it's not going to be that serious because June was never that serious. She had a marvelous sense of humor and it would be inappropriate not to use that as our guideline.
The info on how to attend is all over this blog. Send your request for an invite to friendsofjuneforay@gmail.com — and by the way, that address does not go to me. If you write to me there, a nice lady who has more than enough to do has to forward your message to me so please don't make more work for her. And in case we haven't made this clear, admission is free.
I will be a guest at the Baltimore Comic-Con, which runs from September 22 thru 24 and, yes, I will be moderating some panels. What a surprise. I will also be showing my face, such as it is, at the New York Comic Con, which is October 5 thru 8. So far, I think I only have one panel there but that may change.
As part of the Baltimore expedition, my friend Amber and I are making a day trip to Philadelphia and we're taking along Marv Wolfman, who will also be a guest at the Baltimore Comic-Con. Amber has never been to Philadelphia nor eaten a cheesesteak so I'm going to show her the Liberty Bell, take her to Independence Hall (assuming it hasn't been razed and replaced by another Trump Tower) and buy her a cheesesteak. Marv can buy his own damned cheesesteak.
We will also take in the production there of my favorite musical, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum at the historic Walnut Street Theater. Its director and star are both my favorite Groucho Marx impersonator, Frank Ferrante. Yes, he does other things besides shooting an elephant in his pajamas. The production is now in previews, it opens September 13 and it runs through October 22. If you want to be there the same night Amber, Marv and I are in the audience, that would be September 21. They're selling tickets over on this page.
It goes without blogging that we — and by "we," I mean me and everyone I've talked to locally here — feel for the folks who may be in the path of not just Irma but any other hurricanes that may follow it. On the news, I hear people saying "Well, there's nothing we can do to stop hurricanes" and that's probably true but I bet there's a lot more we can do to prepare for them, mostly in the area of Infrastructure. How about building roads that are less likely to collapse from flooding? How about building drainage systems that will do a better job of handling inches of rain in the double-digits? We can do that if someone is willing to pay for it.
I'm not even mentioning Climate Change…but how about mentioning Climate Change? In any case, you don't have to believe the world's getting warmer and that Man is causing some of that to believe we should do more to prepare for disasters. If ever there was an issue that ought to be non-partisan…