Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Today's Lonely Polygamist Posting is...Dave Weich's Read Road Show

Remember those short movies that were put together by Powell's? Who could forget Boulevard Theatre multi-character presentation for Ian McEwan's On Chesil Beach that Schwartz co-hosted in Bay View? Or the panel of Korean War vets at the Schwartz Mequon location for David Halberstam's The Coldest War. Or...whatever we did at Downer Avenue for State by State? (I was out of town, apologies all around).

Well, Dave Weich, the force behind this project, has gone off on his own and put together something called The Real Road Show Project. Here's King Udall talking about the salaciousness of polygamy and how so many interviewers wind up focusing on the subject, and why they so often get it wrong.


Go to Dave's site and watch the rest of the interviews, or if you're lazy and/or forgetful, I will occasionally post them here.

Dave, I'd like a video of you explaining what all those strange drawings are on the dry-erase board in back of your subjects.

1 comment:

Dave said...

Daniel, hello! -- and thanks for the link. Responding to your question: That's not a dry erase board behind the authors; it's a canvas. Starting back in my Powell's days, I would ask each author that I interviewed to sign and date a canvas. (I have three canvases in all here in my office.) Some authors added drawings, and that made more want to add drawings...

Specifically, in the Brady Udall video, you can see Alexandra Fuller's sketch of Africa, Ridley Pearson's bird, Robert Kurson's submarine, Nick Hornby's bald head (poking in from the side of the canvas), Malcolm Gladwell's blinking eye (near the top of the frame), and part of Jonathan Ames's face (on the left).

You'll be glad to know that I've started a new canvas for the ReadRollShow series. So far, drawings include a piece of cake by Sloane Crosley, a cell by Rebecca Skloot, and a pen by Joshua Ferris.

Hope you enjoy the videos!