Month: October, 2009

Dining Among the Dead: Souper Jenny’s Underground Supper Club

Eric Miller, Sharon Litzky,  Jennifer Levison, Richard Blais and Merrideth Zeisse got into the spirit of the Underground Supper Club

Eric Miller, Sharon Litzky, Jennifer Levison, Richard Blais and Merrideth Zeisse got into the spirit of the Underground Supper Club

When Jenny Levison, Souper Jenny as she is known to her legions of fans, turned on her video camera and asked me to describe the evening in one word, I said, “unprecedented.”

What else can you say about a night when you ate Black Crow and Black Bass with Gruel and Tobacco, and Sacrificial Lamb with Brain Ravioli cooked by a purple rimmed-eye celebrity chef, with the aid of a cotton candy machine, a smoker and a legion of black-clad, black-lipsticked waitstaff?

And oh yeah, we were dining outside. In 40 degree weather. In a cemetery.

It was all part of the multi-talented Jenny’s Underground Supper Club. It works like this – you sign up for the event and explain why you’d make a good supper club guest. Once accepted, you know only the date and that you’ll be enjoying a five-course meal cooked by one of Atlanta’s top chefs. A few days before the event you get an email with location and the chef’s name. Read the full post »

How to Get Your Book Published

The latest title from Schroder Media, to be released in November.

The latest title from Schroder Media, to be released in November.

Publishing a book yourself has never been easier or more affordable. That is what I do with clients with my book publishing company Schroder Media. Let’s say you are just an average person – you haven’t had sex with Brad Pitt, you haven’t had an alien abduct your chihuahua, you’re not married to your own grandpa, and you’re not a “housewife” of Atlanta. You just have a story you want to tell.

If you have decided the traditional route of book proposals, agent searches, rejections and trying to decipher the mysterious process of royalty payments isn’t for you, then a company like mine could be your answer.

I help people through the mechanics of getting a book published. You do the writing and I handle design, editing, proofing, indexing if needed, getting your ISBN number and handling everything with the printer.

If you need a writer, I can do that too. I wrote Murphy’s: 25 Years of Recipes and Memories and ghostwrote another book.

If you don’t need all those services, I can work with you on what you do need. When Jenny Levison approached me about her cookbook Souper Jenny Cooks she already had the design and writing done. I was able to help her with editing, getting the index done and found her a printer that was thousands of dollars cheaper than the quotes she had been getting. Within a few months she had her book in her hand, and is getting ready for a third printing. Read the full post »

My Heart Went Boom

RAIN - A Tribute to the Beatles  left to right: Joey Curatolo, Ralph Castelli, Joe Bithorn, Steve Landes  Photo by Joan Marcus

RAIN - A Tribute to the Beatles left to right: Joey Curatolo, Ralph Castelli, Joe Bithorn, Steve Landes Photo by Joan Marcus

It wasn’t Shea Stadium, where in 1965 55,000 screaming fans paid $5.75 to see the Beatles, but the scene at the Fox Theatre last night was rockin’ all the same at Rain: A Tribute to the Beatles.

Introduced by a redone clip of Ed Sullivan (played by Jerry Hoban) from their famous appearance on his show in 1964, the four “Beatles” played for two hours, taking the delighted audience on a trip from the sweet sentiment of “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” to the incomprehensible lyrics of “I Am the Walrus” and the activist-era peace songs.

I appreciated the chronological approach and particularly enjoyed the period clips interspersed with the songs while the band engaged in its several costume and wig changes. The TV ads from past decades were particularly hilarious, such as one for Prell shampoo and Duz laundry detergent when it included a pair of stockings in every box. (Check out classic TV ads yourself for a laugh. Ajax, cleans like a white tornado; Wisk, ring around the collar; and Brylcreem, a little dab’l do ya were just a few that brought back ancient memories for me.) Read the full post »