Your old Uncle Curmudgeon is getting tired of writing post-mortem tributes for people he admires!
Fucking Hell!!!
But, here we go....
You have probably never heard of Kathi Kamen Goldmark.
Kathi began a career in the publishing business as an "author escort." (No, it isn't what it sounds like!) She was one of those hard working people who, when an author comes to town for a book signing, personally delivers said author to wherever he/she has to be makes sure that the venue has supplied the requisite water, beer, whiskey, Sharpies and brown M&Ms. And, then sees them off to the next stop.
In the ensuing years, she worked her way up in publishing and even became a published writer, herself.
But, the most interesting turning point came for her while she was still escorting those writers.
In those days, Kathi was a budding singer/songwriter/musician. And, in conversations with the authors that she escorted, she made a discovery.
An awful lot of very famous authors are frustrated rock stars.
In 1992, Kathi had an idea. She put calls out to the author/rockers that she had met over the last few years and put together a band to play at a book convention.
If you have followed The Blog for a while, then you already know the story of The Rock Bottom Remainders. If you haven't, you can catch up here.
So I don't have to repeat myself tonight, go read that post now. I'll still be here when you get back.
You're back! Good! So, now you see just how awesome her little band is!
I didn't know Kathi well, but we had met and had nice conversations on a couple of occasions. After an RBR show here in L.A., she made damned sure that none of the band members snuck away without autographing The Blog's concert poster.
A little over a month ago, The Blog received an email from Kathi.
"Big RBR show in L.A. in late June! I'll send you the info when I have it!"
But, the info never came. By mid June, I had actually forgotten about it.
Today, Mrs. Blog asked me if I had seen the story in this morning's paper about the upcoming RBR show. I grabbed the paper and started reading. And, there in the second paragraph, came the gut-punch.
The show, this coming Friday, is going on in spite of the May 24, 2012 death of the band's founder, Kathi Kamen Goldmark.
God damn it!
Fucking Hell!!!
There is an excellent obituary here, and a pretty decent Wikipedia page here.
The Blog will be at that show on Friday. And he will raise his lighter in her memory.
Now....
Can people stop dying for a while now? Please?
The PC has other things he wants to write about.
On that note...
Coming up in the next couple of days, the promised "Class Picnic: Part Two" and a review of "The Addams Family."
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