Amazing week back east.
Thanks to our friends at HBO, we got to see Alan Cummings in CABARET. Incredible. The movie is an all time favorite of mine, but this was the first time I've seen it live on stage. Hard to believe anyone could equal the performance of Joel Grey as the emcee, but Cummings does it… thought his take is very different. We had great seats too. A night to remember.
Next day I took off to Providence with Tom Doherty, for an evening at Brown University, where both of us were honored with their new literary award. I have passed through Providence dozens of times on the Acela, travelling from Boston to NYC, but this was the first time I got off the train. It's a beautiful city, though, and the Brown campus is gorgeous. For those of you were not able to attend, here's a video:
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My thanks to the good folks at Brown, and all the students who attended the event and the reception afterwards (which was great fun, albeit too short). While in Providence, I also got to visit the grave of H.P. Lovecraft… who, sadly, failed to rise from the dead to greet us.
Then it was back to New York, with a brief stop in New Haven for pizza. This trip we tried Modern Apizza, which has its fans. Pretty good, I thought, but not as good as Frank Pepe's.
Come the weekend, I spent Saturday with my family in Bayonne. On Sunday, we had tickets to the Jets game. The horror, the horror. What can I possibly say about the Jets game? The Jets turned over the ball six times. Could have been eight, but they recovered two of their own fumbles. Geno Smith threw three interceptions in the first quarter alone. Geno is hopeless. Rex finally went with Michael Vick, who was better… but Vick is not the answer either. He's on the downside of his career. Rex should give Matt Simms a shot. I miss Sanchez. I miss Chad Pennington. I miss Joe Willie Namath. Anyway, it was a painful morning, made worse by the fact that we seemed to be sitting among the Buffalo fans, all of them cheering wildly every time the Jets screwed up. (That being said, two of the Buffalo fans were fans of mine. They said hello when I finally gave up and got up to flee… and refrained from pouring salt in my wounds, which was very kind of them).
Sunday night was much better. That was the big event at the 92nd Street Y to launch THE WORLD OF ICE AND FIRE. A full house, and all of them went home with a copy of the book. Here's the video for that one:
http://new.livestream.com/92Y/GeorgeRRMartinLive
On our last day, I appeared on LATE NIGHT with Seth Meyers, which was a hoot and a half, especially since Amy Poehler was there as well.
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Of course, I also signed a thousand books, did interviews with New York magazine, the Wall Street Journal, Al-Jazeera America, and George Stephanopoulos, had dinner with my editors and publishers at Bantam, lunch with HBO, some Papaya King dogs with X-Ray and Mr X, breakfasts with friends from DC Comic, Barnes & Noble, and Simon & Schuster…
And while I was there, I had not one but TWO new books come out, and immediately hit the bestseller lists.
Weeks like that don't come very often.
(Nonetheless, as always, it is great to be back in Santa Fe. Coming back to New Mexico is always a joy).
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