Got an early morning phone call from Lucy in Vienna that the Greyhound bus to St. Louis won't make its scheduled stop in Carbondale this morning. Schedule 4700 got canceled in Clarksville, KY. That will be bad news to the people waiting at the Amtrak station for the bus to arrive.
In more upbeat news, the idea is still in play to rename the City of Carbondale after Stephen Colbert, Father of the Paducah-Carbondale Corridor -- Colbertdale -- for just one day; I plan to bring it up to the mayor the next time we play golf together (which won't be today . . . or ever . . . since neither of us plays golf).
I still like the idea of selling "I Slept in Colbertdale, Illinois" tee-shirts to benefit the Stage Company which will need a lot of money to help restore the Varsity Theater. The only problem with that idea is that if you didn't sleep in Carbondale on the night when Carbondale became "Colbertdale," then the message on the shirt would not be accurate. Another shirt could have a different message: "I Didn't Sleep in Colbertdale, and Never Will." That should do it.
Another project, the "Washington St. Hip-Hope" Street Fair to benefit the Tuscan Lodge is on schedule for late Spring, early Summer. Date TBA. (The name of the event may be changed, too, since it isn't carved in paper yet.
What else is new? I finally got the Shawnee Net home page fixed. Now all it needs is more content. The local news aggregator is nice, but needs better organization.
Been making progress on my blook. Created promotional widget including a sound-byte by City Councilman Joel Fritzler. Also signed up with LuLu Press to print copies on demand. Now all I need to do is finish writing. It won't be easy.
My "Vegetable House" script is being dusted off to shoot some scenes for a promo-trailer. Last night I met with Lucky Oldload, the Rugby Unit Manager, about shooting the Rugby scenes on April 1, when about 20 schools will be in town for a tournament.
The other scene I want to shoot is a concert at the Shawnee Saltpetre Cave south of Murphysboro, and some local beauty spots.
Although the story takes place in a fictional town called "Karmadale, Kentucky" much of film will be shot here in Southern Illinois. In the film, Karmadale is home of Southern University of Central Kentucky. I'll have Gusto's Van -- the man behind John Belushi's famous "COLLEGE" tee-shirt (from Animal House) -- work out the acronym for a tee-shirt.
The script, while timeless, was written in 1998-99, and the world has changed since then, so the script needs retooling to reflect those changes. More topical one-liners and references. Also, casting the right person to play "the holiest man alive" (as named by 'Steeple Magazine', I'm not making this up! Oh wait, yes I am). Of course no spiritual leader worth his salt would accept such a role. So it will have to go to a comedic actor of great skill to pull it off. Someone like, oh I don't know . . . someone who happens to be in town the day the City is named after him.
If Colbert is unavailable, perhaps a look-alike whose stage name is, let's say, "Steven Coldair." Yeah, that's the ticket.
UPDATE: Do you believe in serendipity? After writing the above paragraphs above, walking on Oak St. to Washington St., I met a Stephen Colbert look-alike headed on foot to Longbranch!
2 comments:
Dave, I'll donate $20 if you promise NOT to go through with this Stephen Colbert nonsense.
What nonsense? Renaming the City "Colbertdale" for one day, in honor of the man who literally breathed life into "The Paducah-Carbondale Corridor" (which didn't exist until he named it)? Or the nonsense of having a Colbert look-alike named "Steven Coldair" play a role in a movie?
Admittedly, renaming the City after a (pretend) pundit is a stretch, but as Browning wrote: "a man's reach should exceed his grasp...."
On the other hand, $20 could buy a slew of screws at True Value.
Don't you like Colbert? Or do you not believe that being mentioned favorably on his show would benefit the City of Carbondale? Bear in mind, the "Colbert bump" is real, and his audience among the 18-30 market is vast.
Perhaps it makes it seem like Carbondale is too desperate for good publicity after the bad press about high level plagiarism. Or maybe I'm the one that's desperate. Desperate for some fun.
True, $20 could also buy a one-way ticket to Paducahville. I'll have to think over the offer made by "Nodeargodnomakeitsop" and maybe place a PayPal donation link on this page, in case I am convinced. ;-)
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