#rep tour seattle | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

mostlysignssomeportents · 2 months

Text

Middlemen without enshittification

I'm on tour with my new novel The Bezzle! Catch me next in SALT LAKE CITY (Feb 21, Weller Book Works) and SAN DIEGO (Feb 22, Mysterious Galaxy). After that, it's LA, Seattle, Portland, Phoenix and more!

Enshittification describes how platforms go bad, which is also how the internet goes bad, because the internet is made of platforms, which is weird, because platforms are intermediaries and we were promised that the internet would disintermediate the world:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/30/go-nuts-meine-kerle/#ich-bin-ein-bratapfel

The internet did disintermediate a hell of a lot of intermediaries – that is, "middlemen" – but then it created a bunch more of these middlemen, who coalesced into a handful of gatekeepers, or as the EU calls them "VLOPs" (Very Large Online Platforms, the most EU acronym ever).

Which raises two questions: first, why did so many of us end up flocking to these intermediaries' sites, and how did those sites end up with so much power?

To answer the first question, I want you to consider one of my favorite authors: Crad Kilodney (RIP):

https://archive.org/details/thecradkilodneypapers

When I was growing up, Crad was a fixture on the streets of Toronto. All through the day and late into the evening, winter or summer, Crad would stand on the street with a sign around his neck ("Very famous Canadian author, buy my books, $2" or sometimes just "Margaret Atwood, buy my books, $2"). He wrote these deeply weird, often very funny short stories, which he edited, typeset, printed, bound and sold himself, one at a time, to people who approached him on the street.

I had a lot of conversations with Crad – as an aspiring writer, I was endlessly fascinated by him and his books. He was funny, acerbic – and sneaky. Crad wore a wire: he kept a hidden tape recorder rolling in his coat and he secretly recorded conversations with people like me, and then released a series of home-duplicated tapes of the weirdest and funniest ones:

https://archive.org/details/on-the-street-crad-kilodney-vol-1

I love Crad. He deserves more recognition. There's an on-again/off-again documentary about his life and work that I hope gets made some day:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/09/09/free-sample/#putrid-scum

But – and this is the crucial part – there are writers out there I want to hear from who couldn't do what Crad did. Maybe they can write books, but not edit them. Or edit them, but not typeset them. Or typeset, but not print. Or print, but not spend the rest of their lives standing on a street-corner with a "PUTRID SCUM" sign around their neck.

Which is fine. That's why we have intermediaries. I like booksellers (I was one!). I like publishers. I like distributors. I like their salesforce, who go forth and convince the booksellers of the world to stock books like mine. I have ten million things I want to do before I die, and I'm already 52, and being a sales-rep for a publisher isn't on my bucket list. I am so thankful that someone else wants to do this for me.

That's why we have intermediaries, and why disintermediation always leads to some degree of re-intermediation. There's a lot of explicit and implicit knowledge and specialized skill required to connect buyers and sellers, creators and audiences, and other sides of two-sided markets. Some producers can do some of this stuff for themselves, and a very few – like Crad – can do it all, but most of us need some help, somewhere along the way. In the excellent 2022 book Direct, Kathryn Judge lays out a clear case for all the good that middlemen can do:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/06/12/direct-the-problem-of-middlemen/

So why were we all so anxious for disintermediation back in the late 1990s? Here's a hint: it wasn't because we hated intermediaries – it was because we hated powerful intermediaries.

The point of an intermediary is to serve as a conduit between producers and consumers, buyers and sellers, audiences and creators. When an intermediary gains power over the audience – say, by locking them inside a walled garden – and then uses that lock-in to screw producers and appropriate an ever larger share of the value going between them, that's when intermediaries become a problem.

The problem isn't that someone will handle ticketing for your gig. The problem is that Ticketmaster has locked down all the ticketing, and the venues, and the promotions, and it uses that power to gouge fans and rip off artists:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/20/anything-that-cant-go-on-forever-will-eventually-stop/

The problem isn't that there's a well-made website that lets you shop for goods sold by many small merchants and producers. It's that Amazon has cornered this market, takes $0.51 out of every dollar you spend there, and clones and destroys any small merchant who succeeds on the platform:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/25/greedflation/#commissar-bezos

The problem isn't that there's a website where you can stream most of the music ever recorded. It's that Spotify colludes with the Big Three labels to rip off artists and sneaks crap you don't want to hear into your stream in order to collect payola:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/09/12/streaming-doesnt-pay/#stunt-publishing

The problem isn't that there's a website where you can buy any audiobook you want. It's that Amazon's Audible locks every book to its platform forever and steals hundreds of millions of dollars from creators:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/07/25/can-you-hear-me-now/#acx-ripoff

The problem, in other words, isn't intermediation – it's power. The thing that distinguishes a useful intermediary from an enshittified bully is power. Intermediaries gain power when our governments stop enforcing competition law. This lets intermediaries buy each other up and corner markets. Once they've formed cozy cartels, they can capture their regulators and commit rampant labor, privacy and consumer violations with impunity. That capture also lets them harness governments to punish smaller players that want to free workers, creators, audiences and customers from walled gardens. It also hands them a whip-hand over their workers, so that any worker who refuses to aid in these nefarious plans can be easily fired:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/30/go-nuts-meine-kerle/#ich-bin-ein-bratapfel

A world with intermediaries is a better world. As much as I love Crad Kilodney's books, I wouldn't want to live in a world where the only books on my shelves came from people prepared to stand on a street-corner wearing a "FOUL PUS FROM DEAD DOGS" sign.

The problem isn't intermediaries – it's powerful intermediaries. That's why the world's surging antitrust movement is so exciting: by reinstating competition law, we can keep intermediaries small and comparatively weak, so that creators and audiences, drivers and riders, sellers and buyers, and other groups seeking to connect will not find themselves made subservient to middlemen.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/19/crad-kilodney-was-an-outlier/#intermediation

#pluralistic #intermediation #disintermediation #publishing #creative labor #middlemen #distributors #publishers #publicists #enshittification #monopoly #monopsony #crad kilodney #trustbusting #antitrust

171 notes · View notes

taylorswiftstylequestions · 9 months

Note

user @taylorswift loves Sarah confirmed 🥲

SARAH!!!!!!! The stress levels I was feeling knowing that we were down to your last surprise song, and then BOOM Debut just for you!!

TTWAS FOR YOUUUUUU OMG

SARAH TTWAS OMG I COULD NOT BE HAPPIER FOR YOU

SARAH TTWAS I AM SOBBING FOR YOU AND ME 😭😭😭

GREEN DRESS AND TTWAS?? SHE SAID TONIGHT IS FOR YOU 🥺🥺🥺

TIED TOGETHER WITH A SMILE IN YELLOW WITH GREEN LIGHTS YES SARAH!!!

TTWAS!!!! DEBUT!! FOR YOU!

TTWAS WE MANIFESTED

SARAHHHHH she knows you’re there she did this for you ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

SARAH!!!!! TTWAS!!!! 😭😭😭

Oh Sarah! Listening to TTWAS during Seattle N2 and crying happy tears for you! 🥹

SARAH!!!! Soo happy you got TTWAS!!! Blondes in Yellow!! And blondes in green with her folklore dress!!! 💛💚

OH SARAH IM SO HAPPY THAT YOU GOT THE GREEN FOLKLORE DRESS AND TIED TOGETHER WITH A SMILE DEBUT STAN WINS!!!!!

SARAHHHHHHH! I KNOW YOU'RE PROBABLY GETTING 130000 MESSAGES BUT. SHE DID THIS FOR YOU!! I AM CONVINCED!! CONGRATS ON TTWAS 💚

IM CRYING IN MY LIVING ROOM IM SO HAPPY FOR YOU

as soon as i saw that taylor played tied together with a smile my first thought was "i'm so happy for sarah!" debut stans win tonight!

TTWAS!!!!!!! SARAH I AM SO BEYOND HAPPY FOR YOU RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚

Omg Sarah!!! I have never heard this song before. It’s beautiful. So happy for you.

SHES PLAYİNG TTWAS YEEEESSSSS!! TSSER MANIFESTATION CIRCLE WORKED

I'm genuinely so happy for you Sarah, I hope you're having the best time!

Greeeeeeen folklore, Blonde In Yellow™️, and THE Debut song, TTWAS! I'm so happy for you Sarah, Yay!!!!!

THIS IS WHY SARAH ///CAN/// HAVE NICE THINGS💚💚💚💚💚

SARAH ARE YOU OKAY???? SHE SANG IT FOR YOU SARAH I JUST KNOW IT BUT ARE YOU OKAY????

sarah!!!! debut 😭 so so happy for you babes

My reaction, all the way from Australia, upon finding out that tied together with a smile was Seattle N2 surprise song- *gasps very dramatically* “YESSSSSS!! YESS!!!” I’ve never been happier about a surprise song and it’s not even my eras tour show. All the manifesting worked 💚

I was there tonight and thought of you as soon as she came out in green and started singing ttwas. Hope you had the best night ever; sad I couldn't pass on a bracelet to you but overjoyed about the rest of the night >4

hi Sarah 💚 when I saw that Tay played TTWAS last night, I just thought THAT WAS FOR SARAH!!! omg 🥹🤧🥰 you got it!!!! Manifesting works!! 💚 No one is ready for the re-record of debut! And then they will realize.

YES SARAH!!!!!!!! Love that your surprise songs were from Red, Rep, and Debut - so on brand so wonderful so deserved. AND you both wore GREEEEEEEEEEEEEN. Genuinely buzzing for you

I just woke up to the news that Taylor played TTWAS last night?!?!? and in YELLOW??? So happy for you sarah I hope you had the best time!! ❤️❤️

WE DID IT TTWAS WAS JUST FOR YOU

You got Debut tonight!!!!! I'm so happy for you!!!!!!

Not just any debut soldier, but TTWAS 🥹 so happy for you. I hope you didn’t black out & are able to remember it.

Hi, Taylor 👋 I know you come on TSS(Q) sometimes & want to say thank you for giving our big sis Sarah a debut bb last night 💚

DEBUT FOR SARAHHHHH

I just woke up and saw that Taylor played TTWAS last night! So happy you got one of your debut songs!!

Congrats sarah on your debut soldier !! Ttwas is so good. And its really cool that she played debut so randomly (or is it random *wink* *wink*)!!

sarah!!! you got the greeeeeeen folklore dress, a blondes in yellow moment for surprise songs, and tied together with a smile for the piano song. WHAT A NIGHT FOR YOU!!! 💚💛

I have no words. Just the “we did it, Joe” meme. 😭😭😭🥹🥹🥹💚💚💚

The first thing I did when I woke up this morning was check if she sang a debut for you and was so happy she did AND it was ttwas!!!! 🥲💚

Hi Sarah, I’ve been following your blog since the beginning. I thought of you immediately last night when Taylor sang TTWAS!! It made me SO happy! I can’t think of anyone more deserving. 😇

I woke up today and saw she sand TTWAS. My first reaction was “omg Sarah must’ve freaked out!!!!!” 🤣🤣🤣 i came here immediately to see if you’ve posted anything

---

Back home from Seattle today to my inbox which was an explosion of green hearts and sobbing emojis which is so on brand I can't even begin to tell you.

We really did it. That really happened.

😭🥹💚

53 notes · View notes

mosaic-broken-hearts17 · 4 months

Text

#polls #taylor swift polls #taylor swift #eras tour #swiftie polls #i hate using that many tags LMAO but i want people to see this

5 notes · View notes

candlewaxswift · 1 year

Text

Can’t wait to EXPERIENCE TOUR AGAIN! Rep era was my first time seeing @taylorswift live and it was SO AMAZING! @taylornation SEE YOU IN SEATTLE 🥹💖🌹🔥

#taylornation #taylorswift #seattletstheerastour #taylorlurking

24 notes · View notes

jamieroxxartist · 4 months

Text

✔ Mark Your Calendars: Wed Jan 10, 2024 on 🎨#JamieRoxx’s Pop Roxx Radio 🎙️#TalkShow and 🎧#Podcast w/ Featured Guest:

Francesca De Luca, SAG-AFTRA Los Angeles-based #actress

☎ Lines will be open (347) 850.8598 Call in with your Questions and Comments Live on the Air.

● Click here to Set a Reminder: http://tobtr.com/12301941

Pop Art Painter Jamie Roxx (www.JamieRoxx.us) welcomes Francesca De Luca, SAG-AFTRA Los Angeles-based actress to the Show!

(Click to go there) ● IG: @francescatheactor ● FB: @FrancescaDeLucaActress ● LT: @FrancescaDeLuca ● IMDB: www.imdb.com/name/nm1395817

Francesca is of Italian descent and was raised in London England by her mother Stella and grandfather Michael De Luca. Her London stage debut formally began playing the lead in Romeo and Juliet. While touring in A Midsummer Night’s Dream in which she played Titania, Francesca was approached to audition for the upcoming movie Orpheus and Eurydice. She was cast as the sorceress Agleoniki where she starred alongside legendary actor Oliver Reed, filming in Athens, Greece.

Francesca continued to work in leading roles such as Lady Macbeth with great directors such as Peter Greenaway in his abstract production of Macbeth and Graham Fletcher-Cook in the play Out of His Tree. In addition, she starred in plays such as The Legend of Bella Rosa, Intimacy written by Jean-Paul Sartre, As You Like It, Carla in Kennedy’s Children, the premiere of Red Lanterns directed by Sir Timothy Ackroyd. She acted in several British feature films including Heckle and after moving to Los Angeles was cast in a feature that premiered at Tribeca. A callback for a Francis Ford Coppola movie prevented Francesca from attending her premiere! However, to her delight she was cast in Coppola’s new Live cinema production, Distant Vision. Continuing to act in Los Angeles she played many leads such as in the film festival darling, Passports and in the comedy Down and Out alongside A.B. Farrelly.

Recently she starred in the psychological thriller Storage which premiered at the 2022 Academy Qualifying, LA Shorts Film Festival. Storage has gone on to win the Grand Prize at the Silicon Beach Film Festival as well as numerous other festivals. For her role in Storage, Francesca took home the award of Best Ensemble Cast at the Seattle Film Festival and Idyllwild Film Festival. Francesca starts off 2024 with a Green card and can now work for the major US Film and TV Studios, not just the independents! She has already been cast in three films set for production in 2024!

● Media Inquiries: Repped by CSP Management and Linda McCalister Talent LA.

2 notes · View notes

letstrywritingmaybe · 9 months

Text

Me trying super hard to be productive and finally finish the July prompts… but also losing my mind over No Body No Crime preformed live. I fucking knew they would play it and I’m not there!!!! Also justice for NBNC!!! I can’t believe there are people who don’t appreciate her enough!!!! I’ve waited years for Tay to write a murder song!!!! I mean!!! Come on!!!

Update: I am feeling so attacked right now… THIS IS WHY WE CANT HAVE NICE THINGS????? Omm this woman is really coming for me tonight!!!! Why am I not in Seattle!!!! 😭😭😭 (literally the amount of times I’ve said this phrase before rep era, and of course me claiming it during rep and it really is one of my favs off the album. I can’t. This is why we cant have nice things for real)

Update 2: EXCUSE ME BUT EVERYTHING HAS CHANGED!?!!?!? This woman really is coming for me tonight!!!! I love sweeran collabs!!!! I’m just lucky Ed wasn’t there too cause I would’ve absolutely died. Like deceased. Nope.

Oddly enough this wasn’t devastating like missing out on Clean (TWICE!!!!! Aghhh), it’s more like damn. I should’ve been there. Like off all the nights on the tour so far, this is literally the most me set list. I really really wanted to go to the Seattle show too *sigh I’m just buzzing with energy right now and feeling like I need to go listen to nbnc, tiwwchnt, and ehc now. Alright yeah, definitely gonna do that. Bye

Update 3: I did actually manage to finish the July prompts so I guess that’s a win. But at what cost. I cry. Anyways, time to go back to my swift spiral (i literally just allowed myself to stop listening to strictly Speak Now Taylor’s version)

#cynful babbles #I’m skipping so many scenes for these prompts but I just cannot focus right now and it’s getting too long for me #which isn’t saying much cause I can’t write long fics for my life like we’re just under 4k right now and I’m complaining #but anyways no body no crime supremacy. I wish I was there. I cry.

4 notes · View notes

stat-e-ofgrace · 9 months

Note

what happened in seattle 5 years ago? what changed?

it was a reference to the lover speech from earlier -taylor said she wrote a diary entry about how great the seattle crowd was during rep tour; it seems like it was a healing experience for her

4 notes · View notes

thelasttime · 11 months

Note

What’s the context of the conversation when Taylor thought your sister was dead haha

context is that my sister was supposed to go to the DC show during reputation tour with me and our friend (@/loverinthefoyer!! ❤️) but she wasn't able to go because she had internship in seattle.

when we got to rep room, like the VERY FIRST THING i bring up with taylor is that my sister was supposed to be here!! and she would've loved to meet taylor!! anyways i give my little spiel about how my sister loves her too etc. etc. and then we get to the point where i'm like "but she can't be here because she has an internship at [insert company here] in seattle"

anyways, this is when taylor goes "oh my god i thought you were going to say she was dead" 😭 GIRL??????? anyways it's okay because she looked very relieved and then said that my sister was an amazing person

#asks #asking you this*#anonymous #i think she's also just trained to assume the worse about things #bc i would also react the same if something was talking like i was #but truly i was just trying to tell her about my sister 😭#i think the way i interpret that reaction is that she's really used to people talking about pretty heavy stuff when they meet her #and she's trained to react like that

9 notes · View notes

mostlysignssomeportents · 2 months

Text

This day in history

I'm on tour with my new novel The Bezzle! Catch me TONIGHT in Seattle (Feb 26) with Neal Stephenson, then Portland, Phoenix and more!

#15yrsago Conan and copyright, by Crom! https://web.archive.org/web/20090228111053/http://www.robert-e-howard.org/AnotherThought4rerevised.html<?a>

#15yrsago What were arcades like, Grandpa? https://memex.craphound.com/2009/02/27/what-were-arcades-like-grandpa/

#15yrsago Ian McDonald’s “Cyberabad Days” — short stories in 2047 India that blend technology with spirituality, love, sex, war and humanity https://memex.craphound.com/2009/02/27/ian-mcdonalds-cyberabad-days-short-stories-in-2047-india-that-blend-technology-with-spirituality-love-sex-war-and-humanity/

#10yrsago GCHQ spied on millions of Yahoo video chats, harvested sexual images of chatters, compared itself to “Tom Cruise in Minority Report” https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/27/gchq-nsa-webcam-images-internet-yahoo

#10yrsago Boeing’s self-destructing, tamper-resistant spookphone: the Black https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/02/boeings-black-this-android-phone-will-self-destruct/

#10yrsago Guest review: my daughter reviews Ariol https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Dkj81uRN9Q

#5yrsago Fox hit with $179m (including $128m in punitive damages) judgment over shady bookkeeping on “Bones” https://variety.com/2019/biz/news/fox-bones-arbitration-emily-deschanel-179-million-1203150879/

#5yrsago AOC grills Equifax CEO: the Congressional record now contains the obvious, infuriating truth that everyone else already knew https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/02/11/rep-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-takes-aim-equifax-credit-scoring/

#5yrsago Bunnie Huang’s tour-de-force explanation of how hardware implants and supply chain hacks work https://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=5519

#1yrago Pluralistic: Podcasting "Twiddler" https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/27/knob-jockeys/

#pluralistic

4 notes · View notes

mercerislandbooks · 9 months

Text

50 Years of Island Books: Our Sales Reps

In this installment, we’re seeing Island Books through the eyes of our sales reps. Dan Christiaens, Christine Foye, David Glenn and Kurtis Lowe all have decades-long relationships with Island Books, with lots of stories to share.

Miriam: Welcome Dan, Christine, David, and Kurtis! I'm excited to talk to all of you. As key sales reps for the big publishing houses, you've all had long-standing relationships with Island Books, and we wouldn't be the place we are today without your contributions. Tell me some stories! It can be about your first impression of the store, how you came to work with us, a particular title that did well at Island Books, or any other fond memories.

Dan Christiaens (Norton): I’ll start off. It was around 20 years ago that I started covering accounts in the PNW. I was still living in SoCal. Island Books was on my account list so on my first trip I stopped by and met Roger. He was pretty terse, made it clear that he didn’t see reps, but would review my stuff and send me an order for anything that he wanted. The store was lovely, well curated, with the typewriters all over and a small music section featuring CD’s, which caught my attention. I would stop by the store when I was in town, say hello, and always buy a CD or two.

When I moved up here in 2004, I started visiting the store more regularly, chatting with Cindy or Nancy, or even Roger—and would buy a CD or order some music that I wanted that they didn’t carry, and began to suggest music they should be aware of. Then our books became the topic of conversation, and I started recommending various books of ours. Roger slowly came to respect my knowledge of our books—and we became friendly, and then MAGIC HAPPENED! And he started ordering from me!

Christine Foye (Simon & Schuster): Here's one of my favorite photos of all time, a picture of Laurie, Taylor Jenkins Reid, and me on tour for the hardcover of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. Which leads me to....

A book that did especially well at the store and why—The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo! Laurie and Victor came to the prepub dinner that I had for TJR in Seattle. Laurie immediately embraced the book and shared it and hyped it and talked nonstop about it until finally pub day came and by gum, Island Books was outselling all of my other accounts within a month. This was the perfect storm of great book, passionate reader and responsive customer base. It's wonderful to find a book one can really get behind, and Laurie and the whole staff did that with this marvelous novel. Also, don't we look lovely in green?

Remembering my first days selling to Island Books—I started selling to Roger in 1993. I knew nothing about anything, I was fresh out of the St. Martin's Press office in New York, selling trade paperbacks and mass markets and children's books and perfectly confident in my ignorance. Roger made short work of my inexperience but was kind about it, and commented on how I tidied up the store shelves and faced out titles. Had I worked in a bookstore, he asked. I sure had, and after that things were always affectionate between us in the Roger way. Which is to say, he let me sit and chatter for probably 10 minutes longer than he would have otherwise. And often I got a laugh out of him, which was wondrous. We did bond over having both been to Newfoundland — did you know he co-edited a book about it titled Outport: Reflections from the Newfoundland Coast? He did. (It's out of print.) I always loved Island Books, it was a pleasure to visit and see what kind of books Roger had decided to buy for the community. What a lucky community.

David Glenn (Penguin Random House): Durn, my first visit to the store was so long ago I’m not sure I can even dredge it up from my addled brain. If I had to guess, I’d say it was probably way back in the mid-90s? Of course that was back in the “Roger Days,” and I think it’s fair to say that, within our tightly-knit rep community, Roger was known as kind of a tough buyer. He relied a lot on jobbers and didn’t particularly like being “sold,” especially if it was by someone he felt perhaps didn’t necessarily measure up, or wasn’t sufficiently prepared to defend a title if questioned about it. Roger did not, as they say, suffer fools gladly and, quite honestly, I was pretty intimidated by him at first. He gave me a bit of a rough few seasons there at the beginning—always good-naturedly, for sure, but also making sure I understood who the buyer/owner was. Early on, though, I decided that I was going to do whatever it took to win Roger over. I was gonna get a belly laugh outta that guy one way or the other. So every season I made sure to bring my A-game, and began my campaign to be “welcomed” by Roger. It took me a lot longer than I thought it would—at least a couple years—but eventually, the respect I had for Roger as an owner and businessperson, was replaced by just the simple goodness of the man. I loved his dry sense of humor, and if you could coax it out of him, he had a truly impish grin. So Island Books at that point became one of my favorite stores to visit.

When Roger decided he’d had enough and it was time to sell, I was pretty bummed. And in what was an odd quirk of fate, the fellow that helped Laurie come to a decision about buying the store was an old fraternity brother of mine who lives on the island. Happily, Laurie and Victor have been the ideal stewards to move Island Books along, post-Roger. The store has always had a wonderful vibe, a superb staff, a great location, and a tremendously supportive community.

As far as books go, I have to mention a title I feel is perhaps the finest novel any of my imprints have published during my 34-odd years with Penguin Random House: The Heart’s Invisible Furies, by John Boyne. Full disclosure: Island Books has sold a solid, if unspectacular 40-plus copies of it since it came out in August of 2017. So, not a real barn-burner. But more than the “zero” it would have sold had Laurie not been willing to take a chance, and an example of the fruits of the give-and-take between a rep and a buyer. It may not have set the world afire, but my fervent hope is that it will remain a staple at the store for years to come.

In January of 2018, I hosted a dinner for three PRH authors: veteran Amy Bloom, and newcomers Tara Westover and Karen Cleveland. Both Laurie and Victor attended that dinner and, at one point, Victor noticed that while nearly everyone was chatting away left and right, Karen Cleveland was looking a little lost and forlorn (whoever the rep host was that night should have been paying more attention). So he marched right over and began chatting her up. Well, cutting to the chase, Victor read her debut thriller Need To Know (based on the author’s own experiences as a former CIA counterterrorism analyst) and made it his own personal crusade to make it an IB bestseller. In short order, IB sold over 70 hardcovers, and another 100+ more in paperback, which is just an outstanding result for a debut novel. Tara Westover’s singular memoir, Educated, also struck a chord with Laurie and Victor that night. And while it’s true the book was a massive bestseller for nearly every bookstore in America (spending over two years on the NYT hardcover bestseller list in hardcover no less), IB more than held their own and, in fact, really punched above their weight, selling nearly 600 copies in hardcover alone. This is the power of the independent bookstore in general, and the superpower of a store like Island Books. Every community in America should be so lucky to have such a store, and I can’t help but believe that if this were actually the case, the country would be a far less frightening and chaotic place.

Kurtis Lowe (Imprint Group): When I started as a commission rep back in 1997, I did not work with publishers that ranked for a meeting with Roger Page. However, in early 2001, I joined Book Travelers West, so Roger was ready to meet with me to scrutinize the lists of Workman, Ten Speed Press, Running Press, Watson-Guptill, and more. As I pitched book after book (only the best), Roger would pause before a title, pen hovering over the printed catalog page… sometimes he would he would score a one, for one copy... saved! It would have a chance. Two copies. Looking good! Three copies… just about as high as he would go with me. That is because local wholesalers had no better indie partner than Island Books when it came to restocking a title if it worked, and the high shelves were too full displaying vintage typewriters to make room for overstock. Roger’s team could be on the phone minutes before the deadline and receive a shipment by the end of the day. An initial order of one, two or three copies of could become 20, 50, or 100s sold over time.

When a title did not make the grade, Roger was not cruel, as he slashed a diagonal across the page, but at least he was definitive: “Not quite,” he would state, and often add a helpful comment of feedback for the publisher. Perhaps the greatest feeling of triumph as a rep was to throw a Hail Mary, one more point to get that book on the shelf, and Roger would page back, look again, squiggle out the slash and enter a number and circle it for order entry.

The times that Roger really went for a book were beautiful, and he was ready to do something a little special. Back in 2014, Island Books picked The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry for their April store pick. I committed to touring Gabrielle Zevin to 27 Pacific Northwest bookstores in three days to celebrate this gift to the bookselling (and rep) community. Roger loved the idea; he set up a display in front and gave a little speech to the the late morning gathering.

(Photo Credit: Kurtis Lowe / Roger Page introducing Gabrielle Zevin /The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill) / April 2014 Book of the Month Pick for Island Books / April 7th, 2014)

I’ve observed many bookstore succession stories. Laurie Raisys taking over, respecting traditions, and creating new ones, while bringing her own experience and energy to the store has clearly been a great success. Lillian Welch is my buyer now, and she eerily brings some of that challenging scrutiny that reminds me of Roger, but also a new and vibrant commitment to the best books for all readers in challenging times. Thank you to the many booksellers at Island Books who carry on your great tradition and congratulations to Island Books for 50 years as a shining literary light on Mercer Island!

Thank you to Dan, Christine, David and Kurtis, for giving us a glimpse into how those books get on the shelves at Island Books!

To our Island Books community: In the next 50 Years of Island Books installment, I’ll be talking to Cindy Corujo, who has been a bookseller for 36 years and has the longest tenure of any Island Books employee.

—Miriam

#miriam landis #island books #Christine Foye #David Glenn #Dan Christiaens #Kurtis Lowe #Simon & Schuster #Penguin Random House #Norton #Chronicle #books #the seven husbands of evelyn hugo #the storied life of a j fikry #the heart's invisible furies #need to know #educated #50 years of island books

4 notes · View notes

itsalovestory · 9 months

Text

Let me tell you, when I saw Taylor in Seattle….I knew I loved the rep album but as someone who went to the eras tour mostly spoiler free I remember thinking the speak now set came after evermore. When I learned that rep was next and I saw the snake on the screen I LOST my goddamn mind and I knew in that moment it solidified reputation being in my top 3 favorite albums

3 notes · View notes

theredtours · 9 months

Text

Taylor Swift’s masterpiece Eras Tour sets Lumen Field attendance record

By Michael Rietmulder | Seattle Times music writer

Concert review

Taylor Swift was just getting warmed up. With a little help from a sold-out Saturday night crowd at Lumen Field that came ready to scream every line, Earth’s biggest pop star had just ripped through “Cruel Summer” — a 4-year-old electro-pop banger that’s arguably the song of this summer — when she decided to have a little fun.

Without saying a word, Swift pointed to sections of the Seattle crowd, which she pegged at 72,000, who would erupt like audible geysers on their queen’s command. “This could go to my head,” Swift said playfully. “You just made me feel so powerful, you know what I mean?”

It was a winking setup for a booming “The Man” — a joyful stomp-and-romp rebuke of sexist double standards — that saw Swift bro-ing around a gargantuan office-themed stage, fist-bumping her battalion of business-suited dancers in jest, as her sequined jacket and boots glistened in the fading sunlight.

After Saturday night, Swift has every right to feel powerful. Although Lumen Field reps couldn’t confirm the final attendance figures Sunday morning, it was the largest concert crowd in the venue’s history, breaking a record previously held by U2’s 360 Tour, which drew more than 70,000 fans in 2011. According to Swift’s team, 72,171 fans were in the house Saturday.

From the opening segment of Swift’s Eras Tour, for which there was an almost unprecedented amount of anticipation, Swift came ready to shoot-to-kill-you-with-a-look, as the stadium exploded with the strike of every pose or lick of her bright red lips. The three-and-a-half-hour marathon was barely underway, and it was already clear fans were in store for a night of entertainment on the biggest, grandest scale.

At 33, Swift already has around 15 years of pop stardom under her belt. In that time, she’s developed a reputation for having one of the strongest work ethics and most meticulous eyes for detail in the biz, and her ambitious, career-spanning Eras Tour takes that to another level. It’s customary for artists with catalogs as deep as hers to draw from the different periods of their careers with any tour. But the breadth and depth of the ground Swift covered across her whopping, 40-some-song set — without a proper set break, no less — was truly impressive, both physically and artistically. (Of her 10 albums, only her 2006 debut was omitted.)

Rather than working through material chronologically, Swift and her band — who flanked the back line of the stage, which had a long catwalk jutting out to the middle of the stadium and a secondary, diamond-shaped stage in the middle — ping-ponged between older and newer stretches of her career, helping the pace of the show.

Breaking out the set into nine or so album-specific segments, each with their own imaginative stage designs and wardrobe changes, only magnified the multitudes of Swift, the country-singer-turned-certified-pop-juggernaut who prompts economic impact studies in every metropolis she visits. Shuffling through the various periods of her career often felt like visitations from the ghosts of Taylors past, from the teenager singing of high-school romance (“Fearless” and “Speak Now”) to the crossover pop star starting to realize her widescreen visions (“Red” and “1989”) and the snake-slaying superstar whose life played out in the tabloids (“Reputation”).

The starkest, most potent juxtaposition came during the first half of the show, when Swift segued from the indie-folk underpinnings of “Folklore” to “Reputation,” with the buzzing synths and crunching trap drums of “Ready For It” making it clear we were out of the woods.

With a wealth of newer songs from a prolific four-album run she’d never before toured on (spanning 2019’s “Lover” to last fall’s “Midnights” LP), the star’s abbreviated throwback dives into her transitional “Speak Now” and “Fearless” eras felt particularly fan service-y.

It’s hard to fathom Swift getting more popular than she already was during her last Seattle date, when she brought her popcorn-ready Reputation Tour here in 2018. But kicking off a two-nighter at the same venue five years later, it seemed that for every millennial going “back to high school” with Swift on a gleeful pass through “You Belong With Me,” there was a 7-year-old singing along just as loudly to “Love Story,” the same 2008 seeds bearing yet another generation of Swifties.

One of Swift’s strengths as a performer is turning some of her less overtly stadium-ready songs into some of the biggest moments in her shows.

Sitting alone at a moss-covered piano, in keeping with the woodsy motif of her “Folklore” and “Evermore” albums, Swift eased in to a heart-leveling “Champagne Problems.” For a minute, there was a rare stillness in the air that the crowd seemed to breathe in, only to let loose in a triumphant choir, joining their leader loudest at the bridge. As the stadium erupted in an extended “Taylor” chant when the final note slipped away, even Swift seemed to well up a little on the big screen.

With each section of the show, the stage transformed into distinct mini universes, and for all the more explosive, fire-cannon-blasting moments, those woodsy “Folklore” and “Evermore” portions felt especially Northwest. When Swift later returned atop the mossy-roofed “’Folklore’ cabin,” she joked that the pandemic-conceived “fantasy world” was “in the middle of the woods — somewhere in Washington state, probably.”

Save for a pair of surprise acoustic songs (Saturday night it was “This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things” and “Everything Has Changed”), there isn’t a ton of variation in the set list from night to night on the Eras Tour. But with sibling rock trio HAIM joining the tour as one of the openers in Seattle, fans were treated to the debut of the country-rock-tinged “No Body, No Crime” with Swift accompanied by her three “besties” to kick off the “Evermore” portion of the night. Even though her country roots seem a lifetime away, the dark, brooding number is proof Swift can channel an outlaw spirit anytime she wants.

Having executed the most ambitious tour of her career as well as she did Saturday night, it’s fair to wonder if there’s anything left Swift can’t do.

#copied this so I can read it later in case the link dies #my show #ts #eras tour #article

2 notes · View notes

jamieroxxartist · 4 months

Text

youtube

✔ Mark Your Calendars: Wed Jan 10, 2024 on 🎨#JamieRoxx’s Pop Roxx Radio 🎙️#TalkShow and 🎧#Podcast w/ Featured Guest:

Francesca De Luca, SAG-AFTRA Los Angeles-based #actress

☎ Lines will be open (347) 850.8598 Call in with your Questions and Comments Live on the Air.

● Click here to Set a Reminder: http://tobtr.com/12301941

Pop Art Painter Jamie Roxx (www.JamieRoxx.us) welcomes Francesca De Luca, SAG-AFTRA Los Angeles-based actress to the Show!

(Click to go there) IG: @francescatheactor ● FB: @FrancescaDeLucaActress ● LT: @FrancescaDeLuca ● IMDB: www.imdb.com/name/nm1395817

● Media Inquiries: Repped by CSP Management and Linda McCalister Talent LA.

#Youtube

3 notes · View notes