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Nick Dalrymple

Post #3729 – 20140531

May 31, 2014

I once read about an Idea Board that Mr. Pinkwater wrote about. It was an actual bulletin board where you could either leave an idea or take one. I used his idea outside my room in an elementary school I taught at many years ago. It was a great success. I am trying to remember the details of the article/story/essay. Hope someone can help.

Daniel replies:




You're telling about the E. J. Sperry Thought Factory that existed for a while in Chicago.  It was an old house with a couple of bulletin boards on the iron fence.  It figures in my extremely good novel, Bushman Lives! for a page or two.


Byron

Post #3731 – 20140531

May 31, 2014

Dear Daniel,

Long ago, I heard you read a piece on NPR that has stuck with me for 20 years or more (I have a rather fluid idea of time but I think a couple of decades is about right). It was a reminiscence of summers you spent at Camp Keewaydin; you'd found some time to drive up there as an adult. I found that so moving a memoir that I remember it with some detail after a couple of decades or more, having heard it but once. The ending contained the phrase "You don't write poems in Eden …"

I'd very much like to hear it again and hope that someone still has the recording of that piece. I've looked on NPR but couldn't find it. Can you point me to it?

I'd love to read it as well but I must say that hearing you, as an adult, hearkening back with an adult's perspective on days of golden youth was particularly moving to me and I'd love to hear it again.

Thanks for Being Yourself and sharing this and so many other things!

Byron

Daniel replies:




Gee, what a nice post.  It almost makes me sorry I never went to Camp Keewaydin, and naturally, did not write or recite that commentary.  I did once go to Camp Kiowa in Lake Elsinore, California, which lake had dried up at the time.  There was quicksand, an unusual feature for a summer camp, and a remarkable variety of insects of unusual size.  I didn't memorialize Kiowa in a commentary either.  In your vivid recollection of my reading, do you recall my having a Romanian accent by any chance?


Henry Fielding

Post #3732 – 20140531

May 31, 2014

Love the onions. Great story idea!
Keep the onion series alive and well with more books!

Daniel replies:




Did I say something about onions?  I am very pro-onion, but...


Aidan St. George

Post #3726 – 20140527

May 27, 2014

Dear Mr. Pinkwater,

I am in third grade and I'm writing a book report on The Hoboken Chicken Emergency and also a biography on you. I was wondering where you do your writing and if you ever have trouble coming up with ideas to write about?

Aidan

Daniel replies:




Hello, Aidan --



I do my writing at an old desk.  I got it second-hand, it used to belong to an office in some big company.  It is made of steel, and has drawers, and is sort of an ugly grey color with a little bit of rust.  The top is white, and made of stuff they used to call """"formica"""" and use for kitchen counters.  I am very happy with my desk.  I have had it since 1987.  I think I paid $25 for it.  One cool thing about my desk is that it works sort of like an antenna of some kind.  If I sit quietly at my desk, I can hear radio broadcasts...they may come from other planets, I'm not sure.  All I know is that when I sit at my desk all kinds of idea come into my head.  So that is the answer to your second question...I don't have any trouble coming up with ideas...as long as I have this desk.



Good luck with your book report and biography.  Be sure to mention how handsome I am.



Daniel


Bill Nowicki

Post #3728 – 20140527

May 27, 2014

Are you from Hoboken? Wikipedia says you are, your Facebook says, Memphis. I am working on a video for a guy from Hoboken and considering you as a famous person from there…

Thanks in advance.

Daniel replies:




Born in Memphis.  As an adult, I moved to Hoboken because of its proximity to the familiar Mississippi River.  Later, I learned it was the Hudson.


Kevin Cheek

Post #3725 – 20140525

May 25, 2014

Bushman Lives in San Francisco. Stumbled upon this article: www.sfgate.com/bayarea/nevius/article/Original-Bushman-lives-on-at-Fisherman-s-Wharf-5285601.php

Have a great day,

Kevin

Daniel replies:


Completely different Bushman, of course.  But a commendable artist nonetheless.


M2

Post #3720 – 20140505

May 5, 2014

Hello Mr. Pinkwater,
I'm a long time fan of you from childhood, but I didn't know you wrote a comic strip I adored as a child also, Norb. Recently I went on a hunt to find a copy which I did at a very reasonable price (below $20), this is such a brilliant comic and I would love to share it with others. Any chance of a reprint? Or better yet a digital release?

Thanks!

M2

Daniel replies:




That Norb collection is really rare.  Be careful with it--the binding tends to be lousy and pages fall out.  I think there are some samples online here and there.  The strip launched the day after Bloom County ended, and took its place in about 70 newspapers.  We got tons of hate mail--letters with drawings of open graves and daggers dripping blood.  Apparently there are people whose literature is the comics page, and they know that papers are very responsive to complaints.  Only two fan letters, one of which was from Jules Feiffer.  Papers began to drop it, and my partner, the talented Tony Auth got increasingly depressed.  I was not depressed because I have been a children's author so I am impervious to abuse.  After a year I asked Tony if he'd like to stop working on it.  He would, and we did.  Another  year passed.  Then the fan mail started to come in...""""Where's Norb?  It is my favorite strip. What happened?  Where is it?""""  This sequence of events more or less summarizes my whole career.  It is fortunate that I am so oblivious to what is going on that I have been perfectly happy this whole time.  As far as I'm concerned, anyone who wants to digitize the collection is welcome to do so, with or without pretending they intend to pay us anything.



Psst - check out this site. Keep it to yourself. -- Ed


Julia Wright

Post #3718 – 20140502

May 2, 2014

Dear Daniel Pinkwater,

I'm 28 years old with a masters in English from one of the most prestigious universities in North America, and I have to say that Lizard Music and The Snarkout Boys are my two favourite books. Of all time. They oust Madame Bovary and Anna Karenina. I first picked you up at age 9 or so and I have never looked back. You are a Dickens, Dahl, a Lee to me.

Growing up in a small town in rural Canada, the vision you painted of urban streetscapes, of secret restaurants, late-night cinema, Nosferatu and punks and beer gardens and Walter Cronkite, were my first exposure to any of those types of things. It blew my mind. It depicted a freedom and liberalism to which I aspired. Your books quite helped make me the artist and writer I am today. I recently started dating a new guy and one of the first things I did was go to the library and check out The Snarkout Boys; I handed it to him and said, "This is required reading for anyone who wants to date me. It tells you everything you need to know."

Thanks for all that, D Manus, the man. I wish this forum allowed me to take a picture of my childish scrawl on the fly lead of the library copy of Lizard Music that is still held, 21 years later, in the kids section of the Saint John Free Public Library: "THIS BOOK IS GREAT! READ IT." I mean it as sincerely now, as ever.

Yours, with great esteem,

Julia Wright

Daniel replies:




I suppose this is as good a time as any for me to repeat my theory of art: If the book, (or painting, or whatever), is put together in the right way, the reader may make certain connections, or have certain insights or feelings that are entirely personal, and can even be important, which have little or nothing to do with what the artist knew, or understood, or felt.  So, I was not thinking at all about offering you a view of alternative lifestyle, or a litmus test for prospective boyfriends.  I was just trying to make the book, not even thinking that much about anyone reading it.  Well, I did intend that someone would read it...boils down to this, the book isn't finished until you read it, and the things that can happen happen.  I hope you are not bogged down in the past, and know that I have written better books than the Snarkout Boys, and possibly as good as Lizard Music.  Quite a lot is available cheap as Kindle editions at Amazon.  Thanks for your touching remarks.


Sandy

Post #3717 – 20140428

April 28, 2014

Can we look forward to a reprinting of The Wuggie Norple Story? Our first, beloved copy wandered off in the mid-90s, possibly as a loan to a young friend. Years later, our adult daughter as a gift to her dad, located a used copy and paid quite a bit for it. Then, last year in the Colorado floods, the foundations of our house collapsed into the St Vrain River and ALL our books–including The Wuggie Norple Story–disappeared into the waters! We have two precious grandchildren who may never know the silliness of The Wuggie Norple Story and that makes us all sad.

Daniel replies:

You may look forward.  I can't say how far forward, because these things are often in the hands of others, and can take time.  Meanwhile, there are many waterproof editions of my books available in Kindle format on Amazon.com.


Barbara E. McKeon

Post #3716 – 20140428

April 28, 2014

Glad to find your website! Loved your books as a kid. Thought you might like to check out this exhaustive and FREE TO VIEW chart of avocados. (www.hawaiifruit.net/Avocado.pdf) I guess in poster form it's twenty-five bucks ( www.localharvest.org)… I had no idea some are EXPERIMENTAL types. Experiments on avocados?? You were on to this decades in advance!!!

Daniel replies:

Funnily enough, I recently was obliged to sign a document specifying that I may not enter into any discussion or correspondence to do with ""experiments"" and ""avocados."" All I feel comfortable in saying is that there is more to it than you imagine.


Mel Wang

Post #3714 – 20140424

April 24, 2014

Hi Mr. Daniel Pink water,
I am from Malaysia and just started listening today (21st April 2014 Easter Sunday) to Radio Mozart lovely music indeed and heard your announcement during a break.
I love your web site and lovely dog , will be reading some of your books later.
Kind regards to you and Jill.
Sincerely
Melanie Wang (Ms)

Daniel replies:

Thank you!  So many nice people listen to Radio Mozart!


jorge luis

Post #3713 – 20140424

April 24, 2014

I really like listening the station, I use to study… hi from Chile….. saludos desde otra galaxia

Daniel replies:

Delighted to have international and intergalactic greetings.  Thanks on behalf of the station, also Mozart says hello.


morgan slagle

Post #3705 – 20140418

April 18, 2014

Hey i like your books . I want to get some for my brother to read and i thought you would have some ideas. My bro is 5. he likes the books i read to him that you wrote but he wants some of his own. My brother would really like it if you found some books he would like. PS my brother likes Spider Man and Jake And the Neverland Pirates if you plan to write another book. Thanks! Morgan Slagle

Daniel replies:

Ask someone where the library is, then go there with your brother--he can select books he'd like you to read to him.


Bruce Harris

Post #3702 – 20140413

April 13, 2014

Radio Mozart: I love it, but is there any chance you might intervene on 2 irritants? 1: there is a newish (2 months or so) female voice that sometimes shouts "You are listening to Radio Mozart!". It has to be one of the most aggressive voices I have ever heard in any radio announcement and sounds completely out of place.

2: some pieces of music are cut off midstream no doubt because there is a digital end-of-track marker, even though the integrity of the music is ruined. E.g. the flute quartet where the second movement morphs into the third – we never get to the third. It used to happen with Exulstate jubilate too, but now a different – complete – version seems to be played. These are just two examples of a phenomenon that spoils what is otherwise a blissful experience.

Thanks for listening!

Bruce

Daniel replies:

You appear to be in the UK, so your ignorance is forgivable, and I will enlighten you. 1. The voice you find aggressive is that of a popular and beloved broadcast professional in the midwestern United States, one Charity Nebbe.  She and I used to be on the same program carried nationally on NPR stations--people in the east, where there are still influences from the old country, found her sound took getting used to, but they came adore her, as do her listeners in the state of Iowa. Where you say aggressive, I would say bright, clear, and enthusiastic.  Mozart would agree.  2. Radio Mozart is a one-man operation, the creation of Nicolas Goyet, a journalist in Marseilles, France.  It's his hobby, although you'll agree he is peerless and surpasses many professionals in selection of performances.  Because the station is put together with limited resources, there are some rough edges.  But think about this, if you were listening in the US, you would be subjected to the most horrible and annoying commercial announcements, (something to do with his deal with the bandwidth supplier).  I note that you characterize listening as a near-blissful experience.  Near-blissful is pretty good, wouldn't you say?  Keep listening, it may get better.


Kevin Cheek

Post #3701 – 20140413

April 13, 2014

I am drinking Guinness Stout while eating a banana. Ook, ook, Bushman Lives!

Daniel replies:

That's something I could imagine, but would never do.  It's a mistake to let fiction prompt you to enact stuff.  Read the wrong thing and you can be in terrible trouble.


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