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Tell them to get lost launch

Book launch and Key Party.

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Okay, I may have looked a little like a pimp, but that’s how the cool dudes dressed in 1974. And that’s how I dressed for the  book launch of Tell Them to Get Lost on Thursday night. I did get a few stares walking to Readings Bookshop in St Kilda, because St Kilda is also hooker central and I looked like a pimp (or a cliched 1970s pimp at least). The launch was fab and a good crowd of cool dudes and groovy chicks turned up to watch my very 1970s slide show followed by a key party. The only things missing were devilled sausages, Harvey Wallbangers and a few tabs of LSD. Here’s some photos from the night (I left out a few because I didn’t think think the orgy photos were appropriate for my younger audience)… Read more →

Cannstatter_Volksfest

From kartoffelpuffers to nasi goreng.

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My liver survived all the beer in Germany and I’m now in Ubud, Bali for the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival. I ended my German Beer Drinking Tour, I mean Book Tour, back in Stuttgart to meet up with a bunch of couch surfers to attend Canstatter Volksfest (basically a big fun fair with huge beer tents in the middle). It was a Saturday plus a public holiday in Germany, so the place was packed with Germans in lederhosen. We queued at one beer tent for two hours and it looked like we weren’t getting in anywhere when another couch surfer found tickets for us into another tent. So, with ein mass (a litre of beer) in hand and half a grilled chicken I joined the throng standing on their chairs singing along to traditional German beer drinking songs. Except they also threw in some not quite traditional German songs like Cheap Trick’s  ‘I want you you to want me’ and ‘Sweet Home Alabama’. Here are a few photos from the night… Read more →

Sleeping Around Book launch

A very hot book launch.

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I’ve only just cooled down enough from my book launch on Thursday night to finally update my blog! And what a scorcher of a night it was (in both respects!). Half an hour before kick-off it was 43.1 degrees (110 in the old money) and I was worried that folk would be sitting under their ACs at home rather than coming out and tackling the heat. But, bless them all, about 70 people risked dehydration and heat stroke to hear me waffle on about sleeping around the globe. The other problem with a hot night is that the bar tab soon ran out because beers were going down faster than Melbourne’s train system (oh, and Couch Surfers LOVE a free drink!). All in all a very nice night – I sold a few books, drank a few ice cold Coronas and caught up with friends and family. And, best of all, no one fainted. At my last launch a girl collapsed onto a table halfway through my reading – she was either a HUGE fan and it was all too much for her or most likely because I just waffled on for too long. Read more →