Day Job

I suppose a more skilled self-promoter would have promoted this a bit more than twenty-four hours in advance, but, to to take Donald Rumsfeld's hideous blitheness in vain (and add a bit of Johnsonian self-knowledge), you blog as the blogger you are, not the blogger you wish to be.

My friend Dmitry Samarov, author of the wonderful Hack: Stories from a Chicago Cab, has roped me into a thing: tomorrow night, February 20, at 8:30, a post-martini hour in which I'm usually considering what book will ease my transition to bed, I will be up on stage with him and seven other readers at LivingRoom Realty talking about the Day Job.

If you're in Chicago and able to come out, here's what I can promise you:

1. Dmitry, who is personable and entertaining and a great raconteur.

2. At least one Tolstoy quote.

3. At least one Samuel Johnson quote.

4. At least one brutal dis of Jack Kerouac.

5. That I will talk briefly about my long-ago career as a radio DJ.

6. That I will be off the stage in under eight minutes.

7. Oh, and, crucially, that there will be drinks.

I don't do this sort of thing often, but I can't refuse Dmitry, and I've enjoyed working up something on the theme. If you're around, come out. If I don't know you, I'd love to meet you: in my relatively extensive experience thus far, it's never a mistake to meet people you've come to like through the Internet.

Full details in the image above, or at this link. Hope to see you there!