Gee, didn't intend to have 3 postings in a row, but, what the heck....

Just came back from Columbia College's Video Interview with Ray Bradbury.

Wow!
It was done just this last Friday, in LA, at the Zone Zero Bookstore. Shown tonight at the relatively new Harold Washington Library auditorium, downtown Chicago, it is a fine place. Large screen. Great audience. And Ray's biographer, Sam Weller, while interviewing Ray in the video, also answered questions after the presentations. I quietly marveled at this young man. Besides being an adjunct professor at Columbia College in Chicago, and having written for National Public Radio, as well as a contributing writer for Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Tribune, this Sam Weller also has a uncanny resemblance to a young Ray Bradbury. What more can you ask?

Great interview! Great time!

Nard, now you've given me yet another reason I should be moving back into Chicago! I miss events like that.... Do you know if the interview will be available on-line or any other way?

Imskipper

Hey! Naperville isn't that far.... I'm thinking of getting outta this area maybe this summer, and looking Southwest, passed Joliet, Aurora area. Even 'that' isn't that far... But If I somehow manage to get back to LA. again, well, now, that would put me right smack dab in the back yard of our favorite author.

I hope 'someone' puts this video that was shown earlier in the week at the library in downtown Chicago....into some sort of 'seeable' form... It was probably the best interview I have ever seen. It was very informative, enjoyable, Ray was truly himself, and sharp and very real.... Thanks again to biographer Sam Weller.....Had a photo taken of Sam and myself... at the video presentation that night ...that I hope to post, once I get my Website up and running, most likely around April 15th.....


[This message has been edited by Nard Kordell (edited 03-27-2003).]

Thanks for the kind words, Nard! It was great to meet you on Tuesday night. The interview was a lot of fun to do and, indeed, Ray was his usual, eloquent, jovial, energetic, inspirational self. The tape should be made available in the coming months from the Fiction Writing Department at Columbia College Chicago.

I've tried to stay away from posting on this bulletin board simply because I'm busy with the book. But I will check in now and then.

Best Wishes to All!

Happy Fahrenheit 451 50th anniversary!

Sam Weller

WELCOME, SAM!!! I obtained what I think is your e-mail address (mine is on my profile here on the site) and thanks for saving me the trouble of trying to contact you that way! 7 Questions I would ask Ray Bradbury that I hope you cover in the book:
1. Once and for all, is your birth name Ray, or Raymond? (A PICTURE of the original birth certificate would be nice--did you see the fake one online?)
2. Were you born at home, or in a hospital or other facility? (I've seen both in print.)
3. You graduated from high school in 1938 and sold newspapers on the street corner of Olympic and Norton from 1940-1942. Do 1938-1940 represent some sort of "lost years"? (I know he was living at home till about 1945 and wrote for fanzines during this time, but little else.)
4. Between the time you left home and got married (1947), where did you live, and was it anything like the place in "Death is a Lonely Business"?
5. Do you consider "Death is a Lonely Business," "A Graveyard for Lunatics," "Green Shadows, White Whale" and "Let's All Kill Constance" to be a series, or separate works? (I know my own opinion but must settle an argument with a friend.)
6. Whatever happened to "Farewell Summer," and do you plan to publish it?
7. Has "Mr. Electrico" ever been identified? If not, it would make a good "Unsolved Mysteries" segment. Perhaps a photograph could be located and printed.
Much congratulations on taking on this monumental task! I guess including a list of collections and separate list of uncollected items would be too much to ask...? Donn Albright spoke once of a young man who went and saw Ray, collected all the information for a biography, and then found himself overwhelmed by it. Thanks for any light you can shed on these questions or any updates on how or what Ray is doing now.

Hi Dandelion!

Thanks for the nice note! I have answers to all of your questions in my book, but I've been asked not to tell too much of what's inside so the book will be full of surprises and treats for Bradbury diehards.

But just to bate you...Ray's birth certificate says "Ray" on it. Although he says he the spelling of his name for the first few years of his life was actually, "Rae," (after an aunt) until a school teacher recommended that his name should be changed. Apparently, little "Rae" was being teased.

That's the only morsel I can throw out for now!

Cheers!

Sam

(1) Will the interview tape be announced when it is available? (Assuming it is available for general purchase.)

(2) Do we have a date/publisher on the biography yet?

Thanks

Mr. Dark:

I may be mistaken, but I think Sam Weller said it was to be published by William Morrow Publishers The date is early 2004.

As to Ray's name...AHA!! I thought he said it years ago at a writer's conference that his name was simply Ray. Wrote a note to the Conference Director to clarify the matter.... but...guess he never heard of anyone just named Ray, so he gosh darned went and introduced him again as Raymond....

�THIS...is the Writer's Conference spoken of in the above post. Come out this year, in June, 2003, and see if he is still introduced as Raymond.....

click on, or type into finder: http://www.sbwc.org/


[This message has been edited by Nard Kordell (edited 03-28-2003).]

Good. Finally, I get to say I TOLD YOU SO with AUTHORITY to all the "Raymond" diehards. Thanks, Sam! It is very cosmic that you are named Sam--the same as Ray's brother who died so young, about whom he wrote a poem.

What is the name of that poem, or even better, where can I find a copy? Thanks.

The poem about Sam is "I Have a Brother, Mostly Dead," and he is also mentioned in "Their Names in Dust, Their Dates in Grass," a lot nearer my heart because I went and viewed the actual unmarked graves and ledger books written of in the poem. In the ledger book Sam appears simply as "Baby Bradbury" although he was about two years old. One question of a much more personal nature I'd like answered is WHY Ray never had the graves marked? The ledger books list the plots (two different cemeteries; Ray's sister Elizabeth is buried in another) and it seems it would be possible to identify spots to place markers. One or both of the poems is in "The Haunted Computer and the Android Pope."

Thanks for the information!

this is for writingreptile. what's oingo boingo?? i saw it in your profile and i am perplexed.

Well, it's official. I'm old.

Oingo Boingo was a New Wave/Alternative Rock band fronted by Danny Elfman, now of film score composing fame. They had mainly a Southern California fan base. Most people know them from the "Weird Science" theme song.

You can Google "Oingo Boingo" or "Danny Elfman" to learn more.