Hey Everyone,

I'm writing this blog post from 35,000 feet in the air, listening to Infiniti On High on repeat as to drown out the chatty women next to me gabbing about whatever news item ran about Reese Witherspoon in this week's issue of In Touch. Ughh.

So here is what has been learned over the past two days: Pimping ain't easy. Especially when you're pimping a book. I arrived in Cleveland on Thursday and checked into my room at the Hyatt downtown, which looks like this:



It was a strange place, this hotel. They played Pavement constantly in the lobby and the bottom two floors were sort of like a mall, with a food court and bargain clothing boutiques.

I'm not sure why you would build a hotel in the midst of all this, but whatever. I wasn't there much seeing that Les and I had two appearances to make in two days, including a reading at a Joseph Beth inside an actual mall. (You know you've made it when you're reading across the parking lot from a Cheesecake Factory!)

Anyway, we read four passages from the book and then answered a bunch of questions from the audience. Many of those in attendance were, of course, from Alternative Press and if you squint just enough at the picture below, you can see everyone's favorite Minus The Bear-obsessed music editor grinning in the back...



Also, how cool is Aaron Wilson? That's him waving on the left, while rocking a sort of Terry Richardson-gone-high-fashion look. That dude is my hero.

As for the reading itself, Les was a pro, I started off a bit shaky, but by the time that we were onto the question-and-answer session, things were running smoothly and we were even able to sneak in an Vinnie Acardi joke. Man, it's a year-and-a-half after we started writing this book and let me tell you, I still love a good Vinnie Acardi joke…

So then, all of this sounds like great fun, right? Then why don't you join us for our next reading, which is this Friday at the Vintage Vinyl in Fords, New Jersey. Some of you in the New Jersey area may have already seen this advertised at the store, but just in case, here are the details:

Friday, May 04, 2007
VINTAGE VINYL
51 Lafayette Rd.
Ford, NJ 08863
732-225-7717

Now, as some of you may know, the original idea was for us to read, then we were going to have a band play, then all of us were going to sign our respective products together. We've already received a couple of MySpace messages about who might be performing alongside us, so I'm going to clear this up now...

Unfortunately, Ben and P.J. from Armor For Sleep WILL NOT be playing after our reading. They planned on it. Really, they did. But as you may already be aware, Armor For Sleep are currently recording their first album for Sire Records and, unfortunately, they had a scheduling conflict that made it impossible to be there. However, we are working on finding a replacement, and as soon we secure someone, we'll post something here.

In the meanwhile, we need your help. How many of you go to, say, Rutgers or a college near Fords? What about a high school? Would you want to post some flyers at said educational institution? Some of you have already reached out about this, but we have a box full of new flyers, and we're really trying to get as many people out to this event as possible. So if you think you can help, please get in touch with us at theemobook@yahoo.com ASAP. We'll get some flyers to you overnight.

So that's it for now. If you haven't already, head over to Fueled By Ramen's website and sign up for their newsletter, "The Dish." They are running a contest where you can win a copy of Everybody Hurts. Just be prepared to know your Almost Here lyrical references… or forever hold your peace in pieces.

Man, that was bad. Next time, we'll keep the tawdry jokes to a minimum…

Until then,

XO TK (and Les)

Question: What exactly happened to that guy in the tie?



You remember Jesse Lacey, right? He was always clean-shaven, obsessed with The Queen Is Dead and spent most of his money at H&M? That's the Jesse Lacey we all came to know and love, but last night, at the Brand New show in New York, that guy was nowhere to be found.

Throughout the band's two-and-a-half-hour set, Jesse wore a bear mask, spoke in a fake New Jersey dock worker accent, dove into a drum set and, as his final act of the evening, threw a cymbal at Brian Lane's head. Oh, and there were three drummers and about 18 other people onstage when he did so.

In short, the dude has lost his mind, and I mean that in the best way possible. The show was terrific, bizzare, and ridiculously memorable. I don't know if things were quite as unhigned at other stops on the tour, but I can't help but applaud his turnaround, the way Elaine's boyfreind applauded the New Jersey Devils on Seinfeld.

Sincerly,

TK



(That's not really me. I think.)

That subject line is from one of my favorite Academy Is... songs. I don't think they will be calling me on my next birthday, but I do love some of the music that band makes.

Anyway, that subject line is also a way to announce that, yes, people are reviewing the book right now and… well, they've been surprisingly positive.

This week at your local newsstand you can read about Everybody Hurts in both Nylon and Revolver. These magazines are very unlike each other. One of them is read by girls like this...



The other… ugh, well...



But both of their staffs seem to love our book. With that being said, if you want to know how you can get a Lower East Side hipster and a dust-tache sporting Chimaira fan in the same room, the answer is to simply leave a copy of our book in the corner. It warms the heart just knowing that.

However, that wasn't the first review that ran this week. On Tuesday, word came down that Penthouse also wrote about the book in their current issue, which meant Leslie and I were going to have to plunk down eight bucks to see Everybody Hurts mentioned alongside an article about the greatest celeberity sex tapes, like, ever!

The writer at Pentohouse also liked the book (maybe it was all the Suicide Girl references?) and Leslie and I were both pleased with the mention, but I gotta say, I think the relationship between me and the guy at my corner bodega is forever changed.

For the past year, it's been strictly business: One diet coke, every four hours. But on Tuesday, it became a diet coke and an expensive porno mag and, dude, the man behind the counter was amped. He smiled approvingly as then handed me my purchase in a think black plastic bag, while making me feel like the biggest creep walking down Manhattan Avenue. Which is saying something.

Anyway, I'm sure it's nothing a couple warm showers won't cure. So then, moving on, the big news this week is that we will be reading our book to you, the people who theoretically want to hear us read our book. This will happen first, as hinted at in last week's post, in Cleveland. This will be the fist time that we've ever done this, so we'd really love to have some people who are excited about the book sitting front and center. That being said, here's the info you'll need:

Thursday, April 26, 2007
07:00 PM
JOSEPH BETH CLEVELAND
24519 Cedar Road Lyndhurst, OH 44124
216-912-1980

Oh, and did I mention that we have a book coming out this Tuesday? How crazy is that?

More soon,

TK