Rol's Road Blog 2: NYC Launch


Two guns, 100 rounds of ammunication, a fake beard. Hence the helicopters hovering downtown last night, the city in a sense of seige. Four dead:

NYTimes: Seige?

A former Marine. America trains them well. Stanley Kubrick, anyone?

I am still alive, though, so the obscenity of going on, going on, with the bottoms of my trousers rolled, goes on.

The temperature has slid, the icy rains precede predictions of 6 to 10 inches of snow. Just 24 hours ago I was celebrating T-shirts and sweaty socks.

Back on course: After preaching to the knowledgeable and converted at the brilliant and membership-only Nichibei Society in Manhattan and dining among the dogs at Fred's, Leo sadly had to fly back to Tokyo before the launch party at The Cutting Room.

Over 300 celebrated, including my lovely bicultural parents, and VIPs of varying stripes. Worth thanking here are Lee Guzofski, who planned the evening, Ajay and Amit Tandon, who paid for it, Steve Walter, manager of the venue, who cut us a deal, and the brilliant Gaijin A Go Go, the transcultural band who rocked and socked us into eternity for hours.

I signed a bunch of books for the very kindest of crowds.

Again, this is horribly backdated. Tonight I got to meet the Japanese translator of Japanamerica. His name is Iyasu Nagata. He seems brilliant and studied. He's also a bass player. With Nagata-san, I also got to see Matthew Sharpe read from Jamestown, a novel whose brilliance you'll soon hear about. Trust me.

Not dead yet,
RK

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