PeterDavid.net

My father, Gunter David, passed away today at 2:53 in the morning. He died of cancer at the age of 85. He has been in hospice care for some weeks and lapsed into a coma several days ago. He died in his own bed, with his daughter Beth and my mother lying next to him.

I miss him terribly.

PAD

Fox has announced that they’ll be doing a new version of “Rocky Horror Show,” the 1973 play that was immortalized as a memorable film adaptation.

Fans are, of course, freaking out. Oh, what a horrible idea! How could they do it? It’s an insult! It’ll be terrible!

I don’t get it. Where were all the shrieking people when it was revived on Broadway back in the beginning of the century?

It’s a PLAY. It’s SUPPOSED to be done multiple times with different casts. We saw it several times back in 2001 with various actors. The narrator one time was Dick Cavett and another time Penn & Teller. It was a lot of fun. And Terrance Mann was, quite frankly, a better Frankenfurter than Tim Curry. If Fox casts him in the new version (unlikely, but still…) you guys would be in for a treat.

Yes, the movie was great, but there is absolutely zero reason that a new one can’t be just as entertaining, and it will appeal to a new audience featuring actors they’ve enjoyed in other programs or films. I wish fans would learn to just chill the hell out.

PAD

So I’ve been thinking about the whole thing for a few days, and here’s what I keep coming back to:

If a group of fans felt strongly enough about something I wrote, or me as an individual, to organize a voting block that got me nominated, I’d have zero problem with that. So I don’t see how I can, in good conscience, resent fans doing that for others, for whatever reason.

Plus Kevin Anderson is nominated, which is long overdue.

PAD

I asked fans to nominate “Artful” for the Hugo. Apparently we were shut out by puppies or some such.

My thanks to anyone who did make the effort to support me. There’s still the World Fantasy Award, but I doubt there’s any point at this juncture.

PAD

I literally cannot remember the last time I went to a Broadway show with pretty much no idea of what to expect. But Kath and I ventured out last night to a brand new musical, still in previews, called “Something Rotten.” We knew that it was basically about the creation of the first musical, but nothing beyond that. But we liked the ads (“The New York Times says: We haven’t seen it yet!”) and tickets were relatively inexpensive for Broadway. So we figured, What the hell.

Technically since it’s still in previews, we shouldn’t be doing reviews. But I’m not a reporter, and besides, the performance we saw could easily have been opening night. There were no screw ups (at least none that we could see), no stoppages in the performance. It was fully performance ready, and it was absolutely fantastic.
(more…)

A couple months ago, a friend of mine asked me if I could substitute for him at the Great Philadelphia Comic Convention this weekend. He’d committed to going but had to cancel due to family obligations. I said sure. He contacted the convention.

No one called me. Or wrote to me. Or contacted me. No one arranged travel of any sort. No one contacted me about a hotel stay.

So I figured, Okay, they don’t need me, and I forgot about it.

Flash forward to yesterday. Someone tweeted me and asked me where I was, because they couldn’t find my table. I went to their website and, sure enough, there’s my picture. They listed me as a guest.

So I apologize to anyone who might have gone to the convention solely to see me. The good news is that I’ll be at the Wizard Philadelphia convention next month, and also at the Atlantic City convention later that month.

PAD

Many, many years ago, when I was in my early 20s, my then-wife Myra and I were at Penn Station. I’ve no recollection of where we were going, but we were there. And at one point she suddenly said, “Look! It’s Ben Bova!” I turned and looked. “April Fool,” she said.

“Wow, that’s hilarious,” I replied.

She then went off to the women’s room and who should walk past me but Isaac Asimov. “Hi, Doctor Asimov!” I called. “Hi,” he said, waving back.

So Myra returns and I said, “You’ll never guess who walked past! Isaac Asimov!” She said “Yeah, right.” She wouldn’t believe me And because there is a God, at that moment, Asimov walked past in the other direction. I said, “He’s right behind you!” “Uh huh,” she said, refusing to look. I said, “Hi, Doctor Asimov!” And he said, “Hello again!” Her head snapped around and her jaw dropped.

“Don’t go up against me on April Fool’s Day,” I said smugly.

PAD