In February I received this e-mail that stated:
Hello Mr. Mickunas,
I'm Drew Hastings and I'm writing you to see if you might have interest
in covering my book release.
I am originally a Kettering native, and currently reside in Hillsboro,
Ohio. My memoir was released last week. It takes place in Dayton,
Kettering, Cincinnati, Hollywood and back to Hillsboro. It has done well
in early release. (see amazon for info) I have been a standup comedian
for almost thirty years, and was the (rather controversial to say the
least) mayor here in Hillsboro for the past two terms.
I would offer that I have long had a substantial following in the Dayton
market from my years of appearances there and my exposure as a favorite
regular on the syndicated Bob & Tom Radio show...
—
I was intrigued. I must confess that I was not familiar with Mr.
Hastings. I did some on-line sleuthing and discovered that this was all
true, he is a famous comedian and he's quite funny. I asked him to send
me his book. (I'll admit, I was also charmed by the fact he was doing
his own publicity).
Drew mailed me his book. He's written a memoir which is reflective and
self-deprecating and pretty darned funny! I loved it! I thought, gosh,
who would ever imagine that a famous comedian could move to a little
town in southern Ohio and start shaking things up? Amazing!
Then we began doing the dance. I tried to arrange an interview. Drew did
not have ready access to a land line phone. That was one obstacle. We
e-mailed one another for months. I never gave up though. I felt that an
interview with Drew Hastings might be really special.
We finally got it together and recorded a radio show. This is my
favorite memoir of the year so far and one of my favorite radio shows,
too.
Thank you, Drew.
The Book Nook on WYSO is presented by the Greene County Public Library with additional support from Washington-Centerville Public Library, Clark County Public Library, Dayton Metro Library, and Wright Memorial Public Library.
