Back at it! / Updates & More FACEBOOK MAGIC!
Apologies for the long timespan since my last post and this insanely looooong post.
Here’s why it has been delayed so long. Soon after one of my earliest posts, I received a private message from a “book packager” with multiple ties to the world of traditional publishers. After several phone calls and emails discussing the best path to have both Bob Liberman’s memoir and my own published, we determined it would be worthwhile to approach a traditional publisher.
With a tight timeframe to receive a response, complete the writing, and have an actual book in hand for a preferred release in August to coincide with Jimmy Buffett Day in Florida on August 30, we also discussed the merits of “Print On Demand.” Regardless, we decided it was worth the effort to draft a proposal to a publisher solely focused on titles related to music.
A typical book proposal consists of a description, author biographies, table of contents, a comparative analysis of related books, sample chapters, and potential photos to be used. More on that in a future post.
Anyway, I spent nearly the entire month of December drafting, editing, and polishing multiple chapters for Bob’s book, totaling more than 30,000 words, along with several chapters for my own book. All chapters for both books included multiple photos.
After submitting everything to Dennis, the book packager, in early January, our wait to hear any response began. At the same time, I also had to focus ALL my time to a day of road races my wife and I created, plan, promote, and stage. The St. Petersburg Distance Classic, with a 26.2 mile marathon, 13.1 mile half marathon, 10K, and 5K was successfully staged on February 11 with nearly 2,200 finishers.
It is a huge undertaking, followed by the post-race wrap-up, which is nearly complete, more than 5 weeks later.
With that in the rearview mirror, I am re-committed to sharing the rest of my endeavors to help write Bob’s book, as well as my own, but rather than jumping into the present state of affairs, I thought it would be worthwhile to pick up where I left off, with the “FACEBOOK MAGIC” and how it came to be that Bob approached me to help with his story.
Before I share with you that particular piece of FACEBOOK MAGIC, I think it is important to mention I only met Bob one time, very briefly, during a concert at the Music Hall in Boston on March 19, 1980, 44 years ago. I was standing on the side of the stage right next to Bob when I shot this photo.
I then told Bob he had the best job in the world. He just smiled and nodded.
It was the only time I spoke to Bob, though his name had been mentioned to me two previous times. The first instance was when I was planning my 1978 hitchhiking adventure and called Jimmy’s booking agent to find out where he would be playing. Bob’s name was mentioned as Jimmy’s Tour Manager. I recorded that name in my address book:
The next time I heard Bob’s name was exactly 46 years ago (March 20, 1978), when I was in Columbus Ohio. During that day’s soundcheck, I had asked Jimmy’s stage manager, Ricky Holcomb, if I could score a photo pass. Or if his crew needed any help. Or if I could get my photos from Boston two weeks earlier autographed by Jimmy?
Ricky told me, “I will need to ask Bob Liberman. Check back later this afternoon…”
When I returned, I found Ricky and was told Bob said “No” to a photo pass, “No” to needing any help, and “No” to getting my photos autographed by Jimmy.
I was bummed, but that day turned out GREAT - you can read how the entire day unfolded at Facebook in this post: https://www.facebook.com/groups/BuffettNews/?multi_permalinks=10161771864493385
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In March 2021, I posted a similar account of Day 3 of my hitchhiking adventure and completely out of the blue, Bob Liberman responded and explained why he couldn’t grant my request for a photo pass more than 4 decades earlier.
So that was the start of a new friendship through Facebook. Sometimes, Bob would share a quick story in response to someone’s post and even suggested that he wanted to write his memoir, but needed some help. I always expressed my interest in helping him and that I was serious.
Then one day, there was a message from Bob, asking if I would be willing to help him. I responded immediately, indicating my willingness to help him, but for full disclosure, I wanted him to know I was planning my own memoir. I explained that I didn’t think there would be a conflict, as our memoirs would be from entirely different perspectives.
Whereas Bob was Jimmy’s Tour Manager, friend and confidante, I was just a superfan photographer who only met Jimmy three times for a grand total of about 15 minutes. Through a series of emails, we agreed we would approach publishers jointly, but without a mandate that BOTH books be accepted. We also agree that we would focus on his book first, unless a publisher felt there was a compelling reason to release both at the same time.
We scheduled our initial phone call for a few days later…
That my friends is the essence of FACEBOOK MAGIC!
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In my next story, I will share details of our first phone call, how we saw his story unfolding, and how we collaborated to start writing his book.
Bob has also agreed to allow me to post the first chapter of his new book. It is super brief, but important to set the stage for the rest of Bob’s memoir.
From there, I will be posting how our partnership evolved, with more phone discussions, and stories Bob has shared with me. As we proceed, I will also be sharing some SNEAK PEEKS of some short chapters drafted for Bob’s book.
In the interim, I wanted to finish this newsletter with some additional examples of the FACEBOOK MAGIC I have encountered in posting at various Facebook fan pages.
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• FACEBOOK MAGIC: In March, 2021, I posted a photo of Jimmy I shot from the front row in Boston on March 9, 1978. It generated a private message from Bruce Hardy, a fellow fan, informing me that particular concert was available on the internet. He provided a link and password to access to the concert recording. OMG! I was able to hear my own voice from the front row from 40+ years prior. If you want to read my subsequent post at Facebook, it is here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/BuffettNews/permalink/10159488838758385
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• FACEBOOK MAGIC: The above post at Facebook generated a response with the Original Reeferette, Deborah McColl, which was an unexpected thrill:
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• FACEBOOK MAGIC: Deborah later sent me a “friend request” and eventually, I even had the unique opportunity to speak with her on a 3-way call with Bob Liberman.
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• FACEBOOK MAGIC: After a while, Jimmy’s official Facebook page started to share some of my posts and photos. Seeing a notification like this never gets old:
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• FACEBOOK MAGIC: On September 2, 2021, Jimmy’s page posted this
Since I saw and shot photos at 5 concerts in 1978, I posted a stream of photos to the page and eventually elicited an invitation from Jimmy, or at least his Facebook team:
As you can see, I was already working towards writing my memoir in 2021!
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And NOW, my schedule has sufficiently cleared, allowing to write my own memoir AND help Bob write his.
FUN TIMES!
PS: On Monday, I posted a “Sneak Peek” at the BuffettNews Facebook Page of an early chapter “Thank YOU, Jimmy Buffett!” - Here is Day 1 of my 5-day, 3-concert hitchhiking adventure to see Jimmy play and shoot concert photos in 1978: https://www.facebook.com/groups/BuffettNews/posts/10161768403008385