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| Photo by Davo McDougall |
Or at least that's how it might have played had I written and illustrated this magnum opus featuring the Big Woo's own Dinosaur mascot rather than Cookie Nelson.
Cookie, gal about town and socialite of the Worcester Social Scene has penned this sequel to her first children's book SIEGFRIED. In that one, illustrated by the very talented Mike McMenemy, Siggy decides to leave his post as mascot at the Ecotarium and wander the streets of Worcester, stumbling upon many of the cities most beloved landmarks before finally meeting up with the Turtle Boy statue at the City Common where the two form a relationship eventually taking up residence selling antiques in upstate Vermont or something like that-- it's been a long time since I read it.
Last night was the release party for the sequel, SIEGFRIED GOES TO THE HOSPITAL, this time illustrated by my former student and rising star Allison "Bamcat" Bamford, at the UMass Medical School and they pulled out all the stops. The food was stellar and vegetarian (Siggy is a vegetarian after all) and the place was full of a great mixture of some of the cities coolest peeps (Nick & Joan Gage, Wildman Bill Wallace) and some of it's most uptight-- there was more than one person who seemed concerned that something at this gala would go wrong-- and of course there's nothing worse than an angry Dinosaur or an angry Cookie Nelson, so that might be justified. But it was a fun event. Little children were brought up to the stage, bribed with stuffed Siggy's, to listen to Cookie read them the story-- and the book was projected on the wall for the rest of us to follow along.
Cookie is a trooper, I'm sure she's read the book hundreds of times yet she still offered an enthusiastic go-through of Siggy's trip through the hospital.
Interestingly just outside the hospital grounds were a group of young people with sandwich board signs showing Obama with a Hitler moustache and the words IMPEACH underneath-- they were handing out literature but since I've had my fill of crazy this month (and you thought there were no sane Republicans!) I decided to move along. I will note, however, that as I sat at the light change more than a DOZEN people in cars honked or gave them a thumbs up sign-- and that's here in uber liberal Massachusetts. Note again to politicians; the voting public is angry and getting angrier.
Back to the chronicles of Siggy-- I had the pleasure of being an advisor on the first book and Cookie used my recommendation of Allison as illustrator for this sequel when Mike decided he didn't have time for a another go at it-- and I was the sounding board when the stress level for all involved got to a fevered pitch; publishing books ain't easy folks, there IS a lot of stress involved. But everyone got through it and produced a book they can be proud of.
Cookie made an appearance on the Coffee with Konnie Show-- which SHOULD have been filmed as a pay-per-view event with these two giants of the Woo battling it out to see who could dominate the conversation-- you can watch Cookie's episode here.
And if you want to read a reveal all behind the scenes look at what it's like to be a guest on the show you can read my account of it here.
