Catching Up

SOON
A second edition of Friends of Dorothy will be coming out soon, with minor changes. Bonus points to anyone who can figure out the changes on the cover. The digital version should have color illustrations, like the old one was supposed to.

I will publish it directly, under the Phil Michaels imprint. My father used that moniker to publish porno! With luck, you will be able to get a print or digital copy from Amazon and Barnes & Noble, and a digital one from Apple. I will let everyone know as soon as it is actually available.


BEFORE COVID
Some Ozzy things happened before my 2020 blog post about Alison Lurie. In February of 2019, I gave a talk based on the gay folklore chapter of my book at the GLBT Historical Society in San Francisco. There’s a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyBIb0mSh5U

Also in 2019, I had reviews of two novels in the International Wizard of Oz Club’s Baum Bugle. My review of Finding Dorothy by Elizabeth Letts appeared in the Spring, and I was on a panel about the book at the Oz Club convention in Louisiana that summer. And the Autumn 2019 Bugle contained my review of The Swan Gondola by Timothy Schaffert.

In March of 2020, I had a reading set Gay City, the GLBT community center in Seattle. But Covid nixed that. :-(  What did I do during lockdown? I baked challah, had a good therapist, and missed many group events (both senses of missed).

2023
FoD Song
A while ago composer Max Ferguson told me he was writing a song called “Are you a Friend of Dorothy?” He finished it in April this year, and recorded it with Jill Sobule singing.  https://youtu.be/_AkNbkSbHJE  He plans on doing a male version in the future.

May 6: Pride March
A few years ago, I made a t-shirt with the book cover on the front and the back o’ the book on the back. The Northampton Pride March (now called Hampshire Pride, since we are in Hampshire County) happens in May so students can attend. I wore the t-shirt in the Parade her in town, and a Smith student came running up to ask me if I had written the book. “Yes,” I said, to which she replied, “I wrote a paper on your book!” When I asked if I could read her paper, she hesitantly agreed, giving me her email address. I wrote her to see the paper, but haven’t heard back. I hope I do hear from her. That made my day. Or maybe made my week. No, month!

June 1-25: Wizard of Oz on Stage
The American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco (A.C.T.) is putting on the Royal Shakespeare Company’s stage version of the MGM film, June 1-25. Both the director and the set designer tell me they loved my book and invited me to opening night, June 7. Friends of Dorothy will be available for sale in the lobby at each performance!

They are doing the jitterbug sequence featuring different community organizations, such as the SF Lesbian and Gay Freedom Band and Sundance GLBT country dance group. https://act-sf.encoreplus.app/posts/120819/community-connections   Munchkinland will be filled with art by Bay Area youth.

June 11: Yellow Brick Pod
The hosts of “Down the Yellow Brick Pod” have asked me to be the honored guest at their upcoming event, “SEND JUDES FOR PRIDE, celebrating Judy Garland's 101 birthday and Oz's queer landscape and representation in Pride events throughout out the years.” The party is June 11, 5:30 EST. They will record me on June 9. Tune in on June 11!   https://downtheybp.buzzsprout.com/