Author Who?
Al Katkowsky is a singer, songwriter, musician and voiceover artist. His experiences in promoting his book turned iPhone app, Question Of The Day, have ranged from speed dating in Santa Monica, to an 8th Grade classroom in Brooklyn, to Apple Store events in New York, Santa Monica, and San Francisco. His music can be found here, and his writing for CENE Magazine can be found here.
So, What Else?
Al’s Extended Bio
*) I attempted to make someone my Indentured Servant in high school http://www.sporkfly.com/servant.html
*) In the early days of Guitar Craft, Robert Fripp was talking to me about taking additional courses, to be held in England. I told him I’d be focusing on putting my band together. Smiling, he said, “Maybe your band will break up.”
*) I learned Transcendental Meditation when I was 12. Tell ya what, it’s not much of a conversation starter after kickball………….
*) I continue to be a better than average parallel parker, turning seemingly impossible spots into realities wherever I go. If this seems like bragging, so be it.
*) In my last two years of high school, I was a Big Brother.
*) In my last year of high school, I was a vandal. A group of us used to break into cars and steal stereos and T-roofs. This ended when I got arrested the following year.
*) When I was ten, I thought I wanted to be a lawyer.
*) When I was four, the big kids around the block from us traded me gold for my excellent toy car, except it turns out it wasn’t really gold, it was just rocks.
*) One of my jobs rewarded me for good performance by commending me at the morning meeting, then giving me a Bruce Springsteen ticket. For an event held in a stadium, it was a remarkably neutral experience. I had to think up tons of things to say for when people asked me about it the next day. [Note: I recently had a dream where I was hanging out with him, and he seemed like a completely nice guy. Which fucking sucks, because that’s all you ever hear about him. And now, I feel bad about not enjoying the show much. Although, notably, not bad enough to remove this entry :-)…..]
*)We had this gig once where we showed up and the guy who booked us was chipping at the ceiling with a hammer, effectively destroying the room right in front of us (remodeling). We’d been cancelled. Asked why we hadn’t been told, he said, “I had quit that week”.
*) When I write an “S”, it looks like a “5”.
*) I paid a kid in cookies to teach me to ride a two-wheeler. When I got that down, he tried to keep the cookies coming by offering to teach me to ride a bigger bike. I passed.
*) In second grade, I learned all of the presidents, and could recite them in chronological order. By the end of the year, two other kids in my class had gotten them down, as well.
*) I still can’t figure out what people mean when they say, “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” Does that include everything or rule out everything? What wouldn’t you do? Why? Why not? Might I get injured? Are you against fun if you can’t have it? Wtf
*) I still have my Maxell labels from when they were doing that “points” thing and you could get stuff.
*) I’ve lived in thirteen different places.
*) For my first band, I figured out all of the middle chords to “Hold Your Head Up” by Argent. I was fifteen, and it was the first time I’d tried to dismantle some time consuming “middle section” of a tune, and I was fairly psyched that I was able to do it; it gave me the confidence I needed at the time. When I brought it in to rehearsal, the singer said, “Absolutely no way am I singing that”.
*) I was refused admission into Canada once because my friend said he was Egyptian, but he then could not prove it.
*) For all of the time I have spent waiting tables, I am still lousy at remembering both names and faces.
*) There’s a guy who drives me nuts at the local deli. If he’s free and I’m next, I usually tell him, “I don’t know yet.” He likes to talk during the sandwich assembly…to himself. I figure slobbering is next, so stay away from my lunch, please.
*) Once, when I was 10, I went to church of my own accord. Went alone. Rode my bike. Was curious; wanted to check it out. Years later, one of my brothers said something sarcastic about it, having never brought it up previously.
*) I’m 7, and I get into a fight with this kid, and he frickin bites me. It hurts a lot, and I grab myself where he’d bit me (arm). Possibly, I am crying as well. A guy walks out of this bar right where we are, and the kid looks up like he’s going to get in trouble. Quickly, he grabs himself in the same place where he’d bitten me and pretends to be in pain. A total pro. The guy looks, figures it’s two kids fighting, and walks away.
*) I have this thing where if I’m watching a movie or a TV show and the main character goes to shoplift something, I have to not watch it or change the channel cuz I freak out internally and they’re gonna get caught and I can’t watch..
*) Though indifferent about their music, and with no intention of contributing financially to either, I avidly consume the continuing sagas of both the Van Halen and Guns N Roses bands.
*) When I go to the movies, I think about other stuff. I’m always asking, “What just happened? Was that the guy from before?…………”, that sort of thing. Sometimes, during mid thinking, I reflect on what a great opportunity it is to think about stuff, because I’m not going to be interrupted.