This past Friday (May 18th) I had a listening party at Berkeley's Guerilla Cafe, and as with most of these gatherings, the blessing has been in the friendly faces in attendance. In Berkeley I was able to reconnect with friends from grad school, undergrad, Brooklyn, the Bay and of course make new friends through these longtime comrades.

Reading in front of friends is also a strange experience because it involves opening up in ways that I at least am not always accustomed (mental note think of this before you write a memoir next time). The tricky part is that it's not really the presence of friends that makes me shy, but it's opening up to one set of people who actually know me, in the presence of those who relate to me through the book. As an analogy, I'd say this is comparable to having a frank discussion in a restaurant. You know that the people at the other table can hear you, but you somehow proceed because the pluses of continuing the conversation outweigh the minuses of these other people getting into your business. Now that Songs is out in public, it feels as if everyone is sitting at the same table.

What I have to learn how to approach these events as if I am a host, and folks are in my home. This will alleviate some of the self-consciousness. I get a chance to put this into practice at my next event at Eso Won books in Los Angeles.

In the meantime I will leave you with this email from my friend Catherine...

This morning i was at the hair salon getting my hair done and the lady next to me in the dryer was reading your book. So, you know I was like how are you enjoying the book? She replied that she is enjoying it quite well and can not put the book down. Then I told her how you are a friend of mine and she was pleasantly surprised. I asked her how she heard about the book she told me a friend of a friend recommeneded it to her and she is pleasedbq.