Monthly Archives: August 2013

Adieu, l’été! Auf Wiedersehen, Sommer! ?????????? ????????, ????! Goodbye, Summer! ??????Selamat tinggal, musim panas!

Labor Day weekend is the traditional end of Summer in the United States.  This has been a particularly hot one in Southern California where I live.  And I’ve spent most of it hunkered down at my desk or in an air-conditioned library working on the sequel to Chanel Bonfire.  But I’ve also–via Skype and Facetime, Twitter and Facebook and this blog–been able to meet and talk to many wonderful people who’ve read Chanel and want to discuss it, ask questions or share their own stories of childhood, mothers and sisters.  I’ve made friends with readers in England, France, Germany, Australia, Russia, Latvia, Japan, China, Indonesia, Brazil and many other places as well.  Thank you all for reading the book and sharing your friendship.  Here’s to a wonderful autumn… or spring if you’re in the southern hemisphere!  

The Chanel Bonfire paperback will be out in November!  Just in time for the holidays.

And remember, if your book group is reading Chanel and would like to schedule a Q & A with me via Skype or FaceTime just email me at chanelbonfire@gmail.com!

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Posted by Wendy Lawless  Book Group Skype, Chanel Bonfire, Facebook, FaceTime, Labor Day, Twitter, Wendy Lawless

The Summer Wind Winds Down: Georgann Rea and Frank Sinatra

The Summer Wind Winds Down

Frank Sinatra headlines (bien sur) the Chanel Bonfire Spotify Playlist.  He was a steady voice, a soundtrack to my mother, Georgann Rea’s life — from a girl in Kansas City dreaming off his songs of getting away to another world to a lonely soul living out some of his saddest sentiments.  Fittingly, it was Sinatra and his daughter who optioned Mother’s unpublished autobiography “Someone Turn Off The Wind Machine”.  It was indevelopment at Fox for much of the 1980s with Frank to play the role of my crusty grandfather.  Alas, it never came to be.  I listened to a lot of his music while working on sections of Chanel.  The beginning of the playlist reflects the music of my mother which dominated the earliest years of our lives and then the list shifts to the music of my sister and me which then takes over the last part of the book.  We all have playlists for our lives.  What’s on yours?

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Posted by Wendy Lawless  20th Century Fox, Chanel Bonfire, Frank Sinatra, Georgann Rea, The Summer Wind, Wendy Lawless

Save The Date! September 29th — West Hollywood Book Fair

The schedule hasn’t been finalized yet, but I will be appearing at the West Hollywood Book Fair on Sunday, September 29th.  It is one of my favorite book events.  Held in and around West Hollywood Park in the heart of one of America’s most fun towns.  If you live in Southern California or are planning a visit, please stop by and introduce yourself!

www.westhollywoodbookfair.org

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Posted by Wendy Lawless  Chanel Bonfire, Save The Date, Wendy Lawless, West Hollywood Book Fair

Venus in Fur a la Place de la Concorde

Mother in her mink at the Place de la Concorde
It is hard for many in this post-PETA, animal rights oriented time to understand the meaning of fur, especially mink, to women of my mother’s generation.  More than the couture clothes, fabulous jewelry and furnishings she was able to buy, the apartments in the Dakota, on Park Avenue, in South Kensington she was able to rent or own, a fur coat signaled her arrival to herself.  And of her many fur coats, her mink was the most important–an incredibly warm, impossibly soft piece of fashion armor that was also as intimate as any item of lingerie.  Her mink was for Mother a cocoon she could wear–it signalled her transformation from provincial Kansas City girl to jet-setting socialite even as it comforted her and protected her from doubters, snobs, and inconvenient questions.  And as the money began to run out, the jewels and Mercedes sold, the coat could provide glamourous cover and a blanketing reminder of where she’d been and how far she’d gone.
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Posted by Wendy Lawless  Chanel Bonfire, fur coats, Georgann Rea, mink coat, Paris, Park Avenue, PETA, Place de la Concorde, The Dakota, Wendy Lawless

RIP Julie Harris

Ethel Waters, Carson McCullers, Julie Harris
Julie Harris, a great actress and one of my true idols, has died.  She was an actor who seemed to have not so much skin as a scrim which barely contained her soul, so available were her emotions.  She’s seen above with the author/playwright Carson McCullers and another great actress, Ethel Waters during the run of McCullers’ own adaptation of her novel “The Member of the Wedding”.  My stepfather Oliver Rea produced the play, which, while not her first appearance on Broadway, was the first big landmark in Harris’ brilliant career.  It was 1950, ten years before I was born, thirteen before the opening of the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis which Oliver founded, and seventeen before he ran away with my mother Georgann and we moved to the Dakota.  When I began acting in the early eighties I used one of Harris’ character Frankie’s speeches as an audition piece for way too long–I so loved it and her.
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Posted by Wendy Lawless  "The Member of the Wedding", Broadway, Carson McCullers, Chanel Bonfire, Ethel Waters, Georgann Rea, Guthrie Theater, Julie Harris, Oliver Rea, Wendy Lawless

Rule Britannia! Chanel Bonfire on Amazon UK!

A whole section of Chanel Bonfire, chunk of my life and probably many of the greatest times took place in London.  And now, thanks to the magic of the internet I can be there again!  Go see my new author page on Amazon UK for videos, the latest Tweets, event listings and of course my invitation and instructions for Book Group Skyping anywhere in the world!


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Posted by Wendy Lawless  Amazon.co.uk, Chanel Bonfire, Wendy Lawless

Sehen Sie sich das neue Wendy Lawless Autorenseite auf Amazon!

Chanel Bonfire in Bavaria!

Reader S.M. Giffin took her copy of Chanel with her to beautiful Bavaria.  Hopefully, there will be a Deutsch Ausgabe von Chanel Bonfire but until there is, you can buy an Englisch Ausgabe in Bavaria or anywhere in German through amazon.de!  And check out my new author page there as well:
http://www.amazon.de/Wendy-Lawless/e/B00ENKMASI/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1377097925&sr=1-1

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Posted by Wendy Lawless  Amazon.de, Chanel Bonfire, Wendy Lawless

Bonjour! Consulter la page Wendy Lawless d’Amazon!

From an ASL school trip to Paris.
I’m very happy to see people reading the blog from all over the world including one of my favorite places: France.  While I’m hoping for an edition francaise de Chanel Bonfire, the edition anglaise can now be found on www.amazon.fr and so can my new author page with video, Twitter updates and events.  Including an invitation to set up a Book Club Skype or FaceTime session.  Voir pour vous-meme!
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Posted by Wendy Lawless  Amazon.fr, author page, Book Group Skype, Chanel Bonfire, edition francaise, Wendy Lawless

Monday Morning Madness!

Mr. Lee “Kix” Thompson striking a moody pose in a call box.

If it is true, as the song said, that “music saves the mortal soul”, then I have many bands to thank for saving mine, including: T. Rex, David Bowie, Roxy Music, Elton John, Human Sexual Response, and Madness.  Lee and I met at WBCN in Boston on Madness’ first trip to the States and, as you’ll see in the book, he almost lost his sax to my mother’s insanity.
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Posted by Wendy Lawless  Boston Rock scene, Chanel Bonfire, Lee Thompson, Madness, sax player, Wendy Lawless