A Real Nice Clambake...
Get your logo merchandise, while it lasts...
This was a real nice clambake
We're mighty glad we came
The vittles we et
Were good, you bet
The company was the same
— Rodgers and Hammerstein
Believe it or not, six months ago today I punched the button to publish “Haunted, but Undaunted,” launching my brand-new 5 a.m. Stories.
I figured it would last a couple of weeks, but here we still are. Subscribers in 29 states and 13 countries, more than 30,000 pageviews and countless new friends.
My official 5 a.m. Stories logo merchandise is flying off the shelves – mugs, t-shirts, flip flops, tote bags. Oh, wait. I don’t even have a logo, so maybe I’m just selling my old clothing and dishes.
Looking back on “Haunted, but Undaunted,” it promised a lot. It dropped names like Kurt Vonnegut and Dan Quayle… It introduced the Baroness, a 19th century Shakespearean actress who died in my current Indianapolis home back in 1934, and who still shows up here frequently.
I hinted at stories I hadn’t even finished writing yet, “Hot Chocolate in the 19th Century,” “Alas, I have no Alias…”
I promised a piece about my whirlwind courtship, headlined, “Beer Party Bride Held in Torso Slaying.” I’ve written that one but haven’t published it. Any day now, I will. It’s pretty special to me.
My pieces have been far-flung. Paris, Hong Kong, Calcutta, Beijing, Beirut, the Dutch East Indies, the Khyber Pass, and they just keep hopping around. Next stop? Nobody knows. As Bette Davis said in that movie, “Fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy night.”
I can’t thank you enough for coming along with me. This was a real nice clambake. I’m mighty glad you came.
The theme song for “5 a.m. Stories,” to me, is “Oh What a Beautiful Morning.”
Just finished reading "Shy," the memoir of Richard Rodgers' daughter, Mary, and I believe there's a reference to clambakes in the book.( If you haven't read it, it's a hoot. ) But enough about Mary. Truth be told, 5 a.m. is a little early for clambakes. It's a little early for reading too, unless you stayed up all night! But I've enjoyed your 5 a.m. Stories very much when I read them around 8 a.m. Keep 'em coming!