Maxwell's Silver Humor

Friday January 13th, 2012 - Fox Lake, IL

   Ah, Friday the 13th. My personal holiday. The perfect day to be Mr. Lucky. That’s when the rest of this insanity infested planet gets to feel what it’s like to be me every single day. I can relax a little and watch everyone else panic for a change. I find it rather refreshing.

   Actually, what Friday the 13th should be is a yearly marketing opportunity to generate a bit of media heat for my Mr. Lucky persona. There’s always at least one each year but not ever more than three. 2012 happens to have the three. They’re in January, April and July.

   I could absolutely see a manufactured event at some point, where it’s a special show for some venue to promote like New Year’s Eve or Valentine’s Day. I’m just not well known  to enough people to pull that off yet, but I’ve always wanted to do it. I think it could rock. It all boils down to how well known any personality can be to as many fans as possible.

   My intention was to start up another version of my email newsletter today, but I wasn’t able to get it done. The good news is, I’m the only one who cares even a tiny bit. Nobody was expecting it, and life goes on with zero disappointment - at least not because of me.

   I’m a little disappointed myself though, but I’ll get over it. I’ve been making progress at a steady productive pace on a number of fronts lately, but a newsletter is just not ready to go just yet. I’ve been sorting and compiling names and email addresses, and I’ll be all set to go very shortly. That might mean a week, two weeks or a month - but I’ll get it done.

   I used to have a monthly blast that went out on the 13th of every month, and I like using that day as a gimmick. Bills hit at the first of the month, and paychecks might come in on the 15th. I used to get a solid response when I sent mine on the 13th, and after a while I had people expecting it. My ex business partner handled it, and allegedly we had 2800 names.

   I can’t confirm that number as I didn’t actually see the list, but I wouldn’t doubt that we were close. Then, when he pulled his little embezzlement stunt he also stole the list along with the money and ended up trying to start his own comedy classes with someone else as the teacher. He pounded that list to the point my personal friends were getting mad at me.

   He sent those people relentless reminders of his classes, but he was too stupid to realize not all of them were comedy students. A great deal of them were friends of mine from all walks of life, and had no interest in comedy whatsoever. The whole thing leaves a terribly sour taste in my mouth. I can choose to snivel on about it or I can start a brand new list.

   I’m choosing to stop whining and start listing. I will make this list better in many ways than the last one, most notably categorizing them into lists of fans, bookers, students and working comedians. I’m going to call it ‘Maxwell’s Silver Humor’ after the Beatles song
‘Maxwell’s Silver Hammer’. I’m not a particularly rabid Beatles fan, but it fits exactly so why not use it? Nobody can sue me, as I’m not using the song - just the play on words of the title. It doesn’t matter anyway, as I didn’t get it done like I planned. But it’s coming.

Posted via email from Dobie Maxwell's "Dented Can" Diary