Weds. Gamestop Update: Whatever Doesn’t Kill Me Is Going To Destroy You

Whatever Doesn’t Kill Me Is Going To Destroy You

I’ve focused more on Gamestop on the corporate/national level for awhile, but the last few weeks are deserving of your attention. The moral of the story for my former friends, peers, co-workers, subordinates, employees I’ve hired and the multiple people that I talk to inside and out of the Buffalo market who feed me intel (think Project: Mayhem) is very simple:

You dumb-shits backed the wrong horse.

 

The fact that Lewis (my former assistant manager I kept from getting fired for the year and a half I tolerated his laziness, surliness, and documented racism online and off) would take Lisa’s word over mine was a very big mistake. Being a drug addict, an obvious bigot and a young poseur doesn’t leave much room for these kinds of mistakes. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: payback’s a bitch.

Lewis had a hand in hanging me DURING my honeymoon. This is a fact. In exchange for selling me up the river on a technicality (textbook reinforcement for this ENTIRE region), he is getting a promotion to store manager. I guess that makes him an honorary lesbian. Lewis is supposed to be getting his own store (another new location that’s completely unnecessary for any company during a recession with two other locations within a 2 mile radius) in the Amherst/Williamsville area before Christmas.

Reports are still rolling in that my former DM is scrambling frantically to find my ’source’ while she tells people that ‘the company’ is ‘gathering information’ on me for ’something’. I have more sources that are a lot more honest with me than they’ll ever be with you, bitch. NOBODY respects you in YOUR OWN district. In a year and a half, you’ve run 13 previously successful stores into the ground by promoting unqualified pals of yours into positions of power while continuing to display a total lack of professionalism that got you fired from your last job. Why would you expect anything less from a staff you inherited?

Lisa (I’m sure someone will be handing you this printout if you don’t already check the site every day), you are a fool, and your days as a supervisor with Gamestop are numbered. You’re a joke to all of the managers, keyholders and employees that you continue to neglect, ignore and manipulate. How does that make you feel? Lonely, pathetic and insecure, I would speculate.

Much in the same way that Lisa has been making threats internally about the company ‘taking action’ against anyone who talks to me (and it has gotten back to me from multiple stores spanning MULTIPLE districts), I never tried to keep my crusade private. See also: every goddamned web site that I post these Wednesday updates on. Sometimes you have to throw a road flare at a box of roman candles to get someone‘s attention. I always knew (on a local level) that one of your misguided cronies (even though you’ve fired one of them to cover your tracks) would continue to print my company rants, like Joe at the Clarence store. Joe is another assistant manager I kept from getting fired. This goes back to 2004 when I turned the Delaware location around and he got transferred instead of getting canned. Joe and Lewis are a perfect example of no good deed going unpunished.

Lisa is left with a district full of backstabbers who can barely do their jobs, which they hate. Again, I would rather have my dignity than a single penny in my pocket. It’s hard to see that angle from inside the rat race, though. In the last three months, everyone has chosen their side in this war. A lot of people made the WRONG choice. You underestimated me, but there are still a million surprises that I’m not going to mention. Until they happen.

If Gamestop corporate (which Lisa has implied is coming after me) or Lisa had a card up their sleeve to play, they would have played it by now. You are a fool, Lisa. You’re dumber than you look if you truly thought that you could call the Erie County Sheriff and have me (let alone ANYONE) thrown in jail for slander. Buy a dictionary. Go on wikipedia where, coincidentially, millions of other people bash Gamestop which they are well within their constitutional rights to do. NO ONE has ever gone to jail for slander for publishing information that can be gathered by obvious means. You should have acted faster, Lisa, because THIS situation WILL cost you your job.

The chain of corruption leads all the way up to the Regional Manager, Kyeoh. Kyeoh is the nephew of one of the founding members of Electronics Boutique, who is now a protected major shareholder. This is another prime example of nepotism, corruption, and total incompetence. On a company level, he is a joke, just like Lisa, and his peers and subordinates wonder why he still has a job while understanding that he’s ‘protected’ from higher powers who turn a blind eye to the fact that he’s run 120 stores into the ground in a company that’s dive-bombing on the stock market at an alarming rate. A friend of mine outside the company (and I have many) is fond of saying, ‘While most publicly owned companies are looking for a bailout, Gamestop is looking for a clue.’

Aside from the aforementioned promotion that Lewis might get to store management (in Amherst), Stewart (the store manager from Orchard Park) got a promotion to District Manager in his own district. I know for a FACT that he got my peer and myself fired along with my previous DM a year and a half ago. Promotion into the same district you worked in is a FLAGRANT violation of every company policy in place no matter which way you look at it. If you wish to make policy a big deal in this cage match, maybe you can bring this to Gamestop Corporate’s attention.

NO ONE has ever been promoted from store management into a district management position in their OWN territory. It’s NEVER been done and there’s a good reason for it. Much like Lisa’s behavior (and negligence as a supervisor with basic store needs), the company procedure has been in place for over 25 years to ensure that DMs wouldn’t fall prey to favoritism. These are sad, pathetic, incompetent times for Gamestop in too many ways to write about for one Wednesday, so even though this seems long in the tooth, trust me, there is so much more that I’ll cover in the future.

Stewart (in exchange for kissing his bosses’ asses for going on well over 20 years now) is finally going to be put in charge of his pals, his enemies, and he’s going to be Lisa’s peer in the neighboring district. Lisa’s peer WHILE they both have a job.

I have no job. I have no benefits. I’ve gone two months without a dime from a system I’ve paid into for 19 years with hard work, great salesmanship and common courtesy. I’m doing just fine, though. If you thought firing me on a technicality the week after my honeymoon would be the defining moment that broke me, you were DEAD WRONG.

I’ve known EXACTLY who had a hand in my downfall since the week after my wrongful termination. In descending order: Kyeoh (the regional), Eric (a previous DM in a neighboring District who tried his damndest to get me fired after getting his neighboring DM fired two years ago) Lisa (my old boss), Stewart (Orchard Park manager who’s climbed to the top of the next ship of fools), Lewis (former assistant), Colleen (a woman I single-handedly insisted get promoted to store management three years ago), Joe (former assistant and another ass kisser to boot), Ryan (store manager Amherst, brown noser to the Nth degree) and quite a few more.

Do you want to know the sad thing, Lisa? You have no idea how MANY people are on my side INSIDE of the company and OUT. You have no grasp of just who’s gunning to take your job out from under you. Your days are numbered. If I were you, I’d leave town, start another job and change your name, because my longtime readers, fans and book buyers will tell you that the Buffalo Rising jihad over the summer was just for fun. You are my main event, bitch. Buckle up.

When I was in college, I wrote a research paper (my subject choice) about Lenny Bruce. Lenny Bruce was a trendsetter, a naturally gifted comedian, a manic depressive, and furthermore, a revolutionary where first amendment rights are concerned. I learned about free speech and the power it holds when I was 19. At 40-something, maybe you should spend some of the generous ‘sick’ time you use neglecting your District researching this topic before you shoot your mouth off to anybody who still cares.

I’m not sure what the company vision is anymore, but on a Regional level (in no less than two Buffalo DISTRICTS), stores have been run on these three premises:

1.) Stores are run and kept in line with the loosely veiled threat of fear and paranoia by supervisors who don’t do their jobs and only show up at the stores where their cronies reside.

2.) A solid work ethic and a proven sales record are inferior to blatantly kissing ass, stabbing your peers, supervisors and subordinates in the back. This is how you get promoted in the Buffalo market. It worked for Eric, it worked for Lewis (who thinks he has job security now), it worked for Ryan (who got a bonus-earning store without earning it), it worked for Colleen (who got a salary increase to take my old store and keep Lisa informed), it briefly worked for Charla (until Lisa fired her to cover her tracks as a gender discriminator), it worked for Kim (who was handed a top earning store just for being Lisa’s pal and long-time friend of the family) and last but definitely not least, it worked for Joe (who still has a job despite his incompetence simply because he’s gotten four peers fired, prints up these emails and has a hotline to Lisa.

-And finally (this got Lisa fired once, and it’s going to cost her her job again until she can figure it out in that big stupid doberman pincher head on her fat shoulders):

3.) If you’re a girl in one of these Districts, you WILL get a better review score (regardless of results), a promotion (despite male counterparts with more time in and a better sales record) and you’ll be left alone simply because of your gender.

I’m going to wrap this up for this week‘s Gamestop Update. There is NOTHING Gamestop can do to me (nationally or locally) to shut me up. Serve me a subpoena. Try to prove that this info CAN’T be obtained by anybody online or through painfully simple methods. If you think you can beat this case on a Supreme Court level, let’s dance, you soulless pieces of human waste. I’ll have lots more for you next Wednesday for the weekly F&*%K Gamestop update on all my sites.

In the mean time, get some rest, Lisa. Keep clicking back on tomfoolery4.wordpress.com for ALL the real Gamestop Scoop!

Take care, webslingers!

Tom ‘out of the retail business forever’ Waters

Monday Big Words Update! Happy 2 Year Anniversary, Big Words! Etc…

It was this week exactly TWO YEARS ago that Ed and the gang at Night Life magazine were gracious/foolish/crazy enough to let me start the weekly print column by the name of Big Words I Know By Heart.  Two years later, it’s still going strong, and that same week, I had my phone number changed to ‘unlisted’ and moved the official web site right here on Word Press.  The rest, as ‘they’ say, is history. 

As far as anniversary parties go, these things are rarely (if ever) thrown on the same day or week as the actual event.  If we wanted to do the anniversary to the exact day of the conversation, it would have been on the same day as the 2008 Buffalo Music Awards.  Sort of a conflict of interest.  So instead, Night Life and I organized a Big Words 2 Year Anniversary bash on Thursday, December 11th at Double D’s Queen City Grill (on Sheridan Dr. in Tonawanda) at 8 p.m. next month with swag, giveaways, a POSSIBLE (don’t count on it yet) free buffet, and musical guest 12 Pack Jack!  Everyone is invited, expect a number of special guest appearances from other area musicians, writers and journalists, and show up ready to have a great time! 

Mark your calendar today, as Lindsay and I have been going back to Double D’s since we had our Gusto Club Watch assignment a year ago (and since we had friends in the area and it was convenient for them) and we have always had a great time there.   They’ve got a Queen City Platter ($10.99 for a single of wings and a roast beef on weck) that will knock your Aunt Connie’s socks off! 

As for the print column itself, AOL has seen fit to erase the block of columns I submitted for November, so I have no clue what you can expect in the print column when it hits stands all over Buffalo this week.  If memory serves, it was a humorous rant.  That’s all I remember.  I really need to delete my old emails more often to free up some room.

Yesterday, I submitted December’s block of columns, wrote two new columns specifically for Night Life and sent the whole batch out to Christy at the Night Life offices.  December is going to be a great month for Night Life and Big Words I Know By Heart!

I also spent today shmoozing with a number of bands, poets, artists and the like setting things up for the next five or six weeks.  A deluge of phone calls and emails came in in the wake of last week’s music awards and I’ve got no less than three new radio shows to RECORD this week, three other podcasts to UPLOAD this week, and a print interview to conduct for the News this Saturday. 

Lana and Hund (the two musical wunderkind from Black Widow) had to reschedule for next week and hard rock heroes band SuckerPunch confirmed a private concert date for December for Big Words Radio.  Again, my buddy Gregg Sansonne won Solo Artist Of The Year at the Buffalo Music Awards for the FOURTH time in a row!  This has NEVER been done before.  I am so proud of you, buddy!  We ‘did lunch’ today out in my nexk of the woods and got caught up on our personal lives and engagements while we were out doing so.  I took a few pics of Gregg while we were out and about and I should have the pics up by the end of today or the early a.m. for tomorrow. 

I’ll also be interviewing Buffalo acting legend Bob ‘Ernie’ Insana tomorrow at our apartment for an episode of Big Words radio and Jon ‘Road Less Traveled Productions’ Elston, one of the most productive writers in the business today, will be coming into the studio as a guest this Wednesday with my co-host Zombie Chris!  Yeah! 

That should be everything for one day.  Tune in on Wednesday for more info as well as your regularly scheduled F*&%k Gamestop Weds. update! 

Sayonara,

Tom Waters

2008 Buffalo Music Awards/FYE Transit/MOV Aftermath…

Busy week…

     In the last three days, I’ve cemented a number of great things in the works with ArtVoice that I’d rather not talk about yet for fear of jinxing them, attended (and networked extensively) at the Buffalo Music Awards, set up a few artist interviews in the coming months for the Buffalo News Gusto ‘Tell Me’ section, gotten into a car accident during five o’clock traffic on the 198 (Friday), reinforced a friendship with a close friend and said goodbye to another one.  Oh, and there was another Monsters Of Verse event this afternoon (Saturday) which went over like gangbusters at FYE on Transit Rd. in Williamsville/Depew/Clarence.  It never, ever ends…

     By the time you read this, the 2008 Buffalo Music Awards pics will be up on my Myspace page (if you have an account, just search Tom Waters or tomfulre).  I’ll repost a few (along with this post) on YourHub. 

     As a result of so much chaos and discord this week, JR Finlayson, myself and rotating MOV guest DJ Soma decided to do a conversational show for MOV episode VI.  Lindsay and I will be heading to Think Twice studios tomorrow (on a day we wanted to spend quietly at home together) to drop off all of this week’s show, work on the text, and go over some formating instructions with producer Richard Wicka.  Like every concert, show and event for Think Twice, quite a bit goes into each show before, during and after the recording.  I promise I’ll send an update out as soon as the shows are up.  And speaking of, MOV episodes IV and V are now up.  You can listen to those over at:

http://www.thinktwiceradio.com/monsters/monsters.html

     FYE was a pretty cool gig today.  The staff was very supportive and helpful, Finlayson, Soma and myself got along like gangbusters, Jeff and I sold quite a few books, and we got a lot of visitors.  Those pics should also be up on Myspace (with a smaller sampling on YourHub) by early Sunday morning at the latest.  Rock buddy Michael Bly showed along with quite a few others and we had a brief after-bash at Brennan’s Bowery Bar (which Reginald Dwight, a competing bar reviewer, just covered in AV this week, apparently). 

     The last three days have given quite a few of us a lot to digest and process.  Aside from the studio visit tomorrow, Lindsay and I will be taking stock of it all quietly at home on Sunday.  Lana & Hund (from Buffalo supergroup Black Widow) will be coming over to the house on Monday morning to do a jam session for Big Words Radio w/returning co-host Brendan Hanlon, which signals the start of another insanely busy week.

     As far as Monsters Of Verse, two area poets have already confirmed for two of the dates.  JR, myself and one other rotating guest star will be covering the Buffalo News Collectible Show next Sunday from 10-4 pm at the Millenium Hotel located in front of the Galleria Mall for the next MOV gig, so we’ve got a few days to cover bookings and get caught up on our lives.  More on everything during the regular Monday update.  I’m beat and I’m getting really sick of keeping my gloves up when I’m expecting to have my guard down.  Cest la vis.  Have a great rest of the weekend,

Tom Waters

Monsters Of Verse Third Rotating Poet: Seasonal Positions Opening Now!

As an organic experiment, the Monsters Of Verse has changed already…..

JR Finlayson and myself will be looking at a third poet to round out the remainder of our shows for the next five months. If you have a chapbook/published book of poems/poems you would like to read out at a venue for podcast inclusion, feel free to email both of us simultaneously at:

bigwordsmailbag@yahoo.com

-or-

dullroar25@hotmail.com

Carrie Gardner will be pursuing other projects.

Again, thanks for your interest in Buffalo poetry, the anthology in general, and the Monsters Of Verse! Until the end of the calendar year, though, JR and myself will be focusing on running the gauntlet for M.O.V. We look forward to hearing from you!

Thanks,
Tom Waters

Big Words Radio Episode XIX: Tommy Z, Quality Control & GME Stock Update!

What what?,

 

I was waiting for the two previous Monsters Of Verse shows to crop up, but I’m going to roll this news out anyway and make it quick:

 

-Episode XIX (synopsis): Crossroads   

    In this ‘parter of two’, Tom sits down with Buffalo Hall Of Fame Musician Tommy Z to hear some axe-grinding mad blues licks between discussions about autograph hounds and the classic 1980’s motion picture masterpiece ‘Crossroads’ starring teen heart-throb Ralph Maccio. This episode was recorded live at ‘close, personal friend’ Z’s gold-sheathed recording studio/compound.

 

http://www.thinktwiceradio.com/tom-waters/tom-waters.html

 

    And unfortunately (due to the sheer amount of shows on the Think Twice site), my producer informs me that he will no longer be able to splice (combine) separate sound clips together to form a cohesive one hour show.  Episode XIX was originally intended to be a two parter, and with seven separate clips under one subheading, it looks rather embarrassing to have two format headings (Intro plugs, interview, plugola, fluffer) spread willy-nilly with no cohesion.  It also appears as if Think Twice will no longer have time to drop intro/outro music into each episode to bookend individual shows.  This is what’s known as a serious quality control issue. 

    To make matters worse, the Think Twice server is filling up and there’s a good chance that any shows a year old or more (I have until June) will be removed from the site forever.  So if I were you (and you like the shows), start backing them up on a CD/DVD so that they aren’t gone for good online.  I am freaking the f out about this and even though it’s four months away, I am going to explore some complimentary options and see what Rich and myself would be okay with so that the original shows aren’t gone forever. 

    For those of you on this list who have podcasting/web building skill sets who may be willing to syndicate/site build a companion/syndicated brother or sister site to compliment Big Words Radio, I’m all ears.  I’m talking directly to you, Uncle Hal, Gary Holdsteady and quite a few more.  The thought of losing ANY of the shows is as painful as the notion of losing an essay forever without a backup.  I’m not smart enough to understand the logistics of maintaining a server or keeping 20+ hours and climbing worth of shows up online for as long as possible, but hopefully, those of you who are savvy can spitball some ideas back to me via ‘the email’.  June 2009 will be here before we know it and one way or the other, I’m NOT going to lose these shows.

    I recorded 2 phenomenal hours today with Buffalo Music Award winner Kevin McCarthy and his drummer Tom Brown (from the band McCarthyism, among other bands) and they played everything from Eric Clapton to Simon & Garfunkel to classic Irish drinking songs.  Since I’m waiting on two more Monsters Of Verse shows to go up, I won’t be dropping the show off until Friday which means that Episode XX won’t be up until Saturday at the earliest or next week at the latest.  This completely destroys my plan to have three great artists up by the time this year’s music award winners were announced on Friday.  That really, really sucks. 

    I’m also pleased to announce that rock super group Lana & Hund (from the multi-award winning band Black Widow!) will be doing a show with me some time next week if all goes according to plan. 

    Doing four 2 hour shows with four of (in all honesty) my favorite bands in Buffalo has been a dream come true.  A huge thanks goes out to Michael Bly, Tommy Z, Kevin McCarthy and (very shortly) Lana & Hund for agreeing to record for Big Words Radio for giving me (and my listeners) so many once-in-a-lifetime musical moments.  I honestly wish ALL of you as many BMA’s tomorrow as you are allowed by law and all the financial and creative success in the world.  In my experience, Buffalo musicians have been more giving of their time and energy and more supportive than any similar community in the area. 

     There’s also a new graphic novel review on Hellblazer: Fear Machine over at:

     www.comicbulletin.com

     With so much backlogged work (which I’m been working on building up for my buddy Thom Young at Comics Bulletin), you can look forward to a new graphic novel review from ‘this guy’ every single Wednesday for the foreseeable future.  So pop over to the Comics Bulletin on Wednesdays (as well as throughout the week) for review paydirt!

   

     And finally, here’s your Wednesday Gamestop Scoop!:

     After consulting with a few people, the general consensus regarding Charla’s wrongful termination is that Lisa (my former boss) is scrabbling to cover her tracks before the wolves catch up to her, whether it’s internally or externally.  Who knows what’ll happen next?  I do, but I’m certainly not going to talk about it online.  I promise that it will be wildly entertaining when it does happen, though. 

     Other sources have informed me that the District Manager (who was traveling with the Regional Loss Prevention Manager last week in the area for a seperate situation) was talking a good line of shit about her/the company’s plan to do ’something’ regarding yours truly.  To that I say: bullshit. 

     There are two schools of thought on this or more.  1. Lisa is trying to make veiled threats to her stores to scare everyone into keeping mum on talking to me, which is pointless.  2. Lisa is trying to keep this scandal contained by making big, lofty threats (like ‘putting me in jail for slander’, which a buddy of mine with the Buffalo Police agreed was complete horseshit).  3. Lisa is attempting to keep this scandal under the rug and off the radar from her bosses, company CEOs, etc.  After watching the site traffic drop off slightly in the last few weeks, there’s a slim possibility that it was only local kissasses, sell-outs and brown nosers who checked in on the official site so that they could continue to be part of the promotional ladder locally where people are promoted to management for selling their peers out as much as they can to prove a false sense of loyalty.  This scandal isn’t going to be a best-kept secret for the Buffalo area for much longer.  I guaran-goddamn-tee it.  A lot of events that I set into motion over six weeks ago are coming home to roost and trust me when I say that they’re fool-proof.  When I can give you the full report, you’ll find it here first. 

     And lastly, here’s all the GME Stock news that I had time to gather in the last week (since it’s been busy):

11/11/08 $23.41 (-1.07) (-4.37%)

11/13/08 $22.04 (-1.37) (-5.85%)

11/14/08 $23.28 (-1.55) (-6.24%)

11/18/08 $22.21 (-.54) (-2.37%)

11/19/08 $20.56 (-1.56) (-7.43%)

     Oof!  This is the one of the lowest points the stock has been at yet!  Here we are a week away from Black (or green, depending on your preference) Friday and Gamestop is still going down for the count.  If this were Punch Out, Referee Mario would be climbing under the ropes and getting ready to declare a TKO!  Sucks to be a GME stockholder, doesn’t it? 

     That’s all I’ve got for today.  Have a great week and I’ll drop another update on Friday,

Talk to you soon!

 

Tom Waters

Monday Big Words Update! More More More!

Here’s some Monday ‘Talking Points’ for ya:

-’Sawed Off Sam Walton’ rolls out hot today in the pages of Night Life magazine’s Big Words I Know By Heart print column, which we’re quickly approaching the 2 Year Anniversary Party for at Double D’s Queen City Grill on December 11th!

-I spent two solid hours and got two solid shows from Buffalo Music Awards Hall Of Famer and blues legend Tommy Z.  We talked about some of the American derivatives of the Blues, influences, modern pop, blues and R & B, Gnarls Barkley (?) and Tom was kind enough to intersperce our discussions with crazy licks, play-alongs to some of our favorite blues standards, and many other musical expositions at his multimillion dollar recording studio/compound in the country.  As soon as both shows are up, I will let you know.

-After the interview with ‘Z’, I rushed both shows out to the studio along with 2 Live Monsters Of Verse concerts from last Thursday (Chippewa) and yesterday (Desiderio’s on Broadway).  Thanks again to JR Finlayson, Carrie Gardner and my ‘la familia’ (sp?) at Desiderio’s for making every event we organize there a time to remember.  Again, when both shows are up, you’ll be the first to know right here!

-Wednesday (if all goes according to plan), I should be sitting down with Irish rock god Kevin McCarthy for a similar session or two right before (you guessed it), the Buffalo Music Awards!  By week’s end, the all three musical explorations with three of the most talented artists in ‘the business of show’ should be up on Think Twice Radio for your enjoyment!  I might have one (technically) two more aces in the hole, but I’m not going to count my chickens etc.  If you want a hint, though, they’re one of my favorite Buffalo Bands and they have something to do with a deadly spider.  Cross your fingers for me! 

That’s it for today.  I got all my assignments done over the weekend which brings me up to speed for a little R & R for the next day or two until the rest of the week takes me away with it.  And don’t forget, Monsters Of Verse at FYE Amherst this Saturday afternoon from 1-4 p.m.!

Cheerio!

Tom Waters

Friday Synopsis: 3 New Radio Shows, Desiderio’s THIS SUNDAY @ 7p.m.!

How goes it?

 

    Staying in line with the nutshell scenario’s for these emails (so as not to overload all of you), I’ll make this is as brief as I can:

 

-With the Buffalo Music Awards coming up next Thursday at Coyote’s, I’ve been locking down and scheduling a volley of great Buffalo Music Legends and previous award winners for Big Words Radio.  On Tuesday, I spent five hours with my ‘close, personal showbiz friend’ Michael Bly recording a ‘parter of two’ live at the Hidden Shamrock.  Thanks to Michael Bly, the whole gang at Hidden Shamrock (on Transit between Walden and Broadway) and former room-mate and co-host Charles ‘Chezzie’ Amabile for rolling with the punches!  Part 1 (Episode XVII) is the interview portion where we discuss Bly’s status as a living musical legend.  Part 2 (you guessed it, Episode XVIII) is a live concert with track’s from Mike’s Grammy Award Winning debut album (plug plug, Cliche’) along with some knockout cover songs and previously unreleased songs from his upcoming album.  Dial it up on your skype by clicking over at:

 

http://www.thinktwiceradio.com/tom-waters/tom-waters.html

 

    On Wednesday (after last week’s spectacular Big Words show with Uncle Hal), I popped over to his jewel-encrusted mansion/studio to do a cameo/co-host spot on The Pissed Off World Of Uncle Hal for Episode 61.  I can honestly say that if you combined all of the shows that Hal and I have done, you still wouldn’t approach the level of offensiveness we achieved over the course of the two-hour slam.  Every single human being on the planet who listens to the show is going to want to punch us both in the head, so pop over to Hal’s awesome program at:

 

http://www.powunclehal.blogspot.com

 

    I wouldn’t have a show or the finely tuned sensibilities on my own show (or a show, period) if it weren’t for the Associate’s degree I earned on the seven or eight shows I’ve done with Hal.  A big thanks goes out to Uncle Hal for having me back, getting us both in more trouble, and for his constant advice and support on my own show.  Anyone who’s ever listened to Hal’s show or our shows will attest to that.   If you’re not offended by ANYTHING, hunker down, grab a cold beverage and give it a listen.  Otherwise, avoid it at all costs. 

 

    I’ll be hunkering down for the next three days to finish up two very big assignments with two great Buffalo newspapers that are due by Monday.  The Monsters Of Verse show at Spot Coffee was sweet and Desiderio’s on Broadway this Sunday at 7 p.m. should be even better.  Both shows will be up by Monday night and I’ll throw you an update by then. 

 

    I’m wrapping up there.  Make it out to Desi’s if you can since it’s on my own turf, there are VERY FEW copies of Breathing Room Vol.I and II available for now, and make sure to buy a mountain of drinks, food, tip your servers and above all else (here’s the wind-up, there’s the pitch):

 

BUY OUR GODDAMNED BOOKS!

 

Love,

 

Tom Waters

Updated 08/09 Calendar, Local Gamestop Scoop!

Monsters Of Verse/Breathing Room Bookings Fall/Winter/Spring 08/09

Thursday, November 13^th, 7-9pm, Spot Coffee, Delaware & Chippewa (Monsters Of Verse)

Sunday, November 16^th, 7pm, Desiderio’s on Broadway, (Monsters Of Verse)

Tuesday, November 18^th, 7:55 a.m.-1:35 p.m., East Aurora High School English Honors presentation(s) (Tom only)

Saturday, November 22^nd, FYE Transit (Amherst), 1-4pm, (Monsters Of Verse)

Saturday, December 6^th, 1-4pm, FYE Hamburg (Monsters Of Verse)

Thursday, December 11^th, 7pm-?, Double D’s Queen City Grill, Big Words I Know By Heart Two Year Anniversary Party!

Saturday, December 13^th, 3 p.m. -3 a.m. Tom & Lindsay’s pad, Batman marathon party, invite only.

Sunday, December 14^th, Buffalo Indie Market appearance (Monsters Of Verse)

Sunday, December 21^st, 4-6, Barnes & Noble Mckinley Mall (Monsters Of Verse)

Saturday, February 7^th, 1-4 p.m., FYE, Transit, Signing (Monsters Of Verse)

Saturday, February 7^th, 6 p.m.-?, Don’s Atomic Comics!, Tom’s Atomic Poetry Kegger w/Monsters of Verse! Free beer for anyone with a book by Tom Waters, additional store discounts for everyone who brings a girl.

Sunday, February 8^th, 3 pm, Merrieweather Library (1324 Jefferson & Utica St.), The Second Sunday Poetry Series hosted by Josh Smith, (Monsters Of Verse)

Friday, February 13^th, 7 p.m., Borders Books & Music, Hamburg, Signing (Monsters Of Verse)

Wednesday, May 6^th, 7 pm, Center For Inquiry (Monsters Of Verse)

     If you have the other calendar bookmarked or cut and pasted into a seperate file, you’re definitely going to want to toss it out the window and follow this one.  NO LESS than three new bookings have been added and they are all golden opportunities.  Barnes & Noble McKinley the Sunday right before Christmas!  Awesome!  The Millenium Collectibles Show the final Sunday of this month with my buddy John Kindelan!  Sweet!  And Borders books in Hamburg confirmed the day before Valentine’s Day.  Fantastic! 

     These are all quantum leaps for me as well as the Monsters Of Verse in terms of making progress as local authors and regional sensations.  Hop on the bandwagon now before it runs out of room and meet us up at Spot Chippewa tomorrow at 7 or Desiderio’s on Broadway Sunday at 7!  From a personal standpoint, I’m running out of both Breathing Rooms.  Again.  I don’t even know if I’ll have any copies of Vol. II available for the Sunday gig at the rate things are going, so grab one while I’ve got it if you want a signed copy at the exact same time that you buy one.  Next year can only get better in terms of bookings now that we are DOMINATING three of the largest retailers on the planet (FYE, Barnes & Nobles, Borders).  The landscape of Buffalo book promotions has been permanently altered.  The Monsters Of Verse are taking over!  We have assumed control…..

     Shifting from assuming control to assuming the position, I’ve got some local Gamestop scoop that is really making me wonder if Lisa (my former DM) is scrambling to cover her tracks before the wolves catch her this holiday season.  Charla (one of her right-hand girls) got clipped this week on (you guessed it) a technicality that has NEVER been discussed during any conference call that I’ve ever been on in the two years that Lisa has ’strapped on’ her DM hat for the district.  Things that make you go…hmmm.  I find it very odd with less than two months to Christmas day that one of my boss’s pets (who was NOT disciplined over a serious infraction before another tenured manager got fired at the same store instead of administering any disciplinary action to her) got let go over something that isn’t widely discussed internally. 

     From a company wide and District level, big-wigs and supervisors are flipping the fuck out wondering where I get all my information.  And to that I have a number of replies.  1) I’m a journalist.  I know how to uncover dirt.  2) Be careful what you tell to whom because odds are that I’ll hear from them all sooner rather than later.  And finally, 3) Much like a leaky dyke (is that the proper spelling for a large, smelly, gaping, wet hole?), it takes a hell of a lot more than one person to fill all the holes when you’ve got seepage.  Did you like the dyke reference?  That’s what they call a double entendre.  Enjoy it, you fucking morons. 

     I haven’t had a whole lot of time to track company stock this week but from what we’re looking at on the NASDAQ, the news ain’t good for GME.  Even with what many consider to be the largest videogame release for this holiday season dropping last week (Gears Of War 2 on Xbox 360), the stock is on life support!  Do you like apples?  I hope you do, because from the stock news I’ve got, it looks like Gamestop cronies are going to be selling apples on a curbside after the company completely tanks.  Here’s the latest stock report:

11/07/08 $25.10 (+1.29) (+5.42%)

11/11/08 $23.41 (-1.07) (-4.37%)

Ouch!  I say again…ouch!  23.41 is absolutely pathetic and let me remind you again that they were at $70 or BETTER this time last year.  You poor evil rat bastards.  If the stock doesn’t revive soon they’re really going to be in a world of hurt just in time for that stockholder conference call I mentioned later this month!  My wrongful termination in October?  Bad timing, bad choice.  Their stock which has fallen and can’t get up?  Just goddamned deplorable timing.  If they can’t hit an upswing during Christmas, how are they going to stay flaccid through the rest of the fiscal year?  Someone sound the death rattle because it just might be around the corner.

     I just love when I get my way and the world starts working in my favor.  I’m about due.  I’ll have more great Gamestop news for you next week on Fuck Gamestop Wednesdays right here at your official source for the real corporate overlord incompetence news, Big Words I Know By Heart.  Tell Human Resources Tom sent ya!  That’s if they haven’t fired the two or three people in place who are expected to manage over 4,000 stores….Ha ha!  Good times!  I hope your week rocks as much as mine,

Tom ‘fisting the dyke’ Waters

 

 

A Day Late And A Dollar Richer: Monday Update a few minutes into Tuesday

Today was INSANE!  The last four weeks have been a flurry activity so I’m going to make every attempt to be brief….which is not my strong suit.

I worry sometimes that I’m overloading those of you who visit the site with too much information, so in the interest of paying more attention to the 8 million projects that fell into my lap today and some really good news on a few recent crusades, I’m going to work on doing perhaps three blog posts a week on each site (and in most cases, the same blog posts thrown up simultaneously).

Site hits have been down slightly, which is sad.  The official site is still doing good, but perhaps the information overload has something to do with it.  So on to the bullet points:

-Monsters Of Verse THIS THURSDAY at Spot Coffee on Delaware & Chippewa @7 p.m.  Admission is free but buy some goddamned books!

-Monsters Of Verse THIS SUNDAY at Desiderio’s on Broadway & Bowen @ 7 p.m.  Admission is free but eat a lot, drink a lot, tip well and buy some goddamned books!

-2 New Podcasts up RIGHT NOW!  Big Words One Man Mobile Unit Episode XVI: Absolutely Fabulous at Salon on the Avenue in Lancaster, NY!  My gayest episode yet ‘dishing’ with the cougars at the salon after my new emo-black dye job.  Click over to the ultimate ‘man on the street’ offensiveness over at:

http://www.thinktwiceradio.com/tom-waters/tom-waters.html

Monsters Of Verse Episode III: MOV Live from Talking Leaves!  Yep, you read that right, Episode III.  This means (unfortunately) that due to my hectic day on Saturday I f-ed up and my producer replaced the Clarence High School podcast from last Tuesday.  If you didn’t catch it while it was up, you’re not going to.  Ever.  That podcast is lost to the annals of time.  We won’t be making that mistake again.  That stings.  To hear the newest episode III (heh), click over to:

http://www.thinktwiceradio.com/monsters/monsters.html

-I’ve got some great One Man Mobile Units lined up in the next two weeks leading up to the Buffalo Music Awards, one of the biggest annual star-studded events in the Buffalo/Niagara region.  No less than three musicians/bands are on the hook and committed to meeting up for private/guerilla style concert shows on Big Words. Wanna know which acts?  Keep coming back.  I’m not going to give away all of my trade secrets.

-I had a few writing projects already in the pipeline today and then about 78 more fell into my lap with deadlines in the next five to fourteen days.  I’ve got a busy week, so I’m working on wrapping this thing up.

-Night Life is out today with the first two part installment of ‘Sawed Off Sam Walton’, a look at how hellish retail and the drones who suffer under of the yolk of it really can be.  If you don’t catch it on stands this week, you won’t have any idea what’s going on for the conclusion next week.

-I got one VERY huge booking for the Sunday right before Christmas, but I’m not telling you that, either.  Wednesday (when I drop the Gamestop scoop like it’s hot), I’ll be posting the newly updated ‘08/’09 calendar.  There have been quite a few prestigious additions for the Monsters Of Verse as well as myself and you’ll be pretty impressed.  Tune in Wednesday for that.

-Uncle Hal and I will be doing a show at his studio, so you can expect a brand new POW Uncle Hal Show hopefully by the end of this week.

That’s all I have time for kids.  Soak this up for a day and a half and I’ll have more great news for you come Wednesday!  Ciao for now,

Tom Waters

Buffalo Anthology Update(s), New Links on the Anthology Site, MOV Episode III up by 9 p.m. Eastern TONIGHT at the latest…

Since it’s more of a peripheral project (and has it’s own site), I’d rather not repost the three or four new blogs from the Buffalo Anthology Project here.  This site is all about me.  The Anthology Site is about everyone involved.  Some of you are interested in that book and some of you aren’t, so I will leave it up to you.  I spent far too much time this morning trying to get everyone on that end up to speed as to what was going on (or wrong) in my brain and where we all stood with the project.  I also added a mountain of links that probably should have been there in the first place.  Feel free to check the whole ball of wax out over at:

http://www.buffaloanthology.blogspot.com

And since most of you are overloaded with more information about my writing than you could ever possibly want or need, I’ll just piggyback this on to the blog we’re in right now.  The Talking Leaves reading will be up on the Monsters Of Verse podcast site by 9 p.m. tonight.  Yesterday was a rotten whore of a busy day that started around 5 a.m. and ended somewhere close to midnight.  There is NEVER enough time to do everything.  Lindsay and I will be riding out to Think Twice today and uploading the last reading (which turned out to be a hell of a lot of fun, as per usual with Jeff and Carrie).  For those of you who weren’t the dozen or so attendees who made the event, give it a listen tonight at:

http://www.thinktwiceradio.com/monsters/monsters.html

I need to get away from my keyboard, my computer and my study.  Like most human beings, I’m poorly designed when it comes to relaxing and enjoying any sort of free time.  I’ll be spending the rest of my day ‘working’ on that.  Research commences in 5, 4, 3, 2,………

Newsletter Feed: One Bigass Sit. Rep! Two new podcasts, two new articles and a whole bunch of other stuff!

Whew!

 

    You’d think that being jobless would resemble some manner of paradise involving sitting on my ass, eating government cheese and doing absolutely nothing, right?  Wrong.  In the last month, I’ve put more time into my career (writing) now that I don’t have gainful employment than ever before.  I can honestly say that I’m going through one of those quantum leaps marketing-wise.  The kind I haven’t enjoyed since way back in 2001.  Most of my days have been spent schmoozing on the phone until the battery dies out on my portable, writing any number of different personal projects and assignments, blogging and working on my sites as well as those of others, and spending what little time is left in the evening taking care of things around the house and spending time with my wife while shoehorning research into other side projects. 

    Yesterday alone, I got up at eight in the morning, got a good running start at life and didn’t stop until around midnight.  Aside from a ten minute nap, I didn’t stop.  When I get a full-time job, it’s going to be a bit of a relief, because I’ll have the sort of structure again where I can allow myself to rest once in a while.  Even after getting a molar pulled last week and suffering from related migraines, I felt guilty taking a portion of two days in the last seven to relax and recuperate.  With as many hours in the day as I have at my disposal, I still feel as if there isn’t enough time to accomplish everything I’ve been setting out to do. 

    Bret Easton Ellis told me during our interview a few years back that he treated writing like a job, ‘clocking in’ at 9 a.m., breaking for lunch and then banging out of work around 5 p.m.  I wish I could stop that early.  While tiring, I realize how crucial the time I’ve been given is.  I’ve decided that I’ll be taking this holiday season away from the horrific nightmare that is retail to actually enjoy spending time with my family (new and old) for the first time in 16 years in addition to working on the multitude of projects that are currently under construction or already in progress.  As you may or may not know, the next two essay collections (Slapstick & Superego as well as Merry Prankster) are complete.  I haven’t penned a shred of new poetry for two weeks, but Poke The Scorpion With A Sharp Stick (the next poetry collection) is well over 140 pages without even including the freaky 50 page project I worked on in July (‘Rock/Pop Goes The Weasel’).  And then there are the freelancing assignments….

    My beloved editor at Gusto (Brian Connelly) is apparently moving me up to the big leagues in terms of freelancing and I couldn’t be more grateful.  In addition to the Club Watch bar reviews, he’ll be phasing me into their ‘Tell Me’ section at the very FRONT of Gusto (page two after the front page), conducting interviews with artists, writers and musicians on the cusp of making their big break inside as well as outside of Buffalo.  In regards to that, I’m going to humbly request that if any of you know of an artist (preferably a musician or band) with an upcoming gig in November or December who doesn’t have a firmly established fan base and deserves a wider audience, please email me at once with biographical as well as contact information.  My musical tastes tend to run about twenty or thirty years behind, so I’m woefully ignorant where current up-and-comers are concerned. 

    ArtVoice has also given me the green light on one of two projects I hatched during the idea-storm I was besieged with on my honeymoon at Silvercreek in early October.  With Thanksgiving fast approaching, I’ll be writing a piece about the hot spots to hit on the day before Thanksgiving, which happens to be the biggest party night of the year, eclipsing even New Year’s Eve and/or St. Patrick’s Day.  Again, if you happen to be ‘in the know’ on a bar, club or pub that blows the doors off business wise before the turkey hits the table, drop me a line.  My deadline window is one week, and I NEVER miss deadline.  It’s one of the qualities that’s reinforced my reputation as a serious writer in Buffalo and I’m certainly not going to call that into question now. 

    Yesterday, I had the pleasure and privelage (sp?) of recording an hour long show plus with my podcasting hero Uncle Hal from the Pissed Off World Of Uncle Hal show.  He was my first choice after being offered my own show at Think Twice and with zero notes, bullet points or questions, we managed to fill 70 minutes worth of the most offensive, irreverent comedy imaginable.  If Hal didn’t have an appointment, I seriously would have gone for two hour-long shows in a row.  I raced Episode XV out as soon as I could and my producer Richard Wicka at Think Twice uploaded it at once.  I strongly encourage you to listen at once over at:

 

http://www.thinktwiceradio.com/tom-waters/tom-waters.html

 

    I had some issues finding the new episode with more luck refreshing on Internet Explorer, so if you don’t see Episode XV (and the subsequent ‘Bonus Round’), click Refresh and cross your fingers.  I’m not sure if the site is experiencing technical difficulties, but I’ll be getting to the bottom of it over the weekend.

    In addition to the Big Words One Man Mobile Unit, the Monsters Of Verse are full steam ahead.  I returned to Clarence High School on Tuesday to teach my first workshop on the mechanics of poetry as well as writing in general to Ms. Foster’s Poetry Club while recording the event.  That episode (#3, for those keeping track) can be heard over at:

 

http://www.thinktwiceradio.com/monsters/monsters.html

    

    Once again, I experienced issues finding the newest episode of each show on AOL, so if you have Internet Explorer, you’re better off visiting the site from there. 

    And last night, the Monsters Of Verse launched their second official reading at Talking Leaves on Main St. in Amherst.  JR Finlayson, Carrie Gardner and myself kicked off the evening in alphabetical order with fifteen minute sets of amusing, insightful and philosophical poems that the crowd really seemed to respond well to.  Due to a small snafu regarding our start time (I forgot that we started at 6 p.m. instead of 7), we read for an additional forty minutes for the sake of entertaining those who showed at or shortly after 7 o’clock.  Twenty minutes of the second set were lost from the digital recorder, so if you weren’t there, you won’t get to hear it once the non-stop rock block of genius goes up online.  Depending on where my day (and my weekend) take me, Episode IV of the Monsters Of Verse should be up on the web by Sunday afternoon at the latest.  I’ll shoot you all an email when I’m positive that it’s up. 

    I’ve had a lot of time to think in the last four weeks.  One of the things I was turning around in my head yesterday was just how…overjoyed I am to have two like-minded creative maniacs to tour Buffalo and beyond with for the next six months.  With Jeff Finlayson and Carrie Gardner on deck, I honestly couldn’t ask for two other people I’d rather be out and about reading with.  Aside from sustaining, supporting and inspiring each other, they remain my dear friends and I’m not so much surprised with how well our collective dynamic is growing and improving so much as I’m pleased with the results.  Maybe we’ll hate each other come the beginning of May, but I doubt it.  Their talent, professionalism and their knockout prognostication skills continue to sustain and inform my burgeoning poetry skills.  At the risk of getting gooey, thank you, Jeff and Carrie.  Our events (and this project) are a feather in our cap that I’m very, very proud of.  I realize that putting up with my thousand event-related emails, phone calls and frequent tantrums is far from fun to deal with (just ask my wife), and your respective patience and professionalism is slowly molding me into a better team player.  You two are the best.

    Our next stop on the quest for global spoken word domination hits next Thursday (the 13th) at Spot Coffee on Delaware and Chippewa from 7-9 p.m.  Three days later, we’ll be at my favorite bar, Desiderio’s on Broadway on Sunday the 16th at 7 p.m. with special musical guest Shaky Stage.  Attendance so far has been admirable, but where the hell have you guys been?  Carrie has brought the majority of our audience and I’m embarrassed to say that most of the Big Words army have been missing in action.  PLEASE make the time to show your face for one (if not both) of the next two events.  I’m disappointed in the total lack of support in terms of these promotions where you’re all concerned, and it would be nice to see some if not all of you out during this new experiment in our collective creative careers.  While I realize that our performances are not at the top of your list, you’re missing out.  We’ve had a great big barrel of fun so far and it’s only going to get better as we continue to sharpen our skill set on the road.  Forget everything you know about poetry and give us a try.  I promise that we won’t let you down, and the after-parties thus far have been phenomenal.  I’ll leave it at that.

    And, on a final note, two new articles popped up online this week.  This month’s issue of Acid Logic is rolling out hot at 15 mph with ‘Sawed Off Sam Walton’, a strangely topical essay about spending half of my life in the hell known as retail.  Read all about it over at:

 

http://www.acidlogic.com/retail_sucks.htm

 

    And after a month long unintentional hiatus from comic book reviews, I put my nose back to the grind and started pumping a few new graphic novel critiques and sending them off to my new editor at Comics Bulletin.  You can catch them every Wednesday on www.comicsbulletin.com.  Top Shelf Comics has been kind enough to send me more than my share of advance copies, review copies and entire libraries for research purposes having to do with the radio show, and one of the books they sent me stood head and shoulders above anything I’ve read this year.  Despite what you might think, I actually do read comics that don’t have Batman in the title.  This previous Wednesday, I gave Nate Powell’s Swallow Me Whole the credit it truly deserved.  Check that review out over at:

 

http://www.comicsbulletin.com/reviews/

 

    You may have to scroll down a tad as my show-notes inform me that it is no longer Wednesday and there isn’t a direct link to each review.  Since the Swallow Me Whole review, I’ve been hard at work building up a stockpile of other new reviews so that there aren’t any gaps on that site.  I’m neurotic about taking advantage of each and every site and publication I write for and I hate to be tardy to the party with any of them unless it’s absolutely unavoidable.  Writing comic reviews is a labor of love and it doesn’t even feel like work to fire off 5 or 600 words about every book I shovel into my brain.  Excelsior!

    That should be all the news that’s fit to print for the time being.  Thanks are in order to: JR Finlayson, Carrie Gardner, Richard Wicka, Greg Sterlace (farewell and good luck, new friend!), Jonathan at Talking Leaves, Josh Smith, Uncle Hal, Wil Forbis, Thom Young and last but not least, my wife.  Lindsay has had to endure hell and back and back around again in the last four months.  This wrongful termination from Gamestop was another curveball that we didn’t deserve or anticipate.  She’s a real trooper, and without her love, support and reliability, I’d be well past the point of sanity by now.  I love you, chipmunk! 

    Oof.  One final word.  Now that Hal has popped onto my show, I’ll be doing a walk-on over on his.  We’ll be recording Episode 61 (or is it 62?) next week and you know I’ll give you the head’s up once it’s online.  The two of us are the politically correct equivalent of a keg full of dynamite strapped to a minivan doused in nitroglycerin whenever we get near a microphone.  The Big Words episode was brutal, but now that we’re back in the groove, our show on his site will be worse.  You have been officially warned.  Have a great weekend,

 

Tom Waters

Talking Leaves Main St. TONIGHT @6pm, Gamestop Stock Report and Analysis

After a week long break for most of the Monsters Of Verse, we’re ramping back up for business tonight at Talking Leaves Main St. (past Bailey and across from The Steer near UB South) at 6 pm SHARP!  Attendance has never been stellar for me at that location, but I’m hoping that we’ll get a combined audience and a better turnout this time.  We’ll see what happens.  If you have a chance (or if you’re in the area), stop on out and say hello!  It’s a beautiful reading venue and I selfishly like setting up events there because Jonathan has THE BEST poetry selection in Buffalo, hands down.  As a Bukowski addict, it’s nice to go to Talking Leaves for all my Chinanski needs.  They’ve also got an extensive local authors section and a neat reading area with chairs and a podium.  We’ll be recording the event for future podcast inclusion on the MOV site, so stay tuned on www.thinktwiceradio.com.  I should have it delivered and uploaded with Rich by week’s end at the latest. 

I also wanted to do a regular Wednesday feature (much in the style of the Buffalo Rising jihad) covering all things in the corporate regime known as Gamestop Inc.  I had a lot going on yesterday and I didn’t get around to it, so we’ll piggyback that info in today’s post.  Here is the sad flaccid and brief rise of GME stock and their inevitable plunge back to where they belong in the last week:

10/27 25.21 (-.52) (-2.02%)

10/28 28.91 (+3.70) (+14.68)

10/29 29.43 (+.52) )(1.80 %)

10/30 29.43 (.0) (0%)

10/31 27.39 (-2.04) (-6.93%)

11/3 26.97 (-.42) (-1.53%)

11/4 25.28 (-2.47) (-8.90%)

They just can’t seem to break the $30 mark, can they?  I’m surprised that I was right, but here we are less than two months away from Christmas and their stock value has fallen and it can’t get up!  I’m not sure if I provided this link before, but here’s an industry analysis from someone more familiar with the market trends than I am:

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/video-game-sector-may-see/story.aspx?guid=%7B22A45261%2D7E7D%2D48F4%2D90EF%2DE22BBD973F57%7D&dist=TQP_Mod_mktwN

My research yesterday led me to the intel that Gamestop will be holding a 3rd quarter earnings conference call for all public stockholders on November 20th at 11 am.  The call will be posted briefly on their web site and you had better believe I’ll be listening with full attention.  One might also speculate that they’re going to blow the doors off of Gears Of War 2 this evening and tomorrow, but early reports don’t look so hot.  Myself and at least ten other people dumped our pre-orders at Gamestop and I had a lovely visit over at FYE (conveniently located on Transit and Wherle in the town of Amherst) trading in some old games I’m never going to play again and putting them towards Gears Of War 2.  After six years with a company that rapes people on trade in values, it was quite a shock to discover that I almost paid for the game in full with just a handful of really old titles.  Once every six months, I have to bleed off my collection to make room for new releases.  And what better way can one do so than by going to FYE?  They have a huge selection of used games, great cash trade in prices, and a kiosk towards the back devoted to trade-ins (so that you don’t have to waste ten or twenty minutes out of your day waiting for everbody else to cash out).  ‘Nuff said on that.  Buy Gears 2 tonight at midnight and tomorrow at your local FYE, Gamecrazy, Best Buy, Circuit City or Wal Mart! 

I also found some scathing posts on a peripheral Wikipedia site after someone pointed out to me that my site had been listed as a link on the Gamestop bio page on the internet’s largest organic encyclopedia.  Posters complain about company drones and cult employees fascistically deleting anything remotely negative from the company history.  Here’s a little taste from the page and then you can click over to the rest:

“Hrm? I thought Gamestop employees that were editing this article were all corporate loyalists? At least, any employee who lasts more than a week tends to be a total jerkass who meshes with the corporate “the customer is an asshole who deserves to be ripped off” business model. Maybe if Gamesop wanted respect they’d give 50% trade-in values instead of 5%.” —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 206.162.204.6 (talk) 06:30, 10 March 2007 (UTC).

Check out their laundry list of gripes over at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:GameStop

That’s all the muck that’s fit to rake for one day.  I’ll be hard at work investigating more corruption and poor business practice so that I’ve got my homework done in time for next Wednesday.  Keep clicking, keep reading, and hopefully Carrie, Jeff and myself will see you up at Talking Leaves!

Monday Big Words Update! Week 101 on stands/CHS Workshop Tomorrow/Talking Leaves THIS Thursday!

So…..

The Monsters Of Verse are full steam ahead and this crazy rig isn’t going to let up until at least the beginning of May.  Once the calendar year closes, we’ll be investing a great deal of time and energy into booking additional events, new venues and bigger appearances from February through May.  For now, though, we’ve got plenty to keep our hands full with the events we’ve got and new engagements keep popping up without us even trying!

Moving on, Night Life magazine assaults the Buffalo/Toronto market today with a Big Words edition of ‘Unenjoyment’, a stoical look at how my life would play out after Gamestop wrongfully terminated me so that they could promote a total incompetent racist drug addict into one of their new stores in the Buffalo market.  Scoop up a copy while it’s hot!  If you were on the free newsletter list (which you can subscribe to by emailing bigwordsmailbag@yahoo.com with ’subscribe’ in the subject heading), you got to see it first over three weeks ago.  If not, now’s your chance to read it in Night Life.  With 70,000 copies rolling off the presses every single week all over the Greater Buffalo/Niagara area, there are plenty of bars, restaurants and pizzerias where you can read all about it!

Tomorrow, I’ll be making a return trip to the hallowed halls of Clarence Central High School to teach my first writing workshop to the kids in the Poetry Club, the staff at Chrysalis, the on-site literary magazine (which has grown by leaps and bounds since I graduated in ‘93), and a few other stragglers who got the exclusive invite from Ms. Foster and Kevin Starr.  You can hear the entire event some time later this week when it pops up on Think Twice Radio’s Monsters Of Verse site. 

This Thursday, the Monsters Of Verse kick off their second scheduled appearance/reading/signing at Talking Leaves on Main St. (near Bailey) at 6 p.m.   Jonathan (the owner proprietor of both locations) has been extremely supportive and helpful with all of my books for the last seven years, so bringing the crew out for another hoorah was a no brainer.  You can check out his listing/brief synopsis of the book over on Talking Leaves’ official site at:

http://www.tleavesbooks.com/watersplus.htm

Jr Finlayson, Carrie Gardner and myself will be reading selections from our newest poetry collections in fifteen minute blocks (so we have time to schmooze/hawk some books before the store closes at 8 pm sharp).  I don’t like to hold up employees at the locations where we have events scheduled near close, so please show up on time, bring plenty of friends (and cold hard cash!) and feel free to join us out afterwards!

I also pounded out two new graphic novel reviews for my editor Thom Young over at www.comicsbulletin.com.  One of the two should be going up this Wednesday, when they premiere their graphic novel reviews on the site.  I’ve been pretty negligent with them lately and I get neurotic when I’m not taking full advantage of every media stream I’m plugged into, so I’ll be focusing my creative efforts (with what diminishing free time I have) on getting a few more reviews backlogged for Mr. Young.

I’m not sure if there will be a new Big Words One Man Mobile Unit episodes this week, but we’ll see what happens.  This week is pretty hectic and I’m still reeling from my molar extraction.  I feel guilty for loafing even for a day or two, but some bed/couch rest wouldn’t be the worst idea in the world.  We’ll see what happens.  If Uncle Hal stiffs again (which is becoming an increasingly more common occurance lately), maybe I’ll set something up on Wednesday with somebody else. 

And DON’T FORGET TO VOTE MCCAIN/PALIN ON ELECTION DAY, Tuesday, November 4th!  The Republican party needs all the support we can muster, so make the time, hit the polls and make your voice heard!  Our nations economy and global stance for the next four years depend upon it.  Don’t let the Spendocrats win this one, even if our last contender turned into a bumbling moron.  Who knows, maybe W. can find gainful seasonal employment with the soulless jackasses currently running Gamestop into the ground?  He’s got half a brain, and that appears to be qualification enough lately….

Have a great week and see you out, about and in print in Buffalo!

Vote Republican!,

Tom Waters