Monday Big Words Update! Sansonne Benefit Aftermath/April Foolfest 2 THIS WEDNESDAY/Busted Stuff Deserves An Apology…

The Gregg Sansonne ‘We’ve Got Your Back’ Benefit at the Colonel Weber Post in Lackawanna yesterday was a huge, huge success! Well over 400 people bought tickets and came out in droves to support Gregg before his upcoming surgery fundraiser. Busted Stuff, The Mick Hayes Band, Only Humen (with a two song cameo from Michael Bly) and Black Widow rocked the crowd down to the foundations with an entire day of great music and multiple sponsors contributed their time, food, gift certificates and other goods and services in support of Gregg’s procedure. Thanks (personally) to Mazia’s Pizza in Clarence, Desiderio’s on Broadway, Salon On The Avenue in Lancaster, and Don’s Atomic Comics(!) in Depew for helping me to bring something to the table from my end of the benefit.

I also had a real blast emceeing the benefit! I did so well with the audience that one of the organizers (who runs a non-profit organization for kids) asked if I’d emcee for one of their events because she liked my quirky, irreverent hosting style. For my first time doing this sort of thing, I’m just glad I didn’t blow it. You can judge for yourself later this week, though, because the ENTIRE BENEFIT was recorded directly from their sound board for Think Twice Radio! If I can ever get a day or an evening off to visit the studio this week, I’ll be dropping off a boat load of new shows that are well overdue for Big Words Radio as well as the Monsters Of Verse Project site. I’ll keep you posted when they’re posted.

Moving on, April Foolfest 2 is going down THIS WEDNESDAY starting at 7 p.m. at Desiderio’s on Broadway. This Wednesday will be the 2 year anniversary of the original April Foolfest book launch for If They Can’t Take A Joke. Michael Bly performed and I popped the Big Question to Lindsay. Lindsay’s birthday is this week, we love Desiderio’s, Lenny Revell will be performing, and I’ll be reading selections from Slapstick & Superego. Not to mention the fact that the event is FREE! How many more reasons could you need to come out and have a great time? This show is going to be a knockout (we’ll be recording this one as well), so suit up, drive out and meet us at Desiderio’s on the corner of Broadway and Bowen!

The early questionaire responses have voted unanimously for a late summer book launch at Desiderio’s. I’ll be locking down a date this week, and factoring in all the responses, I’m going to shoot for an early August event on either a Thursday, Friday or Saturday evening. Once it’s confirmed, I’ll let you know.

A new issue of Night Life hit’s the stands today with Part Two of ‘A Preacher, A Rabbi & A Minister Walk Into A Bank…’ pt. 2 of 2, a religious lambast going all the way back to First Person, Last Straw. And finally, I’d like to thank Dave from the Buffalo super-duo Busted Stuff. A few years ago, we had a misunderstanding that I took public. Dave was enough of a gentleman to speak to me calmly and collectively about what happened and we shook hands and moved forward. In addition, the band sounded about 300% better than when I heard them two years prior when they played the benefit and they were pretty damned good to begin with. So thank you, Dave. I’m glad we could settle our differences and make some plans for the future. The up side of the reconciliation means that you can look forward to hearing Busted Stuff play on Big Words Radio some time down the road. It should be a hell of a show.

Talk to you all in two days on the official web site for the Quixote Wednesday Update,

Tom Waters

Quixote Wednesday Update! Amok

After getting wrongfully terminated on a paperwork technicality, it comes as quite a shock (but not really) to discover that my former supervisor would tear up company documents in the presence of multiple employees. The eyes have it that after Lewis pitched in and did his part on helping to get me fired, Lisa marched into my old store (Thruway) and shredded ALL of his written warnings. For a ‘leader’ so intent on document compliance and procedural carry-through, it’s astonishing to hear that Lisa can’t even follow the bullshit that’s falling out of her own mouth regarding company statutes, policy, and paperwork retention. If memory serves, ALL company documents must be retained for NO LESS THAN one calendar year. Technically (as if there aren’t plenty of reasons already), Lisa should be terminated for flagrantly violating company record policy in the presence of multiple members of management.

Now I’m not a procedure freak, but something doesn’t seem right there, especially when you take into account that Lisa talked me into giving Lewis the majority of his documentation. I was ordered on multiple occasions to start laying a paperwork trail down so that she could get rid of him down the road and I followed my orders like a good soldier and did so every time Lisa asked me.

As a matter of fact, for the year and a half that we were under Lisa’s ‘command’ in the Buffalo District, Lisa had consistently tried to railroad me into terminating Lewis by any means necessary. In the past, she’s made those statements in the presence of multiple other managers during inventories. I’m so glad that Lewis returned the favor by stabbing me in the back for the one person who wanted to phase him out of the company the most. The end result of these shenanigans is that we have two snakes who can’t trust each other and a District Manager who shouldn’t (and can’t be) taken at her word to save her life, and if you can’t live up to your word, what does that say about you as a person?

Factor in the concrete truth that Lewis’ write-up carbon copies were all sent in to Human Resources at the corporate headquarters Texas after each discussion was conducted with him (Lewis had a sizeable file full of behavioral, procedural, punctuality and attitude-related corrective actions spanning his five years with the company) and after he signed off on them and it doesn’t make a hell of a lot of sense that Lisa would tear up the paperwork in her possession in the Buffalo market. It also doesn’t make a hell of a lot of sense that she’d promote someone that she despised so openly and frequently aside from the fact that she back-pedaled over the summer when Lewis confronted her about her intention to get him out of the company by any means necessary. Spineless, frequently absent, and completely lacking in integrity. That sums up these two, and they probably deserve each other in the current miasma of a cess pool that’s left to be referred to as a District.

And what of the other Buffalo stores? I’ll save them for another week. It’s annual review season in the dark regime and I’d rather phase these tidbits in for easy digestion than overload you with such a far-reaching example of mismanagement, incompetence and obvious abuse of power from a district standpoint. Either someone is asleep at the wheel higher up or Gamestop is retaining Lisa’s employment out of a stubborn sense that her termination would be an admission of guilt or a concession that she never should have been hired on within the company in the first place. Sales numbers, morale, and the original number of successful managers have dropped consistently and drastically in twenty or twenty two months that Lisa took the helm and started hiring on as many girls and personal friends that she could. It truly astonishes me that one person in a District position can exhibit such obvious double-standards as a leader and be allowed to report to work (or just not show up at all) for so long. Make sure to click back next week for more examples of ludicrous absenteeism, invisibility when it comes to exhibiting leadership, and how to turn a blind eye when one (or two, or three) of your favorite managers are screwing up left and right. It’s going to be a fun couple of months because there’s no shortage of anecdotes flying past the plate! Have a great week,

Tom Waters

Monday Big Words Update! Slapstick & Superego Final Stages/April Foolfest 2 Next Week/Gregg Sansonne Benefit THIS SUNDAY!

While this is an exciting time, for many reasons that I can’t divulge, the next six months will be highly irregular. I’m happy to report that I’m currently in possession of the only copy of my next book on the planet and I’m re-reading it (a painful process for me) for typos.

Slapstick & Superego is so close to the finish line that I can taste it, and in many respects, it feels like the first actual book I’ve released. Instead of a resume or showcase-style format, this book was planned from start to finish as a rant collection. No interviews, no poems, no projects, just rants. It is the first concept book from start to finish, and I’m very proud of it. In addition, the introduction (by Alycia Ripley), the wraparound cover (by Ian Chrystal) and the interior layout (by Victoria Robinson) are all second to none. Early response has been through the roof, and the team effect is something I’ll be implementing as Doubt It Publishing moves onward and upward.

In the same regard (for reasons I can’t necessarily go into), I’ll be holding ONE event for the book in the next six months. Once I’m satisfied with the look of the collection, and once I’ve signed off on it, I’ll be holding a singular launch over the summer and then there won’t be any other events until November or later. After the Monsters Of Verse tour, this will be a serious change in the way I’ve done business for the previous six to eight months. Instead of promoting a few times a week, I’ll be plugging, interviewing, reviewing and doing radio spots for one event only and then disappearing into the woodwork until the holiday season.

In case you forgot, April Foolfest 2 is going down next week with musical guest Lenny Revell at Desiderio’s on Broadway at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, April 1^st. In light of the fact that Slapstick arrived in my mail box early, not only will I be showing the editing proof off to anyone who wants to see it, but I’ll read a few rants from the book from 7-9 (along with selections from both Breathing Rooms) as well. If you want to see the book before summer comes around, next week will be the time to do it. Anyone who’s been to one of the book promotions at Desiderio’s knows that they’re an event to remember (and that they tend to run all the way up to last call), so if you’re free, make it out to a free evening of tirades and truly inspiring music by new pal Lenny Revell! Aside from the last few MOV events and the Slapstick launch, you won’t be seeing too many public appearances from ‘this guy’ until the holiday ads start running on television and in your local papers, so make a point of coming out!

And closer up on the map, I’ll be emceeing for dear friend Gregg Sansonne’s ‘We’ve Got Your Back’ benefit THIS SUNDAY! Gregg is undergoing some serious (and much needed) back surgery that will put him out of the local performing circuit for at least a few months. Gregg has been like a brother to me, and he played my wedding as a gift for Lindsay and me. If you have this Sunday open (from noon to six), pop on out to the Colonel Weber V.F.W. Post and fork over the measly twenty bucks to see Black Widow, Busted Stuff, Mick Hayes and Only Humen rock the joint out for the better part of the day. There will also be a Chinese Auction, games, raffles, food and a cash bar. I’ve never emceed before, so I hope I can round out the bill without screwing anything up.

Tickets will be available (in limited quantities) at the door, but if you want to secure some in advance, feel free to contact me via email

(bigwordsmailbag@yahoo.com) or you can feel free to call Nicole (one of the organizers) at 341-4073. I can’t stress what a great friend Gregg has been to me and many others in the Buffalo music community over the years, so PLEASE come out and support my buddy in his time of need!

 

Quixote Wednesday Update! Round One Results

DECISION: The initial determination, disqualifying the claimant from receiving benefits effective October 10^th, 2008, on the basis that the claimant lost employment through misconduct in connection with that employment and holding that the wages paid to the claimant by Gamestop Inc. prior to October 10, 2008, cannot be used toward the establishment of a claim for benefits, is overruled. The claimant is allowed benefits with respect to the issues decided herein.

I wonder if Gamestop likes apples?

For the first time in six months of hammering away on this situation, a ray of good news came down the pike. After spending a few hours downtown at the Department Of Labor with some much-appreciated supporters, the right decision was made.

The audacity of Gamestop’s blindness rested in the front of the DOL file I was permitted to look over before the hearing took place. It stated that no one from the company would be able to attend the hearing, but that they would appeal the decision if the Department Of Labor ruled in my favor. Really? Have at it, then.

The way I see it (and based on what I’ve learned in the last week), they’re only going to make things worse for themselves and the longer they drag this out, the worse they’re going to look thanks to my case and quite a few others. It’s amazing that they would fire off key employees from their company instead of giving their workforce severance packages to save money. It’s even more mind-boggling that a company would be so reprehensibly in the wrong that they’d fire multiple people and then contest unemployment benefits for every single one of them simply to save money on their yearly unemployment insurance as a corporate structure. Even Darth Vader is looking pretty rosy right now compared to these heartless heathens of consumerism, eh?

So round one (by decision) goes to the little guy. For once. It’s going to happen a lot more often in Buffalo, so again, here are my terms for the corporate cronies from Gamestop who keep signing on week in and week out who haven’t been fired (yet):

1. Terminate Lisa’s employment based on her well-documented and unethical work history.

2. Stop sweating the bottom line by contesting the benefits of the multiple Buffalo members of management earned by helping to build your company.

I can keep going around and around at the Department Of Labor and the longer I have to play this game with them, the less patience I’ll have about dialing a few other numbers to talk to a number of other organizations who have already contacted me. All of these things take time and energy, though, and I don’t always have both. If this bullshit drags out, I will certainly MAKE the time, though, and every month, a few more friends offer their support as well as their services (legal and otherwise). How bad do you want this to get?

Do the right thing, Gamestop. For once. Is that a tall order, or have you been so blind for so long that you forgot how to err on the side of humane treatment in concern to your workforce?

I guess we’ll all find out together as the Wednesday’s keep rolling along. I got enough interesting information last week to keep us occupied for the foreseeable future. Keep on reading and I’ll keep on writing,

Tom Waters

Monday Big Words Update! Light At The End Of The Tunnel

After a weekend of promotion, very serious progress on two different upcoming books and one of the best radio shows yet, I feel a) exhausted and b) like I’m getting somewhere. At a time when I should have had writer’s block and then some by now, I have quite the reverse. If anything, I can’t STOP writing. Even after a year of high production, ideas, essays, poems, reviews and other related creations keep pouring out and there’s no end in sight. While draining, these are the sort of boom phases that sustain a great deal of professional freelance writers for years to come.

Saturday at Chow Chocolat was a tremendous success. JR Finlayson, poet/comedian Josh Smith and yours truly had a boffo turn as the Monsters Of Verse downtown in the heart of the city on Main Street, sucked down some coffee that was damned near perfect, and made some new friends in the creative community. Thanks to Scott (owner), Josh Gage & Vince Barone (The Manipulators) for hosting their weekly open mic and giving us what essentially boiled down to free rein, and the random cast of characters that showed up for the open mic collective that used to be a hell of a lot more commonplace around these parts before the landscape of our economy and our culture changed. A great deal of the evening was recorded for pod cast conclusion and I’ll be dropping the show off over at Think Twice some time this week for the Monsters Of Verse project site.

Something else very strange happened this weekend: two near-completed books surfaced! Graphic designer Ian Chrystal sent the best cover for any book I’ve released thus far and Victoria Robinson drove the point home with an interior that’s about 99% complete for Slapstick & Superego. You can get a sneak peek at book 8’s cover if you’d like to pop over and visit either my Facebook or Myspace profile site where this marvel of modern design rests comfortably and beautifully on the default profile pic. Keeping things fresh and using a rotating team for Doubt It Publishing appears to be working for a new company philosophy and I couldn’t be happier with Vicki and Ian’s commitment to perfection and their work ethic that led to bringing the project in WELL AHEAD of schedule some two months sooner than we all originally planned. This will only benefit you, the book buyer, as spring and summer unfold. How, you may ask? Whelp, I’m not going to tell you that yet, so deal with it.

And after reading out for the first time in awhile with the Monsters Of Verse, I revisited the file folder for Poke The Scorpion With A Sharp Stick, scrapped the original manuscript and began re-assembling the key poems from scratch. After two long dusk sessions throughout the night, 100 pages are complete and I’m thinking about moving forward in the fall with a smaller book than I originally intended. Long-time fans of the site are no doubt familiar with the interactive process for each book where you’re allowed to pitch in your two cents and contribute to the preproduction of each collection via a floating test panel and I’ll be doing that with both new books in the coming weeks, so stay tuned and prepare to deliver your opinions when the time is ready.

Today (Sunday, as I write this), co-host Diabetes Dave and myself were bowled away in the studio for Episode 35 of Big Words Radio with adult film star Sara Jay. She was bright, funny, engaging, titillating and entertaining all rolled into one. Sara and Alexis have broken the stereotype and proved twice over that porn actors are far from vacuous bubbleheads who wouldn’t know their alphabet if it was in a bowl of soup in front of them. A big round of thanks are in order to Sara Jay for rendering myself and my co-host dumbstruck with a certain performance that’s NEVER been done on Think Twice Radio before and to Diabetes Dave for batting on deck as a tasteful co-host after the original two co-hosts were unable to appear. Don’t waste another moment! Read the rest of the Monday Update and click your ass over to Big Words I Know By Heart on

www.thinktwiceradio.com

Confirmed Bookings As Opposed To Last Minute Cancellations (Milligan’s)

It’s going to be a busy couple of weeks.

Tomorrow, the Monsters Of Verse take the stage (with Rotating Guest Monster Josh Smith) for the first time in a few months at Chow Chocolat at 6:30 p.m. Again, Chow Chocolat is located downtown on 731 Main St. On Sunday (after losing BOTH original co-hosts), I’ll be going back into Think Twice studios to interview adult film star Sara Jay for Episode 35 of the Big Words I Know By Heart Radio Hour. And speaking of the radio show, I’ve got some HUGE news.

-Comic writer Harvey Pekar (American Splendor) will be my guest for the next studio date in May.

I’m really excited about having Harvey on. Being two cranky old men who like to complain, I’m sure the two of us will get along like gangbusters. Pekar is a pioneer in the comics industry and it’s going to be an honor and a thrill to interview him for the show. Mark your calendars for May 13^th, because it should be a show to remember.

Moving on then. Don’t forget to stop out to Brennan’s Bowery Bar on Main and Transit in Williamsville this Monday (St. Patrick’s Day Eve) from 5-8 p.m. if you want to a)hoist a pint with me for the holiday or b) get a second chance to buy a copy of Clean Up After Me, I’m Irish: A Cheap Degenerate’s Guide To Buffalo Bars ($13). I normally don’t keep any copies on deck during book promotions, but I ordered 10 for the occasion.

And sadly, the promotion for St. Patrick’s Day itself at Milligan’s Pub in Orchard Park has been cancelled. The owner’s son who is apparently ’running’ the place (into the ground) and I had some harsh words yesterday and I’m not about to boost business for a bar that doesn’t want it. Jay is a hothead, a half-wit and wouldn’t know how to operate a business if it sat on his face. You’ve seen how well nepotism works first hand over the course of the last six months in the Gamestop scenario, and this is no exception.

It’s a shame, because I’ve been friends with Steve and Carol (the actual owners) for the last eight years and now, thanks to their addle-brained mid-20 year old, we probably won’t be. It’s also a shame that their son shot his mouth off to someone who’s been firmly entrenched in the industry for almost ten years and will continue to write about it. Their loss. If you want to know more, feel free to ask me about it at the 5 million other bars I frequent, write about or have longstanding relationships with.

Since Tuesday is St. Patrick’s Day, you’re all welcome to join me out at Desiderio’s on Broadway in Lancaster from 8 p.m. on. I’ll be selling off my remaining copies of Clean Up After Me, I’m Irish, and celebrating the holiday in the spirit intended for the event.

And finally, I’ll be appearing with fellow Monsters Of Verse JR Finlayson and Diane Meholick next Saturday at the 3^rd annual Buffalo Small Press Book Fair at the Karpeles Manuscript Museum from noon-6 p.m.

That’s all I’ve got for today. I said it was going to be a busy week, didn’t I? So mark your calendars and we’ll see you out on the circuit!

Have a great weekend,

Tom Waters

Quixote Wednesday Update: Penny Wise, Pound Foolish

For the last five months, I’ve wondered if I would have received my benefits sooner if I’d been less of a squeaky wheel and kept my mouth shut. This Monday, I found out thanks to a few peers: no. As luck would have it, Gamestop is going after EVERYONE they’ve terminated in the past few months for their unemployment benefits whether they’ve gone quietly into that bad night or not, whether they’ve been pleasant about their unintentional termination based on technicalities or otherwise.

In multiple cases Gamestop is making a concerted effort to squeeze every penny out of the people who have worked for them after their longstanding practice of unofficially laying off the companies they’ve bought out. Instead of laying off the companies they’ve merged with (just check Wikipedia), Gamestop has been firing the employees who haven’t been on board since day one and in turn, they’re turning their former employees upside down and refusing them benefits regardless of whether they’ve followed company policy or not.

In the case of Curt Kuczowski, Lisa Roper has guaranteed unemployment benefits after termination to no avail. Time and again, Lisa’s word has meant NOTHING. After a few weeks of benefits, Gamestop Inc. has changed their mind and reversed their decision on multiple people affected by their unethical practices, requesting a full refund on unemployment wages by any means necessary. So this Wednesday, I ask you this: why would you contribute money to a company who not only a) fires the managers who make money on a store by store basis but b) won’t pay the people that they terminate even when they clip them for not kissing the right asses?

In Curt’s case, he followed company policy by the book. He received benefits for a month and a half, found another job and landed on his feet. After finding gainful employment (for a fraction of his previous pay), Gamestop decided that he was unworthy of the funds allocated for his unemployment benefits and the Department Of Labor sent a request for him to refund all weekly benefits previously paid to him. Trust me when I say that he isn’t the only one. I almost feel lucky that they haven’t paid out a goddamned dime for the years I’ve put in yet and it makes anyone wonder, what sort of company would muscle out the people who have worked hard for them and left involuntarily?

This is (in all likelihood) a death knoll for the industry when money-hungry corporations aren’t willing or able to pay out for employee benefits on the ground floor. Multiple managers across the company are losing out on the very benefits they’ve earned and when Gamestop is fighting against a basic necessity while ‘awarding’ their employed workforce with $100 gift cards to offset the troubles of the economy, something is seriously wrong with the retail market. This is a sign of weakness and a clear indicator that the videogame industry is headed directly towards the toilet.

Since 2005, big name industry companies such as Microsoft and Sony have been training and educating their consumers to download their software via stepping-stone practices like exclusive content and downloadable only games. In another console generation or two, brick and mortar stores will be extinct. Aside from Gamestop’s company-wide history of buying out other competitors and phasing out their workforce, they’ve got five years AT BEST to pay back their Electronics Boutique-related loan to their parent company, Barnes & Noble. Can they pull it off in this market? Probably not, even if they keep sticking it to the store managers that they decide to fire for no particular reason aside from the fact that they make more than $26,000 a year.

One of the lowest-paying Fortune 500 companies on the list is re-staffing or wrongfully terminating their Electronics Boutique counterparts and systematically refusing their unemployment benefits. Since the merger of 2006, they’ve been firing their sales-hungry betters from the top right down to the bottom and it’s obvious that this company has chosen the course of unscrupulous firings rather than paid retirements or layoffs. Unfortunately, my termination based on gender is far from an exception to the rule and the longer I fight for the money I’ve earned, the more I hear about other such cases.

In the Buffalo market alone, four or five other managers have either never received benefits in the last six months or they’ve gotten them only to find out that Gamestop wanted the money back. At the end of this fiscal quarter, I wonder how they’re going to cook their yearly stats to make them sound profitable if they’re shaking down their own fucking prior workforce for every nickle, dime and penny even after they’ve been ‘let go’ for making too much money or sadly being on the wrong side of the pond by accident before they borrowed enough funds that they couldn’t pay back to buy the company that would have put them out of business?

Sounds like a class action law suit, doesn’t it? This warrants further inspection on a local and national level based on Gamestop’s patterns. No company should be allowed to carry on with the degree of nepotism, corruption, money-hungry favoritism and downright evil that Gamestop has demonstrated. They need to be taught a lesson, and luckily enough, they fucked with the wrong guy.

Monday Big Words Update: Sensory Overload!

In terms of publishing, things have gotten to the point where I can’t even keep up with where my stuff is being printed let alone let all of you know where it’s showing up as it’s appearing even if you did have the time or inclination to read all of it. I’m not bragging, this is just a statement of fact. In the last week alone, a the Flight 3407 commentary went up over on acid logic.com, a new comic review popped up over on comics bulletin.com, a trio of new reviews found their way onto my new home (‘The Dirty Bomb) over at donsatomiccomics.com, a Gusto Club Watch review saw print in the pages of The Buffalo News on Friday, and a My View piece on my fondness for the family summer homes that Lindsay’s family and my family own went into the Buffalo News on Saturday. That may be everything, but I doubt it.

The fact that I WROTE that much material is boggling to me and even I don’t have the time to read all of it after I write it. In terms of writing only, the last twelve months have been an unbelievably potent period and I’m not going to stop while the creative juices are flowing. Factor in the Big Words Radio Show (Sara Jay phone interview THIS SUNDAY!), the Monsters Of Verse Tour and Pod cast (Chow Chocolat THIS SATURDAY @ 6:30), the intermittent book tour for both Breathing Rooms, preproduction on Slapstick & Superego (ahead of schedule), everything I’ve written this week, formulating Doubt It Publishing as a local and national publishing company to take note of with multiple authors worthy of shelling out your hard earned cash for AND the Buffalo Anthology Project on the back burner until early summer when I have time to go over the six or seven months of submissions, this is a lot to process. I try not to think about it all at any one time because it would probably render me irrevocably insane.

It’s good to be busy, but there’s only so much I can take. In the coming months, you just might see me winding down and stepping back from a lot of things for some much-needed rest and time to focus on my new family, my personal life, and the career that isn’t my writing career. I’m running out of steam fast and I have no one to blame but myself, and yet, there is no ’stop’ button on a great number of the projects that are underway.

I could use a break. Monsters Of Verse has two more months left with my involvement and after that, it’s anybody’s (or nobody’s) ball game. Co-founder JR Finlayson and I were talking about it today and as far as I’m concerned, after May, count me out. Finn, Carrie, or anyone else is more than welcome to take the name, the pod cast, and the contacts and run with them, but I am officially resigning as one-third of the touring poets once June rolls around. I’ve had my fill and then some and to be honest, I feel as if the experiment was a dismal failure. The intention was for three poets (any three poets) to join forces and elevate their status in the Buffalo market by showing up anywhere and any time while pooling resources and fostering a sense of team work and collaboration and in doing so, create even more work. Monsters Of Verse was a mistake, and I’m sorry that we started it. If I had it to do over, I wouldn’t have joined up with Jeff and Carrie. Business and friendship make poor bedfellows and that’s a hard lesson learned, but I won’t make that mistake again. Long story short, you should see an announcement on all of my web pages some time in May with a casting call or a call to arms for any Buffalo poets with a passing interest in taking the torch and running with it, because I for one don’t want it anymore. On to other business and then I’m going to sleep…..

A new Night Life hits stands today with a Big Words helping of ’Alternative Thinking (part I)’, the once-and-for-all essay about how I really feel about the gay and lesbian subculture versus how people think I may feel. This Saturday, the Monsters Of Verse will be appearing with Rotating Guest Monster Josh Smith at Chow Chocolat downtown on Main St. in Buffalo at 6:30 p.m. for our first featured reading in quite some time now. In just seven days (next Monday), I’ll be at Brennan’s Bowery Bar promoting, signing and selling Clean Up After Me, I’m Irish from 5-8 p.m. the day before St. Patrick’s Day, so stop out, buy me a pint and buy a goddamned book! If you can’t make that date, make sure to swing out to Milligan’s Pub in Orchard Park ON St. Patrick’s Day from 4-8 p.m.

Check all of your local listings and calendar publications if they happened to take the time to post the calendar emails I sent to them in a timely manner (which they normally don’t). Your best bet is to click on back throughout the week as each date approaches since cutting and pasting calendar events that were emailed to you for your paying job posting calendar listings is apparently a daunting, grueling, unforgiving, thankless and insurmountable task. Cough Cough.

That’s all I have the time and energy for today. Wish me luck this Monday as I’ll be doing battle with the forces of evil (i.e. Gamestop Inc.) for the money I should have been getting since I got wrongfully terminated the week after our honeymoon. No matter what the outcome will be, rest assured that you can read all about that and more in two days when I drop the Quixote Wednesday knowledge on all of your asses! Talk to you soon,

Tom Waters

Last Minute Fax Number For Those Interested in Aiding Waters vs. Gamestop Inc.

Ladies and Gentleman,

 

Per previous discussions, if you are unable to attend the Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board session this Monday, I would prefer (and appreciate) if you could fax a testimony/personal character reference regarding yours truly to the following fax number:

 

716-851-2795

 

If any of you have also worked under Lisa’s ‘command’ and would care to volunteer your two cents regarding her work ethic (or lack thereof), you’re welcome to write about that in the same letter as well.  If you’re still working for the company (or within the district), you are more than welcome to ask that your identity remain anonymous for fear of retaliation in the workplace.  We all know what would happen if any of your names were revealed and that would actually add some concrete credibility to the situation at hand.  Former customers as well as former employees and peers are all encouraged to send in testimony.  Again, I need all the help I can get if I’m going to have a shot at a) receiving my benefits and b) making sure that this woman’s business behavior isn’t tolerated or encouraged in any work environment ever again.  Thanks,

 

Tom Waters

(Late) Quixote Wednesday Update! Free Front Row Seats To The Gamestop Freak Show THIS MONDAY!

Thank god this happened today because I wasn’t sure whether I should go after Gamestop Inc. this week or go off on another crusade. I talked about just such an eventuality weeks ago and the time has finally come. Mark your calendars, everyone, because I rarely call in favors and I’m calling one in today to sincerely ask for your help and support. Take a seat and listen up.

After four straight months with absolutely no benefits or financial help from the State Of New York after being terminated for little more than a trifle, the Department Of Labor has FINALLY gotten off their ass and schedule a hearing for my unemployment benefits. After going through hell and back, getting fired for the wrong reasons by a woman (Lisa) who would rather maintain incompetent women and spineless yes-men rather than top salespeople who know how to drive business, we have reached a crucial plot point in the Buffalo Gamestop saga. If you care at all about the Great Depression we are in the middle of, the manner in which Big Business has been choking out the Little Guy, or the fact that the better part of Corporate America has been trimming jobs from hardworking people who have earned their positions just for the sake of saving a few pennies off the bottom line, then know this: This Monday is your time to speak up.

The Department Of Labor was proactive enough (give me a break) to give me SEVEN days notice that my unemployment hearing will occur THIS UPCOMING MONDAY on MARCH 9^th, 2009 at 2 PM. Here is the address downtown for your edification:

290 Main St., Room 207

Buffalo, NY

14202

I find it ironic that a departmental organization that was formed to inspire people to find gainful employment would have the complete lack of foresight to give anyone LESS than a week in terms of notice regarding their public hearing. Yet another example of how dysfunctional our system is when it comes to compensating those of us who have actually worked for a living with benefits that we’ve contributed to our entire lives.

 

I’ll be there.

Even with only five days notice, count me in, front and center. If my instincts are correct, we can expect a three ring circus with a great goddamn deal of soulless clowns, godless misanthropes and black-hearted, money hungry whores. In the spirit of traditional and textbook investigative journalism, you had better believe that I’ll be recording the scheduled hearing for inclusion on my radio show site, which remains online for no less than one year.

If you’ve read these Quixote Wednesday Updates with any degree of frequency, you know exactly just how far in the wrong Gamestop was in terminating my employment. I’m sure they’ve got some very high priced lawyers and a lot of money (possibly the money I didn’t get after six years of faithful service and a full roster of sales awards) to throw around in their favor.

Again, I NEED your help.

I was fired a week after my honeymoon for no reason other than the amount of money in my bi-weekly paycheck and the sheer fact that my new boss preferred the company of attractive women, bottom line. Lisa (the woman I was unfortunate enough to have as a boss for a year and a half) has a previous history of a) favoring females in the workplace, b) losing her own job with former employers for sleeping with the female managers she was in charge of and c) giving higher annual review raises to girls simply because they were girls. I realize that we live in a world where the white male is the new devil, but Lisa is in the wrong. So far in the wrong that an example needs to be made so that Gamestop and this individual should be taught a lesson.

Since the merger a few years ago, Gamestop has been ‘phasing out’ (I.e. ‘letting go’, I.e. ‘terminating for whatever reason they can come up with’, I.e. ‘laying off to trim manager salaries so that they can replace their workforce with their own Gamestop crop and/or young kids who are foolish enough to accept chickenfeed in place of an honest year’s pay simply because they have the supposed privilege of working around video games’. I’ve taken great care and diligence to expose the corruption behind all three Buffalo markets, the slow phasing out of Electronics Boutique employees for their underpaid counterparts on the Gamestop end of the pond, Lisa’s proven technique of rewarding girls that she likes instead of male managers in longstanding positions who made money for the company, and my previous Regional (Kiyeohl)’s direct relation to one of the founding stockholders of Electronics Boutique and his subsequent invulnerability despite his known incompetence based on the District Managers he was handed on a silver platter.

Every base has been covered and now we arrive at a crossroads. If you don’t have to work this Monday, I IMPLORE you to join me, my wife, AND the Department Of Labor (oxymoron) to set an example. I need your help more than ever. This isn’t just about me and I could care less about the money at this point. A large conglomerate beast has done everything they can to destroy my longstanding track record (as well as a legion of others across the country and beyond) as an effective manager who fixed problem stores and it was all in the name of saving a few pennies a year because they’re under the false impression that lower paid children can run satellite stores as well as effective individuals with a long history in retail.

I’m asking (begging) you one final time. Please join me on Monday. The money doesn’t matter anymore (although it would be nice in large part because our WEDDING funds were depleted thanks to my wrongful termination based on my gender). My wife and I will persevere and survive despite the fact that Lisa came in a week after our honeymoon and fired me with no witnesses and zero paperwork signed after the help of my former assistant manager (Lewis), a man whom she wanted to fire from the day she met him who is a proven drug dealer, abuser and an established racist. Lewis got promoted into a new store by Lisa as a thank you for saving the company money. Lisa has systematically kept poor managers with a flair for sabotaging their peers or favoring the same sex they were born into.

Last week, I posted a very sincere essay about my thoughts on the gay and lesbian culture. Despite my work in comedy through my pod cast radio show, my essays and my web sites, I have no issues with gays or lesbians. Scroll back if you’re not sure and I’m positive after reading ‘Alternative Thinking’ that you’ll have a full understanding of my thoughts and convictions about the gay and lesbian subculture. I am not a bigot. I never have been. This is not an attack against gays and lesbians and I support their choices and anyone who is lucky enough to find and maintain a happy and fulfilling relationship regardless of their partner’s gender.

My issue with Gamestop and Lisa is this: Lisa is an individual who doesn’t deserve the job she was hired into and her employment (as well as Gamestop Inc.’s behavior since their supposed merger) have gone on long enough. Passing up males who have put their time in and shown everyone (especially their peers) that they’re worthy of promotion and helping out personal friends or females simply for the fact that they’re women is wrong. From a regional and company standpoint, allowing this kind of behavior and pretending that it isn’t happening or continuing to ignoring her lackadaisical leadership skills as a District Manager who rarely (if ever) visits stores is asinine.

I’m toeing the line here. I’m not fighting this battle for selfish or personal reasons. Since I started this crusade, Lisa has stopped terminating male members of her District as some misguided over corrective, overprotective gesture to save her own hide and prove that she isn’t prejudiced against men. It’s too late. After two years of driving male members of management out of the company because they were ignored for promotions and terminating men by any means necessary, the damage is done in Buffalo. Her behavior, her actions and her negligence as a supervisor should be addressed, and apparently, Gamestop is so far gone morale-wise that they can’t fix their own problems in-house. The Department Of Labor is hanging by a thread, because I just happen to be the one loose end that they’ve ignored since the beginning of October despite the fact that I’ve worked and payed into the system that sustains them since the age of 14. This is one of the two times in my life that I’ve depended upon our American system to take care of me after I supported them (with a new wife and family, no less) and our government has failed me.

If you have the day off, please feel free to show up this Monday at 2 p.m. and help to prove a point. A system that’s in the habit of awarding people with no jobs has ignored an individual who’s worked for almost twenty years at any job that pays who got fired by a woman who has been allowed to impose her prejudiced views against anyone with a male chromosome in a District run by a nepotistic fill-in who heads a small part of a company that would rather find a petty and insignificant handbook sub-clause to terminate good people than take care of the individual store managers who made their brand name so successful in the first place. An example needs to be made.

Who’s with me?

Please feel free to leave your comments below this post. I hope that my pessimistic nature will be proven wrong this Monday and that if you can make the time to speak out or prove a point simply with your presence as a member of this nation’s workforce, you will. If (thanks to the unreasonably short notice), you are unable to attend, please take the time to call the number provided (851-2711) to speak your mind and say your peace in defense of such an ongoing practice of corporate corruption.

Thank you in advance,

Tom Waters

 

Monday Big Words Update! Updated March-May Calendar, Two MORE Big Words Episodes With Lenny Revell!

Monday Big Words Update! Updated Mar-May Calendar, 2 MORE Big Words Shows!

First off, grab your copy of Night Life this week if you want a print version of the very well received ‘Thoughts On The Flight 3407 Crash’ essay that you all saw here FIRST online! There’s a whole block of new columns rolling out this month and they’re all popping into Night Life magazine, so grab ‘em while you can.

Moving on, if you haven’t heard the historic interview with adult film starlette Alexis Amore on Episode 32 of Big Words Radio, don’t waste another second and click over now! I’m also pleased to announce that there are two NEW episodes up in addition to Alexis’ show featuring an interview hour and a fully loaded hour and a half concert episode with national piano wunderkind Lenny Revell! Here’s your synopsi!:

2/20/09 Episode 34
Tom and Lenny meet each other for the first time, forge a heterosexual ‘bromance’ regarding their love for the music of Elton John (vs. Billy Joel), and discuss the predominance (as well as their mutual disgust) of the ‘97 Rock Mentality’ on the Buffalo Music Scene.
2/20/09 Episode 33a: Piano Man
National virtuoso Lenny Revell regales Tom and his fans with a number of brilliant renditions while Tom’s brain goes on tilt due to one glass of Knob Creek and a full work day.

Click over and enjoy all the podcasty goodness over at:

Thinktwiceradio.com

Lenny was a pleasure to interview and surprisingly much better than I expected him to be on the keys (and he came highly recommended, mind you). Thanks again are in order to Lenny for rocking it out even after a full work day. Give it a listen and then buckle up and mark your calendar for April Foolfest 2 at Desiderio’s on Broadway when Lenny and I will be splitting the bill starting at 7 pm with an evening of comedy, great music, potent beverages and spectacular cuisine along with Suckerpunch’s Dan Labowski.

And (since the calendar should max out your attention span for the remainder of this post, here is the newly updated Event Calendar for the next three months. Please note the addition of two very important and very exciting bookings (Brennan’s Bowery Bar on St. Patty’s Eve and Milligan’s Pub on St. Patrick’s Day). I’ll be taking a time out from Breathing Room I and II to hawk a few dozen copies of Clean Up After Me, I’m Irish: A Cheap Degenerate’s Guide To Buffalo Bars, so if you want to buy a signed copy from me in person (or just buy an Irishman a drink on or near our favorite holiday), Brennan’s and Milligan’s will be the time to do so!

There’s a lot more to cover, but I’ll pop a few posts in throughout the week. Don’t forget to check back on Quixote Wednesday for the latest crusade! Thanks,

Tom Waters

Monsters Of Verse/Breathing Room Bookings March Through May 2009

Saturday, March 14^th, 6:30 P.M., Chow Chocolat (731 Main St., 843-4388), Monsters Of Verse featuring poet Josh Smith

Sunday, March 15^th, 2 p.m., Big Words Studio Date with Guest Sara Jay (adult film star); co-hosts Intentionally Bald Mike and Alie

Monday, March 16^th, Brennan’s Bowery Bar, 5 p.m.-8p.m., St. Patrick’s Eve signing for Clean Up After Me, I’m Irish: A Cheap Degenerate’s Guide To Buffalo Bars

Tuesday, March 17^th, Milligan’s Pub, 4 p.m.-8 p.m., St. Patrick’s Day signing for Clean Up After Me, I’m Irish: A Cheap Degenerate’s Guide To Buffalo Bars

Saturday, March 21^st, Buffalo Small Press Book Fair, Karpeles Manuscript Museum, Buffalo, 12-6 pm, (Monsters Of Verse, setup begins at 10 am), special guest author Diane Meholick (Buffalo Stories)

Sunday, March 29^th, 12-6 p.m., Gregg Sansonne Benefit, Colon John Weber VFW Post, 2909 South Park Ave, Lackawanna, 823-9605 (Tom Waters hosting, tickets are $20)

Wednesday, April 1^st, 8 p.m., ‘April Foolfest 2!’, Desiderio’s on Broadway (5827 Broadway, 683-7767), Tom only with Special Musical Guests Lenny Revell and Dan Labowski.

Saturday, April 25^th, Caz Coffee Café (688 Abbott Rd., 825-7806), 7-9 p.m., Reading (Monsters Of Verse with poet Susan Marie and artist/writer Kyle Kaczmarczyk)

Wednesday, May 6^th, 7 pm, Center For Inquiry (3965 Rensch Rd., 636-4869), Monsters Of Verse w/3^rd poet Christina Wos Donnelly)

Wednesday, May 13^th, 7 PM, Big Words Studio Date, celebrity guest TBD