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Reviews and News

The latest review of SWING is by Yahoo! Contributor Mary Beth Magee.

If you have Amazon Prime you can now 'borrow' the Kindle version of SWING for FREE!

Here's another book review, by Scott Eyman of the Palm Beach Post.  

The list of positive reviews for SWING continues:

I highly recommend this book. I usually listen to audio books, but this is one book in print that I couldn't put down. Don't even think about it. Just read it! This is a good one.  

"SWING" is a great read, and a more than impressive, heartfelt, first novel from this author. Bravo!  

A great read about perseverance and acceptance and a trip to the world of Swing.

Here is my recommendation...buy it for your IPad or eReader, download some Louis Prima songs, put your earphones in, turn up the volume and enjoy it.

Alan Gerstel's Blog
headshot of Alan Gerstel, author

         

Click here to buy the book on Amazon.

It is also available as an ebook.


 

Entries in Othello (1)

Saturday
Jul072012

Shakespeare and The News

I am an actor.  I am also a former newscaster.  Some would say they are one and the same.  And there's a lot that can be said to bolster that argument.  In fact, for several years running I managed to act AND anchor the news on the same night!

I was the weekend News Anchor for WPEC, the CBS affiliate in West Palm Beach, Florida.  I anchored the 6 and 11 PM newscasts.  But one year I was also cast as Brabantio, Desdemona's father in the Shakespeare play "Othello."  Brabantio only appears in the first 22 minutes of the play, so I figured out the logistics of squeezing in a performance between newscasts.

When I finished the 6PM news... I got into my car and drove the half-hour to the outdoor amphitheater in Jupiter, Florida's Carlin Park.  I got into costume and was ready to go.  At 8:22, I made my last exit. (I could never stick around for Curtain Calls.)  Then I would quickly get out of costume... rush to my car... drive the half-hour back to the news studio... and change back into my suit for the 11PM news.

The next day, I had people calling me to say that they watched me in "Othello" and got home in time to catch the 11:00 news.  They couldn't help but wonder if we hadn't taped the news earlier (a cardinal sin in the news business.)  But I assured them that we hadn't... and that, like a magician, I had managed to pull off this sleight of hand. 

I am currently performing in “Twelfth Night” for two long weekends, but no longer have to deal with the “nooz.”  So I could accept the substantial role of “Sir Toby Belch” and not have to worry about leaving the show early.  More on “Twelfth Night” in the weeks to come.