Hi Everyone,
Check it out -- Sponsor Note pretty much on time. Things are looking up. This note is going to be on the short side since I'm still working out the ramifications of my recent realization that we might be able to start fund-raising for a building sooner than I expected. I still have a few conversations to have with specialists (my accountant and the realtor I've been working with, specifically) and I need to do a bit more planning before I've got a detailed proposal to run past you.
In service of putting all that together, I've a sort of odd request; I'd like to meet with a group of sponsors who do not know me very well. I'm very lucky that many of you are people I call friends or, at the very least, you're folks I've known for years and love chatting with when our paths cross. However, if we're going to raise the kind of cash we're going to need, I'll be presenting our plan to the world at large. I'd like to get a preview of what the reaction might be, and talking with some folks who haven't known me for years is a good place to start.
So, if you don't know me very well or haven't been a customer at the store for long, I'd appreciate an hour or two of your time somewhere around the end of this month. If you're willing, drop me an email. Once I hear back from people, I'll come up with some days and times to meet. I'd like to do this in a group, so scheduling might be a little tricky, but I think we can manage it.
In closing, thanks to all the people who took the time to give me their thoughts about the questions I raised last month. The result is that it looks like we're going to let the idea of live streaming events go, but we will be recording them and getting them up on You Tube. If it's easy (which I think it should be) we'll also see about setting them up in audio-only, podcast style.
Oh, and one last thing -- I'm about to leave town for a bit of a vacation. Scott will be taking care of usual sponsor business and I'll be keeping an eye on email as well. Critical items will get the usual fast reply from me as needed but less critical stuff might be on a back-burner for the next week or so.
The "Bullet" version:
1) Huge thanks to Joe Thomas and John Plevyar for hosting and supplying the wine tasting last week! More than a dozen sponsors came, enjoyed much wine (8 different vintages), and talked each other's ears off.
2) On Saturday, May 14th, at 8 pm we will host a perfumery demonstration at the bookstore with Megan E. O'Keefe, author of Steal The Sky. As usual, there will be limited space so RSVP now (you are welcome to bring one guest, if you wish).
3) The next Sponsors' Open Mic is coming up on Friday, May 20th at 7 pm. Please email Greg Roensch at gregroensch@gmail.com if you would like to participate.
4) Our Sponsors' event for June will be a "Locked Room Mystery" event. Space will be very limited so be ready to RSVP when we announce the date and time in the June sponsor note.
4) The next Sponsors' Social will be on Thursday, July 14th and will run from 7 pm to 11 pm. We're lining up some neat "guests" for this one so check next month's note for more details.
The "Arrow" version:
1) Thank you to Joe Thomas and John Plevyar for hosting and supplying the wine tasting last week. More than a dozen sponsors came, enjoyed much wine, and talked each other's ears off. For those of you who couldn't make it, the vintages were:
Casey Flat Ranch Red Wine 2012
Mike and Molly Hendry, RW Moore Vineyard, Napa Valley Zinfandel 2012
Mark Herold Flux California Red Wine 2011
Centopassi Rosso Sicilia 2011
Seghesio Sonoma Zinfandel 2013
Worlds End, Little Sister Napa Valley Merlot 2010
Copolla, Directors Cut Merlot, Napa 2012
Les Darons Languedoc 2014
Overall, the favorites were the Seghesio Sonoma Zinfandel and the Copolla, Directors Cut Merlot. We're certainly going to do this again, perhaps this year, so don't miss it next time.
2) May's sponsor event will be a demonstration about perfume-making with Megan E. O'Keefe. It will take place at the bookstore on Saturday, May 14th, starting at 8 pm. Megan, the author of Steal The Sky, isn't just a great writer and wonderful speaker. She's also a expert on blending perfume. Last year she offered to host a participatory demonstration about perfume-making for our sponsors. I'm very pleased that I'm finally able to take her up on that offer. As usual, there are a limited number of spaces, so please do RSVP (you are welcome to bring one guest, if you wish).
3) The Sponsors' Open Mic is becoming a tradition, and so we're doing it again on Friday, May 20th at 7:00 pm in the Cafe. If you just want to attend, you don't need to do anything except show up (although you might want to take advantage of your seat reservation privilege because it might be crowded).
However, if you want to read, you should get in touch with fellow sponsor Greg Roensch at gregroensch@gmail.com. He suggested the idea and he has been kind enough to take care of organizing the event. Participation will be open to writers of all levels (as long as they are sponsors), and also open to any type of writing, in any genre. All we ask is that you keep the reading short -- five minutes max. So, if you want to read, get in touch with Greg and he'll take care of the scheduling and so forth.
4) Locked Room Mystery event - A few months ago, Scott participated in a live puzzle game and had a great time. He suggested that our sponsors might like it and, after reading about it, I think he's right. http://www.paniqentertainment.com/sanfrancisco . As you can see from the write-up, space will be quite limited (though we'll try to fit as many people as possible) so be ready to RSVP next month we when announce the date and time.
5) The Sponsors' Social is the best party we ever hold and it happens four times a year. Don't miss the next one on Thursday, July 14th from 7 pm to 11 pm. You are welcome to bring a guest.
