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Publishing People for Obama Fundraiser, June 18

I had a great week in Toronto, covering the North by Northeast festival (NXNE) for this blog, and working with my client Speakerfile, but when I booked the trip in late May, I deliberately scheduled my departure for mid-afternoon on the Monday, June 18, with a hoped-for return landing at LaGuardia before rush hour. This was designed to give me some time in Toronto that workday, while also allowing me to make it to the Publishing People for Obama reception and undraiser that was being held that evening from 6-8 in the Midtown Loft at Fifth Avenue and 29th Street. I lucked out last Monday. Though the day was extremely hot and hazy in Toronto and only a bit less so in NY, there were no thunderstorms messing up the northeast corridor and nothing delayed my departure and rapid return home to Manhattan.

Since I had not flown in a sportcoat and dress shirt, I wanted to change in to an outfit that would come close to business attire, or semi-business attire. How was I going to do this? In the back of a livery cab? I didn’t think so. I lucked out again and had a funny sort of sitcom moment when I found a “family restroom” at LaGuardia, with a door I could lock and then dig into my luggage for my toothbrush and a suitable change of clothes. So far as I know, I didn’t inconvenience any desperate parent with a baby in need of a diaper change–at least no one banged on the door begging entrance, nor did any airport guard see me go in and out of this inner sanctum of airport privacy.

With luggage in tow, I reached the loft space, showed my passport at the front table (since it was handy) and stowed my stuff in a nearby coat closet. (I’d wondered if a security detail would want to inspect my belongings, but luck prevailed again and no one did). Unencumbered at last, I began greeting publishing friends who had also donated to the president’s reelection campaign via our organizing committee and, like me, were eager to hear from our guest speaker, presidential advisor David Plouffe, and later Rosanne Cash, the evening’s entertainment. I saw the event co-hosts Barbara Lowenstein, Roger Cooper, Tom Dunne, and Bob Miller. Over the next few minutes I saw and spoke with Will Schwalbe, whose second book, The End of Life Book Club will be out this fall; Fauzia and John Burke, of the indie publicity firm FSB Associates, which set up the Facebook page for the event; Linda Johns and George Gibson, of Bloomsbury Publishing, as well as Peter Ginna, of Bloomsbury; Mike Shatzkin and Martha Moran, longtime book biz friends going back to my bookstore days; book packager and publishing consultant David Wilk, and his wife Laura, a watercolor artist;  Brian DeFiore, Irene Skolnick, Deborah Schneider, Scott Waxman, and Alice Fried Martell, all literary agents with their own agencies; Michael Coffey, co-editor of Publishers Weekly, and his wife Rebecca Smith, a sculptor; and Marc E. Jaffe, a publishing advisor whom I hadn’t seen in ages. It should also be said that many people from outside of New York donated, but didn’t attend the event. Thanks to them all too!

Many of these people I saw up on the rooftop, where we enjoyed a great view of the Manhattan skyline all around us, including the Empire State Building at 34th Street, which seemed close enough to touch. Soon, with the evening’s program approaching we were urged to head back downstairs to the main room, which by now had become very crowded. Pretty soon there were so many familiar faces I couldn’t keep track of who I was seeing. The space got full very fast.

Plouffe is slender and perhaps around 5′ 10″. He has thin hands and long fingers on a slight frame, with a rather bird-like profile. He spoke for about twenty minutes, and then took a half-dozen questions. He thanked us all for contributing to the campaign, and said he believes it’s going to be a close election, and tougher to win than in 2008. He referred to the possibility that Mitt Romney could win, though he also expressed confidence the president will be re-elected. He said only one president has ever been re-elected amid an economy overcoming a depression or recession as severe as the one we’ve endured. That was FDR, in 1936. Plouffe also talked about the veritable flood of Super Pac money flowing against the president and other Democrats, and observed that at times it feels as if their opponent isn’t Mitt Romney, but all the Super Pacs. He pledged that the campaign will do everything possible to remind the American people of how damaging the stated policies of Mitt Romney and the Republican congress would be for the country. He said there is still much that the American people has to learn about Romney–for instance, he said that barely 50% of the country even knows he served as a governor, or what his record was while in office. He promised the campaign will draw sharp contrasts between the president and Romney whenever possible. He asked for our help, and our time as volunteers, for instance by making calls to swing states, or visiting them if you’re able to do so. In 2008 I made calls to Ohio (the state I was born), Virginia, Colorado, and Pennsylvania and will do so again. // more . . . // Click through for entire post and all photos and captions.

Day 6 in Toronto–Heading Home to NYC

Late evening update: The Publishing People for President Obama fundraiser, held at a handsome downtown loft–which I rushed to after landing at LaGuardia late in the afternoon–was great fun. According to organizer Barbara Lowenstein, it was a big financial success, with nearly $150,000 raised from it. Presidential advisor David Plouffe addressed the group and answered more than a half-dozen questions, making clear that the OBama campaign will draw sharp contrasts wherever they can do so. He was followed to the stage by Rosanne Cash and a fabulous guitarist John Leventhal. They played three songs and made a lot of us in the crowd even more glad we had come to support the president.

Afternoon update: I’m at Pearson Airport in Toronto, soon to board a flight for home to LaGuardia.

My productive and fun visit to Toronto ends today, and I am packing up my room this Monday morning. After I’ve checked out of my hotel and left my luggage with the concierge, I’m heading off to breakfast with my friend and book business colleague Marc Glassman, former owner of Pages Bookstore, and nowadays organizer of Toronto’s This is Not a Reading Series, and film critic. We last saw each other when I came to Toronto for NXNE last June, so we’ll catch up about the past year, including this blog and my new client, Speakerfile. Marc’s coordination of panels for his innovative reading series makes him potentially an ideal person to utilize the Speakerfile platform.

On Sunday, I attended an outdoor performance by the wonderful 6-piece band Ohbijou. They play a special kind of chamber-pop featuring guitar and soaring vocals by Casey Mecija and violin by her sister Jenny. The rest of the instrumentation makes for an unusual and appealing soundscape: electrified cello, keyboards, bass, and drums. In the evening I took the Toronto subway for the first time out to the northern reaches of the city to join a Father’s Day BBQ hosted by the Fish family, my Toronto relations. The family includes Abe and Marcy Fish, a cousin to my late father Earl. This was the second year in a row I was able to join them for this occasion, also after finishing up at NXNE. I enjoy enormously being with Abe and Marcy, and with their son Joel, at whose home we gathered. Surprise arrivals were Arthur and Bonny Fish, at whose vacation home on Prince Edward Island my family and I enjoyed a wonderful evening with their three sons a few years ago.

This whole trip has been my first attempt to more or less live-blog an event and it was a mixed bag, with some growing pains. I regret that the problems I faced in writing and posting about my activities limited my posting–due to the fact that 1) Verizon made fatal mistakes with my account and the SIM card on this IPad before I crossed the border into Canada, denying me access to cellular networks, and leaving me dependent on sporadic Wifi at many venues; and 2) Publishing photos in WordPress–the environment for this site–on the IPad is a very incomplete interface. In short, I had hoped and intended to post as rich a brand of content as I do from NY, with links and photographs and video, but it just hasn’t worked out that way.

I apologize to readers that these failures limited what I’ve been able to post from Toronto; still, I’m hopeful I will have learned valuable lessons over the past week that I can apply to my blogging the next time I travel.

Next time I post I’ll be back at my desk in NY, eager to upload and share my NXNE photos and write about the many great bands I heard over the past week, the interactive/digital/social media connections I made, as well as the new friends I met, and the great time I had hanging with my CBC Radio 3 friends. Toronto is a great city, vibrant, lively, diverse and cosmopolitan, a true engine of urban discovery.

When I land in NY later this afternoon, I’ll be heading right from LaGuardia to a Publishing for President Obama fundraiser. I look forward to seeing many NY book friends there.