I absolutely adored The Red Leather Diary!! Lily Koppel takes you with her right into the dumpster where she finds the steamer trunks with the flapper dresses, coats, telegrams and photos that surround a small red leather diary from the 1930s.

You then follow along on the journey of the young Florence as if you are her favorite pair of glasses that she would never be without as her deepest thoughts and desires are revealed day in and day out for 5 years.

Lily’s style transcends the written word in a picturesque way that aid as you visualize Florence’s journey through the streets of an exciting NYC. And I LOVED the addition of photos throughout the book, which continually validate Lily’s words.

What a dream to have been Lily — finding all these items AND finding a teenage Florence as a 90 year-old woman. This is the stuff of the best films come true to life. I hope they make a film together. It would be exquisite; I have no doubt.

Pick this up to journey back to a seemingly simpler way of life. And pick up your own diary and start recording your own thoughts and desires!!

BRAVO Lily and Florence!!!! Being the curious snoop that I am, I would LOVE to see the full manuscript of the diary exactly as Florence wrote it. Now That would be a fun and different way to read a book!!

Oh now THIS is a cool question. I have already had an old friend do this very thing…. Calvin Phelps, a friend of mine from our freshmen year in high school 1982, wrote a very cool blog about me at his blog: Sea-Fell

“Kelly J. Kitchens is one of the most gregarious people I have ever met. I have never seen her angry at another human being. I know she has to have her down days (like when she had the leak and it ruined all of her office, or the tumor, or the other MAJOR things), but she seems to always see the light through the tunnel. She is blessed to have met her soulmate Mark and to have a career of her choosing. When we were in high school, she was on yearbook where she, believe it or not, made up quotes and attributed them to me. Mostly things about David Sylvan & Japan or The Thompson Twins or other bands she loved. Point is, even then she was finding a way to promote her favorites in print. As a publicist, she has passion for the people and projects she takes on.”

I stopped making up quotes when I went to college to be a journalist. I like to think of myself as a former journalist who brings respectability, honesty and integrity to a sometimes questionable field like Public Relations.

Here is the latest of what I am working on. It will be a blast!! Come out and join us! See some Fabulous, some crappy (literally, too), and some on the fence films that you will help decide if they should play on at the DFW IndieClub Gong Show:

IndieClub.com presents the Third (sort of) Annual Gong Show

Sunday, June 22, 2008
Doors open at 6:30 p.m.
Studio Movie Grill-Dallas
11170 N Central Expressway at Royal Lane (NE corner)

The IndieClub Gong Show is a short-film showcase contest.

Featuring:
Emcee:
Mary Jo Pehl (MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000)

Celebrity Judges:

• Gini Mascorro (KERA’s new Art&Seek)
• Jack E. Jett (“QUEER EDGE”)
• Drew Waters (MAD MONEY, “INSPECTOR MOM”)
• Winston Edmondson (“Innovation@Work!” radio show)

Each film receives one minute of free play then the judges (with the audience’s help, of course) must decide the film’s fate. Play on through or GONG it!

DJ Modchap will provide interim music and keep the show lively as 18 films are screened!

Four cash prizes will be awarded at the end of the evening:

• 1st Place - $1,000
• 2nd Place - $500
• 3rd Place - $250
• Audience’s Choice - $500

Tickets may be purchased online at IndieClubGongShow.com or at the door. General admission is $10.00

Studio Movie Grill has a full dinner menu as well as adult beverages to enjoy during the show.

List of films in alphabetical order:
A/S/L
Airport
BBC Viral Videos
Bloom
Button Pusher
Drip Tease
Las Gafas
Gandhi At The Bat
Giant
Going Out In Style
Lamie De Zoe
Little Snaps of Horror
A Little Strange
The Outhouse
Pop Up Killer
The Proposal
Sir Francis Drake: The Queen’s Pirate
Stoyanova Incident

Special Thanks to our 2008 IndieClub sponsors:
Post Asylum, AFI Dallas, Westlake Entertainment, IFC, Duplium, DPA, Mentis Group, TM Television, and Elegant and Graceful

This song by Cornelius called “Typerite Lesson” is so fabulous. It sounds like a 1950s typewriter lesson record mixed with a modern lounge background track, but it is even more poignant than that. You have to hear it.

Also, notice the scratches in the record –> cool, huh?? You know, I miss that sound actually. And I remember David, Patrick and Chip working so hard to take the scratches out of their recordings of vinyl records back in the ’80s. Ah, nostalgic sounds you don’t hear any more — You know what other sounds I miss? The whoosh of turning the dial on a rotary phone. Funny, huh? What sounds do you miss?

Typerite Lesson - Cornelius

This is the perfect card for me to pull up on the Memorial Day weekend. There was a man on my Dad’s side of the family who sounds fabulously fascinating.

My Dad’s family has lived in Georgia and Alabama since the late 1600s. We always joked that he was the smart one who made it to Texas! His cousin, Judy, finished the Kitchens’ genealogy in the mid-1980s. But she has since passed away, and no one can seem to find their copy, I may have to amend this entry when I find out more truth.

But here is what I know I remember for our last Kitchens’ family reunion in 1989:

In 1672, my ancestor, John Elder was a stow-away  on a ship headed for the New World. When he got here he was put in indentured servitude for 7 years to pay back his passage from England. When he accrued so much debt from his indentured service, he was thrown down to Georgia (as it was the debtors colony at the time). He then became what was the equivalent of Georgia’s first governor (though he was probably not called that at the time).

All of that takes quite a bit of spunk! Because he HAD to of known what he was in for being a stow-away. But what a remarkable life, huh??

Another person I would have liked to have met on my Mom’s side was Dwight D Eisenhower. Somehow he is related on my mom’s Mom’s side. Pretty cool, huh?!

I have done some cool things over my years of being a publicist — spent the day talking about art with Martin Mull, soaked up stories of old Hollywood with Carol Channing, ate donuts and went bowling with Ron Jeremy , but I don’t think any compare with the night that the Cinematic Titanic (the former Mystery Science Theater 3000) guys made me into a riff at their live show. Cinematic Titanic is comprised of Joel Hodgson, Mary Jo Pehl, Trace Beaulieu, Frank Conniff, and J. Elvis Weinstein.

I had the privilege of doing publicity for their show on April 26 for the USA Film Festival. They are Very humble and modest about their success and popularity. They are all the absolute most friendly, gracious, and nicest people I have met in the film industry in a long time. I had quite the time keeping up with all of the publicity. Luckily, someone did it for me. (Thanks Hugh at Deep Ape!)

Back to my story about my unforgettable moment:

During their live riffing on Roger Corman’s “The Wasp Woman,” Joel said something like: “This isn’t a lab; it’s a Kelly Kitchen.” That was for ME!!!! They talked the night before about adding my name to the riffing. Frank said they should do it like Al Hirschfeld’s Ninas. “Can you count how many times we say Kelly Kitchens?” I had NO idea they were actually going to do it though!! Did anyone else catch it? What a way to be immortalized!!!

We (referring to my husband and other fans) are scheming ways to get them to come back and do more shows. They definitely need to tour with this show!

My favorite line of the night: “Oh look he’s Mr. Know-it-all even when no one is around.”

So, if you are game, let’s work together to get them back to Dallas and to take this show on the road!!

I love this question! You know those changeable marquees outside churches? One of my favorite sayings on one of those marquees was: “Coincidences are when God choses to remain anonymous.”

That reflects perfectly how I have viewed coincidences. I can remember being in 9th or 10th grade and really seeing that even then. I even think that fate vs. free will play a part in all of that, too. Actually, I don’t believe in the “versus” part. I believe it is actually fate AND free will. Basically, I believe that we are fated to meet certain people, and it is what we decide to do with that meeting that is free will.

So the answer to the question is synchronicity. And I have multiple stories where I can totally see God’s hand in a seemingly simple introduction.

Maybe it is because I am still somewhat of a newlywed (1 yr. 5 mths. 2 days as of today — OK 3 days since it is after midnight), but I really don’t miss much. I have quite a bit of freedom in my marriage, which is fabulous. I realized recently that I don’t just spend hours upon hours on the phone with friends like I used to. Mark told me today that he thinks I do just because I was on the phone with a friend for 30 minutes, but he really has NO idea!

Suzanne and I used to spend hours and hours on the phone especially when we were both single. We would even call each other in the middle of the night if we needed help or just to talk through a difficulty with a client, a boyfriend or just because. And I love those times on the phone. They were (and are still) very meaningful to one extent or another.

I am really trying to spend time with friends, but I enjoy being with Mark so much even if we aren’t doing anything special that I have to remind myself from time to time to just touch base with others. I love it that Mark loves all of my friends and that all of my friends love Mark too! So we enjoy having them over for dinner like we did last week with Sondra and Danielle.

But I might not get so much time with them one-on-one as I used to, but I have such an amazing family of friends that I know they are there for me just as I am there for them no matter how much time passes.

“At what age do most people become old and what is the secret to staying young?”

Well, since I just turned 40 in January, this question is very relevant. I may get a lot of flack for this, but it seems to me that people with children are “older” in general no matter what their age than people who are childless. I don’t know what that is exactly, but perhaps it is that they have a responsibility that far out surpasses any responsibility that those of us who are childless (at present anyway) have.

Thinking of being 40 is still a little foreign to me. I LOVED being in my 30s. I felt so much more at home in my body and in who I am. And I felt that almost instantly upon turning 30. While I still feel that way now, I guess I was thinking there would be another depth like that when I turned 40.

I know I haven’t answered the question directly, so perhaps I will come back to this question another day.

I keep saying I am going to blog thinking I have something important to talk about like the presidential race and the fact that I saw Obama, Huckabee and Clinton all speak before the March 4 Texas Primary. (Going to see them personally clinched my vote BIG TIME for Obama — hands down!) But then I let it go too long and then it just seems like too much time as passed for a blog to be relevant anymore….. So I just don’t do it…..

Well, I have this “game” called Table Topics with a bunch of cards in a box and I thought I would pick one and start talking about that until I make blogging an actual habit or close to it anyway. So here we go.

Ah, a good one chosen at random: “Where would you choose to live if you had to leave this country?”

Hmmmmm — do they mean Texas or America?? tee hee!!! (those outside Texas should know that we still think of Texas as its own country!)

Of the places I have been — Mexico, France, Italy, England, Austria and Switzerland — I would probably say France or Switzerland. I spent a summer in each country (France in 1986 and Switzerland in 1989), and I loved them both dearly. Unfortunately, not being able to speak French would make me a little apprehensive to live full time in either country before I learned French well.

I know I haven’t ever been to Canada, but I should really think I would like to live there just from what I saw on the film “Bowling for Columbine” about Canada’s news and crime statistics. I am so fortunate not to have ever been a victim of a direct crime upon my person or home (my car? definitely! My radio was stolen out of my Toyota Tercel 3 times!)

Where would you go if you HAD to??