Join Kevin Sprague at Shakespeare & Company for the official LAUNCH of his new book "Imagining Shakespeare" and to celebrate William Shakespeare's 446th birthday. Kevin will be signing, selling and distributing books. If you supported the publication of his book on Kickstarter.com and would like to get your copy in person, this is the time!

Book signing starts at 6pm and will continue through till 11pm or so. Come get a book, have a drink, maybe hear some accordion music!

Also, dont miss the acclaimed touring production of "Julius Caesar" which play s at 7:30 (tickets required: 7:30 http://www.shakespeare.org/sandco.php...)

Here's the details on all the other great things taking place this evening:

Shakespeare & Company celebrates William Shakespeare's 446th birthday with a performance of his celebrated Julius Caesar by our New England Tour cast, followed by a birthday party for the Bard featuring live music, yummy food, cash bar and, of course, a delicious multi-layered birthday cake.

6:00 - Book Signing Starts!
7:30 – Julius Caesar performance (ticket required - $10/$15)
9:30 – William Shakespeare's 446th Birthday Party!

Hey everyone! I hope that you'll consider coming to my talk at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, MA Saturday, Feb. 27th at 5:30pm. I'm going to be talking about my working process as a photographer and image maker with some commentary about the parallels between contemporary photography techniques and Norman Rockwell's use of photos as resources for his paintings as described in the excellent, currently-running exhibition at the Museum "Behind the Camera". I hope to be giving a sneak peak at the upcoming 2010 season illustrations for Shakespeare & Company that we've been working on the last couple of months as well as some discussion about my soon-to-be shipping book "Imagining Shakespeare". Please come!

BOOK STATUS UPDATE!! - The books are ON-PRESS at the present time. I hope to be getting the first-bound copies in the next two weeks or so, and the balance of the books are coming on a slow boat.... but they say good things come to those who wait! As soon as I have a solid date for having the books in-hand we'll set a time, date and location for the massive Kickstarter-supporter laucnh-a-thon with (hopefully) snacks, drinks, signing and potentially even some exhilirating accordion music!

All the best! - Kevin

Just a quick update on "Imagining Shakespeare" - The color proofs for the book are on their way from China! We're printing the book with Permanent Printing CO in Hong Kong. I'd love to have printed it domestically, but the estimates I was able to get from my preferred printers was nearly twice what it costs overseas ... In any case, we hope to have a small quantity in hand end of February if all goes well, but the bulk of the shipment is literally coming on a "slow boat from China" so it may be March or April before the balance arrives. Thanks for all of your interest, investment and patience on this! Apparently my job is also slightly delayed as all the printing plants shut down for a week mid-february for Chinese New Year! A week! We don't even do that here....

Just an update - after weeks of spellchecking, fact-checking, image-fixing and content-tweaking, the book "Imagining Shakespeare" is currently uploading to the printer via FTP! I'll have a firm production schedule soon and I'll let you all know how it is going. Thanks for your support and for helping me make this happen. happy New Year!

There it is - 4 hours to go, 223 backers, and we made our numbers! Thank You to everyone who supported the project - and put up with my constant asks, accordion solos, and other behaviour! Please stay tuned for status updates on the progress of the book publication itself, as well as delivery of the backlog of accordion blasts to come! Thanks!

Here's a somewhat caffeinated accordion shout out to project supporters Marianne and Grey. There are only 2 more days to go and about $900 left to raise! Please pass the word on (and the project link) and lets put it over the top!

Here's a techno-themed accordion update going out to James! Thanks for all the support - with only ten days to go we are getting close the end, but there is still time to share the project with your friends and make it a success! Help me out!

Here's an accordion shout-out to Nancy for her support. Sorry I've been a little off my game on these updates for the last week or two. Super busy at the studio. Please spread the word around - not too far to go now but still some ground to make up! Thanks for all your help Nancy!

Special halloween inspired accordion solo for Dave today. If you are in Lenox Saturday evening during trick or treat keep an eye out for a Mardi-Gras-inspired Scottish Sheepdog Accordion Kickstarter in your midst! But here's a preview.

We're halfway there! Spread the word to you friends, family, shakespeare loving colleagues, and anyone else who might want a book and to support me! Thanks Dave!

we're getting there, spread the word!

Today's extra-special accordion solo is going out from the misty highland Loch of Mahkeenac in Stockbridge, Mass to project supporters Lillian and Gregory, who have kindly thrown their support behind my project with much enthusiasm. Watch the video to see the haunting skirl of the accordion waft over the hills in honor of Lillian's Scottish heritage. Oh, and she bought me the sporn, which is a great place to keep your iphone when you are battling the British or stalking elk. Enjoy! and pass it on! Aye!

(fans of these updates will note the similarity between my Pirate and my Scot... Yes, they are related.)

Here's a break from accordion music - a nice animation of the logo that I designed for the 2009 spring tour by Shakespeare & Company's education department. 8 actors in a van take "Romeo and Juliet" on the road for 6+ months to 1,000's of high-schoolers all over the NorthEast. I don't normally do animation of my artwork, but this one just cried out for being done. Hollywood anyone? Thanks for all your support of my project and please spread the word! (and the link: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kevinsprague/imagining-shakespeare )

To all my backers - Congratulations! We've gotten to 100 individual backers of the project "Imagining Shakespeare!". We're nearly at the 50% mark for funding the project fully!

So - if everyone who has pledged to the project so far just tells 1 friend about it, and we can sign up another 100 backers, we will be at the goal. Will you help me? Please pass on the word and the Link - http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kevinsprague/imagining-shakespeare

Thanks for your support!
Kevin

Today's accordion "Bonjour!" is going out to Christophe and Verena for their support of "Imagining Shakespeare!" Thanks for all your support. Nearly halfway there! All the best, Kevin.

Here's today's accordion shout-out going to Pier and Thor. Thor hurt his finger pretty badly recently and is laid up recuperating at home, so I hope that this makes him smile a little. Thanks for all the support everyone! Spread the word!