Ray Robertson's Karaoke Extravaganza!
This Is Not A Reading Series, Cormorant Books and NOW Magazine present the launch of Ray Robertson’s Gently Down the Stream, with karaoke till you drop.
This Is Not A Reading Series and Cormorant Books invite you to celebrate the launch of Ray Robertson’s new novel Gently Down the Stream, a book about dogs, monogamy and karaoke. The Gladstone Hotel and karaoke play a significant role in Ray’s new book, so it is only fitting to launch it in the Gladstone’s famous Melody Bar, where karaoke is a way of life. All are welcome to celebrate and belt out the tunes–from The Doors to John Denver - nobody is safe!–under the guidance of the Gladstone’s karaoke master Peter Styles. And at 9:30pm enter a karaoke contest with judges Ray Robertson, Ian Brown of CBC’s Talking Books, and Martin Tielli of the Rheostatics.
1st Prize: a copy of Gently Down the Stream and a $50 gift certificate from Pages Books and Magazines.
2nd Prize: a copy of Gently Down the Stream and a $25 gift certificate from Pages Books and Magazines.
Gently Down the Stream tells the story of Hank Roberts, a man who just can’t buy a thrill. His wife, Mary, his best friend, Phil, Phil’s annoying new girlfriend and Canada’s hottest new female novelist, Rebecca have all either become what they set out to be or are well on their way to getting there. Hank isn’t old, but he’s not young anymore; he’s bright, but by no means brilliant; he’s restless, but not by any stretch ambitious. He loves his wife, his dog, and rock and roll, but lately that just doesn’t seem to be enough. Appalled at the gentrification and mind-numbing homogenization of the world, yet doomed, apparently, to be just another overeducated and underachieving thirty-something, Hank gets jarred out of his complacency by a chance musical encounter at a Friday-night karaoke bar. Aided by just the right amount of chemical self-medication and armed with only a karaoke microphone and a midnight vandal’s sack of eco-warrior goodies, Hank sets out to re-energize his life and save the planet, or least his little part of it.
Ray Robertson is the author of three previous novels, Home Movies (published by Cormorant Books), Heroes, and Moody Food, the latter of which was chosen a best book of 2002 in The Globe and Mail and The Vancouver Sun. In 2003, Ray published Mental Hygiene, a collection of his articles, essays, and book reviews. He teaches Creative Writing at the University of Toronto. Ray lives in Toronto with his wife and his dog.
