Happy Friday!

I hope that you've had a great week!

I've been buried in writing and production all week. Just finished the latest draft (#5) of my new play, Grandma & Me. My director/collaborator David Ford and I will be putting it on its feet in workshop soon. Also pecking away at the short play I'll be performing at the Marsh in San Francisco on October 19 and 20 as part of David's festival where a dozen artists will do original works describing how the Trump election and politics affect them personally. I'm writing a piece on my struggle, as an African American man, to continue to be friends with someone who supports a politician who's an open advocate of racism. The working title is, There's Something In The Air.

Here's what else I've been up to this week.

READING

I finished Bob Woodward's book, Fear. It's frightening, infuriating, disgusting and disheartening. All I can say is. VOTE IN NOVEMBER.

After finishing the Woodward book, I needed to put something positive in my head so I reread Napoleon Hill's LAW OF SUCCESS. I read it every few years or so and it always inspires and motivates me. Hill was a writer who, in the early 20th century, had the opportunity to interview steel magnate Andrew Carnegie. When he asked Carnegie if there were common traits that successful people shared, Carnegie invited him to find out. He gave Hill letters of introduction to the most successful business people of the day including Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone, William Wrigley and others. Through his interviews, with these folks,  Hill discovered that there were 16 Laws of Success that all of these industrial giants followed. He lays them out in detail in the book. Check it out. I recommend getting it from Audible and listening in the car and at the gym. It's a lengthy work but totally worth the time!

SAW

Caught two pictures this week.

The Lady Love and I saw WHITE BOY RICK, a drama based on the life of Richard Wersche Jr. who, at age 15, worked as a high level drug dealer and paid informant for the FBI and Detroit PD. It's a hell of a story with an ending that will infuriate you. GO.

The Lady Love thought that PEPPERMINT was probably going to be too violent for her so, I went with my son Casey. She was right. It's a very violent movie. Jennifer Garner stars as a lower middle class suburban mom whose husband and daughter are gunned down by an LA drug cartel. She gets no justice in the courts because everyone from the cops to the DA to the judge are on the take. In a move reminiscent of the plot of BATMAN BEGINS, she vanishes for five years, learns how to fight, shoot and stitch herself up, and she comes back for revenge. Think DEATH WISH with a female protagonist. It's violent, bloody and thoroughly predictable... and I enjoyed every popcorn munching minute of it. I'll see anything with Jennifer Garner in it, but the film isn't for everyone.

THEATER

Didn't get to any theater productions this week so I'll just tell you about a couple of mine.

Tonight, the fourth season of my BEST OF SAN FRANCISCO SOLO SERIES begins in San Leandro. The series feature the most popular, critically acclaimed one person plays from the Marsh, ACT, Berkeley Rep and the San Francisco Fringe Festival. Tickets are available through this evening. For information on the San Leandro series as well as THE BEST OF SAN FRANCISCO SOLO SERIES at the Marin Center in San Rafael, visit BestOfSFSolo.com.

I'll also be performing my play on depression, The Waiting Period, at the San Francisco Marsh this Sunday at 5. It's free to the public thanks to donations and corporate sponsorships. Send someone you know who's struggling. You might save their life!

PODCASTS

I'm a big fan of the true crime genre found two great podcasts I want to recommend to you.

FATAL VOYAGE is an examination of the 1981 drowning death of Natalie Wood. The original finding was that the drowning was an accident. New information has led to the cause of death being reclassified “undetermined” and the investigation reopened. The podcast includes extensive interviews with Natalie's sister Lana and the captain of The Splendor, Robert Wagner's yacht that was the scene of the death. It's riveting.

I also want to recommend ATLANTA MONSTER about the Atlanta child murders. From 1979-1981, 27 African American boys were murdered in Atlanta. Wayne Williams was convicted of two killings and is officially considered the child murderer, but the families of the victims don't believe it. They think that a combination of politics, corruption and racism have enabled the real killer to evade justice. It's an interesting listen.

EATS

I LOVE breakfast places and found a good one the other day when my daughter Carolyn took me to Rosy's Cafe in Hayward. It's a small little diner that has great American and Mexican breakfasts with large portions and reasonable prices. They also serve lunch. Rosy's is located at 22616 Vermont St. in Hayward, California. CHECK IT OUT.

If you know of any Bay Area eateries you want me to try, email me at copie@briancopeland.com.

THE NOISY AMERICAN

By popular demand, for the last seven weeks, I've been doing daily livestreams on Facebook Live. I call the commentaries THE NOISY AMERICAN because some on the right have said that critics of this administration need to “sit down and shut up.” As Americans, I think it's just the opposite. We need to be LOUD. Weekdays, I spend a few minutes commenting on the news and politics of the day then we discuss and debate through Facebook posts. What started as a lark is really growing into something. We're prepping two YouTube channels, THE NOISY AMERICAN CHANNEL and CopieTV, that we'll launch soon. We've also just launched a website. Check it out at TheNoisyAmerican.com. Check out my daily videos and follow me on Facebook where I'm briancopie1.

Have a wonderful week!

Copie

FOLLOW BRIAN:

Twitter: Twitter.com/briancopie
Facebook: facebook.com/briancopie1
BrianCopeland.com