The One, The Only, The Fabulous
TOM AMMIANO
Join the one and only Tom Ammiano for a special virtual look inside his brand new book "Kiss My Gay Ass: My trip down the Yellow Brick Road through activism, stand-up, and politics". Click here to register.
The Bay Area Reporter has called the book "dishy" and "fascinating" and Season of the Witch author David Talbot, who wrote the book's Foreword, says "if you need a reminder about why democracy is worth the struggle.... you need to read Kiss My Gay Ass."
In lieu of an in-person launch party, we're bringing Tom to you virtually for a book reading you don't want to miss!
Pour a glass of wine, mix a cocktail, or get comfortable on the couch and join us for a short trip down the Yellow Brick Road to experience the San Francisco we know and love as told by the incredible trailblazing leader we all know and love, too. Hope to see you Saturday! Click here to register.
Seated at his kitchen table, gay political leader and comedian Tom Ammiano began to recount his life story in July 2018 to journalist Tim Redmond and Jon Golinger, an attorney and author. By the time the trio had finished, they had amassed 30 hours of recorded conversations from 13 two-hour sessions.
The reminiscing was both bittersweet and uproarious, recalled Ammiano, 78, during a joint phone interview with Golinger April 1 while he sheltered at home with his husband, Carolis Deal, due to the novel coronavirus outbreak. "It was a little bit of everything. Some of the memories are very emotional," said Ammiano, a New Jersey native raised Catholic who moved west in the early 1960s when he enrolled at San Francisco State University to earn a master's degree in special education. "Expressing it verbally could for me be very powerful, but we did have a lot of laughs. It was very positive."
The transcripts were then turned into a memoir jointly pieced together by the three progressive stalwarts of the city's political scene. The process took a bit longer than expected because some of the taped conversations were inaudible, said Golinger. "As I transcribed the recordings, numerous times I couldn't hear super clearly because there was too much laughter. Mostly Tim and I laughing through much of it," recalled Golinger. "It made it more challenging but much more fun. I hope that comes through in the writing."
The fruit of their collaboration, Ammiano's "Kiss My Gay Ass: My trip down the Yellow Brick Road through activism, stand-up, and politics," will officially be released Thursday, April 9, by Redmond's Bay Guardian Books. Printed in softcover, the book costs $20, and an excerpt will run in the Bay Area Reporter's April 16 edition. "This is all bittersweet," Ammiano told the B.A.R. in his first media interview about his memoir. "I am excited by the book being ready, but the timing is very sobering."