Quitting The Nairobi Trio

Good afternoon Kovacsians. I discovered the book to the left while doing some "Nairobi Trio" research online and was able to get a copy from my local library.

I just finished reading and it's fantastic. Rather than give you a review I'll say this; its not what you might think. And the way EK and "The Nairobi Trio" work into this true story is wonderful. Yours truly picks up ANYTHING that has to do with EK and reads it, yet I found that right from the start I was enjoying the book so much that it wouldn't have mattered to me whether EK was mentioned or not. When he finally was it really hit me. Great writing and well worth your time. To learn more about the author, Jim Knipfel, visit his website. Scroll down and you'll see a link to the book on Amazon along with a plot summary.

Our fight to get EK listed as a past guest host of "The Tonight Show" continues. This link will bring you to both articles on the subject, one written by me and the other by Ben Model. There you'll find full instructions on how you can join the fight. Let's get EK on that list!! Our thanks go to both Mark Evanier and Altrok Radio for writing great pieces on this subject regarding our campaign.

I haven't done this in a while so a here's a "shout out" (EK used to call it "Yoo Hoo Time" on TTGR) to all the members of the Ernie Kovacs MySpace Fan Page, which is currently up to 874 friends. I'd like to thank all those that have asked to be added. If you'd like to be a friend visit the page by clicking on the link above and put in a request!

If you are a Facebook user there are two EK Groups on that site; one run by Ron Evry and the other by my fellow EK blogger Ben Model. You must be a member of Facebook to join the groups and participate but clicking either link will bring you to the page so you can see them. Definitely join if you can; Ben and I always use the groups to post EK updates.

Another site to which we've added EK updates is Twitter; you can always visit that link to see what we're up to. In addition, I've embedded the Twitter updates directly into the homepage of www.erniekovacs.net. If you're a member of Twitter be sure to sign up as an EK follower; if not you can learn more about the service here.

Until next time my friends, "It's Been Real!"

EDITOR'S NOTE: After I posted this I contacted Jim Knipfel, author of "Quitting The Nairobi Trio" to tell him how much I enjoyed the book. He shared this anecdote with me:

Thank you, Al. I'm honored to have been recognized by the Kovacs cognescenti. Here's a story about the cover I think you'll appreciate.

About 2 weeks before the book was set to be released, the publisher realized that they had never obtained the rights to use the Nairobi Trio still. This was Bad News, and led to much hair pulling.

Finally, we contacted Edie Adams (who, as you know, controlled the estate) to get permission.

First, she wanted to read all the scenes in the book in which Ernie was mentioned. Happily, she was okay with those. Then came the matter of payment.

She asked how much people usually got for the rights to use an image on a book cover. "Usually anywhere between $200-$300," the publisher told her.

She thought about it for a minute, then said, "All right. I'll take $350."

God bless that woman.

(And god bless the publisher for agreeing to pay her $350.)

Many thanks again. I'm glad you liked the book.

Jim