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We Raised $19,585 In Our First Week!


$19,585 FOR "HEREAFTER MUSICAL & "RESTLESS" FOR MORE

How much do love our friends and family and FANS!!! How about nineteen thousand - five hundred and eighty five dollars worth!!!! You heard me, I said $19,585. That's the amount we've raised in just a little over a week. It has been an amazing outpouring of support for "Hereafter Musical". It almost makes me want to sing (I said almost so you can relax). This has easily been one of the biggest weeks in the history of our show…and Frankie and I didn't have to do a thing! You guys did all the heavy lifting! We still have a ways to go ($40,415 worth to be exact). We have until Sept 25th to reach (or surpass our number). If we do, we promise you an incredible experience. If we don't, we'll be selling our gold fillings to put on an extremely low budget and toothless version of "Hereafter Musical". You've been forewarned so please forward this email to friends and family who you think might get a kick out of our somewhat annoying and sometimes humorous (but always musical emails)!

HEREAFTER MUSICAL YOUTUBE CHANNEL HAS 13,000 VIEWS

Speaking of numbers…our Youtube Channel just passed 13,000 views…wow! That’s like filling up half of Madison Square Garden and having them watch two hours worth of videos from our show on a tiny little window on your computer!!! Now according to Kickstarter we are 32% funded. We're not very good at math so we'll have to trust them. Speaking of Kickstarter (boy do we switch topics quickly in these emails) the New York Times just did a HUGE story on them. You can read it here (but only after you've pledged for your tickets first). OK, we're pretending like we waited five minutes and that you haven't had any problems with the process. Speaking of problems with the process…. we know that some of you have had ongoing "Cookie" problems. Please feel free to call or write at any time to vent and/or demand an option to write a check. Now we are not going to turn down any offer of checks. We just want you to know that pledging through Kickstarter ensures that your money not only goes to our totals instantly but more importantly means you are not charged right away. If you write a check (which we will GLADLY accept) it just means we have to deposit it and then get it into Kickstarter through a log on we've created for this very purpose. In a nutshell, do whatever works best for YOU as long as it involves sending money to US.

ROLL CALL OF THANKS FOR UPDATE #4

Ok, so enough of this business stuff. Before we get to our special treat (which will be "off-topic" but a real treat), here is our shout out to all the friends and family and non-blood related fans of our show who have pledged since our last update. In no particular order (since we love them all equally!!!!)

Barbara & Robert Incitti

  • Zachary Zemla - Ok let’s get this one out of the way. For those of you Virgos keeping track of our pledge roll call, you’ll recall that we thanked Zachary on the last update with a very glib “I don't know Zachary but that is also another cool name. I think it was the name of a villain in a Superman comic.” Well it turns out that we not only know Zachary but we LOVE him and his wife Chris. We spent last Christmas with them (I know I’m an idiot). They are both big fans of our show, I just know him as Scott!! Scott I swear I’ll make it up to you next Christmas!

  • Debra Herman – I can safely say that I not only know Debra but she always politely nudges my head off of her shoulder when I fall asleep on the Academy Bus in the morning on our way into “the city”. She’s a great friend but the only times I seem to spend with her is when we are traveling 65 miles an hour (sometime 80 if Boris is driving the bus).

  • George Schweitzer – Love George. One of my closest friends at CBS and a true mentor and a GREAT lunch companion.

  • Dash Ghahary – A great guy and someone who has attended every version of this show. including the one we tried out in Hebrew.

  • Joanna Patton – She only happens to be married to someone who has played a HUGE part in the development of our show. More on him in another update!! He needs his own blog posting!

  • Mark DiPippa – A great friend who is sitting on a goldmine with his creation “The Centsables”. The better he does the more money we get…help him help US!!

  • Randi Grossack – a great friend from work. She’s laughed politely at the same jokes I’ve been telling for the last 15 years.

  • Brian Teta – One of the best producers in TV. Knows everything about pop culture and isn’t afraid to share it with you!

  • Richard Scheckman – A super close friend. We’ve had dinner every Monday night for the past 15 years. It’s actually been one long dinner; we just take a break between courses to attend to other things like work and family.

  • Nelson Riddle Orchestra – I kid you not!!! This is THE Nelson Riddle. We are very close friends with the Riddle family. I swear, you could ask them. Don’t miss them the next time they play…they do their dad proud!

  • Peter Smith – a great friend from NJ.

  • Paul Shaffer – Yep…this is THE Paul Shaffer. There are so many reasons to be excited about this. Mainly because he is a musical genius who has written one of the best songs of all time (“It’s Raining Men”). If Paul’s on board then we’ve won already!

  • Ray Stabile – Ray and his beautiful wife Stacy are family!!! Thanks guys.

  • Mikki MIlone – Just met Mikki, and I feel like I know her and Joan forever.

  • Susan Kaesz – We are working with Susan on a 9/11 documentary screening “Rebirth” in Rome. We won her over with David Pack’s version of “Talk To Me”!!

  • Christine and Michael Savino – Chris is one of my oldest friends (our friendship is old, she is super young, not creepy young I mean still old enough to be my friend…ok I’ll stop.). Anyway Chris is supporting us from the west coast and in the memory of her late brother Robert Caliano. A great guy I grew up with back in Bensonhurst.

  • Joseph Mooski – The one and only founder of the Stern Superfans!!! Friend him on Facebook..tell him my mouse sent you.

  • Michael Sarrao – A great friend and an amazing Comic Book author!!

  • Marianne O'Leary – A great friend and colleague.

  • Janille De Guzman – This has to be a mistake. The Janille we know WORKS for our show and she has the below minimum wage salary to prove it. Unless she just won the lottery, her far too generous pledge is under review! Janille “you have a lot of ‘splainin to do”

  • Linda Petrie – One of Debbie (oh Debbie’s) closest friends (and mine too). Love her dearly (and not for this but it doesn’t hurt!).

  • Vicki Gordon – Vicki said so many nice things about our show after the August showcase that it gave us the drive and confidence to aim higher. In other words all of this is her fault!

  • Jon Carras – Another colleague and good friend. He only happens to be a producer on one of the best shows on TV (CBS Sunday Morning).

  • Brian Simmons – This guy is one loyal friend. He was there on April 14th, 2006 when we gathered for the first time in public and work shopped the first batch of songs from the show. Now he’s pledging for tickets! Amazing.

  • Anonymous – I swear that’s his real name. He’s Greek (at least his name sounds Greek). I won’t say how much he pledged but he can pretty much bring four generations of a Greek family with the tickets he has coming his way!

  • OpIvy – We have no idea who this is but first we want to offer a heart felt thanks and second we want to petition the Scrabble folks to make this an official word.

  • Dolly – Hands down, Dolly is our NUMBER ONE FAN. No kidding. Her comments on the show are always so insightful and her praise for our work even surpasses those of our families (and we just met her). We love her and we love saying “Hello Doll” every time we exchange emails!!!

  • Jerry Foley – Talk about validation (we weren’t but I was thinking it) this guy is not only a dear friend, and long time colleague but he’s also the multi Emmy nominated director of the Late Show!

  • Kira Reed Lorsch – Kira and I go back a looonnng way. She’s another LA fan of our show. We may just have to do a production out there just for her!!!

  • Michael Pollack - A good friend, colleague and a super creative guy.

  • Matt Raymond – Matt’s a fan. We just met through his pledge. This will be the beginning of a long and lasting friendship (as long as the check clears).

  • Jim Waters – This guy is the most talented and reliable contractor in the US. I am not kidding. His work is poetry and only his incredible character matches it. A genuinely great guy. When he was done working on our project, I wanted to pay him to just come to the house and be my friend…and I’m NOT kidding. Have I made my point? If you want his info email me back!

  • Barbara & Robert Incitti – Long time close friends who are featured in the photo above. She’s hysterical (I mean that literally, you could hear her screaming from down the block) and he is an amazing physical therapist .

  • Rowshack – We don’t know Rowshack. We think he/she might be a rock band or a real character from “Tru Blood”. It’s an honor Roshack!

  • Lou Spirito – How great is that name? And he’s as great a guy as his name sounds! We haven’t met but I know him well. He’s also a GREAT writer and I will gladly Kickstart him some money as soon as sets up his own account.

  • Marcia & Shelly Fried – These guys are insane. He’s the CFO of Hereafter Limited (verty limited). She’s the sister I never had. We have no idea why they pledged because They HAVE to be at the shows n because he will be overseeing the box-office. He’s one of the few people that knows my social security number. Why he’s pledging for tickets is beyond me (unless of course he’s using Hereafter funds!!). Or maybe it’s because they are just awesome p[people who have supported us even before day one!!!

  • Michele Fried – One of the coolest girls in our family. Consider yourself very lucky if you are there on the same night that she is! Super funny and super sweet.

  • Thomas Gesimondo - A true legend. One of my oldest friends and the co-creator of one of the most classic songs of all time “Restless, Restless”!!! And by the way he wrote the line “You wore your purple dress”!!!! In spite of that he’s one of the best lyricists out there. And he co-owns one of NY’s most happening Pilate places (that’s fun to say!); True Pilates New York.

Ok speaking of “Restless, Restless” (I swear that’s the last “speaking of”), here is the treat you gave been waiting for. For those of you who don’t know about the legend of the song that Tom and I wrote 30 years ago, read about it here. This is a video of Tom & I performing it for the Howard Stern Show (be forewarned…it’s horrible!!!).

Tom & Vinnie sing "Restless, Restless"

Thanks to it being featured on the Howard Stern show, the song has been covered by over 1000 artists! This small sampling includes

Hope you enjoyed this LONG update and make sure you pledge soon (before the 9/25 deadline!). Tell your friends. You can pledge at: Kickstarter

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