NJ Book Signing + Dinner With Tommy

This evening, Tommy signed books at Bookends in Ridgewood, NJ. Other than the lack of air conditioning and the crying babies, the night was fantastic. Bookend's management was very organized resulting in a seemless event.

There were approximately 150 attendees. Tommy Chong was, once again, very relaxed. He discussed the book like he did the night before, but included more improv. There were a couple guys from Maine there that had heard about the signing on the Howard Stern Show. They made the nine hour trip to get there.

None of us had eaten so Tommy, two representatives from Simon & Schuster and myself, the Weedmaster, decided to get some dinner. Walter, one of the owners of Bookends, recommended a place down the street named Joel's Malibu Kitchen. The food was excellent. Sorry, I don't mean to sound like a restaurant reviewer, but Joel gives the patrons personlized attention. He's a super nice guy who used to be a chef in Malibu. Everything we had was superb.

As you can tell from the photo, they write your name on your plate with tye-dyed garlic mashed potatoes.

Dinner was pleasant The reps from Simon & Schuster were beautiful. Dinner allowed me the opportunity to ask Tommy some questions.

Despite what Stern thought, Chong really hasn't slept with any celebrities. He did say, however, that Cheech has dated a few.

Tommy said he'll probably tour with the Marijuana-Logues play in the future, but his primary focus is touring with his wife, Shelby.

He was not allowed conjugal visits in prison. Each prisoner was allowed a certain number of points. Each point can be used for a visit (non-conjugal).

Tommy saw in a LA Times that June Fairchild, the comedian that played the Ajax Lady in Up In Smoke, is homeless and an alcoholic. She was the person responsible for coming up with the name Three Dog Night. She was dating one of the members of the band.

I asked Tommy if he has any full length video of C & C doing stand-up. He said the only thing he has is Perform. Perform is an out of print video which originated on Betamax. You can find bootlegs on ebay.

When asked if there's another book in the future, he said there is. He gave me some information, but asked me not to report it yet. Doing so, would compromise the project.

When he was in prison, he had bronchial problems caused by hay fever. When he was released, Danny Masterson from That 70s Show recommended taking a lot of vitamin C and various holistic approaches. This eliminated Tommy's problem.

After dinner, we said goodbye. They were heading back to NYC. Tommy has some press in the morning before flying to Chicago.