Jonathan Ames to Entertain in Saratoga

 

Jonathan Ames by Bart Everly

Saratoga Springs, NY (April 22, 2008) – Author and humorist Jonathan Ames will swing into town to entertain at this year's Yaddo Summer Benefit, to be held June 17th in the Music Room of the Yaddo Mansion.

Mr. Ames, a frequent guest on television's "Late Show with David Letterman," is the author of I Pass Like Night, The Extra Man, What's Not to Love?, My Less Than Secret Life, Wake Up, Sir!, and I Love You More Than You Know. His graphic novel, The Alcoholic, will be published this year by DC Comics, and a new collection of essays and fiction, The Double Life is Twice As Good, is due in 2009. Claiming "it was the role of a lifetime," Mr. Ames wrote the script and played himself in a 2007-2008 Showtime Network television special based on his memoir What's Not to Love?. He has appeared off-off-Broadway and at various American colleges with his one-man show "Oedipussy" and currently is working on a screenplay for Sarah Silverman and writing a television pilot for HBO based on a short story he wrote, "Bored to Death." His novels The Extra Man and Wake Up, Sir! (the story of an artists' colony in upstate New York) are in development as films, with screenplays by Mr. Ames. In addition to writing, Mr. Ames has had two amateur boxing matches, compiling a 1-1 record fighting as "The Herring Wonder." He is a Member of The Corporation of Yaddo.

Thanks to the generosity of the Capital Region community and the hard work of the organizing committees, the event's expenses are traditionally kept to a minimum, allowing more than 90 percent of the benefit proceeds to go directly to Yaddo's artists' residency program. Honorary chairs for the 2008 Yaddo Summer Benefit are Ron and Michele Riggi. This year's committee chairs are Elizabeth Alexander, Claudia Olsen, and Anne Palamountain.

A special feature of this year's fundraiser will be a silent auction, open to everyone in attendance and offering an outstanding slate of items up for bid, including the following:

• Exclusive Yaddo jewelry piece designed by De Jonghe Original Jewelry
• Private dinner party for 10 in the Yaddo Mansion
• Unique set of three limited edition, signed Broadside Prints created by Yaddo artists William Bailey, Joan Snyder, and Alexi Worth in collaboration with writers Mark Strand, Eliza Griswold, and Amy Hempel
• Personal tour of Yaddo with Yaddo President Elaina Richardson
• First edition copy of Saratoga Trunk and a hat from Saratoga Trunk
• Flowers delivered to a home for six months, courtesy of Hidden Gardens Extraordinary Floral Design Antiques for Home and Garden
• Yaddo Stakes track package

The program begins at 8 p.m. and will be followed by a party. Silent auction bids will be accepted prior to the program and up until 10 p.m. Individual reservations are $150 (Patron), $175 (Special Patron), and $200 (Honorary Patron). Sponsorships start at $600 and include an invitation to a pre-event cocktail reception in a private area of the Yaddo Mansion. To purchase reservations online now, click here for a link to a secure page.

For additional information, contact Lynn Farenell (lfarenell@yaddo.org or 518.584.0746).