May 11, 2005
9:32 p.m.

...and I thought yesterday was exhausting.

I woke up this morning and drove to Stephen King’s office. I met with his assistant, Marsha DeFilipo and she gave me a very interesting interview. She even let me take pictures of his office! While I was asking her a few questions, Stephen called her to ask about some tickets. She told him that she got them and that yes, they were on the field level. Looks like Mr. King is going to see the BoSox soon.

After that, I drove around and found King’s house. I felt very much like a stalker as I snapped photos of the house and his beautiful, black wrought iron fence adorned with bats and gargoyles. I got out of there quick. It just felt dirty. Although it would have been cool if he came out to say hi. It wouldn't have been too much out of the ordinary. According to everyone in town, he's an incredibly friendly dude.

I also went to Betts Bookstore and spoke to the shopkeeper, Stuart Tinker. He’s the Bangor authority on all things King. His dog Sammy hangs out with him in the store every day. Stu is a very happy camper who loves to read and loves his job (although he says he doesn’t get to read as much as he used to before he bought the store). He has many many limited edition King books, British and even Russian versions. He has these giant, gorgeous, framed prints of Dark Tower paintings hanging in the back of the store. They’re all signed by King as are many of the books. I bought Desperation and The Regulators as a set… unsigned… I can’t afford anything fancy. Anyway, the funny thing about those books is that they were published at the same time. Desperation has Stephen King’s name on it, however, he chose to put his alter ego, Richard Bachman’s name on The Regulators. Both books take place in the same town but apparently, in alternate universes. Hence, the idea to write one under his name and give the other to his pseudonym. Kinda freaky, I can’t wait to read them!

Mr. Tinker gave me the best quote after I had turned the tape recorder off. Of course that’s when he said it. Just my luck, right? Well, it was something to the extent of “I think that some teachers and parents may be reluctant to let their students and children read Stephen King. I don’t really understand that. I think that as long as a kid is reading, we should encourage him instead of taking that away. Maybe some of his stuff is inappropriate… as long as the kid is 13 or 14, I think he’s OK.”

Afterwards, I went to downtown Bangor and hung out with Paul Bunyan. I met a very nice couple from New Brunswick, Canada who were in town for a random visit before the baby comes. They took my picture in front of Paul and I took theirs. After we talked briefly about King’s connection to Bangor, they joked about how New Brunswick’s claim to fame is the Irving family. “The Irving family?” I asked. They told me to turn around and I did. There was the Irving gas station right behind me. It was quite amusing.

From there I went to lunch at Miller’s Diner. It’s been there for 55 years and it’s closing on Sunday. I ate a fairly decent sandwich as three different news crews interviewed the owner and the cameramen made their way around the restaurant. I watched one of the news specials tonight. I wasn’t on. But who knows about the other stations?

OK, so lunch break and brief fame over… back to working the beat. I drove around using a map that Mr. Tinker was kind enough to give me. The map points out all the Stephen King “haunts” (get it? Ha ha.) I went all over town taking pictures of the Mount Hope Cemetery (where parts of Pet Semetary were filmed). I crept myself out by going down to The Barrens where the kids from It played and chased a killer clown. I visited The Standpipe which is also featured in It. Up there, I met a local who told me all about the history of the Standpipe. He then went on to say that Stephen and Tabitha walk around town all the time with their faces buried in books. He said that the Kings are loved by everyone in Bangor and that the Kings certainly love the town back. And it shows... everywhere you look.

Everyone in town is more than happy to talk about them. You'd think that by now they would be tired of reporters coming to Bangor and bugging them. But whenever you mention the town's most famous residents, they just smile and start talking.

The Kings are great philanthropists and have put a gargantuan amount of money into the town (as well as surrounding towns). I went down to the Trevor Mansfield Ballpark and talked to a volunteer groundskeeper. The ballpark was built from the Kings' incredibly generous donation. Little League Teams from all over the world come to play there and the stadium is absolutely breathtaking. As if that weren't enough, Stephen and Tabitha just built a water slide park next to the Ballpark last year. The kids go crazy for it. "Some of them," he said, "even ask to fill up their empty plastic soda bottles with some sand from the infield to take home with them. That's how much they love it here."

Wow, I talked to so many people today, I feel like I'm forgetting something. And I probably am. I'd love to go into more detail but you'll just have to wait til our issue comes out in October. :)

I'm planning on visiting the local library tomorrow, as well as making a trip to Orono.

It's a whirlwind baby! So much fun!