Keith White Jr.

Keith White Jr.
White at a book signing, May 2014
Born	Keith Andrew White II (1981-04-14) April 14, 1981 Buffalo, New York, United States
Occupation	author, illustrator, screenwriter, actor, radio host
Years active	1999–present
Spouse(s)	Cassandra White (3 sons)

Keith White Jr. (born April 14, 1981) is an American author of children's books, radio personality, screen writer, film director, occasional actor and former contributor to the video game website extraguy.com^[1] and current head writer for the online men's interest magazine StuffDudesLike.com.^[2] He is most well known as the author and illustrator of the "Color-With-Me" Adventure series of children's books. The first of which, Andrew and the Pirates, was released on April 13, 2013.^[3]

Early life

White, an only child, was born in Buffalo NY in 1981. He graduated from the Buffalo Academy for Visual and Performing Arts (BAVPA) with a "Visual Arts" diploma in 1999. While at BAVPA, White wrote for the school newspaper, co-illustrated the papers only comic strip and appeared on the BAVPA Morning Show.^[4] In early 1999, White, along with other students from BAVPA helped to renovate Shea's Performing Arts Center in the downtown Buffalo.^[5] White and childhood friend Anthony Swinnich co-hosted the video game radio variety talk show "The Digital Ensemble" on 91.3 FM WBNY. The show ran from 2005–2010. In early 2013, White's middle son Andrew was diagnosed with neurological problems including motor and tic disorders as well as attention deficit problems and hyperactivity after being unable to keep his attention on his school work and uncontrollably rolling his eyes and rubbing his fingers together until they blistered.^[6]

Literary career

White wrote his first book Andrew and the Pirates as a way to help both his son's confidence and his schoolwork. After the success of Andrew and the Pirates Keith began work on his second book Big Top Andrew. As of 11 February 2016 there are 31 books in the "Color-With-Me" series.^[7] Each book features 10 chapters. The chapters are followed by a picture to color based on what was just read. The "Color-With-Me" books have been the focus of articles in several newspapers and magazines, and White has been a special guest at various events around the New York City area.

The book Andrew and The Main Event featured Western New York pro wrestling promotion ESW and independent wrestlers Salvatore Morocco and Tango Torrez. Torrez went on to be featured in other "Color-With-Me" Adventure books, including Night of the Living Andrew and Andrew and Collin Save Christmas. Salvatore Morocco and Tango Torrez were reunited in the 2014 release Collin and the Main Event Rematch.

In July, 2013 White and Troma Entertainment founder Lloyd Kaufman began discussions about White creating a book featuring both his "Color-With-Me" Adventure characters and characters from the early 90's cartoon The Toxic Crusaders.^[8] White gave his followers on Twitter a cover sneak peek of the proposed book on July 21, 2013.^[9]

In September 2013 White made a deal with Data Design Interactive for use of their Ninjabread Man video game character in a Christmas book. In December of that year White's Andrew and Collin Save Christmas came out without Ninjabread Man as a character. It is unknown if the character will still appear in a future book.

An official "Color-With-Me" Adventure merchandise store opened in July, 2014 on the website Zazzle.^[10] The site offers hats, shirts, playing cards, baby items and more. White said on Twitter that new items will be added in the coming weeks.^[11]

On August 15, 2014 White sent out a cryptic tweet saying that he had a long weekend ahead playing the video game Shutshimi by Neon Deity Games hashtagging the word "research". The message was retweeted by the official Shutshimi Twitter page.^[12] On August 23, 2014 White tweeted out a blurry picture of what appears to be a framed print of the Shutshimi book cover directed at the Shutshimi Twitter page.^[13] The book Sherlock Andrew and the Valentine's Day Mystery (released in January, 2015) had both a reference to Shutshimi and a picture of the game's main character "The Fishy" to color after one of the chapters. Almost two years after the first tweet, in June 2016, White again brought up the possibility of a Shutshimi book on Twitter by posting "It's been a long time coming but the #ColorWithMeAdventure series might be getting a little "Fishy" soon! @Shutshimi".^[14] The book Shutshimi: The Fishy's Tail was released on July 26, 2016.

Keith tweeted on May 21, 2015 that he and stand-up comedian Mike Bocchetti may be collaborating on a "possible" future project.^[15] The project is rumored to be a graphic novel written by Mike and illustrated by Keith.

"Color-With-Me" Cartoon Classic DVDs

In September, 2014 it was announced that White was working with DVD publisher Cartoon Classics to create artwork for their line of "Color-With-Me" branded cartoon DVDs.^[16] The DVDs will each come in a "Color-With-Me" DVD case that features front and back artwork for the child to color. There will also be a place for them to write their name, both on the case and on the DVD disc top. The first DVD in the series was released on September 26, 2014 and features the first 9 of the Superman (1940s cartoons).^[17]

On October 1, 2014 "Color-With-Me" Classic Cartoons Vol. 2 was released by DVD publisher Cartoon Classics. Volume 2 has artwork from the book Andrew and Collin Save Christmas and features 8 Christmas themed classic cartoons with a run time of 74 minutes.^[18]

In late October 2014 a third volume was released in the "Color-With-Me" Classic Cartoons DVD series. Vol. 3 features artwork from Night of the Living Andrew and cartoons that are Halloween themed. It has a run time of just over 60 minutes.^[19]

"Color-With-Me" Classic Cartoons Vol. 4 was released on December 10, 2014. It was the first DVD in the series to feature original artwork not taken from a "Color-With-Me" Adventure book. With a run-time of 79 minutes it is also the longest DVD in the series.

Special Appearances

During June 2013, the West Herr Auto Group had Keith as a guest as part of the 2013 "Keeping Kids Safe Project" event at West Herr Toyota in Orchard Park, NY.^[20] In July 2013 the West Herr Auto Group again had Keith as a special guest at their company picnic. West Herr purchased 1,000 copies of "Andrew and the Pirates" and had Keith at a table signing books and taking pictures with the employees' children.^[21]

In August 2013 Keith was a special guest at ChalkFest 2013^[22] in downtown Buffalo NY. He spend the day drawing the characters from his "Color-With-Me" Book series on the sidewalks and letting children color them in with chalk.

In August and September 2013, Keith was the special guest at ESW wrestling events MeltDown^[23] and OverDrive to promote the book "Andrew and The Main Event".^[24]

In October 2013 the Buffalo International Film Festival hosted a meet and greet book signing with Keith and his "Color-With-Me" book series before the screenings of Magic Camp and Dear Mr. Watterson.^[25] A basket of Keith's "Color-With-Me" books were auctioned off at the "2nd Annual Best Sellers Fundraiser" event to benefit The Buffalo & Erie County Public Library's Children's Literacy Fund^[26] in November 2013.

In May 2014, "The Bookworm" in the village of East Aurora, New York hosted White and his book series as part of an East Aurora Families Day event, featuring simultaneous activities, events and special guests throughout different locations in the village.

June 20 and 21 2014, Keith was once again a guest at West Herr Toyota of Orchard Park for the "Keeping Kids Safe Project" event. He gave away free autographed specially marked "West Herr Special Edition" copies of his first book "Andrew and the Pirates" and took photos with the kids.^[27]

On October 12, 2014, White was a guest of the Buffalo International Film Festival before the screening of a compilation of short films from both the Buffalo NY area and internationally. Attendants had the opportunity to receive a free special edition copy of Andrew and the Pirates, a "Color-With-Me" bookmark and a mini poster featuring all the "Color-With-Me" Adventure books.^[28]

The Bookworm bookstore in East Aurora, New York presented a Teacher's Night on October 16, 2014. Keith White Jr. was there to talk with area teachers about his book series and how they could potentially help in the classroom. White then did a book signing/meet & great event from 6-8 PM with his "Color-With-Me" Adventure books.^[29]

Keith was a guest author at the Cheektowaga Central School District's "Superhero Literacy Festival" on January 22, 2015 at Union East Elementary School in Cheektowaga, New York. He signed over 100 free copies of his first book Andrew and the Pirates that were donated to the festival by the West Herr Auto Group. He also posed for photographs and colored pictures taken from the "Color-With-Me" book series with the children in attendance.

White was among dozens of authors at Larkin Square in downtown Buffalo NY as part of the second annual "Larkin Square Author Festival" on May 21, 2015. Visitors to the festival were able to meet and chat with dozens of their favorite local authors, purchase their books (a portion of the sales were to benefit a local bookstore called Talking Leaves), and grab a bite to eat and drink from the Larkin Square Grill.^[30]

The "Holy Cross Head Start" school in Buffalo NY had Keith and his books at their Lawn Ave. school for a special event on June 8, 2015.^[31] He autographed 200 copies of "Andrew and the Pirates" that had been donated by the West Herr Auto Group for the event.^[32] After the book reading, White and his wife colored with the kids and did a "question and answer" session.^[33]

The Anna Reinstein Memorial branch of the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library in Cheektowaga (town), New York hosted a "Superhero Training Camp!" on July 23, 2015. The event was for kids ages 6–10 and promised to "Develop Superhero powers with brain games, feats of skill and other fun superhero activities!"^[34] White was signing free copies of the superhero book "Captain Collin and the Andrew Avenger" for each child at the event.^[35]

White appeared at the Buffalo Comicon to promote his superhero book Captain Collin and The Andrew Avenger on October 17 and 18, 2015.^[36] As part of the promotion, White gave away free autographed copies of the book.

On November 2 of 2015, White hosted a "Superhero Stories and Book Giveaway!" event at The Anna Reinstein Memorial branch of the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library in Cheektowaga (town), New York.^[37] The event was for children ages 6–12 and featured a reading of White's book Captain Collin and The Andrew Avenger with time to color between chapters. The children were encouraged to dress as their favorite superhero and to take a free book home with them after the event. All the books were printed and donated by the West Herr Automotive Group.

The Mullen Elementary School in Tonawanda (town), New York hosted Keith White Jr. and fellow children's author Roselyn Kasmire at the school for an "Author Appreciation Day" on March 15, 2016. White met with over 300 students, ranging from Pre-kindergarten through 3rd grade. After a reading of the first two chapters of Captain Collin and the Andrew Avenger each child received a coloring sheet with pictures from the book. White then walked around, talking with the kids and followed up with a question and answer session. Once the presentations were over, White and Kasmire went to each classroom to sign books and take photos with the students.^[38]

Explore & More Children's Museum hosted White and his book series on August 10, 2016 for their weekly "Wednesday WOW!" event.^[39] White gave away free autographed copies of the book Captain Collin and The Andrew Avenger and there was an area for the kids to make books and bookmarks of their own. White tweeted after the event that 50 books had been autographed and given away.^[40] Many of the children also signed a poster board featuring the title and artwork of the book, that White said would be hung in his office after the event.^[41]

Film, Television & Radio

On Television White has been on The Thurman Thomas Show, The Andre Reed Show, The Frank Reich Show and other Buffalo Bills related shows on Empire Sports Network.^[42]

White has had parts in the movies The Falls, Manna from Heaven (film), Henry's Crime, Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead, Return to Nuke 'Em High Vol.1 and most recently Sharknado 2: The Second One.

White co-hosted the video game radio show "The Digital Ensemble" on 91.3 fm WBNY from 2005–2010.^[43] The show was a talk show that featured news, interviews with notable people in the video game world and music both from games and inspired by games.

In May 2014 it was announced on Twitter that television station WBBZ-TV in the Buffalo NY area is in talks with White to start a Children's television series on weekday mornings. It was not announced what kind of show it would be.^[44]

White has been in two Television advertisements for the West Herr Auto Group.

In November 2014 White made it known on Twitter that he was interested in bringing back "The Digital Ensemble" either on the radio or as a podcast.^[45]

On July 29, 2015 WBBZ-TV sent White a tweet asking him to be a "celebrity guest scorekeeper" on a future episode of the game show Bragging Rights!^[46] It is still unknown when the episode will air or how big of a role White will actually have.

In August 2015, White appeared in a backstage segment on the pro wrestling television show "AWWL BIG TIME Wrestling".^[47] He portrayed the doctor of AWWL Television Champion Salvatore Morocco. According to the segment, Morocco claims to have been injured earlier in the summer at the hands of former Television Champion, The Lunatic, and brought his "doctor" on camera to prove it.^[48]

In late 2015 White began directing and filming vignettes and promo videos for pro wrestlers in the Western New York area to use on YouTube and on television. His first videos were for pro wrestler Salvatore Morocco. One was a promo video that debuted on YouTube and then on the television show "AWWL BIG TIME Wrestling" in Detroit, Michigan. The second was a training montage/promo video that was a YouTube exclusive. It was filmed to promote the MFW Title match main event at the November 15, 2015 Maximum force Wrestling show in Irving, New York.

On June 18, 2016 Stuff Dudes Like posted a video, produced and edited by White, for the Riverworks Pro Wrestling "River Rumble" event on June 25, 2016. The video featured promos from various entrants in the "River Rumble" battle royal. The battle royal was held to determine a new number one contender to the Riverworks Pro Wrestling World Championship.^[49] At the event, the match was changed into a World Title match, and was won by "The Professional" Jaxon Jarvis.

White posted a video that he co-wrote, produced and directed to YouTube on August 26, 2016 that featured pro wrestler Salvatore Morocco.^[50] The black and white video featured Salvatore Morocco standing in cemetery discussing his upcoming world title match with Gabriel Soul on September 17, 2016, at the Cattaraugus County Community Center. The video has received praise from the wrestling community for both its moody and dark atmosphere and for Morocco's bold transition in character from a Vegas cardshark to an Egyptian pharaoh, descended from Ramesses III.

Media Coverage

In June 2013 Keith was featured on Your News Now on Time Warner Cable.^[51]

The July 18, 2013 issue of Bee Group Newspapers features an article on Keith called "Someone You Should Know".^[52]

The Buffalo News did a full page color article on Keith, his family and his book series on August 19, 2013.^[53]

The September 1, 2013 issue of The Source (newspaper) featured a story on Keith and his books.^[54]

Sezoni Whitfield of Writers Kaboodle did an interview with White on March 27, 2014.^[55] In the interview White discussed how his children feel about his books and how he decides what subjects (be it pirates, the circus or pro wrestling) to use for each new book in the series.

In April 2014 Keith was a guest on the pro wrestling radio shows "Under The Mat Radio"^[56] in Baltimore, Md and in May 2014 he was on "Rock N Wrestle"^[57] in the UK. Both appearances were to promote the book "Andrew and The Main Event". While on "Under The Mat Radio", Keith announced that he had begun work on a sequel titled "Collin and the Main Event Rematch". According to Keith, the sequel will be released sometime during the summer. Collin and the Main Event Rematch was released on July 15, 2014.

The July 12, 2014 issue of the West Seneca & Elma Sun featured a story focusing on White's first book and how he wrote it so that his son could write a book report at school about it. The story featured new quotes from White about his book series and his family life.^[58]

On October 28, 2014 the online magazine Buffalo Rising presented a piece on White's "Color-With-Me" Adventure books. The article featured quotes from White where his described the joy and empowerment he felt when his son wrote a book report on the book Andrew and the Pirates and got an "A" on it. The article was written by Buffalo Rising founder Newell Nussbaumer.^[59]

The Cheektowaga Courier newspaper did a front page feature on White and his books in their November 14, 2014 issue. The article was directed at parents and teachers looking for a way to get reluctant readers and children with ADHD to enjoy reading.^[60]

On January 9, 2015 the website "Stuff Dudes Like" did a story on Keith and his transformation from a traditional dude, into a "Dude: Evolved". The story was written by Mike O'Brien as an introduction of Keith and his writing to the SDL audience.^[61]

The Clarence, New York edition of the Bee Group Newspapers had a "Someone you Should Know" companion to their July 2013 article in their August 05, 2015 issue.^[62] The second article is titled "Local artist pens books to help son learn" and was written by Steven Jagord. Unlike most other articles on White and his book series, Jagord wrote about the purchase of 1,000 books by the West Herr Auto Group for giveaways at their company picnic. He also wrote about the books that White donated to his son's school library and a visit White made to his son's school to meet the children and talk to them about "being an author".

The magazine Story Monsters Ink featured White and the Color-With-Me books in their September "Back-to-school" issue. The feature was a two-page interview/article written by Melissa Fales.^[63] In the article, White discussed trying to balance being a father with finding time to write and make public appearances. "Sometimes I do wonder where I find the time," White was quoted as saying in the article. "Everyone with kids knows how hectic days can be. I go to work, come home, hang out with the kids and by the time you get homework done and dinner eaten, it’s time for brushing teeth and going to bed." He also discussed inspirations when writing and his future plans for his book series and his writing. "I’d like to try to grow my writing along with them, as they grow," he said. In the conclusion of the article White was quoted "I try to spend as much time as I can with my sons now, while I’m still cool in their eyes. I’m trying to soak that up as much as possible."

On March 24, 2016 White was included in an article/twitter poll online at buffalo.com and in print in the weekly Gusto section of The Buffalo News, called "Who would win in a fight: Superman or Batman?". White's response was "It's Superman all day long... unless Deadpool shows up, then my vote goes to chimichangas!" and was prominently featured in the article.^[64]

Hip-Hop periodical, 9.0 Magazine featured an extensive five page interview/feature on White and his "Color-With-Me" Adventure books in their April, 2016 issue. The interview covered White's writing and hobbies, as well as his musical taste and other topics related to his life. The feature also included candid photos of White and his family at book signings, at home and on the road.^[65]

Stuff Dudes Like

In late 2014 the online men's interest magazine "Stuff Dudes Like" announced that they would be adding White, along with pro wrestling star Salvatore Morocco and stand-up comedian Mike Bocchetti to their writing staff. White's initial work with the website were re-posted articles and reviews from his time with "ExtraGuy.com". In early 2015, White began creating original content for the Stuff Dudes Like, including reviews and editorials. Shortly after, he was named the online magazine's head writer.

In May 2015, White along with other members of the press were given a special screening of the pilot episode for the upcoming Supergirl (TV series) by CBS and Warner Bros. Television.^[66] His review of the program was posted June 2, 2015.^[67] In the review White said he enjoyed the pilot and that "Supergirl really packs a punch!". That quote was later used by CBS in promotional ads for the Supergirl premiere.

In May, 2015 Stuff Dudes Like writers Keith White Jr. and Mike O'Brien were named the official announce team for the 2015 Buffalo Gladiators football season.^[68] White and O'Brien did live commentary for SDL Radio on stuffdudeslike.com and live in the stadium.

On June 10, 2015 Stuff Dudes Like announced on Twitter that the online magazine was in the talking stages with both Keith White Jr. and pro-wrestler Salvatore Morocco about doing documentaries about their lives called "Dudeumentaries".^[69] According to the press release that was posted on stuffdudeslike.com the next day, the "SDL Media" branch of Stuff Dudes Like signed both men for films. As long as everything goes as planned both "Dudeumentaries" are scheduled to begin filming in the summer of 2015.^[70] A Tweet from Salvatore Morocco on August 1, 2015 stated that filming was still scheduled but for unknown reasons had been pushed back until the beginning of September.^[71]

References

External links

• KeithWhiteJr.com
• Keith White Jr. on Amazon.com
• Keith White Jr. on Twitter
  
• Keith White Jr. on FictionDB
• Keith White Jr. on GoodReads
• Keith White Jr. on Extraguy.com
• Official "Color-With-Me" Adventure store on Zazzle
• Keith White Jr. on StuffDudesLike.com