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For you special.
Last Saturday I learned the Barnes and Noble at Union Square does regular events of authors and musicians coming to talk about their work and the creative process, and read or perform a little something. Tonight it was Michael Showalter and Neko Case. And Josh Charles.
I found out about the event series from flipping through a magazine last week at my internship, and being a fan of both artists showcased as well as knowing my younger brother really likes Showalter, asked him if he wanted to go. So after my volunteer gig on Ellis Island - which involved a forty-minute conversation with two tourists from Southern England when we all waited for the next ferry - I headed over to the Barnes and Noble to get a seat. Even though I got to the showroom an hour early, I was almost all the way in the back. Still, if I'd shown up twenty minutes after that, I'd have been pushed to the standing-room-only section in the back. It turned out to be a terrible view, but the room had good enough acoustics I could hear just fine, and that was my big reason for coming.
As I waited, I chatted with a woman about her dreadlocks, the people we were going to see perform, travel, and where to find good falafel. Then I realized Josh Charles was about twenty feet away and started to blush. The woman works at MTV for an associated production company and got pretty blase about this sort of thing - she saw Peter Dinklage a while ago, Peter freakin' Dinklage, and told me he's just as handsome in real life - and went about her business. I understood perfectly, but I'm still getting used to it, and when I saw Charles walk to his seat I wondered why he had an umbrella. She pointed out it was going to rain later. I don't know if he was there for Case or Showalter, although either way, he's got good taste.
My younger brother showed up then, and we talked about the performers and what we were going to see, and then he had to leave to find a place to stand since the whole seating area was full with almost twenty minutes left before the show started. Amazingly for these things, we started exactly on time. And it was great. It wasn't a loud crowd, which makes some sense given the venue and the performers. It's not exactly Cowboy Mouth to have a professional comedian read from his new book or an independent singer-songwriter - trobairitz? performer? - talk about the literalism in her songs about animals. Both of them were asked about the best mistakes they'd made, how much of themselves they share in their work, working with others versus working alone, and how it's easy to write when you're angry. At the end of the show, Showalter sang two lines of one song: "Gee, Officer Krupke, krup you!" During the show, Case sang four songs with her guitarist Paul Rigby: Margaret Versus Pauline, Fox Confessor Brings The Flood, Magpie To The Morning, That Teenage Feeling. Acoustic and gorgeous, her voice so grand in such a tiny space and all the more beautiful for that.
Then I shook Josh Charles' hand. I had my younger brother come with me and stand nearby for support, and I waited until he was done talking with two other guys before telling him I loved his work and wanted to let him know that, and shook his hand. And then I babbled something about wanting to see him on stage, and how I heard about that play he did in LA with clones, and science fiction not getting enough respect, and TV being a good way to support theatre. I was pretty wound up and only just stopped shaking, but I think he seemed pleased that I wanted to see someone do stage work. I don't know about the sci-fi, though. But yeah. Shook his hand and exchanged some meaningful and non-embarrassing words, although I would've liked to tell him how much I liked Sports Night. Still. One of the guys he was with told Charles I was there by telling him there was a fan behind him. I am, above all, a fan.
I'd call today a success. Bring on tomorrow.
I found out about the event series from flipping through a magazine last week at my internship, and being a fan of both artists showcased as well as knowing my younger brother really likes Showalter, asked him if he wanted to go. So after my volunteer gig on Ellis Island - which involved a forty-minute conversation with two tourists from Southern England when we all waited for the next ferry - I headed over to the Barnes and Noble to get a seat. Even though I got to the showroom an hour early, I was almost all the way in the back. Still, if I'd shown up twenty minutes after that, I'd have been pushed to the standing-room-only section in the back. It turned out to be a terrible view, but the room had good enough acoustics I could hear just fine, and that was my big reason for coming.
As I waited, I chatted with a woman about her dreadlocks, the people we were going to see perform, travel, and where to find good falafel. Then I realized Josh Charles was about twenty feet away and started to blush. The woman works at MTV for an associated production company and got pretty blase about this sort of thing - she saw Peter Dinklage a while ago, Peter freakin' Dinklage, and told me he's just as handsome in real life - and went about her business. I understood perfectly, but I'm still getting used to it, and when I saw Charles walk to his seat I wondered why he had an umbrella. She pointed out it was going to rain later. I don't know if he was there for Case or Showalter, although either way, he's got good taste.
My younger brother showed up then, and we talked about the performers and what we were going to see, and then he had to leave to find a place to stand since the whole seating area was full with almost twenty minutes left before the show started. Amazingly for these things, we started exactly on time. And it was great. It wasn't a loud crowd, which makes some sense given the venue and the performers. It's not exactly Cowboy Mouth to have a professional comedian read from his new book or an independent singer-songwriter - trobairitz? performer? - talk about the literalism in her songs about animals. Both of them were asked about the best mistakes they'd made, how much of themselves they share in their work, working with others versus working alone, and how it's easy to write when you're angry. At the end of the show, Showalter sang two lines of one song: "Gee, Officer Krupke, krup you!" During the show, Case sang four songs with her guitarist Paul Rigby: Margaret Versus Pauline, Fox Confessor Brings The Flood, Magpie To The Morning, That Teenage Feeling. Acoustic and gorgeous, her voice so grand in such a tiny space and all the more beautiful for that.
Then I shook Josh Charles' hand. I had my younger brother come with me and stand nearby for support, and I waited until he was done talking with two other guys before telling him I loved his work and wanted to let him know that, and shook his hand. And then I babbled something about wanting to see him on stage, and how I heard about that play he did in LA with clones, and science fiction not getting enough respect, and TV being a good way to support theatre. I was pretty wound up and only just stopped shaking, but I think he seemed pleased that I wanted to see someone do stage work. I don't know about the sci-fi, though. But yeah. Shook his hand and exchanged some meaningful and non-embarrassing words, although I would've liked to tell him how much I liked Sports Night. Still. One of the guys he was with told Charles I was there by telling him there was a fan behind him. I am, above all, a fan.
I'd call today a success. Bring on tomorrow.
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Dude's really handsome up close.