Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
Kelly -- (About being a Fan.) Yes.  Exactly.
And I've always thought that maybe if they loved her so much they
might express it by showing a little respect for her and her music and
being QUIET during the songs.  But I guess that's too much to ask for.
The Boston concert was better on that front than I'd feared -- fewer
screaming teenyboppers than last tour I think.
  

    
I have nothing to say to Tori Amos that would be more useful to her than an
extra eighteen seconds in bed.
  

    
Johanna - I'd have a bit more empathy if they *were* teenyboppers,...
but a lot of the shriekers were older than me (a ripe 25).

Dan - I guess that's just it; Toris music has been a soundtrack to my
life - some songs I literally can't listen to because I still cry - I
was grateful she didn't play Winter just for that reason - my best
friend, my first love, told me that he the song is how he feels and
thinks of me, the night he walked out of my life forever. She did play
Me and a Gun, and it was hell for Mars, who gets shakingly angry at the
thought of someone violating another like that - and it was hard for
me, who falls into that survivor category. It goes on - for every three
Tori songs, chances are two of them have some significant meaning,
highlighted some drama or pain or joy or something for me (and him) - I
mean, the girl is talented.   ;-)

But I still don't understand the mentality that makes a Fan. *shrug* I
don't get what crosses that line and makes someone feel a personal
connection that isn't actually there.

-Kelly
  

    
[...] than an extra eighteen seconds in bed.

    Martha, I think you have a magnificent premise there for a theme
anthology.  One, or maybe both, of the redoubtable Ellens to edit? 
Kelly Link, Cecelia Tan, Ted Chiang, Neil obviously, Mike Bishop.  And
it would be killer to shake a poem out of Bradbury.  There's a start.
  

    
Okay, 'member how I was saying that Calum Keith Rennie would make a
great John Constantine?

Okay, the movie he was in called "Hard Core Logo" was directed by
Bruce MacDonald--not Bruce McGill as I keep telling people by mistake.
Bruce McGill played jack Dalton on "MacGyver". Obviously, I am on
crack.

Also, the fake Canadian band name mentioned in said film is "Faster,
Leonard Cohen, Die, Die", not "Faster, Leonard Cohen, Kill, Kill" as
previously reported.

Thank you, and good night.
  

    
Kelly -- Yeah, I guess I meant that more as an attitude/mental age.

John -- Ok, this is going to bug me until I know.  Who is the other
redoubtable Ellen?  (I know I'll probably kick myself for not thinking
of her, but the only one I've thought of is Datlow.)

Martha -- That is a fabulous line though.

Ok, enough babbling, now to sleep until the cold goes away...
  

    
Everybody == nearly too tired to think, but thank you all for birthday
wishes, and several of you the gifts and everything. More sensible
post tomorrow.
  

    

From: "clarkson" <magoo32@nci2000.net>
To: <inkwell-hosts@well.com>
Date: Sat, 10 Nov 2001 23:16:47 -0500


November 10  "The Day of Metamorphosis" (from _The Secret Language of
Birthdays_ by Goldschneider and Elffers).
happy birthday, Neil!                            patricia clarkson
  

    
I believe the real meet and greets are somewhere around 5:00 PM
usually. Fans with a capital F get there around 5:00AM because there
used to be a number system. But Joel got rid of the number system
because he didn't want people waiting outside of the venue all day.
Regardless, people still get there at the crack of dawn and get angry
at the ones who show up at 4:00PM and get something sighed before them.
I've never been to one, but I've heard about them. It's basically a
push and shove, survival-of-the-physically-fittest type thing. Not for
me. 
  However, during the Dew Drop Inn tour, I waited out back for her to
come out with some friends. I don't think she signs things after the
show, she just gives people quick hugs and boards the bus/car. One of
my friends and I ended up on the wrong side so we just got to watch her
hug people. We were still pretty close, though. I remember being very
surprised at how short she was...even in clogs. It gives me hope that
small people (like me) can be powerful too. 
   My friend George got to meet her though. Mainly because he's 6'5
and very noticeable. He was also wearing fairy wings. He was also
tripping on acid (I know he's an idiot) He dropped the acid right after
the show not thinking that it would kick in until he got home. He
didn't know it would take Tori an hour to come out. So he waited among
a group of overly excited young girls. As he was waiting, he decided to
play with his fnger puppets. As soon as he took one out, a chorus of
girls started cooing (picture the Zealots from Toy Story) "Give it to
Toorriii! Yes,yes, give it to Toorrii." (they were wearing fairy wings
also, so I imagine that moment was quite surreal, even without acid) So
he was like, "Okay" And then she comes out, hugs people and notices
George and his finger puppet. He hands it to her and she played with it
for a moment. Then she tried to give it back. Tripping and in awe of
the situation, he didn't understand what she was doing. She kept
drumming her fingers on his hand. He said that even though his hands
were pretty numb, it still almost hurt. She has strong hands. Imagine
that. And George swears that she really is a fairy (or Faery, now that
she lives in England) After he finally took the finger puppet back, he
was then knocked over, stampeded rather, by the group of Fans. 
  As for the concerts. Yeah, why can't people shut the hell up? I
don't know. When she's playing solo, it's almost like people think
she's playing bars again. Luckily I didn't sit by the crazy ones at
this last one. But they were still there. A lot of drunk people at this
one. A guy behind me shouted "Where's Trent?!" when she started
playing "Past the Mission". And there was this drunk girl who kept
insisting on starting The Wave every time she switched instruments. How
rude. I don't know how these people can sleep at night. But I blocked
them out and enjoyed the show. I quietly sobbed during part of it
because, like Kelly, the songs are a soundtrack to my life. But I don't
see the point in proclaiming it loudly. Other than a few loud, rude
people, Tori shows are ALWAYS worth seeing. Magic, I tell ya, Magic. 

Anyway...YES! David Bowie would make a wonderful John Constantine!

Neil- Happy Birthday! 
  

    
Neil--Happy Birthday!

Saw something rather lovely today--Neil Gaiman standing and chatting
while someone else had to sign & sign ;-)  There were plenty of people
who wanted things signed by Neil, but most of us went for the
good-looking one ;-)  Mr. Eisner was utterly enchanting.  I've only
just started reading his work ('cause I'm a muttonbrain), but the
interview was fascinating (glad to know our Neil has a fallback
position in case the whole writing thing doesn't work out).  Smart,
charming, opinionated, lively--wish the interview could have gone all
day.  

We *had* sort of planned a mini-party for the birthday boy (passing
out a few noisemakers, possible singing of obligatory song),but there
were an awful lot of people and Will & Neil had to get to an interview,
so we gave him a couple of prezzies and wished him good things, then
went to see Scott McCloud.

Scott was wonderful--so many ideas, so little time.  I think it was
probably *more* fun because he didn't have computer access, and all the
cool stuff he was going to show us was on his laptop.  So he got
inventive.

Then we ate Irish food (lamb stew!) and went to Tara's and watched
Hard Core Logo--hence the crackhead's previous post.  

Will--Ack!  It would have been *so cool* to have you here!  I'm so
bummed!  If you ever come into town, let me know.  Tara stood up last
night before Neil's reading started and asked if anyone from the Well
was  there, and people looked at her as if she was on her drug of
choice (for some reason, the phrase "Are you on crack?" has become the
response to ....well, just about everything lately. Dunno why.)

O.K., this is waaaay too long.  Buggering off now.

Ooops--Mike--are you sure you're not a Bacardi con leche?  Or a fugue
for tinhorns?

Mary (Tara loaned me the Miracleman trade because she is the
ginchiest!)
  

    <scribbled by the-roane>
  

    
Hi all, I'm cold,.....woke up to the lovely sound of several leaf
blowers (not one is owned by my family) manned (personed?) by a meteric
butt ton of my mother's well-intentioned co-workers. Lovely thought,
but out of the four people who live in this house, two work 2nd shift,
and one works 3rd. We were all tired today. Lovely thought, awful
timing.

Neil hope you had a lovely birthday and thought of your mother. I am a
firm beleiver that on birthdays one should think of, call, take to
dinner, the person that brought them into this world.
On my 21st I bought my mother a drink,....I didn't go through 18 hours
of labor. :)

Mouse-chickie, owwwiee poor nose, what color carpet? Well, what color
was it before it was red?

As for the Tori/Fan thing,....Well, she has a lovely voice and writes
beautiful songs. That's about it. I've worked in an business where I've
seen up close how people think they own someone because something that
person wrote/draw/said/sang. It's frightening, and frankly
embarrassing. I enjoy meeting people, but honestly Martha said it best,
I have no great secrets that need to be said. 
However I can argue about when Heinlien lost it (while getting
evil,dirty looks in teh rearview mirror), and find an airport I've
never been to on the first try with semi-decent directions, and boy can
I pack more lugage into and already overstuffed trunk.

Oh and by the way, I saw this crying, screaming behavior firsthand
today, at of all things, a Tony Bennet album/cd signing. I was asked by
a friend who runs a record store to assist because of my line policing
experiance. I thought it would be a piece of cake. I have learned to
never underestimate the elderly,....they can bite if provoked.

Jinxie who is too cold to stay awake now
  

    

Belated happies, Neil.  I started to post yesterday, but it was too early,
and now it's too late.
  

    
>>Who is the other redoubtable Ellen? 

     Kushner.  Forever and always.
  

    
An anthology about eighteen seconds in bed?
  

    

A lot can happen in eighteen seconds!
  

    
" And George swears that she really is a fairy (or Faery, now that
she lives in England)"

Heh, Mars leaned over at one point and wondered aloud, "I wonder how
far back in her family the fairy is,..."

-Kelly, up at 4:30am for stupid reasons involving not being able to
let go of things that happened in January,...plus an aching leg from
standing around in the very cold arguing about such things.
  

    
Kelly - For some reason, while I love Tori's music, I've never seen it
as a soundtrack for my life. For the last few years Eve6 has had that
dubious honor in my life. I suppose that's good, since it means that I
can listen to her without fear of breaking into tears during an
emotionally vulnerable moment.

Mike - I *do* like the way your mind works...

Erynn - That's a *great* story! Meeting Tori while tripping out,
surrounded by gaggles of people in faerie wings... I think I'm actually
a bit envious of him!

Mary - I think crack is linguistically popular because it's
monosyllabic and rolls of the tongue so nicely. It also has a nice
association with insanity that works well. Crack=cracked. 
I remember a T-shirt I saw in the very early 90's of a dead Bart
Simpson stuffed into the butt cleavage of a very large person... it
said "Crack Kills"

Jinxie - That's surreal. Have I ever shared my story about witnessing
a fist fight in a retirement home?
  

    
Dan~ one of my friends went to a midnight showing of The Matrix
tripping and had to go to the bathroom in the middle of it. He was
walking down the hallway back to the movie, and just as he passed the
pay phone, it started ringing...

Mary~
Re: "You're on crack!"
If you've ever dealt with someone on crack, you'd know exactly why
that phrase is so appropriate and universal.
  

    
Mike: I didn't remember Ellen Kushner edited--I knew she did radio
things, and wrote fabulous, fabulous short stories and occasional
novels. Oooooooh. That would be so keen! Keen, I tell you! Woo!

(goes and amazon.coms for a second)

I have a copy of "Horns of Elfland" and I just have no memory at all.
She's even keener now. If she was a knife, she could cut through the
can and the tomato. That's how keen she is. I would so buy that
anthology.

Will: if you are ever in Chicago and need crash space, I have a couch
that folds out.

Dan: ...and Mary loves it because when her friend and co-worker Alia
played "Oregon Trail" for the first time since childhood, she populated
her wagon with her, her best friend, the guy she fancied, and a
crackhead. The crackhead burned down the wagon and sold her bullets.
It's become the quote-du-jour since Friday.
  

    
There's only one little bit of my life I've ever seen Tori Amos songs as a
soundtrack for; but I like the songs.
  

    
Michelle - yay for dancing in fuzzy slippers! My personal faves have
just about degenerated into amorphous furry blobs, but they certainly
let you know if you try to put them on the wrong feet.

Happy birthday for Satuday Neil :). It is Monday here, so I am even
later than it looks like.

Re living with exes: well, I'm still good friends with most of my
exes, generally because I was good friends with them before they became
presents. (Hmmm, that doesn't sound quite right). I've lived with some
of them too, but the big problem I found was in not doing something
that you oughtn't because you were feeling sad and lonely, they're
still attractive and it would be soooo easy ....

JaNell - "a floating crap game has more panache", well I guess that
just depends on who the players are ;)
  

    
*wonders who's going to take "amorphous furry blobs" as a pseud*
  

    
DanW:  You may not break into tears hearing Tori Amos, but I wouldn't
want to be the one caught weeping at an Eve6 concert.  But, then,
that's just me.

On crack:  When I was a senior, one of the guys in my class showed up
to school high on crack.  I definitely understand where it comes from,
and I've used it often ever since.  And also in terms of entertainment
value.  You know, like
Harry Potter is more addictive than chocolate-covered, caramel-filled
crack.
Because it is.  Believe me, it is.
  

    
Jo~Well, Mike would probably make an interesting floating crap game
all by himself.

Will~And EverQuest. The players call it EverCrack as well as
NeverSleep...