A week of brushes with famous people

It has been a strange and wonderful week. It didn't start out that great. I wasn't feeling well early in the week, and neither was Ezra. Wednesday morning was rainy and horrible, but everything turned around Wednesday afternoon. If you're reading this, you might already know that on Wednesday afternoon I met Toni Morrison. She's writing Remember, a book on school integration for children that the children's book division of my company, Houghton Mifflin, is publishing in time for the anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education in May. I didn't know ahead of time, but on Wednesday she came into our office and briefly talked to everyone about the book. (She's also currently promoting her new novel, Love, which was published on Wednesday and which I promptly ran down to Wordsworth after work to buy. I've just barely started it, but it seems wonderful.) During the question and answer period she talked about the unique aspects of writing for children versus writing for adults. Then there was a ten minute period in which people could step up and meet her. At first I wasn't going to, but then I thought, "When am I going to get this chance again?" So... If you're reading this, you probably already also know that I wrote my thesis on Toni Morrison's novels. I saw her read in Boston around the time that Paradise was published. Anyway, I introduced myself, shook her hand, and said that I used to work on education books and that many of the photos in Remember (big reproductions of several pages from the book were hanging on the walls of the cafeteria where she spoke) were favorites of mine, and then mentioned that I had written my thesis on her novels. She was very nice, considering how many more or less random people she's probably met in her long career. Exciting! I feel very honored to have met two Pulitzer winners (Steven Milhauser was the first one--he actually read some of my poetry to a small group at Skidmore), one of whom happens to be the first black Nobel Laureate in literature. (Gush!)

My other brush with a somewhat famous person came the following day. On my way to work, walking along Arlington Street approaching Boylston from the Public Gardens, I noticed that a man walking in front of me looked familiar. He was very tall and had silvering layered hair. In a second I thought, "That's Robyn Hitchcock." I had good reason to believe he might be in town because Ez and I had reservations to see him play that night at Johnny D's in Somerville, in walking distance from where we live. We had to stop at Boylston Street to wait for the light to change, and as I stood there next to him I had to fight off the urge to get a closer look. He continued down Arlington Street when I turned onto Boylston, and at the last minute I stole one last look at him and noted that he was wearing purple pants (not something you see from stately Beacon Hill gentleman all the time, so this further fueled my suspicion that it was, in fact, him). That night at Johnny D's, Ezra happened to see Robyn in the men's room, and upon his return to our table reported that Robyn was wearing violently purple (for all you Harry Potter fans) pants. Thus, a 98% confirmation that I had yet another brush with the famous (or at least kinda famous).

As for the Robyn show, it was pretty great. It was just him and his guitar... oh and a harmonica on one or two songs. The regular set was all acoustic, and the encore was electric. The poor guy was practically hitting his head on the low ceiling at Johnny D's. He played a lot of old stuff--songs from Gotta Let This Hen Out, Fegmania, etc.--three songs from Globe of Frogs and a bunch from his new album, Luxor. Some favorites of the evening included Queen Elvis, The Ghost in You (which was better than the bootleg version getting passed around on the 'net), Chinese Bones (which he introduced with a lovely little tale of two pumpkins sitting beside a "wine red lake"--the commentary was in fine form), Heaven, I'm Only You, and I Often Dream of Trains (which he called "The Mother Song"). I'm surely forgetting others...

In other highlights this week... On Wednesday evening we met Simon and Frances and Gino, Adrianna, and their little daughter Gianna (Gino and Adrianna danced with Simon and Frances when they were with the Boston Ballet) at a Japanese/Sushi buffet in Natick. It was good to see them. Simon and Frances are on a break from Houston Ballet and they came to Boston to visit people. We plan to see them again today sometime before they head back to Houston this week.

Last night was Halloween. We didn't get too many trick or treaters, but I saw a lot of kids going around the neighborhood. I think maybe we'll get more next year, now that people know that there are nice folks here who give out candy! Tonight we're going to a Halloween party. It took us a long time to figure out our costumes this year--it always takes me a while to figure out what I want to wear for Halloween, when I do dress up. We decided (just yesterday!) to go as Chas (Ezra) and Margot (me) from The Royal Tenenbaums. Ez found himself a wig and a little polo-style dress for me yesterday at The Garment District, and today we'll look for a red jogging suit for him (yes, very last minute). I have some other goodies for my Margot outfit... make-up, barrette, yellow coat (it's not fur or fake fur of any kind, but it has the proper effect). I hope to get some kind of wooden finger, and I'll carry a cigarette. I tried on what I have so far last night and Ez seemed to think it was working...

Well, I better go get ready for the jogging suit finding mission.

Posted by TerriWise at November 1, 2003 09:41 AM