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answers pt 1
Hey - sorry for the radio silence of late, but you can probably guess why it occurred. Life is returning to its usual level of insanity, which is good. So, I'm going to start answering the questionsyou guys posed here in this post. Some fun stuff there, so I'll try to go in order:
Did you watch the Tonys?", from Airemay
No! It's a sign of how Pottercentric my life has become that I am way, way, way behind on my musical-going. I had a creeping feeling I should have gone to Spring Awakening early, and then it went and won a million Tonys and now tickets are hard to get. John's wrangled one for the end of the month, though; he and a few of his eighteen sisters are coming into town to see Rent and Spring Awakening, and I'm happy to join them at both! I saw Anthony in Rent after all, on his first night back - it was insanity. I've seen him get mobbed a few times - that night was different. This wasn't the thoughtful, hopeful crowding of people who want to look him straight in the eyes and appreciate what the past few hours have meant: this was full-on celebrity gaga get-me-a-piece-of-your-clothing kind of mobbing. I've never seen security just pick him up and throw him in a car before, to assure his safety - but that's what had to happen. I'm not sure what's gone on at the theater since; someone came up to me recently and said that he was the only one to come out of the stage door and spend 25 minutes signing autographs. Unsurprising and awesome. The show, itself, was good and bad - good for obvious reasons, bad because the cast didn't seem to have settled themselves into each other yet, which is only understandable. I'll be interested to see it in a few weeks.
SUMMER! WOOOOOT! Where are you excited about going? what do you wanna see while you're there? What do you wanna do? etc etc, from Andy
I was most excited about visiting Santa Fe, Ohio (to meet Sue and John's families, including Sue's gorgeous little boy Andrew and John's nutty brother-in-law Steve) and Northern California. Santa Fe turned out to be quaint and awesome (pictures to come) but impossible to drive in and sleepier than I'd like any one place to really be. We had a great night out with Potter fans, though, at a charming New Mexican restaurant that had great Slytherin Guacamole and soapapillas to make you melt. Ohio was as crazy as expected, with 13 people as funny as John Noe attending the show along with, it seemed, everyone else in Columbus. Best crowd ever. Northen California stole my breath. We drove up the scenic route by accident, and just kept stopping to admire the coarse, choppy ocean, purple-shaded sky, and towering, craggy rock formations. In Eureka, CA, we had about 20 people at the show and had some really great canon discussion. We also stayed in a bed-and-breakfast that looked like an old Haunted Mansion. I also loved seeing Cheryl in San Francisco, in particular watching the fireworks with her and James, on July 4. And coming to the Borders in NYC to a crazy, welcoming crowd that included my parents, agent and editor, was wonderful.
We really didn't have time to sightsee anywhere, and it was OK; nothing beat pulling over on the side of the road in San Bernadino, CA, to find an abandoned sofa, or the teeny gas station in New Mexico where the house across the street was actually a post office and the girls inside the store were selling hot dogs and lemondade. Dust flew from the screen door of the store, every time it closed. Those are the kinds of things you can't get out of a tour book.
I've been thinking about this topic for a few days. The status of the local book store and will they be around for much longer? Since you attended Printers Row Book Fair, are going to be at Andersons for the book release and PoterCast is sponsored by Borders you may have some interesting insight to this topic., from MikeD
I think and hope and pray the local bookstore will be around forever. I think local/independent bookstores have an uphill battle, with chain stores cropping up everywhere. The case of Potter is interesting, too, as a lot of independent stores refused to sell HP7 because to compete with the chains and online retailers they would basically have to pay people to take it. "This should be the biggest sales day ever," one independent retailer told me. Instead they had to sit out of the biggest book celebration on record. I'll go into more detail about this in the book.
We're always mindful that we're sponsored by a large, corporate book chain, but since large, corporate book chains do a lot to advertise and popularize books and reading, there's a certain level of indignation about this situation to which we can't rise. I just think that independent stores have to work harder to attain and maintain a local audience; they have to have events and get creative about their marketing, they have to create unique atmospheres - they have to, in short, be as different from a book chain as their non-book-chain status suggests they are. That's unfortunate, but I also think that a quality independent store will attract a core of people who love quality, independent stores, that could keep them going. There's no question that the presence of large chains makes life harder for smaller stores - but there's also charm and freedom that smaller stores have that large chains can't enjoy.
More soon (and feel free to leave more in the comments, this is fun).
posted by melissa on August 11, 2007 6:31 PM | permalink
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Comments
Melissa, did you get to meet Sue's little boy? She's mentioned him before on PotterCast.
Posted by: Grace | August 11, 2007 8:47 PM
Thanks for the nod to the Columbus crowd! I had so much fun! Thanks for stopping here!
Posted by: Ellie | August 11, 2007 9:50 PM
I saw Anthony and Adam also!! It was incredible. We got the same sort of crowd - insanity. Thankfully I knew in advance that they had been ushering the guys straight into their cars, so I didn't waste time waiting around. I wish it hadn't been that way though. Ah well. The show was amazing, nonetheless.
Posted by: Haley | August 12, 2007 3:36 AM
Okay, so I saw RENT for the FIRST TIME on the 8th with Anthony and Adam and it was phenomenal! It was such an amazing experience to see them preform and I have no one to thank but you.
If you hadn't mentioned their renturn to RENT on PotterCast, I would have never even seen the show, let alone them! I'm serious, THANK YOU SO MUCH for mentioning it! It just seemed so surreal to actually see them up on stage preforming. There was so much energy in the show and in the audience. Anthony sung his first line in La Vie Boheme and had to pause because the audience was cheering so much. At the end of the show I was able to push my way through the mob outside the stage door and get Anthony's autograph (SQUEEEEEE!)Really, none of that stuff would have happened without you. I know it's hard to imagine that mentioning one little thing on PotterCast can bring someone so much joy, but it does. :]
Posted by: Michele | August 12, 2007 2:55 PM
Hey Melissa!
I just saw The Whomping Willows / The Remus Lupins show in NC and Alex was saying that he has to write a song about you and John and Sue! :)
Just wanted to share!
And here are my questions: How's the book coming along? Have you slept yet?
Posted by: Alli | August 12, 2007 7:05 PM
Oh, and Melissa...I wrote a HP fanfiction with you in it, I hope you don't mind. If you ever want to read it (and then flame me about how terrible it was after) let me know.
(By the way...You befriend James Potter. Harry's son, I mean.)
Posted by: Grace | August 13, 2007 4:59 PM
"it's always tempting to break into "Annie": "It's a Hard Knock Life," featuring the Weasley family"
that i would love to see :)
Posted by: marilyn's shampoo | September 17, 2007 5:54 PM
