“A Decent Amount of Chest Hair”

“A Decent Amount of Chest Hair”
New York City and Your Funny Valentine Event Report
February 13, 2009 to February 16, 2009

PLEASE NOTE: This report is the property of the author and may not be copied or reposted, in full or in part, without the author's prior written permission and No Video or pictures may be re-posted or linked without express written permission of the owner!

My name is Magie and I’m a James Marsters addict! Now that, that has been stated I am filling my report for the James Marsters Your Funny Valentine Event and our New York City adventures.

For anyone interested in the Your Funny Valentine Event only, then please skip ahead to Sunday February 15th 2009 for a full account. For everyone else, please enjoy the report!

I normally I find myself looking forward to something other then just the conventions, I plan to attend and this time there were 2 things I was really looking forward to. The first was seeing my friend Nicky again (who was flying over from England). We met at the James Marsters and friends convention in 2006, and while we stay in contact we hadn’t seen each other since then. The other was seeing New York City again, while I had taken a quick tour the last time I was New Jersey, I wanted to really see it this time (from a NOT bus point of view).

Friday February 13, 2009

Even though we walked almost to the wrong end of the terminal and Colleen almost got herself killed trying to get back on the moving sidewalk (which was going to other way) we still got to out gate in time. However once we were there we found out our flight was delayed. After we finally got off the ground we made up the time in the air only to have to circle and circle and circle when we got to Newark (I was getting dizzy).

However that wasn’t the end of our delays. We had to take the Newark Air Train (mono rail that goes to all the different terminals and parking in the airport) while it normally runs every 5 minutes, it was really delayed and once a train finally did show up, we were told to get off it because it was no longer going to our stop. Colleen almost managed to both lose her suitcase and get me suck in the train, when she stop in the doors to try to ask guy telling us to get off a question. The doors started to close (with me still in the train) but Colleen’s bag got caught and they were able to reopen them AND let me out.

We made it the hotel (The Holiday Inn Newark Airport, which fast became the unofficial hotel for the event) just after midnight. Poor Nicky had been waiting up for us, which was really sweet of her considering she was still on London time and had been awake for more then 24 hours at that point.

Saturday February 14, 2009

Having gotten in late we (myself, Nicky and Colleen) weren’t up as early as originally planned, but we did make it to New York City by 11:00am. I had already bought our tickets on-line to the observation deck of The Empire State Building, so we were able to skip that line, since we were very worried we wouldn’t be able to stay because of the long lines up.

As it turns out, we sailed past everything and we up, toured the top (great views), took pictures and were down just after 12:00pm.

Later I found out that a few other James fans were there at the same time we were (waves to Amy Sue!) which was cool and funny!

We then walked to the New York Public Library building at Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street, where several movies have been filmed (including Day after Tomorrow). It was a really cool building and we took some pictures both outside and in but we didn’t stay too long.

We then walked by Bryant Park which was right behind the library and I remembered that was when they held all the big fashion shows in New York (in big tents).

Out next stop was Time Square, we walked around a little while we searched for the Hard Rock Café, where we had lunch. They had some really cool rock and roll memorabilia, which we had a quick look at.

Then it was a short walk to the Gershiwin Theatre, we had tickets to see Wicked! OH MY GOD!!! Was it ever good!!!! We all loved it! None of us had seen it before so it was a great treat! And as good as I thought it would be it was even better!!!

Once Wicked was over we walked over to Radio City Music Hall, only stopped long enough to take pictures and then continued to Rockefeller Center. We checked out the Plaza and the skating rink, as well as a few of the buildings. We also went to the NBC store.

Once we were done at Rockefeller Center we walked over to 5th Avenue and happened to past the restaurant we had reservations for dinner at, but because we were about an hour early we continued to 5th Avenue to do some shopping. We went to Saks 5th Avenue (where I bought a pair of Fendi Sunglasses that were half off).

Then we headed over to St. Patrick's Cathedral, we took some pictures outside and then went in to check it out, but as it turns out they were holding mass at that time (and it was FULL). I did take a photo or 2 from the back but we choose not to stay (it wasn’t very respectful).

Since by then it was closer to our reservation time, we walked back to Alfredo's of Rome for dinner. We had a lovely meal and the service was wonderful! After dinner I called my friend Chris who was also in New York City for the toy fair (she’s a dealer) to see if we could meet up, but she was on her way up to the Top of The Rock. Funny how we were so close (since we were still in Rockefeller Center) and yet we couldn’t make meeting up work because of timing.

We headed down 5th Avenue to do some more shopping, we did go to a few stores, but it was getting late and the stores were closing as well we were very tired by then.

So we got a cab to Penn Station (the only time all day we didn’t walk). We did have some confusion at Penn Station trying to figure on which track our train would be on, but we finally figured it out and were back at the hotel by 10:00pm

However instead of being good girls and going to bed we went to the bar and hung out with the other James Marsters fans for a few hours. But it was really great seeing/meeting everyone!

Sunday February 15, 2009

Sunday morning was the only day we had a proper breakfast since Nicky and I ordered it from room service. Though the hotel managed to screw that up as well. This was the major problem with the hotel, the rate was good, the location was good, the room was nice. But the service was horrible. I requested extra towels the first night and never got them, had to request them again the next night. Then when they cleaned the room they took them away and when I requested them again I once again never got them. We also requested a breakfast card (to hang on the door so that our order would arrive when we wanted) we had to do it twice and then THEY NEVER PICKED IT UP! Grrrrrrr!!! OK rant over!

I had arranged for a car to come and pick us up and take us to the event and I have to say the car service (which was recommended by the hotel) was great! (on time and very professional). We did make a stop in Newark itself so that I could pick up Portuguese custard cupcakes for James and his staff to enjoy. I had brought him some when I went to the Like a Waterfall CD release party and he really liked them (ate them in front of me) so this time I brought enough for him and everyone who would be working with him. Nicky actually paid for half so it was a gift from us both (I only hope everyone enjoyed them!)

We made it to SOPAC (South Orange Performing Arts Centre) before 11:00am but of course there was already a queue (we James fans queue up a lot!). The atmosphere was good and most people were very excited, so it was great, as well there were a lot of newbie which is always great!

The event was to start at 12:00pm (sharp, as per Steve Himber) but it started a little late. First thing was Steven Himber came out and advise us of the order that things would happen:

1) Photo Ops (included in ticket price)
2) Photo Ops (for anyone who bought extra, maximum of 3 extra)
3) Autograph Session (an personalised autograph was included in the ticket but you could purchase up to 3 more NOT personalised)
4) Q&A with James
5) Theatrical Performance
6) Dinner
7) Acoustic Concert

Though out the day, they would also be showing some screenings on the screen they had set up. They showed the trailer for Dragonball, the episode of Numb3rs, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang from Torchwood and so on. They also had some raffles for exclusive goods. I actually won a signed copy of season 5 of Smallville, which was super cool, because I didn’t have it and had wanted it because James was in it (but since I am not a Smallville fan never wanted to spend the money to buy it) so that fact that I won it was amazing!!! Colleen also won a signed Dragonball game, so yeah us!

They did the photos and autographs by rows, so that was cool. Being in row B, we didn’t have to wait to long and it was nice to be able to go back and see James a second time (with the extra photos ops). When I went up to him, he gave me a tight hug and A KISS ON THE TOP OF THE HEAD!!! I got kissed by James Marsters… I got kissed by James Marsters… I got kissed by James Marsters… I got kissed by James Marsters… I got kissed by James Marsters… I got kissed by James Marsters… I got kissed by James Marsters…

Hmmmmmmm… What was I saying? Oh yeah! I asked how he was doing and he said great and they said right away and the kids are good too (I guess he remembers I always ask about the kids next, nice to know he is remembering me!) I had a sheet of the posses I wanted to do, so I showed him the one I wanted to do first. It was one that seems like he is going to kiss me, so he put his arms around me, one hand on the back of my head, the other on my arm and said “Ok, now look at me like your in love.” I believed I replied with “that won’t be hard” and we took the picture. It came out really well!

It was really funny watching all the newbie come out from the photo ops all dazed and in James Fog (that’s what we call it) all excited and not knowing they own name. It so cute! The vets also go through James Fog, but we expect it and handle it better (normally finding a quite place to let it pass and committee to memory every second of our meeting with James).

Then we had the extra Photo Ops done, once again by rows. But this went much quicker because not everyone got a second photo done. I of course got the max of 3 extra’s (hey, I’m not going all that way and not spending at much time in James arms as I can).

I first of the extra was the hug posse which I do each time. The second was the biting the neck posse (this one came out much better then the one at Dragon Con) and the last one is my favourite, it the kiss on the nose one and unlike the one I had before, I was VERY happy with how this one came out!!!

Next was the Autographs, which were also done by rows. I did however get a great shoot of James as he was sitting at the table, I called him name and he look at right at me, then laughed and scolded me for interrupting him while he was talking science with Carol.

I had 4 things to sign, the first was my personalised autograph, I had put together a collage poster of all the picture I had take since Grand Slam in April 2008, (since I had a collage poster personalised of all the pictures before then at the Like a Waterfall Event). He did comment on the Jayne Hat picture of us saying “You get me to do the craziest things” and I told him that silly picture ended up around the world, because people loved the cross over reference. He asked “Really?” and when I asked if he kept it (the Jayne Hat), he said “Yes! Of course! I also gave him his Valentine gift (maple candy) which I always bring him, and told him once again he had to share with the kids and he said “No! I don’t want to!”

The next 3 autographs were of the Spike After a Fall comic book, I had 1 and 2 signed already but now need 3 and 4, plus I got a really cool special Photo #1 for Christmas from my friend Ali (She knows me so well!) So I had to get that signed! He did ask who he was kiss on the cover of #3, when I told him it was Illyria, he raised his eyebrows at me and said “really!” he also got a kick when I told him that Spike had taken over the playboy mansion in the comics. There was like a million other things I wanted to tell him but as usual I get all tongue tied and forget everything. I need to start writing this down! It was over too quickly, but it was still sooooooo great!

After I got my autograph, I was able to gibe Steve Himber his Valentine gift (Dark Chocolate!). The really funny part was when I bought it, I said to my husband, so do you think Steve will think I am try to bribe him? Sure enough, when we were told we were in Rosie’s way as she was taking pictures of James, Steve said to her “Hey, she is bribing me with chocolate!”

The next thing up was the Q&A, James had stepped away to have a little break and allow them to set up the microphones, and as soon as I saw them up I was standing in line to ask my question. As a matter fact, Steve walked by me as I was standing there and stopped to ask if I was already standing in line to ask a question and after I said yes, he said “Oh, get a life!” with a smile on his face. Hey, I have a life, it revolves around following James Marsters around!

So, I was first to ask a question and it was “Keeping in the Valentine’s sprite, if you were going to set up a singles ad looking for a girlfriend. What would you say about yourself in it?”

James laughed and then looked serous he said that he normally does the opposite and tell some one all the bad stuff upfront. But if he was trying to sell himself, he would say something like. “46 years old, likes to paint and play music, has a decent amount of chest hair” then he asked me what I thought? If I would date him based on that and I gave him the so-so hand gesture, he laughed and said that he guessed it was a good thing he was TV!
Then were a lot of great questions asked, here are a most of his replies, however if you do not want to read the Q&A, then skip to the Play part.

A Shakespearean question about which character he would play, Falstaff or Hotspur?James: I would pick Hotspur because I’m such a horrible Toby Belch in college. I mean bad. Horrible. So those oversized, larger than life, father figure characters… and I am not going to do that.

A question was asked about James’ new sci-fi role “Alien Western”, when it's going to be airing, if he got to ride a horse, and whether or not he wore chaps (because we all want to know).James: Sorry, no chaps. When they offered me the role – uh, the sci-fi Channel has been offering me roles for a few years now and this is the first one that Steve said, "James, this is important. This is a good script.” and I immediately told the producers, "Man, I don't ride a horse. So don't get me up on a horse." See the thing is, I'm a little bit of a method actor… and my character was running terrified from alien bugs in the movie. And horses can smell that, so if I got within 3o yards of those horses, they would be [insert crazy hand gesture by James, complete with horse sounds] (cue laughter from the crowd). So no riding of the horses. But you know, when the special effects come in, everything is all done, it's going to be a pretty nice little movie. I thought the cast was really good. I thought the director was good. And a lot of the scenes [something unintelligible] and it felt easy. So, that’s usually a really good sign. But it was cold. And there's one thing I can't stand… I can take any kind of… [abuse] don’t say that, James. (He’s saying that to himself out loud, because many of the women were about to go to a happy place.) I seem to have up until now, a high tolerance for pain and discomfort. But cold? Brrrrr. So, yeah, like… (He mentions the coats that were worn, that they looked good, but they didn’t keep people warm.) If you notice, no one in the movies ever wears those poofy (think Staypuff Marshmallow, peeps) jackets in the movies. The first day, we shot on the set of Cold Mountain which was a big-budget movie. So basically they built a whole cattle town. Which means if you go down the street and you open the door there's an infirmary, you open another door there's a jail. What it also means is that the cavalry shacks were not insulated at all. And because there was a whole town they didn't feel they needed to provide any more warmth. (He quotes one of the others as saying, “There's a whole town go hang out in the town,” when there was complaints of it being cold.) The first day we started shooting out in the courtyard, it rained, so there was mud about a foot deep. And I thought, you know, actually, that's pretty real and I can do my cowboy walk. And then I found out they were framing out the mud. So there you see me… (Does this funny walk)

Question was asked about movies like The Two Coreys, and Portrait of a Teen Idol, and Celebrity Rehab, and if he secretly watched those and thought to himself, “Jesus Christ, I hope I never end up on those!”

James: I went through that phase way before I got famous. So I've already done that and come out of it. So I'm not really likely to go back. Plus my kids would not let me. See, I don’t like watching those shows because they're all about a train wreck. And I’m just like, “Awwwww….” (He does his little head tilt, concerned face.) I was in Germany, and I had a friend make me watch that show on MTV about a rocker that had 20 girls in his house. I just wanted to take a shower afterwards. (I’m clueless here, because I don’t watch ANY reality TV. So, help me out with the title if you know it. The audience shouted it, but I

In a previous Q&A, James mentioned that he likes a bath better than a shower. The question was asked whether or not James had a Jacuzzi bath.

James: No, no Jacuzzi tub. In fact, the bathtub in my house is shared by the nanny and my niece. So all I have is a shower. That sucks. (He pouts.) Well, after I send the kids to college… I'll get my Jacuzzi.

The next person mentioned that she went to DC for the inauguration.

James: (interrupts) I made Jesse Jackson look stoic. (Apparently JJ cried like a baby and James was worse off.)

Question was asked about his thoughts and where he was, etc.

James: I felt that right when the country needs another figure like FDR, (ponders) that we didn't deserve one. But we got one anyway. I just feel thankful beyond measure. There’s a great book called The Next Hundred Years by George Friedman. A great book, by the way. He says that we go through a big problem every 50 years, and then a new leader comes forth and leads us to a new paradigm. In this happens every 50 years. It's just American history and we’re right in the middle of it. And basically gave me hope in American character, and we see that we've really made a mistake we try something new. We say, well, let's not do that again. Let’s make the decision. So like every day of the week, I'm like (he jumps up, giddy) Barack Obama! Rather than, oh gosh, George Bush. (He does his dejected walk.) (James was also excited that Obama was left-handed. He also poked fun at himself, doing an imitation of asking sheepishly for Obama’s autograph. He’s such the geek! *grin* I missed a bit here, but apparently he had a fantasy of being on Obama’s staff, in some position during his second term. Then he had a fantasy of playing guitar for his kids.) I just think that it's so good and he's so smart and what we are going to find out about this man according to people that know him. You don't mess with them. That he's a very nice man, if you let him be. But if you get his way he will get you out of his way. And I think that's a good thing. I think that's a very good thing. Um, yeah, I just couldn't be happier.

Question was asked about his thought process (a kind of place did he have to go to) when he was strapped into the electric chair when he played Ted Bundy in “The Capture of the Green River Killer”. And the trusts involved.

James: That's an interesting question, because I didn't really feel nervous about that rig. I think that it was obviously not plugged in. And once I got strapped in… everything was good. So, really, my job at that point was just to get into the acting. I would just think of myself as sitting in that cell for the last four days and what my character would do. And I decided my character basically didn’t want to show anyone he was scared. He was kinda in denial. But talking about a naked fear… When I did the cowboy movie, the first scene was my hanging, which gets interrupted by a big [something]. And I get up to the rig, and I saw that they had built a real gallows. There was nothing different about it except that the gallow drawer had been screwed shut. And they had a real noose. And I thinking, there's ways to rig this. It doesn't cost any money; it’s [the noose] just tied a different way up under your shoulder. And I'm just standing there thinking, "Oh, this is going to be a fun to shoot.” But it turned out to be okay, so…

Question was asked about adjusting your performance, based on the shot, whether it was a wide shot or close-up.

James: That’s great, and the answer is very much so. There’s a great book on acting. I suggest that anybody that wants to act in film to go get Michael Caine's book. It's a very thin book called “Acting for Film”, and it's chock full of just really good advice. [For instance] If you're doing shots where you're running towards the camera runs slowly towards the camera so they get your face (and all of your emotions, etc.). And right as you start to pass the camera speed up like crazy and then you look like you're not slow. And it's full of stuff like that. So exactly. Every time they come in, you cut [your emotions] in half. When you're way out there (a far distance from the camera), you can do whatever you want and when you get up really close, you don't want to do anything.Question was asked about whether or not James approached playing characters that were based on real life character versus characters that were not.James: It's a double-edged sword to play a real person, especially if that real person is famous or well-known. You have to get over this sense of “sacredness”. Like, oh, I’m doing Buzz Aldrin, and I better be very careful about this. That's death. At the same time, a lot of your work is done. Because a lot of times when you get a role, you go back and you do a bunch of homework or you do a bunch of essays about the past of the character, but all I had to do was read his biography... which was... amazing. I mean… His… his… Growing up, his mother was an alcoholic who later committed suicide. His father worked for NASA and was one of the major people in NASA, and he never gave Buzz credit for anything. He could never please his father. At all. So he goes to the moon. And I just knew this in my head. He's just proving himself his whole life. He’s the best at everything. He just buries the needle every time he comes into a room. [They call him names.] They joke him because he's so smart. He gets to the moon, comes back, and I know what's going through his head – Dad’s finally going to give me some credit. I went to the moon. He gets back and his dad goes, "You were second." So Buzz went into a spiral. He's built his whole life up for this moment, and it didn't work. He goes into this complete personal spiral and about ruined his life and then he climbs back out. And today, he looks to me, like an angel. He’s got this big light at the back of his head. He's got love and sincerity and strength. It's just an amazing journey. So actually I think that Buzz is more beautiful than going to the moon. At this point he goes on to talk about the incident Buzz had with a wanna-be stalker. He moves on to talk about the Moonshot set.James: They always expand the capsule to about three times the size the normal size. If you look at Apollo 13, they're in this like, it could be Star Trek (he makes this gesture signifying something huge). But the reason for that…we had to fit a very large camera onto the set. It's just impossible to shoot in very small spaces when the camera is this big (he uses his hands to make an imaginary box of a pretty decent size). But now we have cameras to size (he uses his thumb and forefinger to show a smaller size camera). So the producer director's idea was to show how hard it was to ask to go to the moon. Because when we listened to the tapes of these people coming back from NASA. It all sounds like everything was totally under control. There was never a problem. No panic. When, in fact, behind the scenes it was really hard. And they were basically panicking. They say they were never. And so, I got tortured pretty bad. They built the capsule exactly the same size, and you know, you got all these hands reaching in and poking at you all the time. It was least comfortable thing that ever done in my life, I got to say. Buzz had an 880 pounds suit. Right. And it takes of strength to maneuver. I had an 80 pounds suit. But he was in zero G. I was in full G trying to make it look like zero G. I'm not saying I had it harder than Buzz, but I got a little taste. Just a taste.

Question was asked about why James chose to do the part of Piccolo… besides the money.

James: I have a son and we've been watching Dragonball for the last five years um, since he was about six or seven years old. I think the first DVD I got was kind of a strange experience because it was when my character, Piccolo, was standing (something something something… looking out over the desert?). A little kid comes up, who is the son of his old enemy, who is now dead, and begs him to train him. This little kid comes up, “Train me.” “Go away kid, you’re bothering me.” “Train me. My dad’s dead. Train me.” “Okay.” (James does an impromptu fight scene.) This little tiny kid, and he’s beating the crap out of this kid. So he picks the kid up and drop kicks the kid about 20 yards up this way (he points up in the air towards the left). He flies up, punches him back down to the ground. Kid hits the ground. Boom! Thick smoke. Granite cracks under the little kid’s head. Piccolo flies back down and goes, “That your first lesson.” So I'm watching this and I’m thinking, my son is seven years old, “what am I doing?” And then the kid, a close-up on the kid. And his face is all bleeding and bruised and his eye is swollen shut and he starts laughing. Like, I got you to do what I wanted you to do, man. And I thought, wow, now that's a surprise. My son took to it like crazy. Basically it's helped me raise my son. I feel like the main character, Goku, is a really perfect example of man. I kind of tend to say that a man is an enforcer of peace. What he wants is peace and quiet and if … he will force with violence if necessary, but that will be his last choice. Whereas a boys will create chaos and try to prove himself. So you have Goku, and Goku is a humble, meek, silly, goofy guy and who, given the choice will be out looking at flowers and worms and playing with his kid. But God help you if you endanger his family. And I think that we kind of have an over militarized culture, and we tend to think of our heroes and men as big burly guys. (He does this “macho” walk.) I see a guy like that and I just want to take him out. Because that's the guy that's never been a fight. Guys that have been in fights don't want to be in fights, because that hurts. So I was really excited to go audition, and when they gave me the role I was excited. But I did know if I was the right one for it. I didn't really see the connection. The director, but then by the time I got to the set. I felt like I was the only one on earth that could play that role. And I still feel that way.

Comment was made about him being green.

James: Actually for me it was a little different, because it was not easy to get green. There was some disagreement on what my character should be. And I went off. I argued vociferously for green. I told everyone that our careers were over if I'm not green. I'm not making a threat, and I’m not going to do anything wrong, and I'll go down with you, and I will be the first in line plummeting down into bankruptcy. I mean, if you do Superman, he’s got to have a cape. If you do Spock, he’s got to have pointy ears and if you do Piccolo he’s got to be green! So, no, as soon as I was green I was a happy happy happy little clam.

Question was asked if he had an opportunity to form a service organization, what it would it be. Or, something he would like a hand in.

James: Habitat for Humanity.

Person one on to say he said he should talk about that, with his fans that he'd probably have people that would be willing to assist help etc. in that endeavour.

James: Thank you. I hadn't thought about that. Then he stood up pround and said “I have a army!”

Question was, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Amber Benson, John Barrowman.

James: John has good lips, I had to say. He means it if he kisses you. I tell you, man. Whiskers suck. Honestly, I don't see how women get near us when we have those things on our face. You know, it's just not fun to be hurt. So one thing, after a kiss John, I started shaving a lot closer. Well, it's interesting because you know a movie kiss is not romantic. It's part of the job. It's a very intimate, vulnerable part of the job. I think that the most important thing is that you trust the person and that you feel like you're friends with the person. And on that level, I've been very lucky and have not had a kiss anyone, but I really didn't like (he ponders for a very long time)... much. But yeah, most of my intimate scenes have been with people I've trusted. That's been a real gift. It's just a hard thing to do really.

James: I'll tell you the one that I kissed and I didn't have to be ordered to. Amber. She's hot. We were together for about that much (he holds his thumb and forefinger very close together).

Question was asked about bucket lists, and whether or not he had one.

James: I don't have a bucket lists. I've been living my bucket lists since I was 17 1/2. I really... I live in fear that I'm going to have a boring life. What really drives me crazy. Is that I haven’t checked behind every door. When I'm shopping I have to go see everything that's available and then make my decision. And so I live in fear that there was that one door that I didn't peek behind. And that's lent me to some really severely dangerous situations, but it's mostly been really good. One of the things that I really still like to do. I'd like to produce a film. I would like to skydive. And one more ménage a trios.

This is a two-part question. I believe it was something to do with him possibly being on Doctor Who.

And James mentioned that since he was given the action figure for Torchwood, he just knew that he was going be on Dr. Who… but it never happened.

Person went on to say that she was a singer-songwriter too and wanted to know how he balanced that with family life.

James: I find that I am best writing music when I am rested. (He laughs.) Which kind of precludes writing music. I don’t… um… It comes when it comes for me. I can't just sit down and decide to write something. It doesn't work for me that way. Something will…. The melody will come to me and I don't even know it and I'll have to go find my guitar and figured out. Uh, yeah. I find that I'm best when I’m blasting past my intellect. I think that a lot of writers… That's why a lot of writers (something). Seriously. Because you want to get past your intellect. The intellect is this tiny thin cap of flesh on top of your brain. When the real brain is doing what's the real thinking for us. That's when you come with the answers to things you weren’t asked questions to. It’s the deep voices. And so I try to turn my brain off, if I can, which is hard for me to do, because I like ideas, but they don't help me write.

Question was asked why he believed Malcolm made a good king.

James: Because he is a dangerous person who you should fear, but he's not physically dangerous. He doesn't have to prove himself on the battlefield. He's way more dangerous than that. He can wield... he can take the reins of power, of which military power is only one rein, and he's got his hands on the other reins of power. And so his reign, his kingship, will be a peaceful time. Because the only way that Macbeth can solve a problem is by bringing out his sword. So he's going to have a very violent time as king. Whereas Malcolm is a new king. That was one of Shakespeare's points… is that we English have a right. We have our kings and then the son becomes King, and if not the daughter. And they thought that was much better system

Comment was made about him getting all the negative things about him out of the way at the beginning of a relationship. And what were some of his disqualifying factors?

James: I get arrogant, if I get pissed off. If I feel like someone's coming over my line. I can get like, hey. (He stands up and looks all mean.) I go to a low-grade war very quickly. And be offended by things I ought not to. I also can feel rejected too easily. And I have a small bump on the back of my head.

Then the Q&A was over and we had a short break while they set up for the theatrical performance, it was going to be “Love Letters” by A. R. Gurney. Which I had heard of but had not seen. It is a very simple play, just two people (man and women) on stage at a table reading the letters they write to each other over a 50 year period. It was beautifully done! James is at his best on stage, I could take my eyes off of him and I think I was holding my breathe during some of it. James partner Beth Thompson (http://westend.broadwayworld.com/people/gallery-person.php?personid=23794) was also very good and the two of them had an easy report. It seemed like everyone loved it! And they did get a standing ovation!

Then it was Dinner time, just before we left our photo were done so we could pick them up in the lobby, which was nuts because so many people were trying to get to the tables to get theirs and I had a hard time find one of mine (which freaked me out since some one was stealing my photos at Dragon Con last year) but finally some one found it for me!

As we were heading out to get dinner, we saw James and Steve leaving. I called out a “Hi James” and he called back “Hello” Amy Sue who was with us (we had group of 10) also called out that we loved the play and he was great! He said Thanks!

Dinner was a disaster! The restaurant (Gas Light Brewery Restaurant) had the rudest more lazy staff ever! They never said hi to us or anything when we came in. It took forever for them to seat us and then for the waiter to come over. I told him flat out we wanted separate bills and that we had a time limit, so to just bring the food when it was ready instead of waiting for every ones to be ready (which they often do with groups) and lastly to bring the bills once we had our food (because no one was going to order desert or coffee). It took him for ever to get our drinks (like 20 minutes) they never even brought poor Amy Sue her dinner (she had to cancel it) and it the end he brought one bill saying it was too much trouble to divide it up! What a jerk!

However we made it back to theatre in time for the concert, and while I did have to leave in the middle of it (my dinner did not sit well with me) and misses a song and a half. It was a great concert, James said he had wanted to do every song he ever wrote but he found that if he did that, he would have to do them all without stopping. But that if we wanted to hear a song all we had to do was yell it out and he would do it!

Here is the Set List:

Looking at You

Bad

Smile

Layabout

Fall of Night

Don't Worry Son

Patricia (audience request)

Dangerous (audience request)

Finer Than Gold

For What I Need

Poor Robyn

Civilized Man

Too Fast

Chocolate Jesus (audience request)

All That She Wanted

Goodbye (audience request)

Angel

Up on Me

No Promises

I'm Falling Down (NEW SONG!)

Encore:

Vandals

London City

Birth of the Blues

A couple of things to mention that happened during the concert, first James was asked what the name of his guitar was (it was a new one, we hadn’t seen before and very cool looking) he said his name was Chow because he was from Korea. I found later that Shirley (aka Squirrel) had given it to him and was now on cloud nine because she had been convinced he had just stuck it in a closet and forgot about it. So to see him play it made her really happy!

Also James did admit to who some of the songs were about, he said that the song Bad was about Nickie from England (we all looked at Nicky who was sitting next to me, but she said it wasn’t her). He admitted Too Fast was about Eliza Dushku. And we all already knew that Dangerous was about Michelle Trachtenberg. And that Angel was written about a porn star. He said that he wrote Layabout while in Cardiff and Civilized Man was about a guy in meet in Canada (to which I yelled out that Toronto apologized for him! James laughed and said he was the only not nice person he met in Toronto, so that is good!)

Then it was over! So sad… I don’t think anyone wanted to leave and Nicky kept saying that she just wanted to start the weekend all over and do it again! I was all for that!!!

Monday February 16, 2009

We woke up late (well Nicky and I did) and after some debate decided to go to the mall close by to the hotel, because there was nothing else to do and we didn’t just want to hang around the hotel. But the car service was late in picking us up to take us to the Mall so we had very little time. Nicky and I (Colleen choose to stay behind) did do some power shopping and even managed to pick up some items. Then it was back to the hotel to get our things. Colleen and I had left the hotel at 2:00pm, Nicky was leaving later since her flight was later and since we had a late check out, she didn’t have to leave the room and drag her bag around. It was hard saying good bye to her, it was good to see her again.

Nothing much to report about the trip back other then our flight was once again delayed….yeah!

Well that it! Hope all enjoyed the read!

Magie
(who is missing her James hugs already!)