I got free tickets to hear Sarah Vowell* talk and read from some of her books. I mentioned her in a previous post where I talked about her reference to pink as punk. Or something like that. Anyway, she is what I would call a geekie hipster who is sarcastic, hilarious, and smart. She loves to write about history, which makes me like to read about history, which is a feat worth mentioning.
I arrived at the civic center a bit late, but not too late, and found I had a “box seat” in the balcony, so sort of hovered over Sarah Vowell. Another woman sat sort of behind me and, as I might politely say, listened with her eyes closed. I didn’t hear her laugh during the entire thing, which is odd, really. It was only at the end of the evening that this woman was welcomed back to the stage to announce next year’s lineup of authors. Made me giggle. What with the eyes closed, no laughing lady I knew her to be. Her comment about that night’s reading was the equivalent of “neat.”
Anyway, I had a moment with Sarah Vowell tonight. She took questions from the audience, shielding her eyes from the stage lights to point to people and then try to answer their questions. ”What are you listening to?” was a question I was interested in, as I love the music. She said “Bach, yah, a lot of Bach. Oh and Beirut^. Does anyone know…” as her question fades into the soundless room, without even thinking I do what I’ll now call the classic “whoop and clap” which was short lived and died alone in the soundless room, just as it began. A woman sitting in front of me turned and half-smiled in acknowledgment of my, well, whoop and clap. Vowell then went on to describe Beirut as sort of “hipster Godfather music.” She said some other colorful, descriptive things that I cannot recall because I did not write them down. I hate it when I can’t rememer things I wish I had said.
Anyway, Beirut just released an album today. I wonder if she knew that?
*Not as fun as seeing her in Idaho w/ k&m blaess
^Happy Beirut day, m. hannan
