Be My Valentine! The Report!
I'm still here in New Jersey! I have to get on a plane in a few hours, but here's the report I gave on CDS last night which is very silly and long. I've got a few videos to post on YouTube later. :D
And if I find that anyone has reposted this report in any form or fashion ANYWHERE without my permission, I will find you, and I will not be a happy Fender.
Steve came out first thing and explained a little bit of what the schedule was for the day. He looked absolutely fab in a lovely red turtleneck. James was dressed in grey slacks with a matching jacket and a white dress shirt, which was all nicely accessorized by his fancy belt and scuffy dress shoes. His hair was gorgeous! Lots of curl and body! Gah, you just want to run your fingers through it! James apologized to us right off the bat that he had picked the sonnets he picked to read months ago and as he was doing the dramaturgy for the pieces he didn't realize how absolutely depressing the sonnets could be. He said that at Julliard that he was kicked out before he got to really study the sonnets, so he never realized that it was a bleak look at love, but he wished us a happy Valentine's Day anyway. James also said that he woke up three days ago and realized how lucky he was as he was preparing his reading and that he is so incrediably in love like never before in his life. You could just tell how happy he was.
First up was photo-ops. He was so warm and extra-huggy. Next was the theatrical performance. It was like the best drama theory 101 class ever. James is just so obviously enthusiastic about the subject. He would do a more "academic" read of the sonnet first (in my opinion). Then, he would go through the sonnet line by line talking about his interpretation. Last, he would reread the sonnet in a more act0ry way influenced a little more going with his interpretation. He really discussed how the majority of Shakespeare's sonnets were to his male lover and how he couldn't imagine living in that kind of pain of not being able to openly be with the person that he loves.
The following sonnets were read: 12, 17, 18, 20, 26, 27, 29, 34, 42, 44, 55, 57, 60, 71, 73, 78, 80, 86, 89, 91, 93, 104, 109, 127, 130, 133, 137, 143, 147, and 144. The highlight of the sonnet reading was James calling Sir Thomas Wyatt a fuckhole. I adore James! You could really tell that he had put his heart and soul into this performance. Those two months of preparation were well worth it.
The conclusion of the Shakespearean sonnets was that desire is death. While doing the dramaturgy, James found the sonnets depressing, but I think that even though love is beautiful and love is also pain and one might wonder why we do it at all, it is the moments in between love and the end of a relationship (by betrayal or by death) that make the misery tolerable- not necessarily worth it, but tolerable.
He got choked up as he was reading several times, but he would recover quickly. When he was reading the "My mistress eyes are nothing like the sun," that was just the best.
James also had to take out his false tooth that fell out the other day. He said that he tried to cement it in, but it kept bugging him, so he took it out and put it in his pocket. It caused him to spit all over his script which was annoying him.
Just to note that Steve played the GLEE soundtrack inbetween the little activities, which I found amusing given that article wishing that James would guest-star on it.
Also! We got to see photos that Electric Tiki sent to Steve of the new Spike maquette. It has really changed a lot in the face from the original sketch! It is AMAZING. I am totally going to get one just like him. The figure was unpainted, but it was a perfect caricature of James (and I adore the big feet and calves and skinny legs). We were told we couldn't share any pictures of them online because they are top sekrit squirrel stuff.
The Q&A was next. James talked a little about freaking out Leonard Nimoy the first time he met him in a green room. He said that at another convention in a green room with Brent Spiner and he told everyone that he was just trying to "not bother Mr. Nimoy" which apparently made Leonard smile a little bit.
I asked James if got any intense scenes with Polly Walker on Caprica, and he said that he only had scenes with Magda (Lacey). He joked that he constantly was putting hand sanitizer because he was touching her face in the scene and she's a germaphobe. (Just to note: Stern300 tweeted there were scenes between James, Magda, and Polly, so James may be crazy. XD).
There were several Shakespeare questions, a couple of Buffy questions, and a couple of literature questions (he said that his son was really into J.D. Salinger and Anne Frank). He mentioned that he still worries about making money, that he loves to fill up his schedule as much as possible with cons and etc, but that Joel Gray told him that he would never have to be poor again because people knew him from Buffy.
James spoke a little about Snape being his favourite Harry Potter character because he was completely selfless throughout the books even though everyone thought he was an arsehole. James began to cry as he talked about that Snape was what a hero should be even though everyone was supposed to hate him up to the last HP book.
There was a little political discussion. He said he would love to campaign for Obama. He said that Martin Luther King Jr. would be the perfect president. He mentioned teabaggers, and when there was naughty giggling, he smacked his thigh and crotch area and said the teabaggers could "plant a cheek right here."
After the Q&A, there were autographs. Steve and his crew passed out adorable little bags of goodies that included boxes of Christmas candy (I got Max the Chocolate Christmas Mouse which is adorable), a pack of heart-shaped stickers, a baggie of 4 mini-buttons of James, and a James Marsters dogtag with a lovely picture of him. We also did a quiz of rare Jamesy facts, which was a lot of fun.
Oh, I'm forgetting stuff! At the very beginning of the event, Steve sold some extra goodies- like a cute copy of the sonnets James read that included all of James's notes like how he needed to remember how to pronounce things. Also, James did a very cute "Book 'em, Danno" from his Hawaii 5-0 audition. And when asked which character from the Dresden Files would he liked to play, and he said Butters.
During my autograph, I had James sign the poster I made for the Love Hearts/Be My Valentine events. He saw the little poem at the bottom of the poster- "Roses are red, violets are blue, Marsters is nobody's ingenue." He gave a great big belly laugh and said, "Damn right! I wasn't an ingenue when I was an ingenue! I did 37 plays before that!" He was very sweet about that.
The concert was excellent. He said that he took out all the sad songs in favor of the love songs and happier songs. James thanked us for allowing him to play his music and giving him an interesting life. He suggested that everyone should find an art as a way to express themselves because nothing feels better than sharing your art with others. He was in really great spirits through the whole event, but the concert just unleashed an incrediable bouncy Tigger energy. He added a Rock-a-billy twist on almost all the songs. I've never liked the song Dangerous, but tonight when it was Rock-a-billy'd out, I liked it for the first time. With that curl hanging down in his forehead and his little dance moves, he looked like Elvis. He must come to the Grand Ol' Opry eventually! With the tooth knocked out in all its cuteness, he would fit right in in the South.
The only complaint I have about the entire event was the spotlight during the concert. It reflected off of James's guitar and blinded everyone in the first three rows. James laughed and said that he could only see three people at a time because of it, and he bounced the guitar around to blind us while giggling, "It's like I have super powers! Pow! Pow! Pow!"
His guitar Chow has been rechristened Bruce after Bruce Lee because it was saved by emergency guitar repair.
Overall, it was an excellent event. I was thoroughly entertained, and James was just adorable and bubbly and so happy. He definitely loving being so in love; it really showed. It was just marvelous.
James said that Sullivan has been begging him to take him on tour, and that the kid really wants to play a concert with him. James really seemed to think like that was a likely possibility. He said, "I'm going to introduce you to him one day." I look forward to a father/son concert in the future.
Also, James has a crush on Rachel Maddow, and he said that we were the coolest people in the world, and that if there were any new people, then they should talk to those they didn't know because we're all a big awesome group.
Set list from the concert!
London City
Look at Me
Layabout
Too Fast
All That She Wanted
Dangerous
The first verse of David Letterman for fun.
This Town
Poor Robyn
Dance Slow
Up on Me
For What I Need
Goodbye
Fall of Night
Katie
And the encore:
Smile
Finer than Gold
Falling Down (The Moonshot Song)
And if I find that anyone has reposted this report in any form or fashion ANYWHERE without my permission, I will find you, and I will not be a happy Fender.
Steve came out first thing and explained a little bit of what the schedule was for the day. He looked absolutely fab in a lovely red turtleneck. James was dressed in grey slacks with a matching jacket and a white dress shirt, which was all nicely accessorized by his fancy belt and scuffy dress shoes. His hair was gorgeous! Lots of curl and body! Gah, you just want to run your fingers through it! James apologized to us right off the bat that he had picked the sonnets he picked to read months ago and as he was doing the dramaturgy for the pieces he didn't realize how absolutely depressing the sonnets could be. He said that at Julliard that he was kicked out before he got to really study the sonnets, so he never realized that it was a bleak look at love, but he wished us a happy Valentine's Day anyway. James also said that he woke up three days ago and realized how lucky he was as he was preparing his reading and that he is so incrediably in love like never before in his life. You could just tell how happy he was.
First up was photo-ops. He was so warm and extra-huggy. Next was the theatrical performance. It was like the best drama theory 101 class ever. James is just so obviously enthusiastic about the subject. He would do a more "academic" read of the sonnet first (in my opinion). Then, he would go through the sonnet line by line talking about his interpretation. Last, he would reread the sonnet in a more act0ry way influenced a little more going with his interpretation. He really discussed how the majority of Shakespeare's sonnets were to his male lover and how he couldn't imagine living in that kind of pain of not being able to openly be with the person that he loves.
The following sonnets were read: 12, 17, 18, 20, 26, 27, 29, 34, 42, 44, 55, 57, 60, 71, 73, 78, 80, 86, 89, 91, 93, 104, 109, 127, 130, 133, 137, 143, 147, and 144. The highlight of the sonnet reading was James calling Sir Thomas Wyatt a fuckhole. I adore James! You could really tell that he had put his heart and soul into this performance. Those two months of preparation were well worth it.
The conclusion of the Shakespearean sonnets was that desire is death. While doing the dramaturgy, James found the sonnets depressing, but I think that even though love is beautiful and love is also pain and one might wonder why we do it at all, it is the moments in between love and the end of a relationship (by betrayal or by death) that make the misery tolerable- not necessarily worth it, but tolerable.
He got choked up as he was reading several times, but he would recover quickly. When he was reading the "My mistress eyes are nothing like the sun," that was just the best.
James also had to take out his false tooth that fell out the other day. He said that he tried to cement it in, but it kept bugging him, so he took it out and put it in his pocket. It caused him to spit all over his script which was annoying him.
Just to note that Steve played the GLEE soundtrack inbetween the little activities, which I found amusing given that article wishing that James would guest-star on it.
Also! We got to see photos that Electric Tiki sent to Steve of the new Spike maquette. It has really changed a lot in the face from the original sketch! It is AMAZING. I am totally going to get one just like him. The figure was unpainted, but it was a perfect caricature of James (and I adore the big feet and calves and skinny legs). We were told we couldn't share any pictures of them online because they are top sekrit squirrel stuff.
The Q&A was next. James talked a little about freaking out Leonard Nimoy the first time he met him in a green room. He said that at another convention in a green room with Brent Spiner and he told everyone that he was just trying to "not bother Mr. Nimoy" which apparently made Leonard smile a little bit.
I asked James if got any intense scenes with Polly Walker on Caprica, and he said that he only had scenes with Magda (Lacey). He joked that he constantly was putting hand sanitizer because he was touching her face in the scene and she's a germaphobe. (Just to note: Stern300 tweeted there were scenes between James, Magda, and Polly, so James may be crazy. XD).
There were several Shakespeare questions, a couple of Buffy questions, and a couple of literature questions (he said that his son was really into J.D. Salinger and Anne Frank). He mentioned that he still worries about making money, that he loves to fill up his schedule as much as possible with cons and etc, but that Joel Gray told him that he would never have to be poor again because people knew him from Buffy.
James spoke a little about Snape being his favourite Harry Potter character because he was completely selfless throughout the books even though everyone thought he was an arsehole. James began to cry as he talked about that Snape was what a hero should be even though everyone was supposed to hate him up to the last HP book.
There was a little political discussion. He said he would love to campaign for Obama. He said that Martin Luther King Jr. would be the perfect president. He mentioned teabaggers, and when there was naughty giggling, he smacked his thigh and crotch area and said the teabaggers could "plant a cheek right here."
After the Q&A, there were autographs. Steve and his crew passed out adorable little bags of goodies that included boxes of Christmas candy (I got Max the Chocolate Christmas Mouse which is adorable), a pack of heart-shaped stickers, a baggie of 4 mini-buttons of James, and a James Marsters dogtag with a lovely picture of him. We also did a quiz of rare Jamesy facts, which was a lot of fun.
Oh, I'm forgetting stuff! At the very beginning of the event, Steve sold some extra goodies- like a cute copy of the sonnets James read that included all of James's notes like how he needed to remember how to pronounce things. Also, James did a very cute "Book 'em, Danno" from his Hawaii 5-0 audition. And when asked which character from the Dresden Files would he liked to play, and he said Butters.
During my autograph, I had James sign the poster I made for the Love Hearts/Be My Valentine events. He saw the little poem at the bottom of the poster- "Roses are red, violets are blue, Marsters is nobody's ingenue." He gave a great big belly laugh and said, "Damn right! I wasn't an ingenue when I was an ingenue! I did 37 plays before that!" He was very sweet about that.
The concert was excellent. He said that he took out all the sad songs in favor of the love songs and happier songs. James thanked us for allowing him to play his music and giving him an interesting life. He suggested that everyone should find an art as a way to express themselves because nothing feels better than sharing your art with others. He was in really great spirits through the whole event, but the concert just unleashed an incrediable bouncy Tigger energy. He added a Rock-a-billy twist on almost all the songs. I've never liked the song Dangerous, but tonight when it was Rock-a-billy'd out, I liked it for the first time. With that curl hanging down in his forehead and his little dance moves, he looked like Elvis. He must come to the Grand Ol' Opry eventually! With the tooth knocked out in all its cuteness, he would fit right in in the South.
The only complaint I have about the entire event was the spotlight during the concert. It reflected off of James's guitar and blinded everyone in the first three rows. James laughed and said that he could only see three people at a time because of it, and he bounced the guitar around to blind us while giggling, "It's like I have super powers! Pow! Pow! Pow!"
His guitar Chow has been rechristened Bruce after Bruce Lee because it was saved by emergency guitar repair.
Overall, it was an excellent event. I was thoroughly entertained, and James was just adorable and bubbly and so happy. He definitely loving being so in love; it really showed. It was just marvelous.
James said that Sullivan has been begging him to take him on tour, and that the kid really wants to play a concert with him. James really seemed to think like that was a likely possibility. He said, "I'm going to introduce you to him one day." I look forward to a father/son concert in the future.
Also, James has a crush on Rachel Maddow, and he said that we were the coolest people in the world, and that if there were any new people, then they should talk to those they didn't know because we're all a big awesome group.
Set list from the concert!
London City
Look at Me
Layabout
Too Fast
All That She Wanted
Dangerous
The first verse of David Letterman for fun.
This Town
Poor Robyn
Dance Slow
Up on Me
For What I Need
Goodbye
Fall of Night
Katie
And the encore:
Smile
Finer than Gold
Falling Down (The Moonshot Song)