Date sent: Mon, 28 Aug 1995 11:31:01 -0400
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Subject: Did you know I met Clive...
*A Tale of Two Leapers...*
(Plus a whole lot more!)
Pam and I drove from Boston to NY on Friday
morning so that we could attend LOI with a group of other Leapers
(one to tell us when not to look, one to tell us when it was okay to
look again, one on each side to grab when we got scared, etc.
Pam had the foresight to bring tapes of RR and ACW (with a little
TGN.. thrown in for good measure!), and I brought the QL Soundtrack.
So we had plenty to keep us busy on the drive down, not to mention
lots and lots of Scott/QL/AOL-related stuff to talk about! The
drive took about four and a half hours. Not bad time at all!
We were staying with Laurie) on Long Island, and Carol
came over on Friday night. We had much to talk about,
pictures to look at, videos to watch, articles to read, stories to
tell.... Needless to say, we had a great time talking about our
favorite subject! (Many thanks to Laurie’s Mom, who sat through
dinner and hours and hours of our chatter without complaint!)
On Saturday the four of us took the train to Manhattan. Our plan
was to go first to Footlight Records where we would meet up with two
Leapers from Genie - Ruth and Gillian. (The trip to Footlight was
Pam’s idea. Credit where credit is due!
Suddenly... Pam stops in front of me and says, “Isn’t that Clive
Barker?”
Where?” (My first brilliant response.)
“Over there,” she grabs my arm and points to a man standing on the
other side of the narrow store. A man wearing black pants and white
shirt, with dark hair and goatee-type beard.
“No, it couldn’t be.” (My next brilliant response.)
“I think it is. It looks like him,” says Pam.
“No. It really can’t be him.” I am convinced that it’s not because
we couldn’t possibly run into Clive Barker. We couldn’t. Things
like that just don’t happen to me.
“Let’s go get the others and see what they think.” And Pam heads
towards the back of the store where Carol is conversing with Ruth
and Gillian.
As we walk towards this man (whom we have to go past to get to the
rear of the store) I’m looking closely at him. Is it him? The man
is turned partially away from us, but as Pam walks behind him he
turns more towards me and I see that he has a small silver earring
in each ear. I walk behind him, following Pam. Then I stop. I
think, ‘I don’t know this man. I’m in New York. I’m never going to
see him again, and I’ll always wonder if it was him. What the
heck?’
“Excuse me, but are you Clive Barker?” I say to the man’s back.
“Why, yes, I am,” he responds, turning to me with a smile and
holding out his hand to shake mine. (Great handshake - firm, warm,
dry. Good pressure, just the right length of time. For those of
you who care about these things...
(IT’S HIM! IT’S HIM! IT’S HIM!)
“Oh, hello,” I stammer. “I came with a friend from Boston to see
LOI.”
“Oh, really?” He’s smiling, patient with my fluster, pleasant.
“Yes. We came to meet some friends and we’re all going to see the
movie.” By now, the others have arrived and are gathered around us.
“Really we’re Scott Bakula fans.” The perfect thing to say. I
think my face must be as red as a tomato.
“Oh, he’s great in this,” says Clive.
“Notice the white shirt,” I say, pointing to Pam. (Reference to
something Clive said in an interview about his fans wearing black
when they go to the movie and Scott’s wearing white. I don’t think
he understood the reference.)
Someone (either Carol or Pam) says, “We’re on AOL.”
“And Genie,” Ruth adds.
“Oh, really, I was on AOL last night,” says Clive.
“We weren’t there,” I say, adding something about being on Long
Island or not being at our computers or some other incoherent
excuse.
“We were in bed,” explains Pam.
“Oh, that was a good place to be!” Clive grins. “I had a good time
online.”
There’s an awkward pause.
“So,” Clive says, “Boston. That’s what, two or three hours?”
“No, it’s four and a half. Five, actually, but I drove fast,” I
say, grinning and blushing.
“Four and a half. Wow!” Clive smiles.
“We’re here to see the movie. Hence the shirt,” someone (me? Pam?)
says, pointing to Carol who is wearing an LOI t-shirt.
“Oh, very nice!” says Clive, laughing. “Well...” and he turns back
to the records he was looking at before.
----------
The next few minutes are a blur to me. The next thing I know, we’re
at the front of the store and I’m ready to faint or hyperventilate
or something similar. (Not just from meeting Clive, although he IS
famous. And he worked with Scott. And he’s very attractive. I
also can’t believe I had the nerve to walk up to him and start
talking! More about that later...) Although the store is fairly
crowded, no one else has said anything to him. Carol suggests (or
was it Laurie?) that if we buy the soundtrack from LOI perhaps Clive
will autograph it for us. I enthusiastically agree and so go off in
search of a copy. While I’m gone Carol? and Ruth? (who are both
working on EastLeap) explain about EastLeap and ask Clive whether or
not he’d sign some copies of the soundtrack if they buy them so that
they can auction them off at EastLeap. He says that they don’t have
to buy anything. If they write to him he’d be happy to send them
some stuff to auction off. Clive’s assistant hands out business
cards, then Clive heads to the back of the store. I purchase my
copy of the soundtrack and try to rip the plastic off of the CD.
But my hands are shaking so much that it takes me several minutes.
Then, realizing that no one else is buying the soundtrack, I head to
the back of the store. Alone. To interrupt Clive again. To
destroy his shopping experience. I start to wonder if I should do
this, but then I realize I just spent sixteen dollars for a CD I
probably don’t want (the soundtrack to a horror movie?) so I’m going
to do this.
Clive is looking at a rack of CDs on the wall. I stand quietly
behind him, not wanting to be a typical intrusive fan. He finishes
and starts to walk away.
“Excuse me,” I say, “I’m sorry to bother you again. But would you
mind signing this?” I hold out the CD and a pen as he turns towards
me.
“No, not at all,” he smiles. “To you?”
“Oh! That’d be great!” It never occurred to me that he could sign
it TO me! “My name is Cathy. C-A-T-H-Y,” I spell.
He starts to write, then, “C-A-...?”
“T-H-Y,” I finish for him.
He signs it and hands it back to me.
“Thank you,” I say, ready to walk away and leave the poor man in
peace.
“You’re welcome. So,” he says, continuing the conversation, “do you
know anything about the movie?”
“Oh, yes,” I answer, excited, “I’ve read reviews, seen previews, and
I saw the SciFi Channel Special.” (Didn’t think it was politic to
mention that I’d read a copy of the script!)
“Oh, good. How was that? I haven’t seen it yet.”
“It was great. Really interesting. Someone who’s seen the movie
told us that they showed all the gory parts in the show so if you’ve
seen that then you can handle the movie!”
“Oh, great. It’s not that gross, really,” Clive says reassuringly,
“it’s more that it will really scare people.” His voice gets very
quiet, hushed, when he says that.
“I know. That’s what I’m afraid of,” I grin. “I don’t handle that
sort of thing well.”
“It’s okay because, right there in the middle of it is Scott. And
he’ll lead you right through it.”
“I’ve heard you say that in interviews. That’s what I’m counting
on!”
“Well, have a good time,” he says, and shakes my hand again.
“Thanks. It was nice to meet you!”
I walk away, back to the front of the store, where I show everyone
my autographed CD. And, boy, was I shaking! Clive comes to the
checkout soon after that (where we’re all standing, talking about
him and the encounter!). He bought (if you care!) a bunch of CD’s
including Paul Robeson, Ray Charles and the soundtrack from “The
Bounty.” Then he left the store, got into a limo and drove away...
I gushed some more, bought RR and TGN..., a few others bought some
stuff, then we left. We then went to Forbidden Planet, a SciFi
bookstore. I knew that I’d forget the details of my Clive encounter
if I didn’t write it down, so I wrote while we were in the
bookstore, in the cab to the theater, then spent a few more minutes
at the theater finishing my tale. I spent the rest of the day
asking everyone we met up with, “Did you know I met Clive Barker?”
I told the story over and over and over. (My sincere thanks to all
of you for listening so patiently!)
We met Larry, Lisa and Mila at
the theater, then purchased our tickets for the six o’clock show of
LOI. We also met Kat (from the Internet) and her friend Donna at
the theater, then we went for a late lunch to a very special
restaurant. It was called - are you ready? - Quantum Leap! It’s a
natural food restaurant that has been there for some twenty years,
so has nothing to do with the show. But it was a very exciting
place for all us Leapers to gather! We had a great meal, and while
we were eating Katherin joined us at the restaurant.
After several hours of lively conversation and picture showing, we
wandered around until it was time to see the movie. We were joined
at the theater by some more people from Prodigy? Genie? - Keith, ?
and ?, as well as Karen (from the Internet). Kat and Donna didn’t
go to the movie with us, but we were still a big group!
We sat in two rows (only two of us were wearing white - Pam and
Ruth), and we sat in the middle instead of on the left. But we were
still there to see Scott! (I’m sure everyone in the theater knew
that when we clapped for his name in the opening credits!) We
watched the movie with a running witty commentary from Carol and
when-not-to-looks from Lisa. We had a great time seeing the movie.
I’m not saying that the movie was great. But that’s another
story...
After the movie we went back to Quantum Leap for dessert and more
talk, then we went our separate ways. It was such a pleasure to
meet all those Leapers. I knew that you were all welcoming, kind
and funny online. It’s nice to have met you all and know that you
are even better in person!
The weekend in New York was a great success. Again, many thanks to
all of you for making it so special!
PS If you want to know more about why I had the courage to ask
Clive if he was him.... It was all thanks to Carol and the
wonderfully inspiring story she told us on Friday night. But Carol
will have to tell that story... : )