Dangerous Visions Book Signing
I woke up at 2am. I was a little worried that we weren’t going to make it to the signing - you see, we had received 8 inches of snow the night before. After de-snowing the car, my husband (brave soul) and I jumped in the car and picked up my SMacKy friend Musicandles. Thus began the trek down state.
It ended up being an 8 1/2 hour drive. Snow along the grapevine forced us to take an hour long detour - but we finally made it - after a brief stop at the Ronald Reagan Museum in Simi Valley.
Luckily, I had been able, between power outages the night before, to get accurate directions to the bookstore. (No Emma directions this time!!!) It was a breeze getting to the store. Musicandles exclaimed - “Oooh! There it is!” and we found a great parking space just around the corner. In front of the store there was a white board that gave a blurb about Searchers. It was about 1:40 - and Bruce was due to arive in 20 minutes.
Dangerous Visions was a great bookstore - the kind where you couldn’t move anywhere without bumping into a book - or one of the three dogs! The staff/owners were great really personable people - and authors in their own right. When we arrived there were only a handful of people milling about the store - and to our surprise and delight - it didn’t ever exceed 50 people! It was a lovely little affair - 
But to stop rambling and tell you all about Bruce!
Bruce arrived a tad late, but we were busy listening to the stories from the signing the night before. I was facing the door and saw him come in. He looked comfortable in blue jeans, a denim jacket and black turtleneck and asked Arthur if there was supposed to be some sort of book signing today. He laughed and escorted Bruce over to the signing area. (Boots will be happy to know that he’s letting his hair go back to its natural color!) Bruce took a seat and promptly got the show on the road. I was 5th in line and as always couldn’t think of anything intelligent to say besides ‘Can you sign these for my friends?’ Ah well…. Jason (my husband) was right behind me and he got a book signed for his boss who is a Bruce fan too. Musicandles had her wits about her - and actually told him how much she enjoyed his book and how he wove the character of Macklin into it.
Bruce started to talk about the research he had done, how he had traveled and become interested in the Anasazi indians. He talked about the characters in Searchers and about the fact finding he had done. It was great - thank heavens Musicandles asked an intelligible, interesting question - because I was completely out of it. GRIN!
We snuck behind a book case, away from the line so we could get pictures - and I was trapped there most of the next few hours. It was great fun. GW had a little matter to clear up about, as Bruce put it - “Kissus Interuptus” - but that’s her story to tell - I will say, however, she did win the bet! Just after that I saw my husband sneak back in and hand Bruce a Cuban cigar… LOL I guess he does pay attention when I ramble about Bruce!
It was great as always to see what people brought and catch snippets of conversation. From posters, to Porsches, to Western Horseman, to hats, to pictures and of course - BOOKS! Never is there a dull moment with Bruce and his fans! I overheard a bit of the conversation about the Porsche and he said that they had to get rid of it because it often wouldn’t start up right away! (And we all know how important the effortless start of Lee’s car is!)
After the signing he wandered around the bookstore and mingled with people. He took pics with the Lunch Bunch (heh heh that was great!!) and with some individuals. He was very personable and treated everyone so politely. He is charming and courteous and from what I have seen, one of the nicest human beings! He addressed the men as Sir, and the women as Darlin’ or “You again!” LOL.
In typical Bruce fashion, he slowly inched his way to the door - followed by all of the Bruce groupies - GRIN! - when Mac opened the door for him he turned and said - “Come on Ladies!” At which point we laughed… and then followed him out the door. As Musicandles and I walked to a restaurant to have dinner we looked back and saw everyone standing at Bruce’s car. With a wave he turned and got in his car - driving into LA traffic with a smile and a beep goodbye.
Some interesting little comments that were made through the course of our hours with Bruce: He talked about an audition he had just done for Kelsey Gramer. He was there with 4 other youngish guys, waiting to go in to audition. Soon he was called in and just as he opened the door one of the guys turned and said, “I know who you are! I used to watch you on Scarecrow and Mrs. King with my mom!”
As always, it was great fun to see Bruce and so nice of him to take time out from his busy schedule to spend a moment with his fans. Special thanks to Melissa and the boys for letting us “borrow” Bruce for the signing - 