BEA Roundup- The Celebrities- Part III

Celebrities are always a big draw at BEA, garnering long lines of eager fans. I stood in line with many 40-something women to get a photo with 80's rocker and General Hospital star Rick Springfield. We were all 20-somethings again. He popped his gum, put his arm around each woman, smiled, took a photo, signed a CD and off to the next woman. (first photo)

If you can sing, you can draw a crowd. Neil Sedaka also had a huge line, albeit with an older crowd than Rick Springfield's. Broadway diva Patti LuPone drew a large line of theatre aficionados for an autograph on an excerpt from her upcoming autobiography. (FYI- I am not a fan of standing on line for an excerpt of a book. It bums me out when I don't get an entire book as a reward for standing in line.) LuPone was very kind to all of us, not exhibiting the diva behavior we have all heard about. I did enjoy sharing favorite Broadway experiences with friendly fellow fans in line. (second photo)

Political junkies got to see Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough from MSNBC's Morning Joe show. They are exactly as they seem on screen, and very friendly. She is lovely, with fabulous legs. But the funny thing to me was that Joe signed copies of Mika's book! Mika's book is All Things At Once, her story of being a wife, mom and TV anchor. It was fun to meet both of them and hear their banter in person but odd that he autographed her book. (third photo)

Tim Gunn from TV's Project Runway took so much time with his fans, taking photos, chatting, that they had to move his signing line when he went over his one-hour time limit. After all, the guy that wrote the book about growing marijuana has his fans too. (But I'm betting they didn't even realize that his signing was behind schedule.)

If you wanted to find Sarah Ferguson's signing line, just look for the paparazzi flashing away. The day after the story broke about Sarah taking money for access to her ex-husband the Duke of York, she was scheduled to MC the Children's Breakfast and sign copies of her book. All of us in line gave her credit for not canceling her appearance. (fourth photo)

Sports were big too. You couldn't get near Tony Hawk, the skateboarder and there was melee at soccer star Pele's signing table.

While it is interesting to see celebs at BEA, for most of us, it is the literary stars who gets us all excited. That post follows.

BEA Roundup- The Celebrities- Part II

The Adult Author Breakfast held on Thursday of the BEA featured the Daily Show's Jon Stewart as MC, and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and authors John Grisham and Mary Roach on the panel.

As we waited in line, Stewart walked by with a wave and loud greeting for so early in the morning. His opening remarks were hilarious, as expected. He thanked the audience for their "tepid response" and poked fun at the "muffin basket" that people paid a lot of money for at the breakfast tables. He also joked about the Javits Center being in one of New York's finest neighborhoods, and that he tapes his show nearby.

He commented on Garrison Keillor's controversial remarks that print books were dead in that day's New York Times. Stewart said that he thought that was funny because he thought that Keillor himself was dead, and that comments like that from someone who tapes a TV show for radio are ironic. He also said when he read the remarks, he thought "Great- I won't have to show up (at BEA) today."

Stewart and his cohorts at The Daily Show have a new book coming out in September titled Earth the Book: A Visitor's Guide to the Human Race. He said that it is "the summation of the totality of the human experience- in 224 pages." It is similar in style to their previous best-selling book America.

Stewart then said that he would read from the science chapter. He opens the book, reads silently to himself and giggles. Then he told us that "the Boat Show moves in at 2pm so, get the hell out".

He introduced former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, whom his show has frequently lambasted, by saying that "I'm not familiar with her work, but I hear good things- Dr. Rice".

Dr. Rice opened humorously by saying that she "now can read the morning papers and I don't have to do anything about it". Her upcoming book is Extraordinary, Ordinary People: A Memoir of Family, which is about her grandparents and parents, and how they instilled in her the belief that education has transformative power.

Her grandfather was a Presbyterian minister. He became one because he was a sharecropper who wanted to go to college. Someone told him that the Presbyterian ministers gave scholarships to students who wanted to become ministers, so he got a scholarship and became a minister. And that's how the Rices became Presbyterians.

When her parents tried to vote in Alabama, they were subject to a poll test. Her mother was asked who the first President of the United States was. She answered and voted. Her father was told he had to guess the exact number of beans in a huge jar. He didn't get his question right and couldn't vote. He heard that the county clerk was Republican and trying to register Republican voters in the Democratic South, so he registered Republican. "And that was how we became Republicans" said Rice.

Rice's parents told her that "she could become President even if she can't have a burger at the Woolworth's counter." She found a photo of her standing in front of the White House when she was eight years old. Her parents told her that she said at the time "I may be out here today, but I will work in there (pointing to the White House) someday." She laughed as she told this story, because she did not remember saying that.

Growing up in the Jim Crow South during the 1950s and 1960s, her parents and grandparents instilled in her the belief that if she got an education, she could do anything, and she did. She spoke eloquently from the heart about her family, and if her spoken words translate as well to the written page, this will be a moving book.

When she finished, Stewart stood up, and said tearfully, "Don't. Make. Me. Like. You! That was marvelous. When is the other book coming out?", referring to the book she is writing about her years in the Bush administration.

John Grisham spoke about a book he is working on, a fictional followup to his first non-fiction book, An Innocent Man, about a man falsely convicted of murder and just hours from execution when he is found to be innocent. This next book, The Confession, is a novel about a man who committed a crime that someone else was sent to death row for. Grisham asks in this book, "Do you have the guts to watch someone executed for your crime?" I really liked The Innocent Man, so I have high hopes for this fictional account.