2003-07-18 - 9:50 p.m. - Chuck Palahniuk is a genuinely nice person

Yes, I did go to Powells to hear Chuck Palahniuk speak once again. Having been shut out last time with arriving only about 10 minutes early before he was scheduled to speak, I arrived almost an hour early this time. Believe it or not, there were already more than 50 people there!! The upstairs room and Powells holds about 300 people and they had to close the room yet again tonight as the room filled to capacity to hear Chuck read and speak about his writing.

I chose a chair on the end in the second row to the left of the podium. I was on the aisle that led up to the podium and this ended up being quite fortuitous for me. He was scheduled to go on at 7:30, but about 7:00, he walked up the aisle and announced to people that he could start signing some books now. He saw me sitting there and stopped and said – "You look familiar."

I smiled and said I had been to his 23rd Ave. Book Store reading and enjoyed it so much that I had to come back again. He said it would be pretty much the same, but I commented that the question and answer session would be different. He smiled and continued up to the podium to start signing books.

About 5 minutes or so before his scheduled speaking engagement, he left the podium to grab something to drink. When he returned with his drink, he stopped by my chair and crouched down while he waited for his introduction by a worker at Powells. I told him I had booked a tour for Monday at 2 p.m. at the Self-Cleaning House he described in his book. I also mentioned that when I spoke with the woman, I told her how I had found out about the house through Chuck’s book. She didn’t know what I was talking about. He smiled and said that she’s a really sweet, old woman who’s a bit batty, but that’s what makes her so charming. He mentioned that I should definitely ask her about how she tried to incorporate poison ivy and oak into the walls so they’d retain a purple color. He said she loves the color purple. (It reminded me of the saying, "when I’m old and gray, I’m going to wear purple." Well, I’m not that old, and I only have a few gray hairs, an d I already wear purple! It’s one of my favorite colors as well, and you can guess what color I’m wearing on Monday. J)

I asked him about the Great Dane dog that she has and if it was mean, but he said it’s really old and wouldn’t hurt you at all. He made the dog sound scary in the book so as to frighten people from just going up to her house. Smart and considerate man.

Before Chuck was formally introduced, a worker announced when they’d be having more authors visit Powells. He said their next main author to visit would be on September 3rd, and who is it – Chuck Palahniuk. Chuck looked at me with a surprised look and said, "I didn’t know that." (Guess where I’ll be on the evening of Sept. 3rd!) He’s going to be reading from his latest novel, "Diary".

Tonight he read a few different postcards compared to Wed. night. And the Q & A session was equally as enjoyable with more Grave Digger masks to be handed out as well as Santa Claus Hats. One of his postcard stories is about when he went with the Portland Cacophony Society’s annual Santa Claus rampage in Portland in mid December. He drank what he thought was two shots of tequila but instead it was a homemade concoction called Reindeer Fucker. Unbeknownst to him at the time, it wasn’t made with just alcohol but with pot. The soak the pot in 151 proof rum for a while so the shot becomes loaded with THC. He had originally planned on being with the Santas for only 3 hours or so, but 16 hours later, he’s still with them – now at a strip joint in Gresham and paying strippers to talk to his relatives and friends on his cell phone. Beware of the Reindeer Fucker shots!!!

Tonight I actually did have a question, but I was a bit shy and didn’t raise my hand right at the beginning. My question was, "What are you working on now?" But since there were lots of people asking questions, I figured I had less of a chance. Well, I didn’t get a chance to ask a question, but Chuck did see my hand raised as he was delivering a Santa hat to another person, and as he walked by me, he gave me a Santa hat. That was so sweet. He really is a genuinely nice person who is easy to speak with and has no "airs " (spelling??) whatsoever.

I wore the Santa hat to pick up my pizza after the talk and all the way back to the car – even as I walked in front of a police car that was waiting to turn at the crosswalk. I’m sure they thought, "the loonies are out tonight!"

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