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Program #1
- Interview with author Nick
Hornby. Listen
to program
Dear Nick Hornby
is my friend forever because he agreed to go first. It was actually
my UK tour manager Simon Gardner who landed the interview for me. Simon
had no teeth at the time. He ran into Nick at a London rock club and
mentioned my upcoming date in London. When Nick said he might want to
come, Simon agreed to give him a spot on the guest list in exchange
for an interview. At least this is the story I heard from Simon. Tour
managers with no teeth usually do get their way. Bless them both that
this all worked out.
I met Nick after that London show when he and some friends queued for
me to sign a CD. I turned extremely red when I realized he was there
and that he had waited at the back of the line. Nick was so famous;
it seemed silly and backwards that he would wait for anything or anyone
at all, let alone me. But that is the charm of Nick Hornby. His humility
and willingness to wait at the back of the line with the rest of us
are no small part of his charactersÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡ loveable longings and self-effacing
searches. They stand beside us at the bar, wondering aloud who they
are and who they belong to. As if the world were a concert where we
wander with the same torn ticket stub in hand, HornbyÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡s characters knock
our elbows and share our loneliness while fumbling through the crowd.
They wait in the rain with all of us.
It was a drizzly day when I met Nick at his North London office. I was
lugging a huge suitcase as I had just come on the train from Paris where
I was hiding out and writing. Nick helped me up three flights of stairs,
made me feel right at home, and never grumbled about the big suitcase.
As it was my first interview, I propped the one microphone up on an
ashtray or maybe in a coffee cup. Nick was honest, open, easy to laugh,
and gave me his cigarettes whenever I was nervous. His passion for Ms
Pacman was a true revelation. The best part, however, came when we finished
the interview and walked around the corner to his flat where I was able
to meet his wife and family. His little boys play air guitar like you
have never seen, and showed me a lot of great new moves.
Thank you, Nick and family, and thanks to Simon too. I couldnÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡t have
asked for a better start.
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