Panel: Andy Summers, Ralph Gibson, Danny Clinch@Toronto-June

[DirtyMartini]

Great time, everyone!

[luddite lady]

The panel discussion was great fun, in a subdued, artsy, lord-it's-only-10:30 a.m kind of way. All three photographers were engaging, entertaining and informative. Andy is good friends with the other two. That made the atmosphere very relaxed and intimate, like they were sharing antecdotes at a dinner party. But it was early for them. At some point each photographer was in the middle of a long story, on to the second or third example to back up their answer when they had to stop and say, "Uh, what was the question again?
As they spoke their photos were being shown in a loop on a screen behind them. I had forgotten to take my son's ten year old sensibilities into account when taking him to this art show, which of course, included some dudes. I was reminded when The Boy uttered "Gross!" under his breath a few times and then asked if all these boob shots were really necessary. We made a system that he'd look away at all the offending shots and that I'd bump his elbow to tell him when it was "safe" to look. There was one particularly artsy shot that had looped at least three times before The Boy realized it was one to look away for. I think Andy might have noticed our going ons. At one point he turned around to look at the photo on the screen and then smiled in my direction as my son was staring at the side exit sign. Later when Andy let out the fuck word, he apologized while looking toward my boy and me. At the end, The Boy said, "Surprisingly, I found this really interesting." A few years from now, when I come across a porn magazine in my son's room, I'll have wonderful ammunition to use against him.
We were well represented with Grace, same ol' and hubby, Bongo Boy and his Bongo Girl, Chris (aka Copelandos) and Jock (Sorry, if I got your name mixed up on the last one there). SkaMan slipped in just before things got under way. Most of us were sitting in one long row. Andy mentioned something about doing four shows in Toronto and then made a sweeping action in our direction and said, "I imagine some of you were there for one or two." Even without our obnoxious green, we are recognizable.
Afterwards was a bit confusing as there had been no announced book signing but the artist started signing books right on stage. They then announced that there was a table in the lobby for signing. At first there was only Gibson out there and no Andy to be found. By the time Andy did show up the line was quite long. I had bought Andy's photography book and so I got in line to have it signed. There was one person in front of me when organizers said they had to wrap it up and wisked Andy away. Bummer! It was especially annoying that people were getting CD's and other stuff signed when the organizers were telling people that it was only a signing for the photography book. Ah well. Afterwards at the pub Grace and sameol' pretended to be Andy and signed my book. Now it looks like Andy signed it twice with two distinct signatures and everything. The comment Andy wrote when being channelled by Grace was especially poignant and funny: "Life is full of disappointments" The book is now sitting proudly on my living room coffee table and works well with the black and white photos that decorate the room.

[IndyGirl]

Glad you & your son had a good time at the panel discussion yesterday,LL. You were so close to an Andy signature but it's nice of Buttercup & Grace to step in for him.

[masayo]

Thank you luddite lady for sharing your story!!!!!!
Seems the panel discussion & booksigning were both great.
I'm happy for you all who could join the event.
About your 10 years boy,
I understand your feeling VERY WELL, cos I'too took my 12 years son with me to the event.
Actually I've been thought of If I could take him????? from the same reason with yours.
But after all I decided to take him with me, and one of the big reason was he's also a big fan of The Police,
and I thougnt as If that was the last chance to meet Andy for my boy.
and I'm sure that they (your boy & mine) had a wonderful experience....I believe it,LOL

[BongoBoy]

Brief and Fun !

We had to run for a GO train afterwards so it was a brisk morning of photo joy.

Very interesting artistic discussion, all three were great.

I wanted to drop off a CD of "They're Back N Gone" my Police Thank You song and a photo pin of Andy and Stewart from the 80's. The security were all over me, I was like Hey! I'm just dropping something off here, Chillax !!! Do you know who I am ? Dickheads.

I hope he got the stuff I left it in front of him.

Great to see you guys briefly...I really wanted a beer too. Stupid time.

Anyways, Hope you had fun Andy, next time when there is only 30 people, tell your "handlers" to back off and chill...we all could have just sat around and chatted for 15 min, Jeeze !

Happy Time and Bongo Skins.
( of course the inspiration led to a wierd tume that's coming....Bluegrass/Reggae.)
BB.

[Grace]

Agree with the postings to date. This was a really intimate little event. And I enjoyed seeing all the Nutters again; occasions to do so have been altogether too rare lately!
Thanks to all who joined the gathering at the pub - a very enjoyable conversation.
Afterwards, LL and LL jr and I hit the shops for a while. The crowd was really gathering in the square for that guitar playing event. Anyone know if they achieved their record?
LL: Thanks for the free ride on the TTC. Hope you enjoyed getting what you paid for!
See you all again when Stewart comes to town for his book signing (HINT HINT). We have all agreed that we need to mount a major campaign to make sure that happens!

P.S. LL - I notice in your post you mention that there were 'dudes'! Made me laugh. The Nude abides!

[luddite lady]

[quote="Grace"]Agree with the postings to date. This was a really intimate little event. And I enjoyed seeing all the Nutters again; occasions to do so have been altogether too rare lately!
Thanks to all who joined the gathering at the pub - a very enjoyable conversation.
Afterwards, LL and LL jr and I hit the shops for a while. The crowd was really gathering in the square for that guitar playing event. Anyone know if they achieved their record?
LL: Thanks for the free ride on the TTC. Hope you enjoyed getting what you paid for!
See you all again when Stewart comes to town for his book signing (HINT HINT). We have all agreed that we need to mount a major campaign to make sure that happens!

P.S. LL - I notice in your post you mention that there were 'dudes'! Made me laugh. The Nude abides![/quote]

HAHAHAHA! I didn't notice that dude thing. I wish some of the nudes had been dudes! I should never touch a keyboard before my morning coffee.

The guitar thing cracked me up. A big Luminato event on Saturday was an attempt to break the Guiness record for the most guitarists playing a song together in the same place. They needed just over 1800 to break the record. When I was leaving downtown literally hundreds of people were converging on Yonge-Dundas Square with guitars in hand. If Andy was still out and about downtown, he must have thought that Torontonians are really in love with the guitar. I heard that they missed the mark by about 200 guitarists, but that everyone involved had a blast. The song they were playing was Niel Young's Helpless.

[Ska Man]

Hey I had a GREAT time at the discussion. Some very interesting things where said from my perspective. Oh yes it was nice to see Bongo Bwaay

[BongoBoy]

Ya listen to the Ting an Ting NuhMan ? Dat is some epic drums YO !

G'Waan, Big Up !

BB.

[Ska Man]

Yeh man I can barely keep up wid im The copy I had of this concert burned in a house fire back in 82' Isalvaged as much as I could but hey.... listening to it was a blast to the past bwaay yuh made my day

[BongoBoy]

Sweet !

me work ere is dunn !!!

Yes I !!!

BB.

[luddite lady]

OK. I know I'm getting a little obsessive about this. Nonetheless, I just came across an article about Andy's photography that will appear in Wednesday's Globe and Mail. It quotes heavily from Saturday's panel discussion. Here's the link to the article.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/art ... le1175353/

Enjoy.

[DirtyMartini]

Thanks for the info, Toronto.