An American Tune

Last year while Peter was walking in a circle with his fellow WGA members because he was on strike, he met a lot of interesting people. One of these people was a gentleman named Michael Brumm who happens to be one of the writers on the Colbert Report. They had a lot of fun talking while walking and Michael told Peter that once things got back to normal that he would be willing to get us into the Colbert Report when we had time.

Well last night we finally took Mr. Brumm up on his kind offer. While we were getting ready we had on Comedy Central and an ad for the Colbert Report came up with the announcer informing us that Stephen's guest that night would be Paul Simon. Both our jaws dropped. We were going to hear Paul Simon and not the one with the bow tie either.

We got there early and found out where they tape the show. The wind was whipping through the streets and the temperature was dropping like a rock. We went to a books store to warm up a bit and when we got back there was a little line. We then ended back up at the front of the line because they made it a double line. We got in and spent the next hour sitting and waiting while watching the best of Colbert. We would have been seated sooner but they had to do a sound check with Mr. Simon and it took a little longer than usual. No skin off of our nose. We were 2 of 107 audience members who were going to see Paul Simon perform.

We finally entered the studio itself. Boy it is tinier than I had imaging. But there was so much to look at. There is the outline on the floor where Stephen slipped and broke his wrist. There are the pictures of the fake doctors just under Stephen's honorary Doctorate. The set is full of little in jokes and yes the microwave that he took from Bill O'Reilly is on set and no one has programmed the time into it.

Before hand Mr. Colbert came out and talked to the audience answering questions. He talked about his recent Spiderman appearance.

Side Note: I do wish that people would give credit to Peter since he put Colbert in the Marvel Universe in Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman #15 which was the beginning of Colbert and Marvel's relationship. That little fact seems to have gotten lost in the shuffle. So spread the word people.

The show was wonderful. We got the Word which I have always enjoyed. He interviewed Paul Simon about Mr. Simon's new book called lyrics. Mr. Simon took Stephen's questions in stride so we still don't know what Julio was doing down at the school yard and he says he doesn't remember what was going on with Cecilia because it was the 60s and all that.

Then he sang "An American Tune" and you could have heard a pin drop. His voice is as strong and melodious as it ever was. It was just him and his guitar and the sheer power of his voice just washed over the crowd. It was amazing to listen to.

Then we got to hear something that was not on the show. Stephen and Paul sang Sounds of Silence together. Part of what they did will never see air but was really funny. Paul started playing it like he always does and it got a little high for Stephen who managed while singing to convey this to Paul. Paul told him not to worry that most professional singers can't achieve the original range. So he dropped it a bit and the two of them sang which was magic in itself and something I am probably always going to remember.

I am grateful to Mr. Brumm for getting us such good tickets for a wonderful show.

5 questions Meme from Booraven22

1. Leave me a comment saying you want to do the meme.
2. I'll respond by asking you five personal questions so I can get to know you better.
3. You should update your LJ with the answers to the questions.
4. You should include this explanation and offer to ask someone else in the post.
5. When others comment asking to be asked, you will ask them five questions.

I asked the awesome Booraven22 to give me 5 questions and here they are with my answers

1: What's one puppet you've not made yet that you really really want to get made?

It is part of a larger Costume Idea but I want to recreate the Dog from the Henson's series "The Storyteller". Either that or the Scary Godmother set I have had in my head for a while and permission from Jill to create

2: Do you get stage fright before a performance? How do you get over it, if you do? (I get it ALL THE TIME!)

I use to get it all the time and now I will get it occasionally esp. in a new situation. And honestly the way I got over it was putting myself in that situation of having to talk in front of a group or perform. The more I did it, the less I dreaded it. Probably because I have had things go horribly wrong and it was not that bad in the long term. Now talking in front of a group is not a biggie. I still get a rush of the butterflies right before I do a puppet performance.

3: What is one thing you hope your kids learn from you? That they'll hopefully pass on to their own kids?

To nurture that sense of wonder that little kids have. To give the chance to learn about the world around them with a sense of fun and fantasy. That and decent grammar.

4: What locale/time would you love to see on an ep of Doctor Who that they've not done yet? (That will inevitably be filmed in a Welsh Quarry! )

Historically, Jack the Ripper would be interesting. I wrote the one that I found the most interesting which was Jamie meeting William Wallace.

5: What is your most treasured memory of your family? (This can be from your childhood or your family now)

Oh boy. That is a tough one since I have so many of them. Caroline meeting all the Disney Princesses is pretty high up there for family now.

Childhood would probably be the Christmases on the farm.