storytime with dave (and his mom!)

If there's one thing I've learned from being a Foo Fighters fan for almost 20 years, it's that Dave Grohl likes to talk... a lot. But that's okay, because he's Dave Grohl and he tells great stories.


Today, at the LA Times Festival of Books, I had the awesome experience of hearing Dave and his mom, Virginia Hanlon Grohl, tell stories of his early years -- like how she dealt with letting her 17-year-old son drop out of school to go on tour with a punk band called Scream -- and the similarities and bonds she's formed with the other moms of now-famous musical artists she interviewed for her new book, "From Cradle to Stage: Stories from the Mothers Who Rocked and Raised Rock Stars." (I've started to read the book already -- going through all the Dave stories first - shocker! -- and it's a great read.)

Here's a snippet of their LA Times Main Stage "Conversation" Saturday afternoon, posted by Muse.

   

 And here's a bunch of my photos of animated Dave interviewing his mom and telling stories (while wearing a flannel shirt in 90-degree-heat without breaking a sweat!) 

UPDATE 5/14/17: Here's the full video of the session, posted by Muse 

are you there judy blume? it's me...a blubbering fan

Not to brag, but I've met a lot of celebrities thanks to my awesome early career as a kids entertainment journalist. Up until yesterday, there were only three celeb encounters I can remember that made me super-nervous....

1. Luc Robitaille -- aka the reason I love hockey -- who I interviewed in a locker room full of slightly undressed other hockey players, as his then-8-year-old stepson Steven (who is now a regular on The Vampire Diaries) threatened to throw pizza at me.
2. Brendan Fraser, who I interviewed for George of the Jungle and was first introduced to on set. You might remember his costume in that movie was a loin cloth and less than 4% bodyfat. Yep.
3. George Clooney, who I interviewed for Batman & Robin. Did I mention he's George Clooney? Enough said. 

Well, yesterday at the LA Times Festival of Books, I met the reason why I was inspired to put words to paper and eventually, through hard work, great connections and luck, found myself in the role of an entertainment writer and was able to act like a blubbering fool in front of those three hot guys -- the amazing Ms. Judy Blume! And, true to form, I acted like a blubbering fool in front of her too (although I wasn't as giddy as I was with Clooney... ). 

Standing in line waiting to reach the signing table, it hit me that I was about to meet my writing idol -- who, through her books, taught me about bras and periods (Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.), bullying (Blubber), sex (Forever), death (Tiger Eyes) and annoying little brothers who eat turtles (Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing)... which was kind of monumentally important when I read it because I had both a little brother and pet turtles at the time ;)

Judy Blume made me love reading! And I remember as a young teen wanting to write amazing books like hers...to be able to tell such true-to-life, yet throughly engrossing stories. So, as I stood there on a grassy lawn at USC, I tried really hard to think of something intelligent to say, that would somehow let her know how much she and her stories have meant me. 

I think what I eventually spit out as I found myself standing in front of her was something to the effect of "I read every one of you books as a kid and you inspired me to be a writer." 

"You're a writer now?" the amazing Judy Blume asked me.

Umm... "Well, I went into Journalism and now I work on websites," I blubbered out, all of the sudden ashamed that I haven't written my own version of Superfudge yet. 

"That can be very fulfilling," the amazing Judy Blume replied, trying to reassure me in her lovely way that it was okay I hadn't even written a Kim-version of her 47-page Freckle Juice yet.

And with that, she was done signing the copy of Summer Sisters I'd pulled from my bookshelf that morning, and the new hard copy of Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great I'd just purchased so I could have her sign something I'd read during my childhood, and I was shuttled along out of the line.

Argh.

This all just goes to show that there is a reason why I love to write: I suck at speaking.

But it doesn't really matter. I MET JUDY BLUME!!! And she was just like I'd hoped she'd be ... kind, funny, encouraging, a truly lovely human being.