Sharing our fan-family moment … Alton Brown, Good Eats Q&A at Frisco Barnes & Noble, Oct 2011
Alton Brown Q&A for Good Eats 3
Alton Brown made a stop near us on his Good Eats 3 signing tour, which allowed us to see him without a weekend trip away like the last two years we’ve seen him. There was a little less hoopla involved for us, but a lot less traveling, too!
We waited, bright and early, in line with 150+ other people for our wristbands – which were required to get an autographing. We were in the first group which meant we got front-row seating (which was fortuitous later in the story!).
Something we noticed was that no one talked to each other. You’d think a group of fans about a particular ‘ebrity of some sort would have a lot to talk about together, but everyone’s heads were stuck in an electronic (and a few real books). I know it’s the era we’re in now, where people would rather be in an electronic than talk to those around them, but it was kind of sad how distanced from each other we all were.
An hour before the talk was to begin, we saw Alton sneaking through the stacks, heading to the Starbucks for some coffee to perk himself up. And true to the reason for his Fanifesto, a fan had to go to him while he was trying to order. You just gotta leave the folks alone when they’re trying to be just folks, people!
A little early, without any fanfare, Alton shows up and let’s us know that he really just wants to chat and answer our questions – but didn’t want to be fussed at for deciding to stop making Good Eats. The following videos are MOST of what he did. I missed a few segments such as talking about how Morimoto is really faking the Japanese language thing (it gets cut off ).
(at 3:20 – that ‘kid’ is my kid! – and then yes, that’s me fussing at the other child who was having trouble with Alton NOT paying attention to his own sock puppet, which wasn’t even on his hand then)
He’s definitely become more polished over time, used to the same kinds of questions, and knows how to work the crowd.
He was gracious to sign our stuff, even Russ’ Rex-Spray bottle, looked us in the eye when he spoke to us. His assistant, Jim Pace (who plays the lawyer twin Twitchy on the show), took a couple of shots for us. Alton really dug the sock puppet – but didn’t sign it because he said the ink would just mess it up.
Alton’s a confessed Doctor Who fan, and was questioned at one point about why he stole Matt Smith’s wardrobe – and corrected the fan by saying, “I stole Doctor Who’s wardrobe.” So, Russ helped him finish that off by giving Alton a Fez. At first, he was really confused thinking we wanted him to sign it. When he understood that we meant it as a gift, he popped it on his head, said,”Thanks, man” – and that made Russ’ day?
We were 2nd in line to get signed – which was awesome, because we were out by 7:30….while Alton didn’t get out until after 1AM – there were THAT many people there, and he stayed for every one, then flew off to Austin for his appearance the next day. We’re thankful to Alton for the show he created, and how it enriched our family’s life and food, and wish him all the best!
My son is super excited to get to meet Alton Brown! can you tell? 🙂
If you’re a REAL fan of AB and want to read about our previous encounters with him – here are some on our old family blog:
An Evening with Alton – Austin Style
