Dayton, the Real Story
I’ll get into the whack attack in Dayton in a moment, but I wanted to take a moment to let you know that the annual Banned Books Week is coming up soon, September 29 to be exact. Follow the link to the 100 most frequently challenged books of the previous decade and then go out and unleash the rebel inside you. You don’t even have to wait until then. http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedbooksweek/bbwlinks/100mostfrequently.htm. Go on, what’s a little anarchy among friends?
So, Dayton …
Dee and DDD were schedule to pick me up at 7 a.m., but they ran into traffic so it was more like 8:30 when they got here. We got on the road after a quick stop at Panera (no, sadley Jenny wasn’t there, we looked). Dayton is a pretty straight shot west from where I live, just a quick cut through WV, PA and then WV before we hit Ohio. It was pretty uneventful except for the pit stops at the Cracker Barrel restaurants. One was for food, but Dee was collecting flamingo shirts and most stores were sold out. We did finally hit one in Zanesville that had a bunch and she pretty much cleaned them out. And if you don’t know why she wanted flamingo shirts, you are clearly new to our blog.
We hit the Dayton ‘burbs around 4:30 I think. I went to check in and was asked by the desk clerk if we were there to join the rest of the party. “Yes,” I replied, “we are.” She had been given instructions to pass along to us as to where to find the rest of our party. As it turned out, their room was just around the corner from ours so we discretely and ever so politely pounded like heck on their door before taking off at a dead run to our room. Well Dee and I did. We left poor DDD standing there when the door opened. She’s a good kid and took it all in stride. Dee and I wandered back and into the room to be grabbed and hugged and introduced to everyone we hadn’t met before. It was all a blur of arms and squeals. After warm greetings we went back to the room to deposit all our stuff and grab what we would need for the evening. Dee said something to me about OH being there and I confess I was a bit confused by new faces and asked which one. She said “the blonde.” So we get back to the other room and I’m looking around and the only blondes I see are Wapak (I remembered her because she had the photo of MAX! and JenB. That left me pretty confused. Turns out that OH is NOT a blonde and I have no idea who Dee was referring to.
We got our acts together and made it over to the Cheesecake Factory. Jenny and Bob had indicated that they wouldn’t be eating before the signing but some of us were pretty hungry so we were ordering food and beverages. I got the tiramisu cheesecake which is really to die for so you should get it the next time you’re at their restaraunt. We talked and laughed and caught up on everyone’s adventures on the way into Dayton all the while look in the direction of the door for J&B to show up. We really hoped they could make but knew that they had a schedule and it might not work out. Then we saw them both walk in and a few of us waved. They started over and around the corner of the partiition and then stopped gaped. There we were, 15 of us stretched out on either side of a long row of tables and Jenny says “Is this all you could get?” Clearly inspite of the long week her snark was still in fine form. I think GP already gave you the run down on that so I’ll move on to the bookstore.
The Books & Co. in Beavercreek, OH is a very cool two level store. It’s really gorgeous with a wide sweeping stair case up to the 2nd level which is bordered by wrought iron railing. I regret we didn’t get there early enough to browse more thoroughly because the store really deserved it. Instead we headed directly to the second story where the signing was to be held. We spotted the rows of chairs lined up right away and they were already filling in. In fact there was some doubt as to whether they had enough chairs available. But before tackling that problem we got distracted by the display of AGNES AND THE HITMAN. Here we are, doing what CherryBombs do best.
As you can see, we were all stocking up. That’s WapakGram facing you and I think Me (not I, but her) facing away. They had some copies of LOST GIRLS out, but not nearly enough and we let them know it. Some kind bookseller went to get more while another one took one look at the loads we were carrying and got us some baskets. What can I say; in spite of Wapak’s warning they clearly were not expecting us. 
In this next photo, from the left, DDD, Scope and Mandy. Look at that grin. She might be only recently down from the attic, but she’s definitely a CherryBomb.
As it turned out we did have to corral some more chairs. Everyone was supposed to be in front of Bob and Jenny but, rebels that we are, we arrayed ourselves off to one side. It made us easier for him and her to ignore us as a group. Okay left to right, I think that’s Bryan hiding behind the book, followed by RSS, Mandy and Christa. Christa is a friend of Lori’s. She was a good sport about our wackiness and we’re hoping she’ll stop by the B&G and say hello. 
Peeking out from behind RSS is OH and on her right is GP. And that person waving to you on the right is Dee wearing one of the flamingo shirts.
Standing left is CMS and on the right is Me. I mean her. 
And sitting in front is JenB.
And then there were these other two people whose names escape me at the moment but who spent the next hour trying to ignore us “touble makers” as Jenny put it. .JPG)
Of course we wore the title proudly. But we actually we’re pretty well behaved and even encouraged others to go ahead of us when it came time for the signing. Never let it be said that Crusie/Mayer fans are rude. Boisterous, yes; but not rude.
Following the signing we hung around for a few minutes and got a group pic taken with Bob and Jenny. GP already showed you that. I have to say that the Bob and Jenny show was very much a class act and although I know they had to be tired they were really great sports. As were were getting ready to leave, some of the Books & Co. folks came out with even more books for them to stock sign. Living the dream they might be, but they definitely have earned the life. After this, and excursions by some of us back to the Cheesecake Factory, we headed back to the hotel. Many things ensued. I’ll leave that for the next poster.
128 comments September 3rd, 2007