Rice Freeman-Zachery at Frenzy Stamper

 

The Place:  Frenzy Stamper,Scottsdale, AZ

The time:  5:50 p.m.

The Hostess (& Shopping/Workshop Enabler):  

Debbie, Frenzy Stamper Proprietor

 

The Coveted Object of Our Friday evening quest:

Rice Freeman-Zachery's newly published book,

Creative Time and Space:  Making Room for Making Art

  

Or, in my case,

the author herself.

I, too, dressed in orange, in her honor,

my hair recently colored red!

Double BB, my curious consort,

wore his pale tangerine shirt.

Some occasions just warrant going all out!

Rice's publications, new and older,

awaiting us - tabletop.

My fellow questers, 

sitting around the table,

all of us chatting,

sharing stories of our jewelry,

travel experiences,

film recommendations

(GO SEE/RENT THE HANGOVER)

On the left, above?  

With the to-die-for hair?

Traci from Tempe, 

someone I'd also arranged to meet

personally for the first time.

Even Double BB said,

'Hey, next time you change up your head,

try that style, would ya?'

 

More friends of Rice, her books;

Rice's gawgeous orange hair at bottom.

Much as I love her hair,

I was even more enthralled by her tattoo art.

And every piece of jewelry comes with a story!

Rice, in case you couldn't guess already,

is a serious story teller, 

of the oral as well as written tradition!

 

File folders with truth telling labels, 

at last!

I suggested "uber crap".

Another friend recommended "big steaming pile of crap."

Rice's favorite, in hand.

 

Rice's favorite,

& some tomfoolery!

A group of women and no tomfoolery?

Yea -- not!

It's The EGE to the rescue!

The Ever Gorgeous Earl slays the

Total Crap Folder Wielding Fan!

(not really, but it sounds good)

In fact,

a more warm, engaging & smiling man

would be hard-pressed to meet.

 

Except ... wait a minute ...

Double BB was there!

The EGE here models attire dyed by

his fabric art queen herself, 

Rice.

& Double BB in tangerine -- yummmmm.

I said 'Gimme Beautiful!' for this pose;

all I got was 'cool'

(beautiful being self-evident, dontcha know).

Uh Huh -- Coupla Bad A**es -- yup.

More like 

two awesome scoops of 'warm, engaging & laughing' manhood!

(& yes, also cool, & beautiful).

 

An autograph for moi,

in orange,

in the NEW book.

An autograph for Double BB

in my copy of her previous release.

And then, 

alas,

Double BB had to be fed,

so we hugged goodbyes all around

& moseyed out into the desert night,

with a serious case 

of the GRINS!!

* * * * * * * * * *

What impresses me most about all of this is

the realization that for me, 

for all of us there to meet her,

to have books signed, 

Rice and The Ege are just TWO people we are meeting.

We feel we 'know' her from her books, her art,

her podcast interviews with other artists;

that we know them both from Rice's 

incredibly humorous, raw and telling blog.

But at each of her stops on this book signing tour,

she is meeting skads of us, 

her admirers & followers,

and if my experience last night was any indication,

she and The EGE, 

both, 

are somehow able to make each of us 

feel known in return,

made individual, Seen, Recognized.

Of course that's not possible, 

for them to be able to absorb so many,

in so many places, 

but the grace of creating that connection

in the moment

is a lesson I learned last night,

and something I hope to effect,

convey, 

improve upon 

in each of my daily interactions.

As for Double BB,

he wants to set up a trip to Midland, Texas

and see 'bout shooting some hoops

with The EGE.

Earl?  that would be a challenge!

You say when!