Saturday, February 20, 2010

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,
  
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 
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!

9 comments:

  1. The more I read Rice's blog, the more I wonder why she does not have her own reality show. You know, to uplift the genre. Don't you think people would tune in to watch Rice do an extreme makeover in creative space?

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  2. oh, wow, toni--this is fabulous! what a lot of time you spent uploading the photos and remembering the evening--thank you SO much! because, of course, i haven't done any of that yet. i'm so glad you did--can 't wait until The EGE gets out of the shower so he can see these~~

    it was sooo good to finally meet you In Real Life, but you know, the one thing i gotta say, the one thing that's in my head is, "damn, those are some fine-looking men!" (and thanks for that last shot of them, which is priceless, and which i'm going to beg for you to send me large and let me use).

    basketball? eh, you'll probably have to make it tennis, but come on over!

    XO

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  3. Great post Toni, what fun we had! Can't wait to get together again, it won't be the same without Ricë and EGE but I'm sure we can find some kind of trouble. It was a blast meeting you and Double BB.

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  4. wow Toni!
    what a wonderful post of what clearly was a warm and delightful evening - just gobbling it up - like ice cream on a hot day... SF is one of my AZ haunts - can't wait to revisit... and Rice - be still my heart!!! and all that warm orange, mustard and pink - oh gosh - just swooning over the whole thing - lucky all of you...

    xox - eb.

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  5. Toni,
    I missed your name last night, but now I plan to stalk your blog. FABULOUS blog post, thanks for sharing the pics!
    Penney

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  6. Hi, Toni,
    Thanks for the post. I'm a big fan of Rice's, too. And I'm also taking Kelly's ALMBH class. Love those collages.

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  7. total fun....and great photos !
    and those tattoos....wow....I would have had to seen those up close myself !

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  8. Nice pictures and it looks like a great time was had by all!!! And... the EGE looks fantabulous in that hot pink shirt!
    Thanks for sharing, Emie

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  9. Awesome, Awesome, with a side dish of Awesome!!

    Yes to the two total turbo-hunks. Yes to the tattoos. Yes to the visuals. Whaaa to the only person not pictured? The one with the newly RED hair (haw chaw chaw, mamacita!) where was she?

    Come on, let's see it!

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