One Magical Evening

Well I'm back from my weekend in NYC!! It was a blast. Of course, the highlight was the J.K. Rowling book signing. I'm going to do a brief recap of that evening.

6:00 pm: Jeanne(my sister-in-law) and I leave the hotel and decide to walk the 6 blocks to Carnegie Hall. It has stopped raining and the air is still a little humid but it is a pleasant walk.

6:20 pm: and I arrive at Carnegie Hall. There is a crowd of people outside the front door as well as a line that stretches around the building. We go inside to pick up our tickets at the box office. No one is being admitted into the hall yet, but there are alot of fans taking pictures in the lobby. After receiving our tickets, we go back outside (it's less crowded) and wait to be admitted. There is a definite buzz permeating from the crowd. You can almost taste the anticipation surrounding all the fans. I see children that can't be more than 8 years old dressed up as Harry and Hermione. There is a group of teenage girls wearing "I solemnly swear I am up to no good" t-shirts. Despite the fact that Scholastic is giving everyone a free copy of "The Deathly Hallows" to be signed, quite a few people are optioning to have a copy of their own book to be signed.

6:30 pm: They begin to let everyone enter the hall. Our seats are in the 2nd Dress Circle level and we are slightly center right of the stage. The stage is empty except for a golden throne with red velvet cushions in the center and a large video screen behind it. The theme from the movies fills the air and despite the announces that flash photography is prohibited, everyone has their cameras out and is flashing away (except for me because I've always been afraid of that PA voice).

7:00pm: There is one final warning against flash photography and cell phone use (everyone follows my lead this time) and the lights dim. The crowd roars and the intimidating PA voice welcomes everyone and introduces Keith Olbermann. He takes the stage and gives a wonderful speech about what an exciting evening we have in store for us. He also shares a little story about how his favorite book as a youngster was James and the Giant Peach and that he wrote a letter to Roald Dahl and Mr. Dahl wrote him a response. He went on to say that we were luckier because we get to meet J.K. Rowling. He then talked about the Harry Potter phenomenon and the extraordinary ability that J.K. Rowling had to pull children away from the noise of their televisions and videogames into the quiet of their imaginations through her books. Then he showed a video retrospective of the Harry Potter phenomenon.

7:20 pm: The video ends and Olbermann introduces J.K. Rowling who walks on stage to a standing ovation. She waves to the crowd and then sits down on the throne. She tells everyone what a thrill it is for her to read a passage from the book to her fans. She explains that it is difficult to choose a passage that won't give too much away in case some people haven't read the book yet(although I don't think she had to worry with this crowd). Ms. Rowling then states that she has never read the passage she chose in public before. It is the part right after Ron has destroyed the locket and saved Harry from drowning. Ms. Rowling gave a beautiful reading. She gave each character a distinctive voice and read each sentence with precision and careful determination. The crowd responded with laughter and applause and Ms. Rowling even appeared to get choked up because of our enthusiasm for the reading. She ended the passage to another standing ovation.

7:45 pm: The question and answer session began. Pre-selected attendees approached a mike in the main aisles , stated their name, where they were from, and their question. The question and answer that had the whole place buzzing was whether Dumbledore had ever found love? J.K. Rowling stated that Dumbledore was gay and had fallen in love with Grindelwald. The crowd reacted very positively with loud applause. She also told of how she was at a script read-through for the 6th movie and there was a line where Dumbledore was telling Harry he knew a girl once with flowing hair and Ms. Rowling had to write in the margin for the screenwriter "Dumbledore's gay!" Another question and answer that I found intriguing was the first one of the evening. A young girl asked Ms. Rowling if there was a question that she was afraid to answer before the series was complete. Ms. Rowling replied that there was one question she was hoping no one would ask, and to her amazement, no one ever did. No one ever asked about Dumbledore's wand. She said that she always got questions about everyone else's wand, but never Dumbledore's. She was afraid that if someone inquired about the nature of his wand or what it was made from, she would probably have to reply it was made from Elder and be forced to change the name of the wand in the book. The Q&A went on for about an hour. I was amazed at all of the questions. They all seemed well thought out and never trivial. Ms. Rowling answered every question very directly and never shied away from an answer, with one exception. A very young girl from Hawaii asked Ms. Rowling what kind of charms Aberforth Dumbledore was performing on goats to get him prosecuted? Ms. Rowling asked the young girl how old she was (8 years old). Ms. Rowling paused a moment and then proceeded to answer that Aberforth was probably trying to make a cleaner goat with curly horns and then she claimed "and that is my answer to you," to which the entire audience laughed. A list of most of the questions and answers can be found at the-leaky-cauldron.org.
8:45 pm: The Q@A ends and Rowling leaves to limber up in preparation for the book signing. A table is set up in front of the stage and Ms. Rowling reemerges about 10 minutes later and begins the marathon book signing session. The audience is lead up to the table by seating section and files past Ms. Rowling to receive their signed book.

9:45 pm: I finally reach the table and as I walk past Ms. Rowling, I tell her that it was an incredible evening and she says "thanks for coming!" and gives me my book.

So I am now the proud owner of a signed copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and the memories of one of the best evenings of my life!! The paper also did a story about me and the other two local winners. You can read it here.