The Two Spocks

We already had reservations to attend another event when I read in the newspaper that Zachary Quinto, who played Spock in last year’s Star Trek movie, was going to interview the original Spock, Leonard Nimoy, about his latest photography project, "Secret Selves," at the Hammer Museum.  I emailed Tim immediately to say there had been a sudden change of plans.  He told me to go have fun.

Located in Westwood a few blocks from campus, the Hammer is one of UCLA’s many museums/galleries.  The outside is very imposing—a big concrete, steel and glass box that seems impenetrable.  But inside, the box opens to the sky as the exterior of the building surrounds a lovely open-air atrium with trees and a small cafe.  To me, the space has always seemed more like something you’d find in NYC than Los Angeles.

The event was free, so I left almost two hours early in anticipation of a big crowd.  Sure enough, there were about 100 people in line by the time I got there.  Still, I got an excellent seat—one of the advantages of going to these types of things alone.  I had plenty of time to observe the audience, many of whom wore Star Trek regalia, including jackets, t-shirts and one woman attired in a full 24th-century star fleet uniform—completely inappropriate, I thought, for a program about Nimoy’s artwork.

Nimoy was introduced shortly after 7PM and commenced explaining his artistic process.  Seems he recently became interested in the Greek notion of humans once having four arms, four legs and two heads, until Zeus split them in half, forcing us to constantly search for our other selves.  Wondering what this might look like photographically, he asked the R. Michelson gallery, where most of his art is exhibited, to find 100 people who’d be willing to reveal their “secret selves” to his camera.  Nimoy then showed us a 40-minute film of his sessions with 25 of these people.

To say that these were deeply intimate encounters with folks who have fascinating and—sometimes very touching—alternate lives would be a huge understatement.  The film opened with a children’s book illustrator, standing in his underwear, holding an electric guitar.  His fantasy self: to be a rock star.  Others included the former Junior League president who was physically and mentally abused by her husband (she appears wearing boxing gloves in her photo), a graphic designer who is portrayed as an angel, a transvestite who wants to be Rita Hayworth, and a sailor who sees himself as Superman.  (Click here to view all 25 photos, plus clips from the film). It must have taken great courage for these people to participate in this project. The audience laughed many times throughout the short film, but Nimoy never once acted as if his subjects were strange or ridiculous.

After the screening, Nimoy reemerged alongside Zach Quinto as the two started chatting like old friends.  They talked about acting and the secrets performers create about the characters they’re depicting.  They also talked about Spock and the sometimes unwanted celebrity he has brought them.  (Nimoy had famously said to Quinto, "I do hope you know what you're getting into," when the younger man agreed to play Spock in last year's movie.)  It was really quite wonderful listening to two such popular actors discuss their craft candidly and so intelligently.

I highly recommend watching the podcast of their conversation, which will eventually be posted on the Hammer website, but be sure to stop once the Q&A is opened up to the audience.  A trekkie myself, of course, I tend to be very tolerant of fan questions; but even by my lax standards these were far more idiotic than usual (e.g., “How do you both feel when you see yourselves as action figures?”).  Ugh!

Hero Complex: Leonard Nimoy

I’ve seen Star Trek’s William Shatner in-person many times, including an up-close-and-personal encounter several years ago in a radio show green room (thanks Tim!). But I’ve only seen his co-star, Leonard Nimoy, three times: (1) at a “grand slam” Star Trek convention celebrating the show's 25th anniversary; (2) at a live reading of the fantasy novel The Lost World; and (3) at the BookExpo America convention two years ago. Shatner has managed to reinvent himself many times since the original TV show ended 42 years ago. Nimoy, however, will forever be Mr. Spock, arguably the most iconic television character of the 1960s.

This weekend the L.A. Times is sponsoring a film festival called “Hero Complex,” featuring well-loved science fiction movies and their directors. Last night was Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (STIV), starring and directed by Leonard Nimoy. The event was sold-out. Luckily I bought my ticket within five minutes of seeing the initial ad in the paper.

The movie started at 7PM. I arrived an hour early and was greeted by a long line already snaking around the theater’s lobby. The audience looked pretty normal for a Star Trek event--I only saw one person in uniform. I checked in, got my wristband and then took my place at the end of the line. The guy in front of me attempted to strike-up a conversation by saying he’d never seen STIV.

I took the bait.

“You’ve never seen Star Trek IV?” I asked incredulously. “How's that even possible?”

“I’m a Star Wars fan,” he explained.

“Well, they’re not mutually exclusive, ya know,” I retorted as patiently as I could.

“I know,” he said proudly, “but my friends are all either Star Trek or Star Wars fans, not both. You must be a trekkie!”

“Since 1966,” I said.

He pondered that bit of news for a while, then asked: “Here’s one for you: Next Generation or classic Trek?” referring to the first two series, which are often compared and debated.

I took a moment to respond. “The Next Generation is my favorite show, but I have great affection for the original series,” I said diplomatically. Obviously I was in no mood to argue the finer points of either show with someone so clueless. We proceeded into the theater in silence.

I own STIV on DVD and have watched it countless times. Still there was something exciting about seeing it on the big screen again, even if the quality wasn’t as good as my digital version at home. The story, which has the crew travelling back to 20th century San Francisco to retrieve a pair of humpback whales that are now extinct on 23rd-century earth, holds up well after all these years. In fact, the movie, which was released in 1986, remains one of my favorite ST films. Even Tim, who jokingly calls it “Star Trek: The Whales,” likes the film and he’s not much of a ST fan.

The audience was very engaged, laughing and clapping at all the right times, especially during the opening credits when all the actors’ names were listed. I was reminded that two cast members, DeForest Kelley (Bones) and James Doohan (Scotty), have already died. But the man of the hour was definitely Nimoy who, after the film ended, made a dramatic entrance at the back of the theater (where I was sitting!) and walked, with escorts, to the front stage. I leapt to my feet as everyone gave him a standing ovation.

Highlights of the interview are available elsewhere, so I won’t bore you with the details. Suffice it to say that Nimoy was terrific, responding thoughtfully to questions posed by L.A. Times columnist Geoff Boucher. Topics ranged everywhere from STIV to the original series to the 2009 ST movie, in which he played Spock for the last time, to his recurring role in the current TV show Fringe. The interview was supposed to last only 45 minutes; but Nimoy waved away the timekeeper and continued the conversation well after an hour. I was most pleased when he admitted he was now very comfortable with his legacy as Mr. Spock--this from the man who infamously wrote a controversial autobiography, I Am Not Spock, in 1975. Before leaving the stage, he admonished us all to “Live Long and Prosper” while flashing the Vulcan hand salute. Many of us returned the salute, while the rest just applauded wildly.

October 2009

Did you ever have one of those months when you were too busy to breathe, let alone post blog updates. That’s our October! Here’s a thumbnail review of what we’ve been up to . . .

Cosmic Conjunction (10/4): The season of giving started early this year with a benefit concert on the lawn outside the Griffith Observatory. Wolfgang Puck provided dinner (honey-stung chicken with heirloom tomato and peach salad, potatoes, a corn Madelin, and red velvet cake), while we listened to music selected and conducted by Arthur B. Rubinstein, best known for directing various movie and TV soundtracks. The highlight was a new composition, fittingly called “Observations,” narrated by Leonard Nimoy. Hearing Mr. Spock relate the story of the birth of the cosmos, under a glorious harvest moon, was complete heaven on earth!

Sports Museum (10/8): ESPN cosponsored a fundraiser at the Sports Museum of Los Angeles, so naturally we went even though we didn’t know much about the cause, Junior Achievement of Southern California, before entering the event. Turns out both the Junior Achievement, a volunteer-based organization that teaches kids financial literacy, and the Museum, a 32,000 square-foot facility that holds the largest private collection of sports memorabilia in the world, were fabulous. Plus we got to see basketball great Kareem Abdul Jabbar, who apparently just stopped by for a snack. He’s very tall! For more details, click here.

Cocktails at Union Station (10/10): One of Tim’s favorite food critics is Pulitzer Prize winner Jonathan Gold, columnist for the L.A. Weekly. We’re also big fans of Zócalo Public Square, a nonprofit that presents local lectures and screenings in an attempt to broaden civic discourse. Their programs are provocative and always free. To help support Zócalo, Jonathan Gold hosted a cocktail party fundraiser at Union Station, one of downtown L.A.’s most beautiful architectural landmarks. Catering the event were several of the city’s trendiest restaurants: Mozza, Cut, Church & State, Palate, Providence, The Gorbals, Comme Ça, and Rivera. Tim is more a beer man and I don’t drink alcohol at all, so the whole cocktail thing was lost on us. But we did pretty much get drunk on the food: pig burgers (yum!), bufala & alici salad, bacon-wrapped Matzo balls, tortilla florales, and butterscotch budino. Tim also tried the pork terrine with pickled shitake, clam fritters, tuna tartare, and steak tartare sliders—all of which are outside my particular (some would say “peculiar”) taste palate. The best part was sharing a small table with Kevin Roderick, author of two of our fave L.A. books, Wilshire Boulevard and The San Fernando Valley. We managed to talk to him quite normally without gushing like the two star-struck fans we were.

Hollyhock House (10/13): A few days later, we got the opportunity to attend a preview screening of Visual Acoustics, a new documentary about our architectural photography hero Julius Shulman. The movie was screened at Barnsdall Park in east Hollywood, site of Frank Lloyd Wright’s famous Hollyhock House. Although both of us have lived in Los Angeles almost our entire lives, neither of us had ever toured the Hollyhock House, so we were thrilled to see the film as well as one of Wright’s most famous L.A. masterpieces—and all on the same night. Built of concrete, the house was magnificent, if a bit sterile (typical FLW). The doc was wonderful, too, and made us even sadder that Julius had just recently passed away.

Actors' Gang benefit (10/17): Though Tim had by now declared “no more fundraisers!,” even he couldn’t resist half-price tickets to a Sarah Silverman and Tenacious D concert benefiting the Actors' Gang, a Culver City-based theatrical group directed by Oscar-winner Tim Robbins. The event was held at the intimate Ivy Station, a former trolley stop that now houses a 99-seat theater. It was quite the scene. Not only were we on the older end of the demographic spectrum, we also didn’t wear black, which is apparently the hip color for young concertgoers. I may not have been cool, but at least I didn’t roast (like everyone else!) in my pink summer dress. Tenacious D was outrageous. Led by insane comedic actor Jack Black, the two-person group performed hysterical heavy metal parodies on acoustic guitars, while most of the audience sang along. I loved every minute.

Paul Shaffer (10/21): Pianist extraordinaire Paul Shaffer has lots of stories to tell. As the former bandleader on Saturday Night Live and David Letterman’s musical director for the past 27 years, he’s met and played with almost every rock and pop star alive today, plus a few who are no longer living. On Wednesday, he made a stop at the Grammy Museum to recount some of the stories found in his new book, We’ll Be Here for the Rest of Our Lives: A Swingin’ Show-Biz Saga. We couldn’t resist seeing him. And lucky for us, too, because he was absolutely terrific—very funny and a brilliant raconteur. I can’t wait to read his book.

So that’s it so far. There are still five days left in October. Tim is hoping the Angels will make it into the World Series and I’ve got a big conference at the end of the week. But the really big news, which I’ll probably blog about next, is that, on top of everything else, we’re remodeling our garage! Stay tuned for news about the demolition later this week . . .

BookExpo America

For those of us who love books, the annual BookExpo America (BEA) show is heaven on earth. Not only does every major—and many a minor—publisher exhibit at BEA, but most of the books they display are free for the taking.

Although BookExpo usually happens in cities east of Chicago, the show does occasionally come to the west coast. I marked my calendar immediately (six months ago) when I heard it was coming to the L.A. convention center, May 29-June 1. I then bought passes for both Tim and me.

We arrived, each carrying a large canvas bag, just as the doors opened at 9AM on Saturday. A small swing band and dancers greeted us as we walked in. Only momentarily distracted, we quickly proceeded up the escalator alongside hundreds of other book-lovers.

The biggest book show in North America, BEA is so enormous that it fills both buildings of L.A.’s gigantic convention center. Each hall was ablaze with larger-than-life ads and posters of titles to be released later this year. On the floor of most of the booths were artfully-arranged stacks of free galleys (i.e., preprint copies of books). Overwhelmed by possibility, we decided to start at the left end of the hall and walked up and down each row until we’d visited every exhibit in the place. My first acquisition: “Fences, Arbors, and Trellises: Plan, Design, Build,” a DIY book from Creative Homeowners. Tim grabbed “Mexican American Mojo: Popular Music, Dance, and Urban Culture in Los Angeles, 1935-1968.”

My eyes were so focused downward, in search of new books, that I almost ran into a dazed-looking woman who had never been to BEA before.

“Are all these books free?” she asked incredulously.

“Yes!” I exclaimed. “Now go get a bag and start filling it up!”

By lunchtime, Tim and I were so loaded down with bootie that we had to run out to the car to empty our bags.

Besides free books, BEA also features authors, book-signings, and “educational programs” (i.e., panel discussions on various topics). Former L.A. Times writer Rick Wartzman, whom I had met a couple years ago when he was doing research for his latest book, “Obscene in the Extreme: The Burning and Banning of John Steinbeck’s ‘The Grapes of Wrath,’” was speaking about censorship at 11AM, so we tore ourselves away from the exhibit hall and headed upstairs. Several library friends and colleagues were already there.

Rick talked about his book, which is due to be released this fall, and ended with a quote by Gretchen Knief, the librarian I had helped him research. I was absolutely thrilled. As soon as the program ended, I shot out of my seat to speak to him.

I was just about to reintroduce myself, when Rick spoke first, saying he had recognized me in the audience. He then added that I was cited in his book! Tim and I immediately ran downstairs to snag a preview copy and look for my name!

As wonderful as it was to have Rick Wartzman remember me, it was even more exciting when I discovered that Leonard Nimoy, my favorite classic “Star Trek” character Mr. Spock, was signing his latest book at 1PM. Tim and I zipped over to booth #2110, fifteen minutes early. Nimoy was already hard at work signing and schmoozing with his fans. I rushed to get on line, but the queue of people snaked halfway through the hall. We decided to just snap a photo instead.

Exhausted, with not an ounce of adrenaline left in our bodies, we hobbled to the secret “librarians-only lounge,” organized by “Library Journal,” the oldest and most popular publication in the profession. There we noshed on pastries, chatted with colleagues and generally relaxed until it was time to enter the fray once again. Turns out my other favorite classic Trek hero, William Shatner, was signing his latest book at 3PM.

We dashed over to the St. Martin’s Press booth at 2:30PM. But the line was already twice as long as Nimoy’s had been, so we looked at a few more exhibits and then headed home. The back of our small Honda was overflowing with loot: historical novels; a guide to dating vampires; uncensored scripts of one of our fave TV shows, “Rescue Me;” a weeper about Dewey the library cat; Philip Roth’s latest book; and several travel guides to Los Angeles. Who says books are an endangered species?