I Am Not Making This Up

For those who know me, my Hierarchy is extensive. There's the main Hierarchy and the sub-hierarchies. Growing up, the Favorite Writer Hierarchy had one name and one name only: Dave Barry. Dave Barry is a humor writer, and a good enough one to win the Pulitzer Prize. I heart him. His column was the first thing I read every Sunday morning. It wouldn't be Christmas unless Santa bought the new Dave Barry book. He was the best.

When I was a senior in college, he was having a signing at Brookline Booksmith promoting his first novel, "Big Trouble". Not going was not an option. The problem was that his appearance was at the same time as a class. This was a conflict because I had never been late for a class, nevermind skipping one outright. But this was senior year, and this was my favorite writer, so I opted to skip to see Dave Barry.

Meeting him was great. He was very nice and I made him laugh, which I was quite proud of. I even got to have my picture with him, which I have to honestly say, is the greatest photograph I have ever taken (Man, I wish I still looked like this). Circa September 1999:



Now, eight years later, much has changed. Dave Barry stopped his column. There isn't always a new humor book every year. David Sedaris, Sarah Vowell and Tony Kornhesier surpassed him on the Favorite Writer Hierarchy. Yet, when I read that he was going to be at the Union Square Barnes & Noble tonight promoting his new book, I couldn't resist going.

I got a seat right up front. By the time he came out, all the seats were filled. He informed us today was Talk Like a Pirate Day, so we all gave an enthusiastic "Arrrrggghhhh!!". He told us about getting older, AARP, and how he got his start. He was hysterical and it's been quite some time since I've laughed so hard. He asked us trivia question and the prize was a "Dave Barry for President" bumper sticker. I won one by knowing the name of the Clinton's dog (Buddy).



He did a Q&A before the book signing. Knowing he is good friends with Gene Weingarten, I told him that I was one of Gene's "I Heart Gene" chatters and asked about the screenplay they were writing. I also asked if the publishers put him up at the Hotel Shpennsylvania (a reference to my ALL-TIME favorite column: http://fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=1&tid=34939126). He laughed and signed the book and bumper sticker.

I was on the PATH before reading what he wrote. It brought a big smile to my face:



Shameless flattery definitely propels him back to the top of the Hierarchy.

Quote of the Day:
"Pez. It doesn't matter if it's a candy -- it could be a construction material for all we know -- but it comes out of Popeye's mouth and that's cool" -Dave Barry