Oxford Trip Report
Oct. 29th, 2006 09:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fancycwabsI left to drive down to Oxford saturday around noon, figuring it'd take about two hours to get there, which it did, but only because I stopped for nutmeg at Penzey's. The trip back only took an hour and a half.
Gameday meant that finding a parking space was a bit of an adventure--I eventually found one hidden in a construction site that actually ended up being fairly convenient. From there it was a short walk to the town square,
where you can observe the scant parking yourself.
I had two and a half hours to kill before the reading, so I took a little walk around the square, checking out City Grocery, Ajax Diner, the various Square Bookses, and assorted other stores that have located themselves pretty conveniently for pedestrians. On the north side of the square is L&M Kitchen and Salumeria
which is run by a former assistant/charcuterie man for Maria Battali. Being gameday, it was unfortunately closed for lunch, otherwise I wouldn't be writing about the Rib Cage, which is located in the polar opposite location from the center of town square from L&M Kitchen. The ribs were not quite falling-off-the-bone tender, and were quite tasty with the thin, vinegary sauce. Better than a lot of joints here in town, and had the added advantage of having a decent beer (Blue Moon) on draft. From there I hit the Burgundy Room above Old Venice for a post-game gin and tonic, then back to my car to pick up the brandy that I'd brought along at Mr. Hodgman's request, and back to Square Books.
Square Books is really kinda tiny and cramped, but it does have a nice porch upstairs on which to relax.
I wondered how they would fit a booksigning in such a place, and noticed that all copied of Hodgman's book had vanished. An employee informed me that the booksigning was at "the other Square Books" which is technically called Off-Square Books, and is about five doors down. With three minutes to spare, I hoofed it down to the other place and darted in the door.
"Are you Randal?" Hodgman asked as I entered.
"Yes I am. I'm surprised you recognized me"
"You seemed to be walking in with intent." Also, I was the only one with a bottle-shaped bag. I passed the brandy and nutmeg, which ended up being useless, to Hodgman, who thanked me and made a couple of passing references to conversations from his website, and asked if anyone had cups, which the staff procured from the back.
Jonathan Coulton then warmed up the crowd--Hodgman suggested that he play "Ikea," but folks noted that there wasn't an Ikea anywhere within 400 miles of Oxford. Someone mentioned that there was a Wal-Mart in town, so Coulton ad-libbed a couple of phrases about Wal-Mart, and then launched into "Skullcrusher Mountain" and "Kennesaw Mountain Landis."
Mr. Hodgman then read from the book, including the title (with theme song), "Secrets of the Mall of America," and "What You Did Not Know About Hoboes."
The piece about hoboes concluded with a performance of "The Big Rock Candy Mountain," including the lost verses.
After this, we hadcommunion brandy, and listened to "Jokes That Have Never Produced Laughter."
This is doubtless the easiest part of the show, although normally they don't share the brandy.
Finally, the Q&A session, which Hodgman conducts via walkie-talkie. He had a mild couple of older southern gentlemen in the audience who had a certain je ne sais quoi about them, one of whom had identified himself as "John Hodgman" earlier in the program. From this man Hodgman borrowed a multi-colored visor
with no small number of threats to his person if the visor weren't returned. Another gentleman asked Hodgman if he'd ever seen a "swamp booger."
For my part, I asked him his opinion on Comedy Central yanking all his Daily Show clips from YouTube, which kinda threw him as he wasn't aware of it. I wasn't actually trying to be combative, and apologized during the signing period. Hodgman was gracious, and reimbursed me for the brandy and nutmeg (I think I owe him change), and everyone got chalk with which to make hobo signs.
Then, I drove back to Memphis, listening to way too much of the robotic voice doing a countdown to a format change on 94.1
Gameday meant that finding a parking space was a bit of an adventure--I eventually found one hidden in a construction site that actually ended up being fairly convenient. From there it was a short walk to the town square,
where you can observe the scant parking yourself.
I had two and a half hours to kill before the reading, so I took a little walk around the square, checking out City Grocery, Ajax Diner, the various Square Bookses, and assorted other stores that have located themselves pretty conveniently for pedestrians. On the north side of the square is L&M Kitchen and Salumeria
which is run by a former assistant/charcuterie man for Maria Battali. Being gameday, it was unfortunately closed for lunch, otherwise I wouldn't be writing about the Rib Cage, which is located in the polar opposite location from the center of town square from L&M Kitchen. The ribs were not quite falling-off-the-bone tender, and were quite tasty with the thin, vinegary sauce. Better than a lot of joints here in town, and had the added advantage of having a decent beer (Blue Moon) on draft. From there I hit the Burgundy Room above Old Venice for a post-game gin and tonic, then back to my car to pick up the brandy that I'd brought along at Mr. Hodgman's request, and back to Square Books.
Square Books is really kinda tiny and cramped, but it does have a nice porch upstairs on which to relax.
I wondered how they would fit a booksigning in such a place, and noticed that all copied of Hodgman's book had vanished. An employee informed me that the booksigning was at "the other Square Books" which is technically called Off-Square Books, and is about five doors down. With three minutes to spare, I hoofed it down to the other place and darted in the door.
"Are you Randal?" Hodgman asked as I entered.
"Yes I am. I'm surprised you recognized me"
"You seemed to be walking in with intent." Also, I was the only one with a bottle-shaped bag. I passed the brandy and nutmeg, which ended up being useless, to Hodgman, who thanked me and made a couple of passing references to conversations from his website, and asked if anyone had cups, which the staff procured from the back.
Jonathan Coulton then warmed up the crowd--Hodgman suggested that he play "Ikea," but folks noted that there wasn't an Ikea anywhere within 400 miles of Oxford. Someone mentioned that there was a Wal-Mart in town, so Coulton ad-libbed a couple of phrases about Wal-Mart, and then launched into "Skullcrusher Mountain" and "Kennesaw Mountain Landis."
Mr. Hodgman then read from the book, including the title (with theme song), "Secrets of the Mall of America," and "What You Did Not Know About Hoboes."
The piece about hoboes concluded with a performance of "The Big Rock Candy Mountain," including the lost verses.
After this, we had
This is doubtless the easiest part of the show, although normally they don't share the brandy.
Finally, the Q&A session, which Hodgman conducts via walkie-talkie. He had a mild couple of older southern gentlemen in the audience who had a certain je ne sais quoi about them, one of whom had identified himself as "John Hodgman" earlier in the program. From this man Hodgman borrowed a multi-colored visor
with no small number of threats to his person if the visor weren't returned. Another gentleman asked Hodgman if he'd ever seen a "swamp booger."
For my part, I asked him his opinion on Comedy Central yanking all his Daily Show clips from YouTube, which kinda threw him as he wasn't aware of it. I wasn't actually trying to be combative, and apologized during the signing period. Hodgman was gracious, and reimbursed me for the brandy and nutmeg (I think I owe him change), and everyone got chalk with which to make hobo signs.
Then, I drove back to Memphis, listening to way too much of the robotic voice doing a countdown to a format change on 94.1
