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Encounter With Ric Ocasek And My Stipula


betweenthelens

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Today, my husband and I were at Stormville, a big antiques market here in upstate New York. We were sitting having lunch and I nearly choked on my salad. "There's Ric Ocasek!" I shouted. My husband said, "Who?" "Ric Ocasek from The Cars!" "Oh," he said. Ric and Paulina live in the area and a few of my friends have seen them but this was a first for me.

 

My husband encouraged me to ask him for an autograph and although I was reticent as I don't like to encroach upon people's privacy, I was a little starstruck and went up to him and said, "Excuse me, do you give autographs?" I was so nervous as he said, "I can," and waited a beat. It felt like an eternity, wondering if he was going to walk off or...? Then he said, "Do you have a pen?" Well, I only happened to have my Stipula made for Levenger inked with Poussière de Lune and my Hobonichi planner, the latter of which I hastily opened. Ric signed my planner and said, "Nice pen." I told him I collect fountain pens and he said, "I like pens." I was going to attempt a philosophical discussion of fountain pens but thought I'd better leave him to continue his antiquing.

 

Aside from this, I found a beautiful traveling inkwell, an Esterbrook pen and an Esterbrook inkstand.

 

http://i1231.photobucket.com/albums/ee513/betweenthelens/10649949_10154489823430123_578259589136882220_n_zps94d5d6eb.jpg

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Thats awesome! A rock stars signature and some cool Esterbrook pieces. No selfies with the stars???

Edited by tringle
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Thats awesome! A rock stars signature and some cool Esterbrook pieces. No selfies with the stars???

 

Well, I had my iPhone with me but left it with my husband when I walked over to Ric. I didn't want to ask for too much. Maybe next time! ;)

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oh wow lucky you I remember the cars

I was so flustered, I told him I grew up listening to The Cars and said, "My first Cars album was Let's Go," but then I corrected myself and said, "I mean Candy-O," which was the album on which Let's Go was a single.

 

Great story, thanks for sharing.

 

Thank you! ;)

Life's the same; I'm living in stereo

Life's the same, except for my shoes.

;)

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Good for you to work up the courage to approach him and nice that he is appreciative of his fans.

They are up there in the top five of greatest debut albums ever.

Speaking of memories, it's been many decades since I have been to Stormville, I may have to go pen hunting up there.

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Good for you to work up the courage to approach him and nice that he is appreciative of his fans.

 

They are up there in the top five of greatest debut albums ever.

 

Speaking of memories, it's been many decades since I have been to Stormville, I may have to go pen hunting up there.

Thanks! I agree. What an awesome group!

 

I wouldn't go to Stormville, at least not tomorrow. I bought everything worth buying. Just kidding. ;)

I didn't visit every vendor and I'll bet I missed a few that had something worthwhile although one guy told me the pen people came through earlier this morning and bought everything. I asked him what they bought from him and he said,"Some Parkers." How vague but whatever. Where in NY are you? Hyde Park here, north of Poughkeepsie and south of Rhinebeck.

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Croton-on-Hudson here.

I was thinking about hitting Stormville maybe in the spring, just too busy with work right now to even think.

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Croton-on-Hudson here.

 

I was thinking about hitting Stormville maybe in the spring, just too busy with work right now to even think.

We're practically neighbors. Do you know about the Big Apple Pen Club?

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Just found out about them and I'm eagerly awaiting an e-mail about the next meeting.

Going to work hard to make time for that one. It's an easy commute on the Hudson Line for me.

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Just found out about them and I'm eagerly awaiting an e-mail about the next meeting.

 

Going to work hard to make time for that one. It's an easy commute on the Hudson Line for me.

Great! They're a great group and I love going in for the meetings. I'm missing this month's as my son starts 7th grade this Thursday and the meetings are usually on the first Thursday of the month. Going to try to head in for October's meeting, though. I take the train in as well. It is so easy and the meetings are very close to Grand Central, too. Sometimes I stay over if I don't feel like taking the late train home. Lots of weirdos sometimes. :P

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It's the weirdos that make it New York.

I know what you mean about the late trains, after a hockey game at the Garden I found myself waking up in New Hamburgh. It was the last train too.

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It's the weirdos that make it New York.

 

I know what you mean about the late trains, after a hockey game at the Garden I found myself waking up in New Hamburgh. It was the last train too.

True.

 

At least my stop is the end of the line and they'd kick me off, I suppose, if I'd fallen asleep. Still, I do stay awake on those late trains as one never knows. Sometimes there's a decent crowd but one time there was a Sid Vicious lookalike who wasn't too happy when I didn't respond to his invitation to have a drink in POK.

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It seems he was comfortable using a fountain pen. Looking him up on Wikipedia, I guess he was from a generation that might have used these in school.

 

If I recognized a famous person in public, I don't know if I'd approach him or her for an autograph. The opportunity has never arisen. Congratulations on how this encounter went. :thumbup:

"So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable creature, since it enables one to find or make a reason for everything one has a mind to do."

 

- Benjamin Franklin

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Cool!

;)

 

Tres cool. Congrats!

Thanks!

 

It seems he was comfortable using a fountain pen. Looking him up on Wikipedia, I guess he was from a generation that might have used these in school.

 

If I recognized a famous person in public, I don't know if I'd approach him or her for an autograph. The opportunity has never arisen. Congratulations on how this encounter went. :thumbup:

Thank you! I'm on the board of a non-profit and we have contributors to our organization who are in the public eye and who are "famous." I've been in proximity to them but wouldn't dream of asking them for an autograph so I don't know what came over me this time. It's odd how celebrity changes when one knows the people personally. They lose some of their mystique and that special aura surrounding them, especially when we realize that they're people just like us.

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