Nick Mason is AWESOME!

After roughly 13 years of being a Pink Floyd freak and having never seen not one of the members of the band in person, it was only obvious that I was going to be at Nick Mason's book signing and interview down in the Haight district. I left for it directly after work and arrived about an hour early so as to secure myself a good seat. Just left of the middle aisle, 5th row, with a clear view of Nick's seat. I was anxious, nervous and wondering what he looked like in person. I was probably shaking from my excitement but didn't realize it. Fans started coming in by the handful. It was a small venue, some little church on Waller St., so it wasn't going to fit many people. It was really an interesting group of people that arrived. Some old, some very young, some cool people and some who were obviously big dorks, with their Pink Floyd t-shirts tucked into their khaki pants and vinyl belts to hold them up. I began to flip through the book and caress the record I brought in for him to sign. "Meddle", an awesome album, and probably the best example of his drumming talent. I was hoping he'd sign the inner sleeve, right next to his picture. More on that later. A half hour passed, the room was moderately full by now of hippies, goth kids and normal folk. I could hear the "chaching" of the cash register they were using to sell copies of his book, people were randomly conversing over what they thought of the Floyd, what shows they'd been to and what other item they were going to have signed by him. I was jealous, having never seen them live. I wasn't a fan of theirs until 1995, after the Division Bell tour, and I was out of the country for Roger Waters tour a couple years ago. So I was in need of some physical manifestation of the band. And Nick, who has been the official spokesperson for the band for years now, was an excellent first. He walked in, non-chalant, as if he was just like everyone else. He was noticeably thinner, either from old age or from a diet, whatever it was he looked healthy and strong for his old age. The bookstore that was sponsoring the event immediately sat him down at a little table in the corner to sign a few dozen books for them to sell later on at the store. They then announced that he was going to sign a few books before the interview, I decided to wait until afterwards so I could have an unrushed slightly more personal encounter with the man. So I sat...and waited...patiently. The time for the interview had come, a rock n' roll columnist from the Chronicle was there to interview Nick, and did a descent job of asking him the normal questions that most interviewers do ask the members of the Floyd. What about Syd? What was it like (for this album)? How did Pink Floyd evolve? To which Nick gave most of his standard answers. It was interesting to hear him talk about Syd Barrett though, I've read his remarks about Syd's downfall, but hearing it from his mouth made it seem more sad. You could honestly hear a sense of guilt and/or remorse for what happened to Syd. But his therapy for the matter is that by deserting him they probably helped him out by just getting him out of the music business, which was the vehicle for his demise. They then turned to the audience for questions, no real interesting questions were asked. Mainly stuff that had been documented elsewhere, but the questioners hadn't read it obviously. I couldn't think of what to ask, having already known just about every detail about the band. So I just enjoyed being in his presence and voicing his answers. If you've seen "Live at Pompeii" and the interviews he does there he sounds exactly the same now, when he searches his mind for an answer to a question, he does a horse-gnaw motion with his mouth and an "ah" sound at the same time. It's comforting to know that somethings don't change. It was then time for the booksignings after the interview. A cool guy from Sonoma that I was sitting next too had the idea that we would take eachothers pictures with Nick when it came our turn. I handed my book and record to the bookstore worker who was the organizer of the signing, and he handed them to Nick. Stupid me, I forgot to hand the record to him opened to sign his picture, so he just signed the outside, which was fine, but I had a secret desire to have all Floyd at some point each sign next to their picture on the inside. Oh well! I hopped behind the table next to him, put my hand on his shoulder and said "Hey Nick, how's it going!" To which he replied "It's going pretty good, thanks!" We then both looked at the kid taking my picture and he took a couple snap shots. Sweeeeeeet. My first photo ever with a celebrity, this was the only occasion where I felt it was worth it. I then kindly thanked him and took the other guy's picture with him. My hand was shaking from the excitement, so I think it came out a little blurry, but he didn't care, he already had a couple pictures with him from other encounters. I walked away from the signing 1/4 fulfilled. There are still 3 other members of the band that I have to meet before I or they die. I hope I have that opportunity.