HAPPY DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN

At least it seemed like that for a few minutes on Tuesday

Even though 2023 took Andre Braugher from us right before I walked out the door last night (and you can get all the way bent for not giving us a respite from terrible shit during the holidays, you asshole of a year), two things happened to me yesterday that restored my faith in humanity.

The first was a group therapy session via Zoom thanks to my friend Suzanne Finnamore (read her books! ALL OF THEM! But start with her newest memoir, MY DISAPPEARING MOTHER). Being able to share things with other compassionate women living through their own shit and receiving zero judgment was a gift I needed to my bones, but hadn’t sought out. There are things we just can’t share on social media, especially those of us who are glaring MAGA targets. There are things we don’t tell all of our friends in real life because they’re too hard and they also might look at us differently if they knew.

I had no idea how much I needed to release from my body, but when it was my turn, I sobbed—SOBBED!—in front of a screen full of strangers who instantly made me one of their own.

After that, I felt like I could fly.

Instead, I took a disco nap because I also had a spot on the guest list to see the one and only Henry Winkler last night in Portland and I wanted to be at full attention for every second of it.

I don’t have two nickels to rub together, but I am still the luckiest because I have wonderful friends who work at cool venues that other wonderful friends of mine happen to own.

Revolution Hall is just one of the many venues owned and operated by Portland music legend Jim Brunberg. I’ve known Jim since 2004, when I had my dream job on the radio and he was in the midst of turning Mississippi Studios from a small recording and performance space to the local legend it became and still is. He’s also responsible for Polaris Hall and Mendelssohn’s, which was recently named America’s Best New Bar by Esquire.

Ned Failing is the best drummer in town and one of the best humans alive. He’s in our beloved Low Bar Chorale band and also a manager at Rev Hall, which means he’s often pulling double duty on our Tuesday nights in ShowBar. It was at our last LBC of 2023 where I quietly asked Ned if there was a world where I could squeeze into Henry Winker’s appearance, and he said he would check for me.

Thanks to Ned, I got the last spot on the guest list. Free tickets don’t come with a free book, but thanks to the generosity of another good person I know, I was able to get one. I didn’t know if there was going to be a Meet & Greet, but I’d planned ahead anyway:

I brought a copy of my book, The Sound of Settling, to give to my fellow Emerson College alum/New York Jew/lifelong idol if there was a chance. I filled out one of the question cards provided by Powell’s and asked if I could give it to him as a Chanukah present, but the talk went so long that the moderator—Omar El Akkad, who barely had to ask any questions to prompt a 10 minute answer—couldn’t get to most of them.

But then he announced that Henry, the most generous of mensches, was going to take pictures with any and every member of the audience who lined up to do so. No autographs—the books all came with a signed bookplate—but no one said we couldn’t give the author of Being Henry any gifts.

And so when it was my turn, I introduced myself, and then for the next minute, I was held in Henry’s orbit and it was glorious. I gave him my book and then we took these amazing shots (I think I can credit Powell’s Kevin Sampsell for these, but also it happened so fast I don’t know who had my phone by then). Talk about the best Chanukah present!

I also know Henry didn’t “accidentally” leave my book behind because I got Twitter confirmation.

I don’t know if he’ll read The Sound Of Settling—despite being a prolific author himself, Henry has severe dyslexia that wasn’t diagnosed until he was 34—but his joy at receiving the book, the way he congratulated me on my accomplishment, felt like it came from a family member.

The Fonz has my book. Now if we could just get it to The Grohl, considering he was the inspo for it, that would really make my days extra happy.