Posted by OU1313 at cld-oh5c-41.rasserver.net on November 09, 2001 at 04:29:19:
Wow, what a day.....
My friend Scott and I left Cleveland around 9am hoping
to get to Kent early and beat any crowd that may have
formed waiting for Kevin. I had heard stories about
people at IU showing up at 6am with a TV and DVD
player to keep them company on the long wait, so I
decided to be the early bird at Kent.
When we arrived there was no one, and I mean not a
soul had come early to line up, so Scott and I walked
around enjoying the campus and grabbing a bite. Around
4pm we decided to go inside to the ballroom and see if
there were any folks in line. Four people had shown
up, so I quickly became 5th in line.
The event was thought unlikely to sell out so Kent was
telling people who had called that day that they could
buy tickets at the door. One young lady named Rose
came up to the maybe 10 or so in the line who had
gathered and asked if we had an extra ticket seeing as
how the show had sold out. We didn't so we gave here a
piece of paper and she made a sign "37! KS tix
please!" The poor gal finally got a ticket after
numerous inquiries about whether or not her sign meant
she was willing to suck 37 dicks for a ticket!
After 3 and a half hours of waiting in line with some
of the funniest and hard core fans I have ever met we
got in. Front row, 10 feet away from the podium...it
was beautiful. I sat there with my Clerks comics,
Chasing Dogma and my sign that read "Thanks for
tonights Brain Discustion (in reference to that
website) -OU1313- Kent also made the mistake of
selling 1,400 tickets when the ballroom really only
holds 1,200 so we had to wait while seating
arrangements were made and everyone was settled, but
at 8:10 we all realized how worth the wait it all was.
Kevin took the stage with an enormous roar from the
crowd, making a few jokes about Kents history and the
fact that we were there to watch him of all people
while the President was speaking to the nation. Then
he told us since this visit was being taped for the
DVD, they needed to do some odd stuff, like filming
his departure first. We all played along as we watched
him walk off stage and the cameras rolled past our
faces.
He came back out and said, this is for you folks, I'm
not here to lecture because I really don't know how so
let's start with the questions. I was the first one up
to the mic and asked about the line in the Dogma
script about where God is initially supposed to answer
Bethany's question of "why are we all here" with the
statement of plastics. I understood that this was a
nod to the Graduate, but George Carlin also has a
standup routine wherein he uses the same line coming
from God. So I asked if he knew this when he wrote it.
It was quite the witty banter getting that question
out seeing as how both Kevin and I were interrupting
each other, but it was hilarious to all and then he
told the story of how he learned of Carlins routine
afterwards and was a bit uncomortable when he saw it
after casting him and had to answer the same question
when Carlin himself had asked.
The night contained many of the same stories a lot of
us had all heard before on this board, but it didn't
matter, because we were hearing them come out of
Kevin's mouth, live and in the flesh. The infamous
Prince story was indeed long, yet completely worth
it....I will never look at Prince the same way again,
not that many of us didn't already see him in a
strange light, but seriously, "Prince lives in Prince
world where the idea of the word no to one of his
requests is unfathomable."
The absolute highlight of the night is when a cast
member from Clerks showed up. The guy who says "Whadda
ya mean theres no ice! You mean I gotta drink this
coffee hot!" Kevin's face lit up and was in such a
suprised state as was the rest of the crowd. It was
touching to see such a commradary after all of these
years between the two men as Kevin asked how he had
wound up in Ohio and then received praise from the man
"you said you were going to make something of this and
look at you now."
Maybe an hour into the show we hear screams coming
from outside as 5 fans were begging to come in. Kevin
starts shouting back to them "are you okay?" They yell
back that their buddy deserted them with their tickets
and couldn't get in. Kevin asked the KSU people if
they could come in if they had tickets so some of the
crowd members walked up and gave Kevin their extra
tickets and the fans outside were let in. For
retribution they were made to climb up on stage and
dance to Jungle Love in place of Kevin who declined to
do so. (He said it would make him to much like our
little monkey boy "Dance monkey man! Dance!" came from
the crowd!)
Mid show, guess who calls, yes many of us were
expecting it, Mr. Mewes himself! Kevin kept trying to
tell Jay the name of the school but he just didn't get
it, I am assuming he was calling it something that
sounds like Kent instead (Cunt State!) He held the mic
up to the phone and we hear the man himself.
Afterwards he calls Jason Lee and he tells us about
the film he is working on now (Vanilla Sky).
Next came the most beautiful moment of the night for
me...Kevins cell phone died! He was talking about
Scott Mosiers recent investment in a macked out fully
loaded VW van to drive around the country in and
decides to call him and have him describe it to the
crowd, but his battery is dead. So who's phone does he
use? Oh ya, mine! I was totally flabbergasted, Kevin
was using my phone and talking to Scott fucking Mosier
on it! Nice, just damned nice!
The night was wrapping up and the oddities came out,
Kevin received a video homage to himself, a CD of some
local band, a coconut to give to Mewes (yipes, just
fucking yipes) and a marriage proposal for Silent Bob,
not Kevin, but Silent Bob in which the woman goes off
on a tangent about her ex husband who bought a $200
yo-yo which lead to their divorce! Kevin responds
"mam, Silent Bob is a fictional character,
fictional..." and then he refers back to the tattoo on
his arm which says "Jenny's" stating that is the one
and only wife he will ever have. Then she proceeds to
beg for sex from the crowd! SCARY!
Kevin made it very clear that he was there to talk and
not sign autographs, because answering Q's was much
more personal in his book. So thats what he did, he
answered questions like a champ until 1:15 am, again
having to be practically dragged off stage. As soon as
he said good night there was a mad rush to the stage
for his autograph and pictures.
Kevin was so right, after that 5 hour Q & A you really
do feel like you have just sat down and had a one on
one conversation with him. He his so devoted to his
fans and really does do everything in his power to
please the masses. He even gave a hug to an audience
member who looked like he was next to tears when
describing what Chasing Amy had meant to him. I swear,
he is a quality, quality man and I won't soon forget
this stellar "Evening with Kevin Smith."
In regards to the DVD one of the crew guys came out to the mic and told us that they had gotten some great stuff that they never saw before at the other schools and were very pleased with the crowd. Like 10 cameras had filmed me and my sign and even more took pictures, even with the crowd laughing at mine and Kevins dialogue I don't think I'll make the DVD, but here's to hoping right!
Much Love,
Nancy