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I Just Had a 15 Minute Conversation w/ KURT VONNEGUT!!!!

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Beetwasher Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-19-04 08:43 AM
Original message
I Just Had a 15 Minute Conversation w/ KURT VONNEGUT!!!!
He's been one of my top heroes for a long time and I've read everything he's written at least twice.

It's not the first time I've met him, but the first time I was so flabbergasted I barely was able to talk and merely shook his hand and told him it was an honor. This time I kept my composure we had a nice talk. He was very friendly, and very approachable, sitting on a bench smoking a Pall Mall.

Man, that made my day!
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NMDemDist2 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-19-04 08:44 AM
Response to Original message
1. more details please!! what did you talk about? eom
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Beetwasher Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-19-04 08:46 AM
Response to Reply #1
2. He Wanted to Know What I Did For a Living
We discussed that for a bit and also the sorry state of humanit. He remarked how both Mark Twain and Albert Einstein had essentially given up on the human race. I asked him if he had and he said that "we're certainly fucked up, pardon the technical term"
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demnan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-19-04 08:46 AM
Response to Original message
3. My grandmother dated his father
back in Indianapolis. I asked her one time why she didn't marry him. My father could have been Kurt Vonnegut.
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Onlooker Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-19-04 08:48 AM
Response to Reply #3
5. Maybe he was
;)
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catmandu57 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-19-04 08:46 AM
Response to Original message
4. Damn, aren't you lucky
I really envy you, I would probably just stammer if I met him.
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Ripley Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-19-04 08:49 AM
Response to Original message
6. LOL...he smokes Pall Malls!
I didn't even know they still made those.

What a great guy and still sharp as a tack...loved his recent article "Cold Turkey."
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BlueEyedSon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-19-04 09:06 AM
Response to Reply #6
22. ...which the dilettante suicides pronounce "Pell Mells"
:)
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BlueEyedSon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-19-04 08:49 AM
Response to Original message
7. You lucky....!
Edited on Wed May-19-04 08:51 AM by BlueEyedSon
I met him in March 13 in 1996 at the diner in SH LI. He was having coffee and reading his mail. It was before I was political, so I didn't have much to say :) . He was expressing his sympathy towards young writers who were breaking into the the field, it's not as "easy" as it used to be, he said.

He was my hero too (high school days)!
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wtmusic Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-19-04 08:50 AM
Response to Original message
8. Wow BW
That's major.

Cat's Cradle...what a novel.
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BlueEyedSon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-19-04 08:52 AM
Response to Reply #8
11. Do you have ANY DOUBT that if this admin had Ice 9
they would use it?

LOL!
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mark11727 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-19-04 08:57 AM
Response to Reply #8
15. I told my 13-year old son about Cat's Cradle...
...we agreed it would make one really sweet science fiction movie (if they don't f*ck it up!)
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wtmusic Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-19-04 09:16 AM
Response to Reply #15
26. Don't EVEN say that
Edited on Wed May-19-04 09:17 AM by wtmusic
because it will get made, and it would be fucked up (the only reason I would care is because some might get turned off from reading the book)
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AP Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-19-04 08:51 AM
Response to Original message
9. Where's the bench?
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Beetwasher Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-19-04 08:52 AM
Response to Reply #9
12. Near My Office
He lives in the neighborhood...
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AP Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-19-04 08:58 AM
Response to Reply #12
16. I'm just curious ... where does Vonegut live.
I feel like I should know this, but I don't.
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Beetwasher Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-19-04 08:58 AM
Response to Reply #16
17. Manhattan
n/t
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Misunderestimator Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-19-04 10:16 AM
Response to Reply #17
30. Oh man... I am so homesick for Manhattan... n/t
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Kazak Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-19-04 08:52 AM
Response to Original message
10. My hero too...
What did he have to say?
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Beetwasher Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-19-04 08:55 AM
Response to Reply #10
13. Twain and Eisntein Gave up on the Human Race
and he think we're pretty fucked up too!

We discussed birth control, population control (related to my work), the situation in the mid east, scotch...
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HootieMcBoob Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-19-04 09:06 AM
Response to Reply #13
21. you don't happen to work over near the U.N. do you?
just wondering :)
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Beetwasher Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-19-04 09:07 AM
Response to Reply #21
23. That Would Be
a logical deduction! ;-)
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Kazak Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-19-04 11:02 AM
Response to Reply #13
32. Did he happen to mention?..
if he is gonna write another book? No pressure, of course, but I'd love to know.
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Beetwasher Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-19-04 11:56 AM
Response to Reply #32
38. I Didn't Get to Ask
There are lot's of things I didn't get to ask!

Unfortunately in interviews I've read he's indicated he's not writing any more books.

Hopefully I'll see him again in the neighborhood and I will ask him myself though!
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SoFlaJet Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-19-04 08:56 AM
Response to Original message
14. Beetwasher
They say you should never meet your heroes.Well I'm still buzzing from meeting MY personal hero Bruce Springsteen who was nicer in person than I could have ever hoped.I am a musician and Bruce was eating in the place in March that I was working in Wellington Fl and I played two of his songs.After wards he sought me out and told me he never expected to hear those(obscure)songs"down here".He said I sounded good.I gave him my card and told him if he ever needed ANYTHING;a pick a pack of strings,or a hamburger at 4 in the morning just call and I'll be there,he said"that's nice man".Ain't it great?Makes the world seem a smaller place
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Beetwasher Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-19-04 09:01 AM
Response to Reply #14
18. Yeah, Bruce is Very Cool!
I'm also a big fan of Bruce and I've met him as well. I'm also a musician (singer/songwriter) so that was a biggie too! I used to work in the music industry, Columbia Records (his label) in fact, which is how I met him.
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Nlighten1 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-19-04 09:01 AM
Response to Original message
19. Lucky you.
I would just love to meet him.
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Blue-Jay Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-19-04 09:03 AM
Response to Original message
20. GET OUT!
I'd love to have a smoke with Kurt.

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natrat Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-19-04 09:14 AM
Response to Reply #20
24. The Sirens of Titan
is my all time favorite
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Beetwasher Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-19-04 10:08 AM
Response to Reply #24
28. I Love Them All
But that one has always been one of my top ones, though "God Bless You Mr. Rosewater" is also up there, and "Cats Cradle" and "Slaghterhouse..." of course....It's hard to pick a top favorite w/ KV's stuff!
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IrateCitizen Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-19-04 09:14 AM
Response to Original message
25. Damn, Russ -- I'm insanely jealous right now!
Kurt Vonnegut is, without a doubt my absolute favorite fictional writer of all time. I've never had anyone touch me through the written word in the way that he has. In fact, it was his writings and interviews that propelled me to look into socialist philosophy -- he's a huge fan of Eugene V. Debs.

I just finished Mother Night this week -- it was the last book he has written than I had not yet read.

Where about in Manhattan do you work? I wouldn't anticipate seeing him up here around Midtown, where I am.
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Beetwasher Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-19-04 09:25 AM
Response to Reply #25
27. Mother Night Is One of the Few Books
of his that was made into a movie along w/ Slaughterhouse 5 and Brkfst of Champions. Of the three, Mother Night was the best. I would recommend seeing it especially if you just read the book. It's damn good for an adaption and it stars Nick Nolte and John Goodman, both were terrific in it. Vonnegut also makes a cameo!

I work at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza...
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BigMcLargehuge Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-19-04 11:30 AM
Response to Reply #27
35. Mother Night was great
just fantastic
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bleedingheart Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-19-04 10:11 AM
Response to Original message
29. I attended a lecture 12 years ago that he gave...it was
amazing...he was really funny and so logical...
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Gregorian Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-19-04 10:57 AM
Response to Original message
31. Beetwasher, I want to get in touch with you
I don't have enough posts to PM or email you though.

Your post is more theraputic for me than I can say here.

Can you PM or email me?

I have a couple of questions I'd like to ask.

Thanks!
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Beetwasher Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-19-04 11:55 AM
Response to Reply #31
36. I'm Unable to PM you
But go ahead and ask the questions, or is it something you don't want to discuss in the open?
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trof Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-19-04 11:21 AM
Response to Original message
33. "They are being treated like toys a rich kid got for Christmas."
My favorite recent quote:

"But I know now that there is not a chance in hell of America’s becoming humane and reasonable. Because power corrupts us, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Human beings are chimpanzees who get crazy drunk on power. By saying that our leaders are power-drunk chimpanzees, am I in danger of wrecking the morale of our soldiers fighting and dying in the Middle East? Their morale, like so many bodies, is already shot to pieces. They are being treated, as I never was, like toys a rich kid got for Christmas."
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Beetwasher Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-19-04 01:18 PM
Response to Reply #33
42. I Told Him That I Had Just Read That Article
and that it was all over the internet.

I should have plugged DU to him at that point, but I didn't! Sorry all! Next time!
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bpilgrim Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-19-04 11:28 AM
Response to Original message
34. wow! does he SURF?
does he know about DU?

peace
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Beetwasher Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-19-04 11:57 AM
Response to Reply #34
40. Didn't Get to Ask
I will next time though! Hopefully I'll bump into him again!
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leftofthedial Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-19-04 11:56 AM
Response to Original message
37. wow!
good for you!
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BurtWorm Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-19-04 11:56 AM
Response to Original message
39. Lucky dog!
How does his health seem?
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Beetwasher Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-19-04 11:57 AM
Response to Reply #39
41. He Seemed OK
Still chain smoking Pall Mall's though and sharp as a tack!
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