Post by vanynessa on Jan 6, 2008 0:34:26 GMT -5
Okay, here it is guys, and you only had to wait one day for it, unlike my non-existant Tulsa report. This is our report from Alec's Amazing Artshow (haha, Triple A!!!) ENJOY!: 
All right, so my friend Tina and I went to Alec Egan's art show last night and had an incredible time. (Wow, what an understatement!!! We probably had the most amazing night of our lives.......haha, I'll go into details later, lol). For those of you that don't know, Alec is Kate Mulgrew's and Robert Egan's younger son. He is an up and coming artist with fascinating insights and ideas in today's world of art. He's an interesting person and like his mother is extremely kind and somewhat soft-spoken ( I know, I know, KATE SOFT SPOKEN??? Well when she isn't performing and it's just HER, just Kate, she actually is.) Tina lives in Portland, and since I've been wanting to meet her in person anyway, we thought Alec's art show would be a fun reason to meet up.
The weekend began with Tina picking me up from the airport with a Chenoa Janeway sign in tow, lol. (Chenoa Janeway was my Halloween alter Ego. My friend Cindy joked that I looked so much like Janeway in my costume that I could be her daughter. I said, NO.....I have brown eyes, so I would be her AND Chakotay's daughter, HAHA!! Janeway's hair and Chakotay's eyes......okay, enough with the JC and on with the blog). Tina and I shopped all day in downtown Portland, which is absolutely gorgeous. The mountains in the background, the lights downtown, the amazing shopping!!! And no sales tax, hell yeah!! It was a great day. We finished up a dinner at this charming Irish pub called Kell's, a place that Tina and I officially decided that we would invite Kate and Alec to after the art show. We ate yummy sweet-potato fries, got a pint of Guinness with a shamrock design in the foam, and marveled at the dollar bills and upside down Christmas trees on the ceiling. Then we went downstairs and talked half the night about Janeway/Chakotay stories and Convention stuff (some interesting stories from her Cleveland trip with Sarah and Mel, hee hee!)
As we are 100% Trekkie nerds and devote JCers, we stayed up late watching our favorite Voyager music videos (many of which Tina made, and WOW they were great!!) We finished off the night with a quick look at Resolutions. We focused on the famous "massage" scene. Tina showed me that Beltran almost busted out laughing and had to bite his lip from doing so, when Kate moaned during the massage. LMAO, I had never noticed that before, and he totally looked like he was going to laugh!! I guess her moan caught him off guard, hee hee- GO KATE!!
We went to the gallery the next morning to make sure we knew how to find it, and drank coffee (black, of course) as we watched the gallery through the window, hoping to catch a glimpse of Alec or Kate. Eventually Tina and I got the courage to knock on the gallery door and speak to the studio owner. Tina realized Alec was in overalls and working in the back. Then we went to Bridgeport Village shopping center to buy Voyager books. This idiot tried to back up in our long line of cars trying to get a parking space. The poor lady trying to leave couldn't even back up because he was in the way; the guy almost caused a wreck. Tina opened the window and yelled "move the f*ck ON!! She can't back up, a$$hole!!", LMAO!!! Tina is a New Yorker at heart, ha ha!! The guy got the hint and left, lol. The rest of us in our cars silently applauded.
We got back and got ready. We met Tina's awesome friend Timmy at the gallery around 4pm. Tina and I sat waiting for Timmy across the street in awe.....no, in SHOCK, as we realized that Kate was standing at the window of the gallery. We KNOW she's just a person, but we couldn't help it! She was dressed in all black, slacks and a fitted shirt with her hair pulled back in an elegant ponytail. The gallery (which was in slight disarray earlier from setting up) had been transformed into a beautiful space with flowers, wine, food, and lovely lighting. I assumed Kate took her "magic wand" and helped in the decorating. From what I hear she loves to host dinner parties, so she's quite the expert.
Allright, so Tina and I were freaking a little. Ummmm, actually a lot. We sat in the cold, waiting for Timmy, trying our d**nDEST not to look up. Then Tina told me that Kate was watching us sit there through the window and I about choked on my gum. I stared down at my digital camera, like it was the most interesting thing in the entire world. Timmy came dressed handsomely in a tie and jacket. He was quite the gentleman and very funny. We ate at a cafe next door to the gallery and diffused our near explosion of nervousness with a game of pool and Timmy's interesting stories of getting kicked out of some concert.
We walked into the gallery around 620 (fashionably late, like we planned). The place was packed to the brim with all sorts of people. We weren't there one minute, and Kate herself came up to Tina, Timmy and I and asked us if we wanted some wine. We said YES, and she asked us ,"White, Red, or Blue?" haha!! I should have said BLUE, lol.......we all said white. It was surreal, really......Kate Mulgrew was serving Tina and I wine. The rest of the evening consisted of her making sure all of the guests were comfortable, periodically asking if we needed our glasses topped off. Tina and I would just say, "yes, thank you".......and then when she'd turn to grab the bottle, we would look at one another in amazement and mouth to each other "I love her", lol!! She is, in fact, THE QUEEN HOSTESS OF ALL PARTIES AND THE BEST MOM EVER!! She was doing this all for her son Alec, who she was extremely proud of. I found Alec Egan outside smoking a ciggy and talking with his friends. I asked him if I could take pictures of the event and he said "sure, go for it". That's all I needed. Those of you who know me know my love, no.......OBSESSION with photography. Once I start I can't stop. The camera does not leave my hand, rather, it becomes a physical extension of my hand; it's a sickness, I KNOW. If I could I probably would just have it surgically attached to my palm, lol. It might as well have been. The rest of the evening consisted of me meeting Alec's and Kate's friends (and apparently Kate's ex-husband Robert Egan, and I didn't even know it). I overheard that he bought a painting and I asked if I could take a picture of him in front of it. He said SUUUUURE, and so I did. I found out much later that he was Alec's dad. I thanked God that I didn't say anything Trek-ish or embarrassing, after all we were there to support Alec, not to hound Kate.
I'm quite proud of how Tina and I did. We found Alec and discussed his art with him on several occasions. I found him to be extremely intelligent and honest. He said he considers his art "ugly art", done with purpose to strike a chord with it's audience and make them think about their own darksides, the darksides of today's culture, and the disturbing aspects of politics/the state of the world today. Sure, he can do beautiful art......landscapes, lovely portraits, etc....but to change the world sometimes you have to leave the comfort zone of pleasantness and delve into the angsty hidden side that can be found in all of us. I for one fell in love with the paintings after his descriptions and insights and decided that I wanted to buy one. Tina and I were staring at the one that we dubbed our favorite, a small untitled work with two women. Actually the big bull one was my favorite but there was no way in hell I'd be able to afford it, so I opted for a smaller one, aka my second favorite. As Tina and I discussed the paintings, Kate sat down right behind us listening to our discussion (had no clue until I saw Tina's double take behind us). I turned and Kate asked me "can I ask you why you are taking so many pictures?" My mouth dropped open as I realized (a) Kate is talking to me (b)Kate may be pissed at me (c) Nothing was coming out of my open gapping mouth. Tina quickly jumped in and calmly told her "don't worry Kate, she's just a pathological picture taker". Kate grinned at that, and then I gladly explained that photography was my obsession and the camera rarely leaves my hand. She smiled and nodded in understanding. She then asked us "so what do you think of the art?" Tina and I revealed to her our favorites and I showed her the one I was thinking about buying. She said she bought "Actress in the City" but the untitled that I was pointing to was her favorite. Then she told us that when she was 17 and living in NYC, broke of course, the one thing she would save up for was art. That's when she started collecting art and it's been an incredible investment for her. She continued that Alec was going to be big someday and that these paintings were a sound investment. I totally agree with her, he's very talented and can't wait to see his reputation grow! We continued discussing art and her love of it, and then I told Kate that I was seriously considering buying one, the one that Tina and I had pointed to. I asked her why it was untitled when the rest had names. She said, "well let me go get the artist" and left to find Alec for us. She brought Alec back and I discussed the paintings with him. He said he preferred for the viewer to look at the painting, explore it, and let them find a title for themselves based on what the painting said to them. There was more to his explanation, but that was the gist of it. I told him that I wanted THAT ONE, and he smiled that heart-stopping grin (omg, he's so cute) and then gave me a hug. Soon after that, Kate congratulated me on my first art purchase ever (haha, I'm part of "the club now") and gave me a big hug. Wait.......was that a hug?? YES!! KATE MULGREW CAME UP TO ME AND GAVE ME A BIG HUG! Kate Mulgrew has officially drawn me into the world of fine art.......great another addiction- ART. That's okay, I've always loved art, now I can appreciate it in my own home (which I now have to clean so I can decorate/paint the room that Alec's painting will be hanging in based on the colors of the painting). Oh, and I would just like to reiterate that the painting I picked was always Tina's favorite, my second favorite, and was also KATE'S FAVORITE as well, haha. I now own Kate's favorite Alec painting. Okay, I'll shut up now.
Later on Tina decided to buy a painting as well. We were discussing it across the room. She was like, "Vanessa!!" and then she pointed to several. Then she pointed to the ones behind me. I glanced at the ones behind me, and then yelled out "Tina!!" and then pointed to the one directly in front of her (entitled Self Portrait) and said "THAT ONE!!" This was all done with Tina and I on opposite sides of the gallery, haha. I guess with a little bit of really good wine we really didn't mind having an "across the room conversation", lol. I realized right after I said "That one" that Kate had been watching us the whole time. Tina showed Annie, the gallery owner the one she wanted, and then she ran up to me and gave me a hug. I was soooo excited for Tina, and we just jumped up and down like silly fools. Kate apparently saw the whole thing, turned to her famous actor friend Kevin Tighe (great guy, famous character actor, has been in tons of stuff....) and told him "these are the small things that make it worthwhile". Yay, Tina for keeping her eyes and ears open to catch that conversation!!!! I tend to have A.D.D., so good lookin' out Tina........
Tina found Alec and told him she was buying that painting, and he gave her a huge bear hug. Then she bummed a cigarette off of him and found out that he lives here in Portland. She told him that she lives a few exits down. He told her that they should hang out. Tina was like "hell yeah, that would be awesome!!" Soon after Tina and I stood in front of our paintings, took pictures, and videoed ourselves basking in the glory of our lovely new artwork. Annie laughed at our "video blog". Then Kate came back over to us and Tina told her that she bought the Self Portrait. Kate gave Tina a big ole hug.......again, KATE MULGREW GAVE TINA A BIG HUG!! I went off, God knows where, and Tina and Kate stood there arm in arm discussing the paintings for several minutes. I returned and Tina said that we were proud of ourselves for buying our first real "art". Then Kate says, "This deserves high-fives all around", and then we proceeded to high-five Kate.....again, TINA AND I HIGH-FIVED KATE MULGREW!!! She proceeded to get Alec for us to take a picture with him and our paintings. We got a picture with him making a gesture, which Kate asked him "what does that mean??" I'll just keep what he said between me, Kate, and Tina.......haha. He left, and Kate asked us "what do you ladies do for a living?" I told her and Adam (Alec's roomate and photographer for the evening) that I worked at a waterlab but performed in theatre, dance, and did photography......my true heart heart and soul. Tina said she worked at Starbucks and was an English Major at PSU. Then we got on the subject of poetry......and I, somewhat to Tina's dismay, brought up the poem she read Kate at the Vulcon Convention. I told her that Tina was one of the poets and that our friend Sarah, who couldn't be here tonight, was the other one. Someone grabbed Kate away for a minute, and then I talked to Adam about photography. Then came the amazing part.
OMFG, Kate goes up to Tina, while I'm talking to Adam, grabs her wrist and tells her, "I want you ladies to do me a favor.......you see that bar across the street, the one with the OPEN sign? Go over there, now. Just you two ladies. Do that for me.........just you two. Go now." Tina grabbed my arm and dragged me outside, I was like "whuh???" I didn't want to leave the gallery, but she just kept saying Kate told us to, and proceeded to explain what was just said. We walked across the street and met up with Kate's close friends Vicki, Becky, and famous actor Kevin. We didn't think there would be enough room for everyone at the small bar, so Kevin went hunting for an alternate location. He came back with the suggestion for an Italian restaurant called "Subrosa", and we proceeded to walk as a group towards that location. On our way to Subrosa, Kate came out and I mentioned that the other place was too small and she said yes, Kevin told her. We all walked together to the Subrosa: Tina, me, Kate, famous actor Kevin, and her close friends (who asked me how in the WORLD could I be walking without a coat?) I told them that this was warm for me........because of the Jetstream, it was MUCH colder now in NC. They just shook their heads and laughed. We entered the lovely restaurant and chose our seats. At the end of the table was Becky, then Vicki, then Kate, then Kevin, then ME, then TINA, then Alice (Alec's friend and now Tina's friend), Jake, Matt, and Michelle. Robert Egan and a few other close friends sat at the table right next to us. Kate looked at me and Tina and said, "My Lord, you ladies must be freezing!!" She looked at me and said, "and YOU, you're practically naked!" We told her we weren't that cold and giggled. She smiled and shuddered, reacting to the thought of walking around without a coat. Awww, for a minute Kate was like our mommy, lecturing us about not wearing a coat, lol. Did I mention that we love Kate??? Well, we DO! Kate proceeded to order wine and pizza for all of us (really delicious wine, I might add!!) Oh, the things we talked about.......amazing, wonderful, superb conversations all around. Kate and her ladies were trying to convince Matt to call a girl that he had met at the gallery. Kate said , "call her soon!! tomorrow!!" Kate looked at me and Tina, and said "am I right ladies?" and I said "Yes, call her tomorrow, not the day after!" We all concurred that it was silly to play phone games. He's 23 btw, and she is 30..........oh yeah, Ashton and Demi.......I was LOVING this conversation, haha!! Throughout the night we went back and forth between conversations with Alec's roommates, Kate, and her friends. Kevin eventually moved to sit with Alec and Robert, and Adam the photographer sat between me and Kate. The conversations shifted from politics (she's voting for Obama, btw.....), photography, her movie (45 minutes long and will be at all the major film festivals, btw....), Kate's graying hair (whatever- she's gorgeous no matter what color her hair is), recaps of the evening, and how proud she was of Alec. Tina soon found out that Robert Egan was Alec's dad, when he bummed a cigarette off of her and had a 10 minute conversation with him. He asked her how she knew Kate. Tina said, well..........ummmm.......I'm a fan of Kate. (No need to freak anyone out with our nerdy Trekkie-ness, NOT THAT WE'RE ASHAMED, just that we wanted to be low-key. This was Alec's evening!!)
AND HERE'S MY FAVORITE PART OF THE EVENING:
Tina and I were on cloud nine. We had been graciously invited into Kate's circle of friends, which in itself meant the world to us. It was soon topped, however, when we got to experience a tender moment between son, mother, and father. Alec made an unbelievably emotional and heartfelt champagne toast to his parents, thanking them for their love and infinite support. Kate's face was priceless....the extreme joy and pride emitting from her and Robert's expressions had me, Tina, and several others around the room blinking our tears away. It was beautiful.......absolutely mesmerizing, the moment, one between parents and child, shared with good friends and family.
We ended the night by thanking Kate for her gracious hospitality and eating a few yummy truffles. Tina and I thanked Alec for everthing and told him how wonderful his art was. We congratulated him on a successful opening and wished him well. He gave us each a hug and a kiss on the cheek *sigh....huge grin*, and then we left. Tina and I decided to stare one last time at our beautiful artwork and take pictures in front of the gallery. As Kate was getting into her car, she told us, "Good night, ladies. Thank you so much for coming; be safe and God bless". I can say, without a doubt, that this is a night that we will NEVER forget!
Here's our video blog from the evening (yeah, we're dorks and we know it.......nuff said).
www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUhVtvwNApA
EDIT: OH, AND HERE ARE THE PICTURES!! YAY!!
I HOPE YOU GUYS ENJOY THEM......
s175.photobucket.com/albums/w151/vanynessa/Alec%20Egan%20Artshow/
All right, so my friend Tina and I went to Alec Egan's art show last night and had an incredible time. (Wow, what an understatement!!! We probably had the most amazing night of our lives.......haha, I'll go into details later, lol). For those of you that don't know, Alec is Kate Mulgrew's and Robert Egan's younger son. He is an up and coming artist with fascinating insights and ideas in today's world of art. He's an interesting person and like his mother is extremely kind and somewhat soft-spoken ( I know, I know, KATE SOFT SPOKEN??? Well when she isn't performing and it's just HER, just Kate, she actually is.) Tina lives in Portland, and since I've been wanting to meet her in person anyway, we thought Alec's art show would be a fun reason to meet up.
The weekend began with Tina picking me up from the airport with a Chenoa Janeway sign in tow, lol. (Chenoa Janeway was my Halloween alter Ego. My friend Cindy joked that I looked so much like Janeway in my costume that I could be her daughter. I said, NO.....I have brown eyes, so I would be her AND Chakotay's daughter, HAHA!! Janeway's hair and Chakotay's eyes......okay, enough with the JC and on with the blog). Tina and I shopped all day in downtown Portland, which is absolutely gorgeous. The mountains in the background, the lights downtown, the amazing shopping!!! And no sales tax, hell yeah!! It was a great day. We finished up a dinner at this charming Irish pub called Kell's, a place that Tina and I officially decided that we would invite Kate and Alec to after the art show. We ate yummy sweet-potato fries, got a pint of Guinness with a shamrock design in the foam, and marveled at the dollar bills and upside down Christmas trees on the ceiling. Then we went downstairs and talked half the night about Janeway/Chakotay stories and Convention stuff (some interesting stories from her Cleveland trip with Sarah and Mel, hee hee!)
As we are 100% Trekkie nerds and devote JCers, we stayed up late watching our favorite Voyager music videos (many of which Tina made, and WOW they were great!!) We finished off the night with a quick look at Resolutions. We focused on the famous "massage" scene. Tina showed me that Beltran almost busted out laughing and had to bite his lip from doing so, when Kate moaned during the massage. LMAO, I had never noticed that before, and he totally looked like he was going to laugh!! I guess her moan caught him off guard, hee hee- GO KATE!!
We went to the gallery the next morning to make sure we knew how to find it, and drank coffee (black, of course) as we watched the gallery through the window, hoping to catch a glimpse of Alec or Kate. Eventually Tina and I got the courage to knock on the gallery door and speak to the studio owner. Tina realized Alec was in overalls and working in the back. Then we went to Bridgeport Village shopping center to buy Voyager books. This idiot tried to back up in our long line of cars trying to get a parking space. The poor lady trying to leave couldn't even back up because he was in the way; the guy almost caused a wreck. Tina opened the window and yelled "move the f*ck ON!! She can't back up, a$$hole!!", LMAO!!! Tina is a New Yorker at heart, ha ha!! The guy got the hint and left, lol. The rest of us in our cars silently applauded.
We got back and got ready. We met Tina's awesome friend Timmy at the gallery around 4pm. Tina and I sat waiting for Timmy across the street in awe.....no, in SHOCK, as we realized that Kate was standing at the window of the gallery. We KNOW she's just a person, but we couldn't help it! She was dressed in all black, slacks and a fitted shirt with her hair pulled back in an elegant ponytail. The gallery (which was in slight disarray earlier from setting up) had been transformed into a beautiful space with flowers, wine, food, and lovely lighting. I assumed Kate took her "magic wand" and helped in the decorating. From what I hear she loves to host dinner parties, so she's quite the expert.
Allright, so Tina and I were freaking a little. Ummmm, actually a lot. We sat in the cold, waiting for Timmy, trying our d**nDEST not to look up. Then Tina told me that Kate was watching us sit there through the window and I about choked on my gum. I stared down at my digital camera, like it was the most interesting thing in the entire world. Timmy came dressed handsomely in a tie and jacket. He was quite the gentleman and very funny. We ate at a cafe next door to the gallery and diffused our near explosion of nervousness with a game of pool and Timmy's interesting stories of getting kicked out of some concert.
We walked into the gallery around 620 (fashionably late, like we planned). The place was packed to the brim with all sorts of people. We weren't there one minute, and Kate herself came up to Tina, Timmy and I and asked us if we wanted some wine. We said YES, and she asked us ,"White, Red, or Blue?" haha!! I should have said BLUE, lol.......we all said white. It was surreal, really......Kate Mulgrew was serving Tina and I wine. The rest of the evening consisted of her making sure all of the guests were comfortable, periodically asking if we needed our glasses topped off. Tina and I would just say, "yes, thank you".......and then when she'd turn to grab the bottle, we would look at one another in amazement and mouth to each other "I love her", lol!! She is, in fact, THE QUEEN HOSTESS OF ALL PARTIES AND THE BEST MOM EVER!! She was doing this all for her son Alec, who she was extremely proud of. I found Alec Egan outside smoking a ciggy and talking with his friends. I asked him if I could take pictures of the event and he said "sure, go for it". That's all I needed. Those of you who know me know my love, no.......OBSESSION with photography. Once I start I can't stop. The camera does not leave my hand, rather, it becomes a physical extension of my hand; it's a sickness, I KNOW. If I could I probably would just have it surgically attached to my palm, lol. It might as well have been. The rest of the evening consisted of me meeting Alec's and Kate's friends (and apparently Kate's ex-husband Robert Egan, and I didn't even know it). I overheard that he bought a painting and I asked if I could take a picture of him in front of it. He said SUUUUURE, and so I did. I found out much later that he was Alec's dad. I thanked God that I didn't say anything Trek-ish or embarrassing, after all we were there to support Alec, not to hound Kate.
I'm quite proud of how Tina and I did. We found Alec and discussed his art with him on several occasions. I found him to be extremely intelligent and honest. He said he considers his art "ugly art", done with purpose to strike a chord with it's audience and make them think about their own darksides, the darksides of today's culture, and the disturbing aspects of politics/the state of the world today. Sure, he can do beautiful art......landscapes, lovely portraits, etc....but to change the world sometimes you have to leave the comfort zone of pleasantness and delve into the angsty hidden side that can be found in all of us. I for one fell in love with the paintings after his descriptions and insights and decided that I wanted to buy one. Tina and I were staring at the one that we dubbed our favorite, a small untitled work with two women. Actually the big bull one was my favorite but there was no way in hell I'd be able to afford it, so I opted for a smaller one, aka my second favorite. As Tina and I discussed the paintings, Kate sat down right behind us listening to our discussion (had no clue until I saw Tina's double take behind us). I turned and Kate asked me "can I ask you why you are taking so many pictures?" My mouth dropped open as I realized (a) Kate is talking to me (b)Kate may be pissed at me (c) Nothing was coming out of my open gapping mouth. Tina quickly jumped in and calmly told her "don't worry Kate, she's just a pathological picture taker". Kate grinned at that, and then I gladly explained that photography was my obsession and the camera rarely leaves my hand. She smiled and nodded in understanding. She then asked us "so what do you think of the art?" Tina and I revealed to her our favorites and I showed her the one I was thinking about buying. She said she bought "Actress in the City" but the untitled that I was pointing to was her favorite. Then she told us that when she was 17 and living in NYC, broke of course, the one thing she would save up for was art. That's when she started collecting art and it's been an incredible investment for her. She continued that Alec was going to be big someday and that these paintings were a sound investment. I totally agree with her, he's very talented and can't wait to see his reputation grow! We continued discussing art and her love of it, and then I told Kate that I was seriously considering buying one, the one that Tina and I had pointed to. I asked her why it was untitled when the rest had names. She said, "well let me go get the artist" and left to find Alec for us. She brought Alec back and I discussed the paintings with him. He said he preferred for the viewer to look at the painting, explore it, and let them find a title for themselves based on what the painting said to them. There was more to his explanation, but that was the gist of it. I told him that I wanted THAT ONE, and he smiled that heart-stopping grin (omg, he's so cute) and then gave me a hug. Soon after that, Kate congratulated me on my first art purchase ever (haha, I'm part of "the club now") and gave me a big hug. Wait.......was that a hug?? YES!! KATE MULGREW CAME UP TO ME AND GAVE ME A BIG HUG! Kate Mulgrew has officially drawn me into the world of fine art.......great another addiction- ART. That's okay, I've always loved art, now I can appreciate it in my own home (which I now have to clean so I can decorate/paint the room that Alec's painting will be hanging in based on the colors of the painting). Oh, and I would just like to reiterate that the painting I picked was always Tina's favorite, my second favorite, and was also KATE'S FAVORITE as well, haha. I now own Kate's favorite Alec painting. Okay, I'll shut up now.
Later on Tina decided to buy a painting as well. We were discussing it across the room. She was like, "Vanessa!!" and then she pointed to several. Then she pointed to the ones behind me. I glanced at the ones behind me, and then yelled out "Tina!!" and then pointed to the one directly in front of her (entitled Self Portrait) and said "THAT ONE!!" This was all done with Tina and I on opposite sides of the gallery, haha. I guess with a little bit of really good wine we really didn't mind having an "across the room conversation", lol. I realized right after I said "That one" that Kate had been watching us the whole time. Tina showed Annie, the gallery owner the one she wanted, and then she ran up to me and gave me a hug. I was soooo excited for Tina, and we just jumped up and down like silly fools. Kate apparently saw the whole thing, turned to her famous actor friend Kevin Tighe (great guy, famous character actor, has been in tons of stuff....) and told him "these are the small things that make it worthwhile". Yay, Tina for keeping her eyes and ears open to catch that conversation!!!! I tend to have A.D.D., so good lookin' out Tina........
Tina found Alec and told him she was buying that painting, and he gave her a huge bear hug. Then she bummed a cigarette off of him and found out that he lives here in Portland. She told him that she lives a few exits down. He told her that they should hang out. Tina was like "hell yeah, that would be awesome!!" Soon after Tina and I stood in front of our paintings, took pictures, and videoed ourselves basking in the glory of our lovely new artwork. Annie laughed at our "video blog". Then Kate came back over to us and Tina told her that she bought the Self Portrait. Kate gave Tina a big ole hug.......again, KATE MULGREW GAVE TINA A BIG HUG!! I went off, God knows where, and Tina and Kate stood there arm in arm discussing the paintings for several minutes. I returned and Tina said that we were proud of ourselves for buying our first real "art". Then Kate says, "This deserves high-fives all around", and then we proceeded to high-five Kate.....again, TINA AND I HIGH-FIVED KATE MULGREW!!! She proceeded to get Alec for us to take a picture with him and our paintings. We got a picture with him making a gesture, which Kate asked him "what does that mean??" I'll just keep what he said between me, Kate, and Tina.......haha. He left, and Kate asked us "what do you ladies do for a living?" I told her and Adam (Alec's roomate and photographer for the evening) that I worked at a waterlab but performed in theatre, dance, and did photography......my true heart heart and soul. Tina said she worked at Starbucks and was an English Major at PSU. Then we got on the subject of poetry......and I, somewhat to Tina's dismay, brought up the poem she read Kate at the Vulcon Convention. I told her that Tina was one of the poets and that our friend Sarah, who couldn't be here tonight, was the other one. Someone grabbed Kate away for a minute, and then I talked to Adam about photography. Then came the amazing part.
OMFG, Kate goes up to Tina, while I'm talking to Adam, grabs her wrist and tells her, "I want you ladies to do me a favor.......you see that bar across the street, the one with the OPEN sign? Go over there, now. Just you two ladies. Do that for me.........just you two. Go now." Tina grabbed my arm and dragged me outside, I was like "whuh???" I didn't want to leave the gallery, but she just kept saying Kate told us to, and proceeded to explain what was just said. We walked across the street and met up with Kate's close friends Vicki, Becky, and famous actor Kevin. We didn't think there would be enough room for everyone at the small bar, so Kevin went hunting for an alternate location. He came back with the suggestion for an Italian restaurant called "Subrosa", and we proceeded to walk as a group towards that location. On our way to Subrosa, Kate came out and I mentioned that the other place was too small and she said yes, Kevin told her. We all walked together to the Subrosa: Tina, me, Kate, famous actor Kevin, and her close friends (who asked me how in the WORLD could I be walking without a coat?) I told them that this was warm for me........because of the Jetstream, it was MUCH colder now in NC. They just shook their heads and laughed. We entered the lovely restaurant and chose our seats. At the end of the table was Becky, then Vicki, then Kate, then Kevin, then ME, then TINA, then Alice (Alec's friend and now Tina's friend), Jake, Matt, and Michelle. Robert Egan and a few other close friends sat at the table right next to us. Kate looked at me and Tina and said, "My Lord, you ladies must be freezing!!" She looked at me and said, "and YOU, you're practically naked!" We told her we weren't that cold and giggled. She smiled and shuddered, reacting to the thought of walking around without a coat. Awww, for a minute Kate was like our mommy, lecturing us about not wearing a coat, lol. Did I mention that we love Kate??? Well, we DO! Kate proceeded to order wine and pizza for all of us (really delicious wine, I might add!!) Oh, the things we talked about.......amazing, wonderful, superb conversations all around. Kate and her ladies were trying to convince Matt to call a girl that he had met at the gallery. Kate said , "call her soon!! tomorrow!!" Kate looked at me and Tina, and said "am I right ladies?" and I said "Yes, call her tomorrow, not the day after!" We all concurred that it was silly to play phone games. He's 23 btw, and she is 30..........oh yeah, Ashton and Demi.......I was LOVING this conversation, haha!! Throughout the night we went back and forth between conversations with Alec's roommates, Kate, and her friends. Kevin eventually moved to sit with Alec and Robert, and Adam the photographer sat between me and Kate. The conversations shifted from politics (she's voting for Obama, btw.....), photography, her movie (45 minutes long and will be at all the major film festivals, btw....), Kate's graying hair (whatever- she's gorgeous no matter what color her hair is), recaps of the evening, and how proud she was of Alec. Tina soon found out that Robert Egan was Alec's dad, when he bummed a cigarette off of her and had a 10 minute conversation with him. He asked her how she knew Kate. Tina said, well..........ummmm.......I'm a fan of Kate. (No need to freak anyone out with our nerdy Trekkie-ness, NOT THAT WE'RE ASHAMED, just that we wanted to be low-key. This was Alec's evening!!)
AND HERE'S MY FAVORITE PART OF THE EVENING:
Tina and I were on cloud nine. We had been graciously invited into Kate's circle of friends, which in itself meant the world to us. It was soon topped, however, when we got to experience a tender moment between son, mother, and father. Alec made an unbelievably emotional and heartfelt champagne toast to his parents, thanking them for their love and infinite support. Kate's face was priceless....the extreme joy and pride emitting from her and Robert's expressions had me, Tina, and several others around the room blinking our tears away. It was beautiful.......absolutely mesmerizing, the moment, one between parents and child, shared with good friends and family.
We ended the night by thanking Kate for her gracious hospitality and eating a few yummy truffles. Tina and I thanked Alec for everthing and told him how wonderful his art was. We congratulated him on a successful opening and wished him well. He gave us each a hug and a kiss on the cheek *sigh....huge grin*, and then we left. Tina and I decided to stare one last time at our beautiful artwork and take pictures in front of the gallery. As Kate was getting into her car, she told us, "Good night, ladies. Thank you so much for coming; be safe and God bless". I can say, without a doubt, that this is a night that we will NEVER forget!
Here's our video blog from the evening (yeah, we're dorks and we know it.......nuff said).
www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUhVtvwNApA
EDIT: OH, AND HERE ARE THE PICTURES!! YAY!!
I HOPE YOU GUYS ENJOY THEM......
s175.photobucket.com/albums/w151/vanynessa/Alec%20Egan%20Artshow/
