6/11, 6/12. 2003. Visit with Ray Bradbury in LA

On June 11, Dandelion was kind enough to let my daughter and I piggy-back on a visit she had set up with Ray Bradbury. I enjoyed her posting on the trip and just wanted to give my reactions, as well. As was the case with Dandelion, meeting Ray in his home was a life-long dream. I can�t express my gratitude for Ray for allowing the visit and to Dandelion for letting us ride along. While I had met him before (briefly at a book signing, in 1980) and had been present at a lecture he gave in Pasadena, this was the first time I had been able to just sit and visit with him.

We met at LAX airport and went over to Ray�s home from there. He lives about 10 -15 minutes from LAX, so we were there before we knew it. He had the entire house exterior painted in (as he said) Dandelion Yellow. Other than that, and a Halloween doormat that Dandelion had noticed, there was nothing about the house that indicated anyone out-of-the-usual lived there.

The house was packed with memorabilia from his work: book displays, original artwork, books, posters, Halloween-related knick-knacks, etc. When we arrived, he invited us into his dining room where Dandelion sat next to him and my daughter and I sat across the table. The table was stacked high with all sorts of things, and a black cat named Wyn-Wyn (spelling is my own speculation) was sitting, like the king of the room, right in the middle of the table. We asked Ray about his cats. He has three presently, but has had as many as 22. He had white shorts on and a blue shirt with white collars, with suspenders. He answered his own phone calls, politely excusing himself when the phone rang. His laugh is as loud and wonderful as ever, and, as Dandelion noted, he is perhaps the most gracious and kind person I�ve ever met. He acted like we were doing him the favor in visiting him.

He happily did autographs while we began our visit. I had wanted to tell him my �conversion story� with his F451 and he listened and seemed glad to hear it � although I have to assume he�s heard this type of story a thousand times before. The short version is that reading F451 in 9th grade changed my life. Ideas suddenly mattered to me and I have been an almost voracious reader ever since. I went from F451 to his other works, to Sci-Fi/Fantasy to literature and then philosophy and theology. Prior to reading F451 I read nothing but Marvel Comics and Mad magazine. After F451, I read everything I could. He asked about Marvel and I told him my version � which is that Marvel had richer characters than DC did (to which he seemed to agree).

He told us the story of a director who had worked on �A Sound of Thunder� for a year and then wanted to get rid of the butterfly � obviously missing the point. Bradbury, with a loud laugh said, �We fired the son-of-a-bitch!� You could tell he enjoyed telling the story. Dandelion showed him a charm she had gotten with a blue butterfly, and he seemed to really appreciate it.

He invited us to �The October Country� plays the following night (June 12th) and gave us some passes.

As we talked, he asked if I had seen his �religious book�. I went brain-dead. Fortunately, Dandelion said it was the Chapbook (which I�ve been poring over!). We talked about that for a while. I asked why it was published by a publisher other than his regular one. He said he offered it to them and they didn�t want it, so he took it to another publisher. I was kind of shocked that a guy like Ray could be rejected by his own publisher! I guess if his own publisher doesn�t accept his work, we shouldn�t feel so badly when we get a �not interested� reaction from a publisher.

Dandelion asked some questions about writing and she has discussed much of that already. One thing I remember her asking was about writer�s block. He said he didn�t believe in Writer�s Block. He said it occurs when we are writing something we aren�t supposed to write. This was an epiphany for me. As I sat there, I realized I had several writing projects outlined, but they were not fiction, they were all expository. (I somehow had assumed they were not �real� writing.) When he said that, I thought: �Maybe what I�m supposed to do is do the expository writing and stop fretting that I have no hand for fiction! So I�ve come home, redone an outline and am working on the expository stuff. I knew this, of course, intellectually -- that I had no hand for fiction. But Bradbury�s comment really exploded in me.

Following up, Ray said that (other than the stroke) he has been happy every day of his life because he has always done what he wanted to do. He said you can�t write for publishers or an audience, you have to write what is in you. If it finds an audience, that�s great, but that the point is to write what you�re supposed to be writing.

We got there a little after 4:00 in the afternoon and left a few minutes before 6:00. He had given us almost two hours.

The next night, we saw him again before and after the plays (�The Jar,� �The Cistern,� and �The Banshee.�). He also got up right before the plays and introduced the three stories by telling a little bit about what went into writing them. We also met Charlie Mount after the play. He performed great and was an honest-to-gosh gentleman. It was great meeting him, also.

I want to thank Dandelion for letting my daughter and I piggy-back on her trip. She was gracious to do so, and it was good to meet her, also. As we all already know, the board is in good hands!

Mr. Dark:

Great! What a great time and wonderful experience, and to see the play aferwards...Wow!

When I first saw Ray after his stroke, he started combing his hair with a look of Carl Sandberg. Tomorrow evening, Saturday, June 21st, Ray will be speaking at the Santa Barbara Writer's Conference in Santa Barbara, CA. His spirit, through all the rigors of health detours, is as alive as ever....

I didn't know I had it in me, but I'm positively burning with envy, Mr. Dark. Actually, I wish I had known you'd be in town as I live in the LA area myself. You could have stopped by my place for a refresher. Then I could have bonked you over the head, put on your coat and hat...

Mr. Dark,

Kudos to you and Dandelion and your daughter! Reading of both of your appraisals further documents how insightfully personal Ray affects us all.

It seems you and Dandelion have become each other's mental video camera and we've all been invited to witness the event via your private revelations.

When you consider how many times you've quoted the Chapbook here, it's ironic how that became your stumbling block.

We'd be interested in your daughter's account of the meeting, since there's something to be said about "eye of the beholder".

You definately soared in California!

Mr. Dark,

Why, you son-of-a-gun. You'd posted elswhere that you'd be gone for a few days on vacation. Little did we know. . .

Between your posting and Dandelion's, you've managed to make a lot of people on this board feel that they had had the experience of meeting Ray themselves. Priceless. Thanks so much for sharing with us and allowing us to "piggyback" along with you and Dandelion. You don't know how you've enriched me with this post and your others.

Pete Terranova

Thanks for the vivid description of your visit with Ray. You described it so well I felt like I was there too, and like the others here, I am soooo jealous!! It sounds like you got a lot out of your visit. Like someone said earlier, I would be interested in knowing your daughter's reaction. I'm assuming she reads his books too, since he had such an impact on your life. I just got back from my own vacation (Viva Las Vegas!!) and one of the first things I did was check this board. It has become one of the favorite parts of my day, and I missed it these past four days. That's because of people like you and Dandelion and Nard and several others that always have such interesting and thoughtful comments. Since I couldn't be in LA to meet Ray myself, it's great when those of you who can, discuss the experience with all the rest of us. Thank you!!

Imskipper:

Vegas?...like Las Vegas?
Gee you were only about 200 some odd miles from Ray's house... You could have hitchhiked practically...
(I don't think you went to the 'other' Las Vegas...like in Las Vegas, New Mexico...which used to have about dozen buildings and a train stop. That place is also a lot further from Ray's house....)
(click on, or type into finder http://www.lasvegasnewmexico.com/Las.Vegas.New.Mexico

[This message has been edited by Nard Kordell (edited 06-23-2003).]

Las Vegas as in Elvis, showgirls, slot machines, etc. I even won $1,300!!! (But only $300 of it made it home with me....) Yes, I was very close to California and one person in our group did rent a car and go to L.A. for the day. Now I wish I'd tagged along. I would have gladly given up Vegas for a chance to meet our hero!!