The time we saw people from tv

Posted January 30, 2012 by Stacee in Signings | 0 Comments

I’m always hesitant about going to a signing at Book Soup. The first time we went, it was a complete clusterfuck, but the second time was really good. I guess you just don’t know wtf is going to happen when it comes to organization and that’s what really bugs me.

When I first saw the announcement for Shorty Rossi, I could have sworn the start time was 2pm. When we got to the bookstore, turns out it started at 4. We bought the book and headed out to kill some time by buying lunch.

We ended up eating at Coney Dogs about a block away. Amazing food. And it had the added bonus of Kristen Bell and Dax Shepherd showing up. My husband asked if I wanted a picture [I totally did], but when Kristen came out of the bathroom facing the very small handful of people eating, she gave the stink eye. On my way to the bathroom, I passed Dax. He was nice, smiling and saying hello. Needless to say, we didn’t get pictures. My husband spent the rest of the afternoon saying, “XOXO, she’s a bitch”.  I couldn’t stop giggling.

When we got back to the bookstore, it was just after 3 and there was a small group of people outside. We asked the employees if that was the line. We were told that we could hang out inside since there was no “official” line. And then in true Book Soup fuckery, they came back to everyone after 20 minutes and said they decided that it WAS the line and we needed to go outside.

After about 30 minutes of standing outside, they let us in just after 4pm. We were able to sneak around the entire bookstore and get front row seats on the side of the podium.  Shorty came out with his assistant/friend/driver Steven and his service dog, Hercules.

Shorty immediately went into talking.  We got a condensed version of his entire life, from where his was born, to his teenage years, to his jail time served, to his start in the entertainment industry and the start of his show “Pit Boss”.  Of course, he spoke about the rescue work that he’s done with pit bulls and the advocacy of the breed.  After seeing a reality show, it’s hard to know what is scripted and what is real.  However, Shorty is an excellent storyteller and extremely well spoken.

After speaking for about 30 minutes, Shorty started a Q&A session.  I asked if he ended up adopting Athena, one of the puppies that he rescued on a recent episode of the show.  His answer was to keep watching the show, that he’s constantly getting asked for spoilers and he refuses to give them.  Later, someone asked another question regarding his dogs and he almost slipped with how many he had.  He started laughing and looked at me, pointed and said that I almost got my answer.
After taking questions for another 30 minutes, the signing started.  Since we were on the side of the podium, we were some of the first in line.  Shorty was sitting at a table in one of the alcoves in the store.  He even had someone there who was willing to take pictures for you.  My husband and I got a picture with him, then he shook our hands and thanked us for coming.
After the hearing all about the endless work he does with various rescues, I contacted one to see about setting up some volunteering.  As for Shorty, what you see on tv is definitely what you get.

Tags: , ,

«
»

Leave a Reply

(Enter your URL then click here to include a link to one of your blog posts.)

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.