Why Storm Large signs autographs and Mr. Scatter doesn’t
It’s called, I think, charisma. The dress doesn’t hurt, either. One of the pleasures of being part of Friday night’s blogathon at the opening of Portland Opera’s Orphee was meeting artist and photographer CaroleZoom, who after chatting for a bit zoomed in with her camera (unobtrusively, I might add: good photographers have a way of being there but disappearing, creating a calm zone around their subjects) and later sent the results along. It’s not quite like looking through the mirror and spying Hell, as Orpheus does in the opera, but you can’t help noticing a certain physical disparity.
Sitting between rock diva Storm and man-about-town Byron Beck was a little like being the shuttlecock in a game of friendly scatological badminton. The match had speed and competitive edge and affability: It was like David Mamet with a sense of humor.
You can see Byron’s wristwatch (a retrograde physical adornment, used as a timekeeping device in the days before cell phones) immediately behind Mr. Scatter, who’s the one in the retro green vest sweater. Leaning against the wall, in the even more retro argyle sweater, is PICA blogger Jim Withington, and that’s Portland Opera’s Julia Sheridan at the far end of the table in classic black. Portland Center Stage’s always elegant and always witty Cynthia Fuhrman flanks Ms. Large in the left (or stage right) foreground.
Years of sitting in the midst of ultra-noisy newsrooms allowed Mr. Scatter to absorb what was going on around him while simultaneously attending to his task. I was impressed by Storm’s graciousness as fans young and old, several of them starstruck, vied for her attention. Yes, she signed autographs. And she had a way of homing in on each person, asking questions, engaging them, knowing that you don’t talk the same way to a teenager as to a septuagenarian. This is celebrity, Portland-style.
Carole also snapped the inset photo of Mr. Scatter, which she labeled “Concentration.” When Mrs. Scatter saw it, she laughed. “That’s the way you always look when you’re writing,” she said. “Head down, lips pursed.” Mrs. Scatter concentrates at the keyboard, too, and every now and again breaks up in laughter over something she’s just wrought.
Enough for now. Mr. Scatter must hunker over his keyboard and write a review for his friendly neighborhood largish urban newspaper.
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Photos: CaroleZoom
November 8th, 2009 at 10:56 am
Actually, Mr. Scatter, it’s called decolletage!
November 8th, 2009 at 11:01 am
That’s funny — I actually took the top pic (though carole gets the credit because she called it and couldn’t get the angle I did) and was so intent on getting a good shot of you that I somehow didn’t even notice Storm’s charisma or what she called in Crazy Enough her “$3000 growth spurt” until later. Such was my laser like concentration on the task at hand that I also didn’t even realize until much later that was Byron sitting next to you, what with the newish (to me) beard. So sorry, Byron!
Carole’s portrait shot is great — she’s terrific at capturing personality on film (or card or disk or screen or whatever) that way.
November 8th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
Thanks, Brett, for both the shot and the amplification. The thing about charisma is it’s not purely physical: Much as it works in Storm’s favor, I don’t think a $3,000 growth spurt would help my charisma a bit.
November 8th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
Mrs. Scatter is absolutely right. Not only is that how you always look at the computer - you looked the same back in the days of typewriters. (And did I tell you there’s an exhibit of retro typewriters outside of one of my classes? I think one of them is the kind you had.)
November 8th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
Lovely to hear from Sarah, also known as the OED, or Older Educated Daughter, who is currently furrowing the higher groves of academe and frightening unsuspecting freshmen in the writing class she teaches at a large university in a slightly larger city to the north of Portland that has a superiority complex. I wish I still had a couple of those old typewriters. They were marvelous machines, although writing is much easier on a computer.
November 8th, 2009 at 1:13 pm
I’d like to have a little of Storm’s charisma if she can spare some. I’ll take two.
November 9th, 2009 at 9:03 am
Ahhh, Art Scatter is so useful for keeping us all abreast of the Portland arts scene.
November 9th, 2009 at 4:33 pm
I think Mr. Scatter’s green sweater vest has charisma to burn and would love to borrow it sometime.
November 9th, 2009 at 10:12 pm
And on a Mac too! Mr. Scatter rocks.