Fan Tales
Book signing in London
By Jackie
Hi all, it is the day after the booksigning in London, I came home late last night and I didn't have the energy to write the report, I did have a quick look at my inbox, 85 emails. (Well they have to wait until tomorrow, unless there is one from David (LOL)
It was a day to remember for the rest of my life! (Editor: March 7, 2007)
The night before the signing we went to Waterstones in London on Oxford Street to check things out. The staff was very helpful; they told us the signing would be in the basement. The Autobiography seemed to be everywhere in the store and there were huge posters announcing the signing!
Anyway we were told to join the queue early as it was only guaranteed 1 hour signing session only. Time after that would be on the author discretionary only! Me and the girls bought our copy of the book and chatted with the staff from Waterstones about this book signing and they were very nice to us.
Anyway the next morning D-Day! We got up at 5 am in the morning and got ready to go to Waterstones and after a quick healthy (!) breakfast at MacDonald's (!) we were on our way to Waterstones.
It was 10 to 7 as we arrived and a small queue had formed already! There were a lot of fans I knew from the NowandThen side and it was great to see them there. So many, Elaine, Les, Margaret, Terina, Sue, Jane, Sue etc. We were chatting about the signing and of course about the upcoming tour.
Then after patiently waiting for almost 2 hours, 2 people working for Waterstones opened the doors and informed us what was going to happen!
We would go in small groups of 15 people, go down to the till and buy and pay for our copy of the autobio and then we were sent down the stairs to the basement! They told us David had instructed that he would only sign the book, no cd's no pics no shirts, and no posing for pics with David. Ahhhhh what a shame but by the time we got in (I had number 33) there were about 100 - 150 people already and it was only 9.00 am! And we were told there was opportunity to take pics from David.
A girl from Waterstones came round and wrote our names on a post-it note and put it on the book. By the time it was 11.00 am the basement was starting to fill up with fans, nicely lines up in a zigzag through the store. It was wonderful; we were talking and enjoying ourselves listening to the sweet voice of ...David singing through the loudspeakers, no not David but they were playing his songs. It was absolutely wonderful.
Around 12.00 noon the atmosphere in the shop suddenly changed. People were rushing around and at the side entrance of the store people were walking up and down, speaking in walkie-talkies and pacing up and down the stairs. Just halfway down the store was an allocated space for David, a table a chair and a huge advertisement board from Waterstones. At that time I saw photographers coming in and taking a seat opposite of where David was going to sign. About 20-25 photographers!
Suddenly it was 12.30 and someone said, 'He is in the building' OMG we all gasped for our breath and were looking direction of that door! Suddenly, a crowd came down the stairs, the door opened...and there was David! Oh God whilst writing it down I experience the same feeling I had yesterday! There he was my idol and boy did he look absolutely gorgeous!!!!!! Leather jacket, glasses, white shirt, dark pants and he smiled at us and said HI!!
Then I saw an ocean of flashlights as the photographers started flashing their camera's it was as if there was a thunderstorm with lighting in the store. David sat down and the signing started, I can not tell you how I felt, numb and yet again so excited!
David had a bodyguard standing next to him, on the other side was JoAnn and a lady from the book publisher was taking the fans to the table for the signing. I looked and say David, smiling and chatting to the fans and I thought It s going to be my moment soon!
I had brought a DVD with an episode called: In de Doelen, which is a program that aired on national TV in Holland last year. I and the girls from the Dutch David Cassidy fan club were interviewed about DC. A lot of people might not know this but DC has a huge fan base in the Netherlands. And we have been trying and still are to get him to come to Holland for concerts.
Anyway sorry to go on and on, the lady took my book gave it to David and nudged him on the shoulder and said: 'David, this is Jackie from the Dutch David Cassidy Fan club', David looked up at me and said: 'How nice' I could have died. He took my book opened it and looked at my name, he then said: 'so your name is Jacqueline, do people call you Jack sometimes? I stumbled and said: 'yes they do sometimes, I am called after my dad his name was Jack' Then it hit me, David's dear dad was called Jack too. I looked in David's eyes and saw understanding and then I told him how thankful we were for him being here and doing the signing session. I think DC said something like: 'thank you darling' signed my book and that was it. ..... JoAnn stood next to the table and said hi Jackie, so nice to meet you in person. That was so nice, I told her briefly about the DVD and the letter (which I hope David will read) and she said, Oh that's cool, I will make sure David reads it!!!! Then I was ushered to the other side of the barrier and that was the end. I could not believe it, I had stood opposite of the world-famous David Cassidy, that sexy looking man, that gorgeous singer. It was too much to take in.
I hung around to take more pictures but a security guard came to us and said we had to walk on. I looked him in the eyes and said: listen this is our moment, most of us have been waiting for this most of our live, you cannot take this away from us. He smiled and said he understood but of course there were more fans to come through. Correct, so I walked round and turned back just to look at David! I could not make my eyes let go of that wonderful man.
In the meantime fans kept on coming through to have their copy signed and it was 10 to 2 so David had been signing for the past hour and a half. I noticed his body guard gesturing to his watch and a couple of minutes later, JoAnn came over to the crowd and said: 'we would love to stay longer but David has to go now as he has other commitments.' At that time I didn't notice that there was a handful fans still waiting, my heart felt out for them. Then I thought to myself how lucky I was. Fair enough the poster announcements in the shops and on the web had mentioned: 'Signing session is 1 hour only, please arrive early and not to be disappointed. David stood up, waived at us, made a little bow and then he was gone. I think I waived myself and said: 'We love you David'.
After David had left I spoke to the guy from Waterstones and I had to complement him with the way this was organised for the fans!
It was a day I will never forget for as long as I live!
Could it be forever......? sure David it is for me!
Jackie - Cassidymeiden the New Dutch David Cassidy Fan club
http://cassidy.favos.nl
