Good Show (Gaiman and Ritter on WTIS)

I started today on the couch catching up on the world through the internet as I usually do.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that Neil Gaiman had put up a link to his WTIS appearance on Wits.  I had been grumbling to myself that I was never, ever going to be able to see him on tour since he but rarely comes near me (he was in Tuscaloosa, but I didn't know it until long after all the tickets were gone and he was done), and on this tour, none of the dates are even remotely within driving distance since this is "the big one" for American Gods' 10th Anniversary.

I watched the entire two hour-ish taping of the show courtesy of streaming video.  The internet is a gorgeous thing.  It was the first time I've ever seen Gaiman live.  He's just as delightful as I thought he would probably be.  He read one of my (well, okay, and everybody's) favorite passages from AG, the "I Believe" passage.  He played games with the hosts and the other guests including "What Type of Monster Was ___?" where ___ was either a famous historical figure or a person from a song (Emily Dickinson, it seems, was really Cthulu).  He sang about why Joan of Arc might not be as much fun to hang out with as you would think.  He answered questions.  He made Doctor Who references and explained why a couch will protect you from a Dalek.

As wonderful as as Neil Gaiman was, he was only half the goodness.  The musical guest was Josh Ritter (somebody else who will never, ever, ever come here).  I have come to like his music recently, so I was interested to see what he would do live(ish).  He was really sweet and good.  The first song he did, "The Curse," had me going to Amazon to download an album.  I didn't have that one by him, and it was an instant favorite.  It had it all, Egypt, mummies coming to life, love(ish), sly, wicked little phrases.  Very good stuff, indeed.   I'm listening to it right now, in fact.  As much as I liked it live, I think I prefer the album version for the little bit of old-fashioned organ tinge to it.  It feels like an old black-and-white movie.  I swear I can see Boris Karloff....

Josh played the games, too.  He seemed like he was a little freaked out to be sitting next to Neil Gaiman sometimes.  For all I know, he was.  He did well, though.  I loved his answer about what sort of creature Thomas Jefferson was. And the thing with Kelsey Grammar.....   I also loved that after all the radio taping was done, he was asked to sing one more song and he chose to do "Galahad."  He was capoed to play something else, started something else, and then he changed his mind, adjusted his guitar. He grinned like the devil himself when he got about halfway through, paused, and he said something like, "They can't play this song on the radio,"  he gave himself a nice long go around, and he sang it anyway.  He made me laugh.  He has a book coming out later this month, and it's already on my Kindle Wish List for payday.  The premise looks pretty interesting. We'll see if he can make the transition from songs to novels.

In addition to the two main acts, the phone guests were also unexpected bonuses.  Wil Wheaton is always clever.  His Twitter feed is a good one.  He was on briefly, and of course, he and Neil Gaiman are two of the great gods of the Twitterverse.  They had Adam Savage from MythBusters on, too, and he sang "I Will Survive" in a Gollum voice, and I almost fell off the couch I was laughing so hard.  I wish I could have seen him while he was doing it, because I am certain there were some interesting faces and body movements that accompanied it.

The show was just a delight.  I would have loved to have actually been there, but at least with the gift of technology, I was able to share in it somehow.  I'm grateful for that.  Even if I live in this place where so little of what I love comes to me, I can drag it to me through the phone lines.  That is a miracle I hope I never stop appreciating.

If you'd like to watch the show for yourself, here's the link to Neil Gaiman's page.  You can get to it from there.  There are a few notes about what begins where and so forth.