A Visit with Janis

Janis Ian came to town to work on an audio book of her autobiography. I was introduced to Janis in 2001 at the Philadelphia Worldcon, just as she was announcing  that she had just met Connie Willis and needed to go cry. She's a fan-girl geek at heart. We met up again the following year and have maintained a lovely friendship since then, solidified when I asked her to be my toastmistress at the 2009 Nebula Awards. Chuck Lorre, who turned out to be a huge fan of Janis' work, was my keynote speaker, and his partner in crime, Bill Prady is an even bigger Janis fan. So Janis' latest L.A. visit gave us an opportunity to get together for a taping of The Big Bang Theory. (The show ran a mere 10 days after it was shot. It's the one about Sheldon refusing to go to Amy's aunt's birthday party so he could play Star Wars on-line with the other guys.)

Here we are on the couch in the boys' living room. That's David Gerrold (who introduced me to Len Wein in 1989) and me in back of the couch and my husband, one of our "adopted daughters," Dani Dornfeld, and Janis in "Sheldon's place."

Janis wanted a photo of the forever-broken elevator. This set is redressed for each floor every time you see people using the stairs. They had to dig a hole for the down stairs on the right, because the rest of the set is on the ground floor. Penny's living room and the boy's living room flank the hall way, and those are the three permanently standing sets for the show.. The comic book shop swings with various bedrooms and Amy's stripped efficiency set was where we got to sit with the writers during part of the show.

Everyone wanted a chance to sit in "Sheldon's place." When I went to photograph Len in it, I couldn't help but notice that a copy of his DC Legacies hard back was sitting on the coffee table. I did not put it there. When we mentioned it to Bill Prady he said "we know what we're doing."

Janis was in town long enough for us to have dinner a couple of times and she even came by for a Sunday Super Supper Squad dinner. She was very impressed that I made bread and insisted on being photographed with it and Len, who had just donned his Captain America wardrobe. Yes, I am married to a 12 year old.

We're hoping Janis will be back out in L.A. to perform again sometime next year. She hasn't been out here as a singer for two or three years now. We could probably fill the audience just with our gang.

And the Final Jeopardy Answer Is...

I've probably mentioned before that we watch Jeopardy! religiously. Maybe even that I once relayed an entire episode by telephone, question by question, to Len, who was sitting in an airport lounge in L.A., waiting for a flight to London, while I was in Cleveland for law school.

We get a big kick out of Categories with People We Know. Or Categories That Len Created. Obviously, that's not what they are called on the show, but that's the effect for us.

Last night, the Final Jeopardy category was "Science Fiction," a Category Full of People We Both Know. After we both proclaimed we were betting our bank accounts, the house, the dogs, the horse, and my son, we speculated on just which of our friends would be the answer or the creator of the answer. The answer, roughly, was "These creatures were based on the effect rabbits had after they were introduced to Australia and reproduced uncontrollably."

We started laughing hysterically because we lead such strange and interesting lives. The question, of course, is "What are Tribbles?" Tribbles were created by the young David Gerrold for his Classic Star Trek episode, The Trouble with Tribbles.

The first time I photographed David was in 1973. In 1989, David introduced me to Len, saying he was someone I needed to photograph for my exhibit of science fiction professionals. The next day, as I prepared for the shoot, I said to Len "David said I should photograph you, but I'm at the point in this project where I'm shooting people whose work I don't know. So who the hell are you, anyway?" The rest, as they say, is history.

To Boldly Go: Recognizing Trek Writers on the Strike Line

Considering how badly many writers were treated by Gene Roddenberry and some of his successors, there's a certain pleasure in knowing what's going on over on Melrose Avenue today. Oh how I wish I could be joining friends like Harlan Ellison and David Gerrold outside of Paramount Studios for today's Star Trek themed strike event. I would so like to get one of the special tee-shirts the WGA printed up. Having a day job is definitely getting in the way of my avowed occupation as a creative rights activist.

Friend Gillian Horvath explained about the various strike locations she's been on last night at our Amazing Race (yes, it's reality TV and no, we don't boycott it) watching dinner (this shiksa managed to make a nice brisket and latkes, even though I no longer eat red meat and brisket is a food I never ate with my Italian-American family.) She explained that the Bronson Gate at Paramount has "strike dancing" every Monday at 11 and it also has a "singles strike line" the same day. And I thought it was pretty funny 20 years ago when certain supermarkets in the D.C. area were identified as great places for singles to meet (the up-scale place in McLean was my favorite--rather like a Pavilions, Gelsons, or Bristol Farms is out here in L.A.)

Gillian gave us a demonstration of the "strike dance" choreography, complete with the drill team moves. Priceless. We agreed that the themed strike events are doing a lot to keep morale high during this trying time.

Meanwhile, the AMPTP showed its lack of good faith by walking out of talks Friday with a prearranged PR release blaming everything on the writers--after failing for four days in a row to produce the response to the WGA's counterproposal on Tuesday as they had promised. And Tom Short got IATSE to march in what was, in effect, a protest against the WGA strike over the weekend. No wonder they didn't want WGA members to support the demonstration. I have less and less respect for Tom Short every day and I can't help but feel much more sympathy toward the members of Local 600 who clashed with him (and lost their places in the board.) The man is acting like an AMPTP shill.

Some producer was quoted in the L.A. Times as saying the selfish writers don't care about the working stiffs. I've got news for said producer: my husband and his colleagues ARE working stiffs.