Friday, November 17, 2006

Another Brown U. Literary Moment

[Below: Rushdie, with certified MacArthur genius Colson Whitehead, at a literary gathering in 2004. Photo courtesy of Koko the Clown.]












Upon reading the post below about Orhan Pamuk, my friend Inwood Ingrid sent me the following email yesterday of her own amusing experience at Brown's "Strange Times, My Dear" literary festival - a gathering of proudly persecuted artistes at which Pamuk and the famously oppressed Salman Rushdie participated:


This is my Salman Rushdie moment of the day. It occurred half an hour ago at the Rushdie book signing.

I asked him, "So, when does your next movie come out?" Caught off guard by my question, he paused for a moment to recover. After briefly recuperating he told me he had just finished filming it and it will be released next March 2007. Then he mentioned the name of the movie. Of course, I don't remember it.

Meeting with Rushdie by no way beats [Betty and Bimbo]'s blog entry. I guess it could have if [my friend] would have had the courage to follow up my question with his own: "So, how did you get to go inside the Playboy mansion?"Unfortunately, he was standing next to an elderly Indian woman. It would have been much too inappropriate.

Indeed. When I met Rushdie (see photo above), at a reading he participated in to benefit the anti-Bush political action committee Downtown for Democracy in 2004, he was with the most beautiful woman ever. I don't know who she was.



5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Koko, I'd no idea you were a photographer of the literati, in addition to all your other cool jobs!

Rushdie was impressive in "Bridget Jones Diary," and when I unmemorably met him at a literary event in New York that resembled a middle school social event (Rushdie and Auster crouching in their own corner, away from the girls) I was tempted to ask him about it, but ultimately lacked the chutzpah of your friend Post Street Polly.

Another unused conversation starter for the next time I meet Rushdie: "Fatwah? I hardly even KNOW yah!"

Betty and Bimbo said...

Did I say Post Street Polly? I meant, Inwood Ingrid!

My other Providence sources were at this event, so I'll see if they have any amusing tales of Rushdiana to share with everybody.

Anonymous said...

Is Koko the Clown a relative of Shalimar the Clown?

Anonymous said...

the beauteous woman is his wife padma lakshi, but we hear she shops a lot and does not read a lot.....

Anonymous said...

I forgot the name of the film he is going to be in, too, but I do know that he plays Helen Hunt's gynecologist. She chose him specifically for this role. He was startled but very happy. Colin Firth is in it, too.
More to come!!