I stumbled on this signing by accident. I don’t often read theforce.net San Francisco fan boards but I was looking for information for the Upcoming WonderCon. While they do have a thread on WonderCon another Thread caught my eye Pee-Wee’s San Francisco Adventure. I clicked on it to read:
This Sunday, Jan. 21st, at Amoeba Records (1855 Haight St), Paul Reubens, aka Pee Wee Herman will be doing a limited signing of his DVD’s from 3-5 pm.
For more info: 415-831-1200
Tequila!
With only a few days to spare I called my buddy Josh who lives in San Francisco. He was away on business. He said he would be back in town and wanted to go. Saturday we hatched out our gameplan. Sunday morning I made the one-hour drive to meet up with Josh. The store was only a few miles from his place.
We got to Amoeba about 10 minutes until 3:00. There were about one hundred people gathered in front of the store. One group of people had formed a line. Not that it mattered. They handed out numbered tickets in the morning as you purchased select Pee Wee Herman DVDs. Josh and his girlfriend got us tickets #9 and #10 when the store opened.
After a few moments one of store employees called ticket numbers 1 through 50. We entered to find there were already a lot of people in store waiting. The “line” was very unorganized and security was pretty weak. The number system didn’t seem to mean a whole lot. A lot of people tried to cut. A lady employee walked the line to check ticket numbers and had a bunch of Post-It Notes to put your name on your items.
Shortly Paul Reubens arrived on stage (set to look like Pee-Wee’s Playhouse) to a huge ovation. He seemed surprised and touched by it. He spoke to the crowd for a moment joking “Thanks, that’s all the time I have”.
The line moved pretty quickly. I had a few people in line asking me why I brought a “Star Wars” figure with me to have signed. I explained that Paul provided the voice for Captain Rex on the Disney Star Tours ride.
I don’t think we were in line more than 20 minutes or so. A lady from the San Francisco Chroncicle was there taking pictures as we were about to meet Paul.
As I got to the table Paul was signing at, I said “Hi, nice to meet you”. He said “Hi, Would you like these both made out to Brian?”. I said that “That would be great”. I took the opportunity to ask him if he would be doing any work on updating Star Tours. He told me, “Not that I’ve heard of”. He quickly asked me if I had been on the ride. I told him “A few times”. He finished signing and said “Star Tours was the first ride of its kind”, and added, “Be sure to let the ink dry”. I thanked him, and he nodded.
Thanks to Matt from the San Francisco Fan Force. For letting me use a couple of pictures on this report. Also a quick Thanks to Josh and Beth. Beth for getting me my ticket. And Josh for rolling with me on another adventure.
