It was a definite Schock to the system. ... It was also, literally, the picture-perfect start to my vacation.
See, Gina Schock -- the unfathomably underrated drummer of the seminal band-turned-Rock & Roll Hall of Famers The Go-Go's -- capped her book signing tour at Bookends in Ridgewood, New Jersey. (Longtime followers of my travels might remember that book store as the place I met Rick Springfield while feeling like I was at death's door with the flu about 11 years ago.)The book -- Made in Hollywood: All Access with The Go-Go's -- is the recently released collection of Schock's decades of photographic documentation of the band. But not just gorgeous pictures, those images brought back a wealth of memories for Gina, the other Go-Go's and those who were in their orb over the years. When do we get that kind of prolonged look of a group at the height of their powers, as well as the low points?
Social media affords us the chance to see what's going on with celebs almost every day of the week, and after procuring my ticket for the event, I waited and watched as Schock made her way across the country following the long-awaited induction of her band in Cleveland's Hall of Fame.
Upon arrival at the bookstore, I checked in and the store's personnel checked out 1.) the myriad of rock patches adorning my jean jacket and 2.) my Go-Go's face mask. I got on the line at the side of the building, I didn't remember much from the Rick event, but I did vaguely recall being on that line. It was already dark out, so I couldn't peruse the book at that point. (Insert sad emoji.)
I quickly started chatting up the women around me. The one in front was a fan who lives in Ridgewood but had never been to a Bookends event. She was there to get the book signed for her sister, a massive fan who has traveled the country following the band. She later told us about seeing The Go-Go's before the first single came out when they opened for The Specials on Long Island. The band was booed, things were thrown at them ... and Gina gave the naysayers the finger.
Behind me was another lovely lady who had just decided on the spot to come to the event by herself because she didn't know any other person who was as big of a fan as she is. She made us all green with envy with a great story about her Pat Benatar meet-and-greet.
Standing behind her was the mega-fan. I give her this distinction not just because she's a drummer who emulates Schock, but because she and her husband had traveled from Virginia to New Jersey just for this signing. I started talking with her about my favorite Go-Go's side project -- the House of Schock -- and she whipped out her phone and cranked up "Middle of Nowhere." We got at least one other fan downloading the stream off that discussion/playing of the song.
At about 6 (when the event was scheduled to happen), we noticed the line hadn't moved and figured Gina hadn't arrived yet. We started watching for her car, and sure enough, a few minutes later, we heard someone at the back of the store say, "Here she comes." Couldn't really see a thing, but the Virginia fan and I yelled "Giiiiiina!" I wish House of Schock songs were still playing at the moment. That might have surprised her.
It was about 15 minutes more before the queue started to move. It felt longer, but it really wasn't. Before we knew it, we were in front of the Bookends window and could see Gina chatting away with people on line. And yay, pictures were being taken too. The ladies and I had concocted a plan to take photos for each other if it was necessary. Luckily, it wasn't, and they didn't have to find out my hands shake in these circumstances.
As we got to the first corner of the store, we were talking about how great the book cover is. That's when a woman on the other side of the rope said she was happy to hear that, because there was much animated discussion at the publishing company about which photo should be the cover. Before I even perused the whole book, I deemed it perfect -- an image from the "Vacation" video shoot with Gina in the foreground in her tiara and Kathy Valentine with a combination of boredom and resignation on her face and a cigarette dangling from her lips. (After reading the whole book, I still say it's the only choice for the cover.)
And before I knew it, it was my turn. I said hi, told her my name and said I had really enjoyed the Cameo video she had made for me the previous month. Knowing a bookstore signing doesn't afford much of a chance for prolonged conversation, I had whittled the gist of I wanted to say down to a few sentences: One of my first Go-Go's memories was of being out on the junior varsity softball field practicing, "Our Lips Are Sealed" was playing and it was just a perfect day. A favorite childhood memory. Flash-forward a few years and my parents were divorcing and we moved to Florida where we didn't know anyone but my grandparents. But (and "Head Over Heels" was fortuitously playing over the sound system at that moment, and I pointed up as I continued), I could see my girls every couple of hours or so in that video. And it really helped.
I had thought about what I wanted to say for a while, but I hadn't really considered anything coming back to me. I just wanted to tell her she and the band have meant a lot to me for decades, thank her for that and congratulate the group for getting into the Hall of Fame. When she said to me, "Thank you for telling me that. It makes my heart feel good and it makes everything we do worthwhile," I must have looked, um, Schocked? I managed to say, "That makes my heart feel good."
I asked the super-cool bookstore guy taking pictures with our phones to keep shooting while I was with Gina. And he did. There were some truly unflattering pix in that bunch, but he kept doing it, and I thank him to the bottom of my toes for that. I look worked up and overly animated in almost all of them. That's OK with me, there's a correlation there to Schock sharing her history -- warts and all -- with fans and the rest of the world. I appreciate that symmetry.
