Monday, December 15, 2008

Flirting With Jay O Sanders

So I have a facebook account mainly just to be able to stay in contact with friends (and because my wife forced me to at gunpoint), but I have taken advantage of a couple of features, such as the book list and I joined a bunch of groups that I thought were funny.  One of the groups was fans of audiobooks (I loves me a good audiobook), and that got me wondering if there was a group for fans of Jay O Sanders, seeing as how he is far and away my favorite audiobook reader.  I stumbled accross him while listening to a book by an author that I really like, and since then, I have found myself going out of the way to find books read by him even if I wouldn't otherwise be interested in it.
http://www.vineyardtheatre.org/images/SandersJayObw.gif
Turns out there is no group for fans of Jay O Sanders, but he does have a facebook account, so I requested to add him to my friends list with a message that I really like his books blah blah blah.

Imagine my surprise when the next day I get a message back from him thanking me and telling me about some of the audiobooks he has enjoyed reading.  So I respond telling him about which books I liked (Dragon Tears by Dean Koontz is not only an excellent book, but Sanders knocks it out of the park), and politely offered to take good care of him should he ever get in a traffic accident.  He responded again telling me about the books I mentioned (turns out Dragon Tears was his first...) and politely declining the traffic accident offer.

By this time I'm delighted to see a real human behind a (semi) famous face, and not wanting to push my luck/look like a stalker, I told him that he rocks and wished him best of luck.  Then I quickly posted another message asking him why he was responding to my comment at an ungodly hour.  Turns out it was a time zone difference that made it look ungodly.

Anyway, the whole point is that I think it is great that he is willing to take the time to personally respond to a fan and show his human side.  It makes me even more desirous to go out and get more of his audiobooks.  And if you haven't ever heard of him (his acting career seems to be mainly smaller parts in movies and a few TV shows, but nothing that I remember seeing him in), please go check out one of the audiobooks that he has narrated.  Give yourself time to get used to his style, which is a little different than the average narrator, and I think you will agree that he rocks the hizouse.

"Thanks for getting in touch and for your kind words. It's great to hear directly from people who listen. It's time spent with all these people we rarely meet, despite the intimacy of having privately told them a story."


 - Jay O Sanders (personal correspondence to unidentified nobody schmuck - December 15, 2008)

Incidentally, he never did accept me as a friend, but that is understandable... I probably wouldn't accept a stranger as a friend on my facebook page either.

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