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Pat Benatar book signing: no memorabilia, no photographs, no inscriptions, .........but a bunch of rules to sign by.

Once again, I just chuckle and laugh. Once again, I need to tell myself to try and understand. Once again, I must remind myself that a signed book is all I was paying for. What I am talking about is the book signing for Pat Benatar Friday night, 6/18 at 7pm, at Borders in Westwood. For the price of the book, fans could get the pleasure of seeing classic '80's pop rocker Pat Benatar sign such book and say a few brief words to you, but that is all that you are going to get. Nada mas.............

There were no memorabilia to be signed that night, per thier rules. Okay, this I understand. I have always been of the thought however that one book should equal one piece of memorabilia, OR one person (no matter how many books) should equal one piece of memorabilia. Anyways, don't like it, don't agree with it, but I get it.

No photographs of or at the event either. Okay, I understand. It is Miss Benatars signing and if she doesn't want her photograph taken, I suppose that is her right to decide such. Again, don't like it, don't agree with it, but I get it.

The house rules were to have your book ready and the flap open to page 6. She is only signing page 6. Looking at page 6, it's the books inner title page in bold print along with the authors and publishing house name taking up 3/4ths of the page. Simply a terrible page to have signed. House rules per this Borders staff member is "no, I'm sorry, she is only signing page 6." What about if I wanted the cover signed or page 5 which is a clear open page less the title of the book, in a very small font? It's going to be my book, not hers. Why should anyone care where it is signed. Even if I wanted the back of the book signed why should anyone care? Don't like it, don't agree with it, but this one I did not get.

We were also told by staff members no inscriptions on your book. Whoa, whoa, whoaaa!! What???? As this staff member stated, "there is just too many people as Miss Benatar is only scheduled to sign for an hour". An hour??????? On a Friday night in Los Angeles, her only California thus far scheduled book signing? What, ..........does she turn into a pumpkin shortly after 8pm?? Who signs for an hour only long book signing in Los Angeles? Even Paul McCartney was scheduled for 2 hours and Elton John stayed for 4 hours.

I thought for a while I was back in Sister Patricia's 5th grade classroom at Catholic School. I have heard of rules, but this was way too silly. It was clear there were 3 entities all working here: The author, the publisher and the venue. However it surely seemed all were not on the same page. The signing started shortly after 7pm which gave me a chance to count the amount of people in line at zero hour: 327 people with a maximum of 3 books (most with just one or two books). A fair crowd, but by no means would it be considered a mob or all that packed. Gene Simmons and Keith Richards; well over 1000+ at Tower Records was a mob. Carlos Santana, Bob Hope, Madonna, Tony Bennet, Nick Mason all had way more people yet offered inscriptions (though Madonna stopped inscribing mid way through).

As I made my way up to the table, Miss Benatar was looking as beautiful as I remember her from seeing her in concert during the 1980's, or once in person at The Hard Rock Cafe in the 1990's. Wonderful smile, sharp deep eyes, and friendly as seemingly as can be. She was dressed beautifully and made up ready to greet her fans. I asked her to please inscribe just one of my 3 books, to where she kindly replied, "I can't, it would hold up the line". (hold up the line, you got to be serious?) Yet she had no problem chatting with me about the 1982 US Festival (and small talked everyone else at her table), and petted a poodle which this lady in line had in her arms, all of which I suppose didn't hold up the line.

In conclusion, I respect the fact that an artists signing is their signing. They (and thier publisher) always set the rules. However, when your running such a tight ship and you rule out every other element that true fans might want to obtain, how receptive really is the celebrity being to the fans (or are you simply selling the cattle and sheep aka the paying fans, a signed book or two)? I understand rules as life is full of them. However, some of these multi million dollar celebrities need to lighten up. Book signings should be a fun and very rare chance for both celebrity and fan to meet, ever so brief. Profitable for the author and rewarding for those that took the time to attend the event.

Offer to sign a piece of memorabilia and plan on staying a bit longer. You might just end up selling more books. Borders even had a coffee shop on the same floor. I would of been more than happy to get Miss Benatar a strong cup of "Joe", should she of needed a half way through kicker.

By the way, I got my books signed on page 5. The blank page beside page 6.

Tags: benatar, book, borders, inscriptions, pat, photographs, westwood

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Comment by Stacy Saldana on June 25, 2010 at 7:32am: Pat is going to be signing here in Chicago soon but this makes me not want to bother.

Comment by Stephen Duncan on July 16, 2010 at 1:02pm: I am hearing the rules are NO DIFFERENT, as Pat Benatar continues to jump from state to state signing autographed books.

Comment by MS9 on August 23, 2010 at 7:56pm: Thanks for the heads-up. Ms. Benatar is doing a book signing this Sunday in Boston. I've met her two times previously, both at her tour bus for concerts. She would gladly sign one thing for me each time (first CD, then 8x10 photo), but would make sure to personalize them. Actually for that 2nd autograph, she ran on the bus and let someone else take it in for her. She would never do a photo with me, though. She just doesn't do it. She avoids cameras wherever she can. So I just did an Internet search to get an idea if she would possibly be taking photos at her signings. Found this article. Guess not. Oh well, I will call the bookstore tomorrow to be sure, but I'm doubtful at this point.

Comment by A.B. on August 24, 2010 at 12:34pm: Will anyone attend one of her signings and would get my an autographed copy?
I would get one on my one, but she won´t come to Germany ;-)
Thanks for your help!

Comment by MS9 on August 31, 2010 at 7:52pm: sounds typical Pat. she can be very friendly, but just doesn't like pictures. the trick for such signings is to get in line early, but you are right, with only 25 books left and arriving late, she should've just finished the rest! and you are also right, you can take pictures out back, even if security says no. Pat won't like it, though. but if you're mad, well... anyway, thanks for writing this. it further justifies my not going. i'm happy i made the right choice at least.

Comment by MS9 on August 31, 2010 at 8:04pm: also it's funny. when i called the bookstore on 8/24 to ask about the signing rules, they said you could take pictures of her, but just that she won't pose with anybody. i was skeptical even about that first part, though, knowing Pat, so didn't even really believe the bookstore when they told me that. and now turns out bookstore was completely wrong after all!
they also had said no limit on #books, and that doesn't sound fair for those people who came just after you guys, say.

Comment by Priscilla on September 1, 2010 at 8:01am: Clarification -- the last guy to bought the book at the 8/29/2010 Pat Benatar book signing was wearing a Tom Petty shirt, not a REO Speedwagon one. Also, I checked the time of the pictures I took when Pat left the store, and they were exactly at 2:00pm. However, from the time she stopped signing the books, I had time to go downstairs, stand in line behind 10 people, returned my book. My friend and I idled in the front of the store. Oh, I'm going to re-post my original comment with the corrections so it'll be easier.

MS9, I'm glad to hear that you saved your time! Time is precious! You absolutely made the right choice. When Pat came out the back door of Borders and she saw me with my tiny camera, she ducked behind a tree.

Comment by Priscilla on September 1, 2010 at 9:43am: I was at the Borders store in Boston this past Sunday, August 29, 2010, for the Pat Benatar book signing that was supposed to start at 12:30pm.

Customers who wanted to have the potential opportunity to see Pat Benatar were required to purchase her book which was $27.61 ($25.99 + $1.62 Massachusetts state sales tax).

I had a friend visiting me from out of state and the bookstore told her she had to buy Pat Benatar’s book if she wanted to stand in line with me to keep me company. The store told us that it had only three more books left, so if we wanted to see Pat Benatar, we should buy the books before another customer bought them.

At 1:01pm (according to the purchase receipt), my friend and I both purchased a book and we were instructed to walk to the other side of the first floor to get our yellow paper bands.

The guy who purchased the last book was wearing a Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers shirt.

The groups with the blue bands and the red bands were ahead of us. The book signing was on the second floor. The yellow group had to wait on the first floor until an employee made the announcement that it was now time for the yellow group take the escalators upstairs to stand in line. The line snaked around the bookcases, and one customer mentioned that these book signings are disruptive to the store’s business. The way the line snaked around the cases, a person was unable to see Benatar.

While we were in the line, an employee kept shouting, "No pictures, no pictures!" However, my friend and I didn't see any cameras or flashes from anyone in line.

At around 1:40pm (perhaps slightly earlier), with about 25 people left (possibly less – a guy next to me said he counted about 20 people), a Borders employee made the announcement that Ms. Benatar had stopped signing books and had to go. There was a collective groan, and a male customer asked, “Are you joking?” Someone else said, “You’ve gotta be kidding!” People didn’t move from the line for a minute. The Borders employee said he was very sorry, but the book signing was over. It was time to go. Many people had dressed for the occasion – several had old Benatar concert t-shirts. One lady had 1980s-era colored feather earrings. One woman had on matching Michael Jackson t-shirt, bag, and bracelet – I guess she was aiming for the same era.

My friend and I went back downstairs to the first floor and we both returned our books to get refunds, as did about the many other customers who did not get their books signed. The sales associates apologized profusely, and we told them it wasn’t their fault.

According to the return receipt, I returned the book at 1:48pm. I figured if I really wanted the book, I can buy it brand new for $17.15 at Amazon. The book is also selling brand new through other vendors for $8.00 (with $3.99 shipping). Several people in line returning the book said they wouldn’t buy the book at any price after Ms. Benatar’s behavior. People were not blaming the bookstore. They expressed their viewpoint that the problem belonged to Pat. However, I won’t be buying the book, even when it goes down to .01 used in the future.

Several of the customers who were standing in the return line were expressing their disappointment with Pat Benatar. Pat Benatar has gone to many book signings before -- she should plan her time better and allotted more time. A few people said they would post this on Twitter or Facebook or a blog.
Benatar had a concert in Boston that evening at 7pm, so she probably has to do sound checks before the concert, but she couldn’t spare 5 or 10 more minutes to sign the remaining few books that people spent their time and money to buy.

She was signing books for about an hour -- if it was even that long. Several people stated that the book signing started late. My friend and I walked out of the Borders front entrance which is on Boylston Street. I said I bet Pat Benatar leaves at the back exit on Newbury Street. By this time, though, neither of us cared. I was feeling bad that I dragged my friend over to the Borders bookstore.

Borders had the poster for the Pat Benatar signing hanging on its front window for months -- since the late spring. Each time I passed by the store, I made a mental note to attend the signing. I had been looking forward to this event. Borders probably knew about Benatar’s proneness to having short book signings, so maybe the bookstore should not have put that poster on its windows for so long. It would have been better for fewer people to show up.

My friend and I were heading over to the Marc Jacobs store on Newbury Street, which is directly across from the back exit of the Borders store, so we figured if we saw Pat Benatar, then it was on our way anyway, and not something we would go out of our way for. We had already wasted an hour and fifteen minutes at the Borders store that day.

My friend walked around the store to the back exit and we saw a silver car with black windows for only the back doors. There was a car driver, dressed in a black suit, standing outside by the car. My friend and I knew we found out the car that Pat Benatar was going enter. I took out my camera, and I said, "I'd like to see someone say no pictures to me while I'm standing on the public sidewalk." The car driver walked towards me in what my friend perceived to be a menacing way, and I said, "There is nothing he can do to us because we are on a public sidewalk."

After I said these words, the driver backed off, and walked back to his car. At 2:00pm, Pat Benatar comes out of the back entrance of Borders with a security guard saying, "No pictures, no pictures, no pictures!" The whole scene was funny because no one was standing by the store except for my friend and me, and a small street band. There was no crowd -- it was just your average Sunday afternoon scene of people strolling the sidewalks.

I said to my friend, "Who does she think she is -- Steve Perry?" Pat Benatar is not that big of a star anymore. (By the way, Steve Perry is nice to his fans.) The way she acted that day, she lost many fans. If it weren’t for me taking pictures outside and the security guard shouting, “No pictures!”, no one would have paid any attention to her.

When my friend and I went into the Marc Jacobs store, a sales associate saw both of our yellow Borders paper bands and exclaimed, “No! Don’t tell me it was today!” He said he planned to go there during his 30-minute lunch break. After we told him the story about Benatar not signing all of the book and also how long people waited for her, the sales associate was glad he didn’t waste his time.

Since she stopped signing at 1:40pm and came to the car at 2:00pm, I am surprised it took her that long to come out. From the time she ended the signing, we had time to go downstairs, stand in the line at the cash registers, return the book, stand in the front of the bookstore talking, walk all the way around to the back of the store from Boylston Street to Clarendon Street to Newbury Street, wait for five minutes in front of the car. I believe if she wanted to, Benatar had enough time to finish all the signings and still leave at 2:00pm.