Ilana and I meet in the hotel lobby.a bit early and excited about our lunch date with Jane. Jane can't meet us until 12:30
so Ilana and I trek down the street to a bookstore café so we can catch up since our last visit. We test our autograph pens
(Ilana thinks it's funny that I changed regular old red to Red Dust Red and blue into "I'm gonna steal all earth's water blue".)
At 12:15 we venture back to the hotel.Ilana let's me call Jane's room. No answer, so we leave a message. A few minutes later
we're in the lobby and in comes Jane...spotting us immediately! Well, she probably spots me first as I'm a tad bit taller
than Miss Rapp!We greet and hug. We can sense Jane's happy energy.One of the first things she said was "Do you remember when
we went dancing in Key West?" Ilana piped up "He never told me that!" I then explained that Jane and her Stephen (her then
future husband) took me out on the town for my 19th birthday. (That summer I worked at health spa owned by Jane's mother.but
that's a whole other story!) The first stop on our afternoon is to take in some modern art at MoMA.We we're so busy talking
that we wind up going the wrong way. Ilana tells Jane about my short film project (Gnomeslayer.com). Ilana chimes in that
it's sci-fi and Jane is intrigued! I then tell her that it's a "supernatural comedy" and Jane offers to do a cameo! She said
all I had to do was show up in Australia with a camera and a script! I was on Cloud 9.no wonder I wasn't paying attention
to where we were walking! Ilana sure has the PR thing down! We talked about the current state of Hollywood where most of the
girls all look the same.I mentioned Desperate Housewives and Jane said she loved the show adding that it was wildly popular
in Australia. I added that it was the new Sex in the City and Jane agreed! We talked about Ilana's child actor experience
on Broadway.Jane was most impressed! We finally get to the museum. Inside it's not well marked but we manage to find our way
to an upper floor with some modern abstract art from the last century. Some American but really a variety. It was so much
fun to walk around with Jane discussing what we thought of the different pieces. Ilana picks out a favorite-it looks like
chalk board scribbling to me but Jane quickly points out that Ilana has good taste! Jane recognizes most of the artists as
I blindly bump around from artist to artist.polka dot blotches to sheets of newspaper that have been glued to particle boards.
We don't get to stay long as our lunch reservation was upon us. I think we were all pretty hungry. We ventured back to the
restaurant through the maze of galleries that is MoMA! Our table still isn't ready so we sit in the bar lounge area. Three
iced teas later and we're chatting about absolutely everything! How good "V" would be if it were filmed with today's improved
special effects, Mission: Impossible, spirituality, and even Buddhism (she recommended "Buddhism for Busy People" by Perth
author David Michie). At lunch we talked about how good Annette Benning was in Being Julia. Over spring salads and butternut
squash soup I asked if Jane had ever met the fabulous Dame Edna.she said she met Barry Humphries but not the proper Dame herself!
We then talked about our love lives. Jane even told us how she met her husband. Ilana was the coyest at this point, but I'll
never tell exactly what each of us confessed! We talked about what other "V" stars had been up to and about how successful
Faye Grant's husband's 7th Heaven has been doing. We talked about Ilana's work experience at Stephen Collins/Jane Curtin show.
Ilana also informed us of Marin May's latest news.Jane was so gracious to meet us after lunch and the museum to sign some
fan requests and take a few photos with us! At the bar we talked about Blair Tefkin's music.(I ordered my CD at blairtefkin.com).
We also talked about the possibility of Jane going back into the studio again to record an album based on her Shakin' the
Blues show (Jane will go back on stage again in the near future). 4:59 pm Ilana and I race across town in a taxi so we can
return home! Later that night I wake up in the middle of the night thinking the whole day was just a dream! Words just can't
express how fun and kind Jane is in person! She's so at ease that you can discuss any topic with her without feeling embarrassed.
She's a great listener and has a great sparring sense of humor.
