Say: “Hey, listen … I think you’d love this website…” Then hand him something with “Straight Dope Message Board - Your direct line to thousands of the smartest, hippest people on the planet, plus a few total dipsticks.” written on it.
Do that, and ask to have it signed, if possible. At sister Amy’s reading of her excellent cookbook here in Raleigh, tha Rooster was all set up and selling his BBQ sauce. I bought a bottle of Hot, and he signed it “Blow it Out Your Ass. Love, the Rooster” He’s all that from the story, and then some.
I saw him, and depending on how they do the signing, you may wait in line for a long time. (Very long time. Several hours are possible.) BUT, it is worth it if you’re a fan (which is why you’re going in the first place). He’s friendly, and talks with everyone for a couple minutes. He must have been signing going on four hours, and talked to 200-300 people, and was still friendly when I got to him. Unless you’re really prepared, it is kind of weird, and you may come away from it thinking how you should have said this or that, because you didn’t come off the way you wanted. Who knows? He seems genuine, and happy to meet his fans. Have fun!
Ask him how he liked the hair cut he got while in Chicago recently. I gave him directions to Alfredo’s/Natural Man on State Street. I had no idea who he was at the time, nor did the barber.
I called the shop later on an unrelated hair cut and told the barber that I had sent him a famous author…the barber asked if he wrote a book about them.
I told him I think it’s called When You Are Engulfed In Flames. 
That made me laugh and laugh. His stuff about the Rooster is always a favorite of mine. I’m glad he’s the same as what I read.
This would probably be too personal of a question, and he probably doesn’t know the answer - regarding his younger brother Rooster.
Recently scientist have been reporting that the more older brothers a male child has, the greater the chance that a male is gay. This seems to hold most true for children from the same father. It is speculated that the mother develops an immunity of sorts to the fathers male hormones in reproduction. Each male child born is successively more likely to be gay. If a gay male child is born, the next male child is almost certainly gay.
David is gay, Rooster is not. Do they have different fathers?
No, they don’t have different fathers. “More likely” does not mean sure thing.
Ask about his other sibs, the ones that we don’t hear so much about. I think he has another sister (besides Amy) and another brother(?).
Ask him the French word for bottleneck. He never does tell us!
Enjoy.
I went to an Annie Lamott signing a few years ago–it was a lot of fun. I don’t care for her fiction, but some of her nonfic is great.
The French word for bottleneck was one of the first questions asked. I’ll let you all know more about it later, but I have a headache just now.
Hazle. Dunno if you just let the thread sink because of no further response, but I’d like to know what happened at the reading. If yer up to it, do tell.
Seconding request for more details!
So what did you ask?
I had read somewhere that he enjoyed (and was good at) guessing ages, so I asked him to guess mine. He guessed 3 years younger… I mentioned the whole anniversary book exchange, so he reached into a bag and presented me with…the tiny bottle of mouthwash from his hotel room. He signed three books for me. In Me Talk Pretty One Day, he wrote, “To Sarah, I’m So Happy You Can Walk.” I must have been fairly giddy or something… Anyway, I put a Hello Kitty sticker on top of his wrist, shook his hand, and that was that. If you get the chance, it’s worth your time. It’s great to hear him read live and he is quite gracious and friendly. I’m sure that he signed books and visited for at least 3 more hours after I left. He was probably there after midnight.
Hee! That’s neat. We’re going to see him on Monday, and I’m definitely bringing my copy of his latest book - I just have to decide if I can stay up that late and stick around after for that long.
It would be funny if you asked him why he wrote what he did in my book in St. Louis followed by a question about what (if anything) he remembers from each place. Enjoy!