MEETING GARRETT WANG AT THE SEATTLE CHINESE INFORMATION AND SERVICE CENTER (CISC) FUNDRAISING DINNER
NOVEMBER 21, 1998
SEATTLE, WASH., USA.
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On Saturday, November
21, 1998, I got a second chance to personally meet Garrett Wang.
He was scheduled to support the Seattle Chinese Information and Service
Center (CISC) Annual Fundraising Dinner, and Christina (whom met at the
Vancouver Asian Film Festival with Rigel and Jay) had emailed me about
it about a month before. I took advantage of the fact that Garrett
was coming to the Northwest again, and mailed for information.
A thick envelope came in the mail that had all the relevant information, including an RSVP card. Since I was from Canada, I had to convert all the money to American funds, and in the end, I calculated wrong and didn't give enough. But, I supported them in other ways (more on that later). Anyway, I got an email back from the organizer of the CISC event, Julie Fast, and she confirmed that she got my card and cheque. She also mentioned that she was trying to get a Star Trek Voyager table arranged, so that all the fans that came explicitly for Garrett would be able to sit together. I thought it was a cool idea, but in the end, it didn't happen exactly (more below). Anyway, I left for the border at around 10AM. Since I was in Langley, I was relatively close to it, compared to Vancouver. Langley is a township (one of the oldest as it was the first capital of British Columbia--we have the old Fort to prove it :-) that has the national border as one of its own. Of course it's all farmland down there, at least in Langley. The more 'civilized' border crossing is farther West, called the Peace Arch crossing (there is a monument representing the friendship between the US and Canada). One thing about 'remote' border crossings is that they ask some of the strangest questions. Maybe it's because I'm more used to more urban practicalities, but if I was a border patrol person, I wouldn't ask whether I was carrying guns, or if I was going to the States to mail something. In either case, like I was going to say yes if I was! I question that did make the officer mildly suspicious was when I told him I was going to Seattle to a Chinese-American fundraiser. He asked the basic, Who, What, Where, When, Why, but when it came to the How, I was confused. How was supporting this organization? The question had a basic answer. I wrote a cheque and mailed it to them. But at the time, the question seemed so dumb because the answer was so obvious, that I couldn't think of the answer. It wasn't until he started to list some things, like helping to solicit money (which I wasn't), that the simplest answer came out of my mouth, and I was on my way. I arrived at Christina's house at around 1PM, after having lunch at a local McDonalds (I have to say, a fish burger is just not the same in the US as it is in Canada--ours is *much* better!). Because Jay was more familiar with Seattle, we went in his car. We arrived to the restaurant at ~4PM and were told that we were too early, so went to the lounge to get a drink. We talked about stuff until ~5:30 when Julie came up to us and introduced herself. She told us what a cool guy Garrett was--something she was not expecting--then again she didn't know what to expect. She mentioned how kind and sincere a person Garrett was, something she wasn't expecting from a "Hollywood type." But she said he was cool, and that he would be arriving soon, and that we should be able to talk with him. She remembered Christina from I guess their various conversations over the phone, and Christina introduced me to her, and she said that Garrett remembered me, "Richard...from Vancouver, yeah I remember him," or something to that effect--which I thought was really cool (to be remembered by Garrett, of course is a privilege). Anyway she really didn't know much about Garrett, and was still confused about what movie he did, I said "Hundred Percent," and she remembered, and she said that she kept getting it confused with "Yellow" which is a different Asian-American movie, which has a more Korean-American focus. She left, we talked more about stuff, she came back to tell us that Garrett had arrived and that told us to hurry up! We went up and I saw Garrett standing and talking with someone. Anyway, we lined up to register ourselves and we were all sitting together at one table. Jay, having had a couple drinks already, seemed to be hyper, playing around, "so where do we want to sit? Do we want to be near Garrett, with our backs to him, or across the table so we have a constantly good view?" I made a compromise, where we sat across from Garrett, facing the same direction has him (so techically we were beside him from the other table, if we were sitting on a straight line). We sat down and started talking among ourselves, since we were early Julie came up to use frequently and just chatted. Anyway, Garrett came to his table--right beside ours, and while we were talking I turned to notice him and he knew me and said hi, "Richard!" And I happily replied, "Garrett!" Anyway, he was really busy with people around him, some of the organizers and CISC people, and early birds all introducing themselves to him and asking for autographs. Anyway, we were still
sitting at our table, just watching and Julie came up to us and urged us
that if we wanted something, we'd better hurry and do it before the crowd
really gets on him, and our chances will be very slim. So, she kindly
urged us towards Garrett and we formally introduced ourselves again, shaking
Anyway, before we were shut out by the hoards of people, I asked if he would ever consider a charity screening of his movie and he said that it was a good idea, one that he hadn't thought of before. Anyway, Annie was hiding behind me all this time, but she did manage to ask if the movie would come back to SF and he said that we'd probably have to ask Jusak. Anyway Julie urged Garrett to take a group picture, so all of us, Christina, Jay, Annie, myself and Garrett took a group picture. Anyway we sat back down and just talked amongst ourselves again. People began filing in and we started to get loud, and the CSIC people were continually promoting the raffle tickets for the event. I didn't buy one, although they asked me and I told them, only if they took Canadian dollars, and they said, only at the exchange rate, and it would be $15, which I thought was too expensive--I wanted to save my money for something else, and I'm glad I did. Julie had mentioned that Garrett had brought a stack of pictures $5 for B/W, and $10 for a colour picture, which would be autographed by Garrett. The event started with speeches by the CSIC execs, and then the raffle went ahead. Apparently our table had a couple prominent members of the Chinese community--one lady was the head of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce--among other community organizations--and I talked with a lady who was the publisher of Seattle's two Asian papers/magazines. As I said before, our table was going to be a bunch of Voyager fans, but apparently there was some mix up and we got to sit with the prominent people. The only fans at the table were Christina, Jay, Annie, and I. Anyway, throughout the night I talked with the publisher, and we discussed things about differences and such between Chinese-Canadian and Chinese-American issues and how very different they are. Told her about the paper I did and the interview I did with Garrett, and she wondered how I knew about the Dinner, and I told her that Christina told me about it, and she asked Christina and she said that she found it online. And the lady chuckled that I had come all the way from Vancouver to Seattle to see Garrett--and she was right--but I also mentioned that I supported the efforts of the CISC, as it has something similar to what Vancouver has, called S.U.C.C.E.S.S (don't ask about what the acronym stands for). She asked how it was with that organization, and I said, that they usually have talent nights as fundraisers which are pretty big draw. She asked how big a Chinese population is in Vancouver, and I said, that 25% of people in Vancouver speak Chinese, so of 1.2 million, that's about 250,000, which is much larger than the population in Seattle. I asked about what her paper was about and she said it was about local issues, but she finds it a challenge. Of the two papers, there is only 12 people who work on them. Anyway, during the raffle, Garrett got a gift basket for coming and buying 10 raffle tickets. It was a 'heavy' basket, and I went up to it when I took a picture and just saw a lot of jars of sauces and stuff, which, according to the host, "you haven't tried BBQ until you try it with those." My parents being avid Chinese cooks, I would have to disagree with her, but then again, maybe it was a commercial plug for the products :-). We ate. The food wasn't bad, but it wasn't anything spectacular. But, I didn't exactly go for the food (after all, Vancouver has one of the largest Chinese communities in the Northwest; we have our own great authentic Chinese restaurants). During the latter portion of the dinner, Garrett's aunt came up to speak. Apparently one added bonus for him going up was to see his relatives, and they came to the dinner. She said that ever since he was a child, Garrett liked to entertain people. She told the story that when he was really young, if there wasn't a Coke with his dinner, he wouldn't eat it. Anyway, she always thought of him as an intelligent and wise man, generous and always giving to people, and that she was very proud of him. While his parents wanted him to do everything but acting, he persevered, especially in Hollywood where the most important thing is connections within the establishment. Anyway, Garrett went up to speak, and 'injected some reality' to his aunt's 'glowing' story. He first said that his parents actually didn't want him to be an actor. Like all Chinese parents, they either want you to be a lawyer, doctor, accountant, anything but the arts. He said that his mom's views on acting were based on her short conversation with a "One Day at a Time" actress, and she asked the actress if there were any tips she could give his son about acting, and she said that he shouldn't even try because he wouldn't ever make it. So, his difficulties with his parents were the result of that. He did say about connections that they were indeed important, giving an example that Nick Cage is actually Nick Coppola, the nefew of Francis Ford Coppola. He went on the describe
his studies, dabbing in first-year med, then poli sci, economics, and
Anyway, from there
he briefly described his path towards Voyager, saying that it was his most
hardest audition, getting 6 auditions within 2 months as TPTB searched
all over North American to find the perfect actor. Well, it turned
out to be Garrett. He then went on to say that he was happy to be
able to be in a position where he can be a positive influence for Asian-Americans,
especially those who face the similar struggles he went through as a Chinese-child
growing up in the South, with all the prejudice that he had to endure.
He is glad that he is in a position to start his own projects and make
himself and Asians in general more visible, saying that it can go a long
way to reducing the prejduice that exists, by becoming more exposed to
Asian Americans on screen. He noted that prejudice is harder to maintain
once
He then went on to say that he was happy to be able to be at the CISC dinner, as he was unable to make it last year. He said he was really happy to be there to support organizations like the CISC. Then we ate some more. And then the kareoke started. They sang, and sang, and sang, and by my calculations probably raised about $3000, which is surprising considering I'd pay people NOT to sing. Anyway it was a lot of fun to listen to. They were actually quite good; much better than my parents! In the meantime, Garrett went over to start signing the autographs. I was one of the first in line because I didn't want to wait. Anyway, I bought three pics--one colour, 2 B/W. The colour one was signed for me, one of the colour was signed for my bro, and one for a friend of mine. So, that was the reason why I saved my money instead of using it for the raffle. Anyway, went back to my table, and the Chinese ladies were eager to see what they were, and I showed it to them. The journalist lady was so keen that she wanted me to take a picture with the pictures I guess for her paper, and I gave her my address and stuff just in case she was going to use it, so that she could send it to me, or just tell me that she'll use it. Anyway, near the end, Jay had disappeared, and later Christina followed him, and later I did, to discover they were in the bar. Apparently Garrett and Jay had been smoking a cigar together--Jay/Christina had given Garrett a cigar early in the evening. pparently Garrett was
a very experienced cigar smoker. Garrett had mentioned to Jay that
it was good that they were having a smoke because it would've been much
better than doing the kareoke. Anyway, by the time I arrived, Garrett
had finished the cigar and was smoking a pack of "light cigarettes."
He mentioned that only two people are real cigar smokers, and that's him
and Bob Picardo. Anyway, earlier before I had arrived, apparently
Jay was telling Garrett a way to get Cuban cigars--from Canada--and of
course since I'm Canadian I could be the easy go-between. In good
humour of course. Soon enough Garrett had to start to leave, and
I started ready to go. Anyway, we shook hands again, and said it
was good to see each other again. He mentioned to me that he'd be
up in Vancouver sometime to go to an Indian restaurant because he wanted
to buy a piece of art there. Anyway, we all left the bar, and I guess
we followed him up to go to the restaurant to get our stuff. I wanted
to talk to Annie again, but she wasn't at her table. Anyway, we got
our stuff and we decided to get pictures again, so I took a picture of
Jay and Christina with Garrett. Then we went downstairs and we found
Annie. So, we took another picture, and then we left the restaurant.
I stayed over at their house for the night, and in the guest room I found a copy of "Pathways"--the second novel by Jeri Taylor. Since I had heard so much about it, I spent a couple hours reading it, mostly the Harry Kim section. Anyway, it was having read that part of the novel soon after coming back from Seattle that Garrett Wang and Harry Kim are very different characters. Previously in online chats, he, like many actors, say that a part of their character is a part of them. Sometimes that's a lot; there are many similarities, but not so much with Harry Kim. Garrett is a very experienced individual--hardly the "green Ensign" he portrays. Garrett doesn't just 'know his stuff.' He "knows" his stuff in a more sophisticated way. Anyway, I stayed until 11AM the next day, making my visit to the States just a couple hours over 24 hours--ringing true to my statement to the Canadian border guard (who asked 'normal' questions). Jay and Christina had to go out at that time, and it's fortunate they did because I had gotten lost trying to find the highway back. Now, I didn't have that hard a time when I came, after all I did do a few drive arounds of the community, but *one* wrong turn in a suburb, and I got lost. Anyway, they saw me, and directed me to the highway, and that's the last I saw of them. We still communicate online of course. Anyway, I have to admit that I've been pretty fortunate to have seen Garrett twice; both in relatively small, non-Trek venues. I've gotten the chance to see him more as an individual than a celebrity (although I'm never going to lose that cool feeling of knowing that I've talked with someone who's on TV--American TV at that! :-). The End. Copyright 1998, Richard
Chu. All Rights Reserved.
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