Autograph Session in Paris, Dec 3rd

[heyamigo]

no that's not a tinkerbell tattoo, but an alizée tattoo with papillion wings!

from her album cover:

[ajaccio corsica]

hi
is it exactly the same as hers?
cheers

[DirtyACE]

Originally Posted by ajaccio corsica

hi
is it exactly the same as hers?
cheers

No, it's a tattoo based on a photo from MCE, plus butterfly wings were also added to it.

[Cooney]

Originally Posted by rcs

[B]Cooney, I said it before, I'll say it again...absolutely legendary! I knew before you left the significance of this trip. Snatcher realized the FULL impact of what it meant for your 30 sec experience. Thanks to him for lighting the fire for everyone to get off their butt and partake on this 22 hr 10K mile pilgrimage.

I was planning to go anyway, but yeah, Snatcher definitely is the one that really made us get organized and do it as a group outing, instead of a couple individuals here and there. My thanks to Roman as well, who was the other one that took the responsibility of organizing a second hotel room

I'm sure she's got something to think about now that she's got fans traveling from the opposite side of the earth only to get an autograph that can't be bought! A cute face and body alone don't make people do what you did. I'm sure it didn't hurt at all to hear her say your name in that French accent either.

I sure hope so! Most of the other fans we talked to did double-takes when they found out some of us were from the US. RMJ is from Finland of course, but is quite well known in his own right. Will came from the UK. All in all, it was great! I hope we did make as big an impression on her as I would like to have - even if she doesn't come here, she'll know we do care about her, and perhaps take that in to account in planning trips to nearby locations.

You and the other guys made history by being the Alizee America ambassadors with the last minute T-shirts! Did you ever dream that learning French was going to be the catalyst of Alizee taking notice of her fans in America? I don't believe we can consider ourselves unknown territory now. Roman has solidified (thanks to the newspaper photo also) this moment in time. She's obviously sharp if she remembers your Myspace post, and now with Roman's stunt, Alizee and World have "US fans" etched in their minds forever.

Well, Alizée was my reason for re-learning French actually :-P I studied it for years, but then stopped using it... until I found her. I daresay for all of us that went, the French we know is probably thanks in large part to her. She has a very capable mind, and she pays attention to details and little things that most people in her position don't bother with. She makes an effort to know her fans, and seems always genuinely happy to greet them. Among the things CF gave her was a set of photographs from her birthday party, which included Roman holding up a moi-alizee.us bumpersticker. Hopefully she'll look through the photos, recognize our faces, and associate it with that web address, so she can come find us if she wants :-P At the least, she'll be reminded of her friends across the pond :-)

Somehow, I get this feeling America represents all those countries that have a loyal fan base that haven't exactly been recognized as "the ideal market." Thanks Cooney for your generous financial pockets for making this happen. I wonder what will be discussed in her next interview.

While we call ourselves "Alizée America," I think "Alizée Anglophone" might be a more accurate description. We're based in the USA, but at least 50% of our active membership is from foreign countries, I believe. I'm torn - while I'd love to see her release an English language album (properly done, not just translations), and gain fame in our part of the world, I would hate to see her leave her French roots. She loves singing in French, and I'd rather have her be happy and far away than sad and nearby.

As for the financial pockets... thanks, but my monetary contributions were no more than anybody elses! We all paid our own ways, shared costs, and had a blast as friends and fans. I just happened to get home first, so I posted my version of things before anybody else :-P

[Fish]

Cooney, I just want to say I'm incredibly envious of all you guys. It really does seem like an incredible, unforgettable time was had by all of you, and I (among many) wish I could have been a part of it.

[ajaccio corsica]

hi
actually she's corsican, meaning her career, I realize I wrote "carrier" last time , well it wouldn't be the same if she was a french singer from Normandy or Paris or something
ajaccio is a little town, 65,000 inhabitants, everybody knows his or her neighbor
there are things that seem strange to you, for example the fact that she's so kind with her fans, she smiles all the time etc...
actually it's the way corsican people are and act, something natural, no reason to hide anything
the only thing she hides, or tries to hide, is her corsican accent
voilà
cheers

[rwd716]

There's really only 65K people there? Ajaccio's so famous, I figured it would be a pretty big city, but I guess Napoleon had a little to do with that.

[ajaccio corsica]

hi
actually it's the biggest city in corsica
cheers

[Roman]

Well, I don't know if I can do a travel log like Cooney. Maybe later.

Yes, taking those flights and trains back and forth is rather grueling. CFHollister and I met Snatcher42 at a train station on Sunday and we ended up going to l'Arc de Triomphe early, getting some food and eventually checked out the store when it opened at noon. I don't really remember all those details. Like Cooney said, we met him and the others at the hotel eventually.

Skip forward to the next day. Three of us were there a little before 10am before the store opened. It's a really cool store, by the way. There were a few people in line and yes, there was a bit of a rush to get to the Alizée display. I had originally thought we would probably only be allowed one signature and I was torn as to whether or not to get the LP (vinyle) or the CD pack. I knew I'd have to carry that all the way back home on the airplane. I decided on the CD pack, but eventually I realized that I was going to end up getting the LP sometime during the day, so I might as well get it immediately. So I did.

Anyway, at some point I left the store to go back to the hotel with RMJ so that I could drop off some of the excessive stuff that I had in a backpack and he had some things to do too. I was not able to just sit down somewhere, so that bag got heavy. That was really the only time I left. Fortunately I had brought snacks. Well, it was quite exhausting waiting all day like that and being put near the entrance eventually where it was colder. Unfortunately I had left my warmer clothing at the hotel because I though we were going to be in the store the whole time. I'll admit, I think some of my problem was that I was nervous. It didn't help that at some point the other guys got a little spooked about me planning to show Alizée my tattoo and started telling me that I should tell the guards that I had it just so that they would know what I was doing when I went to pull my shirt up. I did tell the two guards closest to her, though I think they were just confused as to why I would tell them that. They probably though I was boasting or something. No. I just didn't want to be tackled. So, that suggestion which had not occurred to me before probably just made me that much more nervous. If Alizée ever thought she was timide, she should meet me. Oh, yeah, she did! I think there's something wrong with my brain chemistry. Good thing I've learned to ignore it enough to do certain things.

Anyway, as soon as Alizée showed up, all concerns and pain were gone in an instant. There's no attention left for that when Alizée is there. When my turn came up I said some things. It's kind of a blur. I didn't say anything I had thought to say: «Tu as changée les vies de beaucoup personnes tout autour du monde, comme moi. Tu m'a inspiré venir ici pour tu remercie.» or something like that. Doesn't help that I'm still not sure how correct that is, in spite of some help from the guys. So, "You have changed the lives of many people all around the world, like me. You have inspired me to come here to thank you.»
I think I actually said something like, Bon soir. Je suis un grand fan. Un cadeau pour toi. (and handed her a painting of tinkerbell that said "Pixies Rock" also painted by the tattoo artist) I think I probably then just said something like, "le même artiste the same artist", and then just turned around and showed her my tattoo.

You want to know her reaction from me!? My back was turned! I kind of got some of her reaction when I turned back around. She then called out, papa! and gestured for her father to come over and take a picture. Wow! What an honor I felt that she would call her father to come take a picture of me. Though, of course, he was there to take pictures. So, I showed him the tattoo trying to stand to give a good picture. Then they wanted to take the picture with Alizée in the picture - a pose someone else had already gotten, only of their face. I should have turned and tried to get a picture like that with Alizée. I mean, my back, that's cool, but what about my face? Doh! That's something I might like to frame and put up somewhere. Anyway, after that last time, I noticed the people at the front of the crowd yelling and gesturing, obviously that they wanted to see it. Well, of course they want to see what got such a reaction. So, when I turned around toward Alizée again, I left my shirt up for a moment. Alizée asked me where I was from and I had to be a lame ass and say something like, what's that? Then she asked me in English. I said California. She asked me my name, which I sort of half pronounced like the French would. Anyway, she got it and wrote the autograph on the vinyl. I just pushed the CD pack over without a word and she signed that too. As I recall, we just said merci to each other, I think I said that a couple times, like every time she did anything. (By the by, though I wish I had been able to speak to her in French and understand what she was saying, how many times outside singing a song have you heard Alizée speaking English? It was kind of nice just for that unique experience.)

So then, I left the stage and when I got down some guy pulled me over for a radio interview, I think he said. I apologized for not understanding much french and as I recall it consided of mostly:
him: where are you from?
me: I'm from California. I came all the way to France just to see Alizée. There are like 5 people from America (oops, so there were only four). Two from Washington. (realized I was about to start babeling and stopped there)
him: (something about how did it feel or something to talk to Alizée)
me: it was awesome! (I know I said that and something else)
him: you got a tattoo of Alizée?
me: yes?
him: why?
me: parce que...je suis un grand fan. (because I'm a big fan)(ok, I wish I had elaborated more on the thing)

About the tattoo:
Starting with the well known iconic photo of Alizée from her second album cover and modeling the fairy wings on the wings of a Corsican Swallowtail butterfly, Roman Revell brought to life in his own flesh this beautiful image of «Alizée comme Fée Clochette» (thanks Cooney for better French) - Alizée as tinkerbell - with the help of Wade Darby, artist and owner of Visions in Flesh tattoo parlor in Sacramento, CA.
Yes, I should start always referring to myself in the third person.
I really like that image of Alizée and it is iconic. It is recognizable. I've seen it as a silhouette, which even works. At first I had thought to get it on my arm and thought that if that could not be done well, maybe I'd just get the silhouette on my arm. Then before talking to any artists, probably a couple months ago, I thought to add the wings. We refer to Alizée as une fée or la fée clochette often enough. After talking to the artists and realizing it would have to be bigger to look better I figured on my back, where I got it. Probably seeing Alizée's tattoo also influenced me on size. By the time I set the date for it I just wanted it huge. On the day we had to make various adjustments and I think 9 1/2 inches tall is what we eventually came up with for the height (that would be approximately 24cm). Also, with this photo, even if duplicated exactly the face is not detailed since it's so small. So, I did not want to much detail of her face because I was afraid that would come out looking weird as a tattoo. It's very difficult to reproduce a good likeness of a person as a tattoo. It would be tragic to make Alizée look weird on a tattoo. Also, probably the same reason they originally chose to use that photo, with that smile and her eyes closed she looks serene and fairy like. The shot is beautiful artistically as is Alizée.

I have been thinking about getting this done for months. I procrastinated of course, then eventually went on the web looking for samples of artist's work and eventually got four or five tattoo parlors in my area that I wanted to call. I called, but only two of them would create a sample drawing for me. They were both good, but I picked the one that seemed to be more likely to do a good job of duplicating the Alizée pose. Originally, I heard he was booked until January. I had waited a long time for this and was willing to wait months longer if necessary to get the best rendition I could. I finally got Wade's sample on Saturday 24 Nov (maybe it was Friday) and decided to go with him. We set a date for the 6th. I was pleased as I was still thinking about going in January to see Alizée in the concert in Strausbourg. Thanks to the leadership and hotel booking suggestion of Snatcher42 and the statement from Cooney about this maybe being the only chance to see Alizée up close and talk to her, I decided, like him, to go now instead of January. I finally booked flight tickets and a hotel room on Sunday morning and then called the tattoo parlor at noon when they opened. I figured if I begged, there was a chance that I could get Wade to do the tattoo before I left. He got me in the next morning (Monday 26 Nov) at 9am. By 1:30pm I walked out of there with this beautiful tattoo, very happy that I would get a chance to show it to Alizée up close and personal and before the rest of the world got to see it. I just wish I could have swiveled my head around to see her reaction at the instant she first saw it. It was actually still pealing on the 3rd (well, still is), so I'll post a picture from the second day. For those of you who don't know, the top layer of skin peals off like from a sun burn. Getting it done is by far the most painful part, but it burns a bit all the time afterward. Still does just a tiny bit, especially when I rub the lotion on it, which must be done several times a day to keep it from getting dried out.

So, continuing on... after I was done talking to the guy, I went over behind some ropes where the rest of the guys were standing. Well, by the end of the session, our group was clumped at the very front of the crowd control rope just in front of Alizée. So, we stood there and watched her for like three hours after we went up. RMJ was in the front with his awesome camera taking hundreds of photos. Way to go, dude!
As I mentioned to the guys, there were many things that came in to my mind while I was there and we talked about of lot such things. One thing though is that I remember feeling like it might as well have been a mall close to my house. Flying all the way out to France and all that didn't matter at all. It seemed like that lost all of it's significance. Nothing mattered at all. I was just very happy and felt like a new level of being an Alizée fan. I'm sure that time was the greatest moment of my life. It was even gratifying to share the spot-light for a moment and I'm sure I will have much enjoyment as time goes by of looking at those autographed albums, but the very best part of all was just Alizée right there talking to me. I had the feeling like I had never really heard her voice before. Somehow it was just different, right there and in person (and partially in English in my case). Some of you will say she's just a woman and I know you are right in a way, but if you were there, you wouldn't say that. That was a truly awesome experience. Alizée is regal, like a queen. I can't even justify any description like that even to myself, but it doesn't matter, it's not about that. I don't want to convince anybody. I don't want to convince me. I don't need to. I experienced it. You would just have to have been there.

[heyamigo]

awesome story roman. you now have the most famous backside amongst all of alizee fans!

btw, did you ask snatcher/cooney/cf regarding alizee's reaction when you had your back turned, and what did they say?

i want to commend you on getting that tat and making it to paris and showing it off to her. you totally stole the show man!

(oh and i'm glad i stayed up waiting for your report, i knew it'd come!)