Nick Mason's great new book "Inside Out - A Personal History Of Pink Floyd" is selling well in various countries, and is now available in the US. To coincide with this, Nick underwent an exhaustive round of interviews and book signings, and here is our report on the second city appearance, in San Francisco.

Our thanks to everyone who has written with their stories of meeting Nick, along with their pictures of their special day. We've compiled a selection of these pictures, which are presented here for your enjoyment, alongside a great report of the event by Judy Bambrick.

Report by Judy Bambrick

Nick Mason was the special guest at the All Saints Church in San Francisco, CA (Thurs April 14th, 2005). He was promoting his new book, "Inside Out, A Personal History of Pink Floyd." He planned to sign books along with fans memorabilia, then chat with Joel Selvin of ‘Selvin in the City’ on SF KSAN radio (107.7 The Bone) for a Q & A session.

I arrived around 6:30pm to an already pretty-full audience. They had chairs set up in the service area of the Church. The Church is very quaint, and footsteps away from the infamous 'Haight-Asbury' district in SF (and one of my favorite places to eat and be merry, Magnolia cafe).

I sat on the right side of the back row of metal chairs that were setup and there was a signing table on the right side of the stage. Minutes later Nick appeared at the table and started plowing through copies of his book, for the pre-orders Booksmith had already received.

I purchased my copy and noticed it was an unusually heavy book because of all the great photos( which in most cases were taken by Nick himself). I quickly breezed thru the pages only to realize how wonderfully beautiful the photography really is in this book.

The booksellers announced that the signing would begin in five minutes and that they would take the first three rows (then take the next nine or so rows and the back room after the Q&A). Well, as you can imagine, the first three rows of chairs became an unusually long signing line, and kept growing! I decided that if I wanted to make sure to greet him that I would become one of the first three rows myself! Fortunately I was towards the end of the line and was able to spend a few minutes chatting with Nick.

We then got shuffled thru the line before I got the snap of me and him at the signing table. I had a copy of DSOTM and his autograph was so artistically beautiful, I will plan to have it framed (pic attached).

Nick and Joel then went up on the stage to begin the Q&A session. It lasted for at least 45 minutes. Joel began asking him questions about PF and their first American performances being in SF during the psychedelic scene. Nick told a story of when they played at Winterland with Big Bros and the Holding Co. and Roger takes a swig of Janis’ Southern Comfort and returns the bottle empty!

He also talked about Syd in the early days, and the first time he saw him after his breakdown at Abby Road studios in 75 and the Polaroid he took of Syd (which appears on page 211 of the book). He almost didn’t use the photo out of respect for Syd, but after further consideration decided to include since there were many other publications with similar photos. As Joel said, a picture speaks 1000 words. Nick said it spoke 5000 words.

They discussed Algie the pig and the marksmen that were hired to shoot it down from its infamous flight (in case Algie decided to make a run for it). The band was concerned an airplane might hit it! In fact there was supposedly a pilot who saw Algie but never reported it, nervously thinking that traffic control would believe he had been drinking! Nick remarked I could just imagine the airline pilots saying to one another: “is that...is that a flying pig...? never mind!”

Nick talked a bit about his relationship with Roger and that he had seen him at a friend’s party a few years ago. They both knew each other would be there, so Nick decided he would be the one to approach Roger. Nick said he included that story towards the end of the book as to come ‘full circle’ with his relationship with Roger.

Then the audience got the chance to ask a few questions. Some questions were in regards to new bands who were influenced by Pink Floyd, any new CDs coming out by the band, etc. Nick said Dave is working on a solo project at the moment so he doesn’t know what will happen after that. There is a new DVD coming out soon of the Pulse tour. Should be a great one!

That’s it. It was a very enjoyable evening spent listening to Nick’s great stories and getting the opportunity to meet him. I took a few photos and 2 video clips of the Selvin interview. I now look forward to taking time to read “Inside Out” and to enjoy all the great photos and stories that accompany them. If you are a dedicated Pink Floyd fan or not, go buy “Inside Out.” You won’t be disappointed!