I've had tiny brushes with the rich and famous, but I was happy to let the moment pass and not make a big deal out of it. I met a couple of top NHL players (Paul Henderson and Marcel Dionne) when I was a young lad, but a simple autograph was good enough for me. Then again, I was in a line-up at a signing event. Just the other week, an Olympic athlete from the 80's walked into the store where I work. A couple of co-workers (grown men) kind of flipped out and wouldn't leave poor Ben Johnson alone. They took selfies with Johnson and made a fuss over the guy. Me.... meh. Even though I am a runner - a recreational runner, that is - myself, I had no interest in bothering Mr. Johnson. Just an interesting story to tell.
When I ran the Ottawa Half Marathon several years ago (either 2003 or 2004), I chatted with a young woman for a while as we ran the race. Because that's what you do in long races... maybe meet somebody and pass the time in conversation as you struggle through the miles. Anyway, the woman told me she was an actress but I wasn't familiar with her films. It wasn't until long after the race that it occurred to me to look her up on the internet. I knew she was from Montreal (not born there, but living there at the time) and was named Bonnie. She acted in films. And she ran races. It didn't take long for me to figure out who she was, especially once I saw her photo online... Bonnie Mak. Some of her major film appearances were as a slave girl in 300, a nurse in The Barbarian Invasions, and a role in The Art of War. Miss Mak even has her own blog.
Back in the late 90's I attended the Ottawa International Jazz Festival every summer. I'd book a week or two off from work, buy a full-access festival pass, then I'd hit every possible show. One of the late night gigs was an unknown (to me, at least) duo called Alma Tadema & JPS Scorpio. The female vocalist and the electric bassist combined to make the most weird, exotic, and hypnotic music I'd ever heard. After the performance ended, and it was announced that CDs were available, I made a bee-line for the musicians. I actually spoke to them for a minute or two and bought their CD "Dark" (which I am now looking at on my desk, and I'm thinking I need to play it again - it's been far too long).
Oh, and I don't know if this really counts, but somewhere back in the 2000's, as I was entering the local art-house cinema one evening, dark-suited security men directed patrons to move to the side. Then out of the theatre stepped the Canadian prime minister at the time, Stephen Harper, and his family. I didn't wave. I didn't even smile. Oh well.
Friends and I sometimes throw around ideas about what famous people (living or not) would be fun to engage in conversation.... for more than just a minute or two.... like maybe for a dinner over a couple of hours. The obvious choices came up, like beautiful Hollywood actresses Scarlett, Natalie, and Nicole. But the guys agreed that there could not be any dream scenario with the promise of romance. So with that out of the way, one had to rethink some of those choices.
Initially, I thought that favourite movie directors or authors would be cool to talk to, but I don't know if those conversations could be as fun and light as I'd like. Both the celeb and I would likely have a bit of a serious approach, which might not be conducive to the proper digestion of dinner. Two of my favourite novelists, Cormack McCarthy (No Country For Old Men, All the Pretty Horses) and Len Deighton (The Ipcress File, Funeral in Berlin), are of a (older) generation that probably wouldn't even like to participate in a "fan dinner". Same goes for the elderly author Larry McMurtry, best known for his sweeping Old West epic Lonesome Dove. On the movie side of things, I'm not sure if I'd really like to sit with serious and sometimes slightly demented geniuses like dearly departed directors Hitchcock or Kubrick.
I believe I'd keep actress Scarlett Johansson as a dinner and conversation pick. I might be overwhelmed and distracted by her looks, but I'd make the best of it. Scarlett's a fascinating and funny person, so it's not like she'd be boring to talk to.... some members of her family worked in film, she is also a singer/recording artist (listen here), and of course, she is among the top actresses in the business. And it doesn't hurt that she is in some of my favourite movies, like Lost in Translation, Her, Ghost World, and Under the Skin.
I think that offbeat actors like Bill Murray (Lost in Translation, Caddyshack, and Rushmore, just to name a few of his many films) and Adam West (I know him best as Batman from the 60's) would be cool to chat with over braised chicken and Chardonnay. Now that I think about it, a one-on-one is one thing, but imagine getting a couple of favourite stars together at the same table... the chemistry could make for great laughs and banter. Ever seen Youtube's Dinner For Five? Like that.
Alec Baldwin and Tina Fey, both of film and television, are a couple of my favourite famous personalities. Both are downright funny, together and apart... as seen on TV's 30 Rock. I'd be torn about whether to dine with both of them or just pick one. A tough choice there.
Larry David, co-creator of Seinfeld and star of his own show Curb Your Enthusiasm might be a blast, or he might be a hassle. Hard to say. He seems like a cool and wacky character, but he might experience a napkin issue or get into an argument with the waiter in the restaurant and spoil the evening. Then again, that might be entertaining, too. Who knows?
I was super-jealous of an old best friend of mine who met two of the members of Rush, our favourite rock band for many years. He even got a couple of drumsticks from Percussion Grandmaster Neil Peart. Damn! But I've always thought it would be cool to sit down and shoot the breeze with Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson, the singer/bassist and the guitarist, respectively, for Rush. I've seen many interviews with those guys and not only are they very friendly and approachable, they are intelligent and possess a fun and quirky sense of humour.
Now.... time to make dinner reservations.
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