Imagine, someone famous lived next door, you never knew it, until one day they show up at a neighborhood event? Anyhow I thought the story was interesting:
This man called Jack White of some group called “The Dead Weather” lived in this neighborhood, but thing is nobody knew it. Until suddenly he shows up at the neighborhood potluck. LINK
"NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – A photograph of Jack White attending a potluck event in his Nashville neighborhood has gone viral.
An Instagram post from Jedidah Jenkins shows the rocker among his bewildered neighbors at the event. Jenkins said his mother has hosted the potluck every year for over a decade.
Jenkins does not disclose where in Nashville the picture was taken but that his “little dead-end street is populated primarily with elderly and quiet people” and the “houses are modest and suburban.”
Except for the large, gated historic home at the bottom of the street where sometimes the sounds of guitar playing could be heard coming from the garage.
Jenkins said White came to mingle with his neighbors, many of whom had no idea who he was or that the Grammy-award winning musician even lived on their street.
He reportedly introduced himself, apologized for traveling so much and having to miss the neighborhood get-togethers over the years."
I have a friend who is wildly obsessed with this musician, who isn’t as big of a rock star as Jack White but he’s got some notable things under his belt. She made me go to his show when he came to town (he’s talented but I was really bored) and I’ve been to her house when she’s had his albums on loop in the background.
Anyway about a week or so after I went to his show I was talking with my business partner, who lives in another state, and he randomly brought up that he just met his neighbor and was surprised to learn that he was a musician too (my biz partner is a musician) and they had a great time hanging out and maybe I’d heard of him. I did, it was this guy my friend is obsessed with!
I didn’t tell my friend because we’re not really friendly anymore (not even at the time we went to the show together), and I very much didn’t want to deal with her trying to get to this guy through me.
Musicians gotta live somewhere, man!
Very surprised to find that Jack White was being sociable though He must have come home from a tour and found his fridge to be empty, and all his neighbors giving away food outside.
Well all rock stars eventually “grow up”, mature, and need to step back into being just a normal person again. For example when they have kids and they have to start acting like parents. A good example of this is Ozzy Osborne or Gene Simmons.
What I find interesting is that the man really had no fear of obsessed fans because none of the neighbors had ever heard of him so really unless he started announcing what he did, it would be just like “hmmm ok Jack… would you like some potato salad?”.
Reminds me of a story I read about Keith Richards a few years ago. One morning he walked into a donut/coffee place near his home in Connecticut, ordered a cup of coffee. One of the other customers noticed him, and said “Here you go, I’ll pay for that.” Not recognizing Keith, the guy had assumed KR was down and out. Keith thanked him, left, and then the guy’s friends said “Didn’t you know who that was?” Hilarity ensued.
I no fan of Jack White. I think his music is over rated. But you have to feel a bit sorry for him and his neighbours about this (well except for the neighbour who allowed this to go viral.
Next year the potluck is going to be swamped by Jack White groupies. He won’t be able to just turn up as a normal guy ever again.
I think many rock stars have learned to live as normal people. I saw where Paul McCartney can go shopping and do normal things if he just is careful to not draw attention to himself.
Heck really once they take off the makeup and wear ordinary clothes would most people even recognize them?
The article stated that almost nobody in the neighborhood recognized or had even heard of “Jack White” even when he introduced himself.
Jack White is not a big “Nashville” type star of country music. He is one of the biggest guitar heroes / songwriters of the modern era in rock circles, but relocated to Nashville a few years ago and set up his own label. But other than working with Loretta Lynn on her album Van Lear Rose, and sometimes sporting Nudie suits* I don’t believe he has done much to get on county music’s radar.
Rod Stewart lives just down the road from me. He try’s to be just a regular guy and goes shopping in tesco and often goes to the chip shop on a Friday night. He does ruin his regular guy credentials by parking his Ferrari in the bus stop outside the chip shop though.
By that do you mean he’s taking up the place on the side of the road reserved for busses? Yeah, that’s pretty bad. (OTOH I guess it could mean a park-n-ride type parking lot which doesn’t seem all that bad.)
Yep. It’s a layby for buses so they don’t block the traffic while at the stop. One of these days I’m going to get in his car and show my travel pass. If he’s parked in a bus stop he must be a bus, right?
He must have come home from a tour and found his fridge to be empty, and all his neighbors giving away food outside.