What Do You Expect From Your Favorite Celebrity? (Anecdotal)

Cafe Society
1

In the 80’s, I had the good fortune to be invited to a cast party for the musical Camelot starring Richard Harris.

Due to the fact that my then-wife worked for the Atlanta weekly Creative Loafing, we had press seats to every performance and I got to meet Mr. Harris at a press conference as well. It was a dream come true for me, since I am a huge fan of his and of the musical as well as the Arthurian legend.

After one of the performances, he came out on stage and made an announcement that the Atlanta Braves were ahead in a game which ultimately got them into their first (I think) pennant race.

“Great!”, I thought to myself. “I’ll get him an authentic Atlanta Braves jersey and present it to him at the cast party.”

Fast Forward

So as he walked through the door, I handed him the shirt and said something really stupid like “Thanks for a great performance, and here’s something to remember Atlanta by.”
(It was not one of my most stellar moments).

Anyway he smiled, thanked me and went on to circulate through the party.

Later, I caught him standing by himself looking morosely at floor and sipping on a bottle of Perrier. So I approached him and asked if he felt the novel The Once and Future King accurately portrayed the Arthurian legend as he (Mr.Harris) understood it? (As I said, this was not one of my best nights for communicating effectively.):o

He never said a word. He never looked at me. He didn’t acknowledge my presence in any way, and I finally became embarassed and walked away.

Discussing this with my former wife that night, she said she thought it rude of him, and at that time I agreed with her, but not anymore.

The man wanted to be left alone. He was tired, he was probably in need of a drink (having had his problems with alcohol), and he clearly seemed depressed. In retrospect, I should have not approached him after that first time. I got my handshake, I got my autographed picture, I got to ask him questions during the press conference (I actually “hogged” the Q&A and my wife barely got to ask 3 questions), and that should have been enough, but it wasn’t.

So there you go - that’s my story. And my question is: "What do you expect from your favorite celebrity? Does he/she owe you anything other than to be the best thay can be at their craft, or do they have to be nice guys and girls whom you put on a pedestal and they had better by God live up to your expectations or else?

Sorry this was so long.

Thanks

Quasi

2

Well, I don’t know if he qualifies as a celebrity, but I got high with DeeDee Ramone once, after their concert at the Bayou, I think it was called, in Georgetown. I had just had my wisdom teeth out and between that and the painkillers, it was a unique experience. I do remember that DeeDee was nice, and he’d only get high… not drink at all.

I got to meet the other Ramones that night, and they were all very nice too, if not a bit tired and distracted. They were all every bit as cool as I had expected. The reason the meeting happened was because the Ramones were my favorite band, and I had bet my mother (who thought my punk-rock shenanegans were totally wacky) a sizeable amount of money that I’d be able to get backstage and get to meet them. The second best part of the whole thing was my mom’s face when she saw the pic I had to prove it and had to pay off.

3

I expect nothing from celebrities. If I enjoy their performances, great. But I have no interest in them as people, nor do I care about their personal/public lives, “deep” thoughts, political positions, religion, what have you. I’m not particularly interested in meeting any of them, either.