Familiar Face

At the place I work, there are usually (extremely) moderate Chicago celebrities around. Athletes from a time gone by, or writers from the newspaper. Many are hardly known outside their families/friends/weird fans, but some are relatively famous folk who can't walk around town without being recognized a few times. No, I'm not talking about Michael Jordan. Isn't he in Charlotte these days anyway?

But there is one guy in particular who was a superstar for the Bulls a few decades ago. Some of the native Chicagoans around the office get excited when they run into him, as they have every right to do. If I was having a donut in the break room at work and my childhood idol walked in to get a cup of coffee, I'd probably flip out too. But Billy Joel doesn't drink coffee these days, only Jim Beam.

Since I grew up in New Jersey (and was born after this gentleman retired), I had to google the guy just to find out exactly who he was. And from what I can tell from our brief conversations about French Roast and the finicky vending machine, he's a pretty cool guy. I just don't get starstruck by him, mostly because he reminds me of how cool my dad is.

On a somewhat related note, a few weeks ago Michel Gondry had a public appearance at the Apple Store downtown. He was there for an interview and Q&A, and to show some scenes from his new movie, which is going to be awesome, by the way. We had to stand outside in line for a while before going in, and dozens of passers-by just had to know what the big hoopla was about. After repeating Michel Gondry's name several times, explaining that he was a filmmaker with the new Jack Black movie, Eternal Sunshine, he's not a she, etc, I finally just told people that Bruce Willis was inside. That got rid of them about a million times quicker. And everyone had the same reaction: "Oh, cool." Then they'd give a sturgeon face and be on their way.

It's also reminiscent of a friend who was going to China for work a few months ago. Cal Ripken was also going around the same time, and my friend was nearly assigned to be his government aide for the trip. Cal Ripken. The Iron Man. She was averse to the idea though, because it was going to eat into her solo touring-around-the-country time. Beyond (maybe) knowing what sport he played, she knew nothing about him or why it would have been the coolest thing on the planet to do. So could she really be blamed for not being interested in the assignment? YES. ["So here's a picture of me at the Great Wall of China." "Who's that next to you? Holy shit, is that CAL RIPKEN?!" "Yeah, I had to hang out with him for a week. What a drag. I don't even like the Phillies."]

There's no grand philosophical revelation to be had here. I just thought it was interesting.