In the 1990s, I worked at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City. It's the building everyone sees when the famous Christmas tree is lit each year. The building is also the home of NBC and the television show _Saturday Night Live._
At that time, I would see many famous people pass through the lobby or hopping into an elevator. They included the likes of Dick Clark, Dustin …
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...read on to learn why I didn't.
It was early spring in 2002, and I was waiting at O'Hare for my first flight after 9/11. I was traveling for work to Salt Lake City, as I did a few times a year in those days. It was a Sunday, there were mobs of people everywhere, and I was waiting for my group to be called.
I'm passing the …
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So my mom is a big businesswoman. If it were possible, her boss would've implanted her cellphone into her crainum long ago. And that was way before Bluetooth technology. She could balance baking birthday cakes with board-room meetings.
On vacation at mini-paradise Disney World, there were at least a four hours of imposed silence for her to carry on with her business, and then we'd knock off at night …
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In 1992, my husband and I returned to Bermuda, where we'd honeymooned four years before. Each morning, I headed for a small stable where, because I had 15 years as a horse owner, the manager let me ride on my own.
Two American boys arrived every morning for lessons, escorted by their grandfather, a 60-ish gentleman who spoke slowly and politely. We chatted amiably about everyday things. He was …
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David Lynch picked me out of a crowd and gave me a free ticket to a movie.
At first I thought, "Wow, what a nice gesture." Then it occurred to me that it was David Lynch, the director of _Eraserhead,_ _Lost Highway,_ and _The Elephant Man._ Not exactly someone known for his appreciation of sweetness, light, and beauty--but someone with a very
dark and twisted world view.
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I was about 18 and fumbling through life in late-'70s Manhattan, working in a fancy part of town where everything in the store windows was impossibly beautiful and out of my reach. How did people pay $400 for a pair of shoes? I wondered.
I had to pick up something at the Algonquin Hotel one afternoon. I waited in line at some window, picked up the envelope, and turned.
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Essentially, I had floor seats to an event--and got inadvertently spit on by the greatest wrestling legend of all time. (That's subjective, but still....)
My friends joked with me, saying things like, "I bet you're never gonna wash your face now." Well, I thought they were joking, but they were kind of serious.
Don't get me wrong: Triple H is awesome, and I've always loved watching him perform. …
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One Sunday afternoon after a late night of bad decisions and worse luck, I was trying to sop up my hangover with a chili dog at Shady Grove, an Austin, Texas, haunt named after an adjacent trailer park.
Across the kitschy scene, through the fog of last night's margaritas, I see him: Jon. Bon. Jovi. The man-stuff of my middle-school dreams.
Jon. Bon. Jovi. How has the frontman …
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1981. Rex Smith was the Justin Timberlake of my day. He was the star of lite FM, with every station playing his smash hit, "You Take My Breath Away" and touring around with his swashbuckling golden tresses a la early Frampton.
Cast in New York's Public Theater production of _Pirates of Penzance,_ playing opposite Linda Rondstadt, Rex sang and danced and did the Johnny Depp "open shirt and reveal …
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I rode in an elevator with Colonel Harland Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame. We were both attending the groundbreaking of a rehabilitation hospital in Louisville, Kentucky.
I was a former patient of the original facility and had done some lobbying for the new addition with my senators in Washington, D.C. I believe he was there to help with publicity and because his corporation had contributed some funds.
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It's not that I care one way or the other about Conan O'Brien, personally. Conan is a guy like a lot of other guys" He's got two eyes, a nose, a mouth, a dick, and assorted other parts. As much as I wish everyone well--in the most impersonal sense, in the sense of "Merry Christmas, everyone!"--I wish Conan well.
But maybe it's the bursting-at-the-seams idolatry, the frenzy of Facebook …
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We're all seated in Number Three meeting room. Most of us excited about his lecture and appearance. We didn't care if he was a Republican or a Democrat. Being in his audience once again and seeing him in person caused great electricity in the room.
The door opened. Loud voices became whispers, but the Red Sea didn't part. A tall, slender, much older version of Moses crossed the room. …
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Queen Noor couldn’t catch anyone’s attention.
After 9/11, I received an email asking for volunteers at the Arab-American Family Support Center. I had worked on the 105th floor of World Trade One until March ‘01, knew hundreds of the dead, and could have been among them.
I emailed back to say yes, deciding to volunteer in order to reach out to Arab New Yorkers who suddenly found themselves …
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It was an overcast day in November. I saw him. He was as real as if he were standing right in front of me now. Elvis. The King. I spoke to him. He has a broad Glasgow accent and says his name is Robert.
If Elvis really is dead, then it proves that Scotland must be heaven!
I couldn't believe Aretha Franklin was even shorter than I am. But the famous, more often than not, are surprisingly short. We have more to prove, maybe.
We shorties, I mean.
She was also nowhere near as big around as you may think. Granted, this was in 1994, but even back then she looked awfully large when you saw her on TV--not so in person.
I grew …
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My friends and I drove across three state lines to see Eric Burdon and the Animals. No, this wasn't in 1965; this was just last month. They were performing at the Hard Rock in Biloxi, Mississippi.
As a child of the '60s, I'm not sure what I was expecting, my mind's eye remembering a scruffy young group of working-class kids belting out countless bluesy hits like "House of the …
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I went to Indiana to visit my grandparents. We went into a Boston store, and I got in trouble with my mom.
Then some lady came up to my mom and said, "I remember when my mom had to tell me that, too."
When we got to checkout, I found out that she was Roberta Flack. I had no idea who she was, though, and was very quiet …
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I first caught a glimpse of Elizabeth Berkley while waiting in line at a CVS on Beverly Boulevard in Beverly Hills, California. I was near the front of the line waiting to speak with one of the pharmacists, while Elizabeth was standing in one of two longer lines to converse with other available pharmacists in the drop-off section.
I had been waiting only five minutes before I swiftly made …
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I was commuting. It was spring of 2002, and we New Yorkers were still pretty raw from the previous September's disaster, constantly admonished by the police to say something if we saw something. Most of us still thought we would more than just see something.
Public transportation is vulnerable, and the subway felt like a trap! But we had to go on with our lives.
I was halfway …
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Before they were playing venues like Madison Square Garden and winning Grammy Awards, they were much more accessible after their concerts. "They" being the Kings of Leon. (Longtime fan, longtime listener).
So one night prior to their immense fame, my friend and I were hanging around outside after a show. I turned around and there stood Jared, followed by his brothers and cousin.
We ended up going with …
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