This is fun little post was prompted by my reading of Paul Is Undead. I thought I posted this a long, long time ago. I planned to simply repost the older post, but I can’t find it. I don’t think I dreamed that I posted it before, but anything is possible. If you’ve already heard these stories before, please forgive me.
And now, my youthful adventures in pop culture…
In ’92, Pope John Paul II came to Denver for World Youth Day. My home parish needed a single female chaperone to go with the group of youth it was sending. I was happy to go along, especially since Fr. Mike was footing the bill. During the week, there were breakout sessions. One day, only Andy wanted to go to a specific session. I agreed to go with him. Somehow, we ended up in the Eddie Bauer instead of the class (while I was complicit in ditching, I swear it wasn’t my idea entirely…). It was in the Eddie Bauer in the heart of downtown Denver that I saw Dan Rather at the counter looking at sunglasses. I am normally quite shy around people I don’t know, but something possessed me to walk right up to him and tell him what a fine time we were having at the event. Then, I went to grab Andy so that he could meet Mr. Rather. At this time, they were starting to clear everyone out of the store (could it have been because of me?). Andy was heading out, but I dragged him toward the counter saying very loudly, “Come on, Andy, you need to meet Dan Rather!” Andy immediately dragged me out the door. I couldn’t believe he wouldn’t want to meet Dan Rather and asked what his problem was. “Jennifer, that was Tom Brokaw,” was all he had to say. I couldn’t stop laughing the rest of the day. I embarrassed the hell out of us both, but I have to give myself some credit here. At least I correctly identified the man’s job.
My second brush with pop culture took place in ’94. That year, Grand Valley State University held a music festival. This wasn’t long before I moved to the Noke and I was happy to go because it featured one of Danny’s favorite bands, Guided By Voices. Danny had never seen them live and I went to impress him. Guided By Voices is good, but not a band I would choose to listen to on my own. Cibo Matto, a two-girl Japanese band also played the show. They had a current hit out called “Know Your Chicken.” Anyway, my friend Shelia was really into them, so I bought her a bumper sticker intending to have them autograph it. While they were on stage, there was a guitarist dressed in a huge white fur jacket. I couldn’t believe he looked so much like Sean Lennon. I kept saying the same thing to my friend who tagged along. I don’t remember her name any more. She said that it wasn’t possible (turns out she didn’t know who in the hell he was…). Anyway, after their set, I stood off to the side to ask for autographs. The guy in that huge white fur jacket walked within 6 feet of me. As he walked by, I again marveled about how much he looked like Sean Lennon. There wasn’t another human being within 20 feet of us and I just watched him walk by. I then happily got the autographs I wanted. The next morning, the paper made note of Cibo Matto’s special guest – Sean Freaking Lennon! I was within 6 feet of getting his autograph and thus being only once removed from John Lennon (hence the link to Paul Is Undead). Really, how many people in this world look like Sean Lennon? Sigh…
I’m cracking up that you mixed up Dan Rather and Tom Brokaw . . . because I would have done the same thing.
Hehehe, poor Tom Brokaw. I have to wonder how often some of the anchors get mixed up. Thanks for the fun brush with greatness story.
World Youth Day was 1993 & I was there. It was the summer after my senior year of high school. Funny enough, I had my own brush with the media there & it was with Bryant Gumble. Small world!