March 22, 2000
Still awaiting a brush with greatness
By Garret Leiva
Herald editor
At precisely two o'clock Eastern Standard Time today I will be taking an hour off from work to watch the television show, "One Life to Live." Now normally, I would chose do-it-yourself dentistry over voluntarily subjecting myself to the mindless tungsten light emitted from a soap opera. But then I would miss Kevin.
A childhood friend is the reason why I spent the greater part of Monday evening wrestling with my inept powers of deduction and the VCR remote control. I wanted to make sure the timer captured every second - literally - of his on-screen role as "the guy dressed in SoHo black pretending to have a conversation with a fellow bar patron but really mouthing the word watermelon."
As an actor in New York City, the part is minor, quite a bit less than a bit role. For Kevin, it is rent money, points toward a Screen Actors Guild card, perhaps that one lucky break. For me, it is a few degrees of separation closer to someone famous.
Andy Warhol said we all have our 15 minutes. Personally, I'd take a five minute bus ride seated next to Gary Coleman at this point. It seems like everyone and their brother (or in my case a brother-in-law who had his picture taken in front of Troy Aikman's NFL locker) has experienced a brush with greatness.
Now I could fly out to California this weekend in time for the Oscars, throw myself out on the red carpet in front of Shrine Auditorium and hope that Jack Nicholson sidesteps me before some steroidal security guard steps all over me. But where is the fun in that? After all, chance encounters are meant to be just that.
This is why these small moments, these slivers of time, remain vibrant memories long after paths cross.
Case in point, during my father's stint as a taxi cab driver in the Washington, D.C. area, thousands of people climbed in and out of his Diamond T Cab Company hack. Four decades later, he still remembers taking Bob Hope to National Airport in Virginia. A $7 cab ride and a $20 tip from the ski-hill nose comedian. He also recalls a $10 tip for transporting Roy Rogers' and Dale Evans' luggage - minus Trigger - to the airport.
Encounters with famous folks as they come and go is a recurring theme among my family members. My sister-in-law, while visiting her aunt in the Big Apple, saw "Today" show movie critic, Gene Shalit give a flawless performance as the quintessential rude New Yorker as he jumped into a taxi they had hailed down.
Perhaps the best transportation related tale is my college English professor and her encounter with Jesse Owens. While sitting in an airport terminal awaiting a flight, she noticed the world famous track and field star across from her. Rather than ask for an autograph or attempt awkward conversation, she simply acknowledged him with a smile - the Olympic gold medalist smiled back. Consequently, it is a moment she has never forgotten.
Closer to home, my wife once traded quips with Gordie Howe about hardwood flooring as they stood in line at Home Depot.
First the former Red Wings goal scorer gave her a good-natured ribbing about her overenthusiastic personality and then gently chided her about not installing the flooring herself. Believing she was talking to 'Mr. Magoo' and not 'Mr. Hockey,' my wife delivered a verbal hip check about Howe's lack of do-it-yourselfness. The move induced a raised eyebrow from the sales clerk and a belly laugh from ol' Number 9. Then she noticed the Stanley Cup rings, and the moment was lost in realization.
Truth be told, I really don't care about meeting someone famous. I'm just seeking my own story, a remarkable anecdote that never tires of being told; a chance at even a slight brush with greatness.
Perhaps one day someone will tell me of their chance encounter with Kevin - and I don't mean Bacon. Then it will be my turn to skip the awkward conversation and merely smile.
Grand Traverse Herald editor Garret Leiva can be reached at 933-1416 or e-mail at gleiva@gtherald.com.