So, I thought I would do some more name-dropping in this story. When I got my first computer in the late 90's, I was psyched. I found that I could talk to people all over the world in real-time without having to pay long distance phone charges. It was a blast. I also found out that between email and chat rooms, I had a whole new group of friends that I didn't know I had. Plus, celebrities were out there to talk to.
I have already written about chatting with Hugh Hefner one night. You can find that story further back called "Hef". One thing I have learned about chatting with celebrities is don't tell them how great they are. They are there for a reason, and that reason is to answer some concrete questions about their lives. Treating them like people, and not like idols, makes for a better conversation. To chat with Hef about Marilyn Monroe and old movies was much more interesting that asking him about how to get invited to the Playboy mansion. One side note though, I was invited to the mansion in Los Angeles many moons ago. I was a winner in a contest. I couldn't go, because I had to pay for my own airfare. Oh well.
One night, I came upon Max Gail. He had played on the TV show "Barney Miller". We talked about acting and the joys of stage versus film. We chatted on more than one occasion. We swapped stories about people that we had worked with, and he gave me some tips on acting on television. He was a nice guy.
Another night, I ran across Fess Parker who played on the TV show "Daniel Boone". He was great to talk to. Fess wanted to talk about his winery in California, so I humored him with that. Then, I moved the conversation to his acting. I told him about something that my 8th grade Science teacher had said about seeing jet contrails in the sky during a Daniel Boone episode. Fess said that the show was filmed fast, and they didn't have time to wait for jets flying by to do a scene. We laughed about that. His acting tip to me was to be real. Well, yeah. I told him that I was sad that his wine wasn't sold near me. I didn't drink alcohol at that time, but I was trying to be nice. He said that they sold it at Morganelli's off Forest Drive. I thanked him, but I never bought a bottle. I guess they would be worth something now. Fess died in 2010.
April 2022 provided me with a shocking chat. It was Bob Dylan. I had been to his concert in Columbia a couple of weeks before. I had seen him in concert four times, which ties the most with Paul McCartney of the number of concerts I had been to by a single artist. Bob contacted me on Facebook. He told me that he had seen a post of mine about the show and wanted to reach out to me as a fan. He said he wasn't on tour and had some time to chat with the fans. I checked his tour schedule, and he actually had time to talk with us. Being skeptical, I asked him a couple of questions that only he would know, and he answered them correctly. It WAS Bob Dylan. I told him that I had seen him four times, but this last show was probably the most meaningful. He sang a new song called "Crossing the Rubicon", and I just cried. It was like he was saying goodbye. It was quite emotional. We chatted a few times that week about various things. I told him about my songwriting, and we talked about the mechanics of writing a good song. He was very approachable. We still keep in touch.
I have had a few other chats on the computer including my friend Ginger Lynn Allen and a few authors. Incidentally, the authors generally want you to complement their work, more than getting into the weeds of their writing styles. I guess everyone needs some praise once in a while.
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