That's what my co-intern jokingly said when once again, I had no idea who the celebrity was that they were talking about- nor had I heard of ANY of the films that he had starred in.
I have the opportunity to see a few celebrities here and there in the Capitol. (The only reason I know I've seen them is because someone else has pointed it out to me.) Once, as I was trying to explain the significance of the paintings in the rotunda to a tour group, they apologetically explained to me that it wasn't that they weren't listening to me, it's just that they were also watching Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart, who were standing ten feet away. Oh. Ok. I never would have noticed, but that was definitely Harrison Ford, looking a tad bit older than he did in whatever movie I had last seen starring him. I tried to continue the tour, but the next painting I needed to explain was right above Mr. Ford's head. I couldn't point to it without looking like I was pointing at him. I stuttered a bit, and then I gave up and joined my tour group in gawking at the couple until they left the room.
A few week's later I went to a conference on campaign finance reform. The conference room was full of notable figures, but I was still a little surprised to see a girl approach a tall, gray-haired man and ask him for an autograph. A few minutes later, as he was introduced as the next speaker I learned that he is an actor. He's in law and order and he plays a lawyer and his name is Sam Waterston.
On a different occasion, I was asked to escort a group of song writers/composers to all of their various meetings on Capitol Hill. When I met the group, they all introduced themselves to me, and I politely shook their hands and told them it was a pleasure. I tried to pay attention, but there was no way I was going to remember all of their names. As I led them to their first meeting, the personal assistant to one of the men tried to clue me in on the importance of the company I was escorting. "I work for the man walking in front of us. That's Paul Williams." I nodded, hoping that I looked sufficiently interested in what she was telling me. Clearly, I had missed something, however. "He's the man who wrote 'The Rainbow Connection'" she prompted me. "Oh yeah? That's cool." I had never heard of it; no surprise there. "You know, on the muppets?" I was trying, really trying to think what song that might be. No good. She sang a few bars. "Oh, yeah, I think I have heard that before!" I was finally responding with some of the enthusiasm that was expected. The poor lady was only beginning to understand who she was dealing with. "The man next to him is Hal David," she continued. "Ok," I nod, but my blank look again gives me away. "He wrote 'raindrops keep fallin' on my head.'" Doesn't ring a bell. She named a few other songs that also don't ring bells, growing increasingly incredulous. Finally, to assuage her obvious pain at my ignorance, I decide to suddenly realize that I do, in fact, faintly recognize these songs. I'm sure that I probably have heard them at some point... I don't know if she was convinced or not.
By the time we were walking to their second meeting, I am interested enough to try and chat with these guys and learn a little more. But the ignorance shines through. Johnny Webb and two others break out into song, singing the words to a popular song that was written by Hal David, who as mentioned before was also with the group, to help me recognize his songs. I was really trying to feign recognition now. It was becoming increasingly embarrassing.
We were later joined by another couple and their personal assistant. She was going to try to help me understand who her bosses were by naming a few of their songs, but was stopped by the first personal assistant, who warned her that I didn't even recognize such-and-such popular song that she had named. Phew. I was tired of pretending, anyways.
It's not that I don't admire these people for their talents and accomplishments- I actually find them to be really impressive. It's just that I am unpardonably ignorant. If I were avoiding the trap of spending too much time focusing on celebrities and pop culture it would be something to applaud, but this is a matter of having a basic, working familiarity with the culture I live in! It's a problem.
Holly, an old roommate, used to sigh in exasperation at my ignorance. (At least in this situation I wasn't the only one who was oblivious to the world. Heather and Sarah also had a pretty poor grasp of pop culture as I recall.) "Read a book!" she would exclaim. She even brought a People magazine for us to study, but I don't think we ever made it past the pictures so far as to even read the captions to see who was in them.
My day with the singers/song-writers was really quite enjoyable. They are all slightly eccentric. Johnny Webb is unkempt and messy and prefers his sneakers to his dress shoes. Paul Williams would continually break out in song about whatever activity we happened to be doing- riding in the elevator, etc. All of them were markedly more laid-back than the DC crowd I was accustomed to. Now I kinda wish I had at least taken a picture with these fellows, but I didn't bring a camera. At least I can boast that I've been given singing/song-writing advice from Hal David himself!
No comments:
Post a Comment