Grocery Store Sighting

Posted by Campbell at Sunday, July 27, 2008

In my teens, it was a thrill to meet a few celebrities, namely Lou Brock, Sugar Ray Robinson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Ray Richardson and a few others. As I left my teens and entered the field of entertainment, I was able to meet a few others, including Beck, Derek Jeter and Jeff Tweedy. I once spoke to Aretha Franklin on the phone while working in music publishing. While at MTV, I once rode the elevator with Mel Gibson. I never did like Mel Gibson. While working in entertainment law, I sat in on a meeting with Alicia Keys. She seemed dull.

I'm sure there are more, but such meetings/sightings never left much of an impression on me. When given the opportunity to approach a celebrity, I usually turn up the ipod and trot away. There are very few people on this Earth that would cause me to truly tremble with excitement. Bruce Springsteen would be one, though again, I have no interest in ever meeting him. I like the Bruce that I know through song. I would like to shake Jimmy Carter's hand; that'd be fairly cool. And that's about all I can think of.

I've been fortunate enough to hang out with some of the people I admire most in this world. Almost every year at South By Southwest, I find myself in a bar or club talking music with Brent Best. I treasure the night in Philly about a decade ago when I put up The Gourds. In addition to playing Thin Lizzy until 5am, I'll never forget my conversation with Kev Russell the following afternoon while watching the Cowboys on TV.

After picking up some overpriced groceries this morning, I had trouble finding the area for cart returns. I looked everywhere and finally decided to just step through the sliding doors and park the cart inside the store. As the doors opened, I looked straight ahead and there looking at me was Krist Novoselic, former bassist for Nirvana. I can't say that Nirvana were ever one of my favorite bands, but I've always appreciated Novoselic's mellow demeanor and his interest in U.S. as well as world politics. He's always seemed to be a man of integrity and humility.

After realized that it was indeed Novoselic, I let go of the cart and turned around to head back to my car. It was a chance sighting of someone who's probably rarely recognized anymore. But to me, it was far more memorable than an elevator ride with Mel Gibson or a tedious meeting with Alicia Keys.