California Celebrity

California Celebrity

There seems to be a universal quest for some people to be famous, to enjoy the attention and supposed glory of celebrity and glamor. It comes across as so cool! To be popular. Noticed. Recognized. Who does not want recognition? Some equate fame with making money, which is not a bad idea.

Movies, TV, music through all media, magazines, books...

We see and contemplate the characters and wish to emulate them. Somehow.

Many associate fame with more money, which seems alluring enough.

Most of us would like a life of financial ease.

Some others have figured out that mastery of a skill and hard work and dedication is the key for happiness, and not being well known to the mass public will not hinder us from being successful in our private lives. But then there is the rest of us.

We throw our dollars and precious time into lotteries of the get-rich-quick, or too-good-to-true investments or business ventures.

I lived in California for a while; I saw a few celebrities. Most of them put a lot of work and sacrifice into their fortunes and careers. They all have reasons for being touted as well-known and talented. They all had their time in the sun. And hopefully still do.

Sometimes witnessing a celebrity gives us a feeling that his or her importance means something to the observer, like it enlarges the little unknown guy somehow, like it gives more meaning to the person who may think that they in their anonymous life is of no consequence, but the fame of an encounter or chance look of a famous person adds to their worth. Could be.

Sometimes we see people that are not that famous but we have indeed admired them for years: could be a church leader, a civic personality or business person, a neighborhood hero, a school legend or local servant of the community. It could be a fireman or an ER doctor, or a mother of eight.

For all these reasons we see people at unexpected times and we feel like we should pay attention, or the happenstance captures and keeps our attention. Famous or not.

Eddie Money, 1999

His songs are forever played on the radio, a rock artist who peeked in the 1980s. By the end of the 20th century he was playing little concerts like in San Bernardino, where I observed him at a downtown Italian restaurant, near the middle of the day. This was my first day that I had moved there to the great state of California. Were celebrities that ubiquitous? Would this be an everyday thing? I had visited the state for years as a temporary tourist or sojourner, but now I was to be a resident. Would I rub shoulders with them this often? Eddie came across as a jerk, from what we could tell.


Tia Carrera, 2000

Despite being in a huge hurry to catch a flight to my native Midwest from LAX, the international airport, running ahead of my wife and mother-in-law to secure the flight that might be quickly departing, this former musical belle from Wayne's World got my attention on the escalator. I think she was arriving, there was no time to really try to fathom the circumstances. Stunning, a bit more because of Wayne's World, I'm sure.

Larry King, 2001

Saw him at my new Los Angeles church the Sunday right after the Tuesday of Tuesdays, September 11, 2001. I think that everyone wanted to go where the people were that Sunday. We were all in a fog, and this renowned CNN news anchor and interviewer was with his wife, pushing around the crowded hallways to the Sunday school classroom ahead of us. I did not say anything.
His bigger than life persona on CNN contrasted with his real life person, surprisingly small and frail. Old, we knew. Diminutive was new. But after September 11th, most of us felt that way.

Mark Madsen, 2001-2003

Not too popular outside of some demographic circles, any college basketball star-come NBA bench warmer is a big celeb to me. He joined the championship Lakers of Shaq and Kobe at their peak. Plus my wife knew him from her missionary time in Spain, so he was cool enough to talk to me, tried to learn my name. I also tried somewhat to get him to date my eligible sister-in-law ... they finally did go out once. Once!


Corbin Bernsen, 2002ish

I did not watch L.A. Law regularly in the 90s, but I knew who the guy was. I had ordered the Instrumental Magic CD my second year of college in Utah and got a lot of mileage out of it, even though the theme from the hit show about lawyers was not my favorite. I saw Corbin in some flick about a sadistic dentist on a cable channel. He was famous. Probably a pro's pro from all I knew.

I saw him while I was driving home from the UCLA campus in Westwood one evening, maybe around rush hour. That part of L.A. feels like a city, taller buildings and awful parking. Lights and cross walks. He was on the corner of a busy intersection, maybe waiting for a taxi or heading home to a meeting? Maybe he was on his way to have a cup of joe with some film or T.V. starlet, or an old, fat agent who paid his checks? In 2002 he might, like so many other actors in L.A., been scrambling for the next big gig. He looked normal, and even famous people put their pants on one leg at a time, right?

Donny Osmond, 2002

I had briefly talked to him back in the 1990s in Utah; while escorting my overly-rambunctious infiant daughter in the Los Angeles chapel during sacrament, Donny came to talk to the full time missionaries that I had been talking to outside in the lobby. Even though I did not say much to Brother Osmond, he spoke enthusiastically with one of the elders. It turned out Donny had a son serving in Italy. After he left, I asked the young missionary if he knew who that gentleman was. "No", he replied.
I broke it down. He was/is kind of a big deal. Especially for members, like me and my sister anyway, of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, aka Mormons. My sister had a doll of him in the 1970s, with purple socks and all.

John Lithgow, 2002 

A famous and talented actor of movies and T.V.  I had read or heard that his wife taught English or drama at the UCLA campus where I was attending; for my first year I drove to the edge of campus and parked my car at a Westwood garage. On my morning walk to classes, I saw John headed towards me across a footbridge adjoining another closer parking garage.
He was walking a dog or two, with a small piece of paper that maybe he was memorizing lines from. He stopped for a moment to regard me, by myself as a guy with a backpack slung on my shoulder. Maybe I was one of his wife's prize assistants? He looked at me close enough to judge, I said hi, and he moved on without a word.


Harrison Ford, circa 2003 

My wife and I (and baby Journay) went into the Hollywood Hills one morning to explore the famous overlooks and the Observatory overlooking the city. Probably a Saturday. Perhaps the spring, a moderately warm sunny day. Probably perfect. On the way back to West Los Angeles where we lived, a good 30 or minutes away on a fast freeway, we drove through some streets of Hollywood, or West Hollywood. The slower, scenic way. Even though Hollywood City can be a little dumpy.
We were driving through the unfamiliar (to us locally) but perhaps from television and movie renown to the world, locales of the home of stardom.
Suddenly my wife exclaimed," Hey! It's your guy!"

In all her excitement she couldn't think of his name. I immediately thought of my favorite baseball player of twenty plus years Tim Raines, who was near the end of his career. Who was my guy, one that would elicit so much excitement from my wife of two years? I think I have collected a few over my 30 plus years.
"Uhhhh... uh! you know! Your guy! " Hmmmm...

It was Harrison Ford.

Yeah: my guy. Ever since Han Solo and Indiana Jones from my childhood, Harrison was my favorite all time actor. I even loved the little known Force Ten From Navvarone, a flop to the world that came out between the first two Star Wars flicks. That morning he was shooting a movie along the side of the road. A city cafe, in not much of a real city place. A down-townish type street, nothing big.
I drove by again to confirm (oh, yeah! the man it surely was!); then we parked the car a half block away.
We walked mere feet from him. He was on a movie shoot, which allowed a public access sidewalk to be that close to the outdoor set. My wife stared. Harrison looked back at her and us between takes. I was too nervous and pretended to stare ahead, carrying our toddler, with peripheral views askance on hyper mode.
My guy.


Sports arenas 2000-2005

While living in southern California for six years I was able to attend college and professional football, baseball, and basketball games. Not a lot in person, more on the tube. Sometimes I went to other places to see a few, like Las Vegas or the Bay Area, or back in Utah or Indiana. Some of these SoCal venues had a few of my favorite athletes, like the aforementioned Tim Raines, Senior. "Rock", as he is known. He made the Hall of Fame last year (2018).
I saw Frank Thomas, Fred McGriff, Jose Canseco, Barry Bonds, a few other baseball stars. In basketball I saw the Clippers play the Mavericks. I guess I saw Dirk Nowitski. For sure Hall of Famer now (2019). I believe I witnessed Shawn Bradley (famous for height: 7'6") and Mugsy Bogues (likewise known for being short: 5'3"). Or was it Earl Boykins (likewise, 5;5")? In football I saw some college guys from BYU and USC and San Diego State that went on to some fame later in the NFL, coaching, or television. But I observed nothing of those people with fame and glory  "in the world of the rest of us", like the others I have mentioned.

I saw some celebrities in southern California; many live there. Maybe I should have seen more. Maybe I needed to get out more. (I did see Bon Jovi in concert, now that I think of it). They are like us, but it is sometimes notable when you come across and see one, even interact with one, in his or her quotidian life. Living, breathing, moving, meandering, just like the rest of us.

We, all of us small or great humans, all are simply moving through the webs of humanity with the rest of the planet.

Trying to make a living year by year, month to month, week to week, day to day.

Taking a break, looking for a store, finding a buddy, a direction from a boss, the next move.

We listen to music, watch television and film, read books and magazines, immerse ourselves in the worlds of entertainment and information almost every day, all our lives.

Famous or not, we are players in the life long quest of being known, or knowing someone who is.

We vote, we drive, we spend, we use services. We work, we earn, we sweat, we bleed, we moan and then laugh. Pay taxes. Attend funerals and wakes.Wake up day after long or short day.

We are the actors playing our roles.

We are a part of our own celebrity.

You are the star.

The firmament is large; you don't need an Observatory with a giant telescope to see your neighbors, "big" or "small".

Sometimes it is good to be reminded that we are all in the cosmic play.

Some lights illuminate the others.

Reflecting on that can possibly bring some of that knowledge to light.

Or not.

Only memories of some lights in the rear view mirror.

I lived in California for some warm and wet seasons. I, like John Steinbeck, saw people here an there, doing their thing. I did a few things and left. I saw some people, large and small.

I took some notes, mental images, and recorded in my papers and long lost hard drives and thumb drives. Some photos and videos.

My time for fame and the famous in the sunny, golden state in past times.

And then the fame, and the run, are over.

It is now kept in these words. And like so many things, is fleeting. A bit like the lights in the night sky. Sometimes clouded over. Sometimes drowned out by city lights or earthly distractions. At times the stars in their heavens are within perfect view in stark completeness. A deeper and richer panorama of lights than is humanly imaginable.

Eddie, Tia, Larry, Mark, Corbin, Donny,  John, Harrison.

I see your blinking lights in the firmaments. You are stars, and I enjoyed the gaze.