Stars Like Us

I need to let you in on a secret: Movie stars and other famous people live here in Los Angeles. I'm pretty nonplussed by this because a) I had the opportunity to meet a lot of artists in the record business when I worked at my college' radio station and b) I'm just not that into celebrity. I was the program director at the radio station, so I always had the record companies' college representative (the lowest dude/chick on the record label totem pole) and independent labels calling me about their bands, and vice versa. The station was way ahead of the heavy metal curve at the time and there were a lot of bands on small labels such as Metal Blade, Relativity and Shrapnel that were about to make it big (Metallica, Megadeth, RATT, etc.) that we were playing. It was pretty easy to get their records and concert tickets as well as swag for other bigger acts. Whenever I got the chance I would interview the bands for the station or just do a meet and greet.

One of the things that I took from the experience was that there wasn't one type of famous (or almost famous) person. Some were hard working and quiet and others were pretty full of themselves. A few were really bright and a few were dumb as a box of hair. At this point I figured out that they're just people and there's nothing to get all wound up about when you see them at a restaurant, shopping, or whatever.

I bring all this up because some of the kids at the HB's school have famous parents. Not tons, but a few. A couple are in that category of, "Hm...s/he looks familiar, but I can't quite place the name" while others are OMGITs (oh my god, is that....). Last week the school had a goofy fund raiser where you sponsor your kid/parents/teachers for how many baskets they can make in two minutes. There's one OMGIT who is great about showing up at these things. And not in a "Look, I'm famous and care about my kid" kinda way. Rather, he does the things all of the other parents do, like chatting with anyone who comes up to him, talking to the other parents he knows, and not drawing unnecessary attention to himself. Good to see in a world where there is so much cynical media surrounding celebrity.

I'll have my NCAA men's basketball picks ('cuz I know that you are dying to see them) tomorrow.