My 15 minutes of fame

This is a very old story but I was reminded of it today and told a friend at work. I'm sure he didn't believe me, and you don't have to either. But I swear this is true.

I've met a few dozen celebrities in my life, whether through my work in radio, knowing the right people or just being in the right place at the right time. When I was very young I used to join my dad at his contracting jobs in southwestern Connecticut, where a large population of the rich and famous call home. My father landed several jobs at the houses of very well-known celebrities who were happy with his work and referred him to their friends. In the early 1980's he did a bit of work on Meat Loaf's house. Meat Loaf bought another house a couple years later and called my dad for several major projects which took months to finish. They ended up becoming very good friends; it also helped that my sister and I hit it off with Meat Loaf's daughter, who was our age.

Over the next few years our families were very close. Going to each others' houses every weekend, spending holidays together, and my dad is even listed under "Special thanks" in Bat Out of Hell 2. Shortly before that album was released he was touring colleges and smaller venues, and we had full access to anywhere in those venues.

In 1988 he played a show at SUNY Stony Brook on Long Island. We all took a ferry across the Long Island Sound and carpooled to the college. His daughter, my sister and I were kids (I was 9 and they were both 7 at the time) and we spent the hour or two before the show playing hide and seek in the locker room back stage. His daughter was his biggest fan so when the show started, we sat on the stage, directly behind the curtain.

Toward the end of the concert Meat Loaf was singing his medley and during a break in vocals he pointed to us and motioned for us to come out onto the stage. We stood up and came over to him. He introduced us as his kids and several thousand fans erupted into applause. He played "Johnny Be Good" during his medley and gave us the microphone to sing along. At the end of the song the crowd cheered again and we exited stage left.

Again, I was only 9 years old at the time, and my long term career goals were more along the lines of being an astronaut or a ninja rather than a rock star. My delusions of grandeur were still about 5 years away. But for those few minutes I was a rock star. I had the opportunity to sing in my alto, my-balls-not-yet-dropped voice alongside an iconic multiplatinum artist.

I picked up a bass guitar in high school and played a couple shows for a few dozen people. Nothing in my life has ever, or will ever come close to the excitement from that night.

Well, there was that one time I saw Steve Buscemi in his car. But I don't think that's quite the same.