American Idol-Ihop
So this week was a bit of a blur, been hard to catch up. On Thursday and Friday I went with Dave to the Innovate Conference at Granger church in Indiana. Read all about it on Dave's blog. My reactions were exactly the same, with perhaps 14 percent more sarcasm and/or cynicism. So filter accordingly.
But before we left, my brother Elic and I had breakfast at IHOP on Wednesday morning, and who should walk in, but American Idol Contestant and fellow Napervillian Gina Glocksen! I said to Elic, "hey there's Gina Glocksen." He was like, yeah, right. Kind of like how you play that game about strangers who look like celebrities - but it turns out, Gina looked a lot like Gina because she was Gina.
We waited until we were leaving and she was finished with her meal, and stopped by and introduced ourselves. She signed my IHop receipt for my daughter Sadie, who saw her in concert this summer. And then Elic, the show biz whoore, got a photo with her on his camera phone. Here are the pix...
It was funny, because after that celebrity signing, Dave and I went to Granger, and because of how often Granger seemed to be pimping our book, and mentioning Dave as a person of influence, we ended up being pseudo-celebrities ourselves. And church guys don't know how to talk to celebrities. So while Dave and I are certainly NOT celebrities, I thought I'd offer this friendly advice for anyone who wants to meet a celebrity when they see them in public.
1. First, introduce yourself. Start with "Hi, my name is Eric..." offer your hand, and just say "I wanted to introduce myself, and..." and this is #2.
2. Be specific with a compliment. "and... I really enjoyed your performances on American Idol."
3. Finally, if you're needing an autograph, this is the time to ask. Say something like "Would you mind too terribly signing an autograph for my daughter?"
But if you don't want an autograph, or a picture, keep it short and get out of there - make your next sentence something like "Well, I just wanted to introduce myself and let you know how much I've enjoyed your work, have a great day." And leave them be after that. Keep it simple. You'll be the refreshing change from the usual fare of bozos staring at them saying "Hey you're famous aren't you?"
