never meet your heroes

a coworker was offered the opportunity today to interview one of the people who she loves

but she may not do it because of this bizarre saying “never meet your heroes”.

i suppose i can understand that sentiment, but as someone who has met quite a few famous people who i admire, i would say

meet everyone you can. especially those you admire.

i had the great good fortune of meeting my favorite band, The Replacements, a few times.

the first encounter was back stage at UCSB’s Rob Gym before their Don’t Tell A Soul tour.

it was revealing, fascinating, and ultimately not what i expected and a bit of a downer.

later i would meet Paul Westerberg when he was on a solo tour – and that was much better

but i would rather have experiences, memories, and interactions that were real than fantasies of what could have been.

we are on this merry go round for a very short time

all the nonsense we make up about people because they can play a guitar or because theyre pretty or rich or on tv is so much baloney

one reason i totally love driving Uber and Lyft is because I think the guy who saved the other guys life by shoving his thumb in the guy’s bullet wound is just as fascinating as the guy who can play bass really fast

just yesterday i had a lady from Houston who had never driven down Melrose before so I took her that way on the way to The Grove. Just watching her see people on Bird scooters, telling me about how Texans feel about “the Devil’s lettuce” (weed) was as good as saying hi to a famous football player.

of course i have been star struck, and of course i have had not-so-perfect encounters. but i am so happy that i have had the chance to meet and chat with the likes of Hugh Hefner, Bruce Willis, Perry Farrell, Paul Tollett, Hillary Clinton and so many others.

i say meet your heroes.

i say meet everyone.

i say make tons of people your hero.

but don’t hassle the Hoff.

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