One of the more frustrating things about my scrupulously safe use of social media during my vacation is that it prevented me from blabbing to the Internet every time we managed to spot a celebrity during our trip.
That's probably for the best because Nashville is the kind of place where musicians of all levels of fame reside generally unmolested. My husband said when he first moved there in 1979, he could hardly believe it when he saw Dolly Parton grocery shopping at Kroger. However, it didn't take him long to get used to such things because, after all, everybody has to eat.
And speaking of eating, we were having lunch at Calypso Cafe with my husband's friend Dennis Holt when who should walk in but Keith Urban. No, Nicole Kidman was not with him. He looked pretty much exactly the way he does in every music video in which he appears. He was a little taller than I would have expected, but that's probably because he wasn't standing next to his Amazonian wife.
No one bothered him during the meal and I chose to forego trying to photograph him from across the room because not only would it have been gauche, but I'm not even a country music fan. It's possible that I wouldn't have even recognized him if Dennis hadn't said something.
Later in the trip, my husband and I finally got around to having burgers at Rotier's, as suggested by the fabulously helpful Busy Mom, who provided all kinds of activity and food suggestions when I asked the Nashvillians on Twitter for advice.
About halfway through our meal, a group of fellow patrons got up to pay their bill and my first thought was that they looked like ad agency creative directors. You know the type: older guys, cool clothes, hip hairstyles. Well, one of them was wearing a very distinctive cap and we both realized at about the same time that it was Rick Nielsen from Cheap Trick. After that, we spotted Robin Zander and Tom Petersson, so there was no doubt as to who the guys were.
The waitstaff obviously didn't recognize them at all, which made it slightly more satisfying somehow. Again, I chose not to take any photos. After they left, my husband gave me a hard time because I hadn't spotted them in the back room earlier when I stopped by the restroom, but obviously I had other priorities at the time.
The only other random well-known person we ran across was Billy Ward, who I presume is famous mainly among drummers. We were at Fork's Drum Closet at the time so, really, any pro drummer sighting there is shooting fish in a barrel.
The one famous person we saw on purpose was when my husband's friend Ed Simpson hosted a dinner and jam at his house that included Johnny Neel, former Allman Brothers keyboardist. He was quite a character.
So that was the celebrity portion of our Nashville vacation. Next post: the many books I read on my trip.
As you know, I'm not one for obsessing over celebs, but if I saw Dolly Parton shopping, I would have to say hello. She's a honey.
Posted by: Keith | May 19, 2012 at 04:35 AM