Hey Luke Spencer, Can I be your Laura?

CELEBRITY ENCOUNTER
I started watching General Hospital in 1983 and haven’t stopped since! My older brother was a big fan and got me hooked on the adventures of Luke, Laura, Robert Scorpio and the ice machine…I used to rush home from school so I could catch the show; of course, this was pre-DVR and even tape recorder days! So, you either saw the show the first time it aired, or you were shit out of luck.  I can distinctly remember the day Ronald Reagan was shot.  As much as I loved big Ronnie, and as worried as I was for his health, I was almost more upset that ABC had preempted my show for live news coverage of the shooting. That’s love, man, love.

Fast forward 26 years. My friends Cemmi and Melissa were visiting LA and we were having the most relaxing and enjoyable lunch at La Piazza Ristorante Italiano at the Grove. We were seated on the outdoors patio, soaking up the sun and watching the Hollywood stars that frequent The Grove on any given weekday.  Shannon Elizabeth and a few others walked by, but we continued to enjoy our conversation and lunch without any thought to the passing stars. THEN, I spotted Anthony Geary looking through sunglasses at a kiosk on the other side of the short patio fence. If you watch soaps, you know they don’t come any bigger or more famous and adored than Anthony Geary who has played Luke Spencer on General Hospital for over 3 decades.  Luke’s marriage to Laura on November 16, 1981 was a cultural event watched by 30 million viewers and remains the highest-rated hour in American soap opera history. It’s very strange; when you welcome an actor into your home on a daily basis for all of these years, you feel as if the actor is nothing short of an old-timer friend. SO, I ran out of the restaurant and sneaked upon Anthony. I told him I had been a fan for almost 30 years. He (port) chuckled and looked at me in disbelief. We spoke for a while and he could not have been any more gracious, charming, engaging or attentive. I told him about my two friends who happened to be auditioning for the same role (Sonny’s son, Daunte) on General Hospital and he was genuinely interested in what I had to say. I then asked him my burning question of whether Ethan was in fact his son on the show (paternity test was pending of course, classic soap style) and he admitted yes. “Doesn’t he just seem like he should be my son?” Of course Luke, of course. I told him that in contrast to Ethan, the other son, Lucky, and Luke are nothing alike, and he agreed. And with that, we parted ways. Thank you Anthony for my perfect Friday and the scoop on Ethan!

Michael Jackson’s estate auction – Wait, before he died?

Reposting this article which was originally posted 4/2009 in honor of MJ and the one-year anniversary of his death. My friend Sam called and said he had an extra “All Access Pass” to an exhibit of Michael Jackson‘s estate by Julien’s Auctions. I loved the idea of seeing first hand how the rich and famous live, at least this one most well known rich and famous, and enthusiastically said, “let’s go.” Neither Sam nor I could have had any idea that day of the significance our adventure would hold exactly two months to the day later – the day that MJ would die in the same City.

Why were MJ’s items up for auction before his death? Apparently, MJ had contacted Julien’s to sell much of his estate but then had changed his mind. Since Julien’s was already in possession of the items, MJ did agree to allow Julien’s to put the items on temporary display for public viewing. So,with that permission, Julien’s opened its doors to preview an astounding array of MJ memorabilia that was sure to blow any visitor’s mind. We’re talking 1390 lots filled with arcade games, cars, wax figurines (several Batmans, many Supermans, Elvis, at least two ETs) tour bus, Macaulay Culkin original art, concert and video outfits, Walt Disney and Looney Tunes memorabilia, the iconic white-jeweled glove, and even the grandiose entry gates to Neverland Ranch . The collection offered a surreal glimpse inside this idol’s world, as close as anyone could have gotten to being in his head during a strange and tumultuous period of his life, when he went on one of the 20th century’s greatest unchecked shopping sprees.

As Sam and I walked through the various sections of the auction, I felt more and more eerie. And dirty. Like Diana. What was I doing there? I felt like I had no right to be gawking at someone’s personal possessions even though we all had his permission. I don’t know, it just didn’t feel right.