Five Things to Know Eric Well

“Like to get to know you well,
Like to get to know you well,
Like to get to know you well,
So we can be one,
We can be one together.”
“Like To Get To Know You Well” – Howard Jones (Web site ; myspace ; Wikipedia entry)

To be tagged twice (Walt, George) and have not just Walt and George, but also my colleagues, Andy (post), Alane (post), and Chrystie (post) pen delightful “Five things you don’t know about me” meme responses leaves me no obvious out, so I humbly submit my five:

1. Pets: I’ve had the usual assortment of turtles, fish, cats, and dogs as pets. But the most exotic pets I ever had were a pair of chameleons. They were a big hit when I took them to school for show-and-tell, especially with several of my female classmates, who -- after some initial reticence about handling a lizard -- became quite enamored of the lizard’s quick color changes and the light touch of chameleon feet. I guess the lizards seemed to be sort of mood rings with attitude (mood rings being an “in” thing about that time).


2. Flying: My first plane trip was aboard a Piedmont Airlines (which would later merge with USAIR, now US Airways) prop plane from Charlotte, NC to Greenville-Spartanburg, SC. The twenty-minute or so trip was a gift from my father. An uncle picked me up at the airport. My parents drove down as the point was actually a trip to visit relatives in Greenville. I think I was around 10. Very cool – I declined the Coke and peanuts so I could look out the window for the whole trip without distraction. And, yes, I ‘ve flown a few – well, quite a few -- more  airmiles since then.


3. Brush with fame* 1:  I traveled with Rick Springfield and his band (Web site). OK, well I was sitting in coach, and they were in first class, and it was only from Detroit to Louisville (where I was slated to speak at a Music Library Association conference, and they obviously had a gig). Who doesn’t remember the 80’s hit, “Jessie’s Girl”!? (See, you’re singing the chorus, now, aren’t you? ;)


4. Brush with fame 2: On a trip to New York many moons ago, my then colleague Bede Mitchell and I were leaving the fabulous Rizzoli Bookstore at the same time a very stylishly- dressed couple were trying to enter the store. With a polite smile, the gentleman held the door open for us, and the woman graciously waited for us to exit. Who were they, you ask? Robert Wagner and Jill St. John. And no, neither of us were impolite enough to ask for autographs or try and take a picture. I know it was the right thing, but I kinda wish I had a picture now...


5. La Femme: And speaking of beautiful women, I acknowledge George’s fine choice of Meredith Vieria as the woman he’d most wish to meet, but for me, it’s always been Catherine Deneuve. National symbol of France (see Marianne), Chanel model, Belle de jour – ‘nuff said.

Knowing full well that he’s done nothing to warrant being so victimized, I nevertheless – and with no malice aforethought – tag my esteemed colleague Stu Weibel, author of the fabulous Weibel Lines to reveal five mysteries lest the chain be broken and the angels weep for all of us (see 2nd quote).

*“Brushes with Fame” was a call-in AM radio show in one town I lived in. Callers would relate quite a wide range of direct and indirect sightings, and – not always flattering – encounters with celebrities, or sometimes the caller’s own 15 minutes of fame (and what counts in the human mind as one’s shining moment oft times amazed listener and radio host alike!).

[Picture is of yours truly at age 4. I think I was probably looking for enemy agents in the hedges. They like to hide in the hedges, you know.]