Continuing a Theme...

...of having interesting and sometimes bizarre seat-mates on planes. Now I realize I fly pretty often (3 r/ts in Jan, scheduled to fly twice in Feb), so the statistical likelihood I will meet pseudo-known types (I mean, I do fly coach, this limiting the possibilities of finding myself parked next to Posh Spice) is slightly increased, and by far I meet your typical "I live in Kansas City and I'm in sales, what do you do?" types. The chattiest flight recently was Spirit Airlines DC-Detroit-San Fran when I sat next to this rastaman who, as it turns out, is the son of Bob Marley's attorney and a music producer. He made a documentary of Peter Tosh and allegedly smoked for the first time with Bob Marley (probably half the Jamaican population over 40 can say that). Since my love for Bob is evident on these pages, it goes without saying I thought this tremendously cool and proceeded to bother him for stories and compared notes on favorite albums, tracks, etc. I checked him out on the Internet later and it was even cooler that he wasn't lying.

He got on another flight in Detroit and then I was sitting next to the lead singer of a local, up-and-coming band called Scissors for Lefty (shame about the name). They were on their way home from a NY tour and the guy had worked at UPS for 12 years or so and was now being written about on the web, in music mags, etc and was clearly thrilled with the whole process. It was really fun to listen to someone overwhelmed by what was easily the most exciting thing that had and probably would happen to him (provided they don't get any more famous; then I'll be posting on their MySpace page, reminding them that we met before they hit it big).

So then last night I'm chatting with the guy sitting across the aisle and whaddaya know, it's a well-known columnist from the WaPo. DC dork that I am, I could hardly contain myself, asking him about Froomkin, debating Ann Coulter (oy), how he decides what to write, and his take on each of the '08 presidential candidates. Most people are probably half-asleep at this point in the conversation, but I thought the anecdotes about Pat Buchanan and Newt Gingrich were so cool, I couldn't stop bugging him. Thankfully he was very gracious and he actually did use the phrase "off the record, of course" - as though, ooh, I could end up on a record somewhere.

Which is why I could never live in LA - the focus on celebrity, etc and the people "about town" just don't spark my interest (which is not to say I'm not obsessed with looks and completely shallow in my own right, of course - off the record). As much as I enjoy celeb gossip websites, what the hell could I possibly talk to Victoria Beckham about for four hours? I'd probably be instructed by her bodyguard not to make eye contact for fear of death. I'm such a nerd that I thought this encounter was super-cool, which means I'd probably be turned out of California for asking Justin Timberlake how he feels about Mitt Rommey's chances in '08.