How many times have you had a celebrity
sighting?
Who were they?
Sandy and I saw Pam Dawber of Mork &
Mindy with her husband Mark Harmon of NCIS at Logan Airport years ago picking
up their luggage from a flight from Paris. We heard her ask, "We are
eating at Legal Seafoods?"
Doc Severinsen came up to me at the Phoenix
Airport to say hello. I was wearing the cowboy hat that I had just purchased in
Tombstone. I never did figure out why that happened.
We got to know John Stewart of the Kingston
Trio through our daughter Kezia, really well.
In Venice we sat across from John & Bo
Derek in that famous square of Saint Marks where the classical music is played
while you dine. Piazza San Marco. They were drinking $100 bottles of Don
Perignon champagne. I think I was drinking a Bud Light. Every one knows Bo
Derek but few know John from his cowboy movie days except me and Tom Egan.
Sandy's clients at her Alexandra's European
Skin Care Salon were from Aerosmith. Last year on Isla we ran into Billie
Perry, the lead guitarist Joe Perry's wife.
Sandy saw Alan Alda, Ellen Barkin and Joe
Pesci on her own in Boston.
Speaking of Isla, one year Alan Cumming was
relaxing in the sun on Playa Norte. He is in those Masterpiece Theatre TV shows
and has been in many movies including Eyes Wide Shut. He threw away a script
that he was just reading and we retrieved it. I guess that was an odd thing for
us to do.
I had a fairly lengthy conversation with
Chris Cooper at a Kingston, Massachusetts Hess gas station a few years ago. I
asked him among other things if Lone Star was his first movie. He smiled at my
dumb question. He laughed when I told him that he looked like my cousin Jack in
the movie Adaptation, for which he won an Academy award and a Golden
Globe. It was with Meryl Streep. He loves Meryl Streep and he said so.
Seabiscuit and American Beauty and Horse Whisperer with Redford were three
other memorable ones. Quite impressive, don't you think? He played a part in
the greatest TV series of all time, Lonesome Dove. I should have asked him
about Robert Duvall. In my cowboy boots we are the same height. Cooper looks
way taller in movies. He lives with his wife Marianne Leone Cooper of Soprano's
fame in Kingston, just two towns over from us.
Oh gee, I almost forgot that we went to a
luncheon and book signing with Lauren Bacall.
Does writer Nathaniel Philbrick count?
Sports-wise, I sold a fence to Ken Hodge of
the Bruins. Johnny Pie McKenzie was just leaving and he said something about Espo.
It was in the early 70s and the Bruins were never hotter. I also had an
appointment to sell a pool to the Red Sox first baseman Bill Buckner.
Saturday night with Kezia and friends, we
went to the Plimoth Plantation for a screening of John Sayles’ latest movie, Go
For Sisters. He has done over forty movies. Have you seen any of his movies?
Some notable to me were Lone Star, Casa de Los Babys, Passion Fish, Eight Men
Out, and Matewan.
The reception was in the same room where our
friends Lisa and Willie were married. There were round tables set up and you
could order drinks. I had a feeling that I would have an opportunity to chat
with John Sayles and with Chris Cooper again. How would I start the conversation?
I thought that I would start by asking Chris if he was Matt Damon. I told
him when we first met. It was big for me. He didn't seem to remember it.
Shocking! He was in the Bourne movies with Damon. Cooper is very laid back and
shows absolutely no pretense of the movie star that he is.
How would I start a conversation with John
Sayles? I read up on him and learned that he graduated from Williams College
near our hometown of Adams, Massachusetts. So when I met him I told him that we
had just climbed Mount Greylock and that started the ball rolling. He was
really down to earth and well spoken, and hardly talked about himself. He lives
in Guilford Connecticut on the Long Island Sound.
After speaking with Sayles and Cooper, no
photos or autographs, I struck up a conversation with Cooper’s wife. One of the
things we spoke about was the movie Lone Star, my all time favorite movie. She
said, "Well, Maggie was the producer of that movie" as she
introduced me to Maggie Renzi. File this under small world. Maggie went to
college with John Sayles at Williams. She is from North Adams. On Google she is
listed as John's partner. Kezia says that they are married. Her Mom & Dad
owned a bookstore in Williamstown. She knows Jack's Hot Dogs and saw movies at
The Mohawk. She has been to and loves la Isla Mujeres. I am not sure how that
came up. Both Lone Star and this brand new movie have a lot of Spanish in them
and were both filmed on the Mexican border. Go For Sisters in Tijuana and
Mexicali. Lonestar in Laredo and Eagle Pass. She is interested in coming to
Marnie’s yoga retreat this Febrero on Isla. ycmts up! She and Cooper’s
wife have had bit parts in many of Sayles’ movies. Sort of like what Alfred
Hitchcock did.
“Go For Sisters” is a good movie. Three stars
from the New York Times. The two principal stars are terrific unknown black
women. To me the movie really takes off when Edward James Olmos comes on the
screen.
You remember him from Stand and Deliver? The
movie about the true story of dedicated teacher from Los Angeles. In “Go For
Sisters” there is a scene where he walks into a dark dusty empty cantina and
meets up with an old bartender friend in Tijuana. The bartender is non other
than Hector Elizondo.
Of course you remember him from the movies
Tortilla Soup, The Flamingo Kid, American Gigolo and Pretty Woman, where he was
the concierge of the hotel and helped Julia Roberts with her manners and
clothing. The movie audience recognized him and sighed when Hector came on the
screen.
Olmos tells Elizondo to pour both of them a
tequila "but not the crap that you serve your other patrons."
Elizondo reaches up for the Don Julio. There are many wonderful scenes in this
movie. The up-close character studies are just as fabulous as they are in Lone
Star.
There was a question and answer session with
John Sayles at the end of the flick. Flick is what we called movies in the
Navy. He is a very tall man. Maybe six foot five. He has long arms and legs and
looks as thought he could be a Navy Seal or cage fighter. Schenectady, New York
is where he was born. He is an excellent speaker.
Please see “Go For Sisters” and rent “Lone
Star” and call me in the morning. You could make it a two-for and rent the feel
good movie “Casa de Los Babys” also. Just do it !
They’re gonna put me in the movies,
They’re gonna make a big star out of me.
(My part would have to be that of a worn-out
pool salesman. HEY! It could happen.)
We'll make a film about a man who's sad and
lonely
and all I'll have to do is act naturally.
It just flew out of my brain. Many thanks to
Buck Owens and Ringo Starr for the inspiration.
I have to go now. They want me on the set. Thanks
for paying attention.
-Don Roberto Tocino
