blues7
Member
With all the nostalgic stories of bicycles and music and rites of passage on the forum of late, I thought I would relate a bittersweet story of disappointed adulation.
To set the scene, when I was a kid I was a huge fan of radio personality Jean Shepherd whose syndicated radio broadcast would be aired on WOR radio AM in NYC.
As I was still at an age where my parents got to tell me when it was time to hit the sack, I'd sneak my transistor radio under my pillow, tuned to WOR at 10PM when Jean Shepherd would come on, (brought to you by Land Rover and the Rover 2000TC), and spin his magical tales of Depression Era Indiana with his friends Schwartz, Brunner, Flick et al.
Anyway, I'd spend night after night with my ear glued to the radio through my pillow and I could recite nearly every one of Shepherd's stories from memory.
A short time later I was taking the subway from Queens into Manhattan on Saturday mornings to take classes in astronomy at the Hayden Planetarium.
Well, one day I learned that Jean Shepherd would be appearing live at the Limelight, a club in Greenwich Village, to promote his book, "In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash". This would put the year as 1965 or 1966.
Well, that Saturday I rushed down from the Hayden Planetarium to lower Manhattan via subway and was the very first person to get on line to await the man who, aside from Mickey Mantle, was probably my biggest hero.
We waited on line for what seemed forever but eventually were allowed in and seated. We were served hot dogs and soft drinks and eventually the great man himself came out on stage.
He recounted a few tales, (I knew them by heart of course), and then after a while had folks come up for a book signing.
Well, as fate would have it I was a kid of little means and didn't have nearly the amount of money necessary for a hard cover book...
...So, I asked my hero, my idol, the great Jean Shepherd if he would sign my napkin...
...and he said no. He would only sign books. I told him that I was first on line and his biggest fan in the world but he was unmoved and would not give me his autograph.
Needless to say I was crushed. I left the venue having learned a valuable lesson.
Fast forward many years and I'm living in South FL...several years after "A Christmas Story", the movie, had been released.
I'm on the balcony of the apartment building I lived in with my wife and I'm outside at the railing talking to my neighbor who was a musician and also into astronomy.
We're listening to the radio and I happen to tell him the story of what happened with Jean Shepherd when a radio announcer cut in and reported that Jean Shepherd had passed away.
Me and Louie looked at each other with incredulous expressions on our faces.
I turned to the radio and told Jean that all was forgiven and wished him godspeed.
To set the scene, when I was a kid I was a huge fan of radio personality Jean Shepherd whose syndicated radio broadcast would be aired on WOR radio AM in NYC.
As I was still at an age where my parents got to tell me when it was time to hit the sack, I'd sneak my transistor radio under my pillow, tuned to WOR at 10PM when Jean Shepherd would come on, (brought to you by Land Rover and the Rover 2000TC), and spin his magical tales of Depression Era Indiana with his friends Schwartz, Brunner, Flick et al.
Anyway, I'd spend night after night with my ear glued to the radio through my pillow and I could recite nearly every one of Shepherd's stories from memory.
A short time later I was taking the subway from Queens into Manhattan on Saturday mornings to take classes in astronomy at the Hayden Planetarium.
Well, one day I learned that Jean Shepherd would be appearing live at the Limelight, a club in Greenwich Village, to promote his book, "In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash". This would put the year as 1965 or 1966.
Well, that Saturday I rushed down from the Hayden Planetarium to lower Manhattan via subway and was the very first person to get on line to await the man who, aside from Mickey Mantle, was probably my biggest hero.
We waited on line for what seemed forever but eventually were allowed in and seated. We were served hot dogs and soft drinks and eventually the great man himself came out on stage.
He recounted a few tales, (I knew them by heart of course), and then after a while had folks come up for a book signing.
Well, as fate would have it I was a kid of little means and didn't have nearly the amount of money necessary for a hard cover book...
...So, I asked my hero, my idol, the great Jean Shepherd if he would sign my napkin...
...and he said no. He would only sign books. I told him that I was first on line and his biggest fan in the world but he was unmoved and would not give me his autograph.
Needless to say I was crushed. I left the venue having learned a valuable lesson.
Fast forward many years and I'm living in South FL...several years after "A Christmas Story", the movie, had been released.
I'm on the balcony of the apartment building I lived in with my wife and I'm outside at the railing talking to my neighbor who was a musician and also into astronomy.
We're listening to the radio and I happen to tell him the story of what happened with Jean Shepherd when a radio announcer cut in and reported that Jean Shepherd had passed away.
Me and Louie looked at each other with incredulous expressions on our faces.
I turned to the radio and told Jean that all was forgiven and wished him godspeed.
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