Tonight I spot Trent Reznor shopping the Mezzanine at work. Others tell me he comes in to Amoeba a lot, but it’s the first time I’ve seen him. I have to check three times before I’m convinced it’s him. I kinda want to tell him that The Downward Spiral remains one of my desert island discs, but he heads downstairs. I’m glad. I don’t think I would have worked up the courage. It’s a rare case of celebrity paralysis for me.
Funny how, like mountaineers clustering at K2’s base camp, we acclimatize to the rareified Hollywood atmosphere. I’m not one to get star-struck (Trent Reznor aside,) but I’m surprised at how blasé I’ve become about running into celebrities. I used to post about sightings all the time. For those who find this interesting, here’s a roundup of a few recent sightings:
Michelle Rodriguez: Shopping for DVD’s on the mezzanine. Cow-orker Deep admits he’s got a crush on her and mortifies himself when, after she compliments him about advice he gives her (“You know a lot about movies,”) he says, “I’m not qualified for anything else.” Meanwhile I scurry over to my Sci-Fi section to make sure we’ve got Resident Evil in stock.
Ryan tells me he saw Christian Bale at a Starbuck’s in Burbank.
Jerry O’Connell: On the mezzanine, shopping the foreign DVD section. Rebecca Romijn on his arm.
Danny Strong, outside of the Arclight.
Maryann points to someone in line at Amoeba. I peer down from through the legs of customers at the listening stations to see Mike Myers.
Franke Potente says something to me the other day. I think it was along the lines of “excuse me” or “pardon me.” I don’t remember. She, like Trent Reznor, is someone who momentarily makes me forget my name.
I walk out of the front doors at work a few weeks ago and find myself face to face with Beck. The only thing that occurs to me is that he looks just like he does on the cover of Mutations. He’s looking past me into the store with a look of confusion on his face. “I seem to have lost my friends,” he says to me.
The late Ed Wood’s leading lady, Dolores Fuller shops at Amoeba regularly, as do Quentin Tarantino, James Spader, Pink and Elvis Costello.
There are more, but I’m bored now.
