How To Stalk A Celebrity

Since Jeremy works at an airport in the area, which shall remain nameless, where he deals with a lot of high profile celebrities... (more than he will ever tell you.)- he has had the opportunity to meet, and speak with his share of stars. Since he is in a senior position, he is generally the one that stays late to take those special arrivals and departures, but on Saturday he ended up working early, and getting off early.

While he was at work in the afternoon, Celine Dion flew in for a concert and as her entourage was leaving the airport, Jeremy said there were 4 guys standing by the security gate waiting with guitars for autographs and she stopped to sign. Jeremy was surprised that before a concert she would take the time to do that and he asked someone if it was a normal thing she did. He was told that it was a very common practice.

So on Saturday night, for the first time in almost three years, Jeremy broke what he calls his "code of silence" *GASP* cue the 'doom music'.

Jeremy, seeing an opportunity, asked me if I would want to go out and get her autograph. I was hesitant at first because I'm not one to be stalking celebrities for autographs, but I also knew Jeremy would not give me the offer if he wasn't sure about what he was doing. I also could not decide what I would want autographed, I figured having my guitar signed would be the coolest, but I didn't want it to become just a signed guitar hanging on the wall, it was a graduation gift and is very special to me... and I didn't want an autograph to change it. Maybe that doesn't make sense to anyone, but it makes sense to me.

Ultimately, I did decide on my guitar. So you can see where this is going... and can picture me standing on a dark corner with guitar and sharpie in hand.

Celine's airplane was flying out around 10:30, so Jeremy and I drove out to the airport (in my car with tinted windows, so that no one could see my "insider man") and we waited for the arrival. There were two other cars in the parking lot with us, so I expected to be standing with maybe 3 or 4 other people. When we saw the entourage coming up the road I hopped out and walked over (a little anxious and embarrassed) on the curb. As I turned around to face the parking lot where I had just come from I saw about 15 yelling fans running towards me (they were packed in an SUV, go figure). To make it a little more humorous, they were a bunch of guys that looked more like they belonged at a punk rock concert, but indeed they were excitedly holding their Celine Dion C.D's, and they were very polite and friendly.

As Celine Dion's SUV pulled in, it stopped in front of the gate and her security guards got out and asked us to form a line next to the car where she would sign one item per person (sorry, no autographed C.D. for Christmas this year, Tina.)

What I expected was a tired, semi-annoyed, sun-glasses clad Celine signing autographs from the dark back corner of her SUV, but instead I got something very different. The security guards allowed each person one at a time up to the window of the car, where the inside lights were on and Celine was friendly and greeting each person! The rest was kind of a blur as I admit I became a little star struck... hehehe. As she took my guitar to sign it, all either of us had was a black pen, which I would have been perfectly happy with, but she said that she wanted it to be visible on the guitar so she took the extra time to have one of her bodyguards find a silver pen from someone in the line! I was SO impressed with how professional and kind she was! It was a great experience!

I'm still a little embarrassed to admit that I stood on a corner to get Celine Dion's autograph, but hey... my guitar will look a little cooler now when I play bedtime tunes to the girls!!! =)