Moment in the spotlight

This week in class we were having a "get to know you" thing, and the question
was:

Have you ever been on TV, in the newspaper, or had a 'public moment of fame',
and what was it for?

I'll write my story, and feel free to add yours! I loved
this question, since it lets us learn something new about people we may have
known for awhile!

When I was about 10, my family went to Quebec to see the tall ships. There were
so many people, and the excitement was everywhere. We decided to leave the
docks for some open space, when we heard bag pipes and saw a crowd coming
closer. People were packed in tight, but I managed to wiggle into a clearing and
stood right in front of some very fast moving men in black suits. One man pushed
me to one side and a nice man in a white suit with a carnation bent down to see if
I was ok, shook my hand and then we were both blinded by camera flashes! I
didn't know who Trudeau was at the time, but my dad still has pictures and
newspaper clippings of the day I tangled with the Prime Minister's body guard, and
shook Pierre's hand.

I apologize to everyone who has heard me tell this story at least 20 times. If you've heard it less than that then read this.

Back in 1990 I was on Jeopardy. To get on they had to pull my card out of a hat, then I had to pass a written test, then pass the audition. The hardest part was getting them to pull my card, that took about 5 years.

Without going into all the details I won three times and lost on the fourth. I won a total of $41,000.

I had my 15 minutes of fame. I'd walk down the street and people would recognize me. I'd get good tables at restaurants. Christine Lavin sings the Jeopardy song and this lead to my getting friendly with her.

That lead to her talking about me and my singing back up on SNAG on her album Subway Series. They mix was really good so you hardly hear my screeching :-)

Now I have to get a massage I'm all sore from doing all that patting myself on the back

I was in the local paper (The Reporter Dispatch, now the Journal News) a couple of times. The two with pictures were when I was a Brownie in elementary school, and in the High School play my Senior year.

I've spotted myself in the audience of some shows I've seen taped (The View, Rosie O'Donnell, Politically Incorrect) - but only b/c I knew where to look.

I was almost in the documentary movie Rising Low, about Government Mule's new album, but the shot was cut out.

(Frulie - your Trudeau thing is awesome. Jian would be so jealous!)

Yeah.. I'll tell him one day! :) heh.. your story is cool too..I love finding out new stuff about people! ~J~

Well, when I was little there was this call-in kids radio show called Small Things Considered which then changed to Kids America. My siblings and I used to call in all the time and once we got to visit the studio. That show went off the air and many years later a new show took it's place. That show was New York Kids. So my siblings and I started calling in to New York kids all the time. At the end of each half of each show, they read off a list of the names of kids who called in, to request songs or answer trivia questions and whatnot... and the first time I called in, David the host, spronounced my name at the end of the show... he said Jella, which is something that used to really upset me when I was younger. I wrote them a letter about it and they wrote back apologizing for mispronouncing my name.

The next time I called in at the end, David got to my name and said "Jella...oh, no... Gella! Hi, Gella!" And after the show he called me personally to apologize again. After that day, at the end of the show when they read the names they would add "Sorry for any names I've mispronounced."

A few years later the New York Kids people came to my chorus director at the Brooklyn Children's Ensemble and told her that they wanted to do a spot of us on teh show, and they asked her to pick out some kids between the ages of 6 and 12 to be in the studio. Judy got out the list of members and they started going down it and they saw my name... the New York Kids people said "Gella's in this chorus!?" so they had to have me in the studio, even though I was 14 at the time.

I was on CBS Sunday morning with this chorus a few years ago singing christmas carols. And I've performed at Carnegie hall three times, with two choruses. Does that count?

I made it in to the local paper (Orillia Packet & Times) a few times as a kid. It seemed like I kept running into photographers at Couchiching Park whenever I would go playing and they'd want to take my picture sitting on the Champlain monument (which was our favourite thing to climb :D). A couple of those pictures made their way to the paper although there has to be at least 10 of them floating around somewhere. I also got in there with a couple of camps I belonged to. I've still got the clippings around here of a group of us learning how to canoe.

As for tv, I've been in the backdrop of >Play (Jian's show) once and I'm sure that considering the size of the place that it won't be the last time. :) I've been on City-tv a few times when they covered the CNE and I was on Muchmusic once with Steve Anthony (VJ during the 80s).

I've been on CBC radio during call-in discussion shows...if that counts. :)

okay, let me see...

My band opened up for the Mighty Mighty Bosstones once. As sometimes people still recognize me from my days with Professor Plum.

I attended the last ever People's Court with Judge Wapner, and saw myself in the audience on that.

You can see me during the in-store performance in the new They Might Be Giants documentary, "Gigantic".

Performed at Lincoln Center with my barbershop chorus.

Was drum major of the marching band at Rutgers (we didn't perform in front of many people :p)

That's all I can think about now. Good topic!

My greatest claim to fame is still getting my pic on the front page of the frederick news-post back in 1985. good times, good times. I've also made it onto the jumbo screen at Camden Yards, been pictured/interviewed a bunch of times in local papers, and shown up on local tv a few times (usually working in the studio, but so what?) And if you're in New York and you saw the broadcast of last year's Downtown Messiah, you probably saw me and Gordon in the front row, especially during the Kennedys' and Terre Roche's numbers.

My moment in the spotlight was embarrassing. I'd just moved here to CT from OH and my brownie troop was on the local morning kids show. There was a puppet named TX Critter on the show...he was a scary duck looking thing. Anyway...they decided to ask a couple of kids questions and I was one of them...they asked me where I was from. (They knew where my troop was from but the audience didn't.) I had just moved there so I was so unfamiliar with things and didn't quite have things figured out...so I got really sad and said "I don't know".

I felt so dumb. Not knowing what town I lived in.

Ah well. :)

-AK

Hrm.. I've led quite a boring life in retrospect. I've only been on TV once or twice. I was sitting there at the Findlay Rib-Off one year just minding my own business and chowing down on some ribs. I guess I'd made quite a mess of myself but I didn't know it at the time. Next thing I know this film crew is asking me questions. Of course that night my interview was on the Toledo news, with sauce all over my face, talking about how much fun I was having. I thought I'd have to put up with years of "hey, aren't you that pig I saw on the news last year?" Alas, I didn't.

in high school, my marching band would serenade our directors the night after we would win our regional competition because that meant we were going on to the state finals. (yes, we always did this because we always went to state. we were a very good marching band.) anyway, this would be around 5 in the morning. well this particular serenade i was really sick, so i went, but i went in my sweats, letter jeacket and a long stocking cap reminiscent of "a christmas story." the pom-pom fell around my waist. well anyway, i played marimba (yes, in a marching band. i was stationary.) and so i dug out a small set of orchestra bells to take with me to play my part. anyway, what did i know but on the monday issue of the indianapolis star metro south edition is me, sitting on the ground, with a red nose and the pom-pom of my hat pooled at my feet, in my boy's letter jacket playing a wee set of orchestra bells. it was... embarrassing.

Let's see - when I was about 10 I was chosen from out of my choir to go on stage to give flowers to Bevery Sills, the Opera Star. That was traumatic.

Jian read my email on >Play *g* and he mentioned me a few times on Talk TV when I called in about various topics.

Our swing band has been mentioned and played a couple of times on AM 600 here in Vancouver, but we were recently mentioned on a rock station as well which was pretty exciting. One of the morning show guys heard us play a "hanger dance" and he raved on for almost 10 minutes about how "cool" it was, and he played some of the CD. Our bandleader later got an email from the station manager saying that people had been calling the station wondering where to get the CD. That was a pretty cool moment in the spotlight...especially if we get some gigs out of it ;-)

When I first saw this topic I thought "I've been on the front page of the Abbotsford newspaper." Back in 1995 when I was part of a juggling troupe, I attended one of the community events - a family picnic day. The photographer thought it would be great to lie at my feet and get a pic of me juggling my clubs. That's brave. But it was a big full colour picture and the sky looked very blue behind/above me. But I can't remember lots of people recognizing me though. I had more recognition in high school when my letter appeared in the TV Times magazine. (I was going on about beer ads)

Then I remembered the time I was in my college's production of the Tempest. I played Trinculo, the drunk jester. I had people recognizing me in the university hallways or walking down the street or at other theatre shows months and months later. They would say that I was their favourite character. :) But the fact they could tell it was me? That was SO cool, especially since my jester hair and makeup were very intensive. It's rather nice to know that my personality shone through a bit as the Drunk Jester.

hey waitaminute. is that a good thing?