Bruce's 45th Birthday
Bruce's Birthday Gift Gregg at Genghis Cohen 8/11/01 BG Encounters
Over the weekend of August 11-12, several Greendogs journeyed to the L.A. area to watch Bruce jam with his friend Gregg Henry and to meet with him afterward for a small birthday celebration. The gig itself will be covered in the Music Directory while this file will cover the fan involvement. The fortunate fans who could be present that night included Pamela McKay, Lenore Bartlett, Sarah Bottemiller, Barb Kaighin, Emiko Kamidoi, Leila Lee, and Sabrina Young. They, of course, represented all 82 members of the BG List.We made our little presentation around 11:30pm, a good hour after the gig itself had wound up. Apparently there had been some important producers in the audience and both Gregg and Bruce were doing a lot of promoting after the show. But eventually Bruce joined us and devoted himself exclusively to our birthday celebration for him. Emiko sang him the "Birthday dirge" which cracked him up as I prepared the stuff. First off, I gave him the packet of cards from contributors and he asked if he could open those at home. I told him that he "SHOULD open them at home" because they were personal notes from those fans. So he took those first along with a small JFK paperweight from Emiko that had been acquired by her during JFK's actual presidency. Then I handed him the packet I'd put together on the rocker, warning him that the gift itself hadn't arrived yet. I told him it was large and he did say "Not too large for my little house, I hope." I groaned inwardly but continued on and handed him the card I'd made. I needn't have worried.
The moment he saw the photo of the rocker his eyes lit up completely. "Oh my God!" he said, and stuff like "I can't believe you guys are doing this for me". Under the photo I had another page with information on the rocker with info directly from the museum's website. I told him where it was purchased and that it was built by the great grandson of the original designer, etc. Then under that I had another page on the Mailing List, an explanation of what an online mailing list is, how many were on his list, and the various countries to which some belonged! And then I put a total listing of all 40 contributors with emails and geographic locations. I'm not sure he understood all that, but I did explain that we voted on what to get him and this is what had been eventually decided upon. He seemed very, very impressed and totally blown away by the gift. I know he's a great actor, but I really believed him. He was pleased!
Next I handed him the package that had Leila's pillow. He asked if he could open that at home (they were waiting dinner for him inside, even though it was now pushing midnight) and I said that it was related to the rocker and had been made by Leila. He immediately said, "Oh! Then I HAVE to open it now" and ripped it totally apart like a madman. Inside the box he opened the pillow itself (Leila had it beautifully wrapped in its own cloth) and then he zanily posed with Leila for some priceless photos that will show you instantly how loose he was about the whole thing. The pillow is beautiful, btw, an exact reproduction of JFK's pillow.
Everything was chaotic, as I say, but I didn't see a moment's reservation about the gift, and Susan's reaction (several pointedly looked) was just as thrilled. I asked her if it was "OK" a little later and she giggled and said "Are you kidding? It's wonderful!"
I also - sometime in all that chaos - got Bruce to sign my Gregg CD (he put his name in parentheses after Gregg's on the actual CD which was really cool I thought) then a nice little note to me at the bottom. I also said I hoped his birthday would be great and he said "They have a wonderful day lined up for me," so clearly they had some fun plans for the next day.
I told him during the good byes that we'd be inside having drinks in the bar, but not to worry about us as we were outta his life for the night. He laughed and nodded OK in some way as to make me know he trusted me completely to do that. And then, before Bruce left to go inside he hugged (and sometimes kissed) every one of us, gave me the sweetest little russle in the hair with his fingers (I don't want to wash it again ever!) and mouthed as he was leaving "Thank YOU so much", that I really felt it had all gone OK. He really did seemed pleased we'd come, even though it had been a lot more overwhelming than either he or I intended.
We were all in the bar nursing wine or beer (and in Sarah's case a diet coke) as the clock struck midnight and Lenore commented that we really were with Bruce on his birthday now. And indeed we were because he was seated within our view at the table we'd occupied just four hours earlier. He was with Susan who was running her fingers through his hair and he was laughing uproariously and he was eating with chopsticks and he seemed completely happy. I decided it was time for us to go. (I really thought we should leave with very little fanfare and that it should be before his party left.) As it happened just as we were walking out his eyes met mine, so I threw him a smile and a little "bye" wave and he smiled, raised his brows and winked back.
All was well.....
| Bruce's 45th Birthday |
| Bruce's Birthday Gift |
| Gregg at Genghis Cohen 8/11/01 |
| BG Encounters |