Marshall 'n' Me

I'm not a hero-worship kind of guy. I favor the response Bill Russell always used when kids would ask him for an autograph: "Go get your dad's autograph. He's the real hero." I liked The Mick when I was a kid, and Bill Bradley and Jim Ryun were definitely larger than life, but I really didn't stand in complete awe of them. Maybe it was because they were so distant...always in the paper but never right up close. I DID go to the bathroom next to Ryun once, but I can't say it was a peak experience. I also got to interview him for a radio station before a race, and that was definitely cool, but I reached a new level of closeness this week. I got to talk to (and get a picture with) Marshall Crenshaw.
Of course, almost nobody I know has heard of him, but he's a musician who revolutionized music in this country, and I wanted to hear him play ever since the professor in a rock 'n' roll class first played Crenshaw for me in the early 80s.
I could never find him touring anywhere near where I happened to be, so imagine my surprise when he showed up in Green Bay this week!
Here was a guy who led the New Wave revolution in the U.S.A. at the same time Elvis Costello and Graham Parker were being all angry young men in Britain. We'd probably still be listening to "You Light Up My Life" had it not been for these luminaries of rock. In addition to being a rock performer, Crenshaw played Buddy Holly in the movie "La Bamba," a high school band teacher in "Peggy Sue Got Married"; he played John Lennon in a Broadway production of "Beatlemania," and has written a book on rock music in the movies called Hollywood Rock and Roll. He's a musical Ben Franklin (the man, not the store).
It was the perfect "senior" date: free admission and free sodas. It began at 7:30 and was finished in time for me to drive home and get to bed at the usual time (not to be confused with Crenshaw's "Usual Thing." The crowd was small at the casino, but the music was so good that my honey didn't even wander off to go gamble...in spite of the fact that I was singing at the top of my lungs much of the time!
Following the encore, Marshall stepped out and signed a few things and generally talked to everyone who wanted a piece of his time. We chatted briefly, I got a photo, and my evening was made! He was the last musician I really wanted to see so my life is complete.