I am not usually one to brag… seriously… but I am having an amazing week and I would love to share it with you guys. As you all read in my previous post about Bamboozle, I got to meet one of my idols this past weekend, Dave Grohl. It was undoubtedly one of the best days of my life. BUT, you can all read about it if you haven’t already, I won’t get into it all over again, you’ll never be able to shut me up. Let’s talk about what happened yesterday that became one of the top 5 best days of my life.
Bruce Springsteen is a local living legend. If you grew up in my area, you are either a die hard Bruce or a die hard Bon Jovi fan, since they’re both considered local heroes in the music industry. They battle over the land of New Jersey and the title of New Jersey’s greatest musician. You can like both… but you cannot love both, there has to be a little loyalty to one or the other. For me, it’s Bruce. He just always seemed a little more on the genuine side. Everyone, and I mean everyone, always sees him out and about around town. Everyone except for me that is. It seems like everyone I know has a story about how they met Bruce in Red Bank, or Pier Village, or Asbury when he just shows up randomly to play a quick song with some old friends at a dive bar. Everyone happens to be at these bars or in the right starbucks at the right time, except me. In 24 years of living about 10 minutes away from this guy I’ve never been one of the lucky ones, until yesterday.
So yesterday I met up with an old friend of mine for lunch at one of my favorite places, The Turning Point in Pier Village. Their french toast is one of the only things that when I crave it, I HAVE to have it. And I pretty much crave it like 3 times a week, so I’m always there. So like 5 minutes after we get there, I look up, and right behind Gabby stands the one and only Bruce Springsteen, with his mother! How adorable? I couldn’t contain my excitement as I have NEVER been one of those people who run into him before. I, probably too loudly, let out a little “oh my god!” which prompted Gabby to turn around without asking what I was looking at, and she did the same thing. “This never happens to me!” I exclaimed. And then we both immediately started sweating profusely. This experience was 100% different from my Bamboozle experience because at least going to the festival we knew there was a slight chance we’d get to run into some famous people, I was slightly more prepared. Here, having lunch, it was totally unexpected and my excitement became almost comical. I immediately called my mother who is one of THE BIGGEST Bruce fans I have ever come across in my entire life. “MOM!” I loudly whispered. “Come to the Turning Point right now!” “I can’t… I’m working.” “Bruce Springsteen is here!” “I’ll be right there.” As she hangs up on me. My mom only works about a block away from Pier Village so she appeared in the doorway pretty much as I was hanging up my phone. The three of us sat at the table and giggled like school children, not really sure what to do with ourselves. My mother suddenly remembered something very serious: the Bruce onesie she had made! As soon as my mom found out my husband and I were expecting our first baby, she went on a onesie making spree. She made a onesie for all of mine and Matt’s favorite bands for the baby to sport upon her arrival. That’s how I managed to have a Foo Fighters onesie on me for Dave to sign. Unfortunately, I wasn’t in the habit of carrying them all around with me, so the Bruce onesie was at home. “We HAVE to go get it.” my mother kept saying. We battled with this for a few minutes as we stalked the progress of his meal from our table. Would there be enough time? Would he be all finished and disappear before we were able to get the onsie to the Turning Point? It was reaching the seriousness of an organ transplant. My mom said she could make it happen, and dammit did she make it happen. She quickly left the restaurant and called my father with the urgency of someone trapped in a burning building. Luckily, he was home, which was only 5 or 10 minutes away from Pier Village depending on traffic. She literally screamed at him to grab the Bruce onesie, not ask any questions, and meet us at Pier Village. When he asked her if he could at least finish the story he was working on for the paper, I think she may have threatened to divorce him. Not really, but it was that urgent.
Gabby and I sat there sweating as we planned our attack. When I met Dave Grohl, I had no time to think, the moment was literally right there I just had to act. Here, waiting to possibly MAYBE meet Bruce, I was all nerves. The more I thought about it, the worse I felt about interrupting him. He was just trying to have a nice quiet lunch with his dear, sweet mother, and no one else seemed to be bothering him. We were going to be THOSE assholes. Finally, my father arrived with the onesie and the timing couldn’t have been more perfect. Bruce had just finished his meal and was getting ready to leave. It was now or never. I took a short walk from my table to his and literally felt like I was walking down Death Row. It didn’t help that as we slowly approached him everyone else in the restaurant was starring at us. Clearly just jealous that we had enough balls to go up to him while everyone else was too afraid. Or, ya know, they were like “wow look at these assholes.” UNTIL I broke out the onesie. Then I heard a collective “awwwww” from everyone close enough to see what I was holding.
I reached Bruce’s table, and he looked up at me. I smiled and this was all I could manage. “Excuse me, I really, REALLY, hate to bother you (because I really did!) but, could you please sign this for me?” I held out the onesie so he could see it, his mother let out a long “awwwww” and he smiled at the sight of it. He laughed a little, smiled, and said “of course I could sign that.” I put it down on the table and he asked me to hold the corners of the shirt while he autographed it. He asked if this particular onesie was “for the one you got in there” as he gestured to my stomach. “Yes it is, she’s already a big fan.” He then asked me if we had a name picked out, which I told him. Famous people are allowed to know Baby R’s real name, haha. He spoke out loud while he autographed her onesie. “To….. [Baby R]…. Start Rockin. Bruce….Springsteen. And a little guitar.” Gabby and I both stood there smiling like idiots as he signed my baby’s onesie. What happened next I truly felt bad about, but I would never get this opportunity again. He was clearly ready for us to leave, but I went ahead and asked him for a quick picture anyway. He laughed again, then said “I supposed I can do that for you. Have a seat.” as he patted the seat in the booth next to him. I all-too-excitedly sat down next to him and he told me to hold up the onesie as Gabby graciously took our picture. Check it out. :]
I thanked him 100 times and told him I would never, ever bother him again! He was super sweet though and as we turned to leave both he and his mother wished me luck with the baby. I think this baby is bringing me all the luck I need. Two autographed onesies and two run-ins with two of my favorite people on the entire planet in less than a week? Seriously, what are the chances? I told my mom I’m going to carry the rest of the onesies around with me just in case! I think I’ll have her make a Johnny Depp one and carry it around with me… you never know!
So that has been my week so far ladies and gents! I apologize for letting my blog get so off track, I have a million other things I wanted to post about… like a new favorite nail polish, but I had to write about my run-ins this week! Oh, and, I just want everyone to know, that Bruce is just as wonderful in person as you want him to be as well. Which is another reason I choose to love him over Bon Jovi. You never hear of people seeing Bon Jovi out in random places like the Turning Point, which leads me to believe he doesn’t see himself as “just another regular guy” like Bruce so clearly does. Taking his mother out to a nice little lunch, even sitting on the same side of the booth as her! Like, does it get any more adorable than that? I think not! Oh, and in case you’re wondering, he is SUPER attractive in person. I have always said he was one of those older men that is very attractive to me, I don’t care if he’s in his 60’s. In person, he is yummy. For a 60 year old man he has got it goin’ on. LOL how creepy am I??
Alright, I hope you guys are having an amazing week as well! Have you had the pleasure of meeting any of your idols? If so, who and where? Tell me all about it! I don’t want to be the only one sharing my experiences here! Have a good afternoon loves, until tomorrow! Kisses. <3