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My Brush with Greatness
Many years ago while a
full-time student at a university in Western Canada
I had what could be considered 3 "Brushes with Greatness".
I was a poor, married US vet trying to
obtain a degree with virtually no money.
My wife (now ex-wife) was also a full-time student thus she contributed
little to our finances.
I did receive $100 a month from the GI Bill of the era but that was not
sufficient.
So I got a job as a taxi driver in this small Canadian city which is
where my brushes with greatness occurred.
Brush #1 happened when I picked up Duke Ellington and his
valet/assistant at the airport
and drove him to a downtoen hotel. He, Ellington, was to give a
one-night concert that evening.
I had no conversation with him but his valet later offered me a free
pass to the concert which
I declined because of class obligations.
Brush #2 was stranger. I was dispatched to a radio station to pick up a
woman nameed Xaviera Hollander
aka The Happy Hooker. I then proceeded to transpport Ms Hollander and
her US publicist to all the other
media outlets in and around the city. She had little to say other than
the city in question was dull and boring.
She was right. But then I considered dull and boring as well.
Brush #3 the best brush of all. While waiting in a hotel cab stand a
local DJ came to my cab and asked me
if I was available which seemed a dumb question since I was parked in a
cab stand. He asked me to wait a
few minures and wlked back into the hotel. Two minutes later he
returened with a crt loaded with baggage
and asked if it would fit in the trunk. It did I was driving a Buick
Lesabre which had a massive trunk.
Back into the hotel he went and now 10
minutes later appeared with two other people;
Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash! I then drove all three to the airport
with no converstion
but a thankyou from Johnny as he left the cab.
All of these Brushes with Greatness happened sometime in 1973 or 1974.
I lived in Canada until 2006 and have since returned to my home state
in
New England where I have had no more Brushes with Greatness.
Owen