I’m happy to report that upon meeting my idol I did not collapse into a pant-shitting heap. In fact, I did quite well. He even complimented me at one point on my interviewing skills… He liked the fact that I brought up his old friend, and four-time Columbo nemesis, Patrick McGoohan, and reminded him that it had been 19 years ago this very morning that “Wings of Desire” had begun filming… I can’t tell you how cool it is to have Columbo lean across a table, put his hand on your arm, smile, and compliment you on your observation skills.
I’m also happy to report that he’s a genuinely nice guy. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but I didn’t think that he’d be as open and warm as he was. (It’s always nice when your idols don’t turn out to be assholes.) I also didn’t expect him to say “fuck” and “tits” as many times as he did, but it was kind of endearing in a way.
Part of me wants to figure out how to podcast the interview, but I think I’m going to try to transcribe it instead, submitting part of it for publication in the Ann Arbor Paper, and putting the rest of it in the perpetually “upcoming” issue of Crimewave… There’s lots of shit I’d like to write about in the news today, but I think I’ll sit here and work on the transcription instead. Today is a little highlight in my life and I want to enjoy it for a while before I get sucked back into watching the Cheney cabal go down in flames.
As for today, I’d like to thank a few people for making it happen; my friend Monica for tipping me to the event, her housemate Steve (a jazz guitarist who had been hired to warm up for Columbo) for getting me in touch with the organizers of the event, and the women on the Events Committee of the Downriver Town Hall lecture series for allowing me to have a little bit of Mr. Falk’s time. It seriously couldn’t have gone any better, and I have all of them to thank for it.