On Monday of this week (February 27th), I had had a very crazy morning. By the time I stopped for lunch at 2pm, I had been to Downtown Nashville twice and I was in Cool Springs for the second time that morning. It had been hectic to say the least, but at the same time I was feeling pretty good that I had accomplished so much in so little time. As a treat to myself, I headed to my favorite Greek restaurant that was in the area – the Greek Cafe.
I’ve been a customer of the Greek Cafe since they opened several years ago. At the time of their Grand Opening, I was doing a lot of work in the area, so I’d stop in at least once or twice a week. I’m not in Cool Springs all that often for lunch anymore, so when I am, it’s a real treat. It was after the lunch crush when I arrived, so I had my choice of seat and leisurely placed my order. Their french fries are really good, but since it was slow, they didn’t have any ready, so they had to make a fresh batch. No complaint from me! 😛
I took my gyro sandwich and Diet Coke and went and sat down in a booth. After taking my food off the tray, I began reading an article I had printed out earlier that morning just for such an occasion. There were a couple of other customers in the restaurant besides myself. There were two people in the far booth, one gentleman reading the paper at a table and there was one man standing near the register talking on his cell phone. The man on the cellphone hadn’t ordered yet, because his conversation must have been too important.
I went back to reading my article and a few minutes later my fries were ready, so I got up to pick them up. I didn’t have to, but with the man on the cellphone in a holding pattern to order and another customer walking in the door, I figured I’d help the person working behind the counter a little bit and save him a trip.. As I made my way back to my booth, the thought occurred to me that the guy on the cellphone sure had been talking for awhile. It wasn’t a big deal and I didn’t think he was being rude or anything, it was just the first time I really took notice of him. I had seen him earlier, but didn’t really take stock of him.
The guy on the phone was wearing a reddish baseball cap a nice shirt and jeans. Pretty non-descript overall. I didn’t recognize him and to be honest, he looked like any other working stiff. I figured he was a contractor, or some management type where their business was casual enough that he could wear a baseball cap to work, some sort of service industry, like my business. Other than that, there wasn’t anything that really stood out about him and I probably wouldn’t have remembered these details, if it weren’t for me recognizing him later.
Happy to have fresh, hot, french fries, I sat down in my booth and went back to reading my article. The food was great, as usual, and the article was very interesting, so I didn’t pay attention to anything else going on around me. I was just having a nice lunch. As I neared the end of the article, I got a call on my cellphone and I took the call. It was at that moment that I looked up and saw that the person on the cellphone was sitting facing me in the next booth. For all intents and purposes, we were sitting face-to-face and that’s when I recognized him. The though shouted in my head, “I know that guy! He’s famous!”
Unfortunately, I’m really bad at names sometimes and especially when it comes to Country Music Stars, which is who this gentleman was. I racked my brain to come up with his name, but it wasn’t even on the back of my tongue, much less the front of it. I finished up the call I was on pretty quickly and since I had finished my meal, I got up to get a refill on my drink before leaving. As I walked back to my booth to pick up the rest of my things, I did what any respectable geek would do – I checked out his cellphone. I could do this because he was still on the phone.
Leaving the Greek Cafe, I headed to the car and immediately called up my wife, Holly. She’s a very talented singer and trying to become more active in the scene here in Nashville, so she knows who’s who and all that. The only problem was, I didn’t have the best descriptions to go on.
Me: Holly, I just saw someone that you’d know. He’s a Country star and I can’t think of his name.
Holly: What’s he look like?
Me: Good looking, clean cut, but not prissy. Known for his guitar playing and he’s a solo artist. Oh and he has dark hair and probably wears a cowboy hat on stage.
Holly: Yeah, that’s not real helpful.
Me: Oh wait! Ummm. he does that song… oh, how’s it go? (thinking for a few seconds) Oh hell, it’s something like ‘Nevermind’, or ‘Forget about it.’ Argh! It’s in the chorus, how does it go?
Holly: I don’t know, but I need to get back to work.
Me: I got it! It’s “Me Neither!”
Holly: Oh, that’s Brad Paisley.
Me: Yeah, that’s him! I just had lunch with Brad Paisley.
Holly: You had lunch with him?
Me: Well, not exactly. 😉
And you know the rest. So I can’t say that I actually had lunch with Brad Paisley per se, but I did eat in the same restaurant. He seemed like a really nice guy and, like I said earlier, if you didn’t know who he was, you’d think he was just some Average Joe, not the Academy of Country Music award winning singer/songwriter/performer/musician that he is. Oh and what cellphone does he use? He has the Nokia 6102 Series and is on Cingular.
Just a typical day in Nashville. Beautiful surroundings, good food, good times and rubbing elbows with celebrities. You know, now that I think about it, I need to get more clients in Green Hills. That way I might rub elbows with The Bachelor In Paris, Keith Urban, or Nicole Kidman. 8)