Oh Ira Glass

I don't know if I ever told you, but back when I lived in NYC (that seems like such a trite statement) the girls of Bushwick Shakes and I met Ira Glass. At a bar.  

We were there before going to a party and we were multi-tasking - drinking and having a company meeting.  We were drinking white wine, had our moleskins out and were sitting in the back of The West Side Tavern.  We were chatting about shows and marketing and new ideas, I don't even remember seeing a table of 4 sit down next to us.  Next thing I know, there's this really tall man in thick rimmed glasses with a thick head of dark hair towering over my friend Tiffany and I.  He squats down next to us so that he could be eye level with us and says, "I'm sorry to interrupt you ladies, but what are you doing working at a bar?"  We then launch into the whole "we're an all female Shakespeare company working on our next show (and as I write this, it must have been Julius Caesar, eh hem, in which I played Cassius...Awesome good time).  He asks a bunch of questions, was really nice and friendly and an all around cool guy.  He asks what our names are, we tell him, he says, "I'm Ira."  Cool, great, see you later...and back to his table he went.

I never put two and two together until later, he was still sitting next to us, we were still working and he was literally 10 feet behind me when at the bar Lexi and I are ordering another glass of wine and I say (outloud) "Holy shit....that's Ira Glass. Like NPR Ira Glass." Lexi was shocked that a) I didn't know immediatly and b) that I was actually saying these things that he might hear.  Hello nerd alter!  I cannot tell you how excited I was.

I will never know if he heard me but I do know that when I get home, I went online and figured out how to get in touch with him.  I drafted an email re-intorducing myself and the company and said that we would love to have him and his team come to the show.  I sent a press release, everything.  I was even in touch with one of his production guys who said they were trying to figure out if they'd be in NYC during the run of our show. 

Alas, he wasn't able to come to the show...but he at least knew I was in one and I got to meet him.  I also found this today and its a good reminder.