Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, May 3, 1994 TAG: 9405040011
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Kathleen Wilson
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
I bailed out shortly before 1 a.m. But how a simple evening out with a friend turned into a night on the town with a national celebrity is quite a story.
It started at 5 p.m. Saturday, when Ellen Flaherty and I headed out to Shrimpfest '94, a first-ever fund-raising effort for Roanoke's Festival in the Park.
Hey, for 20 bucks you got all the shrimp you could eat and six - und himself surrounded by fans and admirers.
The Southern hospitality thing kicked in, and we all took our turns trying to entertain him.
When he asked me to anoint his fingers with lemon juice to help get rid of the shrimp smell, I thought this nice Catholic girl would hit the nice Jewish guy up with her best multidenominational joke.
Bill Maher, a nationally known comedian who's half-Jewish, half-Catholic, talks about how he feels going to confession.
``Bless me, Father, for I have sinned,'' goes the joke, ``I believe you remember my attorney, Mr. Cohen.''
Feldman didn't smile.
This is the reason I was more than just a little bit skeptical about being asked by Feldman's mixing engineer, Rick Kirkpatrick, to take Feldman and entourage out and show them the town.
First stop, Billy's Ritz on the Roanoke City Market.
As our caravan of more than 20 began to arrive, Feldman's handlers got him a Heineken, and he sat at the huge table where we began assembling.
``So,'' he said, ``are we having fun yet? This is so boring. This is like study hall. Where is there live music?''
He wanted jazz or blues.
Off we headed to Corned Beef, which was packed solid.
``He hates crowds,'' fretted Rick. ``He`ll never want to go in there.''
``Hey! What's this place?'' asked Feldman, coming up from behind. ``This is great! Let's go in here.''
Michael Feldman The Star had found his fun.
Big Bump and the Stun Gunz were wailing ``Mustang Sally,'' and Feldman was rocking a little from side to side.
And when Big Bump took his guitar and hopped on top of the bar, Feldman smiled.
Feldman looked pretty darned happy swaying back and forth in Corned Beef, smiling and not talking to anyone.
It was about this time I bailed out and headed home.
I deputized fellow staff writer Lon Wagner as Mingler for the rest of the evening.
``We sat outside on the deck of Ward's until we got kicked out [when they closed],'' says Lon.
All night the group coached Feldman how to order a bowl of chili at the Texas Tavern.
Ellen said he sounded like Dustin Hoffman in the movie ``Rainman.'' ``Only instead of saying, `Yeah, I'm an excellent driver, an excellent driver,' he was saying, `I'll have a bowl with, a bowl with. Yeah, a cheesy western ...' ''
Once the group arrived, Feldman knew just what to do.
``He sat right down and said, `Bowl with, cheesy western and a bottle of Coke,''' reports Lon. ``All of the coaching paid off.''
No one's quite sure what time the big evening ended. Lon guesses somewhere around 3.
Steve Mills, general manager for WVTF picks up the story from there.
He drove Feldman and company to the airport the next morning.
``It sure sounded like their group had a rip-roaring good time,'' said Mills. ``There were some mumblings about wanting to come back to Roanoke again.''
Tony Salzano, part of our group, thinks Feldman had ``a really great time.''
Suzanne Hendrick thought he was really down-to-earth. ``He was great! We both have 3-year-old little girls.''
Nicole Legard thought he was ``just wonderful.''
Standing behind him in the Texas Tavern, she even asked him for a job. He gave her his address and asked her to send a resume.
I tried to reach Michael Feldman on Monday afternoon to find out just how much he enjoyed his bowl with and that cheesy western.
``We haven't heard a word from that group since they got back into town,'' a woman at Wisconsin Public Radio told me.
by CNB