I’m writing this from the booming metropolis of Dallas, TX, home of… well, me. On Monday, when we took off from New York at 8:30pm, the pilot announced: The temperature at DFW is a balmy 106 degrees. ACK! Coming out of the terminal was like entering a sauna, but then the next day it cooled off nicely (in the 80s and 90s, YAY!). There are things that I love about Texas (TEX-MEX! Blue Bell!) and there are a things that I’m not so fond of. We were driving to my parent’s home, about to cross the Trinity River heading south and I noticed a new exit sign: RIVERFRONT BLVD. Now, I don’t know how many of you have actually seen the vast interchange at 35, 30, and 635 where the Trinity hits, but RIVERFRONT BLVD? Yes, the Trinity is a river, much like I am Angelina Jolie. Yes, the river has a front, filled with picturesque scenery, the seven liquor stores, the four bail bondsman places, the Animal Shelter, and you know, if that’s not picturesque enough, you do have the big ole county jail. I don’t know if it was irony, sarcasm, or perhaps delusion of grandeur that caused the naming of that exit, but it did crack me up.
This morning, there was an article in the paper on Stevie Ray Vaughan. It’s been 20 years since his death (helicopter accident). I loved Stevie Ray Vaughan. I don’t know that I actually listened to him much before he died, which makes me sad. But apparently, they had at one time considered naming Riverfront Blvd, Stevie Ray Blvd, because Stevie Ray is from Dallas. Oak Cliff to be precise. He attended a high school in my neighborhood, and it makes me feel kinda cool to know that I’ve walked the same streets that he did. I’ve been to the same parks he played at. I’ve mocked many of the same teacher he did (well, probably not, because he dropped out, but a girl can dream).
There aren’t many celebs from my neck of the woods, but I like that Stevie Ray is one. So the question for today: any famous folks hail from places you’ve lived? And does this make you happy, sad, or embarassed?
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I don’t know of anybody famous from the little hometown where I grew up.
There are many well-known people who hail from Jacksonville, FL, where we lived for several years. A few of them are Alfred DuPont, Elizabeth Edwards, Ray Charles, Pat Boone, Ronnie Van Zandt, Bob Hayes (Olympic Gold Medalist, former Dallas Cowboy & NFL Hall of Famer). Jacksonville is also the birth place of many bands, including The Allman Brothers Band, Lynyrd Skynyrd, .38 Special and Limp Bizkit.
My current hometown is the birthplace of former Presidential candidate, John Edwards. As Jacquie said: Not so good.
Well, I went to high school with Don Henley of the Eagles, and college with Lily Tomlin. Oh, and Judith Guest went to my high school, too.
I live in Mount Airy, NC, the town Mayberry on the Andy Griffith Show was based on. So this is his hometown. Country music singer Donna Fargo is also from here and used to work on the farm with my dad. It was also the home of Eng and Chang Bunker, the Siamese Twins. They’re buried at one of the local churches. And one of my sons best friends, Justin Brock is a professional skateboarder now-(look out Tony Hawk lol). I Googled Mt Airy and was surprised at how many more there were that I didn’t know about, but I’m sad to say, I don’t know who they are. But for such a small place stuck in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, I thought it was a pretty impressive list!
Well, there are lots of famous people from Long Island–some good, like Billy Joel, Jerry Seinfeld, the Baldwin brothers (which could be good or bad),Billy Crystal, Mariah Carey, Olympic skater Sarah Hughes, Rodney Dangerfield, and tennis player Jennifer Capriati. Then there are the not so good–Joey Buttafuoco and Amy Fisher, and the entire Lohan clan.
Very proud of the Billy Joel connection. Not so much with Buttafuoco.
Well, I live in NYC — ‘nuf said.