Let me set the scene for you:
Id just finished watching the play, Fences, in Pasadena CA. Starring Laurence Fishburne and the Angela Bassett. I drove all the way from Seattle to California to see this play (really to see the woman who starred in it) and the entire play was an incredible theatrical experience. Combined with great acting and an incredible script, this play is easily one to travel miles to see. After I saw the play, I waited outside of the theatre with my father, next to a side door entrance, where the stars of the play were expected to leave.
Personally, I never wanted to meet Angela and Id told my dad that too. Its not that I didnt want to meet the woman Id adored since I was 8 because I was too scared. It was because I didnt want to meet Angela Bassett for the first time and not have it be something special, something remarkable, something worth the 10 years Id been a fan. I was also scared of the fact that she might not be the same person we see on screen. Id heard a quote before that goes "Never meet your idol, they always disappoint you." I didnt want to be disappointed.
I tried to get out of meeting her; I told my dad that I just wanted to watch her sign autographs and do normal things. I just wanted to see what she was like outside of the movie screen and the stage. I didnt quite get my wish:
She came out of the side entrance door, secure and walking between two of her close friends, Orlando Jones (her costar in the play) to her right and Pamela Tyson (her best friend) to her left. They were connected, embraced, locked into each others arms until I moved in front of her and said "Hello Ms. Angie."
My dad started to speak for me (I could have sworn I told him I could handle it!). He said "this is my daughter shes ---" but then Angela "the Queen" Bassett glanced at him for a second then looked towards me, held out her hand and asked, "Aww whats your name?" I told her. She said "O Simonique how are you?"
*She said "O" and "Aww" in that familiar, soothing way she speaks to people, as if shes never surprised or stunned by anything and that "O" and "Aww" she says, really means "Yessss I already knew that"*
I dont remember saying this to her: "Im great" Then she asks me "how did you like the play?" I don't remember saying this either: "I loved it! You were great!" This whole time we're shaking hands and shes staring right into my eyes, grinning and Im squeezing her hand so hard that I can feel those tiny little bones in her hand, but she doesnt seem to notice. *WOW she really is an amazing actress* My dad interrupts and says "would you please sign her shirt?" and Angela makes a funny face, one of her famous funny faces, and she moans "oooo" I imagine as if to say" I do not want to sign this girls shirt while shes wearing it!" I read her mind and stepped in and said "O no no you dont have to sign my shirt. I just really want to take a picture with you." She says another "O" and "okay" and we pose for the picture.
I put my arm around her waist and I feel, through my right palm, those world-famous abs that she has kept rock hard through her 48 years. She put her left arm around my shoulder and my father took the picture. The whole time we were preparing to take the picture I was trying to think of something clever to ask her so that I would have that special, memorable, experience with her that Id always dreamed of. So as we separated I say "Ive gotta ask you this. Did that woman really say 'you has reached'?"
I asked this because in one of her interviews she was talking about a daycare center she called and got the answering machine and when it picked up it said "you has reached McCorvey Nursing Care for Children" and Angela called the machine back like 5 times to make sure she was hearing the woman right. She had said "you has reached" instead of "you have reached".
*You can find the interview at the bottom of this page: http://www.atnzone.com/moviezone/guides/features_details.php?movie=akeelah&id=104
And when I finally met Angela Bassett, when I was face to face with her I asked her about that woman saying 'you has reached'. I assumed she would understand. I assumed that she would know exactly what I was talking about since it happened to her.
NOPE! At first she leaned in closer to me and tilted her head to hear me better and asked "what was that?" and I said "remember when you were looking for a babysitter".....bla bla bla .....then some more crazy mess that I muttered instead of speaking. *No wonder she didn't have a clue what I was saying* Our faces had to be less than an inch away from each other because she was straining to understand me. And then after 2 more times explaining and she has no clue what Im talking about she just gives up and says "yeah yeah right, she said that."
The funny thing is that I wasnt heartbroken (at least not then) that I totally made a fool of myself. She quickly moved away from me and started to sign autographs. I was now standing behind Angela Bassett, staring at her, while she signed other peoples memorabilia from Whats Love Got to Do With it. I started to breathe really heavy and hang my head, as it slowly sunk in that this was my dream, my fantasy, my every want, all in this one moment. I didnt know what to do as I watched her leaning over to sign autographs like the movie star we all know, so I walked back over to my dad.
I was behind the crowd surrounding Angela, still watching her, when the crowd opens up and my dad pushes me towards Angela. And he asks her "can you please sign her shirt?" and I say "daddy no I dont want to bug her, NO!" but then she stops signing autographs, turns to me and says "okay honey okay" and she proceeds to sign my shirt!
She signs her first name perfect but she couldnt reach the bottom of the shirt I was wearing so that she could sign her last name. So she tugs at the bottom of my shirt and writes "Bassett". When she was done, she looked up at me and extended her arm out to give me her pen, but I was too busy staring at her like she was the 8th wonder of the world to realize it. So after a second I dropped my gaze to the pen and took it out of her hand. *It wasnt mine and it wasnt really hers either, but its mine now!*
As she walked away with her two anchors, disguised as friends, beside her, I stare at her so intensely that I believe she has to feel my eyes burning holes into her back. She and her anchors look both ways before they cross the street and arrive at Angelas car; a silver, sleek, and sexy car that she looks great standing beside. Pamela gets in the passenger side and Angela gets in the drivers side while Orlando shuts the door for her. Before she gets in the car though she looks back towards me and for a second there I thought she was looking at me, while I was leaning on a tree trying to catch my breath and watch her every move at the same time. But in fact she was looking back towards Laurence Fishburne who was now making his way out of the side door entrance.
I didnt know this, all I knew was that Angela Bassett just said my name, I just held her waist, but my dad didnt seem to care about the state I was in. The fact that I was literally in a trance. I couldnt feel myself breathe, I didnt remember myself speaking, and I had that tunnel vision that the professional bikers often get when they're in a zone. But my tunnel vision was even more narrow, my vision was trained only on one woman.
My dad says "Simonique, Simonique, theres Laurence Fishburne! Lets go take a picture with him." I didnt even turn my head; I kept my eyes on Angelas car, trying to see her drive away, trying to prove to myself that she really doesnt drive her car like she did in Boyz N the Hood (all over the curb). I tell my dad "I dont care about him! I want to watch her drive away." This is somewhat ironic, since just the other day I told my mom that I wanted to marry a man that looked exactly like Laurence Fishburne. My dad keeps pestering me, pulling me toward the man they call Morpheus or (more situation appropriate), Ike Turner. I give up and walk toward the crowd already surrounding Laurence, I took my gaze from Angela right before she drove off (I guess Ill never know the mystery of her driving skills!).
When I laid eyes on Laurence "Larry" Fishburne, for a second, I forgot about Angela (for a second). Mr. Fish was kneeling on a lamp pole with his back up against it and one leg lifted up to sign autographs. Hes always been sexy, calm, smooth, simply edible.....but see that man in person and your senses will do blackflips! Fish is very much a male, bulky, muscular, and his presence is very much like it is in his films: invading.
Me and my dad were standing directly in front of him, yet we were the farthest away. A little while into his signing people start to crowd around him even more, pressuring him to sign their memorabilia. These people did not attend the play that night, they just stood outside the entrance, waiting for the signatures of the famous stars so they could make a profit selling them somewhere on eBay.
Laurence promptly told them, in his famous "Im pissed off" voice, "Hey look, back up! Back up!" The whole crowd took a few steps back, I got a flashback from Whats Love Got to Do with It and I took 2 more steps back. I wasnt too intimidated though. I mean this was Laurence Fishburne....wasnt he always yelling?? I felt that his yelling was nothing out of the norm, I'd seen him do it before. So I felt comfortable enough to shout out to him, "Im left-handed too!" He looked up at me, slowly, and gave me the most bone-chilling glare. I guess I wasnt as cute and adorable to Mr. Fishburne as the others Id met that night. *Soon Id realize I was wrong even about that*.
A little while into Laurence signing more autographs one guy decided to be brave and come closer to Larry, Larry promptly yelled with even more sting in his bite, "I told you to back up!" Then my dad, sensing Laurences eagerness to leave asked him, "Could you please take a picture with my daughter?" I dont recall this but, my dad says that Laurence told him "hold on, man. Hold on." After this, Fish did something to change my mind about him, he told the crowd "All right, look here. Im going to sign this last autograph and Im going to take a picture with this young lady and then Im done." That young lady was me and when I walked towards him, he didnt tell me to "back up!" He asked me "how are you?" I told him "I'm really good. You were great in the play, Mr. Laurence." He then asked my dad how he was and then we took the picture.
Though it was great to meet Laurence *the man of my dreams*, it didnt compare to Angela. I actually talked to her, more than any other fan that night. I found ways to capitalized on my conversation with her, even if my delivery wasnt so keen. So that made meeting her special, remarkable, and something I'll remember always. I wish that feeling for everyone, the feeling that you get when you have finally accomplished something you set out to do. My life's goal is to feel that feeling over and over again. I met my idol, I met Angela Bassett and I wasn't disappointed at all...
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