What if you got Chris Rock's phonecalls? (true st
Grafwritah
4,184 Posts
http://www.laurasnyctales.com/current/chris-rock.htmlBODY BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF">P>B>FONT SIZE="+1">Crazy, Random "Chris Rock Thing"/FONT>/B>/P>P>I needed a new cell phone and service plan, so I visited a nearbyVerizon store. I had previously suffered through two unattractive,free phones with my other plans, and thus when it came to choosing mynew phone this time, money was no object and aesthetics waseverything. After a prolonged period of touching, feeling, holding,grasping, opening, closing, etc. the many models on display, Ihappily decided upon a lovely little flip-top Samsung. What agorgeous piece of modern technology!/P>P>I finished my business at the Verizon store and returned to myapartment. I was reading through the manual, new phone beside me,when all of a sudden, it rang! Granted, a ringing cell phone isnothing out of the ordinary, but what surprised me was I hadn't givenanyone my new number yet, so who could possibly be calling? TheCaller ID flashed, "Restricted" which wasn't any help./P>P>I picked up the phone, flipped open the top and questioned, "Uh,I>hell-o?/I>"/P>P>"Is Chris Rock there?" I>Chris Rock?! Of course not! That'sridiculous./I>/P>P>"No," I replied, "this is I>my/I> new cell number, so you've gotthe wrong number."/P>P>"Oh," the caller replied, "I must have dialed wrong." We hung up,and I didn't think anything more of it./P>P>Two days later, I was upstate, cruising around a Wal-Mart parkinglot looking for a space (thrilling, I know), when my cell phone rang.A number I didn't recognize appeared on the Caller ID./P>BLOCKQUOTE>P>LAURA: Hello?/P>P>CALLER: Is Chris there?/P>P>LAURA: [Puzzled, with curiosity piqued] Uh, Chris... who?/P>P>CALLER: Chris Rock./P>P>LAURA: [Incredulously] Chris Rock!? As in, I>the/I> Chris Rock?/P>P>CALLER: [Seemingly unfazed] Yeah, I>the/I> Chris Rock./P>P>LAURA: That is I>so funny!/I> You're the second person who'scalled asking for Chris Rock! I just got this new cell phone, andthis is the number they gave me..../P>P>CALLER: [Laughs] Well, you'd better change your number, becauseI>I'm sure/I> this is Chris Rock's number... oh, wait -- now Iremember Chris saying something about getting a new cell phonenumber..../P>P>BR>I pulled into a parking spot, feeling discombobulated because my mindwas reeling from the realization that:/P>P>B>I>Omigod! I have Chris Rock's old cell phonenumber!/I>/B>I> But it's not /I>B>I>that/I>/B>I> old,because people are still calling! What a crazy, random thing that'shappened to me!/I>/P>P>After I calmed down from my elation over this crazy happening,soon I began to think,I> If I got two calls already, I'm probablygoing to get some more. Hey --this could be really fun! Bring 'emon!/I>/P>P>That weekend, I helped my ex-boss Tim with this project of movingtons of stuff from his NYC apartment to his storage space upstate. Itwas a two-day project that required a sleepover in a hotel onSaturday night./P>P>On Sunday morning at 8:30, I was sitting on my bed, watching alittle telly before we went down for breakfast, when my cell phonerang. I>Who could be calling me so early on a Sunday?/I> I hoppedoff the bed and walked over to my phone. The Caller ID read,"Restricted." I>Hmm?? I wonder if this could this be anotherChris-call?/I>/P>BLOCKQUOTE>P>LAURA: [Curious, ready to tackle the unknown] Hello?/P>P>CALLER: Is Chris there?/P>P>LAURA: [Inquires politely] Who's calling?/P>P>CALLER: It's Spike./P>P>LAURA: [Mischievously inquisitive] I>From...?/I>/P>P>CALLER: [Blurts out, in an annoyed tone] It's Spike I>Lee./I>/P>P>LAURA: [Stunned and speechless at first] Uh... well... actually...you have the, uh... I>wrong number./I>/P>P>BR>No reply. I>Spikey my pal, you still there?/I> I glanced at thescreen on my phone - the call was no longer active. I>Hung up on me,the little rat. Oh, these movie-director stars... no sense of humorat all!/I>/P>P>With a big smirk on my face and clearly amused to the hilt, Ilooked at Tim. He gave me this look like, "Yeah? I'm waiting...I>Who was it?"/I>/P>P>"It was Spike Lee! This is really funny!... I guess Spike didn'tthink Chris was out late partying on Saturday night if he's callinghim at 8:30 a.m. on Sunday morning."/P>P>After the Spike Lee call, I realized my "Chris hotline" wassomething of a live wire, and being the upstanding citizen that I am,I felt a responsibility to have an appropriate number to refer futurecallers onto. I did a Google search, and located Chris' managementagency. After being shuffled from person to person within the agency,my call was finally passed to this guy named Tucker, who worked withChris in some capacity. He said he would contact Chris' assistantKelly* (*name changed), and ask her to get back to me with a number Icould refer callers onto./P>P>The next day my cell rang, with "Restricted" appearing once againon the Caller ID. I>Yo ho ho -- here we go!/I>/P>BLOCKQUOTE>P>LAURA: Hello?/P>P>CALLER: Hi, I'm calling from Jerry Seinfeld's office. Jerry wouldlike to get two tickets to Chris' show in L.A. this weekend. Wouldthat be possible?/P>P>BR>Kelly had yet to call me, so unfortunately, all I could say was alame, "Sorry, you have the wrong number." I wanted to be morehelpful, but there wasn't much I could do./P>P>I called Tucker again, eager for that number, so I could behelpful to the "Chris callers." This time he gave me Kelly's cell,and told me I could give that out when I received additional calls.(I was hoping they would give me Chris' number instead of hisassistant's, but when they didn't, I wasn't crushed.)/P>P>Good thing I had that number, because the calls kept coming -- Iaveraged about five a week over the next couple of weeks. That's alot! Nearly every one came up "Restricted" on my Caller ID. It didn'ttake long for me to be conditioned: "Restricted" equals "Chris-call."/P>P>Some people might regard the task of getting Chris-call afterChris-call as extra work, and/or an annoyance. But not me -- I likedit. My little cell phone had become a portal into thecelebrity/entertainment world at large -- when it rang, I never knewwho knew was going to be on the other end of the line./P>P>Me being mischievous me, I devised this (harmless) game with theChris-callers: I tried to find out the full name of the caller, whatcompany he/she was calling from, and why he/she was calling -- allthe while not letting on that the person was actually talking toI>moi/I>, who was in no manner, shape or form associated with ChrisRock, his staff and/or his entourage./P>P>After I got the info, in a polite and seemingly helpful manner, Iwould then say, "There's actually someone else you need call who canhelp you with that matter. Her name is Kelly, and her number is917-555-5555." The caller would then graciously thank me, thinking Iwas so very helpful. It was a win/win situation, I tell ya!/P>P>Extracting the information from the Chris-calle
rs might seem likeit would be easy, but it really wasn't. Often I couldn't go throughwith it because I'd get nervous and shy. When that happened, I wouldjust tell the caller he/she had reached the wrong number, and referthem onto Kelly./P>P>One Thursday night, around ten o'clock, I was enjoying some quiettime in my apartment, when -- ring! ring! I looked at my phone andsaw a number starting with "310." I>Hmm... California... 10 p.m. mytime/7 p.m. theirs - I bet this is another (you know what)./I>/P>BLOCKQUOTE>P>LAURA: Hello?/P>P>CALLER: Hi, is this Mallack?/P>P>LAURA: No, it's not... who's this? [Note: I later did a Googlesearch, and found out, not surprisingly, that Malaak is Chris'wife]/P>P>CALLER: It's Adam./P>P>LAURA: I>Adam?/I>/P>P>CALLER: It's Adam Sandler!/P>P>LAURA: [Realizes instantly it was indeed -- there's no mistakingthat distinctive voice of his] Oh, hi!/P>P>ADAM: Hi!/P>P>LAURA: [Overcome with sudden punchiness from the craziness of oneminute quietly winding down for bedtime, and then talking to AdamSandler the next] So, are you calling Chris for business or pleasure?/P>P>ADAM: [Laughs, slightly taken off guard by this question, butstill retaining his happy-go-lucky attitude] I'm calling Chris to sayhello and chat. So... is he there?/P>P>LAURA: [Knows it's confession time, but tries best to retainformerly buoyant personality] No, well... he's not. You see, I'mactually this random New York City girl who happened to get Chris'old cell phone number..../P>P>ADAM: [Lets out a big laugh] Wow, that's really funny! That'sgreat! You must be having a fun time with this!/P>P>LAURA: Yes, I am! And what also makes it fun is thatcoincidentally, I write true stories about my life in New York City,and this will be another funny, true story to write about... oh, Ihave a number you can call to reach Chris..../P>P>ADAM: No, that's okay -- I have another number. Well, good luck toyou, and sorry to have bothered you./P>P>LAURA: Oh, no bother at all. Bye!/P>P>BR>The next evening, I was riding a Trailways bus, heading upstate forthe weekend, when my cell phone rang. I ruffled around my luggage,and located my cell. The Caller ID flashed, "Restricted."/P>BLOCKQUOTE>P>LAURA: Hello?/P>P>CALLER: Hi, is Chris there?/P>P>LAURA: Who's calling, please?/P>P>CALLER: It's Jack Nicholson./P>P>BR>In that millisecond I nearly dropped dead, but then I thought,I>Wait a minute. Adam Sandler totally sounded like /I>B>I>AdamSandler/I>/B>I>, and that didn't sound like..../I> With a heftydose of skepticism, I (boldly) commented, "This doesn't sound likeJack Nicholson."/P>P>"I'm his assistant."/P>P>Although I'd had my doubts, when I heard the words, "I'm hisassistant," I>ugh/I> -- it was indeed a let down. So close... butyet so far. Can you imagine if it had really been Jack?/P>P>But getting back to the important matter on hand - the nerve ofthat guy! You don't go around saying you're Jack Nicholson whenyou're I>Jack Nicholson's assistant/I>. I suppose he thought therewas only a I>slight/I> difference. Didn't he learn anything inCelebrity Assistant school?/P>P>Jack's ASSISTANT continued, "Jack has tickets to the Laker's gametonight, and he wanted to know if Chris is available to go with him.Will Chris still in be in L.A. tonight?"/P>P>Blasé, I replied, "There's someone else you'll need to callwho can help you with that," and I referred him onto Kelly./P>P>Just like other cell phone calls I received (a.k.a. the ones thatwere actually for me) the Chris-calls came unexpectedly, at any time,and thus early on I began to feel a newfound, pressing need to be ontop of my cell phone at all times. Last Saturday, I decided to visitthe Museum of the City of New York. When I was getting my bag checkedat the security desk, the guy saw my cell phone and said, "Pleaseturn your cell phone off." That sent a shockwave right through me.I>I can't turn my cell phone off! What if I miss an importantChris-call?/I> To seem agreeable (and so I'd be allowed to enter themuseum), I turned it off, but then I turned it back on as soon as Iwas past the security desk./P>P>(This behavior has certainly come a long way from the days when mybrother frequently expressed his annoyance at me for never answeringmy cell phone. Well, dearest bro', times have a' changed, and sis hasa' changed with them. You can thank Chris Rock for that!)/P>P>Google has proved itself to be quite invaluable in so far ashelping me identify certain callers. When this one caller told me hisname, at first I thought, I>That's no fun -- I can't even Google him-- there must be a million `Steve White's.'/I> But then I decided totry Googling "Steve White" and "comedian" at the same time. Bingo! Ifound exactly the guy I had talked to. Nice guy, BTW./P>P>One fine afternoon, I was sitting at my desk at my current tempjob, when my cell rang. The Caller ID showed a "603" area code, whichI didn't recognize. I also didn't recognize the name of the caller:Ken Burns. After he said his name, the conversation went as follows:/P>BLOCKQUOTE>P>LAURA: What's this regarding, please?/P>P>KEN BURNS: Stand Up./P>P>LAURA: Do you want to book Chris for something...? [Note: Afterthe fact, discovered this was a highly ignorant question to ask.Oops.]/P>P>KEN BURNS: No. It's regarding a film we've been discussing doingtogether for the past year - a documentary on the history of StandUp./P>P>LAURA: Oh... there's actually someone else for you to call..../P>P>BR>A co-worker who had been really into my ongoing Chris-call storieswas standing near my desk when I got off the phone. I said to her, "Ijust got another call for Chris, but I never heard of the guy -- hisname was Ken Burns."/P>P>"Ken Burns! Oh, my God! I can't believe you just talked to KenBurns! He's great! He's a famous documentary filmmaker -- he did adocumentary on the Civil War, and the history of Jazz -- lots ofstuff. Do a search on him -- you'll see all the great stuff he'sdone." Yes, Google proved me a fool, thank you./P>P>We were still discussing the Ken Burns call when my cell rangagain. I saw "603" on the Caller ID. "Oh, no! It's him calling back!"I was almost afraid to answer it./P>P>"Answer it! Answer it!" she ordered me./P>BLOCKQUOTE>P>LAURA: [Meekly] Hello?/P>P>CALLER: Hi, it's Ken Burns. I spoke with you a few minutes ago.That number you gave me - no one was there. I got the voice mail ofsomeone named "Kelly."/P>P>LAURA: "Kelly" is Chris' assistant..../P>P>KEN: I left a message on Kelly's voice mail, but... do you think Icould call Chris at his home?/P>P>LAURA: Yeah, uh, sure... you can try him at home./P>P>BR>Am I bad? Yeah, I suppose I am. But c'mon -- who in their right mindwould pass up this great entertainment like this, plopped right inyour lap?/P>P>B>FONT SIZE="+1"> /FONT>/B>/P>P>B>FONT SIZE="+1"> /FONT>/B>/P>P>B>FONT SIZE="+1">Chris Rock Update/FONT>/B>/P>P>
/P>P>I finished writing my Chris Rock cell phone story on a Saturdayafternoon. After uploading it to my site, I sent an e-mail to my"Notification List" readers, notifying them of this new offering, andproviding a link to the story. (Standard I>Laura's NYC Tales/I>procedure.)/P>P>Over the years, I've built up a decent-sized notification list,which is really great because it provides me with instant feedback onnew material I post. The first e-mails I received regarding the Chrisstory were very positive: "That's a great story!" "Can I just say howbrilliant this story is!" "Hilarious!" "Loved it!" I was pleased tohear that initial response was good -- I mean, I liked it, but thatwasn't a guarantee others would as well./P>P>I visited my friend Nancy on Saturday evening. I read her thestory, and we laughed a lot throughout my reading of it. Afterward, Imused, "I wonder what Chris would think if he ever read the story?"We both shrugged, and gave each other a "Who knows?" kind of look./P>P>When I woke up on Sunday morning, I immediately checked my e-mail.There were a few additional, positive replies from "NotificationList" readers, and then there was this other one, from a guy whoreferenced that he had seen the story on MetaFilter./P>P>I hadn't heard of "MetaFilter," so as a first guess I typed theobvious "metafilter.com" into my browser. Up popped their homepage(they're a blog/discussion forum website). To my surprise, at the topof the page I read, I>"Chris-calls! What if you received ChrisRock's old cell phone number and his celebrity friends kept oncalling you?"/I>/P>P>Following was an extensive thread of comments on the story, andthen comments on the comments. As my eyes scrolled down the page, tomy shocking dismay I saw many comments trashing the story. But notonly did the comments trash my story, they also trashed I>me/I>.Here's a sampling:/P>BLOCKQUOTE>P>"It's too bad someone with no sense of humor got thephone."/P>P>"I kept thinking there would be an interesting or funny point toher story. I was wrong."/P>P>"She didn't know who Ken Burns is? Sheesh."/P>P>"Carrie Bradshaw she is not."/P>P>BR>Another comment: "I'd swear this was a Jean Teasdale article." I>Oh,great,/I> I thought, I>who's that? /I>I assumed it was anotherput-down, and I was right. Through a quick web search, I discovered"Jean Teasdale" is a fictional, mock columnist in I>The Onion/I>,described as, "An overweight woman in a small town who loves her catsand Patrick Swayze," and is someone "who thinks she has a sense ofhumor but has very pedestrian tastes and a very humdrumlifestyle." /P>P>Many of the MetaFilter readers expressed disappointment with mystory because they had wanted me to have I>really/I> pranked thecallers. Well, I disagree. As keeper of the number, I stand by mybelief that I did the I>right thing/I> -- throughout my dealingswith the callers, I made it a point to always remain respectful. Theway I figured it, the last thing a celebrity needs (or any of us, forthat matter) is another annoyance. By not annoying Chris' callers, Ifelt that translated into not annoying I>him/I>. Excuse me forhaving decent morals./P>P>After a day of back-and-forth blogging with MeFi readers, I felt Ihad been put through the wringer, but in the end I came out okay.Actually, better than okay, because (as I later found out),MetaFilter has a definite presence within the web community, and it'sa highly trafficked site. MeFi gave my Chris Rock story a boost ofexposure, which led to links on other sites. These links led to morelinks, which led to more links -- and before I knew it, my story wasgetting linked all over the place!/P>P>By Wednesday, I started receiving a lot more e-mail than usual. "Ifound your site through a link on Popdex," "I saw you onBuzzMachine," "Blogdex," "Crains Detroit News," "VH1" (that was a funone to find out about), "USA Today" to name a few./P>P>Also on Wednesday, I received e-mails from two radio stations,wanting to interview me about the story. I snuck into a privateconference room to conduct these interviews. No one at my temp jobknew a hint about what I was up to, which added to the fun it./P>P>Thursday was a very busy e-mail day, with more and more peoplediscovering my site through various linkage of the Chris Rock story./P>P>Early Friday morning before work, as I was drinking my coffee, mymind was thinking, thinking, thinking... plotting, planning,scheming..../P>P>I sat down at my computer, and whipped up an e-mail to myNotification List readers. The e-mail told of the buzz going on withthe story, and of my new idea: "What if my readers banded togetherand launched a blitz, and got the word out about the story here,there and everywhere? It could really lead to an amazing amount ofexposure for my website." Strike while the iron is already hot, Isay!/P>P>I sent the e-mail that morning, and by noontime, response from itwas pouring in. The fuel that had been added to what was already afire succeeded in now making it burn like crazy./P>P>Friday evening, in the midst of the blitz/e-mail craziness, it wastime for me to say, "Bye-bye, New York, hello Savannah." I left for a10-day work/vacation, compliments of my ex-boss Tim. He had recentlybought a house there, and flew me down to help fix it up./P>P>Excitement was in the air. I looked forward to be heading out ofbustling New York, to a Southern city renowned for its beauty andarchitecture, and to spending time with Tim and his partner, Warren,which is always very fun. And not that I needed another reason to beexcited, but there was one: my Chris Rock story was splashing allaround cyberspace -- where would it end up, and who might find italong the way?/P>P>Whenever I fly, my preferred seat is always a window seat -- I gotone that night on my flight to Savannah. Like a kid with my facestuck up against the window, I gazed out at the intricate web ofamber-toned, electrical illumination below me. I watched it becomesparser as we flew away from New York. It made me think about howinterconnected our whole world is..../P>P>I>Electricity and the Internet reaching all of these houses... Iwonder if my website made it into any of these tiny littlespeck-of-a-houses down below?/I>/P>P>Tim and Warren met me at the airport at midnight, when my flightgot in. Tim already knew about the buzz going on with my Chris story,and I soon updated Warren, because, you know, stuff this fun andexciting doesn't exactly happen every day!/P>P>Saturday late afternoon, we headed to the house of one of Warren'sold friends for drinks before dinner. Riding in the backseat of thecar en route to the gathering, I was admiring the elaborate mossdripping from the trees (a common sight for Southerners, a bizarre,new sight for a Northerner like me), when my cell phone went a'ringy-ring-ring. I reached into my bag for my phone, and when Ilooked at the Caller ID, it displayed an area code I didn'trecognize./P>BLOCKQUOTE>P>LAURA: Hello?/P>P>CALLER: Hi, is this Laura?/P>P>LAURA: [Surprised, didn't expect to hear this. Had assumed, asalways lately with unrecognized numbers, that the caller was going toask for "Chris," not Laura.] Um, this is Laura..../P>
br />P>CALLER: [Very enthusiastically] Hi! This is Gayle, Chris'mother-in-law. I read your story about getting Chris' old cell phonenumber, and I absolutely loved it! I thought it was one of the mosthilarious things I'd ever read! I wanted to call you -- say hello,and tell you that -- and then I realized I already have your number!/P>P>LAURA: [Thrilled, amazed, so excited] Wow, that is I>sogreat!/I> I'm so glad you liked my story!/P>P>BR>Gayle said she would forward the link onto someone who would show itto Chris, but she didn't know when he would get to see it because hewas on tour./P>P>Wow, oh wow! It was fantastic that the link had found its way toChris' mother-in-law -- and she loved the story! Thanks, NotificationList readers -- our e-mail blitz worked!/P>P>The very Saturday before, when I'd mused to Nancy, "I wonder whatChris would think if he ever read the story?" it seemed like a crazy,improbable notion. But now, a mere one week later, it didn't seem soat all. Incredible!/P>P>A few minutes after I got off the phone with Gayle, we arrived atthe cocktail party (seven gay men and me). I was all happy-go-luckysmiles and giggles. I had a great time. As were leaving, the host ofthe party gave me a big hug good-bye. He said to Tim and Warren, "Ilove her! She's so adorable! Promise you'll bring her back!" Afterthat great mood I was in, I would have wanted me back, too./P>P>On Sunday mid-afternoon, we headed over to the house to start ourfix-up work. Tim's task du jour was bricking up an interior wall, andWarren and I were going to do some painting. I chose to paint thisnew wall that had been put up adjacent to the second-floor outdoorporch./P>P>It was a beautiful, sunny, 75-degree day down Savannah way (asopposed to a chilly and grey, mid-30 degree one back home, so I wastold). I was wearing my glamorous painter's outfit of pants that weretoo small in the waist so they were left with zipper not fullyzipped, a faded purple bra top, and shoes I had mummified with bluepainter's tape so they wouldn't get paint all over them./P>P>The three of us had taken our posts, and begun our work. Tenminutes after I'd started painting, my cell rang. I put down mypaint-sopped roller and walked over to it. I saw "Restricted" on theCaller ID./P>BLOCKQUOTE>P>LAURA: Hello?/P>P>CALLER: Is this Laura?/P>P>LAURA: [Thinks, B>I>Another/I>/B>I> call for me from someoneI don't know? Gee, I'm getting mighty popular on the Chris-line!/I>Curious, inquisitive] Yes... this is Laura..../P>P>CALLER: Hi, it's Chris Rock./P>P>BR>With all that was going on, this wasn't the hugest, out-of-left-fieldsurprise, but still -- my first instinct was that I didn't believeit. I thought I was being pranked. By who, I didn't know, but prankednonetheless. I wasn't familiar enough with Chris' work to be able torecognize his voice, so for the first few minutes I was mostly justtrying to figure out if it was really him!/P>P>We kept talking, and as time went on, began to settle into thefact that, that yes, it was really Chris. I>Cool!/I>/P>P>Chris and I had a very nice chat indeed. He was friendly, andgenuinely interested in who I was as a person. (What do you do? Wheredo you live? Where are you from? How old are you?) We talked for awhile about a bunch of stuff./P>P>When Chris asked, "What do you do?," I talked about mywebsite/writing, and then for my job, I said I was an ExecutiveAssistant. "Kind of like Kelly -- you know, Executive/Personalassistant."/P>P>"For a celebrity?"/P>P>"No, for an executive, in an office."/P>P>Immediately, he said, "Oh, we have to get you out of that! I'mgoing to give you the name of my literary agent -- he's with theWilliam Morris agency, and is one of the best agents in the city...you can say I referred you." He also gave me his new cell phonenumber./P>P>My thoughts flashed back to yet another of the negative MetaFiltercomments:/P>BLOCKQUOTE>P>"My favorite part of Laura's essay: I>`I was a taddisappointed -- I was hoping they'd give me Chris' number instead ofhis assistant's.'/I> Yeah, that's what they were gonna do:give the weird phone stranger their boss' direct number."/P>P>BR>"Weird phone stranger" -- that's what you think I am? Well, obviouslyChris doesn't share your sentiment, or else he wouldn't have given mehis number. Don't be callin' me crap that I'm not./P>P>After Chris and I said our good-byes and hung up, I didn't startscreaming and jumping all around the place. Instead, I was calm, verycalm (almost unaffected), and I was glad. But mostly, I was proud --proud of myself, for what I had done./P>P>Later that evening, when we were sitting around and talking, Timsaid, "It's amazing Chris talked to you for as long as he did -- andthat he gave you his phone number and the name of his agent! He couldhave had his assistant call you to acknowledge your story, or hecould have just called you and said, `Hello, cute story, thanks,good-bye,' or something like that, but he didn't. You should feelreally good about how he responded to you."/P>P>My no-frills reply: "Mm,m hmm... I do."/P>P>Continued exposure of the Chris Rock cell phone story made myInbox go crazy for the next week. During this time, all sorts ofinterest flooded in. Of particular note: the I>National Post/I>(Canada's national newspaper, with a circulation of 300,000) asked ifthey could run the piece and pay me for it, an indie writer/directorin LA is interested in my material once I get my stories togetherinto book form, and this guy thought my story would be good for thisnew reality show his production company will be pitching to HBO. Andlast but not least, many new readers have been introduced to my site./P>P>"After" the story, I got two more call for Chris, although thingswere a bit different now:/P>BLOCKQUOTE>P>B>Call #1:/B>/P>P>LAURA: Hello?/P>P>CALLER: I have Rick Kurtzman on the line for Chris. Is he there?[Note: I Googled Rick Kurtzman -- he's a Hollywood agent. He was BillMurray's agent until recently.]/P>P>LAURA: There's another number for you to call for Chris. Thenumber is nine- one- seven.../P>P>CALLER: [Cuts Laura off mid number, aggressively blurts out] Wereyou giving me Kelly's number?/P>P>LAURA: Uh, yes, I was.../P>P>CALLER: I already have her number, and I read your story./P>P>[Caller hangs up, leaving Laura stopped in her tracks, not knowingwhat to make of that one!]/P>P>BR>B>Call #2:/B>/P>P>LAURA: Hello?/P>P>CALLER: Is Chris there?/P>P>LAURA: Who's this?/P>P>CALLER: It's Bill... hey, are you the girl that wrote that story?/P>P>LAURA: Yeah! Did you read it?/P>P>BILL: I did. I'm a friend of Chris', and I'm the one who sent himthe link -- I saw the link on I>USA Today/I>, and after I read thestory, I thought, "Chris has to see this...."/P>P>LAURA: So I>that's /I>how Chris got the link -- thanks forsending it to him! Oh, I've got another number for you to call toreach Chris..../P>P>BR>Things have since quieted down, and I
guess you could say I'm prettymuch settled back into my "normal" life. Normal, but not the same --and I mean that in a very good way./P>
rs might seem likeit would be easy, but it really wasn't. Often I couldn't go throughwith it because I'd get nervous and shy. When that happened, I wouldjust tell the caller he/she had reached the wrong number, and referthem onto Kelly./P>P>One Thursday night, around ten o'clock, I was enjoying some quiettime in my apartment, when -- ring! ring! I looked at my phone andsaw a number starting with "310." I>Hmm... California... 10 p.m. mytime/7 p.m. theirs - I bet this is another (you know what)./I>/P>BLOCKQUOTE>P>LAURA: Hello?/P>P>CALLER: Hi, is this Mallack?/P>P>LAURA: No, it's not... who's this? [Note: I later did a Googlesearch, and found out, not surprisingly, that Malaak is Chris'wife]/P>P>CALLER: It's Adam./P>P>LAURA: I>Adam?/I>/P>P>CALLER: It's Adam Sandler!/P>P>LAURA: [Realizes instantly it was indeed -- there's no mistakingthat distinctive voice of his] Oh, hi!/P>P>ADAM: Hi!/P>P>LAURA: [Overcome with sudden punchiness from the craziness of oneminute quietly winding down for bedtime, and then talking to AdamSandler the next] So, are you calling Chris for business or pleasure?/P>P>ADAM: [Laughs, slightly taken off guard by this question, butstill retaining his happy-go-lucky attitude] I'm calling Chris to sayhello and chat. So... is he there?/P>P>LAURA: [Knows it's confession time, but tries best to retainformerly buoyant personality] No, well... he's not. You see, I'mactually this random New York City girl who happened to get Chris'old cell phone number..../P>P>ADAM: [Lets out a big laugh] Wow, that's really funny! That'sgreat! You must be having a fun time with this!/P>P>LAURA: Yes, I am! And what also makes it fun is thatcoincidentally, I write true stories about my life in New York City,and this will be another funny, true story to write about... oh, Ihave a number you can call to reach Chris..../P>P>ADAM: No, that's okay -- I have another number. Well, good luck toyou, and sorry to have bothered you./P>P>LAURA: Oh, no bother at all. Bye!/P>P>BR>The next evening, I was riding a Trailways bus, heading upstate forthe weekend, when my cell phone rang. I ruffled around my luggage,and located my cell. The Caller ID flashed, "Restricted."/P>BLOCKQUOTE>P>LAURA: Hello?/P>P>CALLER: Hi, is Chris there?/P>P>LAURA: Who's calling, please?/P>P>CALLER: It's Jack Nicholson./P>P>BR>In that millisecond I nearly dropped dead, but then I thought,I>Wait a minute. Adam Sandler totally sounded like /I>B>I>AdamSandler/I>/B>I>, and that didn't sound like..../I> With a heftydose of skepticism, I (boldly) commented, "This doesn't sound likeJack Nicholson."/P>P>"I'm his assistant."/P>P>Although I'd had my doubts, when I heard the words, "I'm hisassistant," I>ugh/I> -- it was indeed a let down. So close... butyet so far. Can you imagine if it had really been Jack?/P>P>But getting back to the important matter on hand - the nerve ofthat guy! You don't go around saying you're Jack Nicholson whenyou're I>Jack Nicholson's assistant/I>. I suppose he thought therewas only a I>slight/I> difference. Didn't he learn anything inCelebrity Assistant school?/P>P>Jack's ASSISTANT continued, "Jack has tickets to the Laker's gametonight, and he wanted to know if Chris is available to go with him.Will Chris still in be in L.A. tonight?"/P>P>Blasé, I replied, "There's someone else you'll need to callwho can help you with that," and I referred him onto Kelly./P>P>Just like other cell phone calls I received (a.k.a. the ones thatwere actually for me) the Chris-calls came unexpectedly, at any time,and thus early on I began to feel a newfound, pressing need to be ontop of my cell phone at all times. Last Saturday, I decided to visitthe Museum of the City of New York. When I was getting my bag checkedat the security desk, the guy saw my cell phone and said, "Pleaseturn your cell phone off." That sent a shockwave right through me.I>I can't turn my cell phone off! What if I miss an importantChris-call?/I> To seem agreeable (and so I'd be allowed to enter themuseum), I turned it off, but then I turned it back on as soon as Iwas past the security desk./P>P>(This behavior has certainly come a long way from the days when mybrother frequently expressed his annoyance at me for never answeringmy cell phone. Well, dearest bro', times have a' changed, and sis hasa' changed with them. You can thank Chris Rock for that!)/P>P>Google has proved itself to be quite invaluable in so far ashelping me identify certain callers. When this one caller told me hisname, at first I thought, I>That's no fun -- I can't even Google him-- there must be a million `Steve White's.'/I> But then I decided totry Googling "Steve White" and "comedian" at the same time. Bingo! Ifound exactly the guy I had talked to. Nice guy, BTW./P>P>One fine afternoon, I was sitting at my desk at my current tempjob, when my cell rang. The Caller ID showed a "603" area code, whichI didn't recognize. I also didn't recognize the name of the caller:Ken Burns. After he said his name, the conversation went as follows:/P>BLOCKQUOTE>P>LAURA: What's this regarding, please?/P>P>KEN BURNS: Stand Up./P>P>LAURA: Do you want to book Chris for something...? [Note: Afterthe fact, discovered this was a highly ignorant question to ask.Oops.]/P>P>KEN BURNS: No. It's regarding a film we've been discussing doingtogether for the past year - a documentary on the history of StandUp./P>P>LAURA: Oh... there's actually someone else for you to call..../P>P>BR>A co-worker who had been really into my ongoing Chris-call storieswas standing near my desk when I got off the phone. I said to her, "Ijust got another call for Chris, but I never heard of the guy -- hisname was Ken Burns."/P>P>"Ken Burns! Oh, my God! I can't believe you just talked to KenBurns! He's great! He's a famous documentary filmmaker -- he did adocumentary on the Civil War, and the history of Jazz -- lots ofstuff. Do a search on him -- you'll see all the great stuff he'sdone." Yes, Google proved me a fool, thank you./P>P>We were still discussing the Ken Burns call when my cell rangagain. I saw "603" on the Caller ID. "Oh, no! It's him calling back!"I was almost afraid to answer it./P>P>"Answer it! Answer it!" she ordered me./P>BLOCKQUOTE>P>LAURA: [Meekly] Hello?/P>P>CALLER: Hi, it's Ken Burns. I spoke with you a few minutes ago.That number you gave me - no one was there. I got the voice mail ofsomeone named "Kelly."/P>P>LAURA: "Kelly" is Chris' assistant..../P>P>KEN: I left a message on Kelly's voice mail, but... do you think Icould call Chris at his home?/P>P>LAURA: Yeah, uh, sure... you can try him at home./P>P>BR>Am I bad? Yeah, I suppose I am. But c'mon -- who in their right mindwould pass up this great entertainment like this, plopped right inyour lap?/P>P>B>FONT SIZE="+1"> /FONT>/B>/P>P>B>FONT SIZE="+1"> /FONT>/B>/P>P>B>FONT SIZE="+1">Chris Rock Update/FONT>/B>/P>P>
/P>P>I finished writing my Chris Rock cell phone story on a Saturdayafternoon. After uploading it to my site, I sent an e-mail to my"Notification List" readers, notifying them of this new offering, andproviding a link to the story. (Standard I>Laura's NYC Tales/I>procedure.)/P>P>Over the years, I've built up a decent-sized notification list,which is really great because it provides me with instant feedback onnew material I post. The first e-mails I received regarding the Chrisstory were very positive: "That's a great story!" "Can I just say howbrilliant this story is!" "Hilarious!" "Loved it!" I was pleased tohear that initial response was good -- I mean, I liked it, but thatwasn't a guarantee others would as well./P>P>I visited my friend Nancy on Saturday evening. I read her thestory, and we laughed a lot throughout my reading of it. Afterward, Imused, "I wonder what Chris would think if he ever read the story?"We both shrugged, and gave each other a "Who knows?" kind of look./P>P>When I woke up on Sunday morning, I immediately checked my e-mail.There were a few additional, positive replies from "NotificationList" readers, and then there was this other one, from a guy whoreferenced that he had seen the story on MetaFilter./P>P>I hadn't heard of "MetaFilter," so as a first guess I typed theobvious "metafilter.com" into my browser. Up popped their homepage(they're a blog/discussion forum website). To my surprise, at the topof the page I read, I>"Chris-calls! What if you received ChrisRock's old cell phone number and his celebrity friends kept oncalling you?"/I>/P>P>Following was an extensive thread of comments on the story, andthen comments on the comments. As my eyes scrolled down the page, tomy shocking dismay I saw many comments trashing the story. But notonly did the comments trash my story, they also trashed I>me/I>.Here's a sampling:/P>BLOCKQUOTE>P>"It's too bad someone with no sense of humor got thephone."/P>P>"I kept thinking there would be an interesting or funny point toher story. I was wrong."/P>P>"She didn't know who Ken Burns is? Sheesh."/P>P>"Carrie Bradshaw she is not."/P>P>BR>Another comment: "I'd swear this was a Jean Teasdale article." I>Oh,great,/I> I thought, I>who's that? /I>I assumed it was anotherput-down, and I was right. Through a quick web search, I discovered"Jean Teasdale" is a fictional, mock columnist in I>The Onion/I>,described as, "An overweight woman in a small town who loves her catsand Patrick Swayze," and is someone "who thinks she has a sense ofhumor but has very pedestrian tastes and a very humdrumlifestyle." /P>P>Many of the MetaFilter readers expressed disappointment with mystory because they had wanted me to have I>really/I> pranked thecallers. Well, I disagree. As keeper of the number, I stand by mybelief that I did the I>right thing/I> -- throughout my dealingswith the callers, I made it a point to always remain respectful. Theway I figured it, the last thing a celebrity needs (or any of us, forthat matter) is another annoyance. By not annoying Chris' callers, Ifelt that translated into not annoying I>him/I>. Excuse me forhaving decent morals./P>P>After a day of back-and-forth blogging with MeFi readers, I felt Ihad been put through the wringer, but in the end I came out okay.Actually, better than okay, because (as I later found out),MetaFilter has a definite presence within the web community, and it'sa highly trafficked site. MeFi gave my Chris Rock story a boost ofexposure, which led to links on other sites. These links led to morelinks, which led to more links -- and before I knew it, my story wasgetting linked all over the place!/P>P>By Wednesday, I started receiving a lot more e-mail than usual. "Ifound your site through a link on Popdex," "I saw you onBuzzMachine," "Blogdex," "Crains Detroit News," "VH1" (that was a funone to find out about), "USA Today" to name a few./P>P>Also on Wednesday, I received e-mails from two radio stations,wanting to interview me about the story. I snuck into a privateconference room to conduct these interviews. No one at my temp jobknew a hint about what I was up to, which added to the fun it./P>P>Thursday was a very busy e-mail day, with more and more peoplediscovering my site through various linkage of the Chris Rock story./P>P>Early Friday morning before work, as I was drinking my coffee, mymind was thinking, thinking, thinking... plotting, planning,scheming..../P>P>I sat down at my computer, and whipped up an e-mail to myNotification List readers. The e-mail told of the buzz going on withthe story, and of my new idea: "What if my readers banded togetherand launched a blitz, and got the word out about the story here,there and everywhere? It could really lead to an amazing amount ofexposure for my website." Strike while the iron is already hot, Isay!/P>P>I sent the e-mail that morning, and by noontime, response from itwas pouring in. The fuel that had been added to what was already afire succeeded in now making it burn like crazy./P>P>Friday evening, in the midst of the blitz/e-mail craziness, it wastime for me to say, "Bye-bye, New York, hello Savannah." I left for a10-day work/vacation, compliments of my ex-boss Tim. He had recentlybought a house there, and flew me down to help fix it up./P>P>Excitement was in the air. I looked forward to be heading out ofbustling New York, to a Southern city renowned for its beauty andarchitecture, and to spending time with Tim and his partner, Warren,which is always very fun. And not that I needed another reason to beexcited, but there was one: my Chris Rock story was splashing allaround cyberspace -- where would it end up, and who might find italong the way?/P>P>Whenever I fly, my preferred seat is always a window seat -- I gotone that night on my flight to Savannah. Like a kid with my facestuck up against the window, I gazed out at the intricate web ofamber-toned, electrical illumination below me. I watched it becomesparser as we flew away from New York. It made me think about howinterconnected our whole world is..../P>P>I>Electricity and the Internet reaching all of these houses... Iwonder if my website made it into any of these tiny littlespeck-of-a-houses down below?/I>/P>P>Tim and Warren met me at the airport at midnight, when my flightgot in. Tim already knew about the buzz going on with my Chris story,and I soon updated Warren, because, you know, stuff this fun andexciting doesn't exactly happen every day!/P>P>Saturday late afternoon, we headed to the house of one of Warren'sold friends for drinks before dinner. Riding in the backseat of thecar en route to the gathering, I was admiring the elaborate mossdripping from the trees (a common sight for Southerners, a bizarre,new sight for a Northerner like me), when my cell phone went a'ringy-ring-ring. I reached into my bag for my phone, and when Ilooked at the Caller ID, it displayed an area code I didn'trecognize./P>BLOCKQUOTE>P>LAURA: Hello?/P>P>CALLER: Hi, is this Laura?/P>P>LAURA: [Surprised, didn't expect to hear this. Had assumed, asalways lately with unrecognized numbers, that the caller was going toask for "Chris," not Laura.] Um, this is Laura..../P>
br />P>CALLER: [Very enthusiastically] Hi! This is Gayle, Chris'mother-in-law. I read your story about getting Chris' old cell phonenumber, and I absolutely loved it! I thought it was one of the mosthilarious things I'd ever read! I wanted to call you -- say hello,and tell you that -- and then I realized I already have your number!/P>P>LAURA: [Thrilled, amazed, so excited] Wow, that is I>sogreat!/I> I'm so glad you liked my story!/P>P>BR>Gayle said she would forward the link onto someone who would show itto Chris, but she didn't know when he would get to see it because hewas on tour./P>P>Wow, oh wow! It was fantastic that the link had found its way toChris' mother-in-law -- and she loved the story! Thanks, NotificationList readers -- our e-mail blitz worked!/P>P>The very Saturday before, when I'd mused to Nancy, "I wonder whatChris would think if he ever read the story?" it seemed like a crazy,improbable notion. But now, a mere one week later, it didn't seem soat all. Incredible!/P>P>A few minutes after I got off the phone with Gayle, we arrived atthe cocktail party (seven gay men and me). I was all happy-go-luckysmiles and giggles. I had a great time. As were leaving, the host ofthe party gave me a big hug good-bye. He said to Tim and Warren, "Ilove her! She's so adorable! Promise you'll bring her back!" Afterthat great mood I was in, I would have wanted me back, too./P>P>On Sunday mid-afternoon, we headed over to the house to start ourfix-up work. Tim's task du jour was bricking up an interior wall, andWarren and I were going to do some painting. I chose to paint thisnew wall that had been put up adjacent to the second-floor outdoorporch./P>P>It was a beautiful, sunny, 75-degree day down Savannah way (asopposed to a chilly and grey, mid-30 degree one back home, so I wastold). I was wearing my glamorous painter's outfit of pants that weretoo small in the waist so they were left with zipper not fullyzipped, a faded purple bra top, and shoes I had mummified with bluepainter's tape so they wouldn't get paint all over them./P>P>The three of us had taken our posts, and begun our work. Tenminutes after I'd started painting, my cell rang. I put down mypaint-sopped roller and walked over to it. I saw "Restricted" on theCaller ID./P>BLOCKQUOTE>P>LAURA: Hello?/P>P>CALLER: Is this Laura?/P>P>LAURA: [Thinks, B>I>Another/I>/B>I> call for me from someoneI don't know? Gee, I'm getting mighty popular on the Chris-line!/I>Curious, inquisitive] Yes... this is Laura..../P>P>CALLER: Hi, it's Chris Rock./P>P>BR>With all that was going on, this wasn't the hugest, out-of-left-fieldsurprise, but still -- my first instinct was that I didn't believeit. I thought I was being pranked. By who, I didn't know, but prankednonetheless. I wasn't familiar enough with Chris' work to be able torecognize his voice, so for the first few minutes I was mostly justtrying to figure out if it was really him!/P>P>We kept talking, and as time went on, began to settle into thefact that, that yes, it was really Chris. I>Cool!/I>/P>P>Chris and I had a very nice chat indeed. He was friendly, andgenuinely interested in who I was as a person. (What do you do? Wheredo you live? Where are you from? How old are you?) We talked for awhile about a bunch of stuff./P>P>When Chris asked, "What do you do?," I talked about mywebsite/writing, and then for my job, I said I was an ExecutiveAssistant. "Kind of like Kelly -- you know, Executive/Personalassistant."/P>P>"For a celebrity?"/P>P>"No, for an executive, in an office."/P>P>Immediately, he said, "Oh, we have to get you out of that! I'mgoing to give you the name of my literary agent -- he's with theWilliam Morris agency, and is one of the best agents in the city...you can say I referred you." He also gave me his new cell phonenumber./P>P>My thoughts flashed back to yet another of the negative MetaFiltercomments:/P>BLOCKQUOTE>P>"My favorite part of Laura's essay: I>`I was a taddisappointed -- I was hoping they'd give me Chris' number instead ofhis assistant's.'/I> Yeah, that's what they were gonna do:give the weird phone stranger their boss' direct number."/P>P>BR>"Weird phone stranger" -- that's what you think I am? Well, obviouslyChris doesn't share your sentiment, or else he wouldn't have given mehis number. Don't be callin' me crap that I'm not./P>P>After Chris and I said our good-byes and hung up, I didn't startscreaming and jumping all around the place. Instead, I was calm, verycalm (almost unaffected), and I was glad. But mostly, I was proud --proud of myself, for what I had done./P>P>Later that evening, when we were sitting around and talking, Timsaid, "It's amazing Chris talked to you for as long as he did -- andthat he gave you his phone number and the name of his agent! He couldhave had his assistant call you to acknowledge your story, or hecould have just called you and said, `Hello, cute story, thanks,good-bye,' or something like that, but he didn't. You should feelreally good about how he responded to you."/P>P>My no-frills reply: "Mm,m hmm... I do."/P>P>Continued exposure of the Chris Rock cell phone story made myInbox go crazy for the next week. During this time, all sorts ofinterest flooded in. Of particular note: the I>National Post/I>(Canada's national newspaper, with a circulation of 300,000) asked ifthey could run the piece and pay me for it, an indie writer/directorin LA is interested in my material once I get my stories togetherinto book form, and this guy thought my story would be good for thisnew reality show his production company will be pitching to HBO. Andlast but not least, many new readers have been introduced to my site./P>P>"After" the story, I got two more call for Chris, although thingswere a bit different now:/P>BLOCKQUOTE>P>B>Call #1:/B>/P>P>LAURA: Hello?/P>P>CALLER: I have Rick Kurtzman on the line for Chris. Is he there?[Note: I Googled Rick Kurtzman -- he's a Hollywood agent. He was BillMurray's agent until recently.]/P>P>LAURA: There's another number for you to call for Chris. Thenumber is nine- one- seven.../P>P>CALLER: [Cuts Laura off mid number, aggressively blurts out] Wereyou giving me Kelly's number?/P>P>LAURA: Uh, yes, I was.../P>P>CALLER: I already have her number, and I read your story./P>P>[Caller hangs up, leaving Laura stopped in her tracks, not knowingwhat to make of that one!]/P>P>BR>B>Call #2:/B>/P>P>LAURA: Hello?/P>P>CALLER: Is Chris there?/P>P>LAURA: Who's this?/P>P>CALLER: It's Bill... hey, are you the girl that wrote that story?/P>P>LAURA: Yeah! Did you read it?/P>P>BILL: I did. I'm a friend of Chris', and I'm the one who sent himthe link -- I saw the link on I>USA Today/I>, and after I read thestory, I thought, "Chris has to see this...."/P>P>LAURA: So I>that's /I>how Chris got the link -- thanks forsending it to him! Oh, I've got another number for you to call toreach Chris..../P>P>BR>Things have since quieted down, and I
guess you could say I'm prettymuch settled back into my "normal" life. Normal, but not the same --and I mean that in a very good way./P>
Comments
Fa fa fafa fa fafa fa fa. My eyes hurt now.
Yeah, it's a sorta funny story that could be a whole lot funnier, just like the chick says.
what a gigantic fucking waste of time
you're good at this graf!
really.
"What would you do if you got Chris Rock's phonecalls?"
...I don't know...write a pointless blog?
For the rest of this lady's life she'll be annoying people with "So, did I ever tell you about that time I got Chris Rock's old #?"
Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat do I waste time about?
Other than alien vaginas?
Seriously though, I thought the situation was funny which is why I posted it. I should've made a note in the first post; even I skimmed a lot of stuff.
But I thought the situation was funny, and then how people tore her up for not being funny about it - much like you guys.
As opposed to the special gold plated ones they give celebrities, right?
He's pretty big.
Like real big.
and we can't forget:
And you didn't write pages and pages of shit about it???
Chris Rock hired the graphic designer from No Limit Records?
that record came out when Pen and Pixel was the shit...
Of all possible hi-jinks that could ensue after getting Chris Rock's old phone number, those were by far the lamest.
"I'm just a New York City girl."