Results: Being Starstruck

Have you ever had a person-to-person encounter with someone of great notoriety in a field in which you're keenly interested (a celebrity in that field, if you will)?

If you've ever had such an encounter, have you found you're self dumbfounded as to what to say to that person and. perhaps, at least a bit in awe of that person...or starstruck?

The first time I probably had potential to be starstruck was when I was at my aunt and uncle's home in the same city as where the father of Gordon Gano, lead singer of folk punk band The Violent Femmes, lived. I called the residence of his dad (a pastor with a listed number) and conversed with a favorite singer of mine for several minutes without being starstruck. Would this be anything you'd do?

The first time I ever recall being truly starstruck was during a telephone conversation with country/Americana singer Buddy Miller. I forget the circumstances by which he and I were talking, but I had seen him perform not long before as part of a charity all-star band saluting late contemporary Christian market folk pop singer Rich Mullins (Buddy's wife, Julie Miller, was a notable Christian pop singer at the time). He sang lead for. maybe, a verse of one song, but his voice so impressed me that talking to him on the phone got me starstruck a smidgen. Could that little exposure to someone's work leave you starstruck in that person's presence?

My latest-and last?-time being starstruck was another telephone experience, this time interviewing comedian/actor/author/playwright Steve Martin, his first album was what got me know collecting comedy records, and he's among the figures on my proverbial Mount Rushmore of comedy. I was far less articulate than I should have been when I interviewed him and Martin Short for a comedy column I write. Would encountering someone so well known whose work you've enjoyed for so long leave you starstruck (please comment with an example if you answer Yes)?