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SEPTEMBER 13TH PROMPT
Brushes
Close encounters of the very brief kind
I’ve had my share of brushes with famous people, and “brushes” is exactly the right word: quick, pleasant encounters that never turned into anything more than a moment.
Still, they’ve stayed with me.
I was just a kid when I met Robbie Lane. He led the Disciples and backed Ronnie Hawkins after the original Hawks, including Robbie Robertson, left him and morphed into The Band. I didn’t understand the lineage then, of course. At that age, you don’t grasp the genealogy of Canadian rock. I had been gushing to my Grandmother about Robbie Lane while standing in a hotel lobby. I knew him from his weekly TV show and had a serious crush on him.
His manager overheard me and ushered my Grandmother and me across the road and into a nightclub where they were playing. Stage-side seats and a free Coke. An autographed picture and a kiss.
A couple of Prime Ministers drifted through my childhood too, including Diefenbaker. My mother and I were visiting Parliament Hill, and he appeared the way politicians do, suddenly, with a small group of people orbiting him. He spoke to us briefly and shook our hands. I remember thinking he looked exactly like a Prime Minister should.
