As a small child, I watched the Rolling Stones on the evening news with my dad. The group disembarked from an airplane as mobs of teenaged girls gyrated, screamed and hyperventilated behind a chain link fence.

“Gross!” I said, rolling my eyes. My father explained, “They’re called ‘fans.’ It’s derived from the word, ‘fanatic,’ meaning they’re devoted to these shaggy-haired goons.”

Dad was not a fan of the Stones or rock. He loved Jazz. My brother and I liked the Stones. Still, I thought the screaming and fainting over a group of rock stars was just silly.
Years later I attended my first rock concert. I was careful to confine my show of appreciation to a golf clap after each song.

Over the years I’ve met a lot of celebrities. It’s sort of my job. When I volunteered for my first career day at Millsap High School the first thing the students asked me was, “What celebrities have you met?”

I rattled off a short list: Sandra Day O’Connor, George W. Bush (by the way, he was president at the time), George H.W. Bush, Rick Perry, Anne Richards, Rosa Parks, Barry Scheck and Bill Clinton.

I heard groans. The teenagers were groaning at me.

“I knew I should have gone to the ventriloquist’s class,” one boy said in a voice that combined both alto and soprano in one sentence.
Holy Toledo! I was bombing out at career day!

 “I think they were wondering if you’ve ever met any actors, athletes or rock stars or rap stars,” teacher said. “Even country Western stars would do,” she said. “You know — celebrities.”

“Oh, really?” I said. Surprising, they didn’t want to hear about murder cases or who was the wittiest of the governors.

They wanted to hear about stars. The kids were actually pretty good once I started talking about Anna Nicole Smith, Jon Bon Jovi, Heather Locklear, Martin Scorsese… I resorted to namedropping to keep 33 teenagers amused for 45 minutes simply because I could not be outdone by the ventriloquist.

As I left the classroom, I pulled out my cell phone and called my spouse. “Sweetie! The kids were great! Do you think there’s a way for us to adopt teenagers?”
“CLICK!” Darned cell phones.

A friend had ridden out with me. On our way back to Weatherford, I told her about my experience.

“Hey! That ventriloquist rocked!” she said. I threatened to kick her out of my car. “What did you expect?” she said. “They’re teenagers. They don’t care about civil rights or who’s in the White House. They’re obsessed with celebrities! Cheer up. You must have done something right. I heard yours was the most popular class next to the ventriloquist and after mine.”
It’s all about celebrities. “I’m above all that, of course,” I thought, with perhaps a small degree of smugness.

Lyle Lovett is headed to our little corner of the universe, and he was kind enough to grant me an interview. It turned out to be an eye-opener.

I’d been perfectly capable of speaking in complete sentences to both Bushes, to Rosa Parks, as well as Anne Richards and Jon Bon Jovi. But talking with Lovett was different. I was awful! OK, I’d been awake a few too many hours, and my voice was giving out. I lost my notes. The fact that I even had notes was odd. I never have notes. I asked stupid questions. At one point I actually giggled at absolutely nothing.

I think the interview turned out well, all because of him. His answers were great. He talked about his involvement with Parker County’s own Careity Foundation and about his work. Good stuff.

But, I was completely awful.

Why? Who knows? Perhaps it’s because I respect his work, or maybe, just maybe … (heaven forbid!), could it be that I’m a fan? Uurrrggghhhh!

Still it’s an honor to have Mr. Lovett on our cover.

It was one of the highlights of the year for me.

I have to say 2011 has been a great year for me and for the Parker County Today magazine.
The past three issues have been the largest in our publication’s history (founded in 2005). That’s all thanks to you. I’m convinced that we are fortunate to have such loyal readers and advertisers and a great staff.

As we wrap up the last issue of 2011, at just before midnight on Thanksgiving Day, I realize that I’m the most fortunate woman on the planet.

While most people in the county were celebrating by eating mass quantities of turkey, watching football and in general having a life, I can’t think of anything I’d rather be doing than spending time with my favorite creative director and guard dog HazMat, here in our office on the historic Weatherford square. We truly have a lot to be thankful for.

Marsha Brown
Editor and Publisher,
Parker County Today Magazine