Meadowlands….
Sometimes, just when you think life can’t get any better, it does.
Yesterday was a red letter day. I’d been doing some research into domain names and found out that last September, the number of registered domain names containing the word “Poker” in them surpassed the number of names containing the word “casino”. I know that might now sound very exciting… unless you’re a hopeless domainaholic like I am. Then my friend Melissa comes over and said she was going to Pure and asked if I wanted to chill. I wasn’t feeling it. Then she told me that Jamie-Lynn Sigler, one of the stars from the Sopranos (one of my favorite shows), was celebrating her birthday there.
I’ve always had a little star-crush on Jamie-Lynn Sigler… ever since I read an interview she gave. She was asked if she was worried that she’d get typecasted as an Italian girl for her work on the Sopranos, and she answered like it was the most obvious answer ever. “Well no… because I’m Greek.” Love her. So I started feeling it and we headed out.
Première, Bien que, we stopped to see the American Storm show… if any of my guy friends who are reading this are planning a trip to Vegas, they should definitely go. It’s got the best guy:girl ratio I’ve ever seen at a vegas show. I got to meet some of the entertainers afterwards at Pure. A couple of them live on the same block as Joey. They told me how much of a pain in the ass neighbor he is because of all the noise pollution coming out of those little mini crotch rockets. But I digress…
The goal of the night was to meet Jamie-Lynn Sigler. We didn’t have any problem getting into the club last-minute because Melissa works at the cardroom and knows a lot of the bouncers. But getting into the VIP area where Jamie-Lynn Sigler was going to be was a trick. So I shot a line out to David Williams because I figured he doesn’t have a problem getting in anywhere. He showed up at the club and sure enough knew both of the hosts working the VIP area.
So I was in. And that’s when I got to meet Jamie-Lynn Sigler. I saw her sitting on a couch talking to someone. She was wearing a black and white dress. I went up and had a great talk with her. I’ll never forget the conversation. It went like this :
Me (interrupting some conversation she’s having) : Hey Jamie-Lynn. Big fan… love your work. I wanted to come over and meet you. My name’s Dutch.
Jamie-Lynn Sigler : Ohhhhhh… nice to meet you.
Me : I also wanted to wish you a happy birthday!
Jamie-Lynn Sigler : But it’s not my birthday… I don’t know why people keep saying that.
Me : Oh. Ummmmmm….. (pause) well when’s your bir-
I was going to say “Puits, when’s your birthday?” as a lame way of keeping our moment going… but before I could finish, the bouncer grabbed my arm and not too subtly led me away from Jamie-Lynn (I’m dropping the Sigler. I feel like I know her well enough now to just call her Jamie-Lynn).
I asked a few of the bouncers if Robert Iler was around… he’s the guy who plays A.J. on the show and he’s supposedly really big into poker. The story I heard was that he was in one of the underground cardrooms in NYC when the police raided and closed it down. He got a little bad press out of it… kind of a “when child stars go bad” spin. But then he got a sponsorship/endorsement deal with Bodog. With poker being as big of a fad as it is, it was probably a good career move (if it actually happened).
I was really hoping that Robert Iler would be celebrating Jamie-Lynn’s birthday with her and I’d get to meet him and trade poker tips for Sopranos spoilers. Then we’d be friends and hang out and stuff. And he’d bring me to the set sometimes (maybe even get me a small role in an episode with poker in it). I’d meet the cast. He’d do some acting while I watched on the sidelines… telling jokes with Jamie-Lynn and playing gin with Stu Unger. And after every take, I’d yell “Good scene, Bobby! Good scene!”
He didn’t turn out be at the birthday celebration… so maybe the night didn’t live up to the high hopes that I had. But I did get to meet Jamie-Lynn.
One other rant before I drop the subject. Something I admire about Jamie-Lynn Sigler is that she spoke out about eating disorders. I know that must have been tough for her… I was in the same spot when I was first speaking out about bi-polar disorder. Some fears creep up… like you’re on on your first five minutes of your fifteen of fame, and if you associate yourself with a problem, you’ll fill your remaining ten minutes up as the poster-child for whatever. Donc Oui… hats off to her. Good times.
Last thought…. One of the producers for the Sopranos is named Gianna Smart… and every time I watch an episode of that show I think to myself… “Tu sais… Gianna *is* smart.” Sigh.