Crushing on Val! Plus, Christina Perri
A Monday morning hello.
When I was a kid, I went through a phase where I regularly wrote to celebrities in the hopes that they would write back. Occasionally, I was pleasantly surprised. Olivia Newton-John’s team sent me a press packet with an autographed photo and an “A to Z about Olivia” page. (The only letter I remember is H, for her love of horses.) Ari Meyers, who played Emma on the ’80s sitcom Kate & Allie, sent me a handwritten letter, answering every one of my questions. Prince…well, he never replied.
Back in the 1900s (as my son would call it), we had no IMDb to find celebrity contact info. I’m not entirely sure how I even got the info for Olivia, Ari, and Prince. What I do remember is that I really, really wanted to write to my mid-80s crush, Val Kilmer. Most girls at the time were Tom Cruise fans, but when it came toTop Gun, Iceman was the only one for me. I couldn’t figure out how to reach him, though, so I used the 1980s version of Google—I wrote an actual letter to my actual hometown newspaper.
At the time, the Boston Herald had a column dedicated to people who were either looking for something or had something others might want. Think of it as the Buy Nothing Facebook Group of the print era. I wrote and asked if anyone, ANYONE, could please tell me how to get in touch with Val Kilmer. And I was thrilled when, weeks later, the Herald printed my plea. There I was—in print!! Well, my initials, alongside a tiny black and white photo of Val.
Sadly, no one ever wrote in to the Herald with an address for Mr. Kilmer, so I wasn’t able to send a declaration of love to my favorite guy. I was forced to love him from afar—in Willow and The Doors and Real Genius.
Over time, my love for him waned, though I continued to be a fan of his work and was heartbroken to hear of his passing last week. He was truly one of a kind. RIP Iceman.
I hope you enjoyed last week’s interview with Adem Tepedelen—my 40th (!!!) for Creative Reverberations. Adem and I first met a few years back when he contributed some quotes to a piece I wrote on the late, great Mia Zapata of The Gits. Around that time, his first memoir, which he wrote with Steve Turner of Mudhoney, was published. Now, he’s promoting his latest book, A Fabulous Disaster, co-written with thrash metal icon Gary Holt. I hope you’ll check out our conversation. We discussed the state of journalism, the most memorable interview he’s done, and how he began writing rock star memoirs. Outtakes from the interview, along with some recommendations from Adem on things to read, watch, and listen to, will be shared with paid subscribers on Wednesday.
Later this week my interview with singer-songwriter Christina Perri will be published. Hope you enjoy it!
Wishing you a wonderful, art-filled week!
That's cool that you wrote to celebrities. I would have never thought about that back then. The only important letter I remember writing was in the mid 80s. I had been a gymnast in college and lived in NYC. I wrote to the Hollywood Stuntmen's Association asking them how I could become a stuntman. The President of the association wrote back and said, "You have to move to Los Angeles." I did and five weeks later I was stunt doubling Richard Pryor in a Warner Bros movie named "Moving." You never know where a letter can take you.