Innermost Thought

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July 02, 2002

Well. There is nothing like

Well. There is nothing like a little discension to get the blog rolling. Seven comments in one day may be a record for me. Thanks to everybody for putting their two cents in.

Being a Billionaire is Tough
My friend Hiedi invited me to go see a comedy show at Don't Tell Mama's. It's supposed to be really funny she says. And there is a special guest: Mark Cuban and did I know who that was. I had to think a minute. I know that name..and then it hit me. Dallas Mavericks. Mark Cuban. Texan. Tex in the City!!! I had actually read an article about Mark in Fortune or Worth magazine about a year and a half ago. I can't honestly remember which. It was a cover story which talked about his past success with Broadcast.com, the Mavericks and his "next big thing". Ironically, this magazine rested on the bottom shelf of my bathroom shelf unit for months. Then it moved to my living room shelf for another series of months. I read the cover article which was really interesting and most of the rest of the mag which wasn't bad either. I was just loathe to recycle it as it had a Texan (though a transplant) on the cover. Some magazines I actually take the time to go through and pull out pertinent articles I may need to reference later on. I am particularly diligent in my dossier on Bush. I want to be prepared come election time and it's only 856 days away. Other magazines I just read and recycle. Then there are those I just think I should read and never get around to. A few months ago my Texas sentimentality was lost, perhaps in a post 9-11 blitz, as I purged my ever-growing stack of magazines. What's the difference I thought? I have already read the article and besides, it's not like I'd ever actually meet the guy. God is such a hoot.

So Mark Cuban was a special guest at a comedy show called "shushybush" which was created by a woman named Collette Hawley. What is this? Is Mark Cuban venturing into comedy? It wasn't unheard of. If Michael Jordan can try baseball; why can't a billionaire go for comedy. Thinking I would be an idiot not to go as my business is about Texans in New York I resolved to not only go to the event but to (gulp) introduce myself and present him with a hand written invite to a TITC event. Fortunately, Kambri felt like going too. So Hiedi, Kambri and I ventured out to "ShushyBush".

It was really funny. In fact, it was the funniest comedy show I had been to ever. But now that I think about it, I was also tipsier than I usually am at those sorts of things as I had two glasses of wine at dinner before the show. Collette was funny and her other comedian guests were funny and then up goes Mark Cuban to the stage. He had the gall to just hang out at a table near ours during the show. I didn't think billionaires could hang. What about their posses? It was after all a small place. The exchange between Mark and Collette was hysterical. Turns out that Collette had dated the man before he became a successful entreprenuer...in college. Their reminiscences were really funny. They hadn't really seen each other for twenty years. I am guessing Collette just emailed him and asked him to do the show and he did. It was a great show and I couldn't help but breath a sigh of relief that we weren't stuck watching a novice billionaire-turned-comic in his coming out party. And besides who wouldn't like a guy who would fly his jet out to NYC to be a guest on a show for about 50 people?

After the show Hiedi, Kambri, and I were in great spirits both literally and figuratively. It was crunch time. Time to present our lovely and painstakingly printed TITC card with a special handwritten note. We busied ourselves in the bathroom. A girl's gotta go to the bathroom after all and there was a mandatory two drink minimum during the show. After our ablutions, we made our way outside the bar thinking we may have missed our moment. We didn't see either Collette or Mark. Ah well, we are wusses and bladder beats business in a sort of entreprenuerial "rocks, paper, scissors". What can you do?

To be honest I am not a really great schmoozer. I love to entertain. I love meeting people and I am genuinely curious about everything but I am not the person who can pull off faking it and money makes me nervous. Rich and famous people make me nervous. I had better get over that real soon. I am cursed with eyes that really don't lie and a passion about most things that demands a certain amount of honesty. I blame my mother and that stupid "hold out your tongue if there's bubbles on it your lying" trick. It had nothing to do with the bubbles. I know that now, but still it's too late. I am always worrying about the bubbles when I am lying or I percieve that people think I might be lying and it shows. So when I meet people who are famous or influential or whatever I feel like they immediately think they have one over on me because they percieve I want something. Truthfully, maybe I do want something...maybe... so I would be lying to imply I absolutely didn't. But I am not willing to suck up to anybody or lie. I do have a certain amount of honor. I am currently trying to focus on charm instead of schmoozing. :-)

All this musing is going through my head as we emerge from Don't Tell Mama's and see Mark and a few other people standing outside chatting. Kambri busies herself on the cell phone. I am trying to steel myself to talk to this person. I mean it's only money right. It's not like he's the doorman at Rockefeller Center and can get us at the front of the Destiny's Child stage and the Christmas Tree during the lighting. Fortunately Hiedi, who has admired Mark's entreprenuership for a long time is more brazen in this area than I. She introduces herself, after which I do the same and give over our TITC invite. Mark was actually great about it. He was congenial and opened the invite and read it right there. He was laidback and personable and not at all stand-offish. He even invited us to join him and his group for drinks across the street. After a brief moment, we decided we could.

And the rest as they say is history. We actually met some really fascinating people that night. The guest comics, Hugh Fink who is a writer for SNL and Jonathan Corbett who is a comic who plays all over the city, were there too and very entertaining. There was Geoff and Linda, Collette and Comedy producer Jeff Singer, and later, some guy with shiny shoes and his friends. We had a great time just hanging out. A few hours and another bar later the party was still going on. I imagine Mark is the most pleasant billionaire a person could meet. He really wasn't at all pretentious- just fun-loving and affable. It was almost disappointing. There were no scenes, no condescension, no temper tantrums, no blatant disregard for humanity. I mean come on! What's a billionaire for if not to shock you?

In the sun rise hours of the next morning, I couldn't help but feel a little sorry for the guy though. I was exhausted and looking forward to catching up on sleep for the next few days. Mark would have no such opportunity I imagined. He mentioned in the show the night before he was scheduled to take a trip to Las Vegas. Something about an appearance at a party given by some guy named Shaq in honor of that Smith guy who plays football for the Cowboys. Poor Mark. A billionaire's job is never done.

Posted by mermu at July 2, 2002 03:05 AM

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Posted by: Patrick at July 2, 2002 12:09 PM

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