In September of 09' there was a celebration at the "Paradise" Rock Club in Boston for all of us that had worked in one capacity or another for the "Rock" of Boston, WBCN-104FM.
That evening I left with my wife early and I missed seeing several of my old buds.
Last Sunday my wife Yvette and I attended the Boston "Comic-Con" held at the Seaport World Trade Center. Our two sons with several friends have a highly successful entertainment/pop culture website/blog (www.omega-level.net) and we were visiting them at their table.
We decided to walk around and take a look at some of the other exhibits. Yvette turned to me and said, 'Oh look over here, Billy West is going to be here in about half-an-hour for an autograph session.'
My heart started racing. I walked up to the people preparing the area for his arrival with a beaming smile and said, 'so Billy will be arriving in a little while?' A woman turned towards me, smiled back, said yes, then asked if I was a fan. I chuckled and replied, yes. Then I told her how we had worked together at WBCN in the eighties and that I had not seen him in more than twenty-five years.
She then remarked what a great surprise it would be for Billy to see me! She followed that by saying I will bring you and your wife right up front to chat with him before we let the crowd in.
For those of you who may not know who Billy West is think: "Ren & Stimpy," "Doug," the "Red M&M," "Fry & the Professor" on Futurama," "Cheerios Honey Nut Bee," "Warner Bros Cartoons," etc, etc, etc. Billy is one of, if not, "the" premiere voice talent in the world!
As we waited my wife seemed a bit uneasy. I asked her, anything wrong? Well, I am just concerned for you that maybe, you know, maybe he won't remember you. Those were pretty crazy days, right? He'll remember I fired back. I was on the Big Mattress crew for almost four years. Then I felt a slight uneasiness. I had not even remotely thought about that possibility until she broached it. Now my brain was spinning.
Ten more minutes passed (which seemed like hours) and then he arrived. Yvette and I were brought right up to his table as he was about to sit down.
He turned towards me and said, 'Hi, I'm Billy.' I smiled at him and said, 'Billy, Willy Drinkwater, it's been more than twenty-five years.'
"Willy!" "Oh my gosh, have a seat!" We started talking about some of the wild times we had at the station and around the Boston scene in those days gone by. At one point he turned to Yvette and told her how I was one of the few that he always liked. That I was there for all the right reasons, not looking to just promote myself and that I wanted to learn.
After chit-chat for another ten minutes I felt it best to wrap-up our discussion so his 'other' fans could see him.
Billy & I both made life changing decisions in 1985. Those that know us understand what I am referring to.
Billy went on to become an internationally known and respected voice talent, and I took my sense of humor and incorporated it into counseling and teaching.
Geez, it was Great to see him again!
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