Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Noah's first brush with fame


Noah encountered a bit of Hollywood while on his big excursion to Moline, Illinois, enroute to Ohio. Moline is pretty important to Noah since it is John Deere World Headquarters. This is the second year we have stopped there overnight to allow Noah to get his fill. While there we stay at the Radison on John Deere Commons. It's a pretty spot on the Mississippi River (Sippy river as Noah calls it.) Most importantly it is right across the street from the John Deere Pavillion, which is an indoor/outdoor display of John Deere equipment that is meant to climb and play on.


The morning of our departure from Moline, we entered the dining room for a continental style breakfast. In walks a group of people, one of whom was a funny sounding man in designer jeans, cowboy boots, blue tinted glasses, lots of big rings and a silly hat. The group sat down at the table next to ours and Noah proceeds to turn in his seat, look at him, and say, "That's a farmer." I guess it was the hat! Luckily the man was on his cell and did not seem to hear. Later when the funny man was getting some food, one of the other's in the group told us who he was. I was still clueless since he did not look familiar to me, and I did not remember him in the Fugitive or Matrix.


So...who was this guy? Joey Pantoliano. Besides the 2 above movies I guess he was in Risky Business with Tom Cruise (Puke) and numerous other movies. He also received an Emmy for his role in the TV series The Sopranos. If you want to check out more click here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Pantoliano




Why was he in Moline? Well, I guess he joined up with The Help is Here Express bus tour sponsored by the Partnership for Prescription Assistance. The partnership is a nationwide effort of American pharmaceutical research companies to get no-cost or low-cost prescription drugs to uninsured or underinsured people who are dealing with chronic diseases while struggling financially.


Here is an article about his event in Moline:
Learning more about him on the Internet, I'm now more impressed with his stand on mental illness and his committment to helping people get prescriptions, than his actual roles. I still have no clue which parts he played in these famous movies. And I'm not a Sopranos watcher. We'd love to hear if any of you remember him!


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