For the last 6 months or so, I have spent a lot of time at the Nashville airport and yes, there is a ton of construction going on but when it is done, it will be remarkable.
I can’t help though go back to when they first put in the cell phone waiting parking lot there. Remember, you could walk in the airport and walk right up to the gate and wait for whomever. After 9-11, that all changed and rightfully so. Nashville then installed the cell phone lot where your guest would call when they were coming out.
Back when I was a cameraman for channel 2, years ago, they started to make all of us wait in the lot as well, which was fine. Except for one thing, we were usually sitting there waiting in a marked news car. You have seen them with letters bigger than the Hollywood sign.
They say that curiosity killed the cat well it almost killed others waiting when they saw that a news car was parked next to them. Almost every single time, someone would come over and ask why we are there. After a few times of explaining that we were waiting for someone that would not be important to them, you could see the disappointment in their eyes. It was almost comically sad.
So, yes, we came up with something to tell them that would make them happy without lying to them. This worked every single time and it went like this—“Hey, why are you guys here?” “Well, have you heard of Garth Brooks?” Shrieking and yelling followed by, “Oh my God, are you serious?”
I would then put my finger to lips and utter, “shhhh.”
Now let’s stop right there. I didn’t actually say we were waiting on Garth, I just simply replied with a question asking if they had ever heard of him. I know it is semantics, but the look on their face when I said that was something else.
One time I did that and the lady followed me into the terminal where we met someone to interview and she screamed at me, “That is not Garth Brooks! You told me you were meeting Garth Brooks!” I replied to her, “No ma’am. I only asked if you had ever heard of Garth Brooks.” She stopped and said, “Damn you!” Walked off and the best part was when the person we were interviewing asked what that was about. “She thought you were Garth Brooks. You aren’t are you?” Crickets.
I have loved telling this story for years and I always get asked with all the famous people in the world, why Garth Brooks?
I just say, “You ever heard of Garth Brooks?” They smile and nod. And there you go.