Thanks, Mr. Happy Go Lucky

Normally I wiz down College Avenue past the Monroe County Courthouse. The stoplights are almost perfectly in sync, and usually I can make all greens. But the light at Kirkwood and College turned yellow 30 yards in front of me one cold Saturday afternoon. I almost hit the gas to try and beat the red, but I hesitated too long and stopped, annoyed. I sat for a couple seconds steaming over having to come to a halt. \nI impatiently glanced over at the crosswalk light to see if it had switched from the little white guy to flashing orange hand. Behind the light, in front of the courthouse, I saw a short little man singing and dancing in front of a microphone. Cameras and lights surrounded him, and as I turned down the radio my friend and I could hear the sound of John Mellencamp's "I'm Not Running Anymore" blaring from speakers that looked like towers compared to the man.\nThe light turned green so I drove to the next intersection, turned left and parked in a near-by parking garage. We walked over to courthouse, slid by several groups of people, stepped over some snow mounds and found ourselves 10 feet away from the Cougar himself, John Mellencamp. Mellencamp was filming his video for "I'm Not Running Anymore" in front of the courthouse, giving Bloomington residents and students a chance to be passersby in the video. I stood in a snow bank with no feeling in my toes for hours watching John groove in front of the camera. Even though I wasn't in the video, I still feel like I was. Whenever I see it, at certain parts I point just to the right of the TV screen and say "I'm standing right here." \nA few months before this, Mellencamp performed at the IU auditorium. Many people complained about high ticket prices. They thought because we lived in his hometown, he should throw us a bone and give us cheap tickets. He was overcharging the people he claims to love most and forgetting his roots, some said. I disagreed. John has thrown Bloomington and its people a lot of bones. \nMellencamp is a stand-up guy. He often donates money to the University, creating a better environment for us to live and learn in. He has put Bloomington in the spotlight several times with his music. MTV once held a contest in which they gave away a little pink house in Bloomington. The house was torn down a couple of years later, but John's still here.\nLast fall he probably did the most memorable thing for Bloomington yet. He thanked us. He thanked us for buying his albums and going to his shows. He played a free concert in Woodlawn Field as part of a listener appreciation tour. Thousands of students skipped class to see the rock star jam for free in the middle of campus.\nWhen I was a kid, I was on the "Cowboy Bob" Christmas show (an Indianapolis cartoon show) and got to meet the cowboy and the helping hand. I saw Irene from the "The Real World: Seattle" last spring in San Francisco. I also waited on Kirk Haston a couple of times at the restaurant where I work. (That kid drank a lot of Mountain Dew.) But nothing so far has topped standing feet away from John Mellencamp while he was shooting his video. \nDuring the filming, John took a break, and we took cover from the cold in Fountain Square Mall. John and his entourage had the same idea. He stopped right in front of us, muttered something to his wife, Elaine Irwin Mellencamp, and whisked up the elevator. Some friends asked for a picture with his supermodel wife. She smiled and enthusiastically said yes making the day for a few of her husband's fans. This was a great example of what the Mellencamps have brought to us. \nSo thank you John. Thanks for entertaining me on a sub-zero afternoon in the middle of winter. Thanks for the memorable classic songs everyone sings along with on the radio and for all the new ones yet to come. And finally thanks for all you've done for this town and this university by not forgetting where it is you come from.