i walked by thurston on the sidewalk today
 

at the naropa university campus where he's teaching this week for the summer writing program of the kerouac school.

he was wearing sunglasses and eating a bagel or something.

i didn't know what to do so i just stared at the ground smiling.

ideas on how to approach this scenario next time around?

Just try to avoid it. He might very well be nice and lovely, and you might be too, or any combination of the above - I always think these kind of interactions are awkward and nobody really gets anything out of them. In my experience, anyway. Either that or get completely wasted beforehand

maybe if i get a chance at the end of the week ill just yell fuck sonic youth and run the other direction holding my middle finger out behind me

i wonder if he gets this much

That's really funny......

he's pretty cool if you approach him in a kind manner. though i wouldn't if he was walking somewhere.

My opinion is that it's considerate not to approach celebrities when you see them in public. If you saw Thurston at one of his shows, that would be different, but when he's out in public, maybe he would like his privacy.

Teaching at Naropa is very much a type of playing a gig, which I'm sure Thurston would agree with. One would hope he took the gig for the opportunity to interact with a younger generation of people who are interested in learning from his experiences. I'd imagine he'll meet quite a few Sonic Youth fans while he's there and might even make friends with the ones who can talk to him like a human being without giggling and chewing their fingertips off.

What Kind Of Bagel Was He Eating

The first time I saw Thurston in public I chased him up the street to ask about his MXR Blue Box. You can't possibly do worse than that.

I still can't look him in the eye. (Well I can, but it hurts my neck.)

^^^

Thurston once asked my advice on cigarettes and pork scratchings.

He's very approachable.

Ahaha, that sounds like Thurston too, especially after seeing 1991, The Year Punk Broke

I talked to him before a show in Toronto once and he was quite friendly. I don't know that I'd interrupt his bagel eating though. You don't mess with a man when he's having a bagel.

You may be right.

"Feeling numb and looking dumb"...that says it perfectly. I forget who said it first, but someone in our group called his name and said "Thanks" (since he'd curated that ATP). He could tell we weren't about to attack him, so he was cool about it.

stab him with a broken copy of Kill Yr Idols then run off howling "Punk lives, old man". He'll appreciate the irony.

He's just a man just another human being. I say hi to everybody I approach on the street. they either say hi back, start a mini conversation, turn away,
look at the ground or tell me to fly away.

if it was me : Hey Thurston, my name is Mike Childs and I happen to be a big fan and I'd stick out my hand to shake his or form a fist for a knuckle-bump. Hopefully he'll talk to me. In fact I'm sure he would.

it's funny, when I approached Thurston - he looked scared shitless.
it was probably my brown skin. i bet he thought i was going to stab him or something

I'd honestly piss my pants if I ran into Thurston Moore, he's too cool for me.

Same here!:p