I met LeVar Burton today

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LeVar Burton was in Toronto today for an interview with CBC‘s The Hour. With about an hour’s notice he posted a Tweetup. I was there, with about thirty others, including someone from CityTV.

I grew up watching him on both Reading Rainbow and Star Trek: The Next Generation. I didn’t take any convincing to head over to Hemmingway’s to meet him. On the way I was working up questions to ask him, and I had the chance later.

Early in the evening he asked how many of us were Reading Rainbow fans. The entire audience cheered and put up their hands. He was startled but grinned afterwards. Someone admitted that he didn’t watch it alone, it was with his daughter, and after finding out that some folks there who grew up with the PBS show were in their late twenties and had kids of their own he said he felt old.

When I got a chance to speak to him I told him that there were hearings underway to try to understand the Canadian content situation and potentially regulate. I posited that quotas would not work on the internet, he didn’t seem to disagree, and then I asked if he could tell me from the standpoint of a director or an actor what these artisans would need. He said he didn’t want to give a statement since he didn’t know enough about the situation. Fair enough.

I understand his hesitance and felt guilty for asking afterwards. I’d thought that as someone who wasn’t beholden to the local unions he could give me a candid understanding from either the director or actor’s standpoint. The locals aren’t very accessible, I’ve found. Once that was over I became part of the audience asking about his new movies.

I milled about and got to meet some cool people. The folks from Torontoist and blogTO come to mind first, but also the gentleman whose name escapes me (Dan?) with whom I discussed the return to tribalism and art returning to the common person on the walk home.

After the success of this tweetup with only an hour’s notice, and his burst of views after claiming his Twitter account, I think Mr. Burton is seeing the value of social media. I’m happy to have met one of the artisans who I grew up with.

Mr. Burton, I hope you enjoy your stay in Toronto.

levarburton-todd

4 Comments to “I met LeVar Burton today”

Nas 3 March 2009 at 12:15 am #

I was there too. He was very gracious and friendly and managed to balance very well between being on stage (which he couldn’t help being with everyone gawking at him and wanting photos) and being at his ease.

I only joined Twitter last night. Then this morning he posted, saying he was on his way here and asking for a good pub in Yorkville. I suggested Hemingway’s, which is where we ended up, and I got to meet him. Talk about social networking!
lance 3 March 2009 at 12:20 am #

He was a great host. Wholeheartedly agree that he was gracious and friendly. Also, welcome to twitter! Amazing how quickly it moves.

What’s your userid?
Jason Kucherawy 3 March 2009 at 1:11 am #

Weird… I think there were at least 3 people that suggested Hemmingways (me included). Or are there no other places in Yorkville that good for a casual get together? It was a great spontaneous party and it was great to see people connecting with each other.
JenC 3 March 2009 at 9:57 am #

I’m so peeved I couldn’t get away to the Tweetup…! Maybe next time. Thanks for posting and sharing though – at least I could read about it. <3 the internets.