Celebrified

Martha's Vineyard has been called Hollywood East, but for the better part of 14 weeks on the Vineyard, it has failed to sum up my experience. Although my friends have waited on Steve Carell at Giordano's, rung up Meg Ryan at the Katama General Store and seen Redman of Wu-Tang smoking THAT GANJ outside my restaurant, I hadn't seen anyone noteworthy until recently.

So: Spike Lee walked into Mediterranean the other night. It was awesome. He supposedly lives nearby.

Spike Lee peered into the bar at Mediterranean with something like this surly look.

A few weeks ago, Skip Gates, a Harvard prof and recent participant of the four-man White House Beer Summit, ate at Mediterranean. On the same night, I asked Gilbert how he was doing, and his reply was, "Ahh, the Belushis, always needing something..."

For the record, I've never heard a Vineyarder say anything nice about Jim Belushi or Spike Lee. I was still intrigued to see both, enough so to do a little main dining room creeping to scope them out eating, being normal people. The coolest celebrity experience thus far was Belushi taking the stage with Johnny Hoy and the Bluefish, the band at Med that evening, and singing a few blues songs with them. On the final track, Belushi busted out a harmonica and dueled with the harmonica wizard Johnny Hoy. Super cool.

Rewinding to Skip Gates, I just dug this up on Travel and Leisure's website: Gates's testimony as to why Martha's Vineyard, and Oak Bluffs in particular, is his favorite place. I like reading sentimental writing about the Vineyard.

Keep your eyes peeled -- I've got a flurry of blogs coming as August winds to a close and the prez's vacation draws nearer.