fame according to rick rubin

I was with this group of friends. We were having dinner at Mr. Chow's in Beverly Hills. When we got there, you almost couldn't get in the door because there were so many paparazzi outside -- so many that there were fire trucks out there, you know, trying to manage the crowd. We're sitting at dinner, and the red lights from the fire trucks are lighting up the whole restaurant. It felt like a scene from a war movie. It was insane. I was with these three other people. And we started trying to figure out who was creating this scene. We'd all been to Mr. Chow's a lot of times, but we'd never seen anything like this. It was about the time of the Coachella music festival. Madonna had played Coachella, so we're thinking, Maybe it's Madonna. I mean, she doesn't live here, so she's not around that much. Maybe it could be her causing so much attention. From there, we just kept throwing out names, trying to figure out who it could be. Finally, I got up from the table and I went to find out. And then I came back and I asked my friends, "Do you want me to tell you who it is, or do you want to try to guess?" And someone said, "Okay, let's play twenty questions." So the first question was, "Is this person famous for being a musical artist?" And I had to think about it. I didn't know how to answer that question. I think she's made music. She's made albums. But is she famous for that? I don't think so. So I decided the answer was no. And then someone asked, "Is this person famous for being a film star?" Hmm. I didn't know how to answer that question, either. Yes, she's been in films. But is that what she's famous for? I didn't think so, so I decided that answer was also no. And this went on for twenty questions. And the answers were all no. Everybody lost the game -- no one could say who it was. Here we were in Mr. Chow's, and literally, it was like World War III had broken out. And when I really thought about it, this person causing it wasn't famous for anything that you could really put your finger on. It was an interesting comment on our society.*

*It was Jessica Simpson.