Two Hotties In Four Days: John Fulton and Joshua Bell

Normally contact with one hot guy in a given month is considered newsworthy (or rather blog worthy). But this past week I had the pleasure of enjoying the presence of two hotties within a mere four day period. In truth I didn’t have actual contact with Hottie #2, but given he was a heart throb of mine growing up and we shared the same air space this past Tuesday so I’m counting it!

Hottie #1. John Fulton.

This past weekend I attended the Alley Cat Allies Conference in Washington, DC – can’t wait to tell you more about it! – where I met John Fulton, a man who continues to be a heart throb for many cat woman though his show Must Love Cats was only picked up for two seasons and hasn’t been on-air for over a year.

Mugging for the camera with John Fulton

I interviewed John Fulton for I HAVE CAT a few years ago, but this was the first time I met him in person. From what I recall we had a brief  but lively chat (see below for more on that and no, I wasn’t drinking). So here are a few things I learned about him during our few moments together.

John Fulton is:

• Tall
• A total charmer (He had me a bit tongue-tied – not an easy feat – I was definitely babbling. He was gracious about it, and hopefully I didn’t say anything too tangential)
• Funny
• Goofy
• Allergic to cats
• Convinced his two cats, Billie Holiday and Betty Davis, prefer his girlfriend’s company to his (yes, of course he has a girlfriend!)
  • NOTE: His cat Betty Davis is not named after the actress my cat Haddie has been known to channel, but rather Miles Davis’ wife, which makes sense given John is a musician
• The nephew of the late Jay Chiat, one of the original founders of TWBA/Chiat Day, one of the best known creative advertising agencies in the industry (they created the first ever Apple TV spot,”1984“, and came up with the Energizer Bunny, just to name a few)
• Unaware of the of the existence of the FURminator (and his cats have long hair – I told him to check it out stat!)

He performed a few songs (“kitty ditties”)  from his show for the conference attendees and even dropped a few trade secrets.

Remember Klepto Kitty? Turns out after hour of waiting in the dark drinking coffee and eating donuts, the crew got tired of waiting for him to steal something and actually left a few items strewn about to get him started. It did successfully get him going and his bra theft (among others) was not staged! As an aside, the bra belonged to the woman at second twenty in the Klepto Kitty clip (or as John said, “the Mother of the kid who can’t count,” which will make sense to you if you watch the clip!).

It also turns out that Kopi Luwak (aka civet coffee), made from coffee berries ingested and excreted by the Asian palm civet, produces a crazy high and that the entire crew was basically hopped-up as if on drugs when they taped that segment!

And for those of you who didn’t know it already, John was NOT meant to be the host of  MUST LOVE CATS. It was one of his friends who was the finalist, but the folks at Animal Planet spotted John in a piece of audition video featuring the band they played in together, and the rest is history. According to John they’re still friends, and his friend left LA to become some sort of investment banker/finance guy and is doing well for himself so we shouldn’t feel too bad for him!

Hottie #2. Joshua Bell.

I first alluded to my crush on virtuoso violinist Joshua Bell back in 2009.  I myself started playing the violin myself at age 5, attended music camps my summers in High School and played all the way through college (yes, I was an official orchestra geek).

Sadly I haven’t picked it up in almost 20 years, but that doesn’t stop me from appreciating classical music, though I don’t listen to enough of it – live or in any format. I used to listen to music in the car, but living in New York City that’s not really an option.

Not having been to a concert in ages, I got on a kick a few weeks ago and decided I had to take better advantage of what NYC has to offer. I can only related it to what it must be like living near the beach or having a pool. It’s there and so convenient you figure you can go anytime, only you end up never going (is it me or can others relate to this as well?).

The view of the stage at Carnegie Hall from my seat

It doesn’t help that there’s always so much going on here that it can be overwhelming and one often finds oneself at home ordering in and watching TV! A pity really! Anyway, I was fortunate enough to find out Joshua Bell was playing at Carnegie Hall the very next week and scored tickets for only $30!

After a bit of interweb research I learned that Mr Bell is now 45 years old (perfect) with three children from two different baby-mommies (not-so-perfect). While Wikipedia identifies the mother of his eldest son, it fails to mention who bore his twins. A bit odd. But my crush obviously gets around.

Carnegie Hall. It doesn’t matter where you sit, the acoustics are superb.

On the plus side, he lives in the Gramercy Park neighborhood, very close to where I live. So maybe there’s hope for me us yet. I did see him at an airport once but I was either too shy or he was too fast in getting away and we didn’t meet. I wonder how he feels about cats…

Should you think me crazy for having a crush on Joshua, know that I’m not alone. The Washington Post captures him perfectly in this passage from an article written in 2007.

“Bell’s a heartthrob. Tall and handsome, he’s got a Donny Osmond-like dose of the cutes, and, onstage, cute elides into hot. When he performs, he is usually the only man under the lights who is not in white tie and tails — he walks out to a standing O, looking like Zorro, in black pants and an untucked black dress shirt, shirttail dangling. That cute Beatles-style mop top is also a strategic asset: Because his technique is full of body — athletic and passionate — he’s almost dancing with the instrument, and his hair flies….He’s single and straight, a fact not lost on some of his fans.”

The article by the Post was written about a social experiment conducted where they had Joshua play in the Metro system in Washington D.C. to see what would happen. Would there be a mob scene? Would anyone notice?  The outcome was pretty fascinating. If you have any interest at all I suggest you read the entire article and check out the video below.

Okay, so I’ve shared scoop on a cat lady heart throb and confided one of my own secret crushes. Now it’s your turn. Who’s someone you’ve carried the torch for that not many (or any) people know about?

The Empire State Building on my walk home that evening. With the hot dog vendor in the foreground, it seemed like the perfect NYC moment.

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