CITY ISLAND, NY – It seems like my columns are turning into obituaries with the latest death being actor Vincent Pastore. He passed away last Saturday and memories of the Oscar De La Hoya/Derrell Coley boxing match came to my mind.
It was in February of 2000 at Madison Square Garden where me and my late brother Steve roamed the ringside seating to get a closeup view of the bout.
As we got closer and closer to the ring, we looked around for two empty seats when suddenly the actor who portrayed Salvatore “Big Pussy” Bonpensiero on the HBO series The Sopranos started waving to me. He pointed to two empty seats and told me that Conan O’Brien was sitting in them with a friend. Pastore told me to sit in them, and if Conan comes back from the bathroom or wherever he went to remain seated. He ordered me and my brother not to get up no matter what.
We sat down in the chairs which were in the second row when my brother started getting jittery. He asked me what we were gonna do if Conan came back. I answered, “Big Pussy said weeze can’t leave!”
Ten minutes passed when all of a sudden a tall red headed Howdy Doody lookalike appeared. It was the talk show host Conan O’Brien. He looked at us and then looked at his tickets and uttered, “I think these are our seats.” From the corner of my eye I could see Pastore cracking up with laughter. Conan again looked at me and my brother and said, “Excuse me, these are my seats.” Pastore continued his laughter. I then looked at the giant redhead and said, “I ain’t getting up!”
I could hear Pastore laughing so hard, he started coughing. Conan turned around with his friend and left the area as he avoided a confrontation. Pastore almost choked on his own laughter, which was mixed with coughs.
He looked at us and said, “You guys are great!,” and gave us the thumbs up sign.
De La Hoya pummeled Coley to a 7th round knockout. Conan was never seen again that night and Pastore almost choked to death on his laughter. May Big Pussy find Paulie Walnuts, Tony Soprano and my brother Steve up in heaven and continue laughing for eternity.
