Meeting Bill Murray was the coolest celebrity encounter I've ever had. While in Austin, TX for South By Southwest, some friends and I drove our van to the Lady Bird Lake Trail bridge because we heard there were some live bands playing. We saw My Pet Saddle play there and they were so good live. The cops came and tried to break things up and told My Pet Saddle that if they played again, they'd give them all tickets. Presently they walked away and that's when another band started playing. I unfortunately don't remember their name but they were good too. Around this time, we started hearing murmurings that Bill Murray was in attendance and hanging out nearby. Hearing that he had walked away down the south end of the bridge my friend bolted after him. He ended up hunting Mr. Murray down in a bathroom stall in a Mexican restaurant. According to my friend Josh, who asked, "How are the acoustics in there?" Mr. Murray immediately began singing as a reply. Some old show-tune type of song. Josh came running back up the bridge to tell us his story. After a while we thought he had left for good, but soon enough I spotted him again. That's when I took this picture.

Bill F'ing Murray

I had to shake the man's hand so I ran around up behind him like a total starstruck creep and when he seemed to be in a lull in his conversation I ran up to him and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned and looked at me. "Can I shake your hand sir?" is all I managed to say. "Sure, just a second," he said while glancing towards me over his shoulder. As soon as he had finished pounding out a message on his BlackBerry he turned towards me and extended his hand. He put his hand in mine and that was pretty much the coolest moment in my life. When the short handshake was done I just said, "Thanks!" and ran away like a little school girl, giggling and my heart pounding.

Apparently, later that night he went off to some bars with a bunch of people and started bar tending. Embedded below is that video.