My own private Stevie Nicks bonding experience begins with a story about River Phoenix.

The scene is China Club in New York. It's the premiere for My Own Private Idaho, and my friend Neal and I are making our way through the crowd. Suddenly, River Phoenix and I are standing face to face.

There he was: shorter than I imagined, his hair tousled in the James Dean style he had in the film. I wanted to let him know how much I appreciated his work in My Own Private Idaho. How, especially in his fireside scene with Keanu Reeves, he seemed to have a deeper understanding of what it's like to be gay. Unlike Tom Hanks in Philadelphia, his wasn't a stereotypical, surface-y performance, and I was grateful for that.

I thought of everything that I wanted to say and was hoping that it would get across as I said simply, "That was wonderful." He turned his head slightly, more attentively, paused for a second and said "Thanks. It means a lot when people really mean it." Then he was gone, and I was left to ponder a random act of celebrity graciousness.