People of St Pete: Jon Arterton

Interviewing Jon was easy. Weaning our chat into 500 words was hard! Plus we were so busy gabbing that I also failed to get a picture of the two of us because he had to run to his car when his parking meter expired. So you just have to imagine the two of us sitting at an outside table at the Kahwa Coffee on 2nd and 2nd South. It was a windy but beautiful sunny St Pete morning. We talked about choirs and activism and Broadway and what it was like to meet Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington, Antonio Banderas, and Jonathon Demme. (Where you wonder? You’ve got to read the piece to find out.) He lavished praise on his husband James Mack (“the wind beneath my wings”) and spoke about his newest social justice project “One City Chorus” with humor and great affection. (It’s a bit like herding cats.” But worth it.) All in all, it was a great way to spend a morning. Read more about Jon in my June People of St Pete column at Green Bench Monthly People of St Pete