Memories of young love. One of the first, if not the first, public date that Kid Rock and Pamela Anderson had was at Tiger Jam in April 2001 at Mandalay Bay, a concert to support the Tiger Woods Foundation held annually in Vegas. Rock wasn't scheduled to perform that night, but John Mellencamp was and I was taken to a greenroom to await my moment to interview Mellencamp.

As I waited for Mellencamp's attention, I saw Kid Rock, who I knew slightly from a couple Grammy parties, in a corner with a beer in one hand and Pamela Anderson on his lap. He wasn't set to perform so no one else seemed to notice him and there was no publicist guarding him.

I actually find Rock's company relaxing. One year at the Grammy Awards he asked me to hang out with his mom while he did an interview for MTV. "She's just like Madonna," Rock told me. "Mrs. Ritchie." I like this guy. So, I went to wait with Rock and Anderson. Rock was in full courting mode, singing the opening line of one of David Allen Coe's notorious XXX-rated songs to his new girlfriend — one that proclaimed in detail a very specific kind of sex act he wished to perform on Anderson. She was totally charmed.

Interestingly, when I was then led to Mellencamp's dressing room for the actual interview, before we started, I had to hear Mrs. John Mellencamp give an earful to her husband about the trampy looking girl. Clearly neither of them recognized Anderson. But Mellencamp for his part said he hadn't noticed her either. It was a very diplomatic comment, considering I watched him notice her in great detail.

He also told me he didn't know much about Kid Rock though Rock made a cameo onstage that night to sing, I think, "Pink Houses" or "Small Town" with him. The other memory I have of that night is that Mellencamp was one touchy interview. After a few abrupt answers he lit a cigarette. I remember asking him if he was surprised to find himself smoking again after having already had a heart attack. Wow, did he go off on my perceived slight. He told me that no one without his number of hit singles, his number of hit albums, his number of fans should be lecturing him about his smoking. And by the way, how many doctors have ever had a hit record?

(Photo: Peter Morgan / Reuters)