Who is the most Famous person you ever personally met?

Let's see. The most famous person I ever met was senator Russ Feingold when he was up in Marinette County for one of his listening Sessions this last summer. I told him "Sir, if ever any deserves to have a twelve inch action figure made in their likeness, it's you, Senator Feingold!"

I've also met Governor Jim Doyle when he was up in Marinette for a party meeting.

And back in 1996, I came within two and a half feet of shaking Former President Clinton's hand when he came to Green Bay.

Feel free to be jealous.

Foreigner. Lou Gramm. I met him at the wedding of a friend, who is his cousin.

Cheers
Drifter

of Foreigner- friend of a friend.

In Richmond Va Jukebox hero tour, Nice guy





:smoke: :hippie:

Martin Short

A very nice fellow.

I'd probably have broken into The Cheese Shop, Dead Parrot or the Ministry of Silly Walks.

I've seen some of his corporate communications work and he is just an amazing talent!

Cleese was buying a number of psychology books, and I simply told him I appreciated his art. He was very gracious, and, gesturing to the books, mentioned how he had used a very analytical approach to writing the scripts for Fawlty Towers.

His name will go down in history due the the election of 2000. I met and found him wonderfully warm and a very powerful presence.

Al Gore.

Gov of MI

Mike Mulligan and MaryAnn the steam shovel: what a great story.

I drank with them at a local bar in Philadelphia back in 1990. There were also a few other minor players from the Reds in the group. I was such a big Reds fan and I knew which hotel they stayed at. So I went in and had drinks with them and it was a hoot (and no - yours truly was not a naughty girl). I met Dibble next year (this time the boyfriend was with me) and I got to try on his World Series Ring.

In Boston, in the late 80s, in a hosprial where I used to work, Hr mother was being treated there. She came up to me and asked if I could direct her to the cafeteria.

I walked her there and showed her arund, and saw her through the check-out line.

Also on my list:

Hillary Clinton
John Wayne
Brian Wilson
Jerry Lewis
Abbie Hoffman
Abbie's Mom
Vincent Price
Sun Ra
Don Van Vliet (Captain Beefheart)
Larry (Wildman) Fischer
Joey Bishop
Mike Dukakis

You're one lucky so-and-so. Okay, I say "lucky" more for Sun Ra & Captain Beefheart than for Wild Man Fischer, but still.

So, if you don't mind my asking, who seemed better in touch with reality: Fischer or Brian Wilson?

I met him in the late 80s-c. 1990.

He was touring a museum where I worked.

Larry was very jumpy and nervous, under a lot of stress, since he was about toperform in a concert after some years off stage.

He stayed in my old room at a friend's house, and signed my copy of "An Evening With Wildman Fischer."

The author of the "One Minute Manager" series. When I was at my old company, his cousin was one of my phone agents. I got a few of his books signed :-)

I think I said this before, but when Marie was in her coma, President Clinton was on the ICU floor that she was on. Apparently he did stop in her room and talked to the nurse and doctors about her.

Gary Hart, Dick Celeste (former OH governor), Ron Kovac, William Kunstler, and Harlan Ellison. And not necessarily in that order!

Oh yes, and Toni Morrison, Allen Ginsberg, Myrlie Evers Williams, all at book signings.

....so my list runs deep. Some of the more famous ones......

David Bowie
Mick Jagger
Bruce Springsteen
Marilyn Manson
Michael Moore
Bill Clinton
Howard Dean
Vince Vaughn
Kevin Smith
Johnny Depp
Olympia Dukakis

Not all at once. :-) Oh! I forgot about Greg Allman.

Wynton Marsalis. He may be the ONLY famous person I've ever met! Oh, and also, F. Murray Abraham, the actor who played Salieri in the movie Amadeus. I don't know if he's still famous anymore, though.

Fofer

mix for a fusion band in NO.....this skinny kid used to come by and play sax with them once in a while....

Wasn't until Arsenio's show a few years later that I realized that skinny kid was Branford Marsalis....

He was about 16 at the time.....was absolutely amazing. They all called him "Junior" or something....

on the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater project many years ago . . . got to hang out at his house a lot, got to know his family, and met a lot of other musicians through him . . . fond memories, to say the least . . .

He was a very nice man.

Ilived about a block away from that dock.

Were you there all those years ago?

after the boat was fitted out, a crew of folksingers brought her down the New England coast to New York . . . everywhere they stopped they grabbed their guitars, went ashore and did a concert . . . raised a lot of money for the construction costs just by passing the bucket . . . I caught them in Newport at what turned out the be the last real Newport Folk Festival . . . same weekend that Neil Armstrong landed on the moon, btw . . . :)

I can't remember exactly which two I sat between. :-)

there's a reference I haven't heard for a while!! and you know that there's only 5 of them hehehe. Most people thought "Dave Dee" was "Dave, Dee"

I met him when I was interning for a Fayetteville, Arkansas TV station in '78. He was Governor at that time and a very easy to talk to person.

But no time to go into detail as I'm currently at work. Sorry!

In college I was an elevator operator in the Capitol building!

about 8 years old.

I met Jakob Dylan on the first Wallflowers tour in 1991 at Toad's Place in New Haven. He as a sullen and uncommunicative as he looks in his videos. What a poser.

I met and talked to Robert Pollard (sigh- my favorite living musician) in New Orleans during a Guided by Voices soundcheck, and I requested "Metal Mothers," which he was psyched about; GbV wasn't playing that song that tour and it happened to be one of his own favorites. He was jumping up and down, and he made the band learn it in th e dressing room before the show. They did it that night as an encore and dedicated it "to our friend"

THis is Guided by Voices; Robert Pollard is in the center.



this is D. Boon of the Minutemen:

... long list from seeing/covering shows.

Also Wynton Marsalis.

Knew (as an acquaintance) Soul Counghing's M. Doughty when he was staying down in my parts while recording their last CD.

As far as REAL (non-musician) famous people?
Shook Ronnie Raygun's hand once (ugh!) during the 1980 campaign.
I'm sure there's somebody else, but I can't recall right now.

I'll brag a little..

Mohammed Ali, first on the list

:) I was a little kid

Movies - Vin Diesel, John Cusack, Michael Moore
Music - Third Eye Blind, They Might Be Giants, Live
Sports - Patrick Ewing, Mike Piazza, Vinny Testaverde
Sports Entertainment - The Rock, Kurt Angle, The Undertaker
Politics - Hillary Clinton, Charles Schumer, George Pataki

the list can go on, I just listed the first three that popped into my head.

About three days before he was shot.
Famous in Michigan: G. Mennen Williams.
John
This doesn't include sports figures I've met while a sportswriter, which would be dozens (Barry Sanders, Gordie Howe, Al Kaline, Kirby Puckett, Bill Buckner, Reggie Jackson -- on and on and on).

He poured a glass of water for me as he was masquerading as a waiter at a Big Brother/Big Sister function in Miami. Senator Claude Pepper of Florida. He's long dead now.

There have been lots of others, but don't have the time to list right now.

Or was he volunteering?

"Skinner" from the X-Files... At a fan convention when I was in junior high school. Pretty pathetic, huh?

George Dyson, son of Freeman Dyson and subject of the 70's book by Kenneth Brower "The Starship and the Canoe"...he lives in my hometown and is still really handsome and nice.

And my friends' grandmother is Madeleine L'Oengle, who wrote "A Wrinkle in Time" and some other famous books. I think I met her at a party.

My dad helped organize a trip to Des Moines , Iowa for RFK. We got to spend about 5-10 minutes with him with only a couple others in the room. Met all of the Grateful Dead on a couple of occasions. Shook hands with Janis Joplin, along with a few hundred other people. Tommy Makem and liam Clancy at the Great Northern Hotel in Bundurin, Ireland. Hubert Humphrey. Had a drink with my congressman, Dave Obey. Susan Vega. The Beach Boys.

Shook his hand and said "Howzitgoin Champ?" many years ago.

George Plimpton, with whom I had a casual friendship, Don Johnson, with whom a good friend used to sleep, Adrian Lyon (the Director), Howard Dean.

may be the most famous person I've spent significant time with. I took a writing class from her. I've met a lot of children of famous people--famous writers, mostly--for some reason: the daughters of Daniel Patrick Moynihan (lived in my freshman dorm), Jack Jones (took a Russian class with her), Norman Mailer (she had dinner at our house) and John McPhee (used to eat at a restaurant where I waited tables). I also wrote an article about Bebe Buell, ex of Steve Tyler (and Elvis Costello and Tood Rundgren, etc., etc.) and mother of Liv Tyler.

I LOVE Dillard and McPhee!!!

Those two keep me falling in love with the essay all over again every time I read them. Pilgrim at Tinker Creek is one of the best books I've ever read. Ever.

And after taking a class with her, I may never read any of her words ever!

That's a tough one to overcome, but I really, really strongly recommend Pilgrim at Tinker Creek.

My memory of her bad points is fading a little, but for a while there, I couldn't stomach the mention of her name. She was a bit of a prima donna.

Got a nice picture of the two of us together, too! :-)

:D

Most of the ones I met most people don't really care about. I got to shake Bill Clinton's hand while he was running the first time. I had my Elvis and Nixon shirt on that had "The President meets the King"..Clinton looked down at it and laughed.
I got to hang backstage with Paul Butterfield shortly before he passed away (I drank most of his beer..lol).
A few others; Eric Burdon, Alan Price, Cordel Jackson, Steve Jones (Sex pistols),..there are a few more, but I would have to think and I'm at work..so I don't want to think...lol.

..is Ron Low, former NHL goaltender and former coach of the Edmonton Oilers and NY Ranges. Thats it, I dont remember meeting anybody else famous. Thats especially sad considering how much I've travelled (Los Angeles, NY, Las Vegas, Hawaii, etc)..

He owns a minor league team here in Charleston. I met him at the stadium one lazy afternoon, he was throwing catch with his family on the abandoned diamond. I made jokes about Caddyshack ruining my sex life as a teen (Screaming "It's in the hole!" made for bad technique), and then answered the question "You comin' to the game?" With "Um, yeah, money's tight, though. Maybe some rich comedian will buy my ticket...you got Garrett Morris' phone number?" "Good luck," Bill laughed, and we parted ways.

Also met Jimmy Carter, but not as funny as Bill.

Sat right behind me at a Bull's game. After the game took a picture
with him. He's so nice and as some of you know, absolutely detests
Bush..so he's my kind of guy.

Cusack was in the French Quarter (New Oleans) with a friend and they were shooting a short film in which they were asking people if they had ever seen Elvis, or if they believed he was alive, or something.

I believe I've met a famous person or two in the Quarter, but I can't recall who right now. I know I've seen them. Spend enough time there, and you're likely to see some names.

Chief Justice Earl Warren
Mahalia Jackson
Van Cliburn
Marian Anderson
Jefferson Airplane
...how's that for an eclectic group!

To have met Harry Truman AND Marian Anderson is really remarkable. You've certainly met some legends.

As for my list, it reads this way:

*Shook the Big Dog's hand after he made a speech at the dedication of the site of the WWII Memorial in D.C.

*Met Paul Wellstone after his swearing-in in 1997. I tear up just typing that.

*Sought out Charles Schumer, then a representative, and shook his hand at a rally against domestic violence.

*Asked Barney Frank some questions and shook his hand at an ADA event. I also met Father Robert Drinan at an ADA event.

*Saw Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) at the Million Mom March.

*Talked to Tom Stoppard and Tom Wolfe after they did readings at my university.

*Strom Thurmond, Rep. Connie Morella (R-MD), and Eugene McCarthy all introduced themselves to me.

*Waited on Clarence Page and Julian Bond (not at the same time!) at a store counter.

I've also met Donna Shalala and Molly Ivins (WONDERFUL).

Gene Hackman, Oliver Stone, Roy Scheider, Burgess Meredith, Sela Ward, Peter Masterson, Jason Patrick, Jennifer Jason-Seigh, Lili Fini Zauck, Paul Woerhoven...and many more from my old days as a film location manager.

On the political level, it would be Anne Richards when she was still Governor of Texas. Great lady, one of my heroes.

Dr. Dean!

I sold him some bagels. At first no one recognized him but as soon as someone did he started running all around the store shaking hands. It was 1992, and I told him my concerns about Clinton and expressed my support for Mario Cuomo. Then I gave him his bagels.

I met him at when he was campaigning for Bill Bradley. Some guy named Gore I was not supporting was there too. He was casually dressed, it was nuclear hot, and most of the crowd had left. I told him I wished he would've ran longer. He asked what I did and when I told him I was a teacher, he began to tell me his stories and ask about mine. We discussed why we thought Bradley was the best man for the job and I think I was with him for about fifteen minutes--my finest political memory.

Anthony Quinn
Dated George DeWitt a couple times (only those in my age group will know who he is)

Take your pick.

Geraldine Ferraro (back in the 1984 campaign period)
Sen. Paul Simon (same)
Pres. Gerald Ford (when he came through town when I was a kid)
Rep. Dennis Hastert (long story....)
James Hoffa Jr. (another long story.....)
Nadia Comaneci & Bart Conner when they were in town right before the 2000 Olympics (my father-in-law judged Conner back when he was competing)
Bela Karolyi (yes, he's really that tall!) and Marta Karolyi
Shannon Miller
Kerri Strug
Mary Lou Retton
John Roethlisberger - 3-time Olympian gymnast
the Hamm twins (Paul & Morgan)
George Nissen (man who invented the trampoline - friend of my father-in-law's)
and other assorted gymnasts and coaches
Victor Borge - when he came through my home town to perform
Doc Severinsen - same
Maynard Ferguson - the son of a friend of mine played on the tour with him last year
Luciano Pavarotti - when he did a gig on my college campus
Kallen Esperian - opera soprano - I went to school with her - she recently did several performances with Andrea Bocelli
Jim McMahon, Horace Grant - their kids went to the same pre-schools as my kids
B.J. Armstrong, Bill Cartwright, John Paxson - Bulls players who used to frequent the same restaurants as us when they were on the team
Doug Collins - I met him when he was still playing at ISU before he went to the 1972 Olympics and played in that infamous game against the Russians, and coached NBA`- his son Chris played for the local high school basketball team here

Ah yes, one other.......

Barry Manilow - I and about 16 of my fellow college singers did the "One Voice" and "I Write the Songs" finale with him when he came to do a concert at my college campus. Say what you want about him - his band members were hilarious - very kind to us all - and so was Barry. Quite a showman.

and a host of less well-known folk.

Conan O' Brien - he was actually filming a skit for his show, a few blocks from Times Square and I talked to him for a little while.....really nice guy........

Newman (Seinfeld Show) - can't remember his real name


alot of NY Yankees players - from the road trips I go on every year.....the coolest ones- Bernie Williams, Mariano Rivera, El Duque Hernandez, real down to earth people.....the biggest "you know what".....i'd better not say..........

Chris Matthews - this was a few years ago when I actually liked his show

Tony Bennett - the great singer, a really friendly and wonderful person too

Bonnie Raitt

Mario Cuomo

Ted Rall - really smart and funny guy

Did he talk as cool as he wrote?

He was my instructor at the University of Houston's graduate writer's program. We were the last of his students before his death.

Barthelme very much wrote exactly who he was.

and Herb Kohl.
Howard Dean and Dennis Kucinich.
Congressmen Jerry Kleczka, Ron Kind, John Lewis, and (former Rep.) Tom Barrett.

Non-politicians: Michael Moore. Gwendolyn Brooks.
Can't think of who else. I'm probably missing somebody big.

I've met precious few from sports, music or film.

is probably Stephen King, whose summer residence isn't far from where I live.

Also (in no particular order);

Barney Frank
John Kerry
Dick Gephardt
NH Govs Jeanne Shaheen and Craig Benson
Elizabeth Edwards (wife of John)
Dennis Kucinich
Carole King
Politcal satarist Barry Crimmins
William Rivers Pitt
Howard Dean
Granny D

Must be a Route 128 thing. Except Will Pitt, I'm not allowed to park in Cambridge.

Juan Pablo Montoya, racing driver. Also Gil de Ferran, Christian Fittipaldi, and Roberto Moreno.

CART race at Rio, year 2000... the last one held. :cry:

Okay how about the guy who pied Jean CHretien, Dick dale, and Christy Clarke...who isn't a popular one around here.

Hillary, Al and tipper during the bus tour of 96

of The Supremes. But meeting I mean I've sat down and spent an evening chatting with her.

If I remember correctly, it was "You Keep Me Hanging On."

One of the proudest moments of my life.

and it was the same song as well.

http://www.littleantiquemall.com/reunion/

Check this link.

n/t

I was about 12 or 13, in the Boy Scouts. We were the color guard at one of his performances in Palm Springs.

"I got CHUNKS of guy tougher than you in my STOOL!" (Phil Hartman as F.S.)

Jon Anderson
Steve Howe
Rick Wakeman
Bill Bruford

All of Three Dog Night
Mellisa Manchester
Holly Robinson Peet (and Rodney)
Andy Williams
Dolly Parton
Conway Twitty
Tony Carey
Night Ranger
Steve Morse
Eric Johnson
Ricky Van Shelton
Goldy Hawn / Kurt Russell

All I can remember now....I know there are some more though...
(airports are nifty places to meet people....gotta be observant though)

Gerhard Schröder
Helmut Kohl
Helmut Schmidt
Joscka Fischer
a few politicians not internationally known (Zypries, Thierse, Struck, Scharping, ...)


Udo Lindenberg
Michael Moore
... (a few local stars who helped in the election campaign)

I'll tell DU the story sometime.

in jersey city, nj...lincoln park

Was at stage right during one of their concerts.....right in front of the monitor board.....cool guys...

I forgot Goober!

(George Lindsey)

with Tom Cruise. Also, my nephew's frat was having a party at the Peabody in Memphis and Tom Cruise was there. He paid for all of their food and drinks!

Played darts, had beers at the bar I was tending. She was up in my old haunts (Mendocino, CA) filming 'Dying Young' with Vincent D'Enofrio (sp?) and Campbell Scott.

She was pretty cool.

:hi:

shook her hand and it was an honor.

Country Joe McDonald , actually watched his amps backstage
for him ..

Greg Pallast Very nice guy

Donald Sutherland at the SF airport

William Pitt bought me a drink ;-)

Al Gore, Henry Kissinger,Cindy Crawford, George Lucas...I don't know. I used to work at a film studio, and we had a lot of famous visitors. :shrug:

His son, Emilio Estevez and i graduated from Santa Monica High School together, and he introduced me to his father at graduation. I shook his hand and he was very kind to me. I have great respect for him and what he's about.

I was a summer employee at savon drugs around 20th? and wilshire when arnold swarznegger came in one day. He walked up to me and asked "Where is the toothpaste?" I said: "Aisle 12" He turned on his heels and walked over there... as this was '79, i sorta half recognized him, but only after a fellow employee reminded me who he was did i recollect. Between the 2 martin sheen was a far more charismatic human being.

Jimmy Carter was a few feet away in a hand shaking once.

and Olivia Newton John. Martina Navritalova, Tony Dorsett, Randy White, and Dan Reeves. Governor Mark White and President Lyndon Baines Johnson. They all said they were glad to meet me.

Not sure I'd call Chomsky famous. He came to Macalester to give a talk on politics and social issues, but my linguistics professor got him to do a linguistics lecture (for those who don't know, Chomsky pretty much founded modern linguistics in the 50s, before he moved onto politics). He spoke leagues above undergrad level, and as an academician he is bombastic and confrontational, but it was still fascinating and I felt like I was in the presence of brilliance.

George Plimpton did a book reading/signing for a collection of his essays and stories he had put out. I barely knew who he was, but my creative writing prof made us attend a certain number of book readings so I went to see Plimpton. His stories are much funnier when he reads them aloud.

As long as I was fulfilling an academic requirement I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone and buy his book for my parents as a Christmas present. I asked him to sign it "Merry Christmas to Dave & Karen Truthspeaker". He said "I hope they fight over it". Five months later my dad walked out.... Anyway there were a lot of people in line and I thought it was very nice of him to write personalized autographs for all of us.

Michael Moore (me too, me too!).

Kurt Vonnegut, Ray Bradbury, and Gwendolyn Brooks.

Gov. Jim Doyle, Sens. Russ Feingold and Herb Kohl, Reps. Jerry Kleczka & Ron Kind (WI), U.S. Rep. and presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich (he's the only candidate who knows who I am -- I also shook hands with Howard Dean, but I did not "meet" him). Former Rep. (WI) Tom Barrett. Reps. John Lewis (GA) and Bernie Sanders (VT). Senator... erm... Mike DeWine (so sue me, he was my congressman, & my family visited Washington. I was 10).

I met Marge Schott once... Pete Rose, Joe Morgan, Johnny Bench, Joe & Marty (eat yer hearts out, Reds fans), Duke Snider, Harvey Haddix (12 perfect innings, then WHAMMO!), Brooks Robinson, Bobby Hull, Bobby Orr, Sergei Fedorov, um... Mark Gastineau?

Charles Michael Kitteridge Thompson IV (aka Black Francis/Frank Black) and Kim Deal of the Pixies, Bob Pollard, various Columbus musicians (Don Howland, Ron House, Mike Rep, the late Jerry Wick & Jim Shepard), Jack & Meg White (the White Stripes), Scott Morgan (the Rationals, Sonic's Rendezvous Band), Mick Collins (the Gories, the Dirtbombs), Tim Kerr (Big Boys, Poison 13, Bad Mother Goose, Jack O'Fire, Lord High Fixers, etc.), the Dead Milkmen, the Makers. Okay, most of the musicinas I've met are not "famous," more "famous to me."

Probably someone big I'm forgetting.

Billy Childish. I stole some of his manuscripts.

Not that any of you care.

give them back

They were songs he'd already recorded.

I was out at the stable one saturday morning for a riding lesson, and my teacher and I were saddling up this fat Morgan horse. It was warm and humid, I was kinda sweaty, the horse was holding his breath while I was trying to fasten the girth. Some guy comes walking down the aisle of the stable in nice trousers, white shirt (short sleeves, at least), tie, and, unlike myself, shaven. He stops to say hi to my teacher, who's standing next to me. So it's "Hi Sally." - she replies, "Oh, hi Bob -" then turns to me, "Dan, this is (US Senator) Bob Kerrey.". So I greeted him politely, shook hands and all. Turns out he was there making a contribution (sizable) to a handicapped theraputic riding center. Bob, if you didn't know, is missing a piece of leg.

Also, when I was in elementary school my dad was business manager for a private school (so I got to go there) in Sherman Oaks, LA. The rich and famous frequently enrolled their kids there, so I knew some famous offspring -
Peter Ford (son of Glenn)
Wally Harriman (his dad was in the Davy Crockett TV show!)
Natalie Cole (daughter of Nat King) (I hear she made famous on her own)
Assorted Heinz's
Donna O'Conner (daughter of Donald)
and so on.
One such famous daughter shared birth month and year with me - scrawny girl with big eyes, was always in and out of school - I knew her around 5th, 6th grade. She went on to go into pop singing & at the time I thought it was because she looked like her mother (unlike her younger sister, who does not), and had that same sort of style of voice. Anyway, she went on to become very well-known, and it surprised me for a while, especially in the early 70's when she really became a household name. It was a little hard to imagine the scrawny kid building such a career, and I could still see the kid in her face. Not so much anymore; the years have been kinda rough on her I guess. Anyway, if you haven't figured out by now, that's Liza! (and Lorna)

When I was a student at WMU, he was there hanging around with some mutual friends. I was really drunk, and he was trying to teach me to play hearts or euchre or something.

she is VERY TINY


not doing well now - bless her heart

I used to work at a management company in LA that repped him as a writer (not actor) along with his writing partner. He came in for directions to a meeting and I showed him how to get there on a Thomas Guide. He's as one would expect: nice and unassuming.

Ok, so I was only six years old but I got to sit on his lap. My parents were involved in his campaign for president in 1968.

I went to the LBJ School of Public Affairs at UT-Austin and got to meet Mrs. Johnson briefly while I was there. She's a lovely woman.

I got to meet Barbara Jordan and was signed up to take her Ethics course the semester after she passed away. :-(

I also got to meet Ann Richards in person - she came often to speak top the students. She is a pistol. Just as funny in person as she is with a script.

I had Karl Rove as my prof for "Campaign Politics" - he's evil to the bone.

I always thought I'd like to meet her..a fun person!

at the same time.

Although met is a loose interpretation. He landed at the Air Force Base we lived at in Hawaii. My parents and I went out to greet him. His whole family shook our hands. His lei smelled nice. :-)

Most famous person I've met and talked to and took a picture with? Tiger Woods.

Word change edit.

When he was still mayor of Saint Paul (but after he switched parties) I delivered pizza to his house on several occasions. He was friendly enough, and tipped enough for propriety without actually being generous.

His wife was more likely to answer the door. She always looked sad. This was before I found out he was having an affair and their marriage was (and still is) for appearances only. She lives in California now but they are still married and she shows up in Minnesota twice a year for photo-ops.

Senator Norm Coleman, a "family values" Republican. I wonder if his position on abortion would change if his mistress became pregnant.

... party in New Orleans.

At that point, he was getting gigs mostly on the strength of being the son of longtime N.O. District Attorney, Harry Connick, Sr. My dad and I thought that my mom could have done a better job on the piano. But he did pretty well for a 16-year-old.

Now, ironically enough, his dad plays in a jazz band around N.O., mostly on the strength of being the father of Harry Connick, Jr.

It kinda depends upon who you consider famous. When I worked at Nashville Now I met almost every big country star. I would carry Mr. Roy Acuff's groceries into his house for him when he went to the store. Mr. Acuff is my favorite famous person I ever met.

Actually, i met a lot of boxers, before they were famous pros. Some of them were well known as amateurs, but weren't really famous yet.

Tommy Hearns, Milt McCrory, Howard Davis, are a few others i knew.
The Professor

I dunno. I suppose there are others. But those are the ones I actually spent time talking with.

I was selected as part of a group of five students who got to meet with Barry Goldwater as a freshman in high school. We had 90 minutes with him, and he was very honest, so it was actually cool. Later, at a different high school, I was selected as part of a group of ten to meet with him and the Phoenix Mayor.

I met Max McGee a few years ago in Cave Creek, AZ, where his daughter used to own a Packer bar. Great guy. I met A.J. Foyt and a number of other big name Indy drivers at Milwaukee and Phoenix, as my pops was a fireman who worked the tracks. Anyway, after a few years, Foyt actually recognized me, and he gave me a tour of his garage while he waited to qualify for a race in Milwaukee. I met Carlos Fuentes in college, when he spent a week at the school I attended. He spent three hours with two different seminar courses I was taking. That was awesome!

lived two doors down from childhood home of Steeler's QB, Terry Bradshaw (and went to school with his brother), met all the surgeon Generals from Koop to Satcher.... Various Senators, but I don't generally count them...

????

I had other things on my mind at the moment. Maybe I should put Sigourney Weaver, as we actually had a conversation consisting of more than "hit" or "stand." Pitt had quite a large entourage but the other folks weren't playing, just hanging around. I suppose one or more were bodyguards but it's still tacky. There is sufficient security at the high roller tables at Mandalay Bay not to need to bring along a herd of wild elephants.

and Hillary.....shook their hands (twice)....at the NY State fair 2002

Nice guy.

One class act....

He was just one of the most fantastic people ever.

Elaborate please and thank you.

who was in the Darth Vadar suit in the Star Wars movies, but I can't rmember his name. He's an English actor that originally was going to do the voice until James Earl Jones dubbed it over. Alexander Haig made a pass at my mom at an airport 20 years ago which I was witness to. Oh, I met Senator Chris Dodd too.

I'd tell you, but then I'd have to kill you, since it might reveal my identity.

O8) :nuke:

I went to a booksigning in Raleigh a day or two after he was on Saturday Night Live and then announced that he wasn't going to run in 2004. I got to call him "Mr. President"! It felt so good--I can't stand the evil, fraud moron who is currently squatting in his house.

President of Brazil, one of the most intelligent and compassionate world leaders around. She's also met a bunch of actors and show biz people, of whom my favorites are probably Penn & Teller.

The most famous person I've met is either Senator Ted Kennedy or Mickey Hart, depending how you weigh musical vs. political notoriety.

And my parents tell me we rode on an airplane with Danny Thomas when I was a kid, but I have no memory of that.

Met him in a Capitol elevator back in the mid-70s. Largest hands of anyone I've ever seen.

I am assuming that he's more famous than Jan and Dean (my cousin was playing in their band during a revival tour back in the 80s), Alyson "Willow" Hannigan, or Bill Nye the Science Guy. And I also assume that standing next to Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel, but not actually speaking to them, doesn't count. Nor would being among a group of protesters a few feet away from Ronnie Reagan or Spiro Agnew, right?

howard zinn, wilco, and Patti Smith

Alice and I shared adjacent urinals in a men's room. I told him I enjoyed the "Welcome to My Nightmare" concert in Huntsville, Alabama in 1975. He looked at me as if I were crazy.
I shook hands with Clinton twice and my sister's father-in-law is Doby Gillis.

Though he's got a decade or two on me. When I was in school, he used to come by to "watch" JV football on Thursdays, when no one except a few parents bothered to come. Mostly he eyed the cheerleaders, who, of course, gave him their undying attention post game.

I met James Carville, Justice Ginsberg, Bernie Sanders, and Jerry Nadler within a space of 5 days. It was incredible. I'm in high school by the way. It was last year.

sort of. I was in the audience for a Blind Faith concert (outdoors, Kennedy Stadium, Bridgeport, CT). I wa standing close to the stage with my head way too close to a Voice Of The Theater monitor when someone tapped me on the shoulder and said "bitchin', man". I turned and there was Janis. I am sure I muttered something completely stupid in response, but I don't (or won't) remember what it was.

Not at the same event. Qualye was at the college my mother worked at. She got my sister and I to be part of the catering gig for the luncheon that was held for him. He seemed like a really asshole unlike all of the nice friendly politicians I had previously met.
I met Ed Rosenthal at the Midwest Marijuana Harvest Festival. He is big in the pot community and owns Cannabis Culture magazine.

All back in Washington DC.

I almost smacked into US Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's limo once.

But that's ANOTHER story

The father of Bluegrass Music.

:)

don't know who's more famous.

and quite a few other not so famous paleontologists.

Last September, he was here in town. Cool.

I was there!

Hard to tell who is more famous.

Willie Mays I met only briefly.

I met Joe Namath and Carol Channing, both of whom were in plays with my Grandfather.

And I once waited by the backstage door for ... Neil Finn (Of course), who was very nice and spoke of the weather before he was discovered and mobbed by about 50 girls (this was 1987).

Greg Allman
Toy Caldwell
George Clinton
and a lot of other famous and semi-famous musicians.

I shook his hand and was surprised at how hairy it was. I was later reminded of that by the recording, "The Begatting of The President," read by Orson Welles: "And Bobby was a hairy man."

Marilyn Manson (actually had him an in adult ed class as a student)
Trent Reznor (he wrote music for my first indy feature in 1986)
Stiv Bator (my cousin)
Jerome (from The Time)
Dave Blaney (NASCAR driver)
Howard Metzenbaum (dated a family member)
Dennis Kucinich (while he was mayor of Clevo)
Wolf Blitzer (following the Gulf War, when he became a household name)
Jim Lovell (before Apollo 13, after Gemini and Apollo 8)
Steven Tyler (he threw a Jack Daniels bottle at me after a show!)

Thre's lots more, but that makes a funny cross section. My personal favorite. Jim Lovell. A true American HERO! And a modest man.

Rick

I was volunteering my equipment services for a kids' basketball camp program that KG was in back in the late 90's. There were some other hoops players there, but mostly D-League guys. TNT came once to film him doing his stuff, and I was seen in one quick camera shot in the background on the national TV segment. I had to run around and put away a bunch of crap that day though, since it was the last day. So I wasn't able to stick around too long.

KG and I talked on occasion those two weeks, and he gave me his phone number, but that was his old house in the Mpls. suburbs. I haven't contacted him since.

Would have to be either Walter Mondale or the Olson Twins.

And Hillary and Howard Dean, and several other politicians.

As for celebrities, I know Brooke Shields, who was in my class at Princeton. And I've met David Bowie a few times.

on a fifth grade field trip.
I also got to meet him at his big re-election bash in Little Rock in November 1996. (I was in the UCA Marching band that played the National Anthem and also Hail to the Chief)

A bunch of Hoosiers.

of non-European country count? That's my wife!

Richard Dalton (in airport)
Michael Jackson (with his face mask on, in elevator)
At a Xena Convention:
Joxer (Ted Raimi)
Ares (Kevin Smith)
Aphrodite
Xena's Mom
Autolycus (Bruce Campbell)

...the most famous person I've met is Prince Charles, when he was reviewing my Regiment.

I met Tom Waits in a bookstore once. I asked him if he was Tom Waits, and I told him "...I was never a fan of your music, but I can understand the appeal", and he hugged me and paid for my books.

A Little Bit. :-)

I talked to her for a few minutes and was amazed at what a tiny woman she was--not even five feet tall, but very charismatic.

at a Holiday Inn bar in Banner Elk, North Carolina. I was there for a football game and they were filming the movie "Snow People" up the mountain. I met soap opera star, David Canary on the same trip. I’ve also met Former Detroit Lions Football coach Monte Clark and quarterback Gary Danielson.

Jay

:puke:

I have a ton of celebrity stories, but that one's the grossest!
(Oh, by the way, he missed me! I was very quick on my feet back in the day. You had to be when Farley was around)

You can't stop there, you just can't.
Details. We need details!

I used to work at the bar directly across the street from The Second City theatre on Wells in Chicago. I worked there in 1991 (through 1994) when Chris Farley, Tim Meadows, Stephen Colbert, Steve Carrel, Jeff Garlin and Amy Sedaris (among many others) were working there.

My bar offered a discount to anyone who worked there, plus we had free popcorn. So all the Second City employees would migrate across the street after work or the show to drink cheap beer and eat all the free popcorn their stomachs could handle. Chris, as you've probably guessed, was quite the regular.

One night, I was bartending and Farley was at the end of the bar. I was reaching waaayyyy over the bar surface to pick up some glasses that were just out of my reach, when Chris (who was known for consuming so much alcohol and drugs that he would spontaneously vomit almost anywhere) just hurled in the direction of my upper arm and chest. I thank god to this day for my cat-like reflexes. His barf hit the bar and the cooler, but , except for a little splatter on my shoes, missed me entirely!

Ahhh.....memories!

Well, I guess this is what Letterman would refer
to as your brush with greatness.

It's very sad that Farley had such problems.
I actually liked him and thought he was quite funny.

But I'm happy you dodged a bullet...so to speak.

we spent about four hours in an elevator with a cop and a dame. Connery spent alot of time whistling and singing "Poor Butterfly" and working his magic on the young woman.

Dick Smothers, who drank a lot of coffee always. Bob Novak, I dropped his steak sandwich and he was very nice about it. he's very funny and engaging in person, or at least was way back then.

Steve Martin was asked by a child if he could get Martin's and John Candy's autograph on the set of "Planes, Trains and Automobiles", Mr. Martin, who was always gentlemanly, in a soft voice said "We don't do that while we're working" (the child was working, too) Mr. Candy made certain to re-assure the child that he'd get the autographs at the next break.

Jerry Van Dyke, KoKo Taylor who liked the lobster Thermidor so much she ate it every night for her entire gig. One night,between sets, when I asked if her friend under the table was okay, she just smiled and said he was catching up on some sleep.

James Belushi, who ordered two plain avocados for every lunch during the rehearsal period prior to the opening of "Sexual Perversity in Chicago" was very gentle and polite.

Tommy Lee Jones mock-demanded that I clear a path in the snow for him.

Well, it just goes on and on. Yes, I do know all the stars and thank you for asking.

Jeez, I'm claustrophobic -- 4 hours on an elevator, and I'd be a blob of molten Silly Putty.

:toast:

It was a shot in "The Untouchables" where after a press conference takes place, we exit the elevator, walk down the hall and then a witness is shot (with a gun)in another elevator. Connery and Costner run back.

it was a long take done with one of those cameras "worn" by the cameraman who then walks in front of the action.

I don't get Claustrophobic, so that waren't no problem.

The woman in the elevator was molten putty, too. But that was Mr. connery's doing, not the lack of elbow room. In fact I recall the guy who played the cop saying that he was suprised there wasn't a puddle at her feet. He also said he had to "yowst" in the worst way but like a professional, he waited untill we exited the lift to do so.

My wife grew uo next door to Henley's personal manager. Was able to hang out at the after party a few summers ago at the Universal Amphitheatre and then meet Henley in his dressing room. Bill Maher was there to meet him, too, but he was like the first one in then out. He had a beautiful blonde with him (who was about a foot taller than he) and was in a hurry to get out.

Met Pacino (and got a picture with him) outside the Mark Taper Forum in LA while waiting to see him in O'Neill's "Hughie"

Met Al and Tipper Gore (kinda/not really) at his book signing last year in Century City. I told him I had volunteered at the 2000 convention to work for his finance mananger and Gore said that he had just gotten off the phone with him 15 minutes earlier. I told them that I wanted to get back to Washington to work and they told me to keep in touch with the guy I referred to. It was cool to have something to say other than "dude, you got fucked over last election," which he probably hears in one form or another 53 times a day.

I was an intern for Senator Boxer and met many marquee-name senators while there, including a teamsters party thrown in one of the Senate office buildings that was attended by Wellstoen. The guy really could light up a room just by walking into it...

But it was definately John McCain in Flagstaff, AZ.

Lessee, also:

Bruce Springstein
Steve Earle (many many many times)
Zachary Richard
Sarah Jessica Parker
Kevin Smith (and Jay too :))
Roger Ebert
Darryl Hannah
Greg Palast
Ken Lo (many times)

(On edit: Oh! And Sachel Paige!)

um...

I guess the most famous I have met is either Halle Barry or Al Pacino, but I have met Patrick Stewart, Jane Curtain, Emmylou Harris, Debbie Harry, Mary J. Blige, Eva Marie Saint (she thinks she's still a star!), Eliot Gould, Lara Flynn Boyle, and Pam ANderson. I also gave Barbra Streisand the finger when we were driving down Sunset Boulevard near Bel Air, but I didn't know it was her until after the fact. And Pres. Clinton said "fuck you" to me, too, when we were protesting his Haiti/AIDS policy.

Mostly by Babs flipping you off and Clinton giving you a personal "Fuck you"!

:toast:

My personal Bacon Number is zero. But I met him before his star rose. It was in 1980 I think, and he'd only done Animal House. In any event, I knew his brother a little, since I was getting into music at the time. Sorry, Kevin Bacon fans, I didn't get to have any heavy, deep and real conversations with him. Double irony: The girl I was seeing once met Kyra Sedgewick (Mrs. Kevin Bacon) and her daughter is one of Kelly (dughter of Ozzy and Sharon) Osborne's pals.

Other famous and semi-famous musicians (mostly pre-grunge alternative) I've met: Alex Chilton, Ben Vaughn, The dB's -- Chris Stamey, Peter Holsapple, Will Rigby, and Gene Holder. Plus all four in solo gigs; Jon Bon Jovi, René Bouchard, Murray Attaway and the rest of Guadalcanal Diary, Arthur Alexander, Paul Westerburg, Esta Hill, Mitch Easter, Pat DiNizio, Andy Prieboy (Wall of Voodoo; on Wicked Son tour), Johnette Napolitano, Holly Beth Vincent, Patty Donoghue, Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook (Squeeze).

Non-musicians:

Buckminster Fuller. I met him in the Men's Room of my college the day he was giving a lecture, right before it. He was putting his teeth in, had a bad coughing spell and began to pass out, and I asked him if he needed any help. Fortunately, he didn't. He made an embarrassed joke about needing "Dymaxion choppers" and hurried away.

Jerry Brown. His entourage ran knocked me over as I turned a corner in Philadelphia's Penn Station. He was very concerned that he had killed me, and helped pick me up off the floor. His aids were busy blocking the TV cameras and later hustled me out of camera range. One of them was worried that I would make a legal fuss but I assured him that it would violate my personal Code to sue the man I intended to vote for in the primary.

Paul Hipp. B-list Hollywood, but he gets good reviews. Started out in the MTV pool but has actually done some creditable work. I met him when he was a toddler -- I was in his brother Joseph's 1st-3rd grade classes, and I knew the family pretty well. When he was in his late teens, Paul used to come around and listen to the atrocity of a band I was trying to put together. I have to assume that's the only reason my band never made the MTV rotation.

Seth Green. I never met him, but I know nearly everybody he hung out with in high school since I was "seeing" a young woman who went to school with him. I used to torture them by asking them if anyone could get Seth to get me his wife Drew's autograph.

Steve Young. Comedian and Progressive. We both did comedy open mikes in the early 80s. I sucked. He didn't.

You can add Judy Toll to that list of comedy open mike contacts, too, but sadly, she died some years ago.

Timothy Leary. I was one of eight people who went to see his lecture the night of a snowstorm in Trenton. We got snowed in for several hours, and Tim just kept on talking. He and I ended up rapping about human/computer interfacing and how it would change human consciousness. Of course, several thousands of people have done this, but it was still a lot of fun. The real interesting part, though, was that the topic of psychedelic drugs did not come up once.

Snowstorms have helped me chew the fat with several of the musicians in the list above: Chilton, Stamey, Vaughn, and Attaway.

My father did far better than I did. He met several of the famous musicians of the 1950s, dated (socially) Julie London, and had Victor Mature in his unit when he was a young Chief Warrant.

My grandmother used to do Leopold Stokowski's taxes.

My brother who was the real musician (who got paid for it) met a lot of luminaries, too, and even did some studio work for They Might Be Giants since he was an early PC music home recording enthusiast.

My other brother knows Donna Brazile, and one of his best friends was Darryl Hammond's sister. He tried to hook Sis and me up, but she was a devout Mormon and was also trying to get back together with her ex.

And that's about all.

Yeah, you can meet a lot of people growing old and lame :-)

--bkl

very cool person

Dean. We had dinner in Schotzy's on Main (sp) in Santa Monica, which is that idiot governor's restaurant, and his family came in and sat down next to us. Blech. Had I only known then.

I was a little kid when he still played for the Milwaukee Bucks, and I met him in the airport. He was very, very nice to me.

Saw him on the subway and we talked about politics for a few blocks as I walked home (He's a DU and BuzzFlash regular).


Other than that it's hard to remember how many I've met over the years but here's a few off the top of my head:


Sting
Andy Summers (Police)
Sonic Youth (we shared a rehearsal space)
Lou Reed
Iggy Pop
Mick Jones (Clash)
Michael Stipe
Wesley Clark
Woody Allen (filmed "Bullets" scene at my job)
Adam Sandler
Christopher Walken
Bruce Willis (filmed DH3 scene on my street)
Janeane Garofalo
Denis Leary
Laurence Fishburn
Matthew Broderick
Wayne Knight (Seinfeld's Newman)
Tim Robbins

Met him, Hillary, Al, and Tipper here in Atlanta one month before he was elected the Greatest President of the 21st Century, bar none.

And the only elected President, so far, of the 21st Century.

Got that, President Chimp?

In politics, it was President Luis Echeverria of Mexico. I met him in San Antonio at a reception I had to attend for work.

In music, Mickey Dolenz from the Monkees stayed at the hotel where I was once employed, and he spent an hour in the office using the typewriter. Cool!

I never meet famous people anymore 'cause I now work in a school.

but I also met the single hander, Chichester, fameous for sailing the Gypsy Moth around the world.

man i hate that guy

.....or, at least, the people who were in the band in the summer of 1997. Steve Bowman, their original drummer, and I got to be internet buddies, and he called me when I got mono and was in bed for a month. He was very sweet.

I was on an airplane with Gerry Spence (the fabulous lawyer who's never lost a case). He gave me his business card with his personal phone number (which I lost -- I could have killed myself for that).

I've also met Marilyn Quayle, Richard Roberts (the son of Oral Roberts), Charles and Frances Hunter (famous evangelists), and Dave Ramsey (radio host/financial guru).

I forget which one. It is one of the big ones though. I was like 1 year old on an airplane with my G-pa and we met him and apparently had a lengthy exchange and then he signed my baby picture.... yep.

That I remember...311... they were fried out of thier minds. How can they play such music in such a condition... I will never know... especially Chad Sexton...christ.

I actually did that sports hand punch thing with him at a baseball fantasy camp. And I also met Brooks Robinson. Really nice guy.

I know where he lives now too because I worked as an architect on his Condo renovation in 1989.
Really nice guy, had lunch with him and his wife etc... he designed a lot of the stuff in the apartment too! (He designs his suits too!)

...Greg Louganis, David Drake, Rita Moreno, Buster Crabbe, Bob Paris are the ones who spring to mind. All had actual conversations with, and/or got autographs. They were all very nice, except Bernhard (who was a bitch) and Moreno (who was stressed because there was no elevator working to get her to her hotel room for a between-show break).

Marilyn Chambers, Larry Hagman, Howard Keel, David Wayne,Beau Bridges, Howie Mandell (asshole),Sally Struthers, Bonny Franklin, Floyd Patterson, Nancy Sinatra, Peter Fonda, Wm. Smith, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ken Norton, Buster Douglas, Sonny and Cher, Sal Mineo, Frank Zappa, and a shit load of 60s era bands, Gayle Sayers, Warren Moon, Robert Altman, Boom Boom Mancini, Randy Savage (from my neighborhood), and the list goes on.

He played a concert in Fayetteville several years back, when he was just starting to get big. I was working in a hotel that is fairly close to the coliseum.

When I drove up to the hotel to go on shift, there were about three thousand people trying to get in the building and half the cops in town trying to keep them out. Finally I convinced the officer at the road that I was on staff, so they let me in. (I think it was the hotel uniform on the seat that did it.)

I finally snagged one of the cops and got the story: seems that Snoop's promoter got on stage and announced that the "after party" was going to be at the Ramada. Snoop wasn't doin' no public after party, he just wanted to go up to his room, fire up a fatty and chill. Ya dig? (Finally, we did convince the cops to let us sell cokes and burgers to the crowd outside and they had a nice little alcohol-free party out there for a couple of hours, then left.)

After the crowd left, a black van pulled up and six men got out. They came in and very politely asked for the key for room such-and-such, which they had paid for. The guy's ID matched the one I was instructed to look for, so I gave him the key, no problem so far. "What happened out there?"

"Well, someone got dumb and announced at the concert down the street that the after party was here. Problem was, no one told us about it beforehand or we could have had a ballroom open. We fixed 'em up, though."

"You know who was playin'?" asked this one guy.

"Someone named "Snoop Doggy Dogg," I guess. Never heard of him, though. Do you know who he is?" I knew it was a rap concert, so I figured six young black guys dressed in hip-hop wear would have gone to it, or at least wanted to.

All six of them, plus the security guard, just busted out laughing.

"What's so funny?"

One of the guys pointed at the guy who asked me the question and said, "that's Snoop Doggy Dogg."

Oops. Nice enough guy, though. He was even more fun after a couple of hours, when he came down to the lobby with a boombox to introduce me to some of his work. I had no idea boomboxes got that loud.

My elementary school friend's father was a former football player for the Cleveland Browns as was my father's former superviser.

Shook his hand and chatted about corporate corruption of universities after he gave a talk. Nice guy!

At a Bush 2000 rally in Harrisburg, PA, but I was an hour late. I had even written out a few questions I had wanted to ask him. I would have probably been kicked out. By myself, I would never, ever ever want to meet him, but with my dad and step-mom it would've been a lot more fun.

"Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" was shot only a couple of blocks from my house at the time, though I lived in the cheaper end of the neighborhood. I'd go watch them shoot from time to time, and Mr Scolari and I shared a bit of chit-chat one time. Nice guy.

Bush when he was governor and Ross Perot before he ran for president. Good grief - I've been watching this post for a while and am wondering how a good lifetime Democrat like me ended up with just these two!

I do have an signed book by William Pitt, but bought it that way from Monkey Wrench Books at a "protest" event.

I did some work at their house some years ago. They also had a guest there who I had seen on TV before but I don't know who he was. It was strange to see Tammy washing dishes.

Sharpton, that lady, and lieberman. It was way cool!

:shrug:

... who I'm sure most of you never heard of :)

Actually I grew up with him and his brothers in Dayton, Ohio. We went to the same high school and caddied at the local country club. He was in my brother's class and I was in his brother's class. My cousin married his brother and I talked to him last September at my cousin's funeral.

He is a real neat guy.

indirectly through a Christmas card I sent him.

Waterloo Records - Austin, Texas - October or November 1991

Got my 'Nevermind' CD autographed by all three band members

Curt Cobain signed his name two different ways: 'Curt' and 'Curdt'

Saw them play later that night at LIBERTY LUNCH which has been closed for several years now. Bummer.

She is one of my favorite Democrats.

She has been challenged in her first year, but she's been doing a good job.