I’m related to Gen. William Westmoreland, commander of US forces in Vietnam.
I’ve met:
Pappy Boyington WW II Ace (mid 1970’s but my memory of him was a sad old man even then, but he was a good story teller)
Chuck Yeager (total jerk)
Bob Hoover (flew the chase plane for Chuck Yeager) super nice guy
F. Lee Bailey (I’m not sure about him, I mean yeah a jerk but was nice to me.)
I wish I had known more about Bailey then, I would have asked him about the Boston Strangler or Patty Hearst or something. It was the early 80’s, I was a clueless teenager.
I have a niece who is an actor in California but I won’t give her name. She’s not some mega-star but she has been in some mainstream movies and has been in some TV series, mostly in weird, quirky, niche shows.
In the early ‘80s I met Zal Yanovsky, formerly of the Lovin’ Spoonful when he was one of the owners of the then very newly opened Chez Piggy in Kingston, Ontario.
Also in the early '80s I met Bruce Cockburn. He was selling a house outside of Ottawa and we went to take a look, thinking that he wasn’t even there, and he emerged. I was a big fan at the time and there I was having this banal conversation with him and my dad about the hassles of house-selling and moving.
In the early '70s, when CFL players were local, there was a star of the Ottawa Roughriders, Russ Jackson, who was also the vice-principal of a local high school. A friend and I were watching the HS football team practice and Russ Jackson was out there a few feet away from us watching.
In the early 2000s, in a professional capacity, I met the commander of the assault team that stormed Air France Flight 8969 in 1994 (see Air France Flight 8969 - Wikipedia).
Also in the early 2000s I was at a luncheon with Queen Elizabeth (though I certainly didn’t meet her); I was at a table about 30 feet away from hers.
In 2018 I was at a Saxon and Judas Priest concert in Ottawa. Saxon had finished their set and Priest was playing. I had a floor ticket and I looked around and there, leaning against the boards and enjoying a beer, was the Saxon’s bass player. For some reason it seemed that nobody else noticed. I strolled back and shook his hand but conversation wasn’t possible.
A distant cousin of mine was nominated for the Nobel in Economics.
Another cousin, was/is successful in Heavy Metal. yet another makes low-budget Indy Horror movies.
No famous relatives I am aware of. I once met and had a short conversation with Pete Seeger. I have known and couple quite well a number of famous mathematicians (famous to other mathematicians anyway). The most famous being Alexandre Grothendieck, whom I once talked with for an hour. I knew very well the two inventors of category theory: Sammy Eilenberg and Saunders Mac Lane. I met John Conway on a number of occasions and, about three years ago, ended up driving him around Montreal one day. He was possibly the most famous person to die of covid-19. I once spent a luncheon with Fred Hoyle when gave a lecture at McGill. It was the day after the Nobel prize was awarded to Anthony Hewish and Sir Fred had a news conference to call it a disgrace that it wasn’t awarded to or at least shared with Jocelyn Bell, the real discoverer of pulsars.
So many famous people here I’ve never heard of! I’m a first cousin three times removed of the poet Robinson Jeffers. What I find more interesting is that he and my great-grandmother were first cousins, and they both had a set of identical twins. I don’t know of any other twins in the family tree in fairly recent history.
Everybody has heard my stories, so I won’t be that guy…
But one I haven’t mentioned before was meeting Fred MacMurray. On top of the Empire State Building! That’s right up there with standing next to Penn Jillette waiting for a space shuttle to land at 4am in the Mojave Desert.
I once had a meeting with Steve Jobs. Sat at the table along with 5-6 programmers (I was not a programmer, but a math/modeling/simulation guy who worked with them). This was around 1993-5 after he had been forced out of Apple and founded NeXT Computer. Our agency had bought a bunch of NeXT workstations, and he was there to hear the programmers’ thoughts.
About fifteen years ago, I played regularly at Morgan Freeman’s blues bar in Clarksdale, MS. I never got a picture with him, but I got to shake his hand once. He remembered my name, which was on the sign (chalkboard) outside.
I used to regularly have sex with Roger Stone’s wife Nydia. They were swingers. He liked to watch, and slap me on the butt.
Degrees of separation…I’ve had brief conversations with a lot of 80s punk celebrities, but Gary Floyd is the only one I have an ongoing acquaintanceship with. Well, I used to know Tim Yohannon, too.
I met Elton John at a Watford football match back in 1974. It was a short conversation as I was dumb-struck. I asked him to sign something, and he did. He was my hero in lots of ways, and at that point hadn’t come out as gay I don’t think. He seemed like a regular guy, almost shy, and the people around me were going ga-ga over him. He was wearing a suit and was literally at the height of his fame. If I were to ever meet him again I think I could have a normal conversation with him… although I would still be in awe of what he’s done musically.
Quite true. I’m related to about twelve presidents and two Mayflower travelers. And Aaron Burr. My great grandmother was in the DAR, so I had an ancestor in the Revolutionary War, and one of my great grandfathers was in the Civil War.
I’m related to Louis “Lepke” Buchalter, one of the founders of Murder Incorporated, and a murderer himself.
I’ve met many prominent science fiction writers over the years, including Terry Pratchett, Samuel R. Delany, Octavia Butler, Joan Vinge, George R. R. Martin, Michael Swanwick, Hal Clement, and Jane Yolen. To name a few.
I received an award from Penn and Teller at an awards ceremony for a software product I authored. This makes my Bacon Number = 3
I’ve also been in meetings with Jobs and Gates, but I have no doc to prove it. Gates (1991) was driven and totally on top of shit, I was impressed; Jobs (1997)… lived up to his reputation.
I have met the drummer from The Velvet Underground. Henry Lee Summer used the urinal next to me at a place called The Patio on open stage blues night. My niece-in-law played in the orchestra backing The Who a couple years ago. I taught physical science to Trisha Yearwood’s niece.
I am told by my genealogy-loving cousin that I’m the twenty-fifth great grandson of King Henry II of England, so I’ve got that going for me!
Actor Dave Dunard is my cousin; he’s passed away, last time I talked to him was at my Mom’s funeral in 2004. He’s about 14-15 years older than I, but he was living with us through his high school years, when I was a baby (1-4 y/o). He qualified for Green Berets in 72 or so, but got pretty messed up on a botched training “jump” (parachute) and medically separated from the Service not long after. He was also a regular in Burt Reynolds acting troupe down in Florida
I met and talked at length and went out for sushi and sake with David Drake, noted sci-fi author. Being tankers (he was actually MI, but got pressed into dual-service as a tank loader in Vietnam with the 11th ACR) and as he wrote about futuristic tanks and futuristic tank warfare, we hit it off pretty well. We still trade the odd email. Oh, and John Steakley and I shared a few drinks together at the hotel bar at the same convention. I knew the organizers and was doing courtesy duty like room set up, security, and “guest relations,” so I got a Staff Pass and free run of the place. He was appreciative of my “services” during a panel he was on, where I stared down one of the “crazies” in the audience, and then stepped out to get him a refill on his Bloody Mary.
How cool! I have heard Willie wasn’t always so nice to fans, so I’m glad to hear he wasn’t that way with you at least. Meeting Roberto sounds bittersweet, though. Hearing of the plane crash must have hit you that much harder, meeting him as you did so close to his death.
I’ve got a bunch of brushes with greatness, not a lot of contact more significant than that. I met Franco Harris when I worked at a comic/card shop in the early 90’s. He came in with his son to do some shopping. I was 6’3" and 200 pounds at the time, and he still made me feel small.
Mr Rogers visited me in the hospital when I was a child. Can you think of someone a small child wanted to visit them in the hospital more, in Pittsburgh, in the 70’s, than Mr Rogers? I can’t remember anything he said, but he made me feel exactly like you’d think Mr Rogers would make you feel. A kind, gentle, caring man.
My mom worked as a nurse’s aid, and took care of Manny Sanguillen’s wife in the hospital when she had her baby. I got Manny’s autograph. Manny was meant to be on the plane that crashed and killed Clemente, but he missed the flight due to losing his car keys.
I’m friends with Moe on FB. I’ve helped her a few times in finding some local services where she currently resides. She seems nice enough, but I ignore much of her political ramblings.
Same last name as some actors and sports player, but not related. The spiel is usually “… depending on your age, the actor, the baseball player, or…”. It’s increasingly difficult for people to match them.
At a local park, at a free concert with Barry McGuire (“Eve of Destruction” song), I was sitting in the field with a rather distinctive hat. After the sound check this guy got off the stage to talk to me for a few minutes because of the hat. We exchanged pleasantries, then he went back up, eventually doing the concert. Sorry, Barry, for not recognizing you. I was too young for you the first time around. He did have lots of interesting stories of that era.
I met Randy Bachman in 1969. His wife at the time was Lorayne Stevenson who was the older sister of a fellow I chummed around with in high school. At the time Bachman had a gorgeous '69 Buick Electra, midnight blue.
