I knew Tre Cool, the drummer from Green Day, when he was 13 and playing in a band called the Lookouts (whose singer was a good friend of mine, at the time). Tre used to do the “female” backing vocals for the Lookouts because his voice hadn’t changed yet.
Axel is a redhead. The original drummer and one of the original guitarists were blond, though.
Not me but…in the early 70’s in Sausalito my husband’s babysitter was Suzanne Somers.
Only UK and a few well informed other dopers will have heard of this guy - I have seen Johnny Vegas twice. Once, he was buying a pie. The second time he walked past me after I had just got some money out of the wall.
He’s currently in the Isle of Man on some project with Johnny Depp (two johnnies! 
) Alas, I haven’t seen Depp.
I saw Thomas Gibson (of Dharma & Greg perform several times at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival before he was famous (really cute butt in tights). My father had two famous students, one of whom was Toni Tennille (pronounced “Tennil” [rhymes with kennel] before she became famous) and the other there’s another story about…
My father was a history teacher in Montgomery, AL and a major Civil War buff. He got special permission in the late 1950s to take his class on a field trip to Vicksburg, MS one weekend (big mistake- you’re not going to keep Middle School students attentions that long) and my mother, also a teacher and then as now a heavy smoker, went along to chaperone. One of the kids was a military brat by the name of Deutschendorf who was ugly and obnoxious as all hell, as unpopular with the teachers as he was with the other students. Whenever my mother would strike a match to light her cigarette (this was when a teacher could smoke on a bus filled with students and nobody cared) he would sneak up behind her and blow it out just to be a pain in the ass.
She got tired of this after a while and the next time she felt him sneak up as she was striking the match she jerked it over her opposite shoulder. Unfortunately, this particular time he had snuck over the opposite shoulder he’d been blowing over and the match caught him in the face and singed one of his eyebrows. It was an accident, but he was hirsutically scarred for a few days and he didn’t try that again.
My father was also a huge folk-music afficianado and used to sing to his students when discussing various parts of U.S. history and he did remark (much later) that Deutschendorf had a good voice and a keen interest in folk-music, often knowing the songs my father sang and taking notes when he didn’t. For those who don’t recognize the name, John Henry Deutschendorf later changed his name to John Denver.
My father was also a wartime buddy of Rod Steiger on the U.S.S. Taussig, though they never saw each other after the war.
My grandfather and his brother physically removed Hank Williams, Sr., from a stage when he showed up (before he was famous) in Billingsley, AL (a city of about 200) where he’d been book to play in a benefit concert to raise money for a recently burned church. He showed up drunk and became belligerant when the crowd booed him. Many years later my uncle refused to rent his son “Bocephus”, who had just begun to make a living performing, a room at the hotel he managed because he was obviously blitzed and smelled bad. Nobody in the family has yet to be rude to an intoxicated Hank Williams III, but he’s young yet so there’s still plenty of time.
WordMan, like you I have met (a few times) Cathy Ireland while I was in Santa Barbara. A gorgeous woman, very friendly, but with the high-pitched squeaky voice of a cartoon character.
Hanging out in LA in the mid- to late '70’s, I saw the Go-Gos play a few times. They were a joke band that opened up for other, bigger acts. They wore Go-Go dancer costumes (day-glo mini-skirts, knee-high white boots, long straight hair) and attempted to play their instruments with only middling success. Some Hollywood type snatched them up and manufactured a new image for them with a record deal. Taught them to play their instruments, too.
My dad used to play with the keyboardist from the Buckinghams before they became the Buckinghams.
I met Shelley Long when she was doing commercials for Homemakers Furniture in Chicago. She was a little bitchy…worried that the stupid uniform they made her wear would make her look fat.
My brother opened for Cheap Trick many, many years ago.
I never had any kind of luck with meeting pre-fame celebs… just boring, I guess. (I did meet Michael Moore when he was in Harrisburg back in 1998, but he was already a name by then.) Others in my family, however…
My father went to Wink High School in Wink, Texas back in the 50’s, where he played the baritone horn in the school band. Another baritone player in the band was this tall, geeky looking guy who also sang in the Glee Club and did a little singing on the side. Geeky kid’s name? Roy Orbison.
Also, my little brother played junior high school football with Eddie George.
In 1984 I saw the Red Hot Chili Peppers play in front of about 200 people outside the UCLA student union building at lunchtime.
In high school I went to swim meet to cheer on a friend and briefly flirted with a cute brunette freshman swimmer named Nora Kuzma. A year later she adopted the stage name Traci Lords and left high school. Just recently I found out fellow classmates have sold our yearbook on eBay for $425, advertising it as the “Traci Lords” yearbook. Hmm… $25 investment held for 20 years… better than most of my stock picks.
It’s funny how most of these read like Paul Harvey’s “The rest of the story.”
Good Day.
A friend of mine was playing some pickup basketball in a park back in our college days. He was a pretty good player, but this day he literally got his clock cleaned by another guy that was playing. It was the first and only time I ever saw him get utterly dismantled by another player.
We found out a couple years later who we was when he got drafted.
Glenn Robinson.
A friend of mine is cousins with and has always known Valerie Bertinelli. She said that she’s very sweet and fame did not change her.
My grandmother used to babysit Claudia Taylor, better known by her nickname of ‘Ladybird’, in Billingsley, AL. (Ladybird was from Texas but spent most of her summers with her grandparents in Billingsley, where she still owns land [she still owns pretty much anything she ever had- stinking stinking stinking rich.
Odd story: when a church in Billingsley that was named for her grandparents long before she was famous was demolished by a tornado a few years ago she was asked for a donation and sent one. Her donation: an ashtray.
A friend of mine used to date Sean Hayes before he was famous. Says he’s very very bright but very freaky.
Anybody want to know about Brendan Fraser’s penis?
No?
Really?
Okay then.
This wasn’t Erin Cohen (Daniels) was it? She lived down the street from me growing up and we dated briefly in one summer when we were still in High School. If you’re still friends with her, tell her I said hello. (She’ll know who I am if you mention the “down the street” thing).
Only had one run in with a celebrity before they got famous. Back in the mid 90s when our local rock station was called 93.7 the Edge, they had a segment late at night playing heavy metal/lesser known bands. The DJ for that was a guy named Nick. Well, I had a friend who was friends with Nicks best friend. Friend in law once removed. He introduced us to Fred Durst of Limpbizkit at one of their first tours here in Minnesota. Can’t remember which one, but it was the one that was before their Korn, Helmet, Limpbizkit tour that launched them.
Cool thread. Unfortunately about the best I can do is seeing GWB sitting right behind me in traffic in Austin when he was still the gov.
I’m too lazy to repost, so I’ll just link.
I have a few.
I went to Jr. High School with the members of Tony, Toni, Toney at the time they called themselves Time Flight and performed a bunch of Time and Prince hits.
In High school I met and went on a date with Maxine from En Vogue she was a student at the Institute of Cosmetology across the street from the Taco Bell where I worked. I didn’t even know until my brother pointed it out when I was at home from the Army on leave.
My older brother played basketball with Mark Curry. Oddly years later when working at a all center for a creditcard company I talked to him about his account.
My Mom knew a whole bunch of Motown Artists becuase she worked at a record store in Detroit.
My Grandmother went to school with, and as far as I know, are still friends with Della Reese. I actually met her when I was about 7.
While in Vegas, I put up with the insufferable whining for sponsorship from an “Extreme Motocrosser” (I’m not even going to mention his name, because this post is not too flattering). Dude had a hard time with the concept of “cost vs. benefit”. Wanted a mountain of free stuff with nothing to offer in return. When the Supercross came to town, he started his heat and pulled off the track after 2 laps and thought that should entitle him to a free motorcycle! Shit! He didn’t even try to make the main event! A complete moron. Not two brain cells to rub together. Hes not exactly famous now, but he did wind up on TV during the X games or something. I’m sure hes flipping burgers by now. In that “business”, you are only as good as your last stunt, and what he did first, now everybody does and does it better. Guy was a dork, however.
Also used to see Marilyn Manson play at a little dive club before anyone ever heard of them. I didn’t care for them, but they had a small fan base. They went further than anybody else that played there to be sure.
My friend got high with Kurt Kobain in the back of their van after both of their bands had played a gig at a small local club. About 7 or 8 months later “Smells Like Teen Spirit” became popular.