My wife and I took a train one summer from Boston to San Francisco. Most of the ride is not too scenic (I never realized how bad Cleveland looked until I passed through it on a train), but the best part is from Denver to San Francisco. You go up through the Rockies, and the views are incredible. The trains there have giant windows so you can get the best possible views. And the schedule is such so that during daylight hours you are in the best viewing areas.
We start pulling out of Denver, and less than an hour out (I think we could still see Denver behind us), the train stops. I think we stopped there for something like 6 hours. When we finally got going again, we did get to see the Rockies, but it was soon dark, and so we ended up being in Utah for most of the daylight hours instead.
Who was responsible for this? Well, they happened to be filming “Under Siege 2” (remember? it took place on a train) at the time. They decided to make a little fire, but it got out of hand, and took hours to put out.
I realize that Steven Segal isn’t totally responsible for us losing our view, but I feel a little better blaming him.
Anyone else have stories where celebrities did something that affected you personally in a negative way?
Sometimes before a movie comes out, they’ll test it in front of an audience and see how they like it. I saw The Prince of Tides like that. Barbra Streisand and Nick Nolte were both there, but they both came in after it started and left just before it left, so noone really saw them. The theatre manager was a good friend of mine (which is why I got in in the first place), and I met them both. Nick Nolte was a really cool guy. But Streisand treated the people who worked at the theatre, including my friend like shit, like they were there to serve her. I never liked her before anyway, but that really sealed it for me. What a skank.
I worked at this ski resort for a while and Barbra came to stay at one of our properites. She was a pain in the ass but who cares, she wasn’t there that long. On the other hand, her personal assistant, a fine woman by the name of Granada, was an absolute gem. So one day we’re drivin’ by the lifts and Babs and Granada are heading up the hill. We all lean out of the van and yell,
I was trying to sleep in one morning when a movie crew came into my neighborhood. I was rudely awakened by a huge banging noise. Upon investigation, I discovered Tony Danza outside, using my 2nd story window (which was covered by a sheet of plywood) as a basketball backstop, shooting imaginary hoops at my window. I yelled at him to knock it off, people were trying to sleep up here. His response was a spew of obscenities. I just told him to go away or I’d throw a bucket of water on him. He went away. Tony Danza is an asshole.
I myself was awoken repeatedly by filming of Nash Bridges.
Jeezus, I don’t know which was worse. Bieng stirred-up at five in the morning by huge, noisy, diesel-powered halogen light trailers or having to go through checkpoints to get to my own house or the fact that my quiet little neighborhood was depicted as “the seedy part of town”.
So many “F*CK YOU DON JOHNSON” signs started popping up in windows that they had to leave.
When I worked at the radio station, I worked a Meet N Greet for the band Faith No More (Epic was their big Top 40 hit). Anyway, I’d loved them for a long time, and their show was so great. I brought the fans back to meet the band, and they’re mostly like 15-18 year olds, rabid, skater kids that were so thrilled to have been given backstage passes (it was my favorite part of the job)
One girl, about 15, went up to Mike Patton (the lead singer) and said, “My god, god! It’s so exciting to meet you.”
Mike Patton, looked up and said, “Have we met? Do I know your name? Did I ask for it? What makes you think we’ve met.” and walked away.
I recall waking up one morning to these thoughts: “can’t breathe… smoke… gas fumes? FIRE!!” It was a diesel generator for a movie crew spewing its exhaust directly into my 2nd story window. My neighborhood was a war zone whenever the movie crews came in. And they came in about 25 times in the 2 years I lived there. Oh I could tell you stories…
I met Steve Harwell, (I think that’s his last name) the singer for Smashmouth.
I won “Lunch With Smashmouth” from a local radio station. I was so excited, because I was broke at the time and desperate to see the band. Lunch included two tickets to the show.
I took my best friend with me, who was also a big fan. We gathered in a room at the radio station to have pizza with the guys. We got to pose for pictures, and basically sit and gab with the band for about an hour.
The guy who plays guitar for them is really cool. He sat and talked to my best friend and I the entire time. He actually carried on conversation, not just “Nice to meet you” talk.
Steve was a complete prick. He didn’t say a word to ANYONE the entire time he was there, except to see if his specially ordered lunch was on its way. He wore sunglasses the entire time, and sat alone. I understand that he may have had a rough night beforehand, but he could have managed a “hello”. When he got on the air with the DJ, he made snide comments about the other radio station in town. Whenever the DJ tried to talk to him during lunch, he just sat there and gave her shitty looks.
I’ve met a lot of people in bands over the years, and generally, if you tell them something polite (along the lines of “I really like your music”) they are generally appreciative. You at least get a thank you. Not Steve Harwell. He just gives you shitty looks and ignores you. What an ass.
Leon Redbone, “country, old-timey blues singer”. Shows up to do concert at folk club in New Jersey. Demands huge backstage spread of special food, drink. Although contract describes lighting as “NO PROFESSIONAL LIGHTING provided, performance venue is a Unitarian Church,” demands a single spotlight as only lighting. No spotlight available. Then demands to be lit by a candelabra (!) on stage. Send someone home to get candelabra. Contract specifies no musical act may “open” for Redbone. Redbone learns that opening act is a folk comedienne who carries a guitar onstage and plays (tops) three chords on two songs. Threatens to walk. Must tip manager heavily to get him out of snit. Finally goes on stage, where he’s all but invisible due to being lit by five candles, then ignores audience, delivers all songs in unintelligible mumble, refuses to acknowledge audience at all. Does a short set, then demands to be paid in cash rather than by check between sets 1 and 2, does a really short second set. No encore, no pics, no autographs, no fans allowed NEAR green room. Leaves behind a giant mess of 90% untouched food from pre-concert spread.
Believe me, most folk performers aren’t anything like this.
i was at a science fiction convention a long tome ago, (in a galaxy far,far away). well, actualy in phoenix, and this litlle jerk was staying on the same floor of the hotel.
passing him in the hall one am, i said hi. he replied with a long string of profanaty. alli did was say hi as i walked by. to this day, i refuse to buy anything of his. i don’t want the little fart having ANY of my money.
not to change the subject,but on the good side, i took my son and some of his friends to see wierd al on his birthday. my son’s birthday, not wierd al’s. great show. we waited after to get his autogragph, and my son told him it was his birthday. altough there was a huge line, he stopped and talked to the boy for a few minutes, wished him a happy birthday, gave him a picture and was just generally a nice guy, well spoken, pleasant. if anyone has seen his show, you will realize the poor guy must of been exhausted, but he took the time to make my boy feel special.
i’m glad not all celebrities are jerks. there are some nice ones out there,
The band, not actual Deviates. When my friend’s close friend died, my friend spent 5 months getting together a punk show in his memory. The money made would be put in a scholarship fund in his name. He had the city help him out by giving him use of the city memorial center for free. The mayor chipped in $200. People, including I, volunteered, many of them never even met him. All is going fine, 9 bands are scheduled to play all day long.
But nnnnoooooo. The Deviates have some “demands”. Including that a band they like be put on the bill, thereby making everyone’s set list shorter on a schedule that had already been planned out in advance and they also demanded to be paid for a memorial show.
Not really big right now but, they’re getting there and they came from around here so a lot of people wanted to see them. I had a backstage pass and decided to walk away and spend their entire set just talking to my friend from Bad Religion in the cafeteria, as did many others.
The Deviates are big idiots. May they rot in hell for wanting to get paid at the expense of the memory of a dead man. Being assholes is one thing, which they were but, wanting to make money from a memorial show? What the hell? If you ever get the chance to see these fucks, pass on it.
The last time I was at I-CON (3 or 4 years ago) Steve Jackson and his wife hogged the hot tub for almost an hour.
Other than that, he seemed an ok guy, though, so no hard feelings.
…besides, it was fun to hang out in the pool with my friends, and say loudly “No, we can’t because STEVE JACKSON is HOGGING the HOT TUB!” then grin over at him and wave.
Claudia Christian was there as the guest of honor, and I must say that she was very cool. She made the rounds of the fan parties afterward and just hung out.
Oh sure – tease us by using the words “Claudia Christian” and “hot tub” in close proximity.
A university group I was in brought Kurt Vonnegut in to give a talk. He was drunk pretty much continuously, and kept asking someone offstage for the World Series scores throughout his talk. Real classy, Kurt. And then he left without taking any questions from the crowd. What a jerk.
