Celebrities you've met

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
41

Some wouldn’t necessarily see them as celebrities but I’ve spent time chatting to Terry Pratchett (we even emailed afterwards for awhile) and Raymond Fiest (no booksignings don’t count here). Hung out with Matchbox 20 (not all that interesting surprisingly), John Farnham (pretty nice guy) and Tina Arena.

I also ran into Mark Bosnich (Australian/Man Utd goalkeeper) in Amsterdam and shared a brief ‘g’day fellow Aussie’ conversation.

Also chatted with Elle McPherson on a yacht at New Years a few years back. She’s so sweet!!

42

Wow, I totally forgot that I met Will Smith and Gene Hackman (doh!). They were filming “Enemy of the State” here, and they did the big roof scene on the roof of my friend’s mom’s office building. I met Will, talked to him for a few minutes (well, I watched him talk to other people and tried not to make an ass out of myself) and told him I liked his music and whatnot. I just shook Gene’s hand, and I saw Jada Pinckett from a distance.

I dislike Gene now because he told Rosie O’ that Baltimore was “OK” if you stayed in the harbor area. Asshole.

43

When I was in college, I had the dream gig as stage manager for the Popular Concert Committee. We brought in all the concerts, and as a result I got to meet (and occasionally party with) Lowell George, Bonnie Raitt, James Taylor, John Prine, Steve Goodman, Jimmy Buffett,Charlie Daniels, .38 Special, the Outlaws, and a bunch of others.

That job was the main reason I ended up on the five-year plan, instead of graduating in four.:slight_smile:

44

Magic Johnson… he visited the offices of my college newspaper (thus giving away where I go to college) after he opened a Starbucks he co-owned on the main drag in town. We have this picture of the whole staff with him, and I’m just staring at him awestruck. But I really was. Shaking his hand was something I’ll never forget.

Helen Thomas… you know, the veteran White House reporter who just retired when her company, UPI, was bought by a cult leader. Because I was in our university’s lauded public policy program and covered state government for the paper, I was invited to a dinner where she was the guest speaker. Upon entering, I found out I was the token student at her table, and she sat right across from me and gave me advice.

Geoffrey Fieger… yeah, Kevorkian’s attorney. He was the Democratic gubernatorial (I love that word) nominee and 1998 and I covered the election. He was… interesting.

Dave Coulier… you betcha, Uncle Joey from Full House. He went to my high school, where he was the class clown. He spoke to all of us and I was one of the kids chosen to meet him personally (along with a bunch of other overly-involved students). Very funny, and it was great when he told us about dating Alanis Morrisette, though he denied any knowledge of any misdoings in a movie theater. :wink:

45

Wil Wheaton (Wesley Crusher, from Star Trek: The Next Generation[I refuse to abbreviate it, lest I seem like a Trekkie, or Trekker, or whatever they call themselves]). Met him at a Star Trek convention my cousin dragged me to because she was to scared to drive in city traffic. He was uninteresting for the most part, but what was cool was that after the convention, he sat in the lobby with his friends, making fun of the con-goers.

Tracii Gunz, the guitarist from L.A. Guns. Met him while drunk at a hair band show in S.F. in the early '90s. Uninteresting, and pretty stupid, too.

Jose Canseco, Mark McGwire, Ricky Henderson, Eck, most of the Dream Team A’s from the late '80s. My uncle worked as a security guard in Blackhawk, a ritzy gated community where a few of the A’s lived. Got to meet a lot of them at games, got a few autographs, too.

Tupac. Met him while I was working at a movie theater, back when he was just a kid performing w/ Digital Underground. He was a really nice guy, I talked w/ him for a few minutes about his then-group, who I am a big fan of. What a waste of life.

Mike Patton from Faith No More (and the geeky guitarist, too). Met them at the movie theater I worked at. Both were gold-plated pricks. For some reason, a lot of Bay Area celebs came to the theater I worked at in Hayward.

But the clincher, the all time celebrity of celebrities that I have ever had the pleasure to meet, is Joe DiMaggio. I was working as a busboy, after the '89 quake in S.F., and DiMaggio came into the restaurant I was working at. My boss came running into the back, yelling that Mr. Coffee was out front. Took me a while to figure it out, but when I did come out, the only thing I could say was <<<tiny, insecure voice>>> “can i take your plate, Mr DiMaggio?” He was very kind, and polite, even though he’d just lost his house in the quake. Didn’t get an autograph or anything, I was so dumbfounded. One of my coworkers did, and he said he was thinking of asking if Marilyn gave good hummers, but I talked him out of it (by threatening bodily harm). I could meet the Pope, Jack Nicholson, Ghandi back from the dead, and I would say, “Huh! Big deal, I met the Yankee Clipper, and got to wash his plate. Screw off!” (Although, I probably wouldn’t tell Jack to screw off, out of fear for my life.)

46

I am sure I have put this in a similar thread previously, but playing college basketball opens up the celebrity doors. I have met just about every person associated with college basketball coverage on a major network (ESPN, CNN, etc). I have either met or played in pick-up games with approx. 30% of the NBA. I have met college and pro coaches from other teams (Lenny Wilkens, Dean Smith, Mike Kryzyzewski, etc). I met a lot of pro golfers, partially due to Tech’s stellar golf program (David Duval, Stewart Cink, etc) and a lot of golfer’s living in Atlanta and Orlando. I met Kevin Costner, Vince Gill, Deion Sanders, and a host of others in the locker room for various reasons. Too many to mention, but most of them are pretty nice. Having a locker on the end also means most of the VIPs in the locker room ended up standing/waiting near me, so I had lots of chances to shoot the breeze with them.

47

Geez, never thought about how many I’d met till I saw this. My dad worked for TWA so I could fly for free, so in all the travelling hanging out at airports, I’ve run into Mohammad Ali, Lou Ferigno (the Hulk), and Brian Setzer (the Stray Cats).
In my travels with the AF, I met Stephen King during a trip to Bangor Maine.
In my job at Plaza Frontenac, St Louis’s rich people mall, I’ve met Ozzie Smith, Jack Buck (Cardinal broadcaster), Willie McGee, Bob Costas, Orlando Pace (Rams player), Tony Twist (Blues player), and passed Mark McGwire going into an elevator before I realized who I had just passed, the doors closed.

48

When I was in highshcool one of my best friends babysat for Dennis Rodman’s daughter. So, I got to meet the Detroit Pistons (during their 2x championships).

Joe Dumar - really cool
Isiah Thomas - nice enough
John Salley - Complete Pervert/Jerk
Dennis Rodman - Still normal, very sweet.

49

The famous people I have met have been because I’ve been a reporter and now work in television. Most recently I met Ashley Judd when she was in Kentucky filing “The Ryan Interview” <shameless plug>watch for it on PBS! </shameless plug> If Dr. J’s around, he’s probably met her too. She’s always hanging around here. Al Gore has visited where I work, but I was on maternity leave and missed him!

Ten or so years ago I photographed Cheryl Ladd. She was in Kentucky shooting a made-for-TV miniseries called “Bluegrass.” I was writing a feature article about a young woman who’d gotten a job in the production office. I also met other members of the cast, but I guess they didn’t impress me enough to remember their names!

When I was in college, one of the Reagan/Mondale debates was in Louisville, Kentucky. I attended as a member of the college press. I shook hands with John Anderson (anyone remember him??) and kind of stood around with some national media, including Tom Brokaw (very handsome!) and Dan Rather.

Other minor celebrities I’ve met are authors: **James Dickey, Barbara Kingsolver, Bobbie Ann Mason ** (author of In Country, made into a movie starring Bruce Willis); both she and Kingsolver are the subject of documentaries where I work, and Erma Bombeck.

50

I’ve met James Doohan, Wil Wheaton, and George Takei at either Star Trek conventions or auto shows.

I met Pat Oliphant, political cartoonist. His dentist in DC was my mom’s boss. Before we even met, he gave me an autographed copy of one of his cartoon collections.

51

A special shout-out to Ellen, due to the fact that we have both met James Dickey and are both from Kentucky. :slight_smile:

52

People i’ve met:

I’ve chatted with both the John’s of They Might Be Giants after a concert.

I’ve had beers with the band Fishbone before a few of their shows.

I once got free tickets to a Pigface show from Hypo Luxa (of Ministry and Revolting Cock’s fame) after the band saw me in the bar and liked my jacket and boots… they chatted with me for a while and said “hey you want to come to the show tonight?”

I’ve seen members of Pearl Jam and soundgarden walking about town here.

I’ve seen Bill Gates a few times, I’ve even been to meetings with him.

I’ve had nachos and beer with Chef Troy

53

I met (actually followed) Tom Hanks at the Exploratorium in San Francisco. (He’s from Oakland you know, and has family there.) He was wearing dark glasses inside, but still got a crowd.

54

::: waving at D Marie ::: I was suprised also when I heard of Dickey’s reputation, especially concerning the attractive female students at colleges where he spoke (I also heard him in college). :confused: No passes were thrown my way.

Funny we’re speaking of Dickey; I was just quoting his poem Kudzu earlier today!

55

When I was working in a cigar store in the Chicago Loop ages ago, John Davidson, Willard Scott, and Mr. T came in on while I was there.
I was really amused by my co-worker’s reaction to John Davidson. “Who the hell is he?”
Harry apparently never watched TV.

56

While doing an internship at a radio production company in NYC, several celebreties would come in to do voice overs for commercials, on-air spots and the like. Among the ones I met were Richard Simmons and Joel Grey.
Zev Steinhardt

57

mmm.
i think i mentioned my celebrity connections in another thread.
but aside from working with the Ramones, Marky Ramone’s new band, Dee Dee’s band, Ozzy, and dating an independant film actress. I’ve hung out with the boys from Weezer, the ladies from Lush, partied with the Misfits, conversed with some NBC news weather man (can’t remember the name) that lived next door to my folks for a while (does he count as a celebrity?), worked with and hung out with oh so temporarily (she’s absolutely fabulous but a nut job none the less) Parker Posey, and had dinner with and mingled amongst many Ford Models and Ivana Trump. (and at her age, plastic surgery and whatever else she’s done, she’s lookin’ reeeeeeaaaaaal goooooood.)