My grandfather studied in Indonesia with the later revolutionary Indonesian President Sukarno, and was friends with the Stijl architect Rietveld. My granddad saw a crowd running to a train in1917 Russia shouting “Lenin, Lenin!”.
I once saw a guy on the street and thought “He looks like a short Paul Simon.” I later found out that Paul Simon is short, and his parents were living in my town at one time.
I met Rudolph Isley of the Isley Brothers and had a great talk with him how they toured with the Beatles right before the group hit it huge. Decades later, I mentioned this to a young man who was having a talk about the old-time music with the bus driver. Turned out the young man was an Isley grandson! I still exchange pleasantries with him when I see him in town.
My father (retired FBI agent) used to occasionally eat breakfast with Mark Felt (the man that turned out to be Deep Throat).
I may have seen Dale Chihuly once.
He did an exhibit in Tacoma in the early '90s; colored neon lights encased in blocks of ice. I wanted to try out my camera tripod with some long exposures, so I went. It was in a big arena, so at one point I went up into the stands to get a picture of the whole thing. I remember a guy standing up there, by himself, kinda husky and with curly hair. I can’t say if he had an eyepatch or not; you’d think a detail like that would stand out.
It was years later that I would have any idea who Dale Chihuly was, or what he looked like.
Interesting thread!
Aww, c’mon Annie, why not?
Famous or notable people your or your family has seen — Some impressive meetings here, but how many of those meetings would result in, if today you randomly met that notable person on the street, would have that person call out to you and say, “Hey! Doper! Good to see you! How’ve you been and what have you been up to?”
I’ll try to be brief…
Back in my military days (1980s and 1990s), when I was in the reserves there was a young Marine in my section. I was his section chief. He was a good kid, a college engineering student from down in the L.A. area, with a ready smile and a good sense of humor. Book smart, intelligent, but not the most street smart guy. He’s the kind of guy who would ace a technical test, and then trip on his own two left feet walking out of the exam room. But a good kid, back then.
After the first Gulf War we de-mobilized, and I got out. Soon after, Somalia flares up, and that kid goes over there. Turns out that he’s the only one in the entire Marine Corps who speaks Somali. He is Somali.
Ever hear of the movie Black Hawk Down (2001)? It turns out that that Marine’s father was the main Somali warlord there.
The Marine’s father was General Mohamed Farrah Aidid: Mohamed Farrah Aidid - Wikipedia
The Marine is Hussein Farrah Aidid (also Hussein Mohamed Farrah): Hussein Farrah Aidid - Wikipedia
He went by Farrah back when we served together. He was Corporal Farrah. He ended up becoming the temporary President of Somalia. From Wiki:
I have a few pictures of us together from back then. Good times. And very different times. I wonder how a conversation would go if we were to bump into each other today? I know he’d recognize me, but after what he’s been through, I wonder how free to talk he’d be. I’d love to sit over a beer or two, just him and me, shooting the breeze freely and casually. If we could.
My wife doesn’t like the thought of that ever occurring.
Awesome stories!
Regarding my family seeing Saddam, I was talking to my big sister last week. She was 12 during that trip in '89, and she said that she herself joined in with the chanting, pumping her fist in the air and joking around.
Some of the others doing the chanting began to laugh, and motioned for her to come over to Saddam. She said that my parents stopped her and told her to stop misbehaving, and rushed out of the hotel immediately.
To think my big sis almost met that madman…
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I ‘hung out’ with the Marshall Tucker band for the better part of the day. My friend was a video editor; and was editing one of their music videos. I was in town visiting that day when he got called into work. It was weird. I wasn’t star struck; because I didn’t really listen to their music.
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A funny ‘brush with celebrity’ happened here where I live. I was having lunch at a restaurant here in Alpharetta, GA. (Village Tavern) As I was walking out I saw someone I recognized, but it didn’t immediately come to me; why I knew him. So as I walked past his table; I gave him the ‘silent hello’ that you give to people to acknowledge their existence. You know the one; where you bob your head up as if to say “hey there.”
It wasn’t until I got out to the parking lot that I realized I head bobbed Jeff Foxworthy. I choose to believe he ‘head bobbed’ me back as a courtesy for not interrupting him during lunch. LOL
Douglas Adams at a book signing in Madison, WI.
Kristi Yamaguchi and Scott Hamilton in Madison, WI as they explored the arena where I worked before one of those Stars on Ice type shows.
Mary Cheney and her then partner Heather Poe. I led them (with accompanying secret service detail) on a scuba dive in Grand Cayman.
Al Worden, Apollo 15 command module pilot, met at a dine with the astronaut event in Florida on the 40th anniversary of the launch of Apollo 13.
Darryl Strawberry, during his rookie league year in Tennessee. He once gave me a broken bat.
Betty DeGeneres, at a political fundraiser.
In work as an EMT at a racetrack my brother got to know several NASCAR drivers. Jeff Gordon’s crew made special effort to get a race signed photo from the Daytona Speedway to my brother after Jeff’s 1999 Daytona 500 win. My brother died the following day, having received the gift a very short time before he passed.
Not me, but my parents had a business making equestrian clothing, and horses means meeting the rich and famous quite frequently.
They’ve met and chatted to the Queen and Prince Charles at several private cocktail parties, plus Sarah Ferguson and Princess Anne. Gianni Versace once came to my father’s factory to talk about him making a line of jodhpurs under the Versace brand name (My Dad turned him down!!).
They never met Diana. She wasn’t into horses (which should have been a red flag before the wedding, if you ask me).
When I lived on the lower north shore in Sydney, I used to see a lot of well-known actors up at the shops or around and about. I know people who became “well known”, but that doesn’t really count.
When I was in Paris, I saw Princess Stephanie walking her german shepherd and I saw Margaret Whitlam outside where they lived (UNESCO building? Something like that). They shot the video clip for Absolute Beginners with David Bowie right next door to where I was staying in London. Before they started, David shook some hands of the people standing about watching.
As to family members, my favorite thing has been that for a long time two of my family members each knew someone who was notable character in The Big Lebowski. That’s not true anymore.
The count is up to 3 family members who significantly interacted with 3 different Lebowski folk.
Back when James Taylor was just starting out, I met him and his four siblings.
The one that sticks in my mind is John Wayne, but only because of an unusual circumstance. I met him in a green room when he was premiering McQ. We spent about 15 minutes chatting while I took care of some business. He was extremely nice and seemed genuinely interested in what I was doing and what I thought.
Jump cut 16 years. I happened to mention this incident to my MIL. It turns out that she met John Wayne in an airport that same week as she was going on her honeymoon. In fact, she had pictures that were taken of the two of them together. Her meeting took place on the west coast, while mine took place on the east coast. It seems likely that he was actually returning to LA after the episode where I met him.
Thanks Annie!
Bob Dylan owes my mother in law $20 and a bag of weed.
Well, if you don’t count concerts (and I don’t) mine’s pretty boring. Gordon Jump. He’s the biggest celebrity I’ve ever talked to in person.
Famous Meets
Local atheist group sponsored a James Randi appearance, we all had breakfast with him the next morning before he left. Photo ops for all.
Ended up sitting at a table in a restaurant right next to Jake Gyllenhal. I pretended I didn’t recognize him. Few mundane comments back and forth.
Chris Angel was in a Quiznos just ahead of me in line. I didn’t even notice until the cashier said something. He chatted with the crew a bit and took pics.
Crossed paths with Marcus Wesson (mass murderer) on dozens of occasions. We both used to frequent the same mini mart, we lived about 200 yards apart.
At the amusement park I worked at we had a bunch of celebrity appearance.
Erick Dickerson wandered in drunk off his ass.
The whole band Damn Yankees came in and played miniature golf so Ted Nugent, Tommy Shaw, dont remember the other ones.
More local news personalities and CSU Fresno football players that I can count.
I worked at a round table pizza for a while, Lorenzo Neal came in just before he went pro, I had no clue who he was. He started asking about special deals “just for him” I just went though our normal promotions.
My assistant manager was laughing his ass off because it was obvious he was angling for a deal/discount/whatever and I pretty much just ignored it and treated him like any other customer.
Dustin Hoffman picked up my brother once hitchhiking
WF Buckley Jr. was a close friend of my Dad’s and we all met him.
I shook hands with Jimmy Buffet once
I shook hands with Rod Grams, who was Senator and Representative from my state.
I was uke for one of (at the time) ten living ninth-degree black belts in judo at a seminar.
I got Warren Spahn’s autograph (he was a pitcher for the Milwaukee Braves).
Norman Spinrad signed my copy of The Iron Dream.
And I traded sets with Hulk Hogan on the cable row station when he was in town for some wrestling event (he used a LOT more weight than I did). Nice guy.
Regards,
Shodan
My wife saw The Beatles at Shea Stadium, MLK in Washington at his “I have a dream” speech, worked with Cesar Chavez, met Jim Jones (and has a letter from him), and saw a boatload of old jazz artists in SFO.