Alan Amechie
Gus Triandos
David Crosby
Jimmie Walker
I’ve hung out with all of the members of Ben Folds Five and the Squirrel Nut Zippers.
I met all of the** Kids In The Hall** by waiting for them after a show.
I met Dicky Barrett and Johnny Vegas of The Mighty Mighty Bosstones at a signing at a show.
I met Alton Brown at a book signing.
I was working for a catering crew for one of the NBA allstar game parties and I saw Tom Cruise from afar.
I forgot,
Nelson Rockefeller
and I mispelled Alan Amechie, correct spelling is AmecheNickelback
John Kay
Carlos Montoya
Aretha Franklin
George Michael
MC Hammer
Isaiah Thomas
Lee Iacocca
Joan Jett
Tommy Smothers
Howie Mandel
I’ll play.
Simon Nicol, founder member of Fairport Convention, used to play in the same quiz league but for a different local pub. He still lives in the area and I sometimes see him out and about.
Alex James of Blur lives on a cheese farm about 3 miles away. He can also be seen in (another) local pub from time to time and he also turns up at the village fete.
I once made eye contact with Geri Halliwell at the Ivy restaurant in London. However, I was holding a baby at the time (not mine) so she could have been looking at her rather than at me.
Sat near me in restaurants and bars:
Madonna and Guy Ritchie
Kate Winslet (in a greasy spoon troffing on a full fry-up. Good girl!)
Alan Rickman
Alexander McQueen (fashion designer)
Lily Allen (British Singer)
Bob Geldof
Roland Gift (singer with Fine Young Canibals)
Alexi Sayle (British comedian)
Robert Downey Jr
Minnie Driver
Sir Ian McKellon
Samantha from SATC
Neil Tennant, Pet Shop Boys
Doorstepped me whilst campaigning for Parliament
Glenda Jackson (Actor)
Visited my University
The Queen
Stood next to on my one and only trip down a red carpet at a film premiere
Tom Cruise (he’s not THAT short)
Not counting anyone I’ve seen on stage or simply walked past in the street (let’s face it, hang around the West End of London for long enough and you’ll see SOMEbody famous)
I have interacted with, chatted with or partied with-
Sparky Anderson (baseball)
Gene Autry (baseball, radio)
Jimmie Reese (baseball)
Kobe Bryant (basketball)
Mike Tyson (boxing)
Eddie Money (music)
Lance Kerwin (actor)
Jim Edmonds (baseball)
Clive Cussler (author)
Ben Stein (hell, he’s just fucking Ben, isn’t he?)
Peter Yarrow (music)
Eric Haney (TV, writer, bad ass)
Gene Kranz (NASA)
John Wayne (actor)
Courtney Love (music)
Jasmine Guy (actor)
I know there are more, but I’m drawing a blank right now…
Wow, a bunch - the first one that comes to mind for some reason is Kinky Friedman. He played a show at Fitzgerald’s (near west Chicago suburbs). My friend, the Wife and I sat literally almost with our feet on the stage. Afterwards, we sat and had a drink with him.
I shook hands with **John F Kennedy **when I was a small boy.
**Alan Parsons **and the rest of the Alan Parsons Project (several times)
**Richard Hatch **(the guy from the old Battlestar Galactica, not the naked Survivor guy)
**Lee Majors **(watched some filming of *The Bionic Woman *in my home town)
The **Trans-Siberian Orchestra **members (just a meet and greet thing after concert)
**Weird Al Yankovic **(same)
**Larry Hagman **(he came to the 4th of July picnic in my (and his) hometown)
**Princess Diana **(but she was dead at the time, so I’m not sure she counts–saw the funeral procession in London)
**Ray Bradbury **(he did a reading at our school)
**Chuck Palahniuk **(nice guy–you’d never suspect he could write such twisted stuff)
**John DeLancie **(Q) at Gen Con
**Mike Stackpole **(sci fi author): known him for years; he used to come to our gaming conventions in college, nicest guy ever
Prince Charles
Bill Clinton
Keith Richards
and a zillion blues musicians.
Personal favorites, in no particular order: Howlin’ Wolf, Jimmy Rogers, Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, Snooky Pryor, Big Joe Williams, Sunnyland Slim, Big Walter Horton, Little Brother Montgomery, Johnny Winter (who kissed me on the cheek!), Eddie Taylor, John Lee Hooker, Magic Sam, Junior Wells, Buddy Guy (on my wedding night! No, I didn’t marry HIM), Carey Bell, Henry Townsend, Robert Jr. Lockwood, Yank Rachell, Sleepy John Estes, Homesick James, Koko Taylor, Mama Yancey, Jimmy Reed, John Brim, … you get the idea. I was privileged then.
Hell! I left out Otis Rush!
I met Obama, Hilary and Chelsea when they were in Austin for the debate.
There are quite a few more, although none really big time celebrities. The most memorable was Phyllis Schlafly. Back in the mid-70s I was a volunteer page at the Illinois House of Representatives. I was maybe 13 at the time. The House was voting on the ERA and Phyllis was there to campaign against it. I was in an elevator when she got on with her entourage. At the time, I had no idea who she was. She saw the pro-ERA button I was wearing loudly told me that if the ERA passed, I would be drafted into the military and I would have to share bathrooms with men. I told her I already shared a bathroom with my two brothers and that she was a lunatic! Then to prove how cool I was, I immediately burst into tears because I had never smarted off to an adult before.
I grew up in the neighborhood next to Robin Williams’, so we saw him putzing around every once in a while. I also saw him (and Lucas and the Coppollas) when I worked at the now-demolished Coronet Theater when Lucasfilm & ILM held their Phantom Menace screening there. He was wearing bright green shoes and saluted me.
I made Larisa Oleynik (Alex Mack) a sandwich when I worked at Cala Foods in the same neighborhood. Always had a thing for her, but couldn’t remember her name at the time. Still disappointed in myself for that one.
I think James Lipton waved me ahead at a four-way stop in West Hollywood on Tuesday, but I’m not sure.
I won’t list all the baseball players I’ve seen, but I’ve been up close to Mike Krukow, Duane Kuiper, and Lon Simmons when I worked near the press elevator at the ballpark once, and almost literally ran into JT Snow where the players’ hallways and general ballpark employees’ hallways intersect. Giggled like a little girl for 20 minutes.
Saw Barry Bonds driving down Embarcadero near the ballpark once, not on a game day.
Saw Corey Maggette (Warriors) at T-Mobile a few weeks ago. Didn’t make the connection it was him until he was on his way out and an employee said “Good game last night.”
Santana’s daughter went to my high school and I seem to remember someone pointing him out at some point.
Some of you guys need to add specifics as to how/why you met these folks. Inquiring minds want to know!
Not counting concerts, sporting events, lectures, debates, etc…
Lee Iacocca
Mike Wallace
George W Bush
I met Joey McIntyre (NKOTB) at a fundraiser. I was already sort of friends with his sister.
And I knew Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Karen Mistal, and Cory English before any of them went into acting.
And I talked to Julia Child on the phone. Twice.
It’s all bout hockey here in Canada:
Darryl Sittler
Lanny McDonald
Phil Esposito
Jacques Demers
And on a strangely coincidental note I saw Anthony Robbins during intermission at Maple Leaf Gardens. Apparently he was a mentor to Barry Melrose and the Los Angeles Kings. And the non-hockey fans are all going “what? who? where?”
Dario Franchitti of F1 fame walked right past me after a crash in Montreal.
Ex-Prime Minister John Turner walked past me in the Ottawa airport.
Pretty exciting up here in Canada, eh?
As to how I met Lee Iacocca, Mike Wallace, and George W Bush, I didn’t. I just saw them walking down the street.
I spoke to Julia Child when I did phone support for Microsoft.
I sat next to the Violent Femmes . . . at a Violent Femmes concert. The son of one of them (can’t remember which) was in the band that opened. That was weird.
Not counting on stage and at the stage door, I’ve shared time with:
Johnny Depp
Chritopher Reeve
Alicia Keyes
The ones who know me:
Local news anchor Brenda Brlackmon
Rev. Al & Kathy Jordan Sharpton
Ex-Jet Bruce Harper
Mary J Blige
My office has done business with a whole bunch of rappers, but their names don’t mean anything to me, and I don’t remember any of them. I’ve had some nice talks with them about music.
The only ones I’ve actually met are Penn & Teller, after a show they did in Las Vegas. They were both very nice, and while it’s easy to see how tall Penn seems on TV & stage, it’s nothing compared to when you’re standing next to him, he’s enormous. I don’t think Teller was much taller than me (5’4"), if at all.
I saw Roger Clemens out and about a few times, when he played for the Red Sox.