Honestly, I can understand that. It’s gotta be awkward being in someone’s house like that for an extended period.
I went with my roommate and two of her friends because I had a free ticket, ca. 1992. I know the Pixies are supposed to be legendary in some circles, and while I did have a good time at the show, they’re one of those artists that I just don’t get.
It was probably an off-day (or drugs) like you said. I saw them many times in the 90s and they always chill and fun.
Too mild to be tantrum, but it had that “I’m special” vibe:
In the 90s I worked at a pizza place that sold by the slice. If we were out of something up front, when a customer asked “how long for a slice of whatever,” our standard answer was five minutes.
One night in '95 or '96, Jay Leno walked in. He asked how long it would be for a slice of veggie. The shift manager was starstruck I guess, and felt the need to kiss his ass more than he would any other customer. “We’ll have that up for you in FOUR minutes!”
Leno went and sat down at the counter, where the cooks were working their magic, and asked one of them how long it would be. “Five minutes.”
So then Leno said “that guy over there said four minutes!”, and got up and left in a huff.
If he’d been willing to wait, he could have left in a minute and a huff.
Here’s another that stretches the definition of “celebrity” but anyhoo. I used to work at a non-chain video store in downtown Toronto, that had a really deep non-mainstream catalog. A word about the media environment in Toronto: the major media networks and publications of the country are located here, and there are various people who’ve risen to the top and are well-known to the intelligentsia and academics and those who study the media, and few else. Occasionally they’ll get a talk show which attains a viewership in the high dozens because it gets scheduled against an American rerun, and then they go back to penning columns in The Globe and Mail. But while I was working at this video store, these media gods (“Hey, aren’t you Ralph Benmergui?”) would come in to rent something they needed to study up on for the purposes of an interview they were conducting on CBC radio, and if our copy was out, I’d get an earful from, like, John Hazlett Cuff (who I only knew because he’d been namechecked on, and cameo’d in, the great Canadian sitcom The Newsroom) about how we had to move heaven and earth to get him this movie in time. Yes, I understand that the CBC is the nation’s broadcaster. And?
Was this Toronto video store a couple blocks west of Honest Ed’s?
Aren’t all Canadians Honest?
Ed particularly so. Just ask him.
(Ed Mirvish opened an enormous bargain store in 1948. His low prices and iconic advertising made him rich, and his holiday turkey giveaways to the poor made him popular. He ended up building some big theatres and nearby restaurants. Toronto has always aspired to be “world class”, which to Honest Ed and his family apparently meant broadway style productions. After he died in 2007, the city block where his store was located was sold, I guess.)
Not me personally, but my friends.
When I was a youth, we went to church camp in a place called Aspen Grove, a BYU owned facility in a beautiful canyon.
My friends were playing tennis, and this guy comes along and is angry because he was supposed to have the court at the time. Eventually, it was straightened out and he got the court, but the man didn’t leave a good impression.
Aspen Grove is next to Sundance, and Robert Redford had an agreement with the camp that he could use the tennis court at certain times.
I’m so glad I’m not famous because I would hate all my tantrums over the years to be the fodder for too many stories.
Not just tantrums. Imagine that you’re famous but sitting in a restaurant, hungry and have just been served food. Someone walks up to your table and wants a selfie or an autograph or just to talk. You’re annoyed because of the hunger and the food that’s swiftly cooling. When your annoyance shows, the fan takes note and posts on social media that you were rude and entitled, when in fact you just wanted to eat in peace.
I’m guilty of bothering a celebrity at a restaurant. One day, I saw Hawaiian born Akinobo, a sumo yokozuna eating at a Mexican restaurant and asked him for an autograph. He nicely signed something and I quickly left.
He was with a couple of people and at some point they were looking at an x-ray. I later found out that was the day he was injured and had to withdraw from a tournament.
Had it been me, I wouldn’t have been nearly as patient.
I once met a guy who was a sound mixer for all sorts of big names. He said that that Steven Tyler once threw something (I don’t recall what) at him. He said that he worked with him again after Tyler got sober. What was the difference? “You could talk to him after he was clean.”
Which is why I’ve heard that you don’t bother a celebrity when they’re eating, peeing, or with their family.
I think most of us have heard that but many have not. And I can imagine if it’s someone I’m particularly a fan of, forgetting to leave them alone.
I have always said, that outside of a autograph signing or similar- leave celebrities alone when they are out doing normal person stuff. Maybe a wave, or a “Big fan, thanks” if you end up near them, but dont ask for autographs are selfies or whatever.
More or less- correct.
Now we saw Mark Harmon taking a break while shooting NCIS, and my companion wanted to say hi , and she wanted to ask for a selfie but was too shy. But then, that is a decent time to say hello.