I watched Bruce Hornsby ruthlessly quiz a meet and greet fan on which songs were on which of his old albums and then dismiss him with a curt “oh man, you don’t even know my records?”
I also watched Suzanne Vega snapping very rudely at her nanny (who was trying to corral a cranky toddler backstage at 1AM).
On the other hand Tom Brokaw is a first rate gentleman.
When I was 13, Richard Simmons came to talk to my math class - no idea why, either then or now. He yelled at me and Julio to shut up because we were making fun of him from the back of the room.
While my wife Dondra was still working for Creative Loafing (yup, this one), we were fortunate enough to be given front row tickets to the Richard Harris version of Camelot at the Fabulous Fox Theatre in Atlanta.
Because we both loved him as an actor, we felt extremely fortunate to have also met him close-up, and one on one during an interview the afternoon before his performance.
Well, I had the bright idea (since we were both invited to the cast-party afterward, and the Atlanta Braves were in the playoffs) to buy him a Braves jersey and present it to him when he walked through the door of the bar chosen for the party.
That did happen, and he thanked me, but for the rest of the night, he totally ignored everyone, not just me.
I very badly wanted to chat with him about the T.H. White historical novel, The Once and Future King, but it wasn’t in the stars, apparently. 
Did he owe me something for that damned jersey?
Of course not, but after the interview I was told by his manager that Mr. Harris really appreciated my questions which he had never been asked before.
Since he was so uncommunicative with anyone else at the party, and because he had said what he did about me and my interview with him, I thought he’d at least shoot the shit a little, but no.
Yeah, he may have been tired, but he could at least have told me that - not just “stood there, like some idol…”
A very bittersweet encounter.
Quasi
I met Bruce Hornsby very briefly in Portland, and he seemed like a very down-to-Earth guy to me.
Not saying that he is incapable of being an asshole, but that dosen’t sound anything like the guy that I have heard about over the years…
I was amazed at how nice the Oak Ridge Boys were to my sister and brother in law. They posed for a picture with them in front of their tour bus. The picture has special significance since my BIL passed away.
As for my brushes with celebrity, good or bad, all I recall is smoking dope with Earl Scruggs (or was it Lester Flatts?) nephew.
My wife and I shared an elevator with Kyle McLaughlin and Linda Evangelista in Tahoe when Showgirls was filming. Actually, shared a BJ table with Linda on a really fun night. We were all too drunk and/or too cool to out her. She won a box of chocolates for not busting on a triple 7 21. There was table talk about being a great present and such, and I chimed in with “you can always give 'm to your mom”, which elicited a snicker and rolleyes.
Then we ran into the happy couple in the elevator. They kept staring at us because I (bald white dude) and my wife (petite Asian) were speaking in Chinese (about them). Then when we went to the check out line, Linda and I arrive and the same time and I did the “after you” and she came back with “no, after you” so we went ahead of her in line. Classy.
[QUOTE=China Guy]
Actually, shared a BJ table with Linda on a really fun night.
[/QUOTE]
Ah… BlackJack table. For a second there I was thinking she really was a friendly celebrity. (It was Showgirls after all.)
I’ll throw in a pleasant celebrity encounter. A professor of mine in college was friends with Oliver Stone. Stone took the time to come into the class twice (it was a film class) and talk about his movies, answer questions etc. He was a smart, very knowledgeable guy. W had just come out, and while Stone was obviously very opinionated politically, he was surprisingly fair to the “other side.” He didn’t condemn Republicans as monsters or idiots, just people he disagreed with. He had no problems making fun of himself or his movies. He even posed for a picture with me, even though I got the vibe that he was tired and really didn’t feel like it. So Oliver Stone… class act.
We don’t get a lot of celebrities around here, but some years ago my friend and I had season tickets to the theater, and shows came along starring has-beens and never-weres (including Richard Harris in Camelot, who we did say Hi to, being lifelong fans - he was well on his way to being quite drunk, but regally nodded as we passed by). My friend had an eagle eye and would spot these celebrities on the street, scuttling back to their hotel after the show. She would take off after them like a lion chasing an antelope! :eek: I was mortified. She chased Sandra Dee right down the street, who kept her head down and collar up and ignored us completely. The only one she caught was the elderly actress Sylvia Sidney (popular in the ‘30s!) who couldn’t run fast enough, lol, and very begrudgingly gave her an autograph. “come on, come on, I haven’t got all night!” she snapped. I was mortified. WTH was my friend going to do with an 80 year old actress’ autograph? The poor old thing looked like she was badly in need of a drink, it was just cruel to chase after her and expect to have a long conversation about Hollywood in the olden days. Wouldn’t that have been cool, though?..I did get Roger Daltrey’s autograph after a Who concert, on the back stairs as the group was heading out to their bus. He was talking to somebody and didn’t speak to me, though he scribbled something illegible on a piece of paper as he stopped for about 5 seconds. (He had on one of those embroidered Afghan sheepskin coats and I swear to god he was no more than 5’4"). But though he didn’t offer to take me along on the corporate jet, he wasn’t downright rude like the groupie with him who gave me the stink eye as I’ve never seen the stink eye before or after.
I see celebrities a lot around Manhattan. Usually I don’t bother them if they don’t bother me. Probably the most “unpleasent” encounter was having to wait behind Robert Deniro at the eye doctor.
I saw Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawk and their kid coming out of Chelsea Piers about ten years ago with their kid. Some tourist couple were like “hey you’re Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawk!” and Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawk gave a polite wave.
A few other random sightings. No interesting story or anything.
Alexis Bledel (just sort of walking down the street)
Tony Danza (My friends and I had a few drinks and yelled “who’s the boss!?” at him as he went from whatever theater he was at to his car)
Elliot Spitzer ( Guess he’s still together with his wife. They were a few tables over. )
Tommy Hilfiger (I thought he’d look more fashionable)
Joe Biden (pre-election. as you might guess, riding on the Acela)
Real Housewife LuAnn de Lesseps (in line behind us at Koi. She was surprisingly not as shrill or psychotic as I would have expected)
One of the Olsen twins (at The Atlantis in the Bahammas and about a week later at some night club)
Jackie Mason (some steakhouse. Dude is old as fuck).
I would imagine that celebs must get about as annoyed by random people approaching them about autographs and “being a big fan” as I do by those Greenpeace idiots with the clipboards bothering me on my way to work. People don’t like to be stopped by random strangers who want stuff from them.
One time in the early 1980s I met Steve Miller in my record store, buying a stack of LPs. We didn’t bother with taking too much ID, figuring he was a zillionaire rock star.
His check bounced. I tried to collect, calling the phone number printed on it, but kept getting hung up on. I finally called the local Capitol rep, who came in and paid for the NSF check with his own credit card.
We proudly displayed the NSF check on the “Do not take checks from these people” sign.
I work in Art Department in television (Canadian) and on a number of live shows with celebrity guests and have met my share of celebrities. I tend to get along with people so I really had to rack my brain to come up with a negative one.
There isn’t a lot to either of these stories:
As I said, most celebrities I’ve met couldn’t be nicer to the below the line people like myself and they all recognize how much work goes into the shows we spend weeks and months preparing. Ke$ha was kinda bitchy and acted a little too big for her britches. She was also a bit out of control at the after party.
Snookie of Jersey Shore acted too important for anyone and constantly walked around with more security than Justin Beiber, I shit you not (nice kid btw). Hell, I even had a rather lengthy conversation with Katy Perry about nothing in particular and there wasn’t even any security intervention there. Now don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I WANTED to make contact with Snookie, it just put me off is all - especially considering all of the more famous and more talented people who had already been far too nice to me.
Alan Doyle of Great Big Sea might be one of the coolest guys on the planet. I met him at a party after a gig once and he had shots with all of us and chatted with us late into the night. I doubt he remembers me in particular but he was pretty awesome. Also, Rick Campenelli was just as cool (He’s a personality on Entertainment Tonight Canada - and he didn’t even care that I never watch the show.).
Are you sure it wasn’t because his mother saw something that was against the law?
Daltrey is about 5-5 tall although he claims to be 5-9.
::Swoons in an absolutely fit of jealousy – and I’m not even gay!::
As a security guard at an Atlantic City casino I encountered a few celebs. The one that stuck with me the most was Barry Manilow. I was working backstage outside his dressing room and whenever he was about to walk by I had to stand up and turn my back to him. His body guard explained that no one was allowed to look at him. WTF? There is clearly something wrong with that guy. Howard Cosell - arrogant prick. Dom Delouise - flamboyant but nice. Don Rickels - really cool. Sinatra - prick, his entourage - friendly. Diana Ross - spoiled brat. Tom Jones - sent his boys into the bar after a show and had them inviting attractive females up to his suite. “Sorry, your boyfriend/husband can’t come, just you.” Dolly Parton - very nice. I saw Rhea Perlman with a couple of little kids standing in line at a Burger King at a rest stop on the Garden State Parkway. This was in the early 80s so post-Cheers but not by much. I can’t imagine any Hollywood celeb doing that. I have never, and would never, approach a famous person going about their business. I just don’t get the whole autograph & picture thing. I can see why they get annoyed by that sort of thing. The “Don’t you know who I am?!” attitude is a whole different ball of wax and whoever says that can go fuck himself. Or herself, as the case may be.
His father, though, was an eye surgeon in San Marino. Right after I got out of college I was diagnosed with detached retinas, and I was given the option to either go to San Marino (near Pasadena, CA) or Stanford for 2nd opinion/surgery. I lived in LA and I was broke, so I chose San Marino. Dr. Nathan Roth operated on both of my eyes for what was covered by Indigent Medical Services fees, and never even cared about the money. He made a huge impact on my life, and is in my humble opinion, a much bigger star than his son could ever hope to be.
(Where else was I going to get to tell this story?)
Well, it’s a story that deserves telling! Very cool!
Bruce Campbell is allegedly a dick to his fans. I have a different experience.
I recognized him in a bar (he lived in the same town as me), and went up to him, apologized for bothering him, but just wanted to say that I really liked his work–then left him alone. When I went to leave for the night, I discovered that he had paid off my tab.
Here’s a video of Henry Rollins going off on some hipsters in a record store:
The hipsters were egging Rollins on, but he very predictably overreacts, so it’s more of a case of unpleasant people all around.