I think the story of how I met Bob Gainey is already pretty well known around here. He was quite a guy, and under about the worst circumstances you can imagine. Hockey was the furthest thing from anybody’s mind.
I wonder if we know any of the same people (or people who know the same people). On my sailing trip, some of the crew were holdovers from the previous round-the-world voyage, and the chief mate on that trip was a former captain of the Clearwater.
First let me say I am totally jealous of Silenius for his encounter with Spider Robinson.
I do have one of the chits for a drink at Callahan’s that he mailed to people who answered a contest in an old SF magazine. Galaxy? I had been bold enough to ask for Jeanne’s autograph as well, having been blown away by Stardance, and it was on there on the chit as well – in Spider’s handwriting. Or at least the same handwriting that signed Spider’s name.
Have talked at a couple of Westercons held in Portland with Larry Niven, Jack Chalker, Dean Ing, Steve Perry and Steven Barnes. Asked Ursula K. LeGuin why she had nuked my Oregon city in The Lathe of Heaven. Got a great laugh from her and her assurance that she had no personal animus toward it.
The recent death of Sir Arthur C. Clarke reminded me that we’d met in the late 1960s, when he was a guest speaker at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon. After a guest lecture, he was available for autographs. The half-dozen true SF fans on the small campus showed up to speak to one of the Big Three in person. I had specially ordered a hardbound copy of Childhood’s End in advance from a local bookstore for his autograph. (In those long-ago pre-Internet days, I had to make the request more than a month in advance to be sure it would be there in time.) When i got to the signing, i found he had brought copies of this brand new book, “2001: A Space Odyssey,” but i was totally out of money to purchase one. He did, however, have some advance stills from the movie, which we knew nothing about, but which totally enthralled us.
Then there was the time Kevin O’Donnell, Jr. sent me an advance copy of his latest SF novel, which totally raised my coolness factor at the newspaper where I worked.
On the music side, I have shaken Emmylou Harris’ hand, interviewed B.B. King (by phone) and Leo Kottke (by e-mail, which turned out great) and Marv and Rindy Ross of Quarterflash. Buck Owens and Bill Medley of the Righteous Brothers both recorded promos for me when I was a DJ. (God, I wish I still had those tapes!)
And Paul Revere and the Raiders played at my Oregon high school homecoming in 1963. I went stag as a freshman just to see them. This was before the hit it big nationally.
Have photos of myself with Dick Clark, Burt Ward in costume (he played Robin on the TV version of Batman) and with Rock 'n Rollen Stewart
Had drinks with Gary Owens of Laugh-in fame at the National Association of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas in 1981. A charming, gracious guy, who treated this small town dj as a fellow professional.
And in 1990, during an exhibition Australian Rules Football match in Portland, had West Coast Eagles star Peter Sumich fetch me a Foster’s in the broadcast booth.
Lord, this sounds cheesy, dropping all these names, but it’s been a real thrill for me each time.
I’ve been in meetings with both Bill Gates and Steve Jobs (not at the same time). In both cases I was a minor player, although I had a conversation with Bill G re streaming performance of an EISA interface, ca 1991, where he disputed that my application could do what it did on the hardware it was running on. He was wrong, and I (politely but firmly) told him so.
Possible, but I only know two captains, the one I sailed under was Betsy.
I am a active member of one of the Sloop Clubs, the benefit by Bruce was for our Sloop Club.
I forgot one. When I was either a junior or senior in high school (1989-91), I interviewed Roswell UFO nutter Stanton Friedman for a paper I was writing. Somehow, I got the guy’s number (in Canada), and just called him up. I think I knew what city he lived in and just got the appropriate phone book from the library. Anyway, a woman answered the phone by saying, “Stanton Friedman’s answering service.” At the time, it sounded like the way your spouse or kids might answer the phone when they’re sick of you getting business calls at home. I stammered, “Uh, is Mr. Friedman available?” She said she’d check, and came back a minute later saying he was busy or away or something. I left my number. An hour or two later, he called back. I was totally unprepared, asked some inane questions, and wasted both his and my time. He seemed a little peeved, but didn’t treat me like an idiot. Kind of a weird call.
Oooooo. Did you ask him to sing “Margaritaville?”
John Goodman went to school with my cousin. I met him once at my cousin’s house when he was just another goofy looking teenager.
Back in the 70’s I went to a Joe Walsh concert. It was before he joined the Eagles. The concert was in an outdoor amphitheater and after the opening act I ducked around behind the building to try to bribe a roadie to get me a cold Coke out of the backstage vending machine. The roadie was grouchy but obliged. As I turned to make my way back to my buddies some guy in torn blue jeans and an “Eagles” shirt gets out of Limo (shoulda been a clue for me). He walks toward me and the backstage area and says, “Nice night for a concert” I replied something like “Rock-n-Roll, starlight and a nice buzz make it perfect”. He said, “have a good time”, I said “you too”.
After finding my way back to my buddies I bragged to them how cool I was for saving a buck and getting a larger drink of Coke than I could get at the concession stand. :smack:
Then Joe Walsh was introduced, came out on stage in his torn blue jeans wearing his Eagles T shirt and yelled,“Starlight, Rock-n-Roll and a good buzz! Let’s Go!”
The band opened up loud, of course, and my buddies didn’t quite understand why I was pointing wildly and shouting to them an obvious,“That’s Joe Walsh!, That’s Joe Walsh!”
Oh - and I have mentioned this in a previous thread, but I hung out with **Ed Robertson of Bare-Naked Ladies ** for about an hour in the afternoon before a corporate show he was doing for Staples - I was helping run the show. Anyway, I gave him a tour of the new-office-product trade show that was set up next to the actual meeting room. Very nice guy - good to talk with about comic books and such.
Sure enough, that night during the show, when he started free-style rapping, he incorporated references to all of the office products he saw walking around with me that afternoon - kinda surreal to then watch him go to work on stage - fun and silly.
I was onstage as an audience volunteer with Penn and Teller, and got to meet both during their “MoFo the Psychic Gorilla” bit off-Broadway. Very funny and I had a blast.
OMG - I love Wally! Here’s my Wally story:
He was supporting his second CD (Welcome to Pleasantville) and playing bars. I was listening to the college radio station in Lincoln, Nebraska and in a live interview he said he heard that Charles Starkweather was buried there and he was interested in seeing the grave. I phoned up immediately and offered to take him. He agreed, and I picked him up and off we went to the gravesite. We had fun hanging out, me trying to fill him in on Nebraska history. It just so happened that the same evening there was a mini-series on about the Starkweather murders, so I took him back to his hotel and Wally, me and Wally’s DAD (no kidding) all watched the TV movie together. Then we shook hands or hugged or something, and I went home.
We kept in touch for a while after that. The next time he came to town he actually stayed with me one night (no funny business, I swear) and I interviewed him for a very short-lived local music magazine. After I moved to the west coast we e-mailed a few times through his website but since he never toured out there we dropped out of touch. Probably with some prodding he would remember me though.
Funny that he never seemed at all high or strung out or anything the times I saw him. He was always very polite and friendly and a little shy, almost absurdly so. But that was very early in his career (and on his first wife) so who knows what may have happened in the interim.
As for the “greats?” Well I’ve met a lot of famous people, but I was pretty thrilled when David Bowie touched my arm and smiled at me. I pretty much collapsed into a puddle at the spot. Actually that’s when Joseph Gordon-Levitt and I really bonded, because he bolted to the theater upon hearing Mr. Bowie was there, but missed him by moments. He and I (and his pal, Brady Corbet - of Mysterious Skin, 24, Funny Games) all stood in my office geeking out about Bowie and 80’s music for a good while thereafter.
Also, played phone tag with Stephen Colbert for several days until finally meeting him (after The Daily Show, before The Colbert Report). Absolutely a wonderful, charming man. When I want to impress people I show them that I still have his number in my phone (but lord knows I’d never call it!).
I have one of those chits! That chit started my correspondence with Spider, because he was the only other person who had ever heard of April Lawton. I reminded him of that at WorldCon.
I remembered a couple of others: Jimmy Buffett lived next door to a friend of mine’s brother in Key West. Flash forward many years to the Irvine Ampitheater, where I spotted Jimmy leaving backstage after doing a radio interview. He had just shaved his mustache, so nobody recognized him. I just walked up, stuck out my hand, and told him “Bill X sends his regards.” It got Jimmy’s attention, and he spent the next few minutes chatting with my date and me, while the crowd eddying around us. After he left, a dozen people walked over and asked if I had been talking to Jimmy. They didn’t want to intrude, but were curious.
I also sold Dave Brubeck and his wife a couple of used books when I was covering the front counter at a bookstore in Anchorage back in the early 80’s.
My wife got to hand contracts to Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane for “The Producers.”
Hee hee hee… I have had casual encounters with some diverse people.
Ran into Mike Tyson in a Vegas casino. Literally- the guy’s a wide as a house.
Had a nice chat with Eddie Money last Xmas, as we were both standing at the concierge desk of our hotel. We lamented the lack of a dress code at the better restaurants in Manhattan. Ironic.
Had a quick chat with Kobe Bryant, his wife and her mother at the same hotel. Very nice people, if a bit shy (Kobe).
Spent a couple of days with Eric Haney, a founding member of Delta Force and producer of The Unit. Extremely great guy.
Used to get drunk with b-list 70’s actor Lance Kerwin (James at 15).
Spent an awesome morning with Gene Kranz and got him to sign my copy of his book. In fact, he signed one each for my kids and my dad, too.
I have befriended a number of celebs in AA meetings. Nice people but almost always in a lose-lose situation, trying to get sober with the whole world watching.
Met Sparky Anderson at the ball park once (of course) and got him to sign his book for me. Also met Jimmie Reese and Gene Autry at spring training games.
My best college friend’s godmother was Georgia Frontieri, and that gal knew ho to throw a party in a football luxury box! Even if her team sucked.
John Wayne and I had the same dentist when I was a kid, and we saw him from time to time.
I was in line at the first class check-in counter at the local airport in front of the entire Anaheim Ducks hockey team. Damn, those guys are huge!
Rod Carew used to be my BIL’s hitting coach when he was a kid (the BIL was a kid, not Carew!).
There must be more, 'cause it happens a lot. I’ll post again when my memory is better.
One step removed… my dad dated Judi Dench when she was an unknown young British actress in the early 1950s. My mom met Eleanor Roosevelt once, and used to see Albert Einstein riding his bicycle around Princeton when she lived there.
I saw Richard Belzer’s stand-up routine once. He made fun of my clothes. Well, I *was *wearing overalls…
I was at a nightclub in Bethesda, MD in 1985 and had to step over Root Boy Slim, passed out on the floor, to get to the men’s room. A year or two later, I saw him shirtlesss and disgusting in Dickie Bangham’s basement, where he was sort of living at the time.
Ralph Nader came to my sister’s “selling out” party (She quit working for him to sll real estate). He was about as scintillating in person as he is on TV.
I’ve met Will Eisner and I’ve met Frank Cho. Frank was way cooler.
Sergio Aragones was cooler than either!
Met lots of people, but I’m not sure too many could be considered “giants.” (Getting punched by a member of Rancid or having the UK Subs crashed out on my apartment floor = cool to me and, say, 5 other people… but just elicits “who?” from anyone else.)
A few more recognizable names:
I took a really pretty female friend to see Nine Inch Nails. We got up front to watch the show, and security personnel and roadies were tripping over themselves to check her out. Trent Reznor apparently thought she was really pretty, too, and had a couple of aftershow party passes sent our way shortly after the show began. We had to scam our way into the party, as it was in a 21+ only nightclub, and we were both 19. Trent showed up an hour or so later, came by, shook my hand, and then proceeded to seriously chat up my friend for the next hour or two. I was rather surprised that she ended up leaving with me, not him.
At a Hole concert, a few months after Kurt Cobain died, I was standing out in the crowd when some guy on stage started pointing at me excitedly, waving for me to come up to the front. He wanted me to come back stage, so I did. He very eagerly brought Courtney Love up to me, asked my name, made introductions. She said “hi…,” shook my hand, and we both stood there looking kind of confused while the guy who’d introduced us looked back and forth expectantly. She shuffled off, and the guy apologized, then took me by a nanny who was rocking the baby Frances Bean in her lap. Then I went back out to watch the show-- and never did figure out why that guy was so eager for me to meet Ms. Love.
Shortly after Meijer expanded to the Indianapolis area in the 1990s, one of the nearby stores had an event featuring Debbie Gibson. I took my Circle Jerks LP that she’d done guest vocals on, watched her play the piano and sing, then got in line to meet her. She seemed a little ticked off that I had brought the Circle Jerks LP, and as I was explaining that I genuinely thought her appearance on the record was really cool, I happened to call her “Debbie.” Her gaze got icy.
“It’s Deb. Or. Ah. I’m not Debbie any more.”
“Oh, sorry…” She then turned her gaze onto the little kid behind me, shut me out of her mind, and went on.
Well, I can’t match encounters with Walter Koenig, or Isaac Asimov, but I did know a cult celebrity pretty well … referee Ecker in Slap Shot. His name is Dick Roberge , and he was the head coach of the Johnstown Jets hockey team, the team that was the Chiefs in the film.
He was also the head golf professional at the country club my parents belonged to, so that’s how I met him. He was on a first-name basis with my parents, and I even took golf lessons from him one summer. Today he is a golf pro in Myrtle Beach, S.C. Not as cool as knowing the Hanson brothers, probably, but there it is.
I met Debbie Gibson when I was 11 or so. Got backstage passes to her concert thanks to my best friend’s uncle. I’m pretty sure she had the weakest, clammiest handshake I’ve ever had the displeasure of experiencing. She seemed nice though.
That said, I’d happily trade the experience to get punched by a member of Rancid.
I was helping a guy carry a cooler in the infield at the Indy 500 time trials and a speeding golf cart nearly clipped me at high speed, then turned in front of us and pulled up to a closed gate. As two guys ran to open the gate, I looked at the driver and was trying to remember where I knew him from. Just as he drove through I realized it was Paul Newman.
That’s my brush with celebrity.
Oh, the golf cart incident reminded me…
I was crossing the street in Carmel, CA, one night with my husband and an elderly friend, and Clint Eastwood almost didn’t stop for us! I love Clint- I would have happily served as the hood ornament on that Caddy! 
I may have told this story before…
When I was in high school I won a trip to England in an MTV contest. The schtick was that one winner from each state and a guest were “Twisted Commandos” making a “Twisted Invasion” of England for the kick off of a Twisted Sister tour. We all had to dress up like lead singer Dee Snider for the duration of the trip. We toured London and went to the kickoff concert. Some people got to go up on stage but I didn’t get picked. After the concert there was a party with the band at some new nightclub. I met all of the band members and got pictures and autographs.