Grocery store. his local Ralphs store, which happens to be #759.
And yes, you are right, dont bother a celebrity when they are out doing mundane things, shopping, Disneyland, whatever. A wave, a “hi!” a “Big fan!” or “thanks!” but nothing else.
Now, if you do them a favor, you can expect some autographs or something. Helping load “the van” got me several signed albums and later CDs.
I think if a celeb is with their family, it’s really better to totally let them off the hook and not talk to them.
I did see Jerry Springer once reading a book at a cafe in Chicago. I was on a school trip with the students I taught and I told everyone to not yell out and wave. Until…one of the other teachers started chanting, “Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!” over and over. He waved and went back to his book.
It was honestly kind of hilarious. He was alone, by the way.
Over the past 40 years I have dealt with him several times directly as well as with people who have filed complaints against him. His ego dwarfs the likes of Trump and Ali combined. He obviously hates everyone and treats everyone with unbelievable contempt.
To a slightly lesser degree David Cassidy. Had to deal with him and his victims a couple of times. Came within an eyelash of arresting him after one of his shows once.
For awhile I was based at the same airport as Jerry Springer. There, he was just another guy who flew airplanes.
The thing that struck me was that in real life he was exactly like he was in front of the camera. By which I mean, if he had not been the host of The Jerry Springer Show he probably would have been a regular guest. He is… “colorful”.
Kid Rock was a guest at a relative’s wedding and reception. He was fairly humble and subdued; he seemed embarrassed that other guests were coming up to him for selfies and autographs and taking attention away from the bride and groom. He treated everyone politely and even stayed to get drunk with the partying couple and other guest.
I left earlier but apparently they partied into the early morning. (The wedding and reception was in the backyard of the couples’ property so a lot of just slept overnight there.)
You might not know this, but Springer was a very up-and-coming politician earlier in his life. There was chatter about “eventual Presidential candidate”. Then he get into a stupid scandal and that ended that.
NPR did a very big story on this and how much hope he provided to many Democrats. It was actually a very sad story because it ended with someone who knew him in the 1970’s saying that Jerry Springer chose, for reasons that are hard to understand, to throw everything away to make absolute trash TV. I mean, the money might have been good, but he continued doing that trash show for so long, one has to wonder what drove such a smart and eloquent man to keep going with it.
The NPR piece played many clips of Springer through the years speaking about issues he cared about and he was eloquent and passionate.
I still can’t believe he just did trash TV with all the intellect and passion he clearly had.
It’s refreshing to hear that someone actually enjoys what they do and it can pay the bills in this day and age. Very rarely happens, at least to me. I’m happy for you, Man!
Random, fascinating fact: Jerry Springer was born in Highgate Station of the London Underground, which was being used as a bomb shelter during the 1944 Blitz.
I’ve run into a handful of celebrities over the years, some pretty big names (Michael Jackson, Mike Tyson), but only one really struck me with his genuine kindness and empathy: LL Cool J.
I spoke with him for 10 minutes or so, many years ago, and the memory stays with me.
In mid-1975, after returning to Atari, Jobs was assigned to create a circuit board for the arcade video game Breakout. According to Bushnell, Atari offered US$100 for each TTL chip that was eliminated in the machine. Jobs had little specialized knowledge of circuit board design and made a deal with Wozniak to split the fee evenly between them if Wozniak could minimize the number of chips. Much to the amazement of Atari engineers, Wozniak reduced the TTL count to 46, a design so tight that it was impossible to reproduce on an assembly line. According to Wozniak, Jobs told him that Atari gave them only $700 (instead of the $5,000 paid out), and that Wozniak’s share was thus $350. Wozniak did not learn about the actual bonus until ten years later, but said that if Jobs had told him about it and explained that he needed the money, Wozniak would have given it to him.
In one version of the song “Stop Asking Me the Question”, somebody asks Tom Wilson who the biggest jerk in show business is, and he says, “Gary Busey.”
I 100% have admired for Wozniak for leaving Apple and the business world once it stopped being fun. Oh, and after he had a ton of money. He was able to go play Tetris, teach computers, and do whatever. Makes sense to me.
Not many people know it but Jerry Springer has a law degree and now has a judge show. He was good on the radio on the short lived Air America
I’ve also heard Andy Griffith was not nice in real life. Which might explain that when he died they announced his death and that he was already buried. Guess he did not want any type of service Maybe he was afraid very few people would show up
Artie Lange acted like a creep after one of his sets in Atlantic City about 10-15 years ago. He was signing his book and started getting angry when fans wanted to take his picture.