I’ve been working for my employer since we were about 250 people, and the CEO knew me personally back then. Probably still remembers my name, but the company is worth a trillion dollars now and the guy is very well known in the industry.
Probably Brian Eschbach, lead member of the death metal group The Black Dahlia Murder. I went to high school with him and we hung with the same crowd.
I also drove him back from a school event about an hour away, and we talked a little about music over my tape of the Who’s Live at Leeds.
I just remembered another one. Sax player Dave McMurray. We knew each other as kids and he’d probably remember me as well, again due to the unusual first name.
Oh, I hadn’t thought in those terms. I’m friends with the head of a Fortune 100 company, and I suppose he’s famous within industry as well.
Joe Schwarcz, the McGill University professor and newspaper columnist, is a distant cousin of mine. I’ve met him many times at family events.
I’ve gotten to know one of my U.S. senators, and my Congresswoman, from various local Democratic Party events over the last few years. They both know me and recognize me, but I won’t claim to be their BFFs.
I don’t know how famous comedian Derek Sheen is when it comes to comic fame, but he and I get along pretty well.
Author Linda Tirado took a rubber bullet in the face during the protests in Minneapolis a couple of years back. Before that she made something of a splash with her book Hand To Mouth: Living In Bootstrap America. We’ve never met but we’ve spoken and get along pretty well, and we have a tacit agreement to get together and burn one if we’re ever in the same part of the world.
My mother worked for kd lang’s mother a long, long time ago. Maybe she’d know me as Penny’s son.
Dwayne “Peanut” Harms. (No one calls him Dwayne)
One of the originators of the Bay To Breakers Centipede.
https://runsra.org/2018/01/22/sacramento-running-association-hall-fame-class-2018-announced/
Dwayne Harms, affectionately known in the community as Peanut, was a standout performer at UC Davis where he placed ninth at the 1973 USA National Cross Country Championships and set a Hornet Stadium record in the 800 meters. The Aggie Running Club founder has 44 years of coaching experience holding posts at UC Davis, Foothill Community College and El Dorado High School as well as with the USA World Cross Country team. He was also named the California State Boy’s Track Coach of the Year in 2013. Harms has extensive experience as an industry executive and longtime meet manager, clinic director and social event facilitator working for industry giants Converse, Reebok and HOKA ONE ONE during his storied career in long distance running.
He was my coach at Foothill JC. I was not one of his successes.
Right now? Probably the Governor of Oregon, Tina Kotek.
Lots of science fiction writers, most notably Samuel R. Delany, Ramsay Campbell, Pamela Sargent, Raymone F. Feist, Esther Friesner, and others.
A number of Nobel Prize winners know me, one of whom is named above, and another was one of Obama’s cabinet members. Also, a very famous deceased astronaut, and a less famous one who’s still alive. A former CEO of Intel and one of the producers of “The Big Bang Theory” (the TV show).
Both my (former) boss’ boss and one of my respected colleagues were household names for a while. One as a hero and one as a villain. I’m talking about headlines on TV news, innumerable magazine covers, probably millions of words in ink.
I probably can’t be more specific without doxxing myself.
Disappointingly, the villain has been somewhat rehabilitated and is making a good living off his “redemption/notoriety” while the hero was quickly forgotten and toils anonymously in their normally boring profession.
I like to think Beckdawrek knows me a the “roach in the ear” guy! skritch skritch skritch
Luv ya Beck!
Chubby is still with us. Chubby Checker - Wikipedia
Well, so he is! Good to know. Maybe I’ll hear back from him still.
Noone any of you would have heard of for me, though my bother in law’s brothers worked in the Royal Household and were known by all the royals especially the late Queen.
I went to school with Keith Nelson, formerly of Buckcherry. I had a huge crush on him all through 8th grade. He sat behind me in civics class and tried to cheat off me. (That wouldn’t have helped his grades any. Civics was one of my worst classes.) We were in marching band together. He’s the reason I wanted to be a drummer – we could march side by side! – but our band director said girls couldn’t be drummers and I ended up playing French horn. Anyway, I still have all of my HS yearbooks and yes, he signed them.
Not especially famous, and he might need some reminding to remember me, but for me it’s probably Ray Porter. He did the voice and motion capture for Darkseid in the Zack Snyder cut of Justice League.
We went to high school together, and appeared in several of the same school plays. He went on to be a professional actor; I did not. In addition to Justice League, he’s done a few other films, quite a bit of TV, and a slew of audiobook narrations. In fact, as I understand it, he’s rather sought-after as an audiobook narrator. Even in high school, he had a good stentorian voice.
That’s a twist I wasn’t expecting.