I was listening to a story on NPR the other morning about people lining up hours in advance to hear Barack Obama at Youngstown State.
Granted, I’m not as young as I once was, and the thought of standing around outside for a couple of hours when the temperature is in the teens is not my idea of fun. But even if it were a balmy day in May, I’m having a hard time thinking of anyone I’d stand in line for – especially if I’m going to be one in a crowd of 10,000, wishing I’d brought my binoculars.
The only time I’ve stood in line like that was at a national conference a number of years ago, when Homer Hickam was the keynote speaker. Being a West-by-God-Virginian my own self, I stood in line for about an hour and a half in order to have him sign the copy of Rocket Boys I’d bought for my brother. Hickam was extraordinarily gracious and took time to say a few words with every person in line (which was why it took an hour and a half – but it made it well worth the wait.)
Vincent Price
Lots of others – too many to count. I’ve been to lots of lectures that I had to wait in line for. But I got to talk to the first three on the list.
I’m a little embarassed that I waited outside a stage door in the bitter London cold for over an hour for the chance to meet Alan Rickman. I did meet him, but I will forever feel guilty for my stepdad being sick for two months afterwards.
Only a short queue but I did wait in line to get Bryce Courtenay to inscribe a book that I had bought for my wife. He asked why I was buying it for her and I explained why. The whole conversation took several minutes, in which time a lengthy queue developed behind me. Courtenay didn’t seem worried at all and in fact spent some time writing a personalised dedication in the book.
I also waited to have books signed by Anthony Bourdain, although it was after a lunch, so I didn’t queue I sat at a table drinking wine until everyone else had gone. Bourdain too was thoroughly affable and in my copy of Kitchen Confidential, which was old and well read, rather than just sign it he wrote “Feed the bitch” and drew a lovely sketch of a battered cook’s knife above his signature.
My daughter and I met Bikram Choudhury, the yoga guy. It was the eve of the yoga championship where my daughter was competing. I introduced us and told him she was a competitor. He couldn’t have been more gracious. He kissed her on both cheeks and thanked her for competing.
Faboulous Sherri & Louis the Albino. Well I was a kid and it was after a wrestling match in the 80’s. Other group was Bros from England twice and I was a teenager and I really liked their music. The actor who plays Darth Vader in Star Wars and Darth Maul. We have pictures for those guys. Darth Maul is pretty cute in real life. That was at a SciFi festival. Thats all I can remember for now.
Quite a few if you count musicians or spoken-word artists. That doesn’t seem to be in the spirit of the OP, though, since the whole standing-in-line to meet the artiste thing seems part of the experience of concert-going, and not something exceptional.
Presumably more in the spirit:
Kurt Vonnegut
Al Alcorn (engineered Pong for Atari, really fascinating speaker if you care about the early days of personal computing and video game)
Shari Lewis and Lambchop. Lambchop insulted me, and gave me a kiss on my cheek. This was very shortly before Shari passed away, and I was glad that, for once, I had been able to meet and thank a favorite childhood personage.
Scott McCloud (Understanding Comics author, met him after a lecture given on a college tour a while back, and he was an incredibly nice man.)