My close brush with mediocrity (unless you are a diehard Kansas fan) came about a million or so years ago when I met Billy Greer (Kansas bass player) and Richard Williams (Kansas lead guitarist) backstage after a concert.
I pinned a corsage on Hillary Clinton. Bill was governor of Arkansas. They came to my highschool. They were boo-ed roundly because of the teacher testing kerfuffle they were trying to implement in Arkansas.
I met The Proclaimers as a teenager at a TV studio. Both dressed in black leather outfits, ridiculously. I got their autograph for one of my mum’s friends, as a joke.
I “met” Barry Goldwater when I was about 2 years old. I don’t remember this, but my grandmother told me this back when she was still alive.
In the early 1960s we were living in Rockford Illinois at the time, and my grandparents were visiting from out east. We were at some place, fairly crowded with people, and she was holding me. Barry Goldwater was on the campaign trail and at some point in the crowd, my grandmother said “Barry Goldwater, who the hell’s he?”. At that point this man turned round, faced my grandmother, and gave her “the look”. It was Barry. She said he wasn’t 3 feet from her. She was holding me, but I remember none of it, despite my unusually vivid memory of my childhood.
In 1984 I worked for a technology company that was doing state of the art stuff in the publishing field. The word came around that Donald Knuth, a recognized author in the computer science field, would be visiting the plant.
My brother was a C.S. god for me at the time and told me to introduce myself to Dr. Knuth. So I did.
End of the story, except that I do have some pixie dust from the encounter.
Shook hands a couple of times with Edward, Earl of Wessex. Made polite small talk for a minute.
I went out on a few dates with one of the Lucy imitators in the 2001 movie, Rat Race. No, she was not dressed or made up as Lucy when we went out.
Tripped Micro-dots with a syndicated radio DJ when I was a young lad. (Z-rock, if anybody remembers that station)
Encounters with mediocrity? I’m too mediocre for that…
I went to school with Keith Nelson, the guitarist of Buckcherry. Had a crush on him from 8th grade on. In band I wanted to be a drummer so I could sit by him (he played snare.) I ended up across the band room, playing French horn. I do have his signature in my yearbooks though, so I’ve got that going for me, which is nice.
Two from my days as linecrew.
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I refueled Jerry Clower’s airplane. Significant for me because I had all his records and was a fan long before this. He even did his signature: “Hwaaah! Marcel!” Schtick for me. He was surprisingly friendly.
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I refueled the JetStar jet from the James Bond movie: Goldfinger. It being used by a company as their bizjet, and pilots let me board and see the (supposed) window shot out by Goldfinger.
Really dating myself I guess, but those are the closest for me.
When I was in third grade, our class had to write letters to famous people. Everyone else wrote to political leaders, actors, sports figures, etc. I wrote to the mayor of our obscure little suburb. Everyone laughed at me. But the mayor was so flattered, he invited me to his office, where our photo was taken, and there was a small article about me in the local paper. So I was a celebrity for one day. Nobody else in the class got more than a standard stamped photo.
Crossing the road in Canberra, in about 1964, I was almost run over by Prime Minister Robert Menzies’s Bentley. He wasn’t in it at the time but perhaps his wife was in the back seat. Menzies always sat up front with the driver.
I had my picture taken at a Wal-Mart with wrestler Ivan Koloff. He had a lot of forehead scars.
Several private/family dinners with George McGovern? Actually I really liked the guy and considered him pretty great but I seem to be in the minority.
I also met Barry Goldwater. This was around 1988 or so. He paid a visit to a lab (Comsat) I was working in. I think he sat on the executive board for the lab. He was in a wheelchair, and some guy was pushing him. The only people in the lab were me, my boss, Barry, and the person that was pushing him.
I met Paul Tsongas on the campaign trail in I think ‘92. He was doing well early in that primary, but was beat out by William Jefferson Clinton,whom some of you may remember. Doubt too many remember Mr. Tsongas, which is a pity.
I shook Leonard Nimoy’s hand when I was 8 years old at a meet and greet at a toy store.
Paul Tsongas was the commencement speaker at my college graduation in 1989. He seemed like an odd choice - he had been out of the Senate for several years (due to cancer, which was by then in remission), and generally elicited a “Who?” when you mentioned his name.
I’ve had several brushes with Fame.
Mediocrity? I was a waiter and got to serve Larry Gelbart and this other guy (semi-famous comedian who I can picture, but can’t remember the name. I wanna say the guy that played the barkeep in Blazing Saddles) in the VIP section of the place I worked.
Yes, THAT Larry Gelbart.
A high-school friend of mine is a professional movie stand-in and extra. His most prominent role was as the back of Dabney Coleman’s head in Boardwalk Empire.