Small degrees of separation from the famous [Archive]

ceptimus

08-05-2006, 09:16 PM

A few of us were discussing this over in chat.

Seems like many of us are connected to the famous in some (possibly very) indirect way.

Okay, I'll start.

The Beatles climbed over my granny's (my mom's mom) garden wall, and then through her garden and out via the front of her house. There was a dance hall with a rear entrance behind my granny's house, and the Beatles slipped out that way to avoid the fans and photographers outside the front entrance.

ETA: dammit. I spelt separation wrong in the thread title. If an admin wants to correct it, to hide my ignorance, that's fine with me.

maddog

08-05-2006, 09:35 PM

My uncle worked for Hughes Aircraft for 30 years. In all that time, he met the reclusive tycoon twice. One of the times, he yelled at the little old guy for getting in his way while he was running tests.

#922

Leesifer

08-05-2006, 09:35 PM

My Dad's band in the 1960's sang the theme tune to Captain Scarlet.

Dingfod

08-05-2006, 09:36 PM

My grandfather was a Prohibition era bootlegger that got sent to WWII when he got caught, then was most likely one of those soldiers cussed out by General George Patton because he got sent home from Italy with shellshock.

That's the closest thing I can think of.

lisarea

08-05-2006, 10:38 PM

Leesifer

08-05-2006, 10:40 PM

David Bowie kissed me twice,

:vapours:

RevDahlia

08-06-2006, 12:46 AM

I used to know John Hinckley, David Bowie kissed me twice, and Allen Ginsberg used to not like me because Peter Orlovsky kept giving me presents and stuff.

I was much cooler back when I was jailbait.
Holy shit!

I once ran away screaming when Allen Ginsberg came over to my grandma's house. I was four.

The Jesus Lawyer

08-06-2006, 12:54 AM

i am supposedly descended from rob roy mcgregor.

michael :)

Johnny Pneumatic

08-06-2006, 01:10 AM

David Bowie kissed me twice...

How'd you manage that?

I talked with Dr. James Dobson. This was before I found out what a giant douche he is.

I said hi to some celebrity in a store years ago, I've forgotten who she even is now. Some actress.

Angakuk

08-06-2006, 01:25 AM

I once ran away screaming when Allen Ginsberg came over to my grandma's house.
Shouldn't that be "ran away HOWLING"?

I once spent the night in the house of a guy who said he once lived in the same building with Jack Kerouac.

My dad went to High School with country/western legend Marty Robbins. Marty chased him up a tree once.

My great grandfather claimed to have ridden with the Jesse James gang.

Two of my high school classmates, Brent Wilkes and Dusty Foggo have been in the news somewhat recently, implicated in the Duke Cunningham bribery scandal. I guess that would make them mildly infamous, not famous.

I once shook hands with the Hormel Giant.

Widget

08-06-2006, 01:29 AM

I have shared a golf cart with James Garner,Rick Mears and Paul Newman.
I once was the road manager for "Nazereth" and "Nicholson"
I built the most expensive golf putter in the world, $1.2 million.

I have had the pleasure of being with Legs for 7 years Priceless!!

lisarea

08-06-2006, 02:00 AM

David Bowie kissed me twice...

How'd you manage that?

He was touring with the Elephant Man. I saw the play, then decided afterward, I'd go around and see if I could find the stage door. There was a small crowd by the time he came out, and he was signing autographs. He took my playbill, then looked up and kissed me, then he autographed it and kissed me again. He said something, too, like I was a pretty little thing or something, but I don't remember exactly. It was a long time ago.

So, are you guys all going to be nicer to me now that you know David Bowie thought I was cute once like one million years ago? Is there, like, some kind of discount card I can get or something?

I want to know what Allen Ginsberg was doing at Dahlia's grandmother's house.

curses

08-06-2006, 02:12 AM

I've met Robert Smith. He's shorter than me, it was odd. I've also met Eddie Izzard, although I don't know if that counts as it was at a signing at Tower Records.

I'm one of the great-great(?) granddaughters of John Bell Hood, and that's all I got.

RevDahlia

08-06-2006, 02:14 AM

I want to know what Allen Ginsberg was doing at Dahlia's grandmother's house.
My gramma is a poet, an auxiliary Beat, good friends with Ferlinghetti (though she thinks Kerouac was a douche) and spent many, many years providing temporary housing to broke poets. That scene was very small, especially in the Pacific Northwest (where she lived and still lives), so there were always famous poets around. Ginsberg was just the most dramatic and terrifying.
So, are you guys all going to be nicer to me now that you know David Bowie thought I was cute once like one million years ago? Is there, like, some kind of discount card I can get or something?
Can I touch the hem of your garment?

kiwimac

08-06-2006, 03:33 AM

My mother's first husband won the George Medal (NZ's second highest civilian bravery award) for attempting to stop the train which plunged into the Tangiwai (strangely enough, Tangiwai= Waters of weeping or Waters of Death) river, Christmas Eve 1953 (NZ's worst train-wreck)

She knew some of NZ's great footballers, 'pine Tree' Meads and "The Foot!" and, of course, met QE2 when the award was given to Cyril Ellis.

Kiwimac

viscousmemories

08-06-2006, 04:00 AM

So, are you guys all going to be nicer to me now that you know David Bowie thought I was cute once like one million years ago?
No, but you have my awe for making Allen Ginsburg jealous.

I met King and Queen Baudouin of Belgium at a reception after the Christmas Eve mass in 1987, which I described here (http://www.freethought-forum.com/forum/showthread.php?p=39983#post39983).

I met the comedian A. Whitney Brown at a deli in Ann Arbor.

Plant Woman

08-06-2006, 04:05 AM

I took care of Hal Holbrook's boat in Hawaii. The nicest man you would ever know. I used to photograph Al Harrington (Hawaii 5-0 ) with tourists the shittiest man you would ever know. I photographed Gavin McLeod (Love Boat) and photographed a celebrity golf tournament where I photographed celebrities from the islands including Tom Seleck. My ex remodeled Tom's home at Black Diamond. I used to offer to carry lumber for the ex, but he never took me up on it. :darn:

freemonkey

08-06-2006, 04:22 AM

I once followed (because my other bandmates made me) Ric Ocasek around the NAMM show. At same show, while attempting to photograph said bandmates with some guy from Journey (not the singer! Maybe it was Neal Schon?), I dropped and broke open my little instamatic camera :blush:.

I shook hands with Adam West at a car show. But who hasn't?

I once had Easter dinner with James Young (I think that's who it was) from the band Styx, at the home of a lawyer guy who had something to do with the trial of Richard Speck.

I was in a band with a bass player who claimed Kevin Smith was his cousin.

Johnny Pneumatic

08-06-2006, 06:32 AM

Oh, I'm supposedly related to Jessie James - not the motorcyle maker, the outlaw - by not an insanely far degree. Of course if you want to be technical we're all related, if you go back far enough in time, but this is a little different.

I could have seen Pauly Shore in person, and wanted to, but didn't for some reason I've forgotten. Yeah, crack your jokes now.

maddog

08-06-2006, 06:37 AM

My friend Charlie went to school with Robert "Bobby" Blake back in the days when he used to play "Little Beaver" on the Red Ryder series.

#923

Johnny Pneumatic

08-06-2006, 06:39 AM

Is there, like, some kind of discount card I can get or something?

There might be, if you still had some of his spit (that we may clone him), but you don't, so no.

Anastasia Beaverhausen

08-06-2006, 06:39 AM

I've met Adam West (sexy for his age!) and Kenny Baker (asshole) at a sci-fi toy con.

I was hit on by several members from Hoobastank and Andrew WK.

pescifish

08-06-2006, 08:56 AM

Every year I'm invited to a holiday fundraiser party for the doberman pinscher rescue at the home of one of the writers of a daytime soap opera. There are oodles of soap opera actors at that party, but I'm embarrassed to say that I don't know them as actors. After 4 years though, I've gotten to know a few via regular-people sorts of party conversations. Nice folks.

Oh yeah, if the Dog Whisperer counts, I attended one of Cesar Millan's seminars at Dog Psychology Center. This was right before he started taping his shows for National Geographic and he was running the seminar to help LA area dog rescues rehabilitate some of their dogs so they could be adopted.

My family and I met, shook hands and had a 5-10 minute conversation with Bill Cosby. He had hired my brother-in-law to videotape a private show he had put on for his family and friends. As you might expect, Mr. Cosby was a warm and funny man. I know I met several other celebrities through my bro-in-law, but I can't recall any right now.

I had a 15-20 minute conversation with John Schneider (Dukes of Hazzard, Smallville) while sitting on the floor of the Dallas/Fort Worth terminal. Both of us were waiting for a plane change during a flight from Nashville to Los Angeles.

My cousin was proposed to on one of Dick Clark's "Surprise" tv shows, so our whole family was there in the audience to be with her after her big surprise. Dick Clark, Dom DeLuise and Morgan Fairchild hung around and talked with us in the studio after the show. Dick Clark sprung for a fancy dinner at some Hollywood restaurant for all 30 of us family members. He hung around for another 10 minutes chatting us up, too.

Do astronauts count? My immediate boss while working on the X-33 program was an astronaut. I won his house from him on a bet.. I didn't collect even though there were about 15 people who witnessed the original bet.

My mother and father went to several meetings with those nutjobs of Heaven's Gate. This was before they built up their cult, but my mom said they were obviously nutjobs even then. That was a pretty significant statement considering my folks were involved in the LA Philosophical Research Society (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manly_P_Hall) and met all sorts of interesting folk there.

I shook hands with Chuck Yeager and mumbled a "pleased to meetchoo" to President Ronald Reagan.

Bob Hope stumbled and bumped our table at the Velvet Turtle in Pasadena once. He said "I'm very sorry" to my mom, dad and I and we all said "thank you!"

My best celebrity story is of the woman who roomed with my sister, her husband and my niece while they lived in a 5500 square foot house in Hollywood. She worked in the industry while here but didn't reach true celebrity status until she took a job in New York, where she is still quite busy and successful. I won't post her name because I don't want Googly spiderbots to glom on to my silly prideful remarks. But, she is a truly wonderful person, as beautiful inside as she is for the cameras (she was one of People Mag's 50 Most Beeeooootiful, dontcha know.)

Johnny Pneumatic

08-06-2006, 09:01 AM

I shook hands with Chuck Yeager...

Can I have that hand when you're done using it?

Unmentionables

08-06-2006, 11:34 AM

I once had Easter dinner with James Young (I think that's who it was) from the band Styx, at the home of a lawyer guy who had something to do with the trial of Richard Speck.
I am jealous. I love Styx.

Ross Wilson -the lead singer of an old Aussie rock band called 'Daddy Cool'- had a brother that taught my Dad's year ten art class.

LadyShea

08-06-2006, 01:19 PM

I had many celebrity encounters when living (and stripping ;)) in Vegas. The coolest though was when George Clooney offered to kick some guy's ass for me.

Also, I was good cyber-friends, from AOL, with Adam of Matchbox20 before they released their first album, and when they came to Vegas we got to go party with them. Rob Thomas was too rcognizable to be comfortable going with us though.

fromdownunder

08-06-2006, 02:00 PM

I had lunch with an Australian Prime Minister (Gough Whitlam) and went fishing a couple of times with a (then future) Australian Prime Minister (Bob Hawke) a couple of times.

I also got an autograph from Frank herbert (first edition of "God Emperor of Dune"), and the band I used to work with once backed Normie Rowe and Stevie Wright and I worked with Ian "Molly" Meldrum (which does not mean a damn thing to anyone outside the USA).

Norm

Leesifer

08-06-2006, 05:21 PM

If anyone's interested, further information about my Dad's band can be found here: look for The Spectrum (http://www.radiolondon.co.uk/rl/scrap60/fabforty/may67/may6701/fab070567.html)

Julie

08-06-2006, 06:10 PM

i am supposedly descended from rob roy mcgregor.

michael :)

Wow We must be related. ;) I am supposedly decended from Rob Roy too.

I've played street Hockey with the likes of Pavel bure, Gretsgy...Insert Top Hokey players name here. My across the stree neighbour is a local Sports caster with very famous friends....who'd bring along their very famous friends. There was many a time where there was a knock on my door and a "stranger" would be standing there saying "Can Julie come play hockey?"....I was 18-19 at the time :)

Plus I went to school with Peter Nedveds neice, she was a very good friend of mine. It was not unheard of for Peter and visiting "friends" to come pick us up after school, partly why I got to play street hockey with them years later.

Mathew Good was my Lab partner.

I wen't to Jr. high with Sarah Chalkie (On Scrubs now) even though she claims to not be from here and says she went to private school...She didn't.

I partied with Nickelback before they were famous.

I've met and talked to far to many Movie and TV stars to care anymore. It's not uncommon for me to my local starbucks and see someone famous.

an old friend of my moms Dated Richard Dean Anderson, back when he was McGuiver, She worked with the man who was the hand model for Mcguyver.

I used to party with the Whos Who of skateboarding, including Tony Hawk.

There are more but I can't think of them off the top of my head.

Rick Hanson, who went around the wolrd in his Wheel chair, was my teachers bestfriend, so we got to see him all the time.

Terry Fox used to Run up and down my street, I remember talking to him, My Dad more than I did. I was like 3 when he died.

*edited to add*
I can't believe I forgot the most important one. I was hugged by the Queen and by Prince philip. I got to have an actuall conversation with her.

When I was living in NZ as a kid she came for a visit, they packed all of us local kids on the bus. Just infront of where we were standing a bunch of people through eggs on the queen. She just kept walking. When she got to where we were I gave her my hankie. She said thank you and when I answered her back she realised I wasn't from New zealand, I was Canadian. She said how happy she was that all her "people" got along so well. She gave me a hug and wished me well. Prince Philip gave me a hug too and said thank you for the hankie, egg was hard to wipe off.

Johnny Pneumatic

08-06-2006, 06:47 PM

I think we've all been bested by Julie. :yup:

livius drusus

08-06-2006, 06:53 PM

She said how happy she was that all her "people" got along so well.
You should have said "why thanks ya, Miz Daisy. Thanks ya kindly."

Leesifer

08-06-2006, 07:01 PM

:giggles:

Julie has met "Her Maj".

/me doffs her cap to Julie.

quiet bear

08-06-2006, 07:47 PM

My Dad's band in the 1960's sang the theme tune to Captain Scarlet.

Finally! Someone besides me who know about Captain Scarlet!!

Do astronauts count?

Heck yea! Those guys are modern day frontiersmen.

As far as my experiences, I had a chat with Alice Cooper back in March over lunch. (won a contest) He's an extremely intelligent person. Funny thing...he puts exactly two shakes of salt on every bite before he eats it. He said his favorite song, lyrically, is Generation Landslide.

I've met Cal Ripken and got his autograph more times than I can count. (Along with several other Orioles, although my autograph seeking days are well behind me now.)

Stormlight

08-06-2006, 08:12 PM

My Dad's band in the 1960's sang the theme tune to Captain Scarlet.

:bow: :bow: :bow: :bow:

maddog

08-06-2006, 09:24 PM

NFL Hall of Famer Anthony Munoz graduated from my HS in 1976. He overlapped attendance there with 2 of my brothers.

#924

Dingfod

08-06-2006, 10:12 PM

I said in chat the other evening that I couldn't think of any tenuous connections with fame, but in the intervening time, I've thought of a few.

I was on a flight from Salt Lake City to Houston seated on the same row as Craig Bolerjack, Salt Lake City sportscaster at the time, now with CBS sports, when fellow Salt Lake City sportscaster, now ESPN sportscaster, Jim Nance completely snubbed Bolerjack as he brushed past him down the aisle. I commented to Bolerjack on the snub. Bolerjack said "Nance is a jerk." Bolerjack was on Mormon-owned KSL, Nance was on the NBC affiliate, KUTV. Bolerjack was travelling with KSL crew seated across the aisle and behind us, so that was pretty much the extent of our conversation.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My ex-sister-in-law is a part-time NYC actress and has been on several episodes of Law and Order and other New York based television and movie productions. One of those roles was on a Law and Order episode involving a school shooting. She played a teacher that hid behind cafeteria tables with several other students when the shots rang out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Grandad Sam, my maternal grandfather, was a test driver at the Ford Proving Grounds outside Kingman, Arizona. He was a test driver without a college degree that became an engineer after re-assembling Ford's new Ford-O-Matic automatic transmission after merely watching a team of Detroit engineers and technicians disassemble it in a conference room. His son, my Uncle Bob, also became a non-degreed emissions control and fuel-systems engineer at Ford a little over 30 years later because his electronics hobby made him the go-to expert.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One-time Kansas Governor and 1936 Republican nominee for President, Alf Landon, was a neighbor of my paternal grandparents in rural Kansas near Topeka. My father went to school with Alf's daughter, Nancy, who later became Senator Nancy Landon Kassenbaum [Baker].

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My mother was doing geneological research and found that we are related to Sir Henry Vane, America's first revolutionary (http://www.libertyhaven.com/theoreticalorphilosophicalissues/earlyclassicalliberalism/sirhenry.html), was Governor of the Massachusetts from age 22 to 24. There he advocated freedom for individuals, including Indians. At age 26 he was seated in Parliament in England, knighted shortly thereafter, then married into money at age 27. He got on the wrong side of Oliver Cromwell, despising Cromwell's dictatorship as much as he despised dictatorial monarchy, and was imprisoned for a time without charges. In 1658, after Cromwell's death, Vane re-entered Parliament and advocated England becoming a republic with an elected President and representatives. He was a man ahead of his time. He was executed for it.

Dingfod

08-06-2006, 10:21 PM

Oh, yeah, another one: My coworker and I met Michael Ellis from Durant (DOO-RANT), Oklahoma. Michael was known as "Cowboy" on CBS' Big Brother 5. We met him on the sidewalk in the parking garage at work as we were leaving work and he was on his way to the hotel next door, in town for interviews and autograph signing. We made eye contact. He said "Howdy!" I froze for a second when I recognized him and said "You're... uh... uh... that guy on Big Brother." He said "Yeah, I'm Michael Ellis" and shook our hands before we parted in opposite directions.

Corona688

08-06-2006, 10:49 PM

My friend's uncle is an ex-drummer for Ghosts of Modern Man.

My uncle has had several non-speaking parts in those 'engineering disasters' shows that are all the rage on discovery these days. It's the beard. They phone him up and ask him "Still got that beard?" and when he says "Yes" they hire him again. It looks quaintly historical. He plays the guys who design the bridges. When you see a guy with glasses and a big curly beard looking sad while his badly-engineered bridges fall down and kill people on TV, odds are good it's him.

Neither really 'famous', but I takes what I can get...

The Lone Ranger

08-07-2006, 12:44 AM

Hmm. I had lunch with Greenpeace co-founder Paul Watson (http://www.seashepherd.org/crew-watson.html) once. An interesting fellow, to be sure, with lots of fascinating stories.

I met Stephen Jay Gould at a SICB (Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology) meeting once. He was ... a bit full of himself, or so he seemed.

I've also met Jared Diamond, author of Guns, Germs and Steel and Collapse. Nice guy, but not the world's greatest public speaker.

I've met lots of other people who're well-known in the scientific/biological community, but probably not very well-known to the general public. That includes Harvey Lillywhite (http://www.zoo.ufl.edu/faculty/lillywhite.html) (a really nice guy), Steven Vogel (http://fds.duke.edu/db/aas/Biology/faculty/svogel), and Lynn Margulis (http://www.geo.umass.edu/faculty/margulis/). Ken Kardong, one of the better-known evolutionary biologists and vertebrate morphologists in the country, is a friend of mine and a truly great guy.

I haven't met many "famous" people, I suppose, though my grandfather was in the Maine Legislature for much of his adult life. Through him, I've met several prominent Maine politicians.

I once visited Richard Nixon's estate, though he wasn't in at the time. (It was at Christmas time, and I thought the juxtaposition of the "Happy Holidays" wreath on the main gate next to a very serious-looking armed guard to be somewhat amusing.)

I met Denise Crosby (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000344/) (she was somewhat surly) and Robin Curtis (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0193495/) (who was just as sweet as could be) at the one "Star Trek" convention I've attended. (I also met Larry Niven, who was not the most pleasant person I've ever met.)

I understand that Edie Caggiano (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1043243/), whom I knew in college, has become a moderately successful actress. She was a very sweet-natured (though perhaps surprisingly, given her career choice, rather quiet) young woman. Ironically, though, I've never seen her in anything since our college days, since I've never seen "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" or "General Hospital" or any of the movies she's been in. According to her website, she does a lot of voiceover work nowadays, which makes sense -- she always had a wonderful speaking voice. She's still quite the lovely (http://www.ediecaggiano.com/images/headshot2.jpg) young woman, too.

When I was in high school, I was invited to an author's convention. I found myself chatting with a woman (whose name I don't remember, alas) who had worked on "The Sound of Music." She told me many amusing stories of how Julie Andrews had a vocabulary that would make a sailor blush.

Cheers,

Michael

CEH

08-07-2006, 03:38 AM

My family used to live in Burbank waaaay before I was born, so they had quite a few celebrity encounters. Can't name any specific ones, though. All I know is most of the celebrities were from old 60's and 70's shows, so I didn't really pay attention.

My mom went to highschool with Shawnee Smith.

My mom lived in Nashville for a few years, so she met several country music stars. Tim McGraw and Garth Brookes are the only ones I can remember.

My great uncle worked on the set of Matlock.

Aaand, this September I'm going to Hollywood for my birthday (going to see the tapings of Dr. Phil, and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno), so maybe I'll run into some people. :D

D. Scarlatti

08-07-2006, 04:00 AM

Angakuk

08-07-2006, 05:02 AM

I just remembered a couple more really lame pseudo connections.

I went to High School with Billy Casper's (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Casper) daughter, Linda.

My wife's grandfather was an accountant in Hollywood. His celebrity clients included James Cagney and Paul Newman, among others.

D. Scarlatti

08-07-2006, 05:07 AM

My sister had dinner with Paul Newman, and I have three of Kevin Costner's cigars on my windowsill.

lisarea

08-07-2006, 05:13 AM

I met Ahmad Rashad last weekend. I told him he was my favoritest player evar, and I have a Vikings jersey with number '28' on it. He said, 'Keep it down, we're in Packers country.' I said, 'Hell, I ain't ashamed.'

Ooh! I just remembered something because of that! There was a while a few years ago when I was having extended email discussions with Reggie Rivers and Spencer Tillman, about different things, both completely unrelated to football.

I don't even like football is part of the reason for that.

Julie

08-07-2006, 06:01 AM

Geeze ya know I have so many hockey ones I forget them all.

My best friend when I was 15-17's God father was Hockey hall of famer Syd Howe, Son of Mr. hockey himself Gordie Howe.

Spent the night at her place cause she wanted me to meet her God father and his Dad...Had dinner with them and was sitting out back having a smoke chatting with Gordie, when he asked me if I watched hockey....I didn't..I still don't. Put him into fits of laughter cause here I was having a smoke talking to Mr. Hockey himself and I had no clue :)

Back when I was in grade school I used to live 4 townhouses over from a bunch on NHL players (I don't remember their names anymore) but they used to drink a lot of beer and pop, they used to pay us neighbourhood kids to empty out the cans, we got to keep the refund too.

Bob Lenarduzzi was a close family friend of another of my friends
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Lenarduzzi
He's big in canadian soccer.

I used wash the car of Carl Valentine.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Valentine
He's another canadian soccer guy.

Angakuk

08-07-2006, 07:45 AM

I just thought of another one. When we lived in Alaska my step-daughter ran a dog sled team that was mostly made up of dogs she borrowed from Libby Riddles (http://www.libbyriddles.com/).

godfry n. glad

08-07-2006, 08:26 AM

If Libby is in, then so is Michael Harrington (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Harrington) and Casper Weinberger (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caspar_Weinberger) .

I had drinks with both at the same cocktail party. I also had beer with Harrington at another time.

Stormlight

08-07-2006, 10:49 AM

I got nothing. :(

Well, not nothing. I had lunch with Christopher Lambert (the Highlander). And by having lunch I mean that he was at the next table in a Pizzeria here in Luxembourg. :P

maddog

08-07-2006, 04:58 PM

One day, when I was living in San Francisco, I was waiting at a bus stop in Pacific Heights, when I looked down and spotted a baseball card evidently lost by its owner. It was in pretty good shape and, baseball aficionado that I am, I bent down to pick it up. When it came into focus, I said, "Hey! I know that guy!" It was Nick Leyva (http://cgi.ebay.com/489-NICK-LEYVA-TOPPS-SIGNED-CARD-MLB_W0QQitemZ140014479694QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting), a classmate from H.S., who was managing the Philadelphia Phillies at the time. (Link shows e-bay sale of baseball cards; Leyva is upper right.) Funnily enough, that year we were having a high school reunion, and the announcement had said there were some classmates "missing in action," including Nick, and asking if anyone knew where they were. If managing in the major leagues is "missing in action," that is.

#925

Sock Puppet

08-07-2006, 05:38 PM

I pretty much shot my celebrity wad in Legs' liar game thread. I blew a huge toke of pot smoke in Greg Lake's face once. I also used to live a couple blocks away from Anton Lavey's Black House, back when he was living in it. He was a friend of some friends, in fact. I probably would have met him eventually, if he'd lived long enough. He was always a very private person, despite his flamboyant carnival shows in the 60s. It would've taken an introduction and recommendation from his current friends for him to meet just about anybody new, at least voluntarily.

Oh, a couple more:

I once sat with Michael Shrieve at a show for a local band, Subject To Change, and discussed music for a bit. He has put out a couple of solo albums, but his main claim to fame is his appearance at Woodstock, and in the film. Remember the amazing high school-age kid who played drums for Santana? That's him. Nice guy. He barely resembled his immortalized kid self.

I spoke with a couple of the lesser members of Hawkwind, including Al Davey. I remember him because he was friendly. We tried to talk with The Man Himself, Dave Brock, but he just scowled and kept walking. I've seen several Hawkwind shows and he never seems to be in a good mood.

D. Scarlatti

08-07-2006, 05:55 PM

I blew a huge toke of pot smoke in Greg Lake's face once.

:laugh:

And Sock Puppet wins the thread.

Did his lyrics get even more ridiculous after that?

Sock Puppet

08-07-2006, 05:58 PM

Well, my friend did say it was the only time during the whole show that he smiled.

This during the EL & Powell tour. From there, his lyrics merely got even more boring.

D. Scarlatti

08-07-2006, 05:59 PM

A friend of mine played at Keith Emerson's son's 18th birthday party in England.

There was a time when I worshipped Keith Emerson as a god.

wei yau

08-07-2006, 06:01 PM

As a busboy in my dad's restaurant near Lincoln Center and the ABC News building, I've served Robin Williams and Peter Jennings.

When we were younger, my sister and I had our picture taken with Florence Henderson at Niagra Falls. Although, I have to see that picture again. She was very confused and seemed perplexed that we'd want a picture with her. There's a good chance that woman just resembled Florence Henderson and couldn't figure out why a vacationing Chinese family wanted her picture at Niagra Falls.

Sock Puppet

08-07-2006, 06:54 PM

:roflcopt:

That would be even better than her actually being Florence Henderson.

Dingfod

08-07-2006, 07:41 PM

As my coworker and I were talking about Mystery Science Theater 3000 and oddball scifi films, I thought of another one. I know filmmaker Trent Harris (Ruben and Ed, Plan 10 from Outer Space) through a coworker and friend of mine in Salt Lake City, Martin. 40-something Trent was robbing the cradle of Martin's 20-something daughter. Trent's a cool guy. A little eccentric, but cool.

lisarea

08-07-2006, 08:33 PM

Dingfod looks sort of like Jack Nance. If wei yau can count having his picture took with a lady who looked like Florence Henderson, we should all be able to count posting to the same threads as a guy who sort of looks like Jack Nance.

(Just for the record, I do think both should count.)

Dingfod

08-07-2006, 08:40 PM

Actually, I do see the resemblance.

http://tremolina.blogia.com/upload/20051114222134-twinpeaks04.jpg

maddog

08-16-2006, 04:43 AM

Let's see if this works: attaching a picture. If it works, the guy in the dark clothes on the right is my dad's college roommate.

#942

maddog

08-16-2006, 04:55 AM

If these work, these are my dad in college:

#943

maddog

08-16-2006, 05:03 AM

My dad and his roommate were very active in the "Little Theater" (This is UC Berkeley, 1939). My dad had the lead, Thomas Becket, in "Murder in the Cathedral" in one of the drama productions that year.

These are: my dad painting scenery for the production his roommate was in, and my dad as Thomas Becket

#944

maddog

08-16-2006, 05:07 AM

Dingfod

08-16-2006, 05:13 AM

To bad nobody ever heard of him and he faded into obscurity like he did. Just think, if he had finished that degree he could've become a reknowned college professor.

Sweetie

08-16-2006, 06:15 AM

Mathew Good was my Lab partner.

:rubeyes:

Even though he seems ultimately rather geeky, I love Matthew Good, I have one of his CD's in my tray right now. I keep wondering if it would be weird to send him an email or something on his website, because I would love him to know how much I love his music!

I've never met anybody famous, unfortunately.

My Great-Grandma's name was Adolphina, does that count for something? :dunno:

Beth

08-16-2006, 01:56 PM

My mom dated Pete Rose and his brother- they lived on her street. Sometime my uncle says that he is my real father. But he'll only say that to my brother, not me.

ETA- I have to ask my mom about this again. Maybe it was his brother who she dated. I know that the Rose's lived on her street for a while because I heard about them all of the time, but reading over Pete Rose's info, it just makes no sense because of the age and where Rose seemed to have lived.

Shake

08-16-2006, 08:42 PM

I shook hands with Chuck Yeager
OK, I'm officially jealous now.

Shake

08-16-2006, 08:51 PM

I've met Australian Olympians (from '96, pole vaulter Simon Arkell, hung out with him; gotten Emma George's autograph), and an American one too (American record holder, Jeff Hartwig). My HS track coach actually made the Olympic trials for steeplechase (IIRC), and I've competed in a meet with Kim Batten (who once set the world record in the 400m hurdles).

I shook hands with King Missile lead singer, John S. Hall. He complimented me on my P.I.L. t-shirt.

In 8th grade, the girl who became pro-wrestling's Chyna (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joanie_Laurer) was in my class. (that one's for Jacey, if he happens to read this)

pescifish

08-17-2006, 05:13 AM

Sadly, his roommate did not graduate with the class. He quit school and went to New York to seek his fortune on the stage (as my dad would do later). In so doing, the roommate shed his hated first name, "Eldred," and went by his middle name, "Gregory."
To bad nobody ever heard of him and he faded into obscurity like he did. Just think, if he had finished that degree he could've become a reknowned college professor.:laugh:

Wonderful photos, maddog!

pescifish

08-20-2006, 10:51 AM

We held our annual fundraiser dinner for the dobie rescues tonight. This was in Studio City at the home of one our board of directors. Apparently the house next door is owned by Tommy Lee and was also having a party tonight.

None of their guests showed up at our party, but many of ours mistakenly went there first. They were greeted by 2 security guards who told them "You here for the dogs? Dogs are next door." We had 6 dobermans greeting our guests, so I figure we had pretty good security, too. :dobie: :dobie: :dobie: :dobie: :dobie: :dobie:

ChuckF

09-08-2006, 04:22 PM

My Russian professor is Andy Richter's father.

erimir

09-09-2006, 12:38 AM

I met Stephen Jay Gould at a SICB (Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology) meeting once. He was ... a bit full of himself, or so he seemed.
His associate, Niles Eldredge, once came to my high school to give a lecture.

I don't recall if I went and asked him a question afterwards or not. Probably not - I don't usually do that unless I dislike the speaker and thought s/he said something stupid or annoying (for example, I went to talk to Dinesh D'Souza after I saw him talk).

Angakuk

11-17-2008, 04:59 AM

During my recent vacation in Phoenix I attended church with Alice Cooper.

OK, I didn't really attend church with him. He attended the early service and I went to the late service, but I did pass him in the foyer while I was entering and he was leaving. No, I did not ask him for his autograph. I am not a total asshole.

livius drusus

11-17-2008, 05:12 AM

That's what you get for sleeping in, lazy.

Welcome back. :bigglomp:

godfry n. glad

11-17-2008, 05:14 AM

Yeah...If you'd gotten up early, you might have been able to see Alice eat a live chicken in the church pews.

Qingdai

11-17-2008, 06:06 AM

Or if you had gone to the links you could have seen him golf.

Caligulette

11-17-2008, 06:15 AM

I spilled tea on Kazuo Ishiguro once. I was almost evicted from my apartment by George Lucas - a number of my neighbours in the other building were. I've had dinner with Fiona Apple's dad.

Chris Porter

11-17-2008, 10:51 AM

I've drawn a map for a book by David Friedman (Harald) (who is the son of Milton Friedman). Met Gene Siskal. Met Daniel Inouye (senator from Hawaii) when he toured my place of work when I lived in Hawaii. My second cousin was college roomate of Kurt Vonnegut. Met (and got an autograph from) Robert T. Bakker (The Dinosaur Heresies). Met Famous Amos (Wally Amos-and he really is a nice guy, I thought). (I worked as a volunteer for the Hawaiian Literacy group, did up their fundraising promotional literature and attended their annual event).

I suppose if one lives long enough, and volunteers for charity sort of things, one is bound to run into famous people. I don't think I have any famous relatives, though. None I can recall, anyway.

Oh, also, took a genetics class from Rebecca Cann, co-author of the paper that introduced the concept of Mitochondrial Eve.

erimir

11-17-2008, 04:53 PM

I ate dinner one table away from Ron Howard a couple months ago. He was in town (Pinehurst) for a golf tournament, I guess. He seemed to be treating some of the players to dinner (it was an amateur tournament, so they wouldn't be necessarily rich players).

We almost ate outside cuz the guy who was playing guitar and singing kinda sucked. But I guess it was worth it to eat inside, eh? None of us would go talk to him and ask for an autograph or picture or anything tho... I guess he probably prefers that.

ChuckF

11-17-2008, 04:55 PM

I shared an elevator with John McCain in the before-time.

Ymir's blood

11-17-2008, 05:56 PM

Sharing an elevator with a Republican politician? Living dangerously, Chuck. :tsktsk:

Naru

11-17-2008, 07:01 PM

I watched Kal Penn (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kal_Penn) give a short talk at my college on how Barack Obama is awesome shortly before the election.

erimir

11-17-2008, 07:29 PM

I watched Kel Penn (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kal_Penn) give a short talk at my college on how Barack Obama is awesome shortly before the election.You just linked to the Wikipedia article where his name is correctly spelled Kal Penn, yet you still misspelled it :tsktsk:

Naru

11-17-2008, 07:34 PM

:hide:

Janet

11-18-2008, 12:10 AM

The Motown act The Velvelettes played at my library some years back and I was their contact person and escort. Afterward it occurred to me that it makes me two degrees of separation from everyone at Motown, which makes me very happy.

Also ?, of ? and the Mysterians and 96 Tears fame, the only man to have his name legally changed to a punctuation mark, calls my library with reference questions almost every day.

Ymir's blood

11-18-2008, 12:57 AM

That ought to lead to some interesting conversations.

"may I ask who is calling?"
"Yes"
"Yes, who is calling?"
"Yes isn't calling me, I'm calling you"

Janet

11-18-2008, 01:23 AM

Actually, when I started working here I was told his name was Mark. It wasn't until I recognized his voice on VH1's Greatest One Hit Wonders show that I figured out who he was. I recognize most people by voice rather than by face, so it wasn't hard. Most people call him Q, but we don't often bother with names on Telephone Reference. People like their anonymity and frankly, I don't care.

I was holding back in my previous post, but now that I've read through everything else I decided to be more forthcoming. My best friend is what I call a cult rock star. His name is Mick Collins and his current band is The Dirtbombs, though his defunct band The Gories is more of a cult. Through him I have met Alex Chilton, Don Was, Meg White - many times, and probably tons of other people I either didn't notice or can't remember. I am actually really bad at remembering people and it took me months of seeing Meg backstage before I got around to asking Mick who she was.

If we're going with parental connections as well, my father was a tax lawyer and lobbyist for Chrysler from the Fifties through the end of the Seventies. There were very few people in Washington he didn't know at the time. Particularly notable these days are Gerald Ford and Alan Greenspan. It seems to me he also went to college with almost everyone important in Michigan politics in the Sixties and Seventies. Judges, Detroit mayors, Michigan governors, they all went to the University of Detroit just after WWII. Most of the names you wouldn't know, but he did once go around the state on a speaking tour with George Romney, father of Mitt and failed presidential candidate.

Caligulette

11-18-2008, 04:26 AM

I shared an elevator with Christopher Hitchens on a number of occasions. He is not a good share-er. I dated one of the artists from Sandman, and have answered the phone when Neil Gaiman called him (he's very pleasant). I know Janet, and so know everyone she knows....By proxy...

MrFungus420

11-18-2008, 04:57 AM

Let's see...

A couple through my father. Once at an airport, he and my mother saw an elderly gentleman having some trouble with his luggage, so my dad went over and helped him. After that, Red Skelton was so glad that he took them to lunch. He also knew Moe Howard and met Charles Manson.

I met quite a few "adult" celebrities when I worked at Deja Vu (a strip club for those not familiar with it), as well as Mr. T and Weird Al Yankovic.

Kael

11-18-2008, 05:01 AM

My dad knew, gamed with, and worked for Tracy Hickman (of Dragonlance fame). Has some great stories, too.

erimir

11-18-2008, 04:09 PM

My dad (who is a real estate agent) sold one of Oprah's houses.

He didn't get to meet her personally tho. It was all done through intermediaries.

Brimshack

11-19-2008, 03:58 AM

Most of these are pretty remote, but:

My Grandpa treated Ronald Reagan for a concussion he got playing football.

Lemme from Motorhead once looked at me and said; "Covered in Fucking Blood eh?"

One of my profs from grad school is the guy that stopped Vonnegut from progressing to a PhD program in anthropology.

One of my old college friends is a moderately successful actor now. I'm not totally up on his exploits as I stopped watching TV about the time he started to get some parts. He was one of the 3 guys that used to be in all those Planter's Peanuts commercials, the ones where some animal would be trying to get a peanut from them.

I have a couple recipes sent to me by Gary Gygax a few months before he passed away.

When I was a student at UNLV, I used to have basketball tickets as a result of activities in Student Government. Mind You, these were GREAT seats during our number 1 year. I hate basketball, so I gave them to my Mom. She promptly made good friends with all the players. Larry Johnson once referred to her as his 'white' mother or something like that.

Speaking of Mother, we used to live on the same Highway as Roy Rogers. He stumbled drunk into my mom once at a local bar and grill.

My brother recently re-modelled a home at a ritzie community in Phoenix. While we were there for XMas, several celebrities were staying at various places in the neighborhood. He could point and say this celebrity stays there, that one is in that house tonight, etc. I guess during the Superbowl, the chair of Goldman-Sachs rented the main place house, while Alisha Keyes rented his smaller house. Don't know who has been there since.

ShottleBop

11-19-2008, 02:42 PM

Mrs. ShottleBop and I once picked up Leon Uris at the airport and escorted him to his hotel, when he came to speak at our synagogue.

Mrs. ShottleBop also carded Fred Savage when we were selling beer at the SuperBowl in '95 (or thereabouts; the concessions have a program where you work the stands, and they pay your school).

Tanda

11-19-2008, 04:07 PM

My great-grandfather's grandfather was General George B. McClellan.

Dingfod

11-20-2008, 02:57 AM

My great-grandfather's grandfather was General George B. McClellan., commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, according to Sarah Palin.

Count

11-20-2008, 07:48 PM

I am the mother of a reasonably famous Aussie kid. Ok, so she's not that famous but she does get a slot in prime-time every two years.
***
I was once chastised by Quan from Regurgitator (Australian band) for having my baby at a concert. Dickhead - I was actually working there and was unlikely to take my 6 week old son into the mosh-pit. Then he got over himself and we played frisbee.
***
When I was 8, I refused to shake Bob Hawke's hand. I had no idea why, but my Mum snapped "don't! And tell him we need more money!" Good one Mum, it's nice to be used as an ignorant minion in her political agenda. :blush:
***
I shagged a dude that was the sound technician/audio dude for heaps of big-name bands. Deadlokd, if you read this...erm, I made that bit up *shifty eyes* You're the only dude I've ever been with baby. *nods convincingly* :giggle: