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Author Topic: Another thought-provoking or perhaps pointless thread  (Read 11007 times)

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Nabubrush

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Another thought-provoking or perhaps pointless thread
« on: January 13, 2005, 01:25:47 am »
Here's my question to you all:

Name the three most famous/infamous/renowned folks you ever met. If this has already been done, I apologize, but I see this kind of thing on Letterman and I always wonder why I didn't get to hang out with Karl Malone for three hours at Wal-Mart up in Alaska or something. Anyway, here goes . . .

1) Jerry Only, bassist of the Misfits.
I met him at a show and talked to him for maybe 10 minutes.

2) Kent Anderson, novelist.
I took a class from him in college. Nice guy, but funnily enough exactly who Central Casting would have sent if asked for a cop turned novelist.

3) Ted Stevens, US Senator.
My family used to live behind this guy in Anchorage. I don't call him on the phone or anything, but the last time I saw him (after probably ten years) he picked me out of the crowd to sort of chat with. If anything happens, he's third in line to take George's job.

Note that this listening is not in order of importance, or interest to me personally. It's pretty random. I'll say it's alphabetical by first name. I saw somebody post that the guitarist from Mudhoney (or someone like that) rode in their car once, so that sort of got me thinking.

Honorable mentions: I have also met Starhawk, Witch, and Tom Peterson, Portland icon.
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wombat

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Another thought-provoking or perhaps pointless thread
« Reply #1 on: January 13, 2005, 02:20:08 am »
I had to think really hard to think of any famous people I ever met, but I came up with three.

1. I let Robert DeNiro hold a naked mole rat once.  Accounts differ on whether we discussed the fact that a naked mole rat feels like, um, an unmentionable part of the male anatomy.

2. I once had the misfortunate of having dinner with Noam Chomsky.  I strenuously avoided other occassions on which this experience could have been repeated.

3. The other day while stalking novelist George Pelecanos' dog in the park I stared him down till he said hi.  I didn't really mean to, but it was getting dark and I was trying to see if he was growing a moustache.  I don't know if this counts as meeting, strictly speaking.

Edit:  Stupidly, while writing here on a messageboard about an internet comic, I forgot to mention that I also met Jeff "Wigu" Rowland.
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AlohaDawg

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Another thought-provoking or perhaps pointless thread
« Reply #2 on: January 13, 2005, 04:17:18 am »
My wife has a better list than me:

William Kuenstler (defense attorney for the Chicago 7)
Joe Walsh
Arlo Guthrie

Runners up: the Ramones, Oprah Winfrey, Alan Canfora (Google him), Winton Marsalis,  Spyro Gyra, Graham Nash.

One time, her parents were sitting in Scottsdale AZ reading the paper and there was an AP photo of her. She was also on CNN that same day.

My list is boring:

Jeanne Kirkpatrick
Charles Krauthammer
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miles

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Another thought-provoking or perhaps pointless thread
« Reply #3 on: January 13, 2005, 05:22:29 am »
Wombat-

David Bowie, your linguistics student, also disliked Noam Chomsky, or at least his work in linguistics.

1)  Doug Martsch of Built to Spill
2)  Will Oldham of Palace/Bonnie Prince Billy
3)  Eddie Hales, MLB Hall of Famer (did I get his name right?  It was years ago)

Not really any movers or shakers, but hey.

I've seen a lot of other famous people up close but not met them.
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AugustWest

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Another thought-provoking or perhaps pointless thread
« Reply #4 on: January 13, 2005, 05:36:51 am »
Brush w/Greatness, eh?

I think I've posted this before, but I went to high school with the drummer for the Black Crowes, Steve Gorman.  He is, and always has been, a hell of a nice guy and so are his brother and his Mom.

I've met/know shitloads of local/statewide politicians.

I met and cross-examined Henry Silverman, Chairman and CEO of Cendant, Inc., a Fortune 100 company (owns: Century 21, Coldwell Banker, Orbitz, Cheap Tickets, Avis, Budget, Days Inn, Knights Inn, Fairfield Inn, Howard Johnson, Ramada Inn, Travelodge, Super8, ERA, and AmeriHost, to mention but a few...)  He was a very personable and unassuming guy.
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jough

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Another thought-provoking or perhaps pointless thread
« Reply #5 on: January 13, 2005, 05:38:40 am »
My only interesting run-ins with celebrities usually include being at a writer's conference somewhere and hanging out with someone who isn't that much of a big-shot but is a great writer nonetheless - Will Self, Mark Leyner, Neal Stephenson, etc.  Usually there is much alcohol and women dancing around a metal pole involved.

Anyway, most of my infamous meetings are less than enthralling.

Tug McGraw hit on my mom once at a deli when I was a kid.

Robert DeNiro hit on my girlfriend, but she didn't know who he was.

I helped Ani DiFranco change a tire on her car when I was visiting Seattle.  She tried to give me some amount of money but when I refused she gave me a mix-tape from her car.  I didn't like it but I still have it somewhere.  She was sweet.
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V-Adore

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Another thought-provoking or perhaps pointless thread
« Reply #6 on: January 13, 2005, 06:08:34 am »
Sadly, I'm not sure I've ever had any meetings of note with anyone famous outside of the Internet subculture. That said -- I have met Stephen Ratliff in person. He's really a nice guy.
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Bozack

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Another thought-provoking or perhaps pointless thread
« Reply #7 on: January 13, 2005, 06:20:30 am »
Quote from: "miles"

2)  Will Oldham of Palace/Bonnie Prince Billy


I saw him a few days ago. Creepy-looking dude.
Actually, I dunno if I've actually met any cool people. I have walked past a few cool ones, like Jon Stewart and Jaenene Garofalo.

OOOOh, I smoked out of a bowl that Ani passed around after a Yo La Tengo show at Bonnaroo.
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andalucia

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Another thought-provoking or perhaps pointless thread
« Reply #8 on: January 13, 2005, 12:56:07 pm »
I talked to Jason Molina from Magnolia Electric Co., formerly of Songs: Ohia, after his show here.  Also, I approached Devendra Banhart in a bar because my friend was supposed to be photographing his show for the school paper but hadn't gotten a press pass to the sold-out show.  He tried to be useful but the drugs made it difficult.  And he stole my pen.  Things still worked out OK, in fact it was one of the best shows I've ever seen.

These people fit my definition of famous, but maybe not yours.  In that case, I'll add a story that my father tells me to make me jealous about not being around in the 60s: As my father was trying to hitchhike home after seeing Bob Dylan play his first electric set at Newport, Joan Baez picked him up in her convertible.
That is all.
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Gimpson

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Another thought-provoking or perhaps pointless thread
« Reply #9 on: January 13, 2005, 01:53:51 pm »
1.  Wynona Ryder
2.  Tim Robbins
3.  Susan Sarandon

While working for a crappy internet company in '96 or so, we got flown out to LA to webcast an anti-death penalty benefit concert, so we got to attend the party the day before the show.  I mainly stood around and listened to them blab about whatever movie Tim Robbins was directing at the time.  Tim Robbins was much taller than I expected, and Wynona was much shorter than I expected.
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Another thought-provoking or perhaps pointless thread
« Reply #10 on: January 13, 2005, 02:09:21 pm »
Sigourney Weaver, Rip Torn, and Sir Dog (the real guy from Dog Day Afternoon) all at film festivals I worked at. My So has a much longer and cooler list if you're into feminism.
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Va

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Another thought-provoking or perhaps pointless thread
« Reply #11 on: January 13, 2005, 04:15:39 pm »
Jerry O'Connell was in my class at school when I was in 4th grade and he was in 5th (they were combined at my school), which was the year before he made "Stand By Me".

Donald Sutherland was seated at one of my tables when I used to work in a fancy restaurant at a resort in Florida.  However, he could smell something coming from the smoking section and asked to be moved, so all I ever got to do was hand him the wine list and tell him the specials.  His hair was perfect.  He has another son (not Keifer) who looks like a total dork.

I once saw Sigourney Weaver walking down the street in NYC when I was about 15.

A more obscure one:  Julian Sanchez, blogger and writer for Reason Magazine once asked me to look over an article he wrote about Open Source/Free software for Tech Central Station.  He did not follow any of my suggestions.
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miles

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Another thought-provoking or perhaps pointless thread
« Reply #12 on: January 13, 2005, 04:56:56 pm »
Quote from: "Bozack"
Quote from: "miles"

2)  Will Oldham of Palace/Bonnie Prince Billy


I saw him a few days ago. Creepy-looking dude.
Actually, I dunno if I've actually met any cool people. I have walked past a few cool ones, like Jon Stewart and Jaenene Garofalo.

OOOOh, I smoked out of a bowl that Ani passed around after a Yo La Tengo show at Bonnaroo.


He really is a bit creepy looking.  I met him in '98 after an in-store appearance at Tower Records in Seattle.  I saw him outside and told him I really enjoyed the show, and then he signed Black/Rich Music LP I had just picked up.  He was totally nice.  I've talked to several musicians before and after shows, and he was easily the nicest and most gracious.  Although I can understand why Doug Martsch was a bit awkward as he is my idol and I was probably shaking when I talked to him.

I saw Bonnie Prince Billy a couple years ago (one of the best shows I've been to, by the way--don't miss any opportunity to see him with full backing band) and Zwan was playing up the street the same night.  After I left, according to some friends, Dave Pajo and Billy Corgan showed up to chat with Will.  So I missed that chance.  Did you know Billy Corgan has a book of poetry out?  Hello Jewell.

One of my fantasies is to get seriously baked with Doug Martsch.
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Ben-San

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Another thought-provoking or perhaps pointless thread
« Reply #13 on: January 13, 2005, 04:57:36 pm »
I am not counting things like autograph sessions or whatever where the Big Name Person is officially Meeting The Public. Instead, there are situations where the Big Name Person and I met more or less by accident.

Al Gore, former Vice President: His daughter and my sister were in the same big dorm bloc thing at college, so we were both at that group's graduation ceremony thing. He and I were seated back to back, which was ill-advised because he and I are both very tall and our chairs kept banging into each other and at one point our heads whacked into each other.

Hal Clement, science fiction author: I went to a small science-fiction convention in Amherst, which happened to be very near where Clement lived so he attended. I ended up sitting next to him for lunch. He was a good conversationalist and had a lot of interesting things to say about planets.

Terry Pratchett, sf/fantasy author: I went to Worldcon this past year, and saw a bunch of Discworld building-models on display in the concourse. While I was looking at them another guy started commenting and we got into a conversation and eventually I realized it was Terry Pratchett, who was also in the concourse to look at the models. We talked some more and I took a photograph of him standing next to a model of Unseen University.

edit: As long as relatives' encounters are also being listed, my grandmother was once bowled over in the street by Eleanor Roosevelt, who apologized profusely.
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Limmo

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Another thought-provoking or perhaps pointless thread
« Reply #14 on: January 13, 2005, 05:54:31 pm »
1. A friend went to pitch a script to Andy Dick at his house.  I tagged along.  My friend's pitch bombed, but I made Andy laugh quite a bit.  He asked us to come to his show a few nights later.  I was the only one who wound up going, and I hung out for a while afterwards.  Maura Tierney walked up to me while we were talking and asked "Do I know you from somewhere?"  Maura Tierney, by the way, carbonates my hormones.  I tried frantically to think of something to say, like "oh yes, you were on the mat next to me at Yoga Works a few months ago," but I just said "no, but I'm very happy to meet you."  

2.  I was in a tiny studio during a Ray Bradbury satellite press tour.  The earpiece audio failed, and I had to stage-whisper the questions to him for a minute.  We talked for a little while between interviews.  Nice guy, but he's got really bad ear wax.

3.  I talked to Paul Westerberg at the bar for a minute before an all-ages Replacements show when I was 18.  He was the only person I ever really felt star-struck by, because at that time I loved the Replacements more than I had ever loved any band ever.  All I could think to ask him was "Do you guys have a new album coming out any time soon?"

"Yeah, it'll be out in two months."

"Great!  What's it called?"

"Tim."

That baffled me so completely that it pretty much ended the conversation.

Others: I pestered Telly Savalas for his autograph at a Yankees game in the early 70s;  had an uneventful dinner at Esai Morales' house; had meaningless encounters with Willie Nelson, Rip Torn, Bill Bixby and Kris Kristofferson while working on a TV movie in 1991; and saw Billy Corgan, Rick Rubin and Steve Jones having a chat outside Tower Sunset one New Years Eve, but didn't see how I was going to work my way into the conversation.  And my mom once played tennis with Linda Ronstadt.
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