Brushes with greatness?

ShredderMaximus · #1 01-28-2011, 12:38 AM

Sorry if this has been done before, but I was wondering how many people have come in contact in a real live famous person? And if so, what was your experience like meeting them? Whether it was like "yeah, they were a complete d-bag" or "yeah, they bought me icecream and gave me a piggy back ride all day!" I'm interested in hearing all of them! And by famous I mean from famous to you all the way to famous on a global level, musician or none musician, anything goes.

For me one of the coolest moments of my life was meeting Cannibal Corpse frontman George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher before they played their set at Slims in San Francisco on Cinco de Mayo last year. He was just hanging out near the back of the venue by himself and I just approached him and started talking to him, very cool down to earth guy, wasn't fat-headed (though he does have a insanely large neck, google pics to see what I mean) and didn't act like I was bugging him at all. Actually to initially get his attention I walked up beside him and yelled GEORGE! (not entirely rude, SkeletonWitch was playing at the time) and he turned around with a big smile on his face and said whats up, like any regular person. The one thing that was disappointing was after a friend of mine joined the conversation he asked George to yell in his face, George said "sorry, I can't, I'm a nice person!" Very classy dude and made me love this band even more.

Also, when I was a kid, legendary Cowboys lineman Larry Allen worked for my dad as a laborer to pay his way through college since his coach was a friend of my dads. Great guy also, a big teddy-bear. note for those that don't know this mans power-
From his wiki

Quote:

An 11-time Pro Bowl selection,/ In his career, he played in more Pro Bowls than any other Dallas Cowboys offensive player in franchise history./
At 6 ft 3 in tall and weighing 325 pounds, Allen is regarded as possibly one of the physically strongest men to have ever played in the NFL, having recorded a three-person assisted bench press of 700 lb.[1]

hes got a superbowl ring too.

Looking forward to some cool stories,
ShredderMaximus

Passinwind · #2 01-28-2011, 12:44 AM

Katherine Hepburn once dropped trou in her kitchen to show me the scar from her hip surgery.

Too many involving pretty famous athletes and musicians to get into.

ShredderMaximus · #3 01-28-2011, 12:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Passinwind

Katherine Hepburn once dropped trou in her kitchen to show me the scar from her hip surgery.

Too many involving pretty famous athletes and musicians to get into.

as in this Katherine Hepburn?

SCHAAAAAWIIIIIING!

Munjibunga · #4 01-28-2011, 01:18 AM

I met Virna Lisi and Bobby Sherman at a taping of Shindig, or something like it. Also, I ran into Jeff "Skunk" Baxter at the gas station near my office.

Also,

Kwesi · #5 01-28-2011, 01:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Munjibunga

I met Virna Lisi and Bobby Sherman at a taping of Shindig, or something like it. Also, I ran into Jeff "Skunk" Baxter at the gas station near my office.

Also,

Very cool. Vic's starting to show his age, lol. And somehow you look exactly how I pictured you

. Though I will admit I expected somewhat longer hair

ShredderMaximus · #6 01-28-2011, 01:35 AM

Aaaah maaaan, I had a chance to see a Vic bass clinic........ and missed it!!!!!!

Bard2dbone · #7 01-28-2011, 02:31 AM

I talked to Vic after a Flecktones gig in Sundance Square. He was very cool...and disturbingly tiny.

My grampa was Cleo Bagwell. My wifes coolest cousin is Slim Richey. To anybody who doesn't recognize either name, Slim is an amazing swing jazz guitarist. Grampa used to be one as well. As a young man he was a Lightcrust Doughboy. Look them up. Slim seemed impressed that Grampa was my grampa and arranged an opportunity for me to jam with a friend of his who knew Grampa when he was somebody. So I got to jam with Johnny Gimble. Johnny is a National Treasure. If you don't know him, look him up as well.

I think the best story of this type that I have is along the lines of "I ran into ___________ at a guitar show." Except that He ran into me. Steve Miller ran into me from behind at a guitar show about ten or twelve years ago. He was moving at quite a clip. If I'd been a normal sized person, I'd probably have face-planted. It's not often I benefit from being shaped like this. I turned around all pissed off and ready to beat someone up. I think I said something like "HEY DICKWEED...I have all your albums." He apologised very graciously and was pertty darn cool for a minute or two then we each wandered off to whatever we were doing at the time. This has happened a few times. Whoever the biggest name I see at a particular guitar show is, I'll probably meet them by them running into me, often from behind.

Two others that did that and made an impression: Conrad Lozano bumped into me and was a total D-bag about it. A fairly unknown new guy that seems to have a following now ran into me and was very cool about it. He had one album out at the time and mostly only fourteen year old girls knew who he was then. That was John Mayer.

In summary: Steve Miller Very cool. John Mayer pretty cool. Conrad Lozano the anti-cool.

We return you now to your regularly scheduled thread already in progress.

Happynoj · #8 01-28-2011, 02:49 AM

I met Aaron Barrett from Reel Big Fish in the toilets of a club. We didn't hang around to chat (they weren't very nice toilets) but he did pose for a photo with me.

ShredderMaximus · #9 01-28-2011, 02:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bard2dbone

I talked to Vic after a Flecktones gig in Sundance Square. He was very cool...and disturbingly tiny.

My grampa was Cleo Bagwell. My wifes coolest cousin is Slim Richey. To anybody who doesn't recognize either name, Slim is an amazing swing jazz guitarist. Grampa used to be one as well. As a young man he was a Lightcrust Doughboy. Look them up. Slim seemed impressed that Grampa was my grampa and arranged an opportunity for me to jam with a friend of his who knew Grampa when he was somebody. So I got to jam with Johnny Gimble. Johnny is a National Treasure. If you don't know him, look him up as well.

I think the best story of this type that I have is along the lines of "I ran into ___________ at a guitar show." Except that He ran into me. Steve Miller ran into me from behind at a guitar show about ten or twelve years ago. He was moving at quite a clip. If I'd been a normal sized person, I'd probably have face-planted. It's not often I benefit from being shaped like this. I turned around all pissed off and ready to beat someone up. I think I said something like "HEY DICKWEED...I have all your albums." He apologised very graciously and was pertty darn cool for a minute or two then we each wandered off to whatever we were doing at the time. This has happened a few times. Whoever the biggest name I see at a particular guitar show is, I'll probably meet them by them running into me, often from behind.

Two others that did that and made an impression: Conrad Lozano bumped into me and was a total D-bag about it. A fairly unknown new guy that seems to have a following now ran into me and was very cool about it. He had one album out at the time and mostly only fourteen year old girls knew who he was then. That was John Mayer.

In summary: Steve Miller Very cool. John Mayer pretty cool. Conrad Lozano the anti-cool.

We return you now to your regularly scheduled thread already in progress.

Man, that is awesome, especially Steve Miller. And john Mayer, though I'm not a fan of his music, I don't really knock him cause he seems like a pretty cool dude. Great post.
BTW I'm wondering what you keep in your pockets to attract all these musicians?

Bard2dbone · #10 01-28-2011, 03:50 AM

My multi-part theory (this week) is that there are more famous guitarists at a guitar show in Dallas than one in say, Omaha. Additionally, I think the crowd is heavier (in both senses of the word) around here. I take up a great deal of space. (I'm only about six feet tall. But I'm just over three hundred very dense pounds.) And people in general (perhaps celebrities in particular) just don't watch where they're going nowadays.

Seriously. It's like I have gravity. People run into me all the ****ing time. It's just that the ones I tell folks about are the ones they're most likely to have already heard of. At any typical event three or four people will bump into me. Typically three or four of those people will be D-bags. Sometimes one won't be.

ShredderMaximus · #11 01-28-2011, 04:43 AM

You may appreciate this bein a texan and all but a couple years back my grandma that lives out in Bailey or Wolff City or something got remarried so I ended up cruisin out Texas ways for the wedding, and after getting a chance to meet my new grandpa (great great guy who like you is also a very very large individual, it must be a Texan thing) found out he'd played stand-up(or as he called it doghouse bass) bass in high school and got a gig through a friend of his playing a couple little shows with a local band while their original bassist was out of commission for a little bit. The name of the band was The Crickets, as in Buddy Holly and the Crickets. Once he told me that I knew we were gonna get along just fine.

BassChuck · #12 01-28-2011, 05:09 AM

Once I saw Mingus playing in a little hole-in-the-wall club in Dayton, Ohio. During break I went up to him so say something, but before I could get a word out of my mouth he looked at me and said, "get outta my way honky mo*******ker". Somehow I still feel blessed.

ShredderMaximus · #13 01-28-2011, 05:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BassChuck

Once I saw Mingus playing in a little hole-in-the-wall club in Dayton, Ohio. During break I went up to him so say something, but before I could get a word out of my mouth he looked at me and said, "get outta my way honky mo*******ker". Somehow I still feel blessed.

legendary isn't the word, I think l-epic-dary might work!

Jonyak · #14 01-28-2011, 05:48 AM

I had a great brush once.

I lost it.

hrodbert696 · #15 01-28-2011, 05:58 AM

Once I was at a conference for lawyers where I was giving a talk, and the keynote speaker was Kenneth Starr (as in the Starr Report, Monica Lewinsky and Bill Clinton...). I wound up sitting next to him at the dinner and we had a nice conversation -- I was in grad school, he was asking about my studies, that kind of thing. Whatever one makes of his politics, he was a nice guy, especially considering that there were much bigger fish at the table for him to talk to.

I had Jennifer Connelly in my discussion section for Introduction to Theater Studies freshman year of college. She didn't talk much, but she had already done Labyrinth at that point, so everyone knew who she was (probably the reason why she didn't talk much). Yes, she looks just as good in real life as on screen.

Other show biz types -- I knew Fred Grandy's daughter in high school and college and met him once or twice briefly. Ed Norton also in college, though I didn't know him well. Living in New York, I bumped into Arnold Schwarzenegger on the street one time and Jay Leno another (no, didn't talk to them or try to get autographs -- you just don't DO that in NYC). My wife worked for a talent agency and they always had movie stars coming through, but not the times I was in there to visit. I remember her mentioning Julia Roberts and Patrick Stewart offhand.

ShredderMaximus · #16 01-28-2011, 06:13 AM

Jennifer Connely=favorite part of Requiem for a Dream

Phalex · #17 01-28-2011, 06:16 AM

My whole family attended school (K-12) with the DeBarge's. Chico was in my class, Eldra was in my older brothers class.

They were Ok guys. Tommy made a complete ass of himself at the gas station I worked at when I was like 18. Yeah, dude, I know who you are, and I'm still not that impressed.

I ran into Bob James as he was walking from his hotel to the concert hall he was playing. (I dunno who the bass player was on the Hands Down tour, but I am still blown away!)

I run into former senator Bill Hardiman and his wife at the grocery store several times a year.......

JimB52 · #18 01-28-2011, 06:17 AM

Does Ed Koch count? (Pocketing a gold bar in 1985)

How about Julie Newmar? (In NYC 1984)

L-A · #19 01-28-2011, 06:18 AM

The whole Rammstein band, arguing over why there's only one license plate on the rental car (it's the law here).

Relic · #20 01-28-2011, 06:57 AM

I have a few actually:

Kurt Loder - douche
Little Steven Van Zandt - (from Bruce Springsteens band and Soprano's show) Genuinely nice guy
Grant from Ghosthunters - very nice guy
Jason from same show - kind of an arse to be honest
Mel Gibson - seemed cool enough
Colin Powell - impressed the hell out of me and I wish he would run for president
Pat Benatar - she seems like a sweet lady but not very outgoing it seems.
Neil Geraldo - from Pats band and is her husband - he seems ok. Kind of snooty maybe but alright.