Strangest celebrity encounter you've had?

[DigMe]

In 2002 I was in a hotel in Beijing walking towards the lobby when I see Mick Foley (WWF/WWE wrestler who went by "Mankind") walking towards me all alone. I stopped him and said hi and asked what brought him to China. Turned out he was there with a bunch of doctors on a medical mission. They were treating people in rural areas and he said his job was to just play with the kids. He was lacking in front teeth and he had on the classic weightlifter pants/fanny pack combo. Truly nice guy.

bc

 

[VitalSigns]

In 2002 I was in a hotel in Beijing walking towards the lobby when I see Mick Foley (WWF/WWE wrestler who went by "Mankind") walking towards me all alone. I stopped him and said hi and asked what brought him to China. Turned out he was there with a bunch of doctors on a medical mission. They were treating people in rural areas and he said his job was to just play with the kids. He was lacking in front teeth and he had on the classic weightlifter pants/fanny pack combo. Truly nice guy.

bc

Sockooo!!!

 

[cosmicpimp2]

I met Mick, awesome dude and one of my idols lol

 

[malthumb]

I have a bunch of 'em...

When I was a kid, probably about 10, I went to a friend's house. His dad was in the basement playing cards with pro wrestler Ernie "The Big Cat" Ladd, James Harris (at the time the only black QB in the NFL, with the Bills) and Marlon Briscoe, a Bills WR.

When I was in high school, my best friend and I used to sneak into The Tralfamadore after school and watch Spyro Gyra rehearse. Met a couple of the originals but cannot remember their names.

In college our student union brought in Jeff Lorber Fusion for a concert. A few of us helped them load up their van. I was walking and talking with bassist Danny Wilson and saxophonist Ken Gorelick. A few months later, Kenny G released his first solo album. Yep, Ken "Kenny G" Gorelick.

Went to a concert at Pine Knob (now DTE Music Theatre) north of Detroit. Had a conversation between shows with Curtis Williams (keyboards) and JT Taylor (lead singer), of Kool & The Gang. Actually I sorta knew Curtis from growing up in Buffalo, but we weren't like hanging' buddies. We just knew some of the same people.

Went to a boxing match at the Palace of Auburn Hills. Met Muhammad Ali. He did one of those fake jab things. I swear I could smell the lotion on his hand, his fist came that close.

Was on a business trip to NYC. Went to a grill in the wee hours. Only people in the place were my group and director Robert Townsend. This was just before one of his movies, "Hollywood Shuffle" came out. Great guy.

In Vegas for a wedding. Met James Brown and his wife at the slots in the Luxor. This was about a week or two before his wife died. Called my mother from my cell phone so she could talk to JB (HUGE fan), but the connection sucked and it didn't go well.

Met Dale Earnhardt at a GM conference. He was a driver for Chevrolet. This was about a year before his fatal accident.

I dropped off a car for repairs at a Detroit area dealer. The porter was driving me back to my office. I was chatting with a lady named Debbie who had also dropped off a car for repair. After we'd driven through some of the nicer parts of Bloomfield Hills, the driver pulls up to a large gate and says "is this the right drive Mrs. Dumars?". It was Joe Dumars' wife.

Met Nathan East at a concert outside of Detroit. Got him and the rest of FourPlay (Bob James, Larry Carlton, Harvey Mason) to sign a CD for me. Nathan also signed my Hanewinckel bass. Harvey kept saying "That don't look like a Yamaha to me. Make him buy one of yours if he wants a signature. This one's gonna be on eBay tomorrow". He was joking. It was really funny as hell.

A couple months later met Louis and George "The Brothers Johnson". Both signed the back of my Alembic, but their sigs wiped off within days.

At the LA Auto Show in November, met Blake Griffin after he did a promo at the Kia stand. Guy is hilarious.....and tall (I'm 5'7"....awkward)

Two weeks ago at the Detroit North American Int'l Auto Show, shook hands with Apollo Ohno, who was doing a promo event at the BMW stand.

Think that's about it. Oh! Almost forgot....ran into Hulk Hogan at Detroit Metro airport the year he slammed Andre the Giant at Wrestlemania at the Silverdome. He is freakin' huge! And I've walked past George Clinton on at least 5 occasions at Detroit Metro. Never actually struck up a convo with him, though.

 

[GregC]

Many years ago I ran into Julie Newmar. She was really nice, and we wound up hanging out for a couple of weeks.

Waitaminute--did you get busy with Catwoman, Jim? 'Cause that'd be worth a bajillion cool points.

 

[Fishheadjoe]

Sat beside Goldie Hawn at a Toronto Maple Leafs game a number of years ago... lovely woman and much more attractive in person than on tv... and literally ran into Donnie Osmond at the airport in Toronto.
My wife is a school pricipal and her school was used for a movie set, she met Ray Romano, really nice guy as well as Gene Hackman... also very nice and friendly fellow.
Fishheadjoe

 

[fourstringdrums]

So I'm waiting to use the payphone and there is a guy on the phone who turns around and looks at me and tips his hat...and who do you think that man was? Emilio Estevez! ..and I was like EMILIO! The Mighty Duck Man...swear to god, true story.

 

[Actium]

I ran into Frank Mullen (Suffocation) before a gig of his in town. Man, the way that dude speaks makes me want to crap my pants. That hard arse new york I don't take crap from anybody accent.

I've met nascar drivers around the Lake Norman, NC area pretty often ever since I was a kid in the 80s. That's when they started moving there permanently and for vacation. Dale Earnhardt had a lake house across the water from my grandpa.

 

[Jared Lash]

So I'm waiting to use the payphone and there is a guy on the phone who turns around and looks at me and tips his hat...and who do you think that man was? Emilio Estevez! ..and I was like EMILIO! The Mighty Duck Man...swear to god, true story.

Score. Did you tell him your idea for a club where the outside looks like nightclub and the inside looks like a street?

 

[fourstringdrums]

Score. Did you tell him your idea for a club where the outside looks like nightclub and the inside looks like a street?

No but hey, did you grab my ass? I wouldn't blame you if you did.

 

[SJLee]

Back in the late 80's I met Phil Lesh, his wife Jill and their boys at a custom tile shop. I actually designed and made their tile. At the time I didn't know who they were. Funny thing is, they thought I knew who they were. One day I went to work with a tie dye shirt on. Now I never where tie dye but everything I had in my closet was dirty and someone had given it to me as a gift. So I wear this tie dye shirt to work and it just happens that Jill Lesh passed me in the hallway with this huge smile on her face. Now I had met with Jill numerous times to talk with her about their design so it wasn't like we hadn't met before. I believe at that point she thought that we knew who they were. Not knowing we never said anything. Well one day Phil shows up at the office with their two boys. I great him and say hello because I have a few questions for them. Never once did I know who they were.

Later that year we were invited to the open house party. Because I worked all the time, I was not able to go. I can only imagine who was there and what other jobs could ahve come out of it.

This is Phil's shower.

 

[DiabolusInMusic]

I ran into Frank Mullen (Suffocation) before a gig of his in town. Man, the way that dude speaks makes me want to crap my pants. That hard arse new york I don't take crap from anybody accent.

My friend used to be married to Guy (of Suffo) so we've been drinking, he's come to our shows. We are WAY to far from anywhere they play to go to one of his, plus I don't care for that extreme metal. Nice enough guy, but we used to love his THICK New York accent.

I met Jimmy Bauer (drummer for Down) at a Black Sabbath show (Heaven and Hell) Phil had gotten sick and the promoters wouldn't let them play. Megadeth got an extended set, good trade for me. Jimmy was super cool, and was just as into seeing Dio rock out Black Sabbath as we were, just like another musicians fan boy at any other show.

And the last one isn't me but it's the reason I hate Gene Simmons. Shannon Tweed's family still lives here so they come pretty regularly, buddy and his mom bumped into them in a mall parking lot, empty and night time. Gene refused to do an autograph because he didn't want to attract a crowd. Mind you this is PRE Psycho Circus and my buddy is maybe 8-9 years old, these are the type of fans that built him and he won't give him the time of day.

Needless to say, the stories about Gene are true, he doesn't care about anything but money.

 

[DblG]

Back in the late 80's I met Phil Lesh, his wife Jill and their boys at a custom tile shop. I actually designed and made their tile. At the time I didn't know who they were. Funny thing is, they thought I knew who they were. One day I went to work with a tie dye shirt on. Now I never where tie dye but everything I had in my closet was dirty and someone had given it to me as a gift. So I wear this tie dye shirt to work and it just happens that Jill Lesh passed me in the hallway with this huge smile on her face. Now I had met with Jill numerous times to talk with her about their design so it wasn't like we hadn't met before. I believe at that point she thought that we knew who they were. Not knowing we never said anything. Well one day Phil shows up at the office with their two boys. I great him and say hello because I have a few questions for them. Never once did I know who they were.

Later that year we were invited to the open house party. Because I worked all the time, I was not able to go. I can only imagine who was there and what other jobs could ahve come out of it.

My buddy & percussionist met Phil at a local coffee shop when Phil & Friends were touring. He said was on break at work, was in line to get a cup of coffee & warm up, turned around saw him and said "Phil?"...they talked for a few minutes and even took his pic with him. He said Phil had such a big smile because something my buddy said made him laugh pretty good.

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[ThudThudThud]

Strange, you say?

Back in the last century in my tech days I was working with a band at a well known rehearsal studio in London.
There's plenty of well known musicians there, but it's just another day for everyone.
Walking through the hallways you can hear the strains of familiar tunes coming through the walls.

That day there was a construction crew working, and somehow one of them managed to drill through a wire somewhere.
The lights went out everywhere except the hallways (luckily, the backline and PA power stayed on). Since the rehearsal rooms are completely black without the lights, the doors to various studios burst open and the hallway filled with confused musicians.
Spandau Ballet (they were wonderful 'live'), The Firm, Girlschool, Motorhead etc.... all lined the hallway.
One door just never opened. Cliff Richard.
It became a bit of a hallway joke. Why were they not coming out? What were they using for lighting?

Actually Sir. Cliff was a nice bloke.
Still very weird that he and his band can see in the dark.

 

[Timothy6480]

I was out side a club in NY about 10 years ago when John Goodman comes walking down the side walk, very swiftly with his head down talking on a cell phone, wearing a sport coat (to much info?) So some guys yells, "hey John Goodman" JG stops in his tracks, turns to the guy 20 feet away and says very annoyed, "what?! what do you have to say to me?!!" and the guy was like "uhhh nothin" JG "Yea that's what I thought" turned away and kept walking. There were about ten of us outside the club and we burst out laughing at the guy. I guess you had to be there

 

[UncleJimmy]

I got a good one. Some years back I was at the Summer Camp Music Fest in Chilicothe Illinois. It was early in the day and most of the folks were still asleep in their tents. I was out taking a stroll trying to clear the cobwebs and get a cup of coffee. I'm walking down the main road in my own little world when I hear a car coming up behind me. I slowly got out of the way and let the car pass. People ahead of me are preventing the car from moving on so I'm keeping pace with it as I walk along. I glance in the car since I'm walking along even with the driver's rolled down window. In passenger seat is George Clinton. Gary Shider is in the back and the dude who plays "Sir Nose" is driving.

I'm a huge P-Funk fan and their show is the one I'm most excited for at the fest. "Sir Nose" gives me a little nod, I nod back and keep walking. So here I am slowly plodding along with Dr Funkenstein trying to process what was happening. As the crowd blocking the car starts to clear out I leaned back into the window and cool as can be say " Excuse me, do any of ya'll know where I might find the Mothership?" George leans forward, smiles real big and says " whatsup baby, whatsup. It's on the way."

The crowd cleared and the car rolled past me. One amazed hippie kid who was walking a few feet behind me saw the whole thing. We watched the car roll into the secured area where they helped George out into a big old tour bus. The kid said to me " I had no idea the Mothership was a beat up Ford Taurus".

I laughed and continued my wandering feeling much more groovy and connected with the people of the funkapus. It was the start of a fantastic day.

 

[MatticusMania]

Went to see Sonic Youth at The Glass House in Pomona with some friends. My friend Greg has wandered off, so we went to look for him. Around the back we run into Thurston Moore who was being approached by some kids saying "Arent you in that band?". He told them they were mistaken and kept walking. As we passed him we just said "Hey, have a good show Thurston" and he smiled and nodded.

 

[macaroni tony]

Just what the title says. Funny, weird or whatever.

I've got a couple but I thought I'd start off with the story from my drummer that prompted this thread.

About five years ago, my drummer, his girlfriend and his parents were in Las Vegas for a weekend. On Saturday he and his Dad decide to go see Bruce Willis And the Accelerators (don't ask me, I mock him regularly for this) and are enjoying the show but they keep noticing this skinny guy with a mohawk running around the stage. He's getting water, he's taking pictures, he's talking to Bruce between songs etc. A bit strange, but whatever.

After the show my drummer and his dad have a late night dinner in one of the casino steak houses. While eating they spot this same guy walking with three or four women and a couple dudes. So my drummer flags him down and says, "hey we saw you at the show. You looked a bit out of place, are you a roadie?". The guy says no, that he's a friend of Bruce's and helps him out a bit when he's in town, but actually he's a musician himself, a drummer. My drummer says he is too and they talk a bit. Finally, my drummer asks what kind of band he plays in. He responds, "we sound a lot like Blink 182." My drummer makes a weird face and then says, "oh, I don't know if you want to sound like them. I think their music sucks."

Mr. Mohawk (who is of course actually Travis Barker from Blink 182) leans in and says, "I make more money than you'll ever dream of" and walks away with his hangers on.

Pretty much exactly the douche like response I would have expected.

That's pretty funny! Though I don't know how dooshie Barker's response was...your buddy did just tell him that his band sucked, after all

 

[MatticusMania]

That's pretty funny! Though I don't know how dooshie Barker's response was...your buddy did just tell him that his band sucked, after all

To his drummer's credit, he was right about the band sucking...

 

[Jared Lash]

That's pretty funny! Though I don't know how dooshie Barker's response was...your buddy did just tell him that his band sucked, after all

Very true. Of course Tony (my old drummer) would say I left out some details - mostly about Barker's entourage being rude - but reading it again I think douchey is overstating it.

A couple more from me:

While he's not all that well known, Jackie Greene was playing a show at the Fillmore that my buddy and I went to see. While we waiting we saw him trying to go in through the artist's entrance and being denied by security. He looked at them with a mixture of amusement and annoyance and I piped up with, "If you guys want to get paid tonight you might want to let that guy in."

The guitarist from my college band (who is still a good friend) has been a relatively successful professional musician doing studio and touring work. Apparently he was serving as a musical director on a project in a studio where Bootsy Collins was also working on something. Bootsy popped his head in while Des was setting up and they got to talking. Bootsy told him he loved seeing black guitar players and they talked Eddie Hazel for a while all the while coming across as warm, genuine and amiable.

The funny thing was that as more people showed up Bootsy ramped up from "just a dude talking music" to "Bootzilla" complete with the exaggerated vocal mannerisms and the baby bubbas and everything else. Even after all these years, it's apparently a persona that has to be ramped up to. I thought that was interesting.