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16vCorey
16vCorey SuperDork
8/24/11 11:16 a.m.

Oh, just remembered a good one! Not mine, but a friend's. He was at Disneyworld (I think) around the age of 12 y/o and happened to run into Gilbert Gottfried. So as he was slightly star struck and asking Gilbert Gottfried for his autograph, a bird E36 M3 on my friend's head. Gilbert Gottfried just started laughing hysterically at him.

GrantMLS
GrantMLS Reader
8/24/11 11:18 a.m.

I guess I dont get out much - i don't know many people listed here - well except AJ Fyot - like to meet him!

mapper
mapper Reader
8/24/11 11:25 a.m.

Went to school with Julia Roberts, bumped into most of the cast of "In the Heat of the Night" when they were filming in Covington, GA and we were living in Conyers. Had Helio Castroneves, his hot, hot, hot girlfriend, and Ryan Briscoe in my Miata for a parade lap around RA during the Petit Le Mans. Helio had just flown in from his court appearance in Miami and the chatter in the car was pretty interesting though a lot of it was in Portuguese.

mndsm
mndsm SuperDork
8/24/11 11:53 a.m.

Three celebrities come to mind. I've actually talked politics at length with former (was at the time) governor Jesse Ventura. They have a really nice pool table at the governors mansion here. Was at LSPR a couple years back and ended up being in the same hotel as Travis Pastrana and Ken Block. Block is kinda shy, or bored being the center of attention or something, very reserved. Pastrana on the other hand, hands down nicest guy that's famous i've ever met. Was downstairs getting ready to go to stage, and a couple kids are watching Nitro Circus. Travis nabs himself a donut from the "continental" breakfast, sits down next to the kids, and proceeds to tell all kinda cool stories about behind the scenes from the show.

He also has/had a crew guy that could seriously be his doppelganger. I made the mistake more than once. Only way I was really able to tell, is crew guy was wearing Subaru hats, and TP was wearing Red Bull hats.

JThw8
JThw8 SuperDork
8/24/11 12:26 p.m.

as I kid I remember hanging out in Mike Vale's basement and wonder what use the silly gold records on the wall were (if you don't recognize the name Im not surprised but you know his music like it or not)

Turns out his real name is Mike Vukish and his brother Dave who used to be the band manager was the preacher at our baptist church...strange world.

And for those still trying to figure out who he is he was the guitarist for Tommy James and the Shondells, everyone knows their songs from covers

I think we're alone now

Money Money

Crimson and Clover etc

JThw8
JThw8 SuperDork
8/24/11 12:29 p.m.

Also reminds me later in life I met Joey Ramone and the rest of the band back stage at a small concert at Hammerjacks in Baltimore.

Got my nose broken in the moshpit (yeah, yeah) and was backstage getting patched up when the band walked past to my blood everywhere and Joey looked at me and said "dude what happened", DeeDee looked at him and said "moshpit shiny happy person" and that was my brush with greatness, I was on 12 hour shifts for the USAF in NJ...the next day at work was un-fun, but it was one of the last times they played together so I regret nothing.

darkbuddha
darkbuddha Reader
8/24/11 1:06 p.m.
16vCorey wrote:
darkbuddha wrote: And in reverse, I was once accused of being the bassist for GWAR... I neither confirmed or denied, but pretty girls bought me drinks all night.
I've met and talked to GWAR several times, so if you are Casey Orr, or the next bass player after that, I've probably met you.

Actually, this was before Orr joined the band... it was the early '90s, so Michael Bishop was the bassist for GWAR at the time. I have to admit that I physically appeared very similar to Bishop (out of costume) and I was (am!) a musician, so it was easy to pull off. Funny thing is that I didn't know who the bassist for GWAR was at the time either, so when the girl came up and said "Aren't you the bassist for GWAR?", I wittily replied with "...and you don't even know my name, do you." That got me a night of free drinks at the Ritz Theater in Tampa.

Graefin10
Graefin10 HalfDork
8/24/11 2:07 p.m.

Michael McDonald (Doobie Brothers) and his young son in the elevator of the Peabody Hotel in Memphis. I just told him how much we enjoyed his portion of the concert the night before and that I wish the Doobies could have played longer. He said he did too. Nice guy.

I was @ a vintage street race in Palm Springs and saw a baby stroller approaching a gate so I pushed it open and heard a familiar voice say "why thank you". I looked up and it was the then mayor, Sonny Bono. It was apparently his nanny pushing the stroller and his wife was behind her. I simply said "well hello" and let them go on their way.

I also got to talk to Dicky Smothers a while @ a Road Atlanta F-5000 race. Bob Tullius told me about some of his accidents.

Hal
Hal Dork
8/24/11 2:29 p.m.

Somehow all the ones I have met were football players and I met most of them before they became famous.

We were visting my grandmother when my mother saw one of her former students walking down the street. She called out " Hey George come up her and meet my sons." So I got to meet George Blanda. I knew who he was because he was playing pro football at the time. Big thrill for a 14 year old.

We were visiting my aunt one Saturday when one of her students stopped by to drop off a paper that was supposed to be turned in on Friday. So I got to meet Joe Namath. I knew him as the QB for a highschool team we played.

A local highschool QB was my college friend's next door neighbor. Got to talk to him many times when I visited. His name is Joe Montana.

Stopped at the highschool where my brother was teaching one day. He introduced me to one of his students, a running back on the football team. Tony Dorsett.

Hasbro
Hasbro Dork
8/24/11 2:32 p.m.

Was around a lot of them when I was an actor/model. Pretty much ignored them out of respect.

My ex father in law is a very well known figure and it's amazing how people act when they meet him. We were just recently at a kid's birthday party in a little park in Tucson and, sure enough, some guy starts fawning over "Dad", talked to him for an hour. Fortunately Dad has a huge ego and loves the attention. It also gives us a break from his stories, lol. Sweet man, though.

I took him to his wife's grave one time and there was a woman there who is a fan and she tidies up Dad's wife's grave every time she visits. Sweet but creepy.

sachilles
sachilles Dork
8/24/11 2:37 p.m.

When I was in college I worked in a hotel. I got a call at the desk to see if by chance i might know how to fix somebodies kid's Nintendo. We were actually two hotels in one, and they were in the other one. Get to the room, and it's Tim Robbins and Susan Surandon(sp?). Kind of had to do a double take when they answered the door. They had the nintendo plugged in wrong, fixed in two seconds. Nice enough folks.

fasted58
fasted58 Dork
8/24/11 2:57 p.m.

As a kid I met Lorne Greene and Hubert Humphrey at a political event. Later, Franco Harris of 'Immaculate Reception' fame at a Pgh museum. Drank w/ retired Steeler guard Steve Courson at a rinky-dink mountain bar, he never talked football just outdoorsy stuff, pretty humble guy there. Craig T. Nelson and his beautiful wife at Daytona 24 in '95, I don't think he cared for my Coach jokes much, he was there w/ his race game on. Jim Downing on pit wall after his teams 12th OA at the '95 Daytona 24... of all things we talked about H-Mod and D Sports Racing.. he still had a gleam in his eye for them.

wbjones
wbjones SuperDork
8/24/11 3:35 p.m.
mtn wrote: Oh, I've met a half dozen famous bluegrass guys.

me too ( blue grass pickers )

on my way to VIR a couple of yrs ago after work.. stopped a the rest area between Hickory and Winston Salem ... as I was walking back to my car I realized I was walking behind the person that was driving the car parked next to mine... when I got a look at his face I saw it was Ned Jarrett....

and I see Brad Daugherty pretty much every time I go to CMP

oh and I met Chuck Taylor while I was in high school

Dr. Hess
Dr. Hess SuperDork
8/24/11 3:44 p.m.

We met Billy Lane in Sturgis a few years ago, before his DWI/prison time. He was real nice, but really messed up at a bear garden on Main Street.

In '02, I rode up and stayed at a campground. There was one part of the campground marked off as "clean and sober." Not too many tents there, but there was a small tent with Captain America parked outside most of the time. I didn't pay much attention. The next year, we camped at the same campground and I was talking with a woman camped near us. She said remember the Captain America bike last year? Yeah. She saw some guy riding it and she asked him, "Who do you think you are? Peter Fonda?" He said "Uh, well, ahh, I am Peter Fonda."

mtn
mtn SuperDork
8/24/11 3:45 p.m.
wbjones wrote:
mtn wrote: Oh, I've met a half dozen famous bluegrass guys.
me too ( blue grass pickers )

Off the top of my head, Jens and Uwe Kruger, Joel Landsberg, Doc Watson, David Holt, Wayne Henderson, Eddie Pennington... I'm missing some as well. Then there are a bunch that I play with somewhat regularly who were session musicians in the 40's-70's in Nashville. One of them is in the Rockabilly hall of fame.

ThePhranc
ThePhranc New Reader
8/24/11 4:43 p.m.

When I worked at a gas station in 96-97 NBA player Juwan Howard came in to get his brand new M5s tire plugged. He sat out in the parking lot for a few hours waiting for the traffic to die down. We didn't have clue who he was and after he realized that he relaxed. We were more interested in the BMW and the 15" sub in the trunk. He stayed for about 2 more hours just talking cars with us. We asked what he did for a living so we could go that route and buy nice cars and his answer was " You can't do what I do." Left a $20 tip on a $20 tire plug.

Use to see Peter Bondra in the grocery store too.

Volksrodden
Volksrodden Dork
8/24/11 4:55 p.m.

I met Peter Steele in Salt Lake City, about 11 years ago. Easy guy to talk to. Still cant believe how tall he was...R.I.P

DeadSkunk
DeadSkunk Dork
8/24/11 6:52 p.m.

Ran into Dolly Parton in the Ruth Chris Steakhouse in Nashville, and contrary to what you might think, the first impression I had was how tiny she is. Also talked to "Rocket" Richard in a mall in Ontario and Alex Delvechio in a Sears store in Ann Arbor. Standing by the old bridge at turn 5 at Mosport and I hear a voice behind commenting on the size of the gonads the Can-Am drivers must have to go through there flat out. I turn around and there stands Paul Newman in his driver's suit ! He wasn't very big either.

Keith
Keith GRM+ Memberand SuperDork
8/24/11 7:34 p.m.

Only famous for car guys - but I spent a very pleasant afternoon hanging out with Peter Egan a few years back. We talked about old Cadillacs, the perfect color of BRG and what production car it was on, rock & roll and lord knows what else. He's exactly as cool in person as you think he is.

Again for car guys: Ralph Gillies ran the Targa in 2008 and we met up a few times. I do get a kick out of Dodge's advertising that features him. He is a total car guy.

Ooo, Stirling Moss. I was at the Mille Miglia in 1990 and was heading back to the hotel after spending the day at "technical inspection". As I came up to a big Mercedes dealership, I swung in on a whim. Sure enough, there was the 300 SLR (number 722, back before it was retired from driving and replaced with a replica) and a gullwing getting serviced in the back. And sitting in a corner of the showroom was Sir Stirling. He was obviously taking a bit of a break from the madness, but he was kind enough to sign a poster of the event for me. I left him in peace.

I also went up against Alanis Morissette in a talent show when we were both in high school. She beat me, but came in second to Fix It Bob and the Toolkit playing a cover of James Brown's "I got you". I was supposed to be part of the Toolkit, but couldn't get backstage in time.

Probably met some other musicians, but it wasn't memorable enough for me to remember and I'm sure they don't either

Grtechguy
Grtechguy SuperDork
8/24/11 8:25 p.m.

Well lets see...

Met George Wednt (Norm on Cheers) when I worked in Silver Lake, Mi as a teenager...very cool guy.

Met AC/DC in the CompUSA that I worked at.

I ran into couple others (Amy Smart, Fiddy Cent, Dave Batista) when I did a movie extra thing (does that count?)

aussiesmg
aussiesmg SuperDork
8/24/11 8:45 p.m.

hmmm, got a phone call from Carroll Shelby a few years ago courtesy of my mate who works at LAX. He often drops names of people he met big actors, singers etc.

Met many Aussie rockers before they were big when I was a bouncer, including AC/DC. Also many, many Aussie footballers as I was working at a pub owned by one of the stars of the day, Peter Daicos. Met my football hero, Tim Watson, years ago on a night out drank a few beers with him.

Peter Brock and Peter Brock, yep both of them, one downunder and the other chatted to me at the Mitty.

Many many names at races, but I suspect Marron92 will win that one.

Quite a few infamous people as a Victorian Detective, including Mark Brandon Reed "Chopper". But that is a whole other thread.

Flew with

Wally
Wally GRM+ Memberand SuperDork
8/24/11 8:51 p.m.

A few of my favorites we Buddy Baker in the Steak and Shake near Daytona during speedweeks in '86, Kenny Wallace at a wedding in North Carolina, and Paul Newman at Lime Rock.

Living in NY I've run into a few. Some of the more memorable were Whoopi Goldburg in a Whole Foods a few years ago, Abe Vigoda on a Subway, and Moby while he was waiting for some friends at a club.

Dr. Hess
Dr. Hess SuperDork
8/24/11 9:09 p.m.

I met Tim Suddard once. He's not as tall as he look in the pictures. Nice guy.

bigdaddylee82
bigdaddylee82 New Reader
8/24/11 9:27 p.m.

I had a college internship on a cattle “farm” in NY. It’s a hobby “weekend get-away” farm for some very well to do folks in central Dutchess County. There were two of us interns, a college roommate/fraternity brother and myself. We got every-other weekend free, but on the weekends we worked we had it pretty easy, we just couldn’t get too far away incase something happened.

On one particular weekend we were working, it happened to be my turn to go out to the “barn” (I say barn, it was a barn, but also had a basketball court for the kids in the “hay loft” and a pretty nice office). I go check on the animals, and go into the office to check the messages on the answering machine. There was a message from some guy that had a small farm of his own, raising the same breed of cattle over somewhere in Connecticut, I found it humorous because he wanted our boss' “expert opinion” on some things, and at the time we weren’t so sure our boss was necessarily an expert in anything. I return back to our apartment, laughing and telling my buddy about some Sam Water-something guy wanting our boss’ expert opinion. Little did I know that my friend was a huge Law and Order fan, and asked me if the guy’s name was Sam Waterson? I couldn’t remember so we went and listened to the message again together, and sure enough it was Sam Waterson, Jack McCoy, of Law & Order fame. My buddy about peed his pants.

The next week we went to his farm and spent the day checking out his set-up, looking at cattle with him, giving advice, and generally just hanging out with him. Over the summer he made several trips out to our farm for general advice. Was a super nice guy, and invited my friend and I to a filming of the show, but we had to leave for home before they started taping that season.

Other than that, Paula Jones, one of Slick Willy’s gals came to my home town’s annual Fish Fry a couple times, before and after the nose job. I guess for that matter I met Bill a few times when he was still governor.

  • Lee
dj06482
dj06482 GRM+ Memberand HalfDork
8/24/11 9:33 p.m.

Anthony Edwards actually lives down the street from us and I see him jogging through the neighborhood every once in a while. The big difference is he lives in a beautiful house on the lake, and we live in the dumpy neighborhood near the lake All in all, though, he seems like a very regular guy...

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