October 31, 2004

• Family relations, friends, or brushes with fame? - John Denver's cousin was my aunt. That's it. - My wife is good friends with Duke Stroud and his wife Mary Ann, Duke being the guy in Top Gun in the control tower who spilled coffee on himself. - No meetups, runins, or anything, but I'm sure you all would have a ton of those. I don't get around much I guess. Hmm.. that's it. Bleh.
• I have an Erdös-number of seven (terrible) and a Church-number of four (OK but not great). I have won many awards at anime conventions for cosplay. I have met the ultra-recluse Naoki Urasawa and have a signed copy of the first tankoubon of Yawara. I once sat one table away from Yo Yo-Ma in a New York restaurant. I have met Mr. T.
• err, make that Yo-Yo Ma
• King George bummed a smoke from my great grandfather- a fact that our family is inexplicably proud of.. As a musician who has played for a lot of network TV specials, I've had contact with a very large number of stars over the years. Just a few: Barbara Striesand was a complete and utter bitch from hell. Barry Manilow was very friendly and nice. Kenny G. was nice the first time I played for him but a few years later he had turned into a prima donna. Robert Goulet was a complete psycho and one of my most hated people of all time. Henry Mancini seemed dry but he was a warm guy with a wickedly sardonic sense of humour. Tony Bennet is a terminal narcissist and once fired his enire band because he saw them across the hall laughing at some joke and he was conviced they were laughing at him. He had to hire them all back a few hours later.. Tony Danza stole my lunch then offered me a buck for it when I asked what happened to it. Asswipe. Richard Avedon wrote me a letter thanking me for playing piano on a documentary about him that someone else did. It was very odd that he would thank such a lowly participant on that particular totem pole, but it was a thoughful gesture. I could go on but I won't
• I may have had brushes with fame I know nothing about; Vancouver is a movie-making town, and I often meet people in the industry as part of my...work. I make a point of not asking them exactly what they do or what film they're working on, because they deal with that 18 hours a day - which is why they're seeing me. Case in point; one client was, I assumed, part of the tech end (for some reason film editors love me) when in fact he turned out to be a BBC actor. Not Colin Firth - God I wish - but in a lot of period stuff looking natty in breeches and moustaches. Fun Fact: actors in town for a couple months will hook up with escorts rather than a civilian party girl because they don't want to get nailed with an expensive paternity suit.
• I'm a member of the same community weblog as Portugal's second best selling author of all time.
• My own closest brushes with fame are mostly limited to a lot of British comedians and various D-list celebs. Not terribly impressive. If I have to mention anybody, I normally go for being directed by Chris Morris (a god amongst men, very thin legs) and meeting most of The League of Gentlemen in various capacities (seem to be nice guys). Also Charlie Brooker, who has achieved a certain transatlantic fame in the past week by means of a joke about assassinating George Bush. My aunt taught Dana ('All Kinds of Everything', not the Israeli transexual) at school. My uncle used to be Liam Neeson's sparring partner, before he became an actor. My father once shared a flat with Paul McCartney's brother, and claims he woke up one time to find Hendrix passed out on the sofa. Not sure I believe him, but hey - I'm quite happy to keep retelling the story. Also, if you're talking really famous, my future self. I tried to get his autograph once, but he acted really snooty and walked off into the space-time continuum. Bastard.
• moneyjane...hello to another Vancouverite! I met a few celebs when I worked at a hotel here a few years ago. For some reason, the most memorable experience was Dom Deluise telling me I was a "nice looking young man". Heh, it made my day.
• I'm possibly the only person here who toured with The Drifters and did a graduate degree at the Sorbonne. Although I hope I'm wrong.
• (I do know a guy who toured with Bo Diddley and did a PhD at Grenoble, but he's not on-site.)
• My mum's ex-flatmate's dad's sister's niece is Geri Halliwell. Also, I'm interviewing the Polyphonic Spree tomorrow. And I have absolutely no cunting idea whatsoever what to ask them.
• Dude, just ask them their names. By the time they're finished, the interview will be over...
• Somewhere down in my family tree, one of my relatives was court painter in Orange. The name Hanneman lives on through my cousins.
• Oh yes, I once met Geoffrey from Rainbow.
• I went to college with Anna Paquin and Julia Stiles. Actually went to the movies with Julia once. I also share my birthday with Tone Loc. /Funky Cold Medina
• As I said here, Chuck Norris tried to get into my hotel room. I also shook President Clinton's hand. On July 4th. After he had released a rehabilitated bald eagle into the wild. I consider myself a Friend of Bill.
• I met one of the Mahdi's grandsons. Also hitched a ride from Hassan Turabi's son.
• Brushes with personal fame? I was on Entertainment Tonight last week talking about what a crock of shit "The Biggest Loser" is. Through my job, I've worked with Gloria Steinem and Kathleen Turner several times. After being called on for impromtu body guard duty at the March for Women's Lives in April, I met Susan Sarandon, Megan Mullally, Candice Bergen, and Sandra Bernhard. Then I got to hang around back stage and met Camryn Manheim, Tyne Daly and a bunch of other stars that were there. That was pretty much the peak of my star whoring. When I lived in Nashville, I had a beer with the Chieftans after a show, I was Brenda Lee's personal shopper, and I overheard one of my 16 yo employees ask Peter Frampton "Who the hell are you?" when he explained he got his Simpson's jacket by doing his own voice on The Simpson's.
• After he had released a rehabilitated bald eagle into the wild. ...Oddest euphemism for masturbation I've ever heard...
• Oddest euphemism for masturbation I've ever heard It's a bit clunky, but it was on July 4th.
• I've had some second-hand brushes with fame— my mom had beer and pizza with the Violent Femmes. my sister got a kiss from Alyssa Milano. on napkin, as a gift for me. my roommate's mom has been on national tv commercials. But I've only had one first-hand brush with fame, which I recounted already in the spooky story thread.
• I was overseeing the audio and lighting for a speaking engagement by the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens (now Yusuf Islam) at a local university. When he began expounding his views on the proper role of women, I wanted to drop a spotlight on him. On the bright side, we also got to illuminate/amplify Graham Chapman and Kurt Vonnegut. I have Abbie Hoffman's pen.
• When I was a kid in the Vancouver airport, we ended up on the same flight as Pierre Trudeau (super-beloved late former Canadian prime minister). My dad pointed him out in the terminal, and I asked really loudly who the heck Pierre Trudeau was, and he laughed. When my dad explained to me (quietly) who he was, again loudly I said "I guess he's flying first class, then" and he laughed again. When we got on the plane, he waved at me as I walked by him (from first class, of course) And incident which meant nothing to me then, but quite a bit more now. What a great guy.
• People I knew personally in college: John Cameron Mitchell (Hedwig & The Angry Inch) Steve Albini Dermot Mulroney Harry Lennix People I knew indirectly through others: Julia Louis-Dreyfuss Brad Hall People I did not know at all but passed through school with at the same time: David Schwimmer George Newbern
• I'm two degrees from Kevin Bacon, as we met his wife's cousin in Ireland. So now you can all be three degrees from him. :) I was friendly in high school with Paulo Costanzo, currently on Joey, which I can't bring myself to watch even though I like supporting Paulo. Less well-known are the Lemche brothers, though Matt has a good gig on Joan of Arcadia now, I heard, and Kris was in the awesome Ginger Snaps. Yeah, it was an arts school (I was a regular student though) and so there are probably quite a few more floating around out there. I shook Laura Branigan's hand when I was 7; I met Julie Doiron last month and got to chat with her; I shook the Indian film director Cheran's hand in the summer; and one of my best friends' landlady was Christian Slater's wife's cousin, or something ridiculous like that. So I think I'll end this now. ;)
• When I was 15, my father took me along to a party with him in NYC. At said party, I met Stuttering John (from the Howard Stern Show), who offered to buy me a beer, which I had to decline. I also met Ed Bradley from 60 Minutes, who talked to me about Hunter Thompson - it was awesome, they're good friends, and I was a big Hunter fangirl at the time. And I saw Rush Limbaugh, which is the whole reason Stuttering John was there, although I didn't actually talk to him, but that's no loss! I stood behind Ani DiFranco in a line at a cool local bookstore in Buffalo on Xmas Eve 2001. I wanted to say something to her but I just couldn't - I didn't want to bother her. God, she's tiny and cute. I was all squealy-swoony afterwards. I once could've met Trent Reznor at a club show he played in Fort Lauderdale in '95, because a friend of mine had backstage access with a press photographer, and wanted to bring me along - but I was out of the country at my first year of college and I only found out a month later, dammit! My friend apparently told him all about how I was this big fan of his, so I have two degrees to Trent Reznor now. =P
• Speaking of Kevin Bacon... I met him once when he was on tour with his brother. They were signing albums at a record store in Nashville, and there were less than 5 people in line. I only stopped in to pick up the local city paper, but then felt sort of sorry for them and hung out. I chatted with them for about 10 minutes. Nice enough guys. Then I saw him on the street a couple of years ago.
• Mmmm. In Toronto it's sort of difficult not to know someone vaguely presumed to be remotely famous. I live near the Danforth, where you can't take a Sunday stroll without bumping into a locally "famous" artist or TV personality. I used to work in Riverdale, where much of domestic/American TV/film production is shot. And then there is the gay village, teeming with DJ this MC that Queen something, and of course famous activists fighting for same-sex marriage (everybody knows Rev. Hawkes). As for the really famous... I was alone with Jerry Yan of F4 (the biggest Chinese boyband) in the men's room at the Taipei airport. F4 were shooting a scene for Meteor Garden II. I was inside the men's room when Jerry came in to change, his female handler shouting instructions from outside. Now I love boybands, but F4 is by far the lamest that's ever existed, and Jerry is the lamest of the four (also the most popular). Thus, no attempt to hit on the guy. Besides, my dad was waiting for me nearby. Afterwards, F4 and their female costar Big S blocked the departure gate to shoot their scene, making us travelers wait. Everyone but my dad and I seemed in awe; mom hearted F4 and Meteor Garden, so we didn't complain.
• I'm an eighth cousin x# removed of George Washington, according to a family tree my Dad did using some fancy software. I'm also descended from British royalty. Kind of makes you want to treat me with more respect, doesn't it? Don't answer that.
• Trishelle from The Real World bought me a drink at a bar. One of the other dudes from the same season, in a completely unrelated incident a few months prior, bought my sister a drink at a bar. What can I say? We're an attractive bunch.
• My grandfather lives in a Revolutionary era house, where George Washington watered his horse. Oh, I also met Sargent Slaughter when I was about five. That's right, the G.I. Joe/Pro Wrestler. I have an autographed picture somewhere around here.
• I once stood behind Colin Mockrie in the customs/immigration lines at Pearson. I went to a funeral with Roy Scheider and family. I mean, we weren't dates or nothin', but we were both there.
• I interviewed Sean Booth of Autechre twice, and Plaid and Pan(a)sonic once. When I grabbed a coffee at a Starbucks in Philadelphia's Olde City, I smiled at the sickly-smooth primetime anchorman from the local NBC news affilate in line after me, who nodded back after ordering a double expresso. About as close to fame as I'll get, I think.
• I shot President Kennedy.
• I've shaken John Kerry's hand, and have a sign that he stepped on.
• Bob Hope called me a little prick once, but he's dead now. You have been warned.
• make that, 'on which he stepped'
• I got to meet Tammy Grimes when I was about 13. My entire family was hooked on the BBC dramatization of Lord of the Rings (she was the host). About the same time we visited Toronto, and went to see Blithe Spirit almost by accident. And there was Tammy Grimes playing Madame Arcati. Afterwards my 'rents took me backstage to meet her. She was incredibly nice, chatted with us for several minutes, autographed my program, seemed quite pleased that we enjoyed her work. I only found out last year that she did lots of voicework for CBS Radio Mystery Theater. My uncle was a stuntman, trick rider and sharpshooter for tv westerns in the 50s and 60s, mostly for Bonanza. He says all the Bonanza guys were really nice except Pernell Roberts, who was an asshole. And he claims that there was absolutely nothing going on between Hoss and Hop Sing. He was also Cary Grant's stuntman in North by Northwest, and roomed with Ben Kingsley in college. This guy was my great-great-great-etc grandfather. And according to the geneological information dug up by my mum and brother, our ancestors were the first people to get kicked out of England for being filthy, peace-lovin' pinko Quakers. I hope Blighty will take us back for the same reason if a certain asshat gets re-appointed. I met Nigel Kennedy when he was sober and not trashing a hotel room. I browsed for books about two feet away from TV's Frank (Mystery Science Theater 3000). He was immaculately dressed.
• I went to an arts high school which makes for surreal moments of former classmates popping up from time to time in such high class places as Temptation Island II. But no one is really famous. Jewel, but she's sliding toward hasbeen territory.
• 1 - About ten years ago my boss organized an exhibition game with our state's young tennis champs. Star of the show was Jimmy Connors. My boss was in charge of taking him around town that day to various events. I walked right up to Jimmy at the reception and introduced myself. He was very gracious and funny, and I still have his autograph in a scrapbook. 2 - I went to an auto show in college, and Ian Ziering from Beverly Hills 90210 was signing autographs. My roommate & I waited in line for nearly an hour and once it was our turn, we invited him to a party on campus that night. We figured it would be a good change of pace for him since everyone else in line was about 10 years old. He smiled and said it was a pity he had to leave town after the show was over.
• I shook Richard Nixon's hand when I was a wee lad. Best I can do.
• Okay, I've already told about getting beat up by Steve Allen's son and being mistaken by Robin Williams for a dead, gay tennis player (Bill Tilden). too lazy to link I also was once yelled at by Casey Kasem on live TV, wrote a parody song that was performed by the King Sisters aboard the Queen Mary, had Gary Owens buy my jokes and praise me as "funnier than Jack Lord and Lorne Greene combined", played sidekick for a disc jockey who was "the voice on the radio" on Steven Spielberg's "Duel", replaced Tom Arnold at a part-time writing gig when he went to work for Roseanne, and had my picture taken by (and messed with by) this guy, who probably holds the world record for 'brushes with fame'.
• I'mm descended from Charlemagne. But I doubt that counts. Lessee... My friend's friend went to college with Jennifer Laura Thompson, who's currently on Broadway in the play 'Wicked.' And... that's about it. Oh, when I was, like, 6, Bill Clinton sent me a picture of his dog and cat. Yep.
• Did I mention I hung out with The Wendell one Sunday afternoon in autumn? How's that for a brush with fame?
• My mom and I saw Michael Stipe once whilst in Vancouver.
• I'm descended from apes.
• I knew all the Baldwin brothers (not really Alec, he was too old, though I did get a ride home from school from him in his ancient pickup truck when I was in like first grade) when I was a kid. Too bad, what Canada did to them. (How about Steve Baldwin these days? Has he gone off the deep end, or what?)
• I hang with Jesus, back in the day. J-Dogg, we'd call him. All the fame went to his head, eventually. He became a bit of a prick. Developed a Messiah complex.
• John Malkovich once called a close friend a "Fucking dipshit tourist" in a headshop.
• among various others... - my cousin the neurosurgeon did the surgical work on Christopher Reeve after his accident. - had my picture taken with Vampira, but she wouldn't autograph anything due to pending lawsuits. - John Landis (director of "American Werewolf In London") drunkenly tripped over me at a convention. - I waited in line behind G.G. Allin at my local Drug Fair - I was buying pop, he was buying cigarettes. I had no idea who he was; I got back to my bandmate's car and while we drove away, I started talking about the guy in line with all the horrible tattoos.. and my bandmate started to ask "did he have" this and that. "Yeah, do you know the guy?" "That was GG ALLIN!!!!" "Okay.... who's GG Allin?" after the explanation, I was glad I didn't ask the guy for a handshake.
• I'm supposedly cousins with both Stephen F. Austin and John Wesley Hardin I met Mr. Peppermint once (he used to host a cool children's show in Dallas and is also the father of Gibby Haynes from the Butthole Surfers). He was super nice.
• Once I was in an airport and heard "Candace Beregen, white courtesy telephone; Candace Bergen, white courtesy telephone please." Then I saw this blond woman pick up the phone.
• I waved at Queen Elizabeth II when I was 5. She waved back. I saw Ross Perot in a Black-Eyed Pea once. I saw Chuck Norris in Starbucks. Back when I was a child actor (yup, it's true) I knew Sandy Duncan on a first-name basis and was in a play with her. I've been in productions with Denyce Graves and Rodney Gilfrey too if you know who they are. um. what else. Politicians (my speciality): I've seen Ross Perot in and around Dallas on a few occasions. I met Ron Kirk (former mayor of Dallas and failed senatorial candidate.) I know Martin Frost (TX rep in the House) pretty well because my mom works for him. I saw Laura Miller (present mayor of Dallas) in Starbucks, and my posse and I made fun of her (or more specificlly her politics) to her face. In front of her child. Heh. Ehh. Wrote a letter to Kay Bailey Hutchison bitching about several things, got what seemed like a relatively personal response back, but maybe not. Shook Hilary Clinton's hand when she came to Dallas. Saw Laura Bush eating dinner in the Fort Worth Museum of Modern Art. Phew. Think that's it.
• In 1985 I went to a book signing of Jim Palmer's. My brother had to work but wanted the book and some baseball cards from the early 70's signed. Palmer was an underwear model at the time so there were tons of women there with Jockey's for him to write his name on. When I got up there with these cards that were from the early years of his baseball career he looked me right in the eyes, smiled and said: "A baseball fan!" At the time I wasn't. I was a little pseudo goth girl who must have looked ridiculous amongst everyone else there. But I smiled back, nodded and said: "Yes. I'm a huge baseball fan." He was totally cool. Last spring I met Laurie Anderson at a fund raiser. We had perfect small talk about the weather and bicycles. Hello Monkey's - this is my first contribution (as a name dropper) to the filter after lurking for a while.
• Oh, and I forgot - I met Steve Burns (former host of Blues Clues turned one-man indie rock show) in Austin. That was awesomeness.
• Hey Token Meme, I once shopped for hiking books alongside Malkovich in a Beverly Hills bookstore. He's a big guy, as tall as I am (i.e. 6 feet 4 inches plus). He was wearing some kind of all-white get-up made out of some gauzy fabric and had a peaceful, far-away expression on his face, so he looked like some kind of oversized desert guru. At first he was perfectly polite -- we "excused me"'d each other several times as we shopped. But then he began rubbing his crotch, panting, and foaming at the mouth, but in a really intense, intelligent, and maybe slightly foreign-seeming way that made it impossible not to look at him. Then Christopher Walken entered the store, wearing a finely tailored gray pinstriped suit and a fedora, and said in a loud voice, "Hey, Malkovich, you big bastard!" As he walked past me on his way to greet Malkovich, Walken said in a softer voice, "It's time someone put this fucking dog out of its misery," and shot Malkovich in the face. But he was using blanks, and after a good laugh, Malkovich and Walken exited the store holding hands and snickering.
• Mfpb I got a letter back also from Kay Bailey after sending a bitchy email! She told me I was wrong nicely which made me want to email an even more bitchy email back but I blew it off. Maybe I should occupy her staff with pointless but polite letter writing duties.
• The biggest celebrity encounter of my life, of course, was when I was a little, little kid (3?) in Brooklyn, and my mom took me to some department store downtown (Woolworth's?) to see Miss Louise from Romper Room. I'm still in love with Miss Louise, because she saw me more than once in her magic mirror.
• I knew Larry Niven a bit, back before he was a Big Name, when we were both in LASFS. I spent a half-hour one afternoon chatting nervously with Jorge Luis Borges, and another (decades later) making conversation with Harlan Ellison while he avoided fans outside (I was working in a bookstore). At another bookstore I sold a Vietnam warporn book (50 Greatest Motorized Vehicles of the Vietnam War, that kind of thing) to a guy I was thinking contemptuous thoughts at until he handed over his credit card and I realized he was Garry Trudeau. I've met all sorts of poets (Joseph Brodsky, Robert Fitzgerald, Yves Bonnefoy, &c), but poets aren't famous, so forget that. I was in the same movie theater in LA with Katherine Hepburn and George Cukor; my starstruck brothers went over to talk with them, but I didn't. Oh, and my first year in New York I saw both Johnny Ramone and Boom-Boom Mancini on the street, and I knew I'd come to the right town. (Now, my dad met JFK before he became president and was introduced to both the Emperor of Japan and the King of Thailand. But I'm not as cool as my dad.)
• I am God.
• It's funny what one feels one can discuss publicly and what one cannot. I have lots of second-degree contacts with famous people, but those don't really count. (Oh, they kinda do since most people-excepting all you folk above who seem to know lots of people-don't seem to, really.) I may have two or three minor first-degree ones that I don't think I should mention. I did wait on Mary Gross one night in the mid-eighties. She was with a man that was a first-rate prick, gratutiously it seemed. Like he was trying to prove something. She, on the other hand, seemed embarassed by his behavior and kept being ostentatiously nice and implicitly apologizing to me. I'm sure I've waited on other famous people and didn't realize it...much as I bet many of monkeys have.
• While I'm not genetically related to anyone famous, my mom knew Dick VanDyke and Amanda Blake from "Gunsmoke." My parents had bridge parties with our neighbors the Bonnano's, a crime family from up the street (later disappeared). Waylon Jennings married the lady in our cul-de-sac, and we would spy on them while they nude sun-bathed in their back yard. Later, my friends and I went to a piano bar with David Byrne, and I have personal notes from all of the Ramones. That's all the celestial contact I care to have. Too much trouble.
• Up until January, I lived across the street from Thelma Houston, disco diva ( Don't Leave Me This Way). I set up her internet connection for her. She paid me in wine. She's a lovely person.
• Hm, again, not counting some first-degrees I also shouldn't mention, I do have - photographic evidence that I once met Alan Rickman - JFK drank out of my grandmother's coffee-maker once - I met the NE Regional Champion Rock-Paper-Scissors guy for 2004 at a mutual friend's birthday party - My mate met Cyndi Lauper on his birthday at a pastry shop in New Haven - Dealt with numerous local politicos and the president of the Guatemalan Special Olympics when they were in New Haven - Back in college, my RA's uncle (or cousin) was Alan Alda.
• Oh, and my sister met David Bowie when he went to the Dillard's where she worked. He was trying to be low-key, just do some shopping. She did some errands for him; he was very courtly, she said.
• I regularly have my name in our city's only daily newspaper. How exciting is that? You should all feel honoured. I raced against Tamsyn Lewis (Australian 800m champion) in a pro running race once. Well, seeing as she was further out than me, I got to watch her from behind as she crossed the line. I had photos taken of me wearing a toilet seat/lid by some kids at the Blue Mountains. I will be forever known as 'Dunny Man' to them. We almost got them to pay us for the privilege but their teacher turned around just in time. I once talked to Viv Richards (famous cricketer to non-cricket types) as a kid and got to learn the idiosyncracies of sports people referring to themselves in the third person. I shook Mike Rann's (our Premier) hand at my High School graduation night. He has a handshake like a wet fish. My housemate used to go out with 'South Australia's unfittest man' who has been featured in this sham campaign to promote the services/expertise of the Advertisers resident personal trainer (the guy is his friend). My housemate has had reasonably long conversations with Billy Bragg and Peter Garrett. I'm sure there's much more, but I can't be bothered.
• Oh, I think I was on the nightly news here in Albuquerque a couple of weeks ago. (Interviewed as "man on street".) This is odd because three years I was interviewed in Austin by the local news as "man on street". My sister asked: what the heck is it with you and local news? I dunno.
• I was interviewed on the telly because some alleged "space junk" landed on my neighbours' roof. Big day oot, wah.
• This isn't so much a claim to fame, but right now I'm listening to St Paul Sunday (classical music program on npr) and half of the chamber group being interviewed was in my freshman German class.
• It's that arts high school thing, huh?
• I kicked Craig from Craigslist, but it was an accident. Went to college with Chelsea Clinton, Fred Savage, Reese Witherspoon, Danny Pintauro, and Tiger Woods. Didn't meet any of them. And my stepmom partied with Ken Keyze (sp?) and was a cook for the Grateful Dead. Now idea how she ended up with my dad.
• In college, they stuck some visiting poet in a room down the hall from me. I'd see him all the time and he sometimes seemed to be a bit drunk. I kinda pushed him out of the way more than once, in the hallway, trying to get to my room. One night, he even tried to get into my room, having confused it for his. A friend of mine used to jokingly call him "Shameless" as a play on his real name. I'd forgotten about him until I read years later that the guy, Seamus Heaney, was being awarded the Nobel Prize. Also, one of my cousins was on Mexico's World Cup soccer team. Thats the probably the brush with fame I'd mention first in any country but the US. :)
• Also, I'd forgotten my best friend since childhood. His grandfather's sister was the subject of a painting by Picasso.
• I spent a half-hour one afternoon chatting nervously with Jorge Luis Borges Starts to tremble, falls to knees and worships the Hat. Also just remembered that the guy who played Tom Riddle in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was an uber-thespy type at university at the same time as me. Never managed to actually be in a show with him, though, although I can exclusively reveal that he totally ruled as the MC in Cabaret. There's probably a few more famous types coming from that source over the next few years, the over-ambitious bastards. Harrumph.
• Kmellis, not so much in this case--it was college. The school is also such an endless source of indie rock bands from Brooklyn that the alumni mag did a cover article on the lot last year. I just thought of another brush with fame. My parents once found themselves at a party in Houston with Woody Harrelson's father. It was before he went to prison for being a hitman.
• Went to college with ... Danny Pintauro... I lived in the same neighborhood as Danny Pintauro (this was his pre-Who's the Boss days). He lived there until around the time he made Cujo I think. Met him a few times. Just remember that he thought he was too good to play with us. Also went to school with Dulé Hill (4th grade through high school).
• I have an aquaintance whose parents were good friends of Borges and who, the way he tells it, grew up knowing Borges as "this really nice old man" who visited a lot. Only when he was much older did he understand that he was famous. A funny thing about this story is that this is a good friend of my best friend. And my best friend had either never heard this story, or had forgotten. I heard that story at a party after Borges was mentioned. Last year my friend and I were talking about Borges and I said, "hey, isn't that really funny about Kevin and Borges?" And my friend said, "huh?" This kind of thing happens to me a lot. I think I remember things about people more than other people do.
• I've already boasted about meeting Cory Doctorow, who went to the same highschool and university as I did, several years earlier. Once at a party (and I had been invited by my dad!) and once when he came to talk to our creative writing class about how to format manuscript subscriptions. My sea-obsessed SO is always impressed that my mother's cousin, whom I sadly never met, was Stan Rogers, the Canadian singer and songwriter. But I think that one day I will be most proud having known a few people who are today an indy filmmaker (and now I know someone in the IDMB!), computer animator, or a budding novelist. You won't have heard of any of them, but I really hope that soon you will.
• Nothing first-hand myself, but my uncle went out with Joni Mitchell in high school. She was too weird for him, apparently.
• Hhmm, well here's what I can currently think of; Partied with Alice in Chains before they got famous. It wasn't that fun, you can guess why. Talked real estate with Tom Skerritt (actor) in an antique store. Gordon Gano's (Violent Femmes) dad directed my dad and brother's in a play and then proceeded to give them free tickets to one of their concerts plus backstage passes. I kicked my youngest brother in the shin 'cause he had never heard the V.F.'s and couldn't possibly appreciate their sound, and he didn't even ask if I might want the damn ticket....but they enjoyed it. I live five minutes away from Tom Robbins (author), walking distance. Used to live five minutes away from Burl Ives (dead actor) until he, ya know, died and I moved. I've met a plethora of famous artists, too many to mention, largely due to the area I live in, we have an abundance of artists, poets and writers. It's nice. ....that's all I can think of at the moment.
• Oh, oh, I forgot...my best friend slept with a long-time Van Morrison roady. They still keep in touch. She supplies the weed when they're in our area which, unfortunately, isn't often. I heart Van Morrison.
• I once hung out back stage, for an hour, with the band REO Speedwagon. All the band members signed the back of my t-shirt. My grandfather on drank beer and played poker with Willie Nelson. I am related to Patrick Henry, through my fathers grandmother. Not sure what the relationship is without consulting the family tree.
• The best I can manage is that my mother was at high school with Olivia Newton-John (who used to be picked up from school by her older boyfriend, Baby John Burgess [most famous as a gameshow host, for non-Aussies]). Oh, and a friend of mine used to have an 808 that was once owned by Pseudo Echo. languagehat, do you realise that the fact you once spoke with Borges has just relegated everything I ever have done or will do to a state of painful inadequacy? I hope you're happy.
• First up, I'll admit that I haven't studied all of the posts above, but am I the only person here related to a fictional character? The story goes that the guy who came up with (English soap opera) Coronation Street lived on the same street as my grand-parents and named the characters in the show after people who lived there. Consequently, I am related to Ken Barlow, though not to Bill Roach.
• Couple from me, was in Berlin this weekend, ended up drinking having a drink with Paul Weller (well sitting at the same table whilst we both drank). Also when much younger, got introduced to Prince Charles.
• I am Tucker Carlson. As such, I have met many, many famous people.
• I thought of some more! (This thread is so fun.) Hadn't mentioned the hockey players: I met and got autographs from Pat Burns, Dmitry Yushkevich, Ken Baumgartner (now that's obscure), and my favourite, Felix Potvin. The Cat even talked to me - as a starry-eyed 16 year-old, that was very cool. Related to this, I also got to pose with and carry around the real Stanley Cup, after the Habs won in 1993. It was the night after they drank champagne from it; it was at the engraver's, and the engraver owed a family friend a favour. So we all went over and pretended we'd won it. :) Also, I met Mookie Wilson once. Mookie rocks. And finally, I met Larry Lessig a few weeks ago, and as a law geek, that made me very happy.
• Couple from me, was in Berlin this weekend, ended up drinking having a drink with Paul Weller (well sitting at the same table whilst we both drank). What does he look like these days? (admitted fangirl) I also got to pose with and carry around the real Stanley Cup That's cool!
• I've met several old NHL players, including Darryl Sittler and Eddie Shack. Met 90210 actress Kathleen Robertson at a friend's house party, before she was famous. I've had pizza with billionaire Terence Matthews. BTW...Great thread, and so far kamus wins with "Tony Danza stole my lunch"!
• I'm possibly the only person here who toured with The Drifters Wolof: was this the original lineup? When I was in high school* I had a Drifter's Greatest Hits tape that I nearly wore out in the tape deck. What a great group. I've got a picture of myself with then-Governor Bill Clinton in recognition of my National Endowment for the Humanities Younger Scholars award. *circa 1988.
• And what, nobody knows any porn stars? ;)
• Ook, forgot the really juicy one. My cousin used to be a big cat handler for Siegfried & Roy. In fact he was bitten (not severely) by the same tiger that mauled Roy.
• Ooh, late to the party but here goes: My grandmother presented flowers to Queen Elizabeth II way back in 1957 at the Ghana independence celebrations. As for me, i've had a beer with Jimmy Cliff, have met boxing pro Azumah Nelson, and had a kiss on the cheek from the man himself Isaac Hayes! Oh..and when i was a wee lass, i got a birthday telephone call from Michael Aspel!
• Ramix: Jimmy Cliff and Isaac Hayes?!!! I am green, GREEN, with envy.
• I met Bill Wyman (ex of the 'Stones). He was in Vancouver for the Steel Wheels tour and, long story short, I ended up being the sound man on a TV interview he did for CBC. As I recall, he'd just married a very young girl as was NOT going to talk about it.
• Even when you preview things slip by... he'd just married a very young girl and was not going to talk about it.
• apparently i am a huge-ass starfucker: Edgar Bronfmann Jr. (Segrams, etc.) offered me an Expos hat when he was the owner , which i turned down cause i was a redsox fan. John Kerry has been to my parents' house, and he and I attended the same junior high and high schools. I had a beer with Jon Fischman after a Phish show, and he offered to give me drum lessons. Mr. Rodgers smiled at me with all the love in the world at the Nantucker Airport. I went to college with Lisa Loeb and Caroline Kennedy, lived in the same apartment that both General Ambrose Burnside and JFK jr. lived in. My professor in college was the novelist Edmund White, with whom I had couscous in Paris, and who made a very nice (but not accepted) pass at me. The former resident of my current house is a reporter for Public Radio. I get books mailed to me all the time that he told me I could keep. My great uncle trained horses for the Queen. When I was 6, i got a full access press pass to the Montreal Olympics thru a press-contact/friend of the family. My nephew was on Blues Clues. I was rescued adrift in Nantucket Harbor by Christopher Lydon. I met Vince Clarke (Yazoo, Depeche Mode, Erasure) in a nightclub in Amsterdam. After a concert in SF, Ken Kesey asked me and my friends to help give the Further bus a push jump-start. That's enough for now, otherwise you will all start writing about how you know me....
• TenaciousPettle: I don't know any porn stars, but I know people who were tech support for one of the biggest online porn companies, based in Toronto. That was as close to the porn world as I've ever wanted to come
• Oh, yeah, speaking of porn stars. One of my closest friends was the porn star Scott O'Hara, famous for both his ability to auto-fellate, and tenacity in enduring a garden hose enema... Actually I know other porn stars, too (long story), but none as well as I knew him.
• My ex-brother-in-law plays keyboards for Delbert McClinton, I was an extra in a movie with John Cusack (we chatted about his cool Reeboks), and John Harkes scored 3 goals off of me in my one and only college intramural goalkeeper appearance (and then he told me I shouldn't drink so much the night before a game). I try to stay away from people now.
• My sadistic older brothers don't let me forget I was a stand-in for Mortimer Snerd.
• My first boyfriend was Danny Glover's cousin, Sean.
• I was on the grassy knoll
• Nice, Ramix!!! es el Queso, I am jealous of your Mr. Rogers encounter!
• was this the original lineup? I think there were about three versions of this band touring the globe at that time, none of them entirely original. But yeah, Saturday Night at the Movies, Tobacco Road, etc. Wookidie wookidie.
• Darshon : Mr Welller is still looking exceedingly cool.