Author Topic: Brushes with greatness? (Read 15522 times)

seaweb11 · « **on:** July 01, 2009, 05:14:59 PM »

A recent thread that got into a member hitchhiking and getting picked up by Charles Bronson got me to reminiscing ..........
this could be fun.

Mine:
-Fred Turner from BTO used to pick me up hitchhiking to school and back on many occasions

He had a corvette from every body style change, 6 or 7 of them

-Won $25.00 from actor Peter Strauss on my 1st movie set at lunch one day.

-Spent an entire afternoon catching Bob Hope "just off screen" when someone had to push him hard. He needed the support

Dude was still using cue cards on the set in 1981?

There's a few more, Mickey Rourke was a dick head, but this should shake the cobwebs and get things going.
Lets hear yours?

mlinder · « **Reply #1 on:** July 01, 2009, 05:36:25 PM »

Eh, used to drink beers with Daniel Ash, dude from Bauhaus and Love & Rockets, and uh, met Maynard, from tool, apparently played with Garfunkel's kid when I was a kid, lessee... buncha other semi-famous musicians, most of the cast of The Simpsons and King of the Hill, gotta be some actors in there, just can't remember them right now. Maybe later.

Damfino · « **Reply #2 on:** July 01, 2009, 05:55:07 PM »

Got to party backstage with Def Leppard back in '88 during their Hysteria tour. A buddy of mine that I worked with, his uncle, was an old time sound man that toured with many big groups. He let us in through the back gates at Alpine Valley in Troy, Wis. Later we sat around on one of the tour buses with Rick Allen, the one armed drummer, smoking left-handed cigarettes and drinking beer as he drew a very cool drumset complete with one armed drummer (in stick man form) on my buddy's t-shirt. A very cool guy indeed, for a Brit he seemed to know the Chicagoland area very well. Not a big fan of the group anymore, (they turned a little too 'mellow' for me) but it was a cool experience to see what goes on backstage. All the food & drink you could ever want. And the wimmens!!! Holy beJesus, what they wouldn't do to get backstage!!

Eventually, in the early hours of the morning, I figured I'd better get my then girlfriend out of there before she disappeared on me...

Now I know that's not the coolest 'brush with greatness', but it is, all I've got....

Sam Green Racing · « **Reply #3 on:** July 01, 2009, 05:57:13 PM »

Washed my new car today, real shiney black paint, I could see my reflection in it.

Sam.

bucky katt · « **Reply #4 on:** July 01, 2009, 05:59:57 PM »

i ran into, literally Robert Dover who was the captain of our olympic equestrian team in 1996 at a horse show in tampa in late 1995, i was jumping down out of the dressing room in my trailer and not looking, i landed pretty much on top of the poor guy, he was very cool about it and accepted a home brewed beer from me as an apology. i met, and gave a couple of beers to Phil Lesh and Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead after a shot at sullivan stadium in foxboro mass july 2 1989. i still have the cans that they drank from. i met George Steinbrenner at a Tampa Bay Buccaneers game, my uncle was with the tampa bay sports authority so from time to time i was able to go to games with him and sit in the skybox. met lawton chiles like that too

Edit : i got to touch "Lucille" once

736cc · « **Reply #5 on:** July 01, 2009, 06:01:18 PM »

Met Billy Joel in a gas station in Sag Harbor about 5 years ago; he was on a Kawasaki Drifter very modified to look like an old Indian. He complemented my 1969 gold CB750.
When Tom Seaver was a rookie w/ the Mets in 1966, he rented a downstairs apaartment right across the street from me. I walked his dog. Later, some NY Jets rented same apartment, got free tix from Defensive lineman Steve Thompson because I fed his fish when he was on the road. Seeing Joe Namath play blew all other sports figures away, he was totally electric and never saw an athlete glow like him, incredible energy to and from the crowd.
My brother was in a rock band called Murphy's Law and he toured cross-country w/ the Beastie Boys. Notorious arrests for public obsceneties and sexual content in Texas and Florida.

gerhed · « **Reply #6 on:** July 01, 2009, 06:11:03 PM »

Came across Clint Eastwood as he was trying to leave his restaurant south of Carmel, Cal.
I was busy taking pictures of him until he cautioned
"ease up buddy".
I eased up.

Damfino · « **Reply #7 on:** July 01, 2009, 06:15:49 PM »

Quote from: gerhed on July 01, 2009, 06:11:03 PM

Came across Clint Eastwood as he was trying to leave his restaurant south of Carmel, Cal.
I was busy taking pictures of him until he cautioned
"ease up buddy".
I eased up.

"I know what you're thinkin'....
Did he fire six shot's or only five?.........

seaweb11 · « **Reply #8 on:** July 01, 2009, 06:20:31 PM »

Quote from: gerhed on July 01, 2009, 06:11:03 PM

Came across Clint Eastwood as he was trying to leave his restaurant south of Carmel, Cal.
I was busy taking pictures of him until he cautioned
"ease up buddy".
I eased up.

"What's yer name kid"

Add your own gruff voice

Gordon · « **Reply #9 on:** July 01, 2009, 06:24:59 PM »

Let's see... I got to shake the hand of Johnny Cash when I was ten. My family was in Jamaica for Christmas and we ran into him in a liquor store.

Uncle Ernie · « **Reply #10 on:** July 01, 2009, 08:18:32 PM »

Hung out a couple times with the guys in Canned Heat. Nice folks. They were impressed that I put an electric pick-up on a couple of recorders.

Engaged to Janey Bob- the female in an a capella group called The Bobs that was fairly popular in the 80's- especially in San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle.

Was friends with the manager of Finoccios. A club that featured female impersonators in San Francisco. She was a ral woman, though. Very intersting person and she always reserved a front table for me if I came to watch the show.

Had a drinks a few times with Carol Doda at the Tosca cafe. She was funny.

I knew Armand Bali of Bali's Restaurnat. She introduced me to Rudolf Nureyev. BFD. (She was a hoot, though.)

Robin Williams before he got real big. We used to hang out at the Holy City Zoo and sometimes out paths would cross. There was a giant of a guy -I can't remember his name- who I idolized. Instead of going into comedy, though, he decided to help kids in some way. Wish I could remember his name...

That's about all I can remember right now.

ev0lve · « **Reply #11 on:** July 01, 2009, 09:29:46 PM »

Hmmm,

When I was 13 I was waiting for a flight in the Oakland airport - sitting on the floor. A woman walked up and bent over in front of me to set her bags down. My face was about 4 inches from her ass when I looked up.

That woman was Marie Osmond.

And now you know the rest of the story. <--- special thanks to Paul Harvey

DammitDan · « **Reply #12 on:** July 01, 2009, 10:58:09 PM »

I did an 8-month internship at a recording studio 2 years ago in Nashville, TN, and managed to meet a few interesting people, including:

James Taylor (very reserved, didn't talk much)
Peter Frampton (kind of an ass, but then again he's British

)
Allison Krauss & Union Station (super down to earth and friendly)
Abraham Laboriel (incredibly nice guy, bassist on dozens of platinum pop albums from the '70s, '80s and '90s)
Brad Paisley (really friendly)
Taylor Swift (she's a self-absorbed idiot)
Bob Johnston (former record producer for Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel, Johnny Cash, etc... rolled a joint from a film canister and smoked it in the lobby

)
Willie Nelson (now that dude was uber cool!)
50 Cent (total asshat, but what can you expect really)

There's also umpteen country artists I didn't really pay attention to, since I generally can't stand country music. Maybe that's why I'm not working in the music business

I didn't get paid for the internship, but at least I got plenty of interesting party stories out of it

tramp · « **Reply #13 on:** July 02, 2009, 03:42:23 AM »

saw jack lord from hawaii 5 0 years ago doing a scene on sub base in pearl harbour
met charleton heston (not sure of spelling) at a book signing

andy750 · « **Reply #14 on:** July 02, 2009, 04:01:46 AM »

Ex-world champion boxer, Barry McGuigan (http://www.barrymcguigan.com) took me for a round of hitting the hand pads when I was a boxer at Oxford Uni...afterwards he made a comment about my strong punch

I met Ted Simon of Jupiters Travels....not really a superstar but interesting nonetheless....

demon78 · « **Reply #15 on:** July 02, 2009, 04:54:01 AM »

Spent a summer helling around Stratford Ont with Richard (beak) Manual drummer from "The Band" his brother was an airforce (RCAF) buddy. Not sure that Beak was great but a lot of others did.
Bill the demon.

Glenn Stauffer · « **Reply #16 on:** July 02, 2009, 05:21:28 AM »

In the town where I live, there is a company that does stage and sound work for rock tours. Back when I was in high school, numerous famous bands would come through town while preparing for their US tours - I remember Elton John, the Rolling Stones, and Yes passing through town at various times. The only band I managed to see in person was Yes since I was invited by a member of the family that owned the sound company to spend a day watching them rehearse for the tour. We were able to wander around on stage freely and talk with the band members.

Muhammad Ali also came through town in 1978 to pitch his candy bar made by the Wilbur Chocolate Company. I have a picture I took of him that indicates I was able to get close to where he was standing, but I'm not in this UPI photo.

Jonesy · « **Reply #17 on:** July 02, 2009, 05:43:43 AM »

Back in 2003 a bunch of us were in Chicago, IL for the NPE show. We had finished up dinner at Mike Ditka's retauraunt and were getting ready to leave when Mike himself made an appearance. He stopped at our table, asked us how we enjoyed our steaks and shook our hands. I didn't realize what a big guy he is. My hand practically disappeared into his when I shook his hand! He's also one of those guys where his neck is wider than his head. (This was about the time that he was on TV telling guys to "Get back in the game with Levitra". I was temped to ask him how it was working for him, but decided I better not!)

I guess you could say it wasn't completely coincidental, but none of us went there expecting to see him!

Cvillechopper · « **Reply #18 on:** July 02, 2009, 05:50:12 AM »

Leroi Moore (sax player for DMB) used to hang out at a local bar where I was a regular for many years. He was a well known drug addict and was especially loaded one night when I came in for a drink. I, in my infinite wisdom, said to him how much I thought of the work he did on the then most recent album. He, in his infinite asshatedness, said "Who the F^@k are you?!?" The bar tender tried to help out by telling him about the local band I was working with at the time which had a fairly cute female singer in it. Leroi looks at me and says "Go get Lydia. I need to ejaculate."

I took a deep breath, told him that he was a complete d!@k and left for the night.
I mentioned to a few people that I gained a new-found appreciation for atvs last year.

flybox1 · « **Reply #19 on:** July 02, 2009, 07:53:43 AM »

The Ulrichs & Metallica.
Growing up as a tennis player, and being pretty good

, you meet a few people.
Torbin Ulrich, Lars' father, lives in the Seattle area. Back in Denmark, Torbin is a legend. He was, and probably still is, the greatest tennis player to come out of Denmark. Lars was raised to be the next best, but decided to bang on stuff instead. I trained with Torbin's crew for my college tennis career. He made a movie, called "La Balle Au Mur" (the ball and the wall). he had a screening at his house. old 8mm style. pretty cool. when Metallica was on their BLACK album tour, we went to the show with Torbin, and got the royal treatment, met the band, drank their beer, shirts, pictures, autographs, drumsticks and guitar picks, etc.
cool stuff.

333 · « **Reply #20 on:** July 02, 2009, 07:56:26 AM »

I've never had the pleasure. But my wife bumped into Abe Vigoda at an airport once. Does that count?

kslrr · « **Reply #21 on:** July 02, 2009, 08:50:03 AM »

Back in the late '80's while I was conducting a building controls survey at a posh hotel in Beverly Hills, I passed Chevy Chase while he was on his way to the tennis courts, all decked out in white. He seemed to be in a chipper/silly mood that day.

Damfino · « **Reply #22 on:** July 02, 2009, 09:02:49 AM »

Quote from: kslrr on July 02, 2009, 08:50:03 AM

Back in the late '80's while I was conducting a building controls survey at a posh hotel in Beverly Hills, I passed Chevy Chase while he was on his way to the tennis courts, all decked out in white. He seemed to be in a chipper/silly mood that day.

Are you sure you weren't on the movie set of 'Fletch'?

gerhed · « **Reply #23 on:** July 02, 2009, 10:28:21 AM »

Driving along the Potomac River on the Geo. Washington parkway-a few years back.
I spied a red Ferrari up ahead.
I sped up and got on his tail--saw it was a 512 with the Md. plate "Boxer".
I thought "that's cool"--the 512 is often called a boxer because of the engine config.
Pulled up next to the car and inside was "The Boxer".
Sugar Ray Leonard

DammitDan · « **Reply #24 on:** July 02, 2009, 11:14:17 AM »

Quote from: 333 on July 02, 2009, 07:56:26 AM

I've never had the pleasure. But my wife bumped into Abe Vigoda at an airport once. Does that count?

Was he dead yet?

News:

Author Topic: Brushes with greatness? (Read 15522 times)