Author Topic: Brushes with greatness? (Read 15665 times)

mcpuffett · « **Reply #25 on:** July 02, 2009, 12:50:31 PM »

Don't know if you fellas have heard of a british comedian called Jim Bowen he used to be on a tv show called Bullseye ?, well i used to do his gardening back in the early 80's

also bumped into Adam Faith at a petrol station near London

, cheers Mick.

Sam Green Racing · « **Reply #26 on:** July 02, 2009, 01:32:58 PM »

Hi Mick, I met Jim at a petrol station off J21 M6, He was apearing at Woolston Legion and the car park was full, he asked could he leave his car in the petrol station.

Probably my bigest brush was 50 years ago when as a young sea cadet. I along with two other cadets performed a bugle fan fare for Elizabeth Windsor, then got to chat with her

and it's not that small of an Island

go figure.

And when you have, try to top that one.

Sam.

BeSeeingYou · « **Reply #27 on:** July 02, 2009, 01:55:57 PM »

All of my experiences took place from the late 70's to the mid 90's. I worked as an audio, lighting, and video tech and we did many corporate gigs where they would bring in some celeb for the occasion

Tony Bennett: He was doing a concert and was using a large screen behind him to show various images during the show, many of them were his paintings. This was back when this video equipment was fairly new and primative and it took a deal of skill to get a decent image and the projector was the size of a desk. I had lunch with him after set-up and rehearsal. Very nice guy.

Chuck Yeager: He was on the Board and the guest speaker at a corporate function. Asked him a few questions while I mic'ed him up. Nice Guy.

Jim Lovell: (Apollo 13) He was the guest speaker at some function. My memory is a bit hazy on this one but he hung around with us a bit backstage before the show. He was pretty cool and we asked him many questions.

Chubby Checker: Ran lights for him at some corporate gig.

William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy: This was at a Star Trek convention and the first time they had appeared together at one. I was running a "portable" video camera the size of boombox.

This was before the digital age and I was to get behind the scene stuff and document their arrival. I am backstage and I hear Nimoy say to me, "Hey point that camera someplace else". They were about to go on stage and he had to take a leak and no bathrooms were nearby so he was taking a leak into a nearby trashcan.

Mick Jagger: He was in town for a concert and was supposed to be staying at a small exclusive hotel but had moved over to the one we were in doing some corporate gig. The story was that when he and Keith would stay in the same hotel Mick always wanted to be above and on the other side of the building from Keith's room due to the noise and partying. Well they put him right below so he moved over to our hotel. I ran into him in a back hallway as they had a limo parked in the loading dock and used the back entrances. So I says " Hi Mick, hows it going" and he says" Not bad mate, how you doing".

Bill Clinton when he was POTUS: He was in town for a big speech and we were running sound, lights, and visuals. This was shortly after the Oklahoma City Bombing. We had a Ryder Truck just like the one used in the bombing to haul our gear and it was parked outside the building probably 200 feet from where Clinton was giving his speech. We had passed through tough security measures and thought little of it till the next day when the local newspaper had an article about the truck sitting out there.

Juice Newton: We set up and ran sound and lights at an outdoor concert for a large corporate employee party in Dallas. We came down from Minneapolis in a 24 foot truck loaded to the roof. We were a bunch of longhairs and we got busted at a weigh station in Oklahoma on the way back for being overloaded . They asked us where we were coming from and we told them about the concert and their ears perked up and we gave the "good old boys" a bunch of her CD's that we had. They let us go. I wonder what would have happened if we said we were coming from a Greatful Dead concert.

Patrick Troughton: Hush, if you are reading this you will know WHO this is.

I have a ton more and many I have forgotten but these are some that stick in my mind.

sangyo soichiro · « **Reply #28 on:** July 02, 2009, 04:40:09 PM »

Holy cow srust! Yeager and Lovell are a couple of my heros! The other guys you all have met are pretty cool too.

I've met some fairly successful physicists - some you may have seen on the Science and Discovery channels, and a few Nobel Prize winners. Probably the most famous physicist I've met was Freeman Dyson, though he's not a Nobel winner.

Met Muhammad Ali - he lives in Al Capone's old house in a town near where I live.

alltherightpills · « **Reply #29 on:** July 02, 2009, 05:11:02 PM »

I was in The Pin-up Bowl, an upscale bowling alley on the Loop in St. Louis, on the second date with my girlfriend (now wife), and all of a sudden there's some commotion at the door. Nelly (he's a rapper from St. Louis, for all you old timers) had just walked in with his crew and ended up bowling next to us. Turns out he's a hell of a bowler. I think the lowest score he had that night was 260. At that point he had the top 5 high scores in the place. He was actually a really nice guy, he bought us drinks and gave us bowling tips.

A year or so later I was driving next to him in the same area and he stalled his lowrider after bouncing it in traffic. It was pretty funny.

BlindJoe · « **Reply #30 on:** July 02, 2009, 06:06:53 PM »

Used to live down the street from "The Million Dollar Man" in Mississippi, and went trick-or-treating at his house

CBGhia · « **Reply #31 on:** July 02, 2009, 06:23:53 PM »

I met Chuck Norris at a YMCA he used to go there and volunteer back in the 80's in OKC. We were coming in as we were leaving (I was 11 or 12) and my grandmother was handicapped (you din't want to tell her that though) and Chuck asked us if we needed any help. He was super polite and seemed to be a nice guy. He made small talk with Grandma for a few and left. It wasn't until I saw his picture on the wall that I realized who he was about 5 minutes too late.

333 · « **Reply #32 on:** July 02, 2009, 08:32:09 PM »

Quote from: DammitDan 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?

How could one tell?

754 · « **Reply #33 on:** July 02, 2009, 08:52:20 PM »

LMAO @ the last post

bucky katt · « **Reply #34 on:** July 02, 2009, 09:52:53 PM »

Quote from: 736cc 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.

i've seen a band called Murphys Law perform. this was in florida back in the 90's the Tampa area.

gerhed · « **Reply #35 on:** July 03, 2009, 02:56:31 AM »

Met this gentleman at Daytona vintage races in '93.
A very pleasant , patient man.
He was there with the Barber group.
I don't think the museum had opened quite yet.

At this same event, I had lunch with famed
BMW racer Walter Zeller. (I had boosted a BMW stars of the past--lunch ticket}
I made the mistake of asking him if he had ever raced
sidecars. "Haben sie vielleicht Beiwagen gefahren?"
quick answer
"Ach, mein Gott, Nein "!

click it.

SteveD CB500F · « **Reply #36 on:** July 03, 2009, 03:02:19 AM »

Me and Phil Read (and his 1974 world championship winning MV) at Spa Francorchamps in June.

Jim Shea with Sammy Miller at the same event.

demon78 · « **Reply #37 on:** July 03, 2009, 04:15:18 AM »

Ah jeez, Sammy Miller one of my hero's, lucky man, SteveD.
Bill the demon.

Burnboy · « **Reply #38 on:** July 03, 2009, 01:38:55 PM »

Lived down the street from the brother of Winona Judd. The Judds used to come and visit every few years, really nice.

Brought some room service to Ed Mcmahon, he was really really nice and down to earth. Gave me a $20 tip!

nokrome · « **Reply #39 on:** July 03, 2009, 04:05:31 PM »

ive been racking my brain trying to come up with something so that i could contribute to this thread, then it hit me.
about five years ago i was at a club in portland with my then girlfriend and who did i see sitting in a booth in the corner? RON JEREMY thats right "the hedge hog". super cool guy, sat and talked for about an hour, he bought us drinks and he didnt even try to f$#k my girlfriend, what more could you ask for?

BeSeeingYou · « **Reply #40 on:** July 03, 2009, 08:18:45 PM »

Quote from: nokrome on July 03, 2009, 04:05:31 PM

he bought us drinks and he didnt even try to f$#k my girlfriend, what more could you ask for?

Good thing too. You may not have been able to "measure up" after that.

sparty · « **Reply #41 on:** July 03, 2009, 08:23:25 PM »

I went fly fishing with Jimmy Carter on Spruce Creek last year. I also fly fished with Ted Turner on his Montana ranch in 2005.

Sparty

DammitDan · « **Reply #42 on:** July 04, 2009, 12:21:43 AM »

Quote from: sparty on July 03, 2009, 08:23:25 PM

I went fly fishing with Jimmy Carter on Spruce Creek last year. I also fly fished with Ted Turner on his Montana ranch in 2005.

Sparty

You dirty liberal

bucky katt · « **Reply #43 on:** July 04, 2009, 12:54:21 AM »

Quote from: DammitDan on July 04, 2009, 12:21:43 AM

Quote from: sparty on July 03, 2009, 08:23:25 PM
I went fly fishing with Jimmy Carter on Spruce Creek last year. I also fly fished with Ted Turner on his Montana ranch in 2005.

Sparty

You dirty liberal

oldman prof · « **Reply #44 on:** July 04, 2009, 01:03:01 AM »

I was talking to a guy about ammo in a Cape Town gun shop for about 10min before I realized he was the writer Wilbur Smith,helliva nice guy.

72 yellow · « **Reply #45 on:** July 04, 2009, 01:37:43 PM »

Around 1980 I worked at a machine tool shop. We were making a transition to a production shop. The programmer for the tape lathes was Gary Ray Thompson the lead guitarist for Frijid Pink. (House of the Rising Sun remake). A real cool guy. Never a big head about his fame. Also a pretty good machinist. Later he got his friend and lead singer from Frijid Pink Tom Beaudry (known as Kelly Green in the band) hired. Kind of a quiet person. I used to pick him up in the morning for work. At our company Christmas party they provided the live music. Great time.

coldright · « **Reply #46 on:** July 04, 2009, 02:02:33 PM »

I was Bill Ford's fishing guide in SE Alaska... took him, his brother in law and his best friend fly fishing and anchoring out for halibut. He used to bring his entire family out on the boat I worked on every year for vacation. There is a great story of him hoping off the end of a skiff one year when it was on the shore. He was wearing waders and the water was about 15 ft. deep where he hoped off not realizing he'd go in over his head.

ofreen · « **Reply #47 on:** July 04, 2009, 02:13:17 PM »

Do restraining orders count?

bucky katt · « **Reply #48 on:** July 04, 2009, 09:43:18 PM »

Quote from: ofreen on July 04, 2009, 02:13:17 PM

Do restraining orders count?

Spanner 1 · « **Reply #49 on:** July 04, 2009, 09:51:29 PM »

Restraining orders....brilliant...how many ya got ?
Well, 1980 booked U2 to do a concert in my home town, cost me 300 pounds, they were an hour late and Bono walked off the stage for 25 mins. in the middle of the gig..I lost 128 pounds on the gig after paying for the venue and bar staff etc. Contract called for 'sandwiches' and named beers to be available back-stage before the gig...still have the contract...!

News:

Author Topic: Brushes with greatness? (Read 15665 times)