I’m from Detroit, so really I never get the chance to bump into famous people (because really – the only ones that would be around are Eminem and Kid Rock – who else would want to come here?) But, one time when I was on a carribbean cruise, I got an autograph from Mickey Dolenz from The Monkees. Fabulous, huh?

I met Bonnie Raitt backstage in Dallas during the Souls Alike tour last year. She told me she liked my shirt, and it has since been known as “the Bonnie Raitt shirt.”

A few years ago, I sat one table over from Carrot Top in Emeril’s Las Vegas.

My boyfriend saw Owen Wilson in the grocery store in Dallas last year. He was also on Hollywood Squares, so he met Tom Bergeron, Jason Alexander, and whoever else was on that episode. He refuses to show me the tape, so I don’t know who all was there. Perhaps the refusal is based in part on the fact that I make fun of his old hairstyle? Oops.

Okay, so my first celebrity encounter occurred when I was around age 13. I waited in line at a Western Wear store to get the autograph of Gabriel Cateris, better known as Andrea Zuckerman from 90210. I had heard someone from 90210 was coming and I was so freaking excited at the thought of seeing Brandon, Dylan, Kelly or Brenda! So I was pretty bummed when I learned it was only Andrea. Even Steve or Donna would have been cooler than her. I was further disappointed when I got to the front of the line and realized she had *gasp* forehead wrinkles and looked 30 (which, apparantly, she was)!

My second encounter occurred last year after my husband and I moved to San Antonio. Three friends and I were walking on a sidewalk leading to a local pub at about 9pm on a Saturday, when one of my friends glanced inside the Wine and Spirits store to our right and nonchalantly said, “Tommy Lee Jones is buying whiskey.” I thought it was pretty random but it turns out he lives in San Antonio too. We went inside to “browse the wine selection” but didn’t approach him because he had his head hung really low and had a huge scowl on his face. He basically grunted at the checkout girl and when he left we all watched and another employee rushed up to us and told us to stay back because he was notoriously rude to fans. Whatever…he was short in real life anyway.

Hmm…tough one. Your Canadian readers might appreciate this one, although I didn’t actually speak to the people involved…just stood with my mouth clamped shut.

I was at Just for Laughs in Montreal about a month ago and on the way into the St Denis Theatre I looked up and Justin Trudeau and his wife were standing about 20 feet away, chatting with a guy in a nice jacket and jeans whose back was to us. A woman slinks up to the guy, squeezes his butt and when he turns toward her we saw that it was Colm Feore. Justin Trudeau (son of the very famous former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau) and Colm fucking Feore (played Pierre Trudeau in the movie). It was kind of crazy in an ‘only in Canada’ kind of way.

I saw David Duchovny pushing his kid in a stroller across Lexington Avenue in New York City. I think I bruised my husband’s ribs when I tried to covertly alert him to Fox Mulder’s presence. I watched the X-Files religiously and I still listen to “David Duchovny, Why Won’t You Love Me” on my iPod, so that day still ranks right up there on my Best Day Ever list.

I have never seen a famous person myself (and I’m 34. How sad is that?) but I knew a girl in college who was from Long Island and saw Kurt Vonnegut all the time in the grocery store where she worked. She said he mostly bought just dog food, cigarettes, and beer. I just love that story.

I went to high school with Jane Lynch-she was a year ahead of me and a good friend of my sister. I still get a kick out of seeing her in movies and on TV. She was a riot.

Saw Guy Ritchie in the National Gallery in London last August. I had seen a man getting what looked like guided tour, he was a couple paintings behind me, so I was eavesdropping on what the guide was telling him. My sister came up and pointed out I was stalking Madonna’s husband. Oops, I thought he had looked kind of familiar.

When I was working at a large hotel in downtown San Diego, there was a big rap concert in town. Eminem asked me directions out of the building from where we were. He mumbles really badly.

One night at the Shore Club in Miami (I was visiting a friend), I saw Mark Walberg, Adrien Brody (ahem – Oscar winner), JC Chasez (double ahem – N’Synch-er), Eiiza Dushku (yeah, she Brought it On), and … Heidi Klum’s ex-husband. All in the span of 5 minutes – seriously. I felt pretty important.

Okay I want to play too! I live in South Florida so I have seen quite a few random celebrities:
Venus and Serena Williams, they can totally kick everyone’s ASS!
Burt Reynolds, old!!!
Jillian Barberie, so talkative but very nice.
Kimberly (tramp) and Rod Stewart and his wife Penny Lancaster, she was slightly bitch and he’s slightly pervy.
Tommy Lee Jones, little with HORRIBLE skin but friendly.
Jimmy Buffet
Melaina Trump, who isn’t AT ALL what you would think.
Howie Mandel
Chris Rock, accidently spit on me during a comedy show.
I can’t remember any others, until I hit send.

I was upgraded to first class on a flight (work related trip and I was alone) and ended up sitting next to a very large man — I mean, he was huge — in an athletic sort of way. The flight attendants came over in rapid succession to ask if they could see his ring. I still didn’t get it until he struck up a conversation with me and it turned out he was some famous football player and was wearing a Super Bowl ring. I don’t remember his name any more (it was 16 years ago) but he was super nice and we spent a lot of time discussing our sons. He also had a 2 year old who was not a morning person and we were exchanging ideas for getting our sons out of bed in the morning. I told my husband when I got home and he was super excited about it.

Otherwise, I saw Red Skelton when he was in town to do a show and I got his autograph. I saw Bob Saget at a bar in Florida and he seemed kind of surly.

As a teenager I worked at the “restaurant” in the SunVilla bowling alley in Bellevue (near BCC) and one day I served (not serviced, sadly) the members of Queensryche.

And years later, through a bizarre chain of events, I lucked out and got to work as security for Melissa Etheridge when she performed at the Parmount for her Brave & Crazy tour. I ate with her crew, and she was funny and very nice to all those around her.

As for sightings, I saw Richard Karn [Al on Home Improvement] when he was in town for some charity golf thing; Grant Goodeve
[David on Eight is Enough] sat directly behind me, having dinner at the next table; and I met Sen. John Warner [ex hubby of Elizabeth Taylor] while he was campaigning when he stopped by the restaurant I was bartending.

AND, when I was back in Seattle this past May I got to meet author Lee Child [squee!]

Where to begin…

I was on the same plane as Hulk Hogan back during his wrestling heyday in the 80’s; I got his autograph. During that same general time period of my life, I also met Daisy Duke.

I ate lunch next to Freddie Prinze Jr and Sarah Michelle Gellar, twice, at the Four Seasons in Hawaii last December.

I also saw Jim Bulushi, Kelsey Grammar, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Matt Damon and Diane Von Furstenburg at the Four Seasons over the course of my Hawaiian adventure.

I’ve met Danny Bonaduce a couple of times; the most recent sighting was when he walked past my table at sushi in LA a couple of weeks ago. At that same sushi restaurant, I saw Neil and Sarah, two of the dancers from So You Think You Can Dance.

I met Ziggy Marley the night before my sister’s wedding–he and his Melody Makers were staying in the same hotel where she had her rehersal dinner four years ago.

I went backstage and met (and kissed!) Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead when I was 16.

I politely approached Tori Amos in a Starbucks in Boulder, CO a handful of years ago.

I sat approx. 15 rows behind Vince Vaughn at a Cubs/Brewers game at Wrigley Field two years ago.

When I was in college, I worked in a preschool that was affiliated/attached to a nursing home. Bonnie Hunt’s father was there, and I met her through that.

I met Bela Fleck, too, at a Jazz in the Park concert in Milwaukee nine years ago-he wrote a “permission slip” for a friend of mine to take to his boss in an effort for my friend to get out of work. It worked.

There have been more, but that’s all I got right now.

Living in NYC you see celebs on the street all the time so it’s usually not a big deal (or at least, we don’t act like it is but when you get home you call your sister and say guess who I just saw??)

Anyway, my big close-to-fame call was when my boyfriend @ the time was working on a Van Halen tour and I had sex with him (boyfriend) on their tour bus!!

I saw Patrick Stewart years ago in a little bakery in Del Mar. Alas, I didn’t know who he was until about a year later when my boyfriend (and future husband) introduced me to Star Trek: Next Gen. I just thought he was a hunky bald guy. And, in June, I saw Tara Reid in Hollywood having dinner at the restaurant we were in. Photos of her sucking face with her date later ended up on some celeb website. Hee!

Only two to report here:
First-Hulk Hogan at International Mall in Tampa. He was shopping with his kid and I? I am too ridiculously dorky and took a camera phone pic of him and sent it to my friends. *hangs head in shame* (But still has pic…)

Second- The Rudest Motherfu**er on the Planet a.k.a Keyshawn Johnson. For those who don’t follow the pigskin, he used to bea wide receiver here with the Bucs (and THANK GRUDEN, ahem, I mean GOD he’s gone. Man has hands coated in olive oil. Can’t catch a cold.
Anyway–I waited on him at J. Alexander’s. Him, his father and some chode who shall remain anonymous. Not only did they run me ragged for things like, oh, a half orange juice, half sprite with a cherry and two lemons, and make sure there are no seeds, aight?–but when their 96.00 bill came? Guess how much he tipped.

Guess.

4.00.
From a man wearing diamonds in his ears big enough to pay my rent for three years. I followed him up to the hostess stand and asked if the service was ok–was there anything wrong with the meal?
“No, everything was great! Did a great job!”
Oh, okay–so you’re just a cheap ass. Got it.
Have fun on TV, at least you can’t blow any more games!!
But, hey, I’m not bitter at all….

I ran into Heath Ledger on the street in Perth, Western Australia, where he’s from. He looked like a normal dude. I wouldn’t have even known it was him without Naomi Watts hanging onto his arm and looking all shiny and glam.

I met Bob Dole once; he visited my high school and I was there studying in the library. I shook his left hand. Speaking of observing cultural phenomena, imagine watching a long, long, long line of people, each individually startling to the realization that they can’t shake someone’s right hand. I imagine that for Bob Dole, the thrill of this observation opportunity has worn off.

I’ve never met any big celebrities. But once I went to a local show at a bar where my room mate was playing and there was this creepy ass dude who kept buggin us. We ran him off cause he was giving us bad vibes and scaring the women. Well it turns out he raped his next door neighbor and slit her throat only about a month later. And they lived only a few blocks from my house. He sort of became a local celebrity.

Also, I was named in the paper as part of some sort of robbery crime ring that had popped up in our town. And the two other guys who were named were two of my best friends. We weren’t part of any crime ring. We were just guys who got arrested in the same week, but there wasn’t much real news going on in the capital area, so the paper had to make some shit up. So I was famous around here for my fifteen minutes.

And I have this incredible ability to run into the Sherifff of our county almost every other week. And Wake county isn’t some podunk sticks county. It’s weird. But I hate Sheriff Harrison, so I don’t count him as a celebrity, local or otherwise.

And I’m friends with Tennessee Ernie Nord, a wrestler in Gouge Wrestling. But Gouge is more of an underground south east coast thing. Ya’ll don’t have it in Seattle.

Anyway, no real celebrities.

Let’s see – I live in good ole NYC, so I’ve seen a few folks on the street. Usually I think I see someone famous, so I ask The Husband, who recognizes NO ONE. Then after we’ve passed the person, I confirm that I’m right. And The Husband is all “yeah. so.”

Jeaneane Garafolo
Larry Mullen Jr (from U2)
Clinton from What Not To Wear
Stacy from What Not to Wear (who lived in my old neighborhood, so I saw her all the time. And at the gym. She needs her own stylist!)
Sandra Bernhard came to visit my roommate when I was in the hospital giving birth to C. The roommate’s husband was a famous author type, Joanthan Letham, but I didn’t know that until I was home.
The Wayans brothers
Maggie Gyllenhall
Kate Moss
Russell Crowe (mere hours before his telephone-throwing incident.)

I’m sure there are more, but that’s it. Brushes with Greatness

Rode in an elevator with Alan Ruck–Cameron from “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.” I didn’t say anything. Well, I said, “six, please.” And “thank you.”

I REALLY wanted to sing, “Let my Cameron goooooooo.”

I’m reading over all the comments now, and it occurs to me that political candidates are not exactly celebrities. Or in fact, celebrities AT ALL. And considering they go out of their way to meet as many people as possible, they lack that “Oh my god it’s ____!!!!” factor, don’t they? So I’d like to retract my “I met Bob Dole” comment, as it is lame.

As someone else said, when living in NYC, one encounters a lot of celebs just “living life”. Personal encounters, though:

Mary Tyler Moore: Walking her doggie in Central Park. I’m not much of a people person, but I am a dog person. I didn’t even realise it was her when I stooped down to play with the doggie. She was very nice, btw – and very appreciative that I took time to entertain the dog.

Gene Shalet: He used to dine at the bar of one of the restaurants friends of mine and I frequented. ‘Sloppy eater at the time, btw.

Judd Hirsch: He was at the bar area of a restaurant some friends of mine and I were celebrating a birthday at. He was a little, well, how should I say, “happy” that night and kept trying to pick up the guest of honour. He was more than a bit obnoxious (this was during Taxi’s heyday) – and very put off when she shunned his advances.

Timothy Hutton: He was walking west, I was walking east and we, literally, body-slammed in front of Goldfingers. He was very apologetic. He hugged me, kissed me on the cheek – then, promptly, walked into said Goldfingers.

Kevin Bacon: This was post-Diner, pre “super actor” time. He was in a Broadway show called “Slab Boys” – and my friends and I ran into him outside of the theatre. He was dressed like everyone else except for one thing: He was wearing torn white keds that he had, apparently, washed with something red. When I asked him if I could take a photo he said “yes”. I, promptly, bent over, put my head on his tummy – and took a shot of his sneakers. When I stood up and said “thank you”, he looked at me with that “what, you’re not going to take a picture of my face” look. So I took a picture of his face. I’ve no idea where that picture is – but I have an enlargement of the sneaker shot framed.

Sean Penn: See above re “Slab Boys”. At the time, he was riding off of “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” – so I expected him to be an egomaniac. Not so. Not only was he sweet and genuine – but was downright shy. We spoke for a bit – but I didn’t want to photograph him because he seemed so uncomfortable.

And, my personal favourite:

Gary Sandy: ‘Ever heard of him? “No”, most likely – but he played Andy Travis on “WKRP in Cincinnati”. The reason he’s my personal favourite is because he showed up at a “boom-bas bar” (a “boom-bas” is a pogo-stick to which is attached a bunch of percussion instruments – very PA Dutch) in bumf**k, Pennsylvania wearing a full-length mink coat and surrounded by an entourage of overly made-up women – and nobody payed him a bit of attention until some ancient guy recognised him and said “hey – you’re that guy on WKRP in Cincinnati”. He responded with a hugely cheesy grin and said “yes, I am”. Then the old guy went back to playing his boom-bas – and the rest of us that overhead went back to our beers and the like. Gary et al left the bar with his massive shout of “thanks for your support I love ya” (I kid you not).

eileen

I’ve shared e-mails with Rob Thomas, creator of Veronica Mars and writer of one of my favorite teen-dramas, Drive me Crazy (Adrien Garnier and Melissa Joan Hart starring). I’ve also met the now Secretary of Defense, as I went to A&M when he was president there (I realize I’m digging here). And Matt Williams at spring training in AZ one year (baseball player). And, that seems to be about it.

Many years ago, I ran into Louie Anderson at a race track. I couldn’t think of anything witty to say, so I ended up blurting out, “I loved you on ‘Hollywood Squares’!” He looked at me like I was an idiot.

For work a few years ago, I got to go to a benefit where I met Liz Hurley, which was pretty cool.

Other than that, I got nothing.

Oh – wait! I can do that “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” thingy:

Kevin Bacon was in “Apollo 13” with Tom Hanks
Tom Hanks was in “Bosom Buddies” with Peter Scolari
Peter Scolari was on “Newhart” with Julia Duffy
Julia Duffy attended the same high school as my mom (as Julia Hinds)
My mom gave birth to me

Ta-da!

Joey Ramone walked in on me in the bathroom at the old Ritz in NYC. I was washing my hands. He kind of flopped against the wall and asked if I wanted to give him a blowjob. I answered no, politely, and fled, as he mumbled after me “are you sure? oh, c’mon!”

Swistle, you are so funny.

Maria Belo while on safari in South Africa (we were at the same camp). She was normal and nice. Her friend (who I do not think was anyone), was rude and bitchy. The friend was wearing some heavy, name brand, fur trimmed coat. In a safari/eco camp. When it was 90 degrees…

I was on a plane with Tom Welling (plays Clark Kent in Smallville) in Dec. 2005. That’s my brush with the rich and famous.

Oh wait, no – in the late 80’s I met Peter DeLuise and saw Johnny Depp from afar while they filmed “21 Jump Street” at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.

And that’s it. Boy – I need to get out more.

Hey! I’ve seen Lori Petty out and about too. Finding that Tank Girl was staying at the same resort as we were pretty much made our weekend.

Last month we were at Disneyland and we stood in the Fast Pass line for the Roger Rabbit ride behind Doogie Houser (yes, I know his real name, but he just looks like a Doogie to me) and his partner. Yee haw!

Curious- did you like Portland? Would you recommend it as a cool place to live/work? How did you end up moving?

Dammit.

I almost forget the whole reason why I was compelled to comment. Last year there was a girl named Du Jour in my daughter’s kindergarten class. Since you’re having a baby, I thought you might be looking for suggestions. Or maybe not.

I once saw Jerry Seinfeld walk into a strip club in down town Reykjavik, Iceland.

Oh! And Howie Mandell in Vegas! Also, Cameron from San Diego’s Real World in Sin City, too. How did I forget??

Crap again! I have met Judy Blume, Alice Sebold, and Jodi Picoult at Book Expo this year. Alice was especially lovely. And I met Marian Keyes (fab chick lit writer) last year at the same event.

Most of my celebrity sightings were in London in the 80s. I saw Dee Snyder from Twisted Sister (looking very shonky but it was early in the morning). Prince Charles was visiting some sort of event across the street from my office so we went outside to watch for a while. Was once in the supermarket and saw John Cleese shopping, he was not-very-inconspicuously calling to his wife about three aisles over, asking if they needed some sort of cheese.

More recently, I was in a restaurant in Amsterdam and Colm Meaney (Miles O’Brien from various Star Treks) was at the next table with a large group of men. I spent the entire meal trying to get enough Dutch courage (heh) to get his autograph, but when I was finally liquoredxxxxxxxx brave enough, he had gone.

One for New Zealanders: I was smiled at by John Kirwan (ex-All Black great) at a mall where he was book signing and I was struggling to quieten my stroppy toddler in his pushchair. I’m not much of a rugby fan but I’ve had a soft spot for JK ever since.

I met Jared (the guy from the Subway commercials) once. He came to Fairbanks, and my husband and I went to Subway to shake hands, chat a little, and get a signed poster. I guess that’s one cool thing about living in a small town – when a celebrity is in town, there’s never a huge crowd. Or maybe it’s just that the celebrities who dare to come here aren’t too famous. Hmmm…

I have a couple cool ones. I was in LA with my mom and Gram when I was 12. My mom and I were on the elevator in our hotel going down and we stopped at some floor and John Travolta got on. I had a button on that said “Are we having fun yet?” and he told me it was funny. And then the elevator smelled like pee, because OH MY GOD Danny Zuko just acknowledged me! Then when I was 13 my friends Aunt is some bigshot LA person and she was dating Jodi Foster at the time (yes she). They came back to her aunts parents house for christmas in Kansas City, Jodi Foster literally spent the entire evening with my friend and I. She slipped us champange and totally encouraged our total dorkiness. Other than that I have only really met bands, and who cares about that.

When I met Lily Tomlin she pointed at the tiny stud in my nose and giggled. “Oh! You have a little thing!” She’s incredibly cute.

Then last year when I was in O’Hare Airport people oddly thought I was someone. They kept staring and whispering. At first I thought I had something on my face or tp hanging off my foot. I just wanted to have a quiet dinner but there were a lot of eyes on me. So to have fun with it and mess with the gawkers a little, I started reading a play that I had in my bag for work. Heh. It was exciting for them I guess, they whispered more. I never did figure out who I was.

WOW. I’m trying to think. Only going to list the ones I’ve actually interacted with, some while waiting tables:

Chris Cornell, the lead singer of the Presidents of the United States of America (Chris something?), Shaquille O’Neil, Chris Darden (this was around OJ trial time), the cast of The Love Boat, Mindy Sterling (Frau Farbissina – she’s a friend of the family), Korn, Timothy Leary, a zillion DJs, Paul Allen, Bill Gates, Alan Thicke, um… that’s all I can come up with for now. Laid eyes on a ton of others!

:) K

Last spring at Disneyland, Posh Spice, her three boys and bodyguards stood in line behind us for cotton candy. She was sporting five inch heels while pushing her youngest in a stroller. She really is quite small in person.

She and her group were surrounded by an army of paperazzi who were complete rude, pushing other visitors out the the way and shouting at Posh’s children to get them to look at the camera. A bit later, we saw her again in another part of the park. At this point, Posh yelled at the photographers to leave her children alone. A photo of this incident appeared in many magazines.

I have no interest or fondness for Posh or her family, but on this day I truely felt sorry for her and her kids. She did not appear to be requiring any special treatment or accomodations, she was just trying to treat her kids (and body guards) to a nice day.

I rode the same bus as Kiefer Sutherland in London – early 90’s.

And once, the boarding of my LAX flight was delayed because we had to wait for…oh damn it! Uh…that’s stupid acting bartender on Cheers? Not Ted Danson…the one the storyline had as a dumbass? Oh – Woody Harrelson! They emptied the entire plane and had security at the gate before he got off the plane. He’s really short.

Umm let’s see. The band Good Charlotte or as they are better known now, that band that Nicole Richie’s boyfriend is in lol. The band Ultimate fakebook, That was like 5 years ago. More recently though like in 2004 I meant comedian Jay Davis and comedian Dane Cook, They were both extremely nice. I’ve also meant others from bands that are local to florida but well known. Not bad for being 21 I guess.
amadna

Celebrity Sitings? Well, authors I am good at……Jodi Picoult (have a coffee or breakfast with her every time she is in town), Sherman Alexie (LOVE his hair), Harlan Coben (love his lack of hair), Ryan Stiles at a Mariner’s game (he is a Seattle native and very nice!). Hubby ran into Jay Buhner at Athletic Supply in Redmond (everybody runs into him), I have seen King-TV’s Joyce Taylor several times in Redmond (way pretty). Other than that, nobody special. I harbor fantasies of running into David Tennant in my neighborhood, but Bellevue is a heck of a long way from Cardiff, Wales!

Chris O’Donnell waiting for a Strawberries Wild at Jamba Juice on the corner of Union and Buchanan in San Francisco by himself. I tried really hard not to look at him; it was just the two of us waiting. He was wearing Gucci loafers and a sweater. I think it was when he was filming that movie with Renee Zellwegger. He drove himself away in a big old Town Car–no driver.

My husband and I saw Summer Sanders (Olympic Swimmer) at the same Jamba Juice. My husband turned into an idiot when he saw her–so embarrassing.

Kevin Neelan from SNL in an elevator at the Rainbow Hilton in Hawaii. He is incredibly tall.

Robin Williams waited in line for a movie with his son behind us on Van Ness in San Francisco.

In college, my boyfriend (now husband) and I spent one very long drunken night bar hopping with the entire band “The Untouchables” after they played at our college. My husband’s roommate booked the bands for the University that year.

Anthony Edwards (ER, Top Gun) sat near me at a community theater in Sacramento owned by Timothy Busfield (thirtysomething, West Wing).

When I was eight, I met DeForrest Kelly, Dr. Mcoy on the original Star Trek. He and my grandfather used to golf together.

When I was in my college marching band, we were practicing for a halftime show before the game, and the National Anthem singer was Trace Atkins. I accidentally knocked him over with my tuba….

I was a member of the Boulder (Colorado) Philharmonic Orchestra for a while, and there were always guest artists showing up to play concerts with us. Most wouldn’t be recognizable/interesting to anyone but classical music freaks, but there were a few “Pops” concerts where I met some pretty cool artists:

(1) Shirley Jones (singer, star of many Rogers/Hammerstein musicals, and more recently The Partridge Family). She was very gracious and seemed interested in chatting with all of us orchestra geeks.
(2) Doc Severinsen – wow, what a fun and cool guy. And he has a huge wardrobe of flamboyant tuxes.
(3) Maynard Ferguson, RIP (pops-y trumpet player of the 60’s-70’s)
(4) Della Reese – also a sweetie
(5) Nadja Solerno-Sonnenberg – “bad girl” of the violin in the 90’s

Those are the ones I remember off the top of my head. Fun to not only see them, but meet with them and then work together to put on a concert.

Oh, I do remember some things that have happened in my 34 years.

I saw Parker Posey in the French Quarter a couple of summers ago. It was a billion degrees and stinky as all hell (as only the FQ can be). She was really small and had some dude trailing along behind her (her boyfriend, maybe?). She also looked really pissed, but maybe she just smelled something that didn’t agree with her.

I taught at the school where Norman Mailer’s son attended and NM came to speak to us. Never mind that NM was in his late 70’s and had a son in HS at the time.

Along those same lines, I went to college with Strom Thurmond’s (legitimate) son–at the time a 20 year old son of a guy in his 90s. Once a performing comic on campus (opened for Stephen Wright. I have no idea who the guy was) started making jokes about Strom Thurmond, which we might normally have laughed at as they were funny, but feeling awkward because his son was in the audience, no one did. The comic, wondering why the crickets, said, “Boy, this is the biggest bunch of Strom Thurmond supporters I’ve ever met.” Finally, after what seemed like years, someone shouted from the audience, “His son goes here!” I’ve never seen a comic so thrown off his game. He literally had no comeback for that one.

And finally, I taught the very nice son of Alan Hunter, one of the original VJs on MTV. They are the nicest family (even though the parents are divorced and AH just remarried–featured in the NYT a couple of weeks ago) and I couldn’t have asked for a more humble, more creative student.

During a Willie Nelson concert in Ventura, CA. I looked at the dude standing next to me and realized that it was Malcolm McDowell so I leaned over to him and said in his ear ” I know who you are” and he looked at me and said ” You do?” and I said “YEAH” and then he took me by the hand and we ran down the isle to the toward the front of the stage but the damn security stopped me and let him go. I guess they knew who he was but were not going to let me go with him…DAMN those security people!

Oh, and the Chambers Brothers (Time Has Come Today) were at the the same restaurant that my family was at for my 13th birthday party and they sang Happy Birthday to me…

Ok so here’s another one. My mother (who is only 18 years older than me) took me to Altamont (when I was 11 years old) to see the Rolling Stones play for free. When we got there the entire place was so full of people that there was nowhere for us to go but under a rope that cordoned off the backstage area. We spent the entire day back there and I got to talk to (and have my picture taken with) Keith Richards and saw Mick Jagger (from afar). I was standing on the back of the bowl waiting to use a porta-potty when the guy got stabbed. At the time it didn’t mean much to me because I was a little kid. I’ve since seen the movie “Gimmie Shelter” and have realized what an awful thing it was. But for me, it was a really cool day because I got to meet Keith Richards…