Post your interesting/funny brushes with fame here

[monadnocky]

A few good stories in the concert thread, warrants it's own thread here. Post your interesting/funny brushes with fame.

Mine:

In the early 2000's I was walking past the Ritz in Boston (RIP) and I noticed a lot of people lined up behind a velvet rope by the front door - some holding pen and paper. Didn't really think about it as I had someplace to be. Just as I'm walking by the front door a lanky tallish man walks out of the front door and, looking away, turns to walk right in front of me. We both stop because we're about to walk into one another. He shifts to his right, and simultaneously I shift to my left. He shifts left, I shift right. Repeat about three times. The lined up crowd goes nuts and I'm too pissed off and embarrassed that this guy is in my way than anything else. Hey, I've got some place to be. Finally we get ourselves sorted- he laughs and slaps me on the back as I walk past.

As I walk away I hear everyone shouting "Mariano! Over here! Mariano!"

Funny how you just don't recognize someone when they're not in their Yankees uniform.

And, totally random- I was in Reykjavik in 2012- my wife and I were walking around a dead city at 9 am on Easter morning. We walk past some guy smoking a cigarette outside what looks like a b&b. Literally we are the only three people on the street. Guy looks very, very familiar. We turn around after a few steps and Charlie Sheen is waving at us.

In Reykjavik.

On Easter.

OK, lemme hear it. Because brushes with famous people embiggen all of us.

[Jonathan]

I was riding in an elevator with a pal when the urge to relive gas hit. As we both sort of figured out a rancid bomb had gone off the elevator stops and in walks the mayor of Orlando. The look on her face was priceless. I laughed again when George Bush appointed her to run HUD.

I used to have as clients a PGA touring pro who won periodically and a Allstar Baseball Catcher who played for two of the biggest franchises. Their agents took over their investments and squeezed me out unfortunately.

When I was a kid my uncle owned some stock cars in what would now be the Infinity Series and Harry Gant drove for him for a few years. As an 8yo my Aunt made Darrell Waltrip an I a BLT in the infield of Daytona.

[rowdyhillrambler]

I used to have a fabrication shop in downtown nashville, so seeing famous folks was pretty common.

We used to have a lot of old hot rods and motorcycles sitting around. Our shop was close to all of the honky tones and bars so people were constantly parking in our lot. Standard procedure was to take the forklift and move them out of the way, or drag them into the parking lot next door.

We were getting back from lunch one day and there was a huge tour bus in front of our door. I looked at my partner and said, "this is gonna be fun." We walked to our door and there was this long haired fella sitting on our bench. It was Kid Rock.. I said, "man you can't leave that shit parked here." He replied that he didn't know where to park it. "I don't care, this is our shop." He stuck out his hand and said that he was there to see us, he had heard we always had cool shit sitting around... Really? He had driven his own bus down there to see us. He stayed all day and was a really nice guy.

He just bought 160 acres next to some property that we own in nashville, apparently he loves this town.

[Clyde]

I sold a bike to Steve Martin at I Martin Imports in Beverly Hills. Saw lots of stars there, fun shop to a kid from Atlanta who just moved to see the world. Vernon Reid rode a Fuso.

PL Newman is/was a distant cousin. My little brother who went to school and did things right ended up as a PR guy for an Indy car team. He romanced his new gf now wife and her parents with lunch attended by Cousin Paul. I never got to meet him, though my parents spent some time at his place in CT when I was a wee lad. Bro sells the Hollywood Hills to all the hip peeps and is full of stories about LA. One year there was enough for me.

Living in Monterey I worked the Pebble Beach Concours on occasion and the Leno's, Lauren's, and other fancy pants guys with their cars/entourage were always interesting.

Back to the music thing. I lost some measurable amount of hearing working the stage at the Metroplex, keeping kids off the equipment. Notable were Suicidal Tendencies who were very cool guys. The Bad Brains were my favs though, played Reggae to a Punk crowds, and Punk to the Reggae crowd.

Now I just live in OH and my wife is much more important than me.

[cny rider]

I did my medical residency at the hospital in Cooperstown.
We have the Hall of Fame induction ceremony here every July.
Lots of old timers included in the ceremony, and if it's a hot/humid day you can pretty much count on one or more of them fainting or having palpitations and ending up in the hospital overnight.
I was rounding on patients the morning after Hall of Fame Day, vaguely aware that one of the old timers had come in the night before.
We rounded in a team: I was the resident with two interns and a medical student. We commonly walked slowly with our back turned away from our direction of travel so we could be speaking with the team.
I lightly bumped into a man in the hallway, and mumbled a hasty apology.
It was Reggie Jackson, in visiting his hospitalized friend.

[Brandon White]

Nicholas Cage backed into my wife at the LV counter in Beverly Hills.

When I was young, my family saw Gallagher at Universal Studios in Florida. My dad stopped him for a photo and I think my sister was in the photo with him. My mom said "oh, that's nice he brought his daughter". "That's not his daughter" - my dad. He also smelled like alcohol at 10 AM.

At the Miami airport waiting for my sister in law to arrive. I see a woman in a sea of Brazilians that doesn't look very Brazilian and she's pretty tall. My wife starts breathing heavy and almost jumping up and down. It's Xuxa. Former playmate, girlfriend of Pele, and kids game/talk show host in Brazil and pretty much a icon there. Wife got to have a few words with her and translate some things between the guard and her. Wife came back over to me and said "do you know how many letters I wrote her when I was a kid?".

I know I'm missing a couple ...

[ron l edmiston]

--- still single and responsible for valvoline world-wide sports marketing..
late evening dinning in monte carlo with christie brinkley --- she invited me to a following evening event.., after grand prix qualifying/practice..
i turned down.., a little scared i guess..
she later hooked up with cheldin chandon.., the young man of the moet & chandon family & later killed in a racing car..

end of story with a smile..,

ronnie

[Christian Fox]

Went to a screening of "Training Day", about 15 of us there, Ethan Hawke was in attendance and spent a long time afterwards answering our questions and talking about the film. What a friendly guy. He clearly loves his job and would have stayed all night to talk about. It was a fun experience, the type of thing "other" people do.

My kid race karts with Juan Montoya's kid. You see lots of big time pro drivers at the bigger kart races.

[Zimmermanbicycle]

Don't get me started,it's an occupational hazard for me.
Sometimes it's funny.

[Brandon White]

Went to a screening of "Training Day", about 15 of us there, Ethan Hawke was in attendance and spent a long time afterwards answering our questions and talking about the film. What a friendly guy. He clearly loves his job and would have stayed all night to talk about. It was a fun experience, the type of thing "other" people do.

My kid race karts with Juan Montoya's kid. You see lots of big time pro drivers at the bigger kart races.

Oh yeah, I didn't talk to him, but Juan Montoya was seen a few times at our local trails in west Broward. He's into MTB'ing.

[echelon_john]

I see The Most Interesting Man in the World at the coffeeshop most mornings. He's about 5'3". Super nice guy; supports lots of local animal-related charities.

Jennifer Connelly has a house near here and we see her at the Farmer's Market in the summer a lot.

Had lunch at a table next to Nancy Pelosi a couple of years ago. She had much more security than I did.

Sold a bike to Robert Reich years ago when I was managing a bike shop in DC. He's even shorter than The Most Interesting Man in the World.

This is really just name dropping, though. A friend of mine once told me "Name dropping is the worst form of social climbing." That friend's name? Paul McCartney.

[David Tollefson]

Was having dinner at a local Outback Steak House one evening. Not many people there, mid-week. Couple in the booth next to us, another family at a table. As the family was leaving, they stopped by the booth next to us and talked some. Seemed like they knew each other or something. Just before they left, the mom says to the girl that couldn't have been more than 7, "Honey, do you know who this is? This is Sir Mixalot."

[dashDustin]

Ran into Robin Williams post ride once in Austin. He gave me a hug. He was quite sweaty. One of the few times I've had someone take a picture of me with someone else. It was awkward, yet awesome at the same time.

My dad was doing the electrical wiring out at George Strait's ranch in Laredo many, many years ago. I skipped school to go with him one day...on the way out we stopped at a house and my dad was talking to some short guy with a dog. Turns out it was George and his dog Buster. I didn't realize it until my dad told me while we were driving home. About 2yrs later Pure Country came out, and George's screen name was Dusty. I like to think I played a part in that.

[bcm119]

When I lived in Santa Barbara I'd see quite a few Hollywood types. The funniest was one night around 11pm, at Vons (soCal grocery chain) I saw Rob Lowe raiding the frozen food aisle. I was under the influence of a variety of intoxicants and I got the impression he was too.

One night at the Beekman Arms Inn up in Rhinebeck NY I was visiting family for the holidays, drinking at the bar and Jimmy Fallon walked in with his parents. This was when he was just an SNL guy but he clearly did not want to be recognized and sat at a corner table facing the wall.

[monadnocky]

Sold a bike to Robert Reich years ago when I was managing a bike shop in DC...

do tell more. How? what size?
Love Reich. Was on faculty at BU for a while. Don't know if he actually taught himself* (kind of doubt it) but those would have been some very interesting dismal science courses.

*Not that he's self-instructed. I mean, don't know if he himself actually taught his courses.

[theflashunc]

do tell more. How? what size?
Love Reich. Was on faculty at BU for a while. Don't know if he actually taught himself* (kind of doubt it) but those would have been some very interesting dismal science courses.

*Not that he's self-instructed. I mean, don't know if he himself actually taught his courses.

The Boss is in the Public Policy program at Goldman here. One of her good friends has Reich as a grad advisor. He's...interesting.

Probably my favorite brush was a couple years ago in NYC. I was there for work, and was heading over to a friend's place in Alphabet City for a Halloween party. It was hot as shit, so I walked from Union Square to enjoy the night air a bit. Coming the opposite direction was a kid -- maybe six -- in an astronaut outfit walking with his dad from making the rounds getting candy. His dad was in a matching space suit too, carrying a helmet in his hand, sweating his ass off. The dad? Vincent D'Onofrio. Clearly wore a helmet around for god knows how long baking inside the damn thing just so he could be with his kid while he went and got candy.

I gave him the reverse nod and he seemed to appreciate that I didn't stop him in the street to bother asking for a photo or anything.

So whenever I see him play -- well, the characters he tends to play -- I think back to that tender moment. Just a dude and his kid, spacemen walking down the street.

[mmoore]

I saw one of the chicks from MTV's Teen mom on the street.

[steve garro]

I see me every day!


Seriously, though - I'll walk up to & talk to anyone.

I've shook hands with & requested songs from Etta James, Hank III, Taj Majal, had breakfast with Midnight Oil, told Kenny Rodgers to fuck off, met Tom Hanks, shit…….it goes on & on.

Dario P. walking up my driveway took me back, I have to admit.

Bike industry - shit, I've met so many.

I used to wrench on Rebecca Twigg's bikes, all of Shacklee, knew the inventor of Polar heart monitors, toured with (Pinche) Joe Murray, rode tons with Cadel when he first came to the US…..man, all of the oldies - buy me a beer sometime………

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Saw these two old friends on the beach in Baja, that was a trip - great to see them!
- Garro.

[nahtnoj]

I met Jamie Moyer (former MLB pitcher, won WS with Phillies in 2008) at Union Station in the summer of 2012. I walked up to him in the waiting area, introduce myself, and we wound up sitting together and talking for the entire ride back to Philadelphia. Just two guys talking life and baseball.

Another - we're all familiar with 6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon, yes? His father, Edmund Bacon, was director of city planning in Philadelphia for a long time. Pretty legendary guy. I have a friend who wrote a book about him, and became pretty close to the family. So I was at a conference where I spent a good bit of the day with my friend Greg and Hilda, one of Kevin's sisters. Got home that night and my roommate/best friend was talking about how his girlfriends cousins brothers friend was going to be on American Idol or something later. He had six degrees of separation from someone who was going to be on TV that night and I had lunch with Kevin Bacon's sister. He was pretty deflated.

[Vlad Luskin]

I saw Van Morrison at the café at A Clean, Well-lighted Place for Books in Larkspur about 20 years ago. I was a huge fan. I ran into the book store section and bought a huge rock anthology that had a great photo of young Van -- with hair (!) -- which I hoped he'd autograph. I borrowed a pen, approached him and said, "Mr. Morrison, ...." He looked up at me and bellowed, "NO, NO, NO! His female companion looked at my sympathetically. I slunk away. At least the book store took the book back.

I'm still in therapy over that encounter.

Not really.

Then there was the time I met George Plimpton on Sproul Plaza back in 1984. It was early Saturday morning and he was just poking about alone. Had a very pleasant chat about his books -- I'd read two of them.

Met Jerry Rice at John Wayne airport, waiting for oversize luggage to arrive. He was very nice. We shook hands. I wear size Large cycling gloves. Jerry would wear XXXXXXXXXL.