Post your interesting/funny brushes with fame here

[seanile]

my grandpa sold two chris crafts he restored to alan jackson
my grandpa also built john lennon's nyc kitchen
my uncle is close friends and the lead stage manager for sting
i met kevin james at a mets game as a young'n
i was in a healthcare documentary narrated by dennis quaid
..that's about all i got

[MDEnvEngr]

When I was a kid - probably 7 or 8 because I can just barely remember my Dad and I went to the auto show in Hartford. Their special guests were Richard Petty and Mark Donahue. Petty was swarmed, but Donahue was almost ignored. My Pop and I sat and talked with him for an hour. My Pop was big into RC racing back then - he had just won the 1/8 scale gas car Nationals - with a gulf painted 917 model. Donahue was dead a year or so later - in a 917.

I travelled a lot for work in the late 80's early 90's. There was a couple of month period in 1990ish when I bumped into Ric Ocasic and Paulina whateverhernameis in 3 different airports.

We saw Geraldo Riveria riding a beater 3-speed in Edgartown a couple of years ago.

[davids]

Here's three off the top of my head (and two of the famous folks have already been mentioned):

I worked the counter of a drive-through beer store in Ann Arbor while a student. Lots of long boring evenings handing sixpacks through the windows of cars. Late one shift, a big ol' Cadillac comes rolling in and my boss says, "I know this guy - I'll take care of him..." Sure OK. I glanced through the window a couple of times during the 5 minutes the car idled there, my boss leaning on the door talking to the driver. I even noticed the small woman bundled up in the passenger seat. Eventually, the car pulls off. My boss says, "You ever hear of the MC5? That was Fred Smith." And, of course, his wife Patti sitting next to him.

I took some malfunctioning VCR to a small repair shop behind a strip of stores off Commonwealth Ave, sometime in the late 80s I think. It was a Saturday morning and there was a small queue. I got to the counter, took care of dropping off the VCR, and turned around to see that the guy behind me in line - now the only other guy in the shop - was our junior senator. This was before Teresa Heinz entered the picture - he'd driven there himself in his Grand Cherokee.

Just a few years ago, I was walking down the side street next to our synagogue with my wife and daughter. It was dark and gently raining, but we moved aside for a gentleman coming the other way, up from Beacon Street bundled in an overcoat and carrying the umbrella. I recognized him as he went past, and said hello. Then I asked my daughter if she knew who he was. She didn't. I told her he'd been the governor, and the Democratic party's nominee for President in 1988.

[EricKeller]

In the '70s, I was in a drugstore in Wisconsin with a co-worker and her son. She got us each a lollypop, and I was walking around the store with a magazine in one hand, and the lollypop in the other. So, of course, Senator William Proxmire walks into the store and shakes everyone's hand. So I jammed the lollypop into my mouth to free up a hand. Probably could have figured out something more dignified to do with it.

[Rick Stevens]

I flew from Miami to LA sitting next to Bernie Mac (RIP). Then on the return flight I sat next to Luther Campbell. Weird. Both were really cool guys.

[Nierman]

I waited on WKRP's Herb at Applebee's. Nice guy. My manager at the time was likely high and geeking out over him - not leaving him and his wife be.

My not-yet-wife was kid/house sitting for a former KC Royals player's kids while they were out of town and a good friend of theirs, Rush Limbaugh (got his start in KC radio), had a key and let himself in to stay the night. My wife had no idea she slept in the same house with him that night, and I've slept with my wife, so vicariously I've slept with Rush Limbaugh.

I let Mary Ann Summers hold my stuffed potato. There's a photo somewhere...

[maunahaole]

When I worked at Vail I served burgers to George Gillette and Cindy Nelson. pretty sure it was the same day. Rode up a lift one time with Hank Kashiwa. Also managed to get my mug shown on MTV with a VJ doing an intro for a video.

Another time skiing at Alpine Meadows I rode the old summit double chair, about a 12-15 minute ride, with Marv Fleming, who had played in IIRC seven Super Bowls on the Dolphins and Packers in the late 60's and early 70's. Super nice guy and a decent intermediate skier.

My Massachusetts governor story, aside from seeing Mike Dukakis on the T one time, was riding the chair at Cannon Mountain with Frank Sargent. He had a pair of Graves skis done up custom with "Sarge" on the tails in big letters.

[abbeyQ]

I've rubbed shoulders with a good chunk of pro cycling, not too many stories though.

A Jens story is always good though.: I was driving neutral 1 (3rd car in the caravan behind comm 1 and medical 1) for the Tour of Utah last year (2014). Jens was in his second to last race of his pro career and was always trying to make something happen. He had attacked on the 2nd or 3rd day and we hear

"rider #41 has attacked the field" over the radio. A few minutes go on and the break gets established.
"rider #41 has attacked the break", no biggie just Jens being Jens.
"rider #41 has been reabsorbed by the break"
"rider #41 has lost contact with the break", he must not have had a good feeling about it.
"rider #41 has been absorbed by the peloton"
"rider #41 has lost contact with the peloton", hmm, that's not normal.
immediately after in a frantic voice "rider #41 for service, Trek Factory Racing"

At this point I tell my jumper it's go time. We see Jens pop out the back of the peloton and he doesn't stay upright for long before he kind of tips over onto the hot Utah pavement. Max my jumper hops out of the car with a pair of wheels (standard practice for neutral support) and goes to see what's up. I've got the windows down and I hear Jens yelling "ZE BIKE ZE BIKE ZE BIKE". He had his left crank arm and pedal attached to his left foot and clearly needed a new bike. Of course he didn't want our help and wanted to wait for his team car (pretty common) We hang out for a while for his team car to come to his rescue. Max helps the team mechanic with the bike change (for some reason his bike wasn't on a race ready mount and a front wheel needed to be installed) and Jens is off. Jens spent about 3 minutes on the side of the road and he rejoined the peloton in about 15 minutes only to attack again shortly after rejoining the peloton.

I once met Emilio Estevez in a grocery store during Sundance, he was not happy to see my 15 year old self.

[lumpy]

I once met Emilio Estevez in a grocery store during Sundance, he was not happy to see my 15 year old self.

Did you say "Otto! What about our relationship!"?

[Artie]

NYC 1996, Had a short, but flirty chat at a frozen yogurt shop with a stunning, tall and beautiful woman who turned out to be Brooke Shields.
I did not realize this, as she was even more gorgeous in person. We were in line together and the conversation got kind of interesting very quickly.
It was all in good fun and innocent. When I left the shop a girl ran up and said. "Do you know who that was??" Needless to say my jaw dropped.
True story.

[defspace]

I flew from Miami to LA sitting next to Bernie Mac (RIP). Then on the return flight I sat next to Luther Campbell. Weird. Both were really cool guys.

Every time I read one of your posts I think it's Rick Steves, you know, Travel with Rick Steves. Turns out you're Rick SteveNs. I liked imagining Rick Steves chatting it up with Bernie Mac.

[EDS]

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.

I met the Most Interesting Man in the World while having dinner at the Equinox in Manchester, VT post Battenkill a number of years ago. He and his wife were at the table next to my wife and I, and his wife was much more interesting than he was!

My only real claim-to-fame is the fact that one of my wife's high school friends married an NFL QB. That is a different lifestyle for sure, but when we are just hanging with the kids the differences are not so apparent.

[JasonF]

Bike Content:

While working as a bike messenger in DC as an undergrad I was shoved out of an elevator at the Hart Senate Office Building by none other than Alfonse D'Amato.

While waiting for the elevator I didn't notice the two guys next to me as I was studying my delivery manifest for the day. They walk in, I follow and before I can even turn around and face the door inside the elevator car I hear "NO NO NO" and an older man shoves me out. I look up and there he was. What an a**.