Probably 20 years, my family and I arrived in Ireland late and went to the only place we could find open for dinner. Only other couple in there had a child who had her hand wrapped due to a minor burn. They had also just got in and I think we all looked a bit done in.
We got to talking and I thought he looked familiar. So I asked him where they were from. LA area. Bit later, I asked what he does. He was in the entertainment industry.
So like a complete Trekki geek, I triumphantly state “Your’re Lieutenant Paris! (Robert Duncan McNeill). It was him. I then suppressed my Trekki instincts, so no, I didn’t spend the rest of the meal asking about Star Trek. Mostly talked about the kids. He and his wife were very friendly and great to talk to.
Saw Mark Messier at a restaurant in Hilton Head island this summer.
Oh yeah and speaking of Pittsburgh I got stuck in traffic heading to a Doors concert, then noticed Jim Morrison was in the car behind me. Guessed I hadnt missed the start!
We used to see Gerald Ford regularly at Vail, over the 4th of July. He eould walk in the town parade. Once Saw Sammy Davis Jr and Roger Penske standing in ski lift lines. Sammy had on a complete leather ski suit.
In high school, I was a member of our Forensics (Speech and Debate) Club. One of our big events was the annual “Model UN” that was a statewide event with participating schools drawing a nation to research and represent. In 1984, the year after the Operation Urgent Fury, our school just happened to draw Grenada. Our debate coach happened to have some connections in the Pentagon, and we were sent a young, newly promoted major who had commanded a Ranger company during the invasion, to discuss some of the geo-political aspects of the invasion and the aftermath. The major’s name was John Abizaid and he would (decades later) become the CENTCOM commander.
I copped a cheap feel from Grace Slick in 1969.
I once had drinks with an NBA team. I was at the airport bar waiting on a flight. In walked David Robinson and the rest.
They sat right next to me and we had a good time.
BTW, five-oh had a Coke.
Another time at another airport, O'hare, I ran into Dolly Parton.
And, yes, they were spectacular.
The one that stood out the most with me was when I was in the Navy.
Do you remember when Jimmy Carter was thinking of drastically cutting the military budget?
Admiral Hyman Rickover dragged him to San Diego and gave him a tour of a Los Angeles class submarine.
Even though every human being on that base was wearing a Navy uniform, security was massive.
I was on a tender right across the pier from that sub and had a front row seat, sort of. We were standing on the main deck adjacent to the pier.
I watched a bunch of SS guys walk onto the pier and form a circular wall around the approach to the sub.
Then a big limo pulled up and out walked the admiral and the president, who proceeded to board the sub.
A couple of SS guys noticed us and chased us back into the interior of the ship, so we went back to work.
LONG time ago, late 80’s. Went into the Senate gallery, it was open in the evening, the floor of the senate was virtually empty. Then suddenly there was a roll call vote, and the senators converged on the senate floor to vote. Don’t remember what the vote was about.
What I did remember was seeing Ted Kennedy. He had been FAT for many years and then he lost a ton of weight. He was extremely slim when I saw him and his head literally looked like it was twice the size that it should have been compared to his body. He looked very strange LOL.
I high school I worked part time installing stereos in cars.
The Commodores had just finished a tour and all bought new cars and decided to have the stereos installed at the shop where I worked.
I installed Lionel Richie’s in his new Mercedes. He came by later to pick it up. Nice guy. Friendly and talkative. His wife was hot enough to melt titanium.
This was late 1977 or early 1978.
Around 1990 my mother and youngest sister went to a yard sale in San Luis Obispo to set her up for college.
it was Darryn McGavin’s home! He was there, on crutches (apparently had just had foot surgery) and was a super nice guy, both he and his wife.
My sister had his old furniture for many years!
I have a bunch but a couple are kind of funny.
I was at a Chiefs game and I went pee next to Steve Perry at Arrowhead Stadium in the early 80’s. Since there was no MTV in my town at that time, I did not recognize him. He walked out the door when I was washing my hands. A guy walked in and got all excited and said “Do you know who that was?” As the high school smart ass that I was I replied “some long haired hippie who doesn’t belong at a football game” and he said it was Steve Perry. Turns out that Journey was playing in town that night and the guy was going to the show. FYI, Steve Perry is really short.
I was walking to a Husker game in the mid 80’s from the bar I had been at most of the morning to grab a bottle of Jim Beam to spike my Cokes with. My brother and I walk up to get in line at the little liquor store attached to the bar we were at that was a few blocks from Memorial Stadium. In line in front of us was Governor Bob Kerry and Debra Winger, his girlfriend at the time. We chatted with them and they were very nice. I thought my brother was gonna crap himself. By the way Ms. Winger was stunningly beautiful in person. Standing and chatting with her, you could definitely see why she was a movie star. In my juvenile mind, all I was thinking was ‘I saw your boobs in an Officer and a Gentlemen” heh, heh, heh. (That was my best Beavis laugh)
I’ve got some other ones but those are my favorites.
I worked for most of a year with Oprah Winfrey in a Baltimore TV newsroom. She must have been 22-23 and was very bright. It was my job on the weekends to send reporters to cover local news stories to keep the news hole filed and she was almost always one of my two weekend reporters. She had an aversion to leaving the building and getting into the news van with the cameraman and tech and going to news locations like scenes of fires, shootings, protests, accidents etc. Sometimes it would take an hour to get her butt off the chair and into the van.
On the other hand, in the early ‘80’s there was a neighborhood restaurant I liked for its splendid prime rib and great martinis. The owner and maitre-d was Johnny Unitas who would personally seat us and bring me my first Tanqueray. What a humble gentleman.
General Stafford was a keynote speaker at an event I attended about 5 years ago. He happened to be flying on the same flight as I was the next day. At the gate, We started talking and he was interested in some current events that I was involved with and asked if I would save him a seat (on a southwest flight) so we could continue our conversation.
I’ll always remember that amazing flight and conversation. Here I was talking to someone who had orbited the moon. And that wasn’t even the most amazing part. He mentioned that his son was about to graduate from high school and attend SMU. I must have looked a little shocked so he told me that he and his wife had adopted 2 boys from Russia.
He was in his late 60’s when he adopted them! Wow! He was around 83 years old when our conversation happened and he was still working/involved with various projects. An amazing man! Hope I’m still going that strong when I’m 80+ yrs old.
Ralph Renick- newscaster wplg- boy scouting
Judge Richard Fuller- boy scouting
Chief Justice Joe Boyd- boy scouting
Tom Tatham- boy scouting
Richard Jenkins- founder of Publix- dad’s client
Donald Trump- grand opening of Williams Island
Gov. Bob Graham- grand opening of Miami lakes country club
Johnny Depp- met in bar he was playing in
Jimmy Conners- met at Turnbury Island
I have such a weakness to connect names and faces that I’d never recognize any of them!!!!
For years I worked in luxury hotels. Too many to mention.
Barbara Starr – Pentagon Halls (the only reporter regularly seen in the common areas)
Bob Beckel – Baggage Claim DCA Airport
Gedde Watanabe (AKA Long Duk Dong) – LAX airport
Great Van Susteren – ATL Airport
Jim Robinson – 2004 Inaugural Ball
John Denver – PUB airport
Sen Paul Simon – Airplane from DCA to STL
Smokey Robinson – LAX airport
Steve Buscemi – Chinese Buffet in Montgomery AL
The same company, as per the first story I told here, built custom designed staircases for homes. We did a very decent business for a number of years in Canada, the United States, and Europe even. When Mike Fisher and his wife Carrie Underwood were living here (with Mike playing for the Senators), they had a nice new house built for them west of Ottawa and we were contracted to build the main staircase for them. As a result, our main install guy got to meet Fisher (and maybe even Carrie). Fisher was an average sized and looking person, and our install guy was a little surprised to see that compared to what you would see on TV with the games.
I was a teenager working early morning shift at a gas station in East Texas mid ‘60s, VW van pulls in about 6:30am, van has several guys in it plus bunch of some kind of equipment, one gets out and says fill it up. I’m not normally one to ask people who or what they are but for once I did. Was the Royal Guardsmen of Snoopy v Red Baron fame headed to do show in Dallas.
Philip Hoff had been elected by the hippie invaders, who now out numbered real Vermonters.
There hadn't been a democrat elected governor in VT since 1853.
Ted came up to celebrate.
We students from the one room school we attended were taken on a "field trip" by our leftist teacher to the event.
Ted and Phil shook all of our hands as we entered the capitol building.
Ted saw my name tag "Edward", grinned and said, oh another Ted.
I replied, no Ed, and I will be washing this hand as soon as I can.
The teacher wasn't happy with this 3rd grader.
I spent a lot of years working in and around Hollywood, and have met more than my share of famous people.
Sidney Portier - a powerful executive presence.
Michael Douglas - a real gent and very down to earth.
George Burns - the same guy you know from the movies.
Tim Allen - he’s the ‘tool guy’ in real life.
Cher - she really is a bitch. No lie.
Alex Haley - I damn near ran him over (his fault).
Alan Alda - flightly. Spacey.
Tom Cruise - a regular guy, believe it or not.
Chick Corea - calm, masterful presence. Like an ancient seer.
Freddie Stone - genuine, generous, open. Offered to teach me guitar.
Annie Potts - served me homemade cookies in her kitchen. A real sweetie.
John Anderson - served me lemon pie in *his* kitchen! An awesome spirit.
Leah Remini - a sweet teenager when I met her.
Lisa Marie Presley - withdrawn, quiet. Seemed unsure of herself.
Norman Whitfield - royal presence, but a gentleman.
Todd Bridges - punk kid braggart. Full of himself.
Robin Trower - a deep, wizened soul, and a real gent.