I was in London at Heathrow standing in line to check in for a flight to Paris and I spotted three large black men walking towards us through the terminal. I turned to my friend and jokingly said "hey look, it's the Fat Boys!" He turned around and said, " Shit! you're right. It is the Fat Boys!" I should have know better as I had just watched them at the "Free Mandela" benefit concert the day before.

I used to have a picture around here of Tom Landry smiling for me that I took as a boy.

Spent 10 minutes talking to Stein Eriksen at a World Cup event in Vail. I had no idea who I was talking to until they called him out over the PA. At the time I was working in a restaurant that he was part owner of and used his name.

I used to hang out with snowboarding legends Shawn Farmer and Nick Perata in Breckenridge just as snowboarding was beginning to take off ~1989ish.

I went to a strip club with a certain Baseball Hall of Famer who is the most recent inductee who played for a team from Ohio

During one of my weekly trips to the local hobby shop I walk in and said hi to everyone and got involved in the ongoing conversation between the staff and this short black guy named Chris, who looked familiar but I couldn't place until I saw the two giant black brick-houses he had watching him from about 10 feet away. I looked again and yes it was Ludacris. He finished the conversation and went outside to use the R/C Track. Apparently he was in town for a show and had spent the whole day there as he was into R/C cars. Seemed like a pretty nice guy, I can't say the same for the two huge motherfuckers with him, they just looked beat yo ass scary.

I watched my dad present Jesse Jackson a pair of cowboy boots once when he came made a stop at his work and held a press conference when he was running for President in 1984. My dad ran an FBO and was friends with Tony Lama so it was a standard deal for VIP's, Tom Landry and George H.W Bush got some too Motley Crue did not He also didn't let me met them but they did steal a golf cart an do donuts on the tarmac.

ETA: I forgot this one. I used to work in one of those old time photo places and one night a very drunk Alberto Tomba came in and we did a shot of him as a drunk gambler with a big fur coat on. Brilliant acting on his part. He was a dick but he had two of the hottest bitches I've ever seen with him... supermodel hot.

John Wayne and Buddy Ebsen near the Balboa Pavilion when I was young.

My little brother got to go sailing on Buddy Ebsen's boat with one of his friends in the early 70's.
My brothers friends parents had a dock slip next to Buddy Ebsen.

Jay Leno, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Billy Idol, Matt LeBlanc at The Rock Store.

Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers at NS Point Mugu for a taping of Hart to Hart.

My dad sold the guitar player Howard Leese from Heart a cabin in Big Bear in the 80's.
He didn't know who Heart was, the guy offered my dad backstage passes for being a great guy.
My dad didn't take them.

I met Charles Barkley when he was with the Rockets at a movie theater.

I also met Bryan Cranston in '04 when I was throwing out the opening pitch in the MLB All-star game, he was doing an interview with fox about MITM at the time and I don't remember but my mom told me when she recognized him on Breaking Bad.  Apparently he was really nice to me and chatted with me for a good while. I also met Muhammed Ali on the same day since he walked the ball out to me and Derek Jeter and Lance Berkman along with a few other baseball players that were there that day.  I couldn't get autographs since the people at MLB didn't want us "annoying" their All-Stars.

I (and several other arfcom'ers) spent a few hours with Jack Roush at work this past Friday.  Nice fellow ...

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Tony Hawk complained about my cigarette smoke.

Talked up Steve Buscemi a bit.  He is as awesome in real life as most of his characters are.

Michael Madsen bought me a coke in Baltimore in the 90s.

Didn't we just do this tread a while back.

Close the thread down, everyone. This guy knows Big McLargeHuge!

Most recently...I can't remember her name but she is the black girl who won the Olympic gold medals in gymnastics.  She showed up at our family picnic and was really cool about being in photos with my kids.  

#1 on my list though is Ronald Reagan.  Behind the podium, the master communicator.  One on one, somewhat shy.  No matter what, a class act.  Wish our current leaders could be more like him.

Richard Simmons at PHL back in like 2000. He dresses EXACTLY as you see him on tv, shorts/tanktop. I was leaving the terminal just finishing work, he was just entering prior to the checkpoint. The look on my face was probably priceless as he actually came up to ME and said "HI, Nice to meet you!" and shook MY hand.

Former Philly mayor Ed Rendell at that same Terminal at the Burger King, probably right around the same time frame.

Interviewed Nina Gordon from Veruca Salt  in their dressing room backstage at The Electric Factory during their tour for "Eight Arms to Hold You"

Interviewed Andy Kubizewski and Christopher Hall from Stabbing Westward

I was reviewing an Oasis concert at the (then) Blockbuster Center in Camden, NJ. They couldn't give me backstage meet and greet passes but I got good tickets and VIP parking right near the door. I jetted out right after the show and walked across the driveway and had a few Brits yell at me to "move out of the bloddy way" or some limey shit. The guys were in a Taxi. It was the band going back to their hotelk or the airport. By the time I realized it was them, they were already past me.


Won a radio contest from the old WDRE in Philly-got to play video games and eat lunch with The Presidents of the United States of America (band) at Dave and Buster's in Philly

Won another contest from the same station and met Local H and STP after a concert at the old Spectrum. the guys from STP were the coolest, except Weiland was FUKT up. It was during his heroin days. I expected to hear of him ODing for many years after that (and still kinda do).

Hickok45 and Alan Keyes at a 2A rally this past May

My mom and stepdad got married down in Jamaica in October 2006. I stepped off the plane in the airport at Montego Bay and was going to get my bags and some fat dude in a Hawaiian shirt and a half mullet and mustache walks past me, nearly cuts me off. The guy was the spitting image of Ron Jeremy, and I'm 99.99999 percent sure it was him, I mean IDENTICAL. but I was in a rush to get my stuff and meet the shuttle bus so I didn't go talk to him.

most memorable as a kid was early 70s running into Alan Hale at a gas station in LA  ..nice guy

Had a nice chat with Louis Farrakahn in a Chinese restaurant one night.  He was quite gracious being chatted up by a white boy. My dad thought it was a hoot.

I was at the checkout in a supermarket in Pasadena,Ca-80 or 81-and David Lee Roth was behind me.He was buying a 6 pack of Coors.
Got to see them play as Mammoth,pre VH days at backyard parties in the 70's.
Jay Leno at a mini-market/deli in South Lake Tahoe in 93.
Some employee yelled out that he was there and for everyone to leave him alone

Agreed.

I had the chance to meet Bo Ryan a few years ago - nicest, most humble guy ever. Quite a hunter, too, only instead of Mossy Oak he was wearing enormous diamond cufflinks.

When I was younger I ran into Bob Weir from the Grateful Dead once…This was back in the late 80s…he didn't seem to want to be bothered so left him alone.

By and large, famous people just want to be left alone (except the Justin Biebers in the world).

Michael Moore lives around the corner from me.

Steve Vai in a drunken argument at a hotel, Dale Earnhardt in WalMart, Haley Berry at the mall, Stevie Ray Vaughn stumbling on a sidewalk looking for his bus, Andre the Giant and the Iron Sheik at our old gas station...  I don't really make a big deal out of it.  Lots of Presidents, Senators, and big-time political types too.  I generally don't like politicians all that much but I do have to say John Glenn was more fun than a barrel of swearing monkeys.  





I've never asked for an autograph.  The closest I ever came to that was when I asked Vai what it felt like to be slumming it playing for David Lee Roth.  He just smiled, handed me a beer, and mumbled something about a huge pay check.  Nice guy but he was having trouble standing up in those fancy red cowboy boots.





I've worked with many famous musicians.  I don't generally count that as "meeting" them because I'm generally there on purpose.  My favorite from that was when I got to hang with B.B. King for an afternoon while he was bored and in a mood to play his guitar.   My least favorite was Rick Derringer because he was surrounded by raging drunk assholes.  He was a really nice fellow but his "people" made the evening horrible and they really liked to keep him loaded.  Oh, and the night I had to put up with Jo Dee Messina shaking her boobs all over the place was interesting.  Great singer but she just had a need to jump up and down a lot.  Oh, and playing baseball with Bill Monroe was a blast.
 

I was a waiter.



The following people have sat at my tables 25 years ago:





1. Jack Palance. He talked to me for a couple of minutes. Awesome guy.



2. Rob Lowe - party



3. James Spader - smoked out back with him three times, used to come with his wife/kids.



4. Dolf the big dude. part of a party.



5. Bobby Unser Junior & his crew - best tip I ever got.



6. Flea and a couple others in his crew (1990) from red hot chili peps - easy going cool



7. Paula Abdul - very cool



8. Dan Akroyd, dick pompous and haughty



9. Michael J Fox - party



10. Alan Thicke - party



11. Liam Neeson - w/agent lunch. nice guy.





Walton Goggins parked cars for this Atlanta based valet company, he used to sit outside during the slower times and read carlos casteneda books.

Sat next to Tim Mcgraw and Faith Hill at a bar/diner type place in Nashville once. We pretended we didn't know who they were and left them alone (they were like 3 feet from from us for over an hour). When the got up to leave, Faith came over and told us "thank you for letting us be normal tonight and not asking for photos and autographs." She gave us a wink and when we went to leave later found out Tim had paid our bill for us.

was he down to earth?

Dude tried to run for Senate in Pa as a Republican too.

He would have been a good Senator.

Came across Gene Hackman on a hiking trail in New Mexico, he joined me and my girlfriend for the rest of the hike, about 3 hours long. Next trip up there, saw Val Kilmer and he was hiking too. No big deal.

I have been mountain biking with President Bush a number of times, nice guy.

More than i can count in my business.

i run into 5-10 sports guys a day out in town. i dont follow sports so it doesnt do shit for me.

Yeah, it comes up every once in a while.  Obviously it's going to be re-done when someone runs into someone else.  

According to my teacher, he let him help him back up and laughed his ass off.  Apparently the entourage was going down a hallway and overtaking my teacher when one of the colonels yelled at him to make a hole.  He spun around to see what was coming and his bag knocked the General off his feet.  Lots of "sorry sir!" and "It's all right, Carry on." followed by the stink eye from the rest of the entourage.

I was picking out air filters at Home Depot with vanilla ice two weeks ago. He lives locally, that was actual the second time I've run into him around town.

I am Elvis.







...get it?

Debbie Harry, Chris Stein and the Ramones at a concert.  Debbie Harry is a really small woman, and didn't age well.
Anthony Bourdain at a look signing about 9 years ago.
David Byrne at a book signing.  Really skinny guy back then.
Buzz Aldrin at a local Louis Vuitton store book signing.

I haven't met many famous people but the most famous was Gordie Howe.

Whenever WWE comes to town a lot of the wrestlers come to the local Golds gym. I saw Teddy Long, Shemus, Alberto Del Rio (actually watched me squart which was cool), Cody Rhodes, Danial Bryan, Kane (freaking MASSIVE),  Ricardo......... Probably more I'm not thinking of. People in the gym were going up to them and taking pictures. They all seemed pretty  nice guys and cool when interacting with people.

I used to argue with Christopher Hitchens via email and on a physics site about atheism.

Does that count?

He was not as bad as you would think.......he would acknowledge that there could be intelligent design but he just couldn't go that far without actual proof.

I was eating at a Chili's near Disney World several years ago and JC Watts and his family were eating at the table across from my wife and I. Spoke to him for a few minutes he was very casual and easy to talk to.

Tom Coburn sat down next to me at the gate area while I was waiting on a flight from DFW to Tulsa a few years ago. I spoke to him for a few minutes about politics and the economy. He was very easy going too. He was catching a flight back to OK from Washington DC.

Met her at my Aunts birthday party when she was a teenager. She was friends with my cousins.

Jimmy Carter when he was governor

Phil Niegro(sp) hall of fame knuckle ball thrower.

clown

Spent most of my life in the Nashville area. Worked a few summers at Opryland while I was in college. I've worked in aviation (off and on) since 1987.  And I went to quite a few science fiction conventions in the 1980's.

Had quite a few "hey, wasn't that?" moments.  Talked to a few.  Around the early to mid 1980's, I was on a fairly long elevator ride in Louisville, KY, and started talking to an author who had complained about power outages causing him to lose hours of work (had one of the first Apple computers, as I recall).  He said the computer actually had a small internal battery that was supposed to keep it from losing data from memory during short outages, but he hadn't gotten around to replacing it after it died.  I suggested that he get one of the sealed 12V batteries, hook a 110Vac inverter and a trickle charger to it, and run the computer off of that. He could then have power to finish his thought and then save the file, when the lights went out.

If I had a pile of money to develop the ideas I have had... I'd have plenty of money.  Only one that pissed me off, was the King Air 200 winglets.  After we had the flight data showing the performance improvements, the company president said "if there was a market for it, somebody would already be doing it".  3 years later, a competitor announced they were getting an STC for King Air winglets.  

I bump into famous douchebags all day between the Library of Congress and National Archives.

All the nice ones I meet on Vacation in different countries.

I met Tom Cruise when I was 12 at dinner one night.  I was like a foot taller than he was. It was just after top gun came out so he was the shiznit at the time.  I was busy eating my scored flounder, but I was like one of 3 kids in this restaurant and the waitress hounded the crap out of me to go meet him.  Living in a tourist town I see celebs a lot.

His mom lives around here.  Damn exotic animals gettin loose.

had jeremy renner come out on the boat I was working on a few summers back, real nice guy.

Was he riding the horse?

As a kid I played some basketball with Tom Hanks.  He lived with a family a few doors down from where I grew up when he was interning with the Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival.  He wasn't famous then, this was 1978 or 79.  He was a nice guy back then, funny too.

When I lived in SoCal in the early-mid 90's I shared a table at a Nationals Sport Bar with Keanu Reaves and his "entourage".  My wife and I were at a large table that could accommodate about 8-10 people by ourselves since the place was pretty crowded. Some guy walked up and asked if him and his friends could share the table, we said sure.  The guy then motioned for "the gang" to come over.  Keanu was dressed in a trench coat, stocking cap, looking pretty grungy and trying to be inconspicuous.  We said hi, he said hi and that was about it.

The same time out in SoCal I managed a gunshop and sold a few guns to some famous people.  The one I remember most was J.D Powers who bought a Davis .380 pistol....

Shatner is known to be moody.  

A differnt Shatner meeting.  A friend of mine was at the Kentucky Horse park on a date for a big event they had going on that evening.  They were leaving and going to his car when this drunk walks right into them.  Now my friend is pretty stout and the drunk bounced off of him and fell on the ground.  Suddenly my friend realized the drunk was William Shatner!   For a moment all my friend could do was point and say "look, that is Capt Kirk" in amazement.  Then he started to help him up.  But Shartner's daughter was there and she said she was so sorry for her father running into him and kept apologizing.  My friend said no problem and helped Shatner to his feet.

Said he was so drunk he could not even talk.  Only make sounds.  

He said Shatner's daughter was smoking hot though


This was in the 80s.

A few weeks ago I was in a CVS and Jessie James was walking around the store shopping.

My oldest daughter several years ago.








 

A few, but then the collective idiocy that pervades GD often devolves into leg humping, bashing/baiting, or both.

I'm notoriously bad at recognizing anyone famous. Took care of a Kennedy and a homeless person once in the same day. They got the same treatment.  I think I bumped into Liv Tyler in a Home Depot and didn't register it until the following week. My sister & her husband run in some social circles in Boston, so they occasionally see some well-known folks at the gym, on vacation, etc.

My wife & her friends used to occasionally rattle around with the NKOTB, back in the early 90's.

Numerous Tennessee Titans
Numerous Country music people
shared an elevator with Billy Gibbs from ZZ Top
Almost hit Stephen Tyler with a door

Life is so strange sometimes..

Earlier today I told you I once met Michael Schumacher at a restaurant.. That was more than 10 years ago.. The year he actually broke his leg..

Well. Today my sisters calls me and asks me to guess whoever she met today.....


Yes.. Right...

Michael Schumacher..

She stopped in Aubonne (the town he lives in) in a sport shop to buy something, and he was there in line with customers to pay for something !

Isn't that funny ?