What "Famous Person" Story Do You Have?

[jemaholic]

I bet there are many here who have a terrific story about meeting someone famous.

Here's mine:
My father took me and my brother to Yankee stadium wayyyy back in 1969 to watch them officially retire Mickey Mantle's number. It was a double-header and the Yanks were in last place that year I think. It was a hot day and after the Yanks lost the first game they came out to the mound and did the ceremony with Mick wearing a black suit (in the 98 degree heat).

Most folks left after that, but we stayed and went down close to the field by the Yankee dugout along the first base line. There are 'box-seats' there with metal railings and although they are the best seats they were mostly empty.
Mostly.

We took a box right by 1st base and then a man and woman came over and took the box next to us.
No one else was within 30 feet of us and this other couple. We thought it was strange that they would sit so close to us with all the empty seats, then they started calling out to Joe Pepitone who was the closest Yankee on the field.

The man and woman were both wearing full length (mink?) coats in the heat and both had long hair. The man leaned over and started a conversation with me and my dad which continued for almost the whole 3 hours the game was going. We discussed my new drum set and the adults talked about politics. The woman never uttered a single word.
The strange guy with the coat and the long hair and the accent was a very nice guy and was very patient with me and my questions - I was just a 12 year old kid - and we enjoyed their company the whole game. No one ever came to sit near us - it was just the 5 of us talking and shouting and having a great time- except the lady never spoke. My dad took black and white pictures -which he still has framed in his living room of all of us arm in arm waving Yankee flags and drinking coke. It was a special, special day because......

Mickey Mantle's number was retired,

and we spent 3 hours with John Lennon and Yoko Ono.

True story. What's yours?
~j

[shreddersymphony]

I don't know if i have any definitive "stories", but I've hung out with/met: Joe Satriani, Andy Timmons, John Petrucci (and the rest of Dream Theater), the guys from Symphony X, Porcupine Tree, Sonata Arctica, so on and so forth. I've been lucky enough to spend some time with almost all the musicians I admire.

[jaxadam]

I don't have too many stories, but I did have a dream a few weeks ago that I flew into Newark, and I couldn't get a taxi cab, but Alex Bladwin offered to give me a ride, and he was really drunk and ended up passing out in some not-so-nice part of town.

[Jaden]

I once met a jemsite moderator !

[jaxadam]

^ No way! Did you get an autograph?

[GilkyBear]

When I met President Bush we (My Marines and I) were all standing there just waiting for him to step in and take a picture with us and he gets out of his limo, walks up and (because I looked the oldest I suppose) says in a Texas drawl "Are you the leader of this band of ruffians?" and started laughing. He was extremely personable and a lot taller than I thought. He was well over 6 feet tall.

When we met Donald Rumsfeld we were expecting to have a few minutes with him to discuss some of the current world events (this was 2007) and instead he spent 10 minutes talking to us about a local vegetable called a Bavarian Radish. We were in Munich at the time and he could not stop talking about it, then he did the photo thing and walked out. We all just kind of stood there like...seriously... did that just happen?!

Condoleezza Rice had a spectacular presence about her, she completely owned the room and you could just tell she was brilliant, really sharp sharp lady.

Laura Bush was the sweetest woman. Super nice lady, completely down to Earth, a real sweet lady.

That said, it isn't like I actually know any of them, just happened to get to stand next to them for a photo and a few minutes of their time.

[elcid]

Originally Posted by jemaholic

and we spent 3 hours with John Lennon and Yoko Ono.

True story. What's yours?
~j

New rule, no starting a thread, then making the highlight of the thread your first post.
Maybe you should just rename this thread "I did something cooler than any of you ever will"

[jaxadam]

Originally Posted by GilkyBear

When I met President Bush

President George H. W. Bush, or Dubya? Because it looks like HW is about 6'2", and Dubya is "officially" 5'11" and 3/4" (which is my exact height).

[screamndemon69]

Not a major "famous person" but an interesting story I think:

I was hanging out with some friends (many moons ago) and I happened to pick up a magazine on their coffee table and started flipping through it when I came across an interview with Marilyn Manson (whom I have hung out with more than a few times before he changed the band name from "MM and The Spooky Kids"). In the interview he was being asked about his musical influences and he talked a little about Dr.Hook and the Medicine Show (their biggest hit was, "Cover of the Rolling Stone") and how those songs inspired him with their twisted lyrical content and no sooner after reading that paragraph there came a knock at the door and in walks Ray Sawyer (Dr.Hook), eye-patch and all. I was a little freaked out to say the least. (step away from the bong! )

~Bones

[GilkyBear]

Originally Posted by jaxadam

President George H. W. Bush, or Dubya? Because it looks like HW is about 6'2", and Dubya is "officially" 5'11" and 3/4" (which is my exact height).

Dubya. I'm 5' 11" and he was a good bit taller than me.

[DEADTUNES666]

I have quite a few but my favorite and (to me) coolest...

In 2000/20001, I used to work for Tommy and Shelby Chong as a roadie/assistant for an extended string of East Coast comedy appearances. Besides getting to just generally hang out with them, play guitar with Tommy (who's actually very good) and collect all kinds of fantastic no longer made signed memorabilia, I was able to "party" with them the only way you would want to.

That was the height of awesome for me!

Not as good as John Lennon and Yoko Ono though...I have to admit!

[TAorama]

Originally Posted by GilkyBear

Dubya. I'm 5' 11" and he was a good bit taller than me.

Dubya is well over 6'. So's his dad. Politics aside, they're both very nice, personable folks.

[Synesthesia]

I had a moment after a Petrucci clinic where I thought i would crap bricks... I happened to be trying an amp and was playing this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jP6tyvUuk4k

when all of a sudden JP says behind me, "Hey, that sounds familiar."

I got a good laugh, especially when he said "You're playing it at a hundred and 56. I play it at 5 million."

Related: during the Q&A session, someone asked "how much do you bench?" and he replied "Seven THOUSAND Pounds!!!" in the Adam02 voice.

[Satchriossi]

I met Newton Faulkner a couple of times before he became properly famous. He first appeared on Musicians channel around 2005 on Sky tv in England doing a few songs with this random band. I liked his songs on there so found his original 'n-b-f' website and listened to his other stuff and through it discovered the whole 'using an acoustic guitar to play lead, rythm and percussion all at once' thing. I also discovered Eric Roche on youtube through getting into Newton's style.

Anyway i kept track of newton's gigs - which to start with were all happening around Surrey, so too far to travel. Eventually he did a random gig (i think there was a charity involved) in Glossop which i went to. He was pretty much unknown still at th time so he'd driven all day in his own car to get there and i think he'd come alone too. It was just him and two guitars onstage in this dodgy upstairs hall room, i think me and my two friends who came along were the only ones our age (around 20 yrs old) there. His set was fantastic and involved alot of comedy and audience interaction - if you've been to one of his gigs you'll know all about this!

Once the gig was over he started packing his gear up and ofcourse there was nothing to stop me walking up to him for a chat and to thank him and shake his hand etc etc

I saw him again when he did a gig at the Maze in Nottingham (nice and local for me at the time), he had friends travelling with him this time but he was still relatively unknown and therefore just as accessible as before. During the actual gig he spoke alot directly to me as i was sitting closest to the stage which was really cool - there were very few people at the gig so everyone seemed to get very involved with the show as a result.

I've since seen him play at Galatos in Auckland since i've emmigrated to New Zealand but now he's had a number one album and a couple of hit singles he is ofcourse totally inaccessible before and after the gig itself and while there is still alot of comedy and audience interaction, its far less personnal since the audiences are that much bigger. He also gigs with a band and gets support acts.

His playing style is extremely impressive so i urge you to check it out if you haven't already. Predictably his most popular stuff is mostly without fiddly bits but there's some seriously technical stuff in there if you can find video of it or whatever.

[Batchimp RG]

Nice thread!

I've met a few famous people but have only engaged in conversation with them on very few occassions.

One that stands out was Kevin Spacey who randomly started to chat to me while I snuck off set for a cup of coffee. He picked up on my accent and we chatted about his latest trip to Africa and his work for AIDS awareness. Cool dude.