Brushes with fame?

[fidgiegirl]

Once we saw Paul Giamatti in an airport bookstore.

We also saw Ron Jeremy, of, ahem, adult film fame in the MSP airport. My 20 year old brother was the first to spot him and started texting so fast I'm surprised his thumbs didn't start on fire. My DH discreetly pointed him out. My mother, who has difficulty realizing just how loud she's actually talking, noticed all this and asked "WHAT ARE YOU ALL BEING SO SECRET ABOUT?!" Thanks, Mom.

My DH saw Dave Matthews in Charlottesville, VA. We were eating on a patio of a pizza place (owned by Dave Matthews? I don't really remember . . . ) I didn't spot him. Since I STILL wouldn't know Dave Matthews unless he came up and introduced himself, I just kept asking if every man coming out of the pizza place was Dave Matthews.

[redfox]

And yet, you recognized an adult film star. Fidgiegirl, you're a scandal!

[Wildflower]

My DD and her friend won a local radio station contest a few years back and the prize was getting to meet Bret Michaels and having their picture taken with him with his arms around them. They were so excited!! And they said he was a very nice guy.

Back in the early 70's I found myself standing next to Johnny Cash and his wife, June Carter, at the Missouri State Fair. They came across as very nice people.

[crunchycon]

DH and I spent a long weekend in Asheville, NC for our honeymoon. They were shooting a movie at Biltmore at the time. One day, we stopped in the CVS to pick up something (I forget what). I was browsing somewhere when DH came careening around the corner and whispered "I think Michael Caine is over on the other side! Go and see!" There he was, browsing through the paperback rack. I did not want to disturb him, so I didn't say anything, but I was surprised at how tall he was. Stood right next to him, I did.

I also got blessed by the Archbishop of Canterbury when I was a little kid (he happened to be walking past when my family and I were visiting). My DB and I were at the post-toddler cute age and were close enough in age and coloring to look like twins, so I sure he was charmed. Not quite as exciting as Michael Caine, but my mother would tell you we needed it.

[Fawn]

Jonathan Franzen (author of The Corrections and Freedom) who was on the cover of Time last summer was a good friend of mine in high school. He blew me off when we were juniors and I never knew why until he published his memoir The Discomfort Zone.

[Fawn]

Oh, I thought of another, funnier one.

My first husband is a journalist and had just taken a job at the Washington Post, didn't even have a phone at his apartment yet.

This was about the time that Oliver North and Fawn Hall were in the news a lot. My ex had just been sent out of town to cover the Gary (? darn, name escapes me--Colorado senator caught on a boat in FL with a bimbo). Anyway, our son was in the hospital and I needed to contact his father, so I called the paper asking for my ex by name. I didn't know he was out of town. The person on the phone told me he wasn't available, could they take a message. I said, "Just tell him it's Fawn, he knows the number." I was immediately transfered to another person (I was told later by ex that it was Carl Bernstein, but I don't know if that's true) who asked what I wanted. I repeated that I wanted to speak with ex, that my business was with him.

I don't think my ex ever told them that it was not Fawn Hall that had called him.

[Anne Lee]

Jonathan Franzen (author of The Corrections and Freedom) who was on the cover of Time last summer was a good friend of mine in high school. He blew me off when we were juniors and I never knew why until he published his memoir The Discomfort Zone.

I haven't read the book. Why did he blow you off?

[fidgiegirl]

And yet, you recognized an adult film star. Fidgiegirl, you're a scandal!

Well, my traveling companions did (I guess not my mom, though ). I needed a little education!

[Zzz]

I've met any number of singers, actors, politicians, authors, and other well-known folks. I remember a couple of encounters better than others for various reasons but prefer not to name drop here.

I draw pause when I see a thread like this here. While I admire the work acting / singing / writing, etc of these folks, a visit with a person who is just back from a peace corps project or something similar is often more satisfying and interesting.

It seems that in simple living much focus is paid to not buying a product due to brand name or perceived status of having that item. However, folks fall prey to the same thing when it is people instead of an object -- only worse. Even seeing someone becomes an event worth mentioning for the rest of a person's lifetime. I'd suggest that this equates superhuman powers to these people instead of simply admiration for their work.

[Stella]

Zzz I think for me what threads like this represent is the feeling that the world is perhaps not quite as a large and separated as we sometimes feel like it is. It's like we know someone in common even though we may live thousands of miles apart and have never met ourselves. I think to some extent that's why current events and public figures are interesting to us. I would love hearing about your friends who just got back from the Peace Corp, but I don't have a mental image of what they look like, I can't call up a memory of hearing their voice or a time I connected with something they wrote or said. Saying "I met (insert famous person here) is closer to saying, "Hey, I met your friend Mary last week. She was nice." It provides a sense of commonality.