Have you met anyone famous?

[johnnysain]

Steve Sabol.....he married a distant relative.

And George Harrison's sister plus Alan Williams (the former Beatles manager).

[bitzerguy]

Hmmm...

Long John Baldry (twice, a year apart, shared a few libations between sets at the Maples Inn in 77 & 78)
Neil Young (also at the Mapes during that time)
Al DiMeola (a truly nice guy)
Gerry Mercer (Mashmakhan)
Brian Greenway (Mashmakhan & April Wine),
Ritchie Henman and Miles Goodwin (April Wine)
Lee Aaron (one of the true pleasures in life)
Buddy Guy (bumped into him at an eatery in Montreal during the Jazz Fest)
Jeff Healy (another of life's true pleasures)

John Unitas (when I was a real little nipper, don;t really remember him but I still have the autograph and photo)
Rusty Staub (Expos)
Warren Moon (Edmonton Eskimos era)

Bruce Willis (while filming The Whole 9 Yards)

[paologregorio]

Most of the folks aren't super duper famous, but I suppose they're famous enough
Martha Davis-the Motels
Martin Frye-ABC
Marty Willson-Piper-The Church
Neville Staples-The Specials
Roddy "Radiation" Byers-The Specials
Robyn Hitchcock-Soft Boys, The Egyptians, Venus Three
Stan Ridgeway-Wall of Voodoo (a complete, arrogant, dickhead btw, and for no good reason)
and on a completely different note.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas

Amusing near misses:
Bruce Foxton exiting a limousine two feet in front of me, getting out, and walking past me on his way into the Roxy when he was playing with Stiff Little Fingers.
Me: "Hey...that guy looks like Bruce Foxton."
Friend: "That is Bruce Foxton; he's playing with SLF now."

Standing right next to Susanna Hoffs for about five minutes at the "Cavern Club" in Hollwood back in the 80s, recognizing her face, but drawing a blank/not remembering her name, and wondering where the heck I knew her from; "Did I go to school with that girl? What the heck's her name?...It's...it's....ah nevermind." I remembered a few minutes later after I stepped away.

Standing next to "The Edge" in one of the bars at the Scream Club in Hollywood and ordering a cocktail as he chatted a girl up. I've never been much of a U2 fan, so I just thought, "oh...it's The Edge....Jack and Coke, please."

Oh, I forgot to include James Burton, Ricky Nelson's and Elvis' guitar player. We had a nice chat about `48 Chevrolet Fleetlines (I own one), guitars. and amplifiers.

[BAD RONBO, KiLLeR DWaRfS]

a band i was in in '84 warmed up for baldry. interesting smoothy he was. lee aaron (karen greening)i would have mentioned, but didn't. first met her in '81 in halifax. very pretty with no makeup as well of which she had none when i spoke to her. then i moved to toronto and she was all over the place with a revolving door of muscians in her band. did a demo with her in '84. jeff healey i first met in '83 at a club in west toronto as he and various musicians including myself had a jam session for a few hours. no one really knew who he was and while we were playing, he was flailing his arms around trying to give us a blind man's version of conducting the nuances of the song as we went. we didn't understand what he wanted and he was truely frustrated. next thing you know he was a "roadhouse" legend ! my band played at his basement club on bathurst street in toronto in 2003.

you see, when you live in toronto amongst all these famous people, they can walk down the street shopping like regular folk and when you meet up with one, you nod,"hi geddy" and go on your way. kim mitchell, "hi!" lee aaron, "hi !" i met john colicous (commander kour ?)from star trek or commander of the silons of battle star gallactica fame (the first versions) in a toronto subway. i guess he was coming from a construction job (laborer) and i greeted him "hi mr. colicous !" he nodded and we went our separate ways. that is respect for privacy above all else. i could have been an idiot and licked his dirty boots, but i let him be. i had drinks with bryan adams at his table in a yorkville club and he said..."so you're a bass player...listen to the beatles...it has all you need to learn what great bass is all about !" i responded, joking in my own mind but being snarky to him..."the beatles suck ! i listen to gentle giant, genesis,yes and rush !" he was ! i was joking, but i didn't let on.

the maples in pointe claire, p.q. ? played there in '82 with "TITAN".

[johnallg]

Very interesting thread. A very wide variety of celebs and important people.

Gerald Ford, Henry Kissinger, Barry Goldwater, and one other senator (famous in the 60s but I forget) on Mackinaw Island
Harry Chapin
Tom Wopat
Frankie Avalon
Marty Wilson-Piper
Billy Hinsche
Chris Squire
John Hall and Kenny Howes
Had a chance to meet Derek Jeter but many were fawning over him so I held back. He left right after.

I also rented a burgundy Impala right after Ann Margaret, so it was close but no cigar.

[ozover50]

So, did you booze up Barbie and get to know her?

No.... but Marty did!!

[billydlight]

I met this guy. No Kidding this is real. I played a fundraiser he attended. He was still Pres.

[jps]

Did he sit in and jam with you guys?

[billydlight]

Nah he didn't they tried to get him to, but he said no.

[marc61]

I had the honor of meeting with REM prior to them hitting it big(been documented in several threads here)

Met and hung out with Adam Youch of the Beastie Boys, right before Licensed to Ill was released. He was very kind, but also confident that the album was going to change music.

Ironically today I found out an acquaintance of mine from my neighborhood growing up, Pete Steele of Type O Negative passed away on Wed. A misunderstood and tortured soul. He was always kind to me.

About 3 weeks ago, my son and I had the pleasure of speaking with Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth. He was introduced to us by a common friend Andy Shernoff. Thurston is one of my son's favorite guitarists. You can imagine how thrilled he was.

I don't count the numerous athletes I met at autograph conventions because they were paid to be there, however I do remember meeting Johnny Ramone at such conventions as he was an avid collector.

There's more but suffering from a bit of brain freeze tonight.

[tyarbrough]

Let's see...my list is pretty short:

Ted Nugent, Jack Blades, Michael Cartellone, Tommy Shaw from Damn Yankees
Dennis DeYoung, James Young, Chuck Panozzo, Todd Sucherman, Lawrence Gowan, Glen Burtnik, and Tommy Shaw(again) from Styx
NFL Preston Pearson from the Dallas Cowboys
MLB Mark Mclemore, Oddibe McDowell, Mickey Tettleton from Texas Rangers
Former Speaker of the House Jim Wright

I'm sure there are a few more...but I can't recall right now. I've always found that famous people are very nice if you treat them with courtesy and respect....maybe I've just been luck in that regard. I'm sure there are some crabs out there

[BAD RONBO, KiLLeR DWaRfS]

marc61...pete steele passed ??? i saw them here in buffalo last year, not a very good show...i expected more...and pete didn't have that "thor" look and more...very sick looking and thin like alice cooper, and he was rambling on about death other than his usual music lyrical inuendos. i thought that very strange. vocally very weak as well. what was cause of death ? loved them with the newer drummer johnny...he seemed to slow them down and help make the music more creative.

pete had a great processed sound on october rust and world coming down !

[marc61]

marc61...pete steele passed ??? i saw them here in buffalo last year, not a very good show...i expected more...and pete didn't have that "thor" look and more...very sick looking and thin like alice cooper, and he was rambling on about death other than his usual music lyrical inuendos. i thought that very strange. vocally very weak as well. what was cause of death ? loved them with the newer drummer johnny...he seemed to slow them down and help make the music more creative.

pete had a great processed sound on october rust and world coming down !

Yes, he died Wed of heart failure.

Did you see Carnivore? or Type O Negative? I know he had performed with both even as recently as last fall.

I went to HS for a short time with Peter, and of course all the in the local music community knew of his superior bass skills. I have this memory of a battle of the bands during our HS years(77 or 78 I think) where Pete's band "Fallout" (Josh Silver also in that group)actually finished dead last in the competition. Fallout was considered an extremely dark band. They had skills beyond their years which none of us teenagers then could appreciate. Pete, an avid early Black Sabbath fan obviously lived his dream as he got to tour(on Ozzfest), and record(Howard Stern's Private Parts soundtrack) with Ozzy.One platinum and one gold album with Roadrunner Records...He and Josh we're the two dudes from our neighborhood that "made it".

[bitzerguy]

you see, when you live in toronto amongst all these famous people, they can walk down the street shopping like regular folk and when you meet up with one, you nod,"hi geddy" and go on your way.

the maples in pointe claire, p.q. ? played there in '82 with "TITAN".

Same thing here in Montreal. Everyone is very casual and friendly, and it gets reciprocated. Most times it takes a minute or two for you to realize who you are talking to.

With TITAN? In late summer '82? I think I was there for that show. Just moved back from Calgary. What a shame the neighbours burned the place down. What a classic ancient roadhouse with tons of rock and mojo (read "old dump").

[wayang]

No.... but Marty did!!

Aitch, I personally think you may have topped us all with 'MF'...

I thought, after reflecting on Aitch's point that there might be one or two of our members younger than 50, that I should provide a 'key' to my photographic list, so here 'tis:

Mickey Mantle and Whitey Ford - NY ballplayers of some considerable repute
Jack Gilford - 50's blacklisted actor and comedic genius
Edmund Hillary - famous Kiwi altitude enthusiast
Robert 'Piggy' Muldoon - former NZ PM and graffiti afficionado
Bill Bruford - atomic clock (who knows when it's the right time to leave a party)
Jaco Pastorious - (as R. Fripp said of J. Hendrix): "Too much current through too thin a wire".
Alan Holdsworth - the finest violinist ever to touch a guitar
Rod Morgenstern - 'southpaw' drummer for the Dixie Dregs