Unexpected celebrity encounters?

Anyone have any? I'm not so much talking about book signings or movie sets or really anywhere where they are doing their job (or at least the publicity end of their job).

My best one is standing in line behind Dale Chihuly, who was buying X-Box games. I really hope they were for him, and not a nephew or something. The thought of him getting deep into a Halo frezy is just too amusing to lose.

1) One time in Westwood Maureen McCormick walked into a liquor store I was in and asked me to buy some beer for her. Unfortunately for both of us, I'm younger than she is by a few months. :(

2) Was picking up a package in Century City (next to 20th Century Fox studios) for the air freight company I worked for and got in an elevator with Dyan Cannon. :loveya: She was very polite, if a little distant. :D

narrating in the foreground or something.

At least, to the best of my knowledge. If I've ever met a celebrity outside of their natural habitat, then I didn't notice them. :P

It was the first time I'd ever been in Las Vegas, and I was with some friends. We were walking out of the Mirage when all of a sudden, there was Sinbad, talking and taking a couple of pictures with a fan. I was so stunned that I was actually seeing a (semi?) real celebrity so close, that I couldn't think fast enough to ask him to take a picture with us.

He's a huge Mac fan

which helps when you're in the nba.

edited, i forget to add Chaka Khan, i saw when she walking out of a casino in South Lake Tahoe, and she is really tiny.

I keed, I keed! :hide:

:7

:rofl:

In the 70s, Arlo Guthrie stepped on while I was waiting outside to see his show. He said, "Wow, sorry man." I said, "That's OK, Arlo."
In the early 80s, I waited on Ray Davies at nearly two in the morning. He saw that I recognized him, but I didn't go all fan on him. He seemed to appreciate it.

I saw a show of his in the early '90s, and he told a story about his agent booking him for a show on the same night that Bob Dylan was performing in the same city. The local media found that amusing and called him up to see if he was going to fire his agent. Arlo replied by joking (probably accurately - this was a period where Dylan was pretty much going through the motions) that Dylan fans would probably get to hear more of their favorite songs at his show than at Dylan's. He showed up to a completely booked concert and had to spend a couple hours frantically learning a bunch of Dylan tunes.

and quite a few of the primetime actors from ABC, their parent company.

I work around the corner from the Bristol, CT ESPN studio at Starbucks and they come in for coffee a lot.

My favorite is Mark Schlereth, the NFL commentator; he is truly the nicest, most unpretentious guy you're ever going to meet. I've seen him spend 40 minutes in the lobby talking to complete strangers and he never gets tired of talking sports or listening to fans. Usually it's the end of his workday which started at 4am and they're all that stands between him and bed too. Truly an awesome guy.

A lot of the "celebs" are not nice though. Nobody will be named.

i'm not sure how he's going to handle the traveling back and forth but it's a really good opportunity for him.

One of our most beloved Denver Broncos for many years! It's great to see him on TV because he really knows what he's talking about!

There's nothing else to do in Sacramento, so they'd do their shopping while they were here playing the Kings.

douche bag, he didn't want any of the kids talking to him which is fine so instead he stood in the middle of the track, the green part and pretty much vogued.

Peja flirted back with her absolutely shamelessly in front of the model GF he wound up marrying, but the Hedo story is kinda funny.

My sister met him, and he has this *huge* diamond earring in. My sister laughs and points to the huge studs she's got in, and she's like "hey we have the same earrings" and then she laughs her ditsy cheerleader laugh and says "but mine are fake." He leans way down and whispers conspiratorially in her ear "mine too!"

I don't know if his were really fake (iirc, they weren't paying him all that much at first, so maybe they were) but he was totally taking advantage the opportunity to bend that far over and was staring down my sister's shirt, 'cause she's got huuuuuuuuuuge tracts of land.

I ran into Scott Pollard while he was playing at KU...I was coming out of a theater(just watched Fools Rush In), I wasn't paying attention to where I was walking, and I ran into his chest...

Dale Ellis, hmm, summer of 95...I was a bag boy, and I was bagging groceries, and I asked the next customer what they wanted, you know...paper, or plastic...dude says plastic...I bag his groceries and as I look up I'm staring at his chest, and I continue to gaze up...and bam, Dale Ellis....

I ran into Kirk Heinrich and his dad at the Backyard Burger in Lawrence, KS...they were standing behind me in line....

I met her backstage at a small club in Tokyo. My friend's band from Boston was playing that night, so I scored a backstage pass. Utada was doing an unannounced "cameo" with the band, and her and I started chatting. She spoke perfect English, and we just shot the shit, so to speak, for about 20 minutes.

The kicker is I had no idea who she was (I am not a J-Pop person). The next day, my friend and I were walking through Akihabara, and a store was using a DVD display to promote her new video. I told my friend I met that girl the night before, and she had to explain to me that I had met one of the single most famous J-Pop idols in Japan.

Color me surprised.

Once she was at a concert in Albuquerque, and since she was pregnant they let her use the elevator — the same one the performers used. I forget if she was getting in it or out, but either way, as she did, she smacked right into Peter Frampton.

A later one was better. She was doing some late-night grocery shopping at Nob Hill in Salinas, Calif. As she came to the end of an aisle, around the corner came Clint Eastwood and knocked his cart into hers.

(This was when he was engaged to Dina Ruiz, when she was at KSBW. Apparently they'd stopped on their way home to Carmel after the 11 p.m. news to pick up a few things.)

I've actually spoken to Frampton on the phone, but it was work-related, so doesn't really fit with my OP. Nice guy.

I'm a huge Eastwood fan, both as director and actor. I'm sure I would have totally embarrassed myself in that situation.

commissary tray. I apologized and he cussed at me. :-(

My dad and I decided to take in a show one day so we were waiting in line to buy tickets and she was in the will-call line right next to us picking up her tickets.

I didn't want to say anything cause it was pretty crowded and I didn't want to make a scene but I did nudge my dad and said "Look it's Janice from the Sopranos"

I was at a show last night. Dark Tranquillity underlined for Arch Enemy, and so they were hanging around in the back drinking beer during AE's set. Afterwards, I went up and shook hands with them, which isn't too unusual, but the fact that I randomly hugged the lead singer before I left kind of is. :P

She is really pretty in person. And I loved her perfume.

I was working at a hospital on the midnight shift, when she and her "crew" came after her show to check on a friend who collapsed during her performance.

As I recall, he was very sick and in serious condition, but he did recover.

He was on his way to NYC, I was on my way to MSP. Did I mention that I am about a foot taller than he is?

How could you work around big chunks of glass and not have a little voice in your head whispering "smash ... smash! ... SMASH!" :shrug:

His studio was actually about a block from my office at my last job. He was apparently something of a regular at the little greasy spoon I sometimes ate lunch at, but I never saw him there.

Richie Havens shuffled in. Bleary eyed, belt undone. He had traveled all night to make it to a concert. We nodded & I went back to reading my book. Six hours later I saw him on stage.

years ago at a wrestling event in dallas...i had won front row tickets to it on a radio contest and they sat next to me and a buddy...i didn't recognize them for about 3 matches!!!

btw, the event was held in texas stadium in 1985 i think...memory is fuzzy during those days....and there were like 45,000 people in the crowd. it was the largest pro wrestling event ever until wrestlemania 3...

anyhow, dee snider was an ass...wouldn't sign autographs or take pics...the other band members were very nice though...posed with us and signed our shirts.....

i also met evander holyfield at houston intercontinental airport in the early 90's. he was flying to atlanta to train for his rematch against michael morrer...very nice man...and he is a lot bigger in person than he looks on tv....

We were walking in, and lo and behold, we see that undeniable face walking out of the store.

I tried to play it cool, but inside I was thinking "Holy Sh*t! That's Pete Rose!"

it was in London, we'd gone to see Ben Watt dj but we didn't know if Tracey would be there or not. We didn't see her all night except on the stairs.

And one time I hung out with Milla Jovovich a while outside a club in DC.

I think everyone else I met was on purpose.

I actually knew his son. Nice kid. Didn't try to do the whole "I'm a celebrity's kid" thing.

At the Grand Cayman airport. He was also on the same flight we were on going down there. Rode the same plane as Terry Bradshaw from Dallas to Atlanta on the same trip.

says mitchum snarkily :)

Seriously though, that method of working is pretty foreign to the modern notion of what an artist is supposed to be all about (except in cinema) but it used to be very common. Reubens' studio had a sliding payment scale for commissions that covered how much of a given painting (as in the exact spatial dimensions) he personally painted. The other big contemporary artist whom I've heard work the same way is Philip Glass, which might explain why his music completely stagnated after about 1982 or so.

Chihuly's work does seem to have a distinctive personal style, so I'm willing to take him seriously as an artist, if a somewhat overpraised one. I like some of his stuff, but dislke a fair bit as well, like that godawful mess at the Bellagio.

and I saw Maureen Tucker in Target a little over a month ago

We were on the Paramount lot. He was working on "Executive Decision". I was hanging out with a friend of a friend who worked there and got us the VIP tour.

Douglas Adams did a reading at a local university in the early '80s and signed Hitchhiker's books and towels afterward. He signed my towel and made a big fuss over the asteroid I'd embroidered on it. He was a DOLL. SO nice.

Gregory Hines sauntered by the coffee-and-cigar shop I was lounging in, in New Orleans. Saw me see him, gave a friendly nod. He was TINY!

Saw Adam Sandler and Tim Meadows on a plane to Boston before they were really famous (when they were mostly bit players on SNL) so they flew coach. They sat in the last row by the toilets. I pretended I had to go to the bathroom just to see if it really was them (my friend saw them walk down the aisle to their seats, but I had my head down). Because it was a commuter flight, my friend and I were the only young females on board, and they were DYING to have us approach them and make a fuss. So we played dumb and pretended not to recognize them. :P

Oh yeah--and met John Waite in the NYC Hard Rock back in the '80s as well. He was pleasant, tolerant as my friend gushed (even though she really wasn't that big a fan).

I ran into Cliff Robertson (literally) while carrying product into a convenience store. He was very nice. He apologized (even though it was clearly my fault) and held the door for me.

Living in Speedway it isn't unusual to see drivers and other celebrities at various places around town.

in the late 90s. I asked him what they were like and all he said was, "Tiny." :P

A few minutes before, I almost knocked her down to the ground as she had just crossed the street and I had just turned the corner.

This was the first of three random celebrity encounters that day.

But we live near eachother. Both in FL and in NH/ME.

Back when the first Vacation movie was about to be released (1983? Jeezuz I'm old!), as I was "deplaning" on a trip from LA to St. Louis, I walked past Christie Brinkley who was sitting, waiting for the rest of the passengers to leave, I guess. I stopped and happened to have a copy of National Lampoon with a big ad for Vacation featuring a painting of her. I doubled back and stammered out a "hello, I'm a big fan, would you sign this please?" Simply the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen in person -- every bit as in the magazines. She gave me that big smile and graciously signed it and I might have shaken her hand, i don't remember. Flustered and enchanted, I turned to leave the plane and only after I was nearly off the plane did I realize that I'd totally snubbed Billy Joel who'd been sitting next to her the whole time!

Ben Davidson, defensive lineman for the Raider's was the nephew of my next door neighbor when I was a kid. He went on to greater fame (according to some) when he appeared in (a non sex role) with Marilyn Chambers in Behind the Green Door.

I sat next to a very nice woman at a party in New York in the mid 1970's. The next time I saw her was on PBS in a Joseph Papp production of Taming of the Shrew. Turned out it was Meryl Streep.

I was on a plane to Wilmington, NC with Michael Jordan while he was still playing at UNC.

I was on an Amtrak train from Denver to Chicago, went to the club car to have a drink and the next thing I knew John Madden sat down next to me. We talked about Ben Davidson.

If you're into classical music, in a previous life, I met and/or worked with lots of people; Yo Yo Ma, Leonard Bernstein, Eric Leinsdorf, Eugene Ormandy, Leonard Slatkin, Isaac Stern, Nadia Salerno Sonnenberg, Midori come immediately to mind.

At a concert though, not in the wild.

They were living nearby when Billy Bob was filming Monster's Ball. One Saturday I went to a local open-air produce market to get my veggies and there they were- trying hard to blend in, but they were recognized right off the bat. Fortunately for them, they were mostly left in peace- they were obviously just wanting to be un-noticed, so I'm glad that the patrons gave them that priveledge.

Oh, and Angelina is really, really HAWT!!!! Made me question my gayness (but just for a second or 2) LOL

normally i am a very poised person, so i am glad i havent run into her

but in the end, I felt she deserved the anonymity that she was obviously wanting at the time.

I keep thinking I'll see her again sometime in New Orleans, but alas- it hasn't happened yet.

Meaning, in the same restaurant with, at a table close enough to see and hear:

Richard Gere (in Santa Fe)
Donald Sutherland and wife (in New York)
Natalie Portman (in Los Angelos)
Mel Gibson (in Philadelphia)

:eyes:

I was working a trade show, and this guy comes up and starts asking me questions about our product. He was real interested, knowledgeable, smart. Nice guy. I didn't recognize him.

We talked about 5-10 minutes, and I gave him my card in case he had any questions, and introduced myself. He handed me his card and said "I'm Herbie Hancock". I looked at him again - and my gosh, yes! He WAS Herbie Hancock!

Met Sinbad and Gregory Hines at the same show.

We were waiting for the same train, and he asked me what was taking so long for them to let us get on. I told them they were cleaning up the garbage. He said thank you.

Not terribly exciting.

Edit: Oh, and I got to sing with Bobby McFerrin when I was 16. That was pretty cool.

I saw him lots of times! Other Pre-Celebrities at my school; three of the four Talking Heads, future film director Gus Van Sant, and future New York art dealer Mary Boone.

I lived in Los Angeles for 17 years, I have lots of unexpected celebrity sightings.

Robin Williams used to go running at the same track as I. I chatted with him.

I walked smack into Wilt Chamberlin as he was coming out of a store. A very tallllll guy.

probably 20 others ..... I'm too lazy to write about them all.

A bunch of us went to the area's big thanksgiving day HS football game and we spotted Larry Holmes among the crowd.
Whenever I had to perform at christmas midnight mass, I would see Mario Andretti and his family.

I was coming out of the men's room and some guy almost ran me over trying to get in - then he stared at me with a look of absolute terror.

I thought to myself - "man he looks way too familiar"... and walked away.

Turned out that REM was doing a super secret surprise gig with Warren Zevon that night.

Also - almost "ran into" Michael Stipe at a REM show at the University of Maine a long tine ago. He recognized me from Athens (its a small town) and invited me, my brother and my girlfriend back stage for beers before they went on...

and it also happened in the bathroom at the 40 Watt

after the show I was waiting for the bus to go home. It was cold so I ducked into a downtown hotel and it so happened that was were Meatloaf was staying. His entourage walked right past me. I was too chicken to ask him for an autograph.

I met Brian Tobin (used to be a pretty well known politician up here) on a plane once.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Tobin

I was out for a walk with my now-girlfriend last summer and we saw Alan Doyle, the singer of Great big Sea. We went into a coffee shop and mentioned it to our friends who we were meeting there. One of our friends said "I swear to God he is stalking me. He is everywhere I go." She got up and went to the washroom. When she came back from the washroom, he was at the counter of the coffe shop ordering something and she was like, "SEE?!"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Big_Sea

Willard Scott as Bozo. I sitting in the back of the car and my parents told me to look out the window. There was Bozo! in full make-up and costume.

Sonny Jurgeson (Redskins football player)Back when i played tennis, Iwalked into teh tennis shop and there he was. One the guys working there nudged me saying, "That's Sonny Jurgeson!" Not a football fan, I wasn't too awed.

Max Robinson (local news reader) Passed him walking down the street.

**Before my time. My grandmother was in a DC restaurant when Errol Flynn had a loud, drunken row with his wife.

They were coming out of a tour bus: April 27 -- Kalamazoo, MI 1986. I was 17, and I couldn't believe these two legends were standing right there laughing because my girlfriend and I were in shock. The best we could do was "Uh b'd um er uhhh oh my god..." I think my girlfriend squeaked out "hi." We didn't get an autograph as they were heading in for a sound check, and we were to dumb-struck to ask.

Years later I went on to work a hospitality job at a local concert venue. I met lots of famous musicians, but none ever had that effect on me.

I just remembered that

Then he tried to do my girlfriend with it.

This was the most surreal one.

I was standing outside a small Chinese restaurant in an industrial area of West L.A., on a Sunday afternoon, waiting for my friends to pay their bill and come out. I was alone on the street, on the entire block.

A door popped open in this warehouse next store, out walked Ringo Starr and his wife, Barbara Bach. They casually strolled by me and on up the block.

He was at LSU the same time I attended, so I saw him around fairly often. Once I rounded a corner in the Quadrangle and ran smack into him. I'm 5' 10" on a good day, so it was a little freaky...

Can't remember what he bought.

Was there for a week and had just come out of the Musee D'Orsay when I saw him walking along the street with his arm wrapped around some girl who was about half his age.

I did not ask for details. Friend was rather unhinged with glee, about which I also did not ask for details. :evilgrin:

I'll just sum up great to bad.

Great -

Mary Wilson
Shelley Winters
Lois Nettleton
Queen Latifah
Glenn Close

Good -

Jennifer Aniston
Cortney Cox

Poor -

Matt LaBlanc


Bad -

Montel Williams
Valerie Bertinelli
Eddie Van Halen

Standing in the Santa Claus line at Santa Monica Mall behind Ahnold the state-of-California terminator's family...his boy is about the same age as my kid.

Being on stage dressed up as Daffy Duck during T'giving weekend in Beverly Hills and it being night and having no side vision....Peter Fonda helped me down the stairs...He held my white gloved cartoon hand!

At a birthday party my kid went to, Scott Bakula of Quantum Leap was right across from me, but he was attending another party in the same place, Kid's Place I think it was called.

Perry Mason at Big Dean's on Santa Monica Beach

Rodney Dangerfield coming in to the place in a limo where I worked wearing his bathrobe and slippers.

I lived in Salt Lake City for a few years, and friends and I would go to Provo and rent horses at Sundance occasionally.

One Sunday when I arrived, I had to pee real good. I ran into the visitors' center for the loo, and almost ran into him. Didn't recognize the man at first, but he was gracious and accepted my apology for nearly running him over. He just smiled and said have a nice visit, or something like that.

In South Florida in the 1970's there was this little cable station that played old movies. The host of the show was Scott Arthur, the son of the late Hollywood actress, Jean Arthur.

Now tuck that away for a moment.

It is 1976. I had left South Florida and ended up in Houston. It's about 11 pm and, as I was hungry, I pulled into an IHOP parking lot. I got out of my car and, as I approached the main entrance, a large black limousine pulls up right in front of the door. A burly gent with shaved head gets out, opens the rear door, and out steps Frank Zappa. Zappa, the burly gent with the shaved head, the rest of Zappa's retinue, and I all walked into IHOP together. I found my own seat, of course.

I'm sitting there in my booth, recovering from the hugeness of the event. I look up at the booth in front of me and there, emblazoned on the shirt back was the logo, "The Scott Arthur Show". I got out of my seat, approached the gent with the shirt and said, "Hey. You're Scott Arthur. What're you doing here in Houston?" He graciously advised me that he had just moved himself and his show there.

I tossed and turned the rest of the night, so excited I could hardly sleep. (Last sentence just kidding.)

He likes to walk early in the morning and several times saw Al Gore jogging...Says he's really a big guy in person....

I was in Berkeley in the mid to late 60's. One night I was at the New Monk on University Avenue. The band was New Riders of the Purple Sage. As I had to take a whiz at one point, I approached the rest room door. The door opens and out steps Jerry Garcia. At this point in our lives, we resembled each other a great deal. Similar hair, similar beards, same gold-rimmed glasses. We both looked at each other for a second. A smile of recognition flashed on both our faces. We both nodded in acknowledgement, and went on our respective ways.

I think the world changed for the better because of that encounter.

All I did was literally bump into Joan Rivers AND Spike in Atlantic city...






16 years ago

what can I say



:rofl:

lost

at the Getty Center a year ago. They were taking a break from museum viewing, goofing around on the steps out front and somehow my roomie and I got pulled into it. Bradley and his wife Jane were extremely nice, as were the kids.

I ran into Janel Maloney and Allison Janney while out for a walk in my neighborhood (what can I say, I apparently live near the West Wing cast). Janel's dog tried to attack us...insomuch as a little yip-dog attacks anything...she was very apologetic and nice.

I saw Noah Wylie at a park in Malibu 2 years ago.

I see random celebs at the grocery store and the farmer's market on a regular basis.

Yes, I do live in Los Angeles. ;)

His parents live in Augusta, KY, which is a town over from where my grandmother lives. It's known for it's historic homes along the Ohio River. So we were just driving around enjoying the architecture. We stopped at a service station and asked where the Clooneys lived. Surprisingly they lived in a nondescript home that is backed by a county highway, with a small front yard facing a 2-lane town road in front. The first time we drove by the back, a tall, dark, handsome-looking guy came out on the back porch, and my response was "OMG, could it be?" By the time we circled around to the front of the house, George and his father, Nick, were out there tossing a baseball.

Needless to say, we drove by about 5-6 times, but we otherwise respected their privacy, no stopping, no getting out of the car, no pix. Driving by the front of the house, we were within 2-3 yards of him. And, oh my, he's even better looking in person.

She looked very bohemian chic. She is also very tall and just as cute as can be.

I get on an elevator in a hotel. There's already a woman on there, but she doesn't look familiar to me.

The elevator stops and a man that I did recognize got on. It was Roger Black, not exactly a household name but nevertheless a former track star who got into TV hosting for the BBC after he retired. I introduced myself at he graciously shook my hand and said a few words.

He got off a few floors later. I then noticed the woman looking at me. I explained who he was and she nodded.

The strange part is, later on I saw the woman on a Dannon TV commercial. It was singer and actress Leisha Hailey. I hadn't been aware of her before.

Only in NY.

he was coming in to perform and he was wearing a very cool sparkly lapel pin in the shape of a guitar.

He was one stylish cat and really quite nice. :thumbsup:

RIP John!
O8)

Saw her at the Family courthouse in Houston when she was fighting in probate court to get her husband's money.

I was waiting for the elevator in the lobby and she was coming down the private stairs with her attorneys.

She was as tall as her male attorneys -- and they were probably 6'2" or 6'4".

She was HUGE. Had on spike heels. At least six feet tall in bare feet, and just a big girl. This was before she got fat.

But I'm a lot closer to five feet, so she looked gigantic to me.

When she was on the stand and being cross-examined by opposing counsel, Rusty Hardin, she said "Fuck you, Rusty". That does not impress juries.

So, for several months afterwards, Mr. Hardin was greeted by his fellow members of the bar with "Fuck you Rusty!". :rofl: :rofl:

But she was very well dressed.

It was very crowded ... we were coming from opposite directions, weaving around people ...

Then ... BAM!!! We crashed into each other at full speed ... stood there staring at each other ... said sorry, then took off again ... took me about 2 more steps to realize who it was.

Me and another guy were out on one of the back decks ... they have an upper level for VIPs that has stairs from the back decks ... and the deck we are on (a mid level deck)is full of computer geeks.

So my friend and I are talking to the guard on the stairs that go up to the VIP area ... he's pretty cool, telling us that they were having a party for the movie The Big Lewbouski (sp). And telling us about who's up there ...

So then Brooke Shields and another actress come up the steps from a lower level, but they start to enter the building instead of turning to go all the way up to the next level where the VIP party is ...

We see her immediately ... so the guard calls out to her, and she turns hesitantly expecting to get mauled ... but then she realizes she needs to go up further ... so she comes over to us, stops, and says "well, I guess you can tell I come here all the time" and then she winks at us ... and then goes up the stairs.

We look around ... not one of the computer geeks even noticed her.

This was around 97 or 98.

Tony Todd ("Candyman"): The family and i were in Atlanta for DragonCon one year, and while the wasband was trawling through yet another 'dealers room', my daughter (age 8 at the time) and i decided to excuse ourselves and go to the hotel restaurant to grab some lunch. We were seated by a lovely waitress, and while the kid and i decided on our entrees, we overheard the waitress talking with the well-dressed man at the next table. His voice sounded so familiar... then, as he turned around to retrieve something from his briefcase, both my daughter and i recognized him. We spoke briefly between tables, and he was wonderful... very accommodating of my daughter's questions about acting and such.

IceT: I was on an extended roadtrip in 1992 with the family and a friend from DC, and we had all ended up in Los Angeles on Halloween! We decided to go do some sightseeing and such, and after going to take flowers to Bela Lugosi's grave, we ended up driving down Melrose looking for somewhere to grab food.

We happened upon a place (now long gone) called "The Burger That Ate L.A.", which had a huge outdoor patio for us to enjoy the approaching beautiful evening. The rest of the gang went and found a table, and i wandered inside to find the loo, and to order. On my way back from the ladies' room, i literally bumped into IceT as he was heading in the direction of the "men's"! *L* I stammered my way over to order, and as i was paying, he approached behind me, and commented on how good my tattoos were!

I returned outside to my bunch, and as i did, T and a stunning lady friend took an adjacent table (we were the only patrons there!), and we started an hour-long round-table chat about the music industry, how weird LA is, and the controversy over the "Body Count" album (which had only been released in March that year). I bought a hat from the restaurant, and he graciously signed it for me; i gave it to my little brother when we returned from our travels, and he still has it.

in the mid '90s... back before he got so steroided and weird...

It was a sporting-goods shop that sold new and used stuff (think 10x the size of "Play It Again Sports"), and Scott would come in every week or two, along with two of his prop-building henchmen (Charles and John), and they would be in the store for an hour or two playing with things--trying out ideas, testing the feasibility of this or that, or just generally screwing around--and while they were there, none of the on-the-floor staff could seem to get any actual work done (myself included), because they were laughing too hard to concentrate.

Those were some of the best days ever in that store...

I met NBA Hall of Famer/former Celtics coach/NBA broadcaster Tom Heinsohn when I was a kid. We were on the same flight from Boston to Los Angeles. I mustered up the courage to ask for an autograph, and he was quite nice.

My wife met Ted Danson at the Hirschorn Museum in Washington a few days before Clinton's first inaugural.

...it wasn't originally unexpected. But it became more so as time went on.

...I was at an L.A. restaurant for a private party. Circa 1988. Jackson, Quincy Jones, and a few other notables were there. I went to the men's room to do my business. Jackson was at one of the two urinals (surprising, I know: he pees standing up). I went to the other. Behind us lurked a hulking bodyguard. I've never been so self-conscious in my life.

She was in line behind me for the single toilet...a guaranteed gathering place. As this is Canada and we were all too cool, no one batted an eye, asked for an autograph, or even stared openly.

It was around 1990, and a big TV convention called NATPE was in New Orleans. So I went down to the Quarter, figuring I'd bag me a celebrity to bring home and freeze (figuratively).

So there I am with my go-cup outside Antoine's Restaurant on St. Louis St. when I hear these goons talking into wlkie-talkies saying "OK, we'll go as soon as this guy leaves." It dawned on me that "this guy" meant me, so I moseyed along, and out came Alex (with the goons).

He/they ended up strolling down Bourbon St. While I was following them at a respectful distance, I heard the usual inhabitants of the Human Zoo yelling things like, "I've got a question for you, Alex!"

and one day while buying a Diet Dr. Pepper was in line behind Ed "Too Tall" Jones buying a Gatorade.

Not totally surprising, however, as that was their training camp location.

just way to many to remember, but one day in particular does stand out.
In the late 70's I wrangled tickets for a semi private showing of the
King Tut exhibit the first time it came around at the L.A. County Art Museum.
When we showed up at our scheduled time we found Paul and Linda McCartney with their
kids were in the same group (about 12 people total). Very nice people. But the clincher
was afterward on the way home we heard about a softball game being played at USC between
the Eagles/Chicago vs. Rolling Stone Magazine. There could not have been more than
100 people there watching including biggies at the time Chevy Chase, the two guys from
Steely Dan, Jonie Mitchell, Jackson Browne, and even Gov. Jerry Brown showed up driving
himself in a plain ford galaxy (he was Gov. at the time). The thing is, it was like a
catered family picnic with the beer flowing and we just happened in.

He seemed to have only one traveling companion, a younger and (IIRC) attractive woman. He was sitting out among us ordinary mortals before boarding, though of course he was seated in first class. I've never had such mixed feelings about a safe landing before.

Several years ago, we took our teenage daughter to New York City for the first time. We were walking down a side street one morning when my older daughter pointed to someone we'd just passed and shrieked, "That was David Spade!" She went running after him, and she spoke a few words to him. I saw him nod his head, and then my daughter motioned frantically for me to join them. So I lumbered down the street and found that she needed me to use her camera to take a picture of her and Spade together, which I did.

During all of this, David Spade remained standing there, patiently waiting for a Texas tourist family to get a meaningful souvenir; afterwards, he waived to us as he proceeded on his way. He didn't have to do all this, but he couldn't have been nicer. He was dressed street-person casual that day and was a bit unkempt looking, but my family and I will always regard him as the classiest guy in Manhattan.....

Also, for some odd reason, I ran into (not literally) Strom Thurmond at least three times in my life: once at freshman orientation, once at a parade, and once on a flight to National Airport.

I've chit-chatted with Mark Shields in the elevator.

And various people turned up at restaurants: Bill Cosby, the actor Henry Jones, and Danny Kaye -- again, not all together at the same time.

I loved loved him

I also dig Clarence Page and have also met Julian Bond...

This was in 1999, in Raleigh, NC. The show she was on was filmed in Wilmington, NC, and Katie and a friend (not a celeb, as far as I know) were in a Raleigh Barnes & Noble where I worked at the time. It was my first time seeing a celeb and since I worked there it was a little easier to talk to her. She said she frequently came to Raleigh (about 2 hours from Wilmington) to shop because there were no big malls closer to Wilmington. We spoke for only 2-3 minutes and she was very nice. This was, of course, long before she fell into the clutches of Tom Cruise.

a truckstop just outside of Nashville.

Peter Fonda at a truckstop in Milton Ontario while he was shooting a film called "High-Ballin'"
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077679/

We had lunch together, enjoyed some really good conversation too.

aA

and Chet Atkins in the elevator of my office building. He asked me directions to a particular place in the bldg which I gave him and as he walked away realized I had been talking to Chet Atkins!!!