My Encounter with a celebrity....

[TimothyBFan]

We were talking about this in another thread and I suggested we start a thread like this. Please tell us about any encounter you have had with a celebrity, musician, sports star, actor, actress or whatever.

I've had a couple, one I'm pretty sure I've told before somewhere but I will post it again later. This one is one I've never told before I think because it's just silly but I was just in Eva's Springsteen album and I thought I'd start us off with this story.

My encounter with Steven Van Zandt was in New York City in the mid 80's? This is when he had left the E Street band for awhile and was Little Steven And The Disciples Of Soul. I had won a trip for 2 to NYC so my best friend and I went in August of either 85 or 86. One night after leaving an event at MSG, we were walking around (not the wisest this to do in NYC, but hey, we were young!) and I ran smack into him on the street. We both stopped and I said "Little Steven?" and he said "Hi honey, are you alright?" I told him I was fine and off he went. :hilarious: My friend looked at me and asked why I called him "Little Steven". :woah: Well duh!! I had to explain he was part of the E Street Band and The Disciples etc.... That's my encounter with Little Steven.

[Freypower]

The one I like telling is about when I was in London in 1980 and Rod Stewart was playing Wembley Stadium. I was walking through St Paul's Cathedral when a man passed by me wearing a heavy overcoat which he had pulled up around his eyes, but you could see his blonde spiky hair. I looked at him and he looked back with big doe eyes - it was Rod Stewart. I kept walking after making a slight reaction to show that I recognised him. He was entitled to his privacy after all, especially in the Cathedral.

The other encounters I have had with celebrities have really only been at book signings. I became a huge Monty Python fan during the two years where I tried to give up Glenn. Michael Palin was my favourite. I went to get his autograph but made a bit of a fool of myself by hanging around the whole time and staring. Afterwards I thought 'why did I behave like that' and that's when I think I started moving back, as it were. But on several occasions when Palin has been here to sign his travel books I went to see him again. The last time was in London and I said to him 'you once signed a book for me in Sydney' so he signed it 'from London and Sydney'. So I doubt he remembered the first occasion.

A couple of years ago I was in Sydney's Queen Victoria Building which has three flights of escalators. I was going down one and John Cleese (who I knew was in Sydney at the time) was just ahead of me. Because he's so tall he has a peculiar way of standing with his shoulders arched back.

Other people whose autographs I have are Bill Bryson (I love his work), Nick Hornby and art critic Robert Hughes ('what's your favourite museum?' 'The Prada') and one of my heroes, former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam.

[eaglesvet]

I'm impressed, Willie, that your reactions were lightning fast to recognize him at night and after bumping into him. (Unless you're more of a fan than I realize...which is great!) I'm wondering if even I would've been able to recover quickly enough to realize it was him! :shrug: :hilarious: Was it the bandanna that gave him away??

[sodascouts]

I have been lucky enough to meet all my musical heroes at one time or another, so I'll detail the time I met Fleetwood Mac!

In 2003, Fleetwood Mac was touring to promote their Say You Will album. Every year, it had been Stevie Nicks' practice to hold a benefit in Phoenix for the Arizona Heart Institute. You could get a "donor package" where you gave money to the charity and got to go backstage and meet Stevie Nicks. She would have special guests like Don appear. That year, since the Mac were on tour, the event became a Fleetwood Mac show and meet'n'greet. There would be no extra celebrities, but who needed 'em? It was FLEETWOOD MAC!

Some friends and I decided to do it. We all donated the money, and we all got to go. We got seats up front and we stood right at the stage, at Lindsey's feet - and then afterwards, got to go to the "after party" meet'n'greet.

It was a snazzy deal at a nice place near the venue. It was a small place, though, and we were packed in tight with a couple hundred other donors. There was complimentary champagne, wine, chocolate-covered strawberries - the works! But we weren't interested in that. We just wanted to see the BAND.

We were told there would be no autographs. We would get our photo taken with the band in groups of six - whether you knew the other five people or not. My friends and I made a group of five, though, so we only had one person in the photo with us that we didn't know. Since there were so many people there, you couldn't blame 'em for wanting to work us through in a hurry. You had little more than the time it took them to arrange you for the photo to talk to the band - about two minutes.

The band came out to our cheers, then we all obediently lined up. My friends and I were towards the back of the line, so we had plenty of time to try to figure out how we were going to use our two minutes. I had it all planned out. The band was lined up as follows: John McVie, Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks, Mick Fleetwood. Each group was herded in front of them for the photo, so I knew I would need to work quickly. I would greet each of them politely, tell Lindsey how highly I thought of him, tell Stevie how much her music meant to me... I rehearsed what I would say again and again in my head as we crept closer and closer to my heroes.

Finally, it was time... only it didn't quite go down like I thought it would. The people in charge of arranging us were trying to hustle us down the line - I was hustled past John - but nobody was gonna hustle me past Lindsey. I stopped and turned to him. His big blue-gray eyes met mine and my mouth went dry, but I struggled to keep my cool. What was I gonna say to him again? I couldn't remember. I had to improvise. "Um, you guys put on a great show tonight. I was in the front row."

"I know," he smiled. "I saw you."

"You saw me? Wow!" I said, delighted that he remembered me. I was focused on him and didn't realize there was someone reaching out to take my hand....

Stevie Nicks. The woman I adored. The woman whose music had changed my life... Stevie Nicks took my hand. And since I hadn't seen it coming, I was completely unprepared.

So I freaked out.

"OH MY GOSH! YOU TOOK MY HAND! I DIDN'T KNOW YOU WOULD DO THAT! THAT'S SO COOL!!!!" Yes, people. I am not exaggerating. THAT IS WHAT I SAID, VERBATIM. The moment of infamous dorkitude is burned into my brain. As soon as I said it, I thought Could I seem like a bigger loser??? She was thanking me for coming and donating to the charity, but all I could process was how idiotic I was acting. "Um, I'm sorry Stevie, I know I sound stupid...."

"Turn around!" The photographer cried. I dropped Stevie's hand, flustered. Everyone was gathering around - where should I stand? I plopped to the ground and sat at their feet, fighting off the waves of mortification coursing through me as best I could so I could give the camera a big smile.

As they started to hustle us off, though, I managed to do one more thing... I went over to Mick Fleetwood. I put my hand on his chest right over his heart and said, "Thanks for keeping the band together all these years."

"What, sweetheart?" He asked, leaning towards me. I tried to repeat what I'd said, but the handler hollered behind me "MOVE ALONG, TIME FOR THE NEXT GROUP!" I managed a "Thanks" as I was hurried away.

As my friends and I walked away, it hit me how much of a fool I had made of myself. I was horrified, but then I heard someone crying. I turned around and saw that the woman in the group behind me was sobbing "STEVIE YOU ARE A GODDESS! I LOVE YOU! THIS IS THE BEST MOMENT OF MY ENTIRE LIFE!!!" I felt a little better about myself after that. At least I wasn't bawling my eyes out! And Stevie was so kind to her. She didn't act weirded out or treat the lady like she was crazy (which would have devastated her). Instead, Stevie was smiling at her warmly. She took the lady's hands in hers and though I couldn't hear what she said, it looked like Stevie was saying "thank you." You could tell it meant the world to this lady.

While that made me feel a little better at the time, to this day when I think of how I acted when Stevie took my hand... :: CRINGE ::

Two years later, I met Stevie again (that was the meet'n'greet with Don (http://www.glennfreyonline.com/siteinfo/meetdon.htm)), and I was able to redeem myself, thank goodness. I didn't want THAT to go down as my only meeting with Stevie Nicks.

P.S. The woman has the softest hands I have ever felt in my life.

The photographic evidence:

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b141/glennfreyonline/misc/715651028_l.jpg

[eaglesvet]

Beautiful picture...you all look gorgeous! and another story that had me LOL! :hilarious:

[Brooke]

What cool stories!

Soda, what a great picture! Imagine that-a picture with your favorite band! I can't even fathom it. :cool:

Btw, what is going on with Lindsey's hair? Is he wearing a headband?

[Prettymaid]

Great stories so far. Soda, where have you been hiding that picture? (BTW, your hair looks gorgeous).

[TimothyBFan]

I'm impressed, Willie, that your reactions were lightning fast to recognize him at night and after bumping into him. (Unless you're more of a fan than I realize...which is great!) I'm wondering if even I would've been able to recover quickly enough to realize it was him! :shrug: :hilarious: Was it the bandanna that gave him away??

Remember this was the mid 80's and every time you turned on MTV they were playing a Springsteen or Disciples video and then the bandana also gave it away. I was right on it!

[eaglesvet]

Ah yes, the glory days of Born in the USA...very true!!:hilarious:

[Glennsallnighter]

Great stories everybody. Of course you all know who I would LOVE to be writing about meeting, but alas, not yet.......:-(

So I'll recount meeting one of my 80's music idols 'Chris de Burgh'. Myself and my friend Sabina were about 18 at the time and we had gone to see him playing in Dublin. I had really loved his music through the early to mid 80's and it was now 17 November 1986. We had managed to make it to the front row and we were screaming the songs out. I had brought his latest album 'Into the Light' on tape and at the end of the gig I tried my luck at getting one of the security guys to bring the inlay card backstage and get it signed. Well he said he'd try. We waited and we waited. Just as we were about to give up a woman came out. She had an 'Admit 2' card with her and asked if we were fans. We said we were and she handed us the card. In we went! We actually got to meet Chris, chatted to him for a few minutes and he signed my t-shirt!! Totally unexpected!!

Mind you I never saw the inlay card again!!!!!!

[Wildthyme]

I have encountered a few celebrities - no one ultra famous but names people will know (I think)

Back when I was a teen my cousin in California used to date Terry Hatcher. Of course this was way back in high school when she was just a pretty brainiac girl that Leo went to school with...

I worked in Ashland for many years and we have had a few somehwat famous people live there over the years. I used to see both Jack Elam and Annette O'Toole around town at the grocery store or in restaurants, etc.

And probably 15 years ago I was Christmas shopping in this little historic town we have called Jacksonville and suddenly there was a lot of whispering and fuss going on in the store I was in and Kirstie Alley walked past me on her way to the counter to buy something for someone. She used to have a house a few miles out of town and apparently she was spending the holidays in the valley.

Year before last my friend Nicole's daughter acted in a play at the Oregon Shakespearean festival that Charlie Robinson (Night Court, Home Improvement, etc) starred in. I got to meet him a couple times when I went with Nicole to a play or to pick Cati up. Such a nice nice man!

Last but not least I was at Costco just a few weeks ago and I saw this man in wine secton that looked SO familiar. And I am racking my brain to think where I know him from. Is it work? School? Church? The doctor's office? I ran into him three or four more times in the store until I FINALLY figure it out. It was Patrick Duffy. He has lived in the valley for many years but I have never seen him around town. (And for those of you that were ever Dallas fans he still looks really good - even reading wine bottles with his little half glasses on :lol:)

[GlennLover]

Great encounters, Wildthyme! Really cool!

[Peekaboo]

Wow! Great stories, everybody. WT, i wish i could experience that many star sightings but sadly we don't get many of those here in Oklahoma. And if we do, I'm no where nearby when it happens. Soda, I always love reading about your M&G's with Fleetwood Mac.

The only encounter that i've ever had with a celebrity has been with comedian Bill Engvall. He's famous for being apart of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour with Jeff Foxworthy, Larry the Cable Guy, and Ron White. Those guys are all hilarious but i've always really enjoyed Bill's comedy the most. He's at the top of my list of comedians. Bill also had his on tv show for a few years and he's been in a few movies. I got hooked on his comedy about 5 years ago. I've been to 7 of his comedy concerts and have gotten to meet him 5 times. He's such a sweet and genuine person. It's so easy to tell that he very much appreciates his fans. I wasn't quite as nervous meeting Bill as I was when I met Don but I was still nervous nonetheless. He remembered me during the last few M&G's and on the last M&G I got a big hug and kiss on the cheek from him. Such a sweet guy and pretty handsome too. The last time I got to meet him was at the WinStar Casino where me and Lou saw Don in concert this past May and the last time I saw Bill in concert was at the same casino that I work at. I saw him there about a month before I started working there.

I've also had a ZZ Top encounter before. Well, it wasn't really an encounter for me so much as it was just a sighting. Here's the link https://eaglesonlinecentral.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1902

[Glennsallnighter]

Last but not least I was at Costco just a few weeks ago and I saw this man in wine secton that looked SO familiar. And I am racking my brain to think where I know him from. Is it work? School? Church? The doctor's office? I ran into him three or four more times in the store until I FINALLY figure it out. It was Patrick Duffy. He has lived in the valley for many years but I have never seen him around town. (And for those of you that were ever Dallas fans he still looks really good - even reading wine bottles with his little half glasses on :lol:)

I remember him stepping out of the shower in 87, (was it?), One of those TV moments when you think 'Dallas has finally become too ludicrous for words!!'

[Troubadour]

These are great!

Apart from Brian May, Roger Taylor and Paul Young (those stories are posted in Walsh Worship for anyone who hasn't read them), I've only really seen other celebrities. I lived in London while I was at university, and I was often in the West End. Leicester Square plays host to loads of film premieres, so my friends and I would often stumble across them by accident and then decide to get a drink and watch the celebs arrive. I actually got to go IN to the premiere of The Constant Gardener, because a guy there was selling his extra ticket really cheap. His wife was ill and he was asking around. I had to walk down the red carpet (embarrassing, because I was carrying an H&M bag, wet and windswept from a day of shopping) and then got to sit in the third row back to watch the film. Ralph Fiennes, Rachel Weiss and Anthony Minghella went on stage before the movie started to give little speeches. Ralph Fiennes only just made it because his plane had been delayed. He literally ran down the aisle next to me just in time!

Other celebs I've seen arriving at premieres (we're talking maybe ten feet away, or closer) are Madonna, Patrick Stewart, Mischa Barton, David Walliams, Take That, Jonathan Ross, Simon Cowell, Jake Gyllenhaal, Renee Zellweger... I was there for the premiere of Righteous Kill, so I got to see Al Pacino and Robert De Niro! (I am freaking in love with Al Pacino. He dates pre-Don! lol.) I was insanely excited. They came really, really close to us. We were one guy back from the barrier and they came right up to the barrier. Robert De Niro spent a little while signing things in front of us. I got a couple of pictures of him on my old phone. I'll have to get the sim card and hopefully get them onto the computer.

My other favourite 'premiere' moment, was on the night of the Baftas. I didn't have anything for them to sign, but I shook George Clooney's hand! He is completely gorgeous in real life, and seemed so sweet. He signed some stuff for the guy next to me, and then asked whether he could borrow the guy's pen. He was like "Please? I PROMISE I'll bring it back!" And he did!

I also met Jude Law in a bar once, in London. I'd finished work, and some of us used to go to a theatre bar called Shuttleworths. It was underneath a theatre, and as we walked down the stairs, we spotted Jude Law at the bar. The guys who let us in were talking about it, so we knew it was definitely him. I was with two gay guys who, funnily enough, were more excited than I was! My friend Daniel was gripping my arm like "Ohmigod, ohmigod... I'm gonna pass out... where are we gonna sit?" We went over to a table at the other side of the bar (it's a small place) and we could see Jude Law just chatting to a male friend of his. I then looked at the next table and saw Jack White, from the White Stripes, playing cards with a couple of other people. (It was in the papers the next night that Jack White and Jude Law had been out together with Kate Moss. I hadn't seen Kate Moss.) Anyway, at one point I had to go to the bathroom and, no word of a lie, I had to go past Jude Law. It's a tiny pub and you have to go by the bar to get to the bathroom. As I said excuse me and went through, he kinda turned and accidently knocked me. He put his hands on my waist and went "Sorry, darlin'." I mumbled something like "Oh... That's OK!" and whisked myself off to the bathroom to cringe! When I came back, my friend Daniel was like "OH MY GOD. HE TOUCHED YOU!" LOL.

Lastly... this may be only a British association, but when I graduated, I was congratulated and handed my scroll by Sir Trevor McDonald! My friend was gutted that I got Sir Trev, and she got "the old barmaid who used to be in Coronation Street!" :lol:

[sodascouts]

I love reading all these Borderer Brushes with celebrites!


Btw, what is going on with Lindsey's hair? Is he wearing a headband?

Nope, he's just got a major comb-back/comb-up going on! With gray at the temples and the rest of it going straight up and before getting combed back, it looked... interesting. lol His hair looks better now.

http://www.buckinghamnicks.net/lb/images/LBuckGorgeousGray.jpg

evet and PM - thanks for the compliments!

[tbs fanatic]

Okay, this celebrity sighting is going to age me. I bet the younger folks here don't even know who 'Cliff Richard' is - LOL.

Anyway, it was probably 1965-66 (somewhere in there) and I was on vacation with my family in Cornwall, England. We were having a lovely time on the beach and our Dad was busy helping us build a sandcastle. He was really into it digging a large hole in the sand which was going to be the castle's lake or something :headscratch:. Anyway, suddenly a dog (a boxer) comes running up and starts digging out the hole my Dad has so carefully dug and completely messes it up. The owner of the dog comes running up, profusely apologizing and yes, it was Cliff Richard (who was VERY POPULAR in England at the time). My sister and I were mortified when my Dad - who was seriously p'd off at the dog - started telling Cliff to '..control your bloody dog'. Poor Cliff - he apologized again and dragged the dog off. My sister and I could not believe our Dad had shouted at Cliff Richard. 'Don't you know who that was???' we kept saying. 'DAD - HOW COULD YOU'. Needless to say 'Dad' was not impressed with Cliff :unimpressed: :rofl: I don't think my sister or I ever forgave him for that one :roll:.

[TimothyBFan]

Cliff Richard --Cool. I remember him and thought he was pretty good looking in the 70's when Devil Woman, We Don't Talk Anymore and Dreaming were popular. I've learned from my Sweet board that he was a lot more famous in the UK than here in the states right?

[Troubadour]

Great story, tbs! Cliff Richard is still hugely popular in England. He's a bit of a national treasure, I suppose.

[tbs fanatic]

Yes, I'm happy to see he is still so beloved in England. Cliff Richard and The Shadows were hot, hot, hot back in the day. Did you see any of the movies they made? They were comedy/musical much like early Beatles movies. I think one had the song 'We're all going on a Summer Holiday' - I know, I'm really showing my age now. Dang you Cliff!! :hilarious:

[Ive always been a dreamer]

Great stories everyone. I just got around to reading this thread. Haven't had much time on the board lately, but, hopefully, I can contribute something here when I get some more time.