Star gazing

At Christmas NewMexiKen and his two official daughters, Jill and Emily, were discussing the most famous people we’d ever had a conversation with or seen. We thought it might be an interesting blog topic, but with all that’s happened I’d never gotten around to writing it up.

So, who is the most famous person you’ve spoken with? And who is the most famous person you’ve seen in person? And what is the most famous/notorious event/performance you have witnessed?

No rules. Whatever you’d like to brag (?) about.

For NewMexiKen’s part, I saw Donny and Marie Osmond and some more Osmonds at Disneyland. They were guests, walking around just like us.

Top that!

More from me later.

39 thoughts on “Star gazing”

  1. I have two for you, Ken.

    First, when I was 18, a bunch of friends and I decided to crash a party at Tom Cruise’s (then) cabin in Big Bear Lake. We get to the door and, just as we’re about to debate on who gets to knock first, Dustin Hoffman opens the door. We grin. He grins.

    And he just waves us in, saying that it wouldn’t be a real Hollywood party without a few crashers of some kind. Apparently nobody else heard about this one, so we were the only non-Hollywood-associated types (except the prostitutes) there.

    Second, in 2001, I was getting on a plane to go from LAX to JFK. Nonstop. As is my habit before a long flight, I stayed up the night before so I could sleep through most of the trip without having to deal with nicotine fits. As I board and head through first class on the way to the very back rows, I yawn unexpectedly and end up tripping over my own two feet. Right into Al Pacino’s lap.

    At least he had a sense of humor about it. Sent back an autograph with the comment of “Next time you fall in my lap, make sure you’re a cute blonde.” I hope I didn’t lose that one.

  2. Leaving aside professional contacts:

    I peed next to Sid Caesar in the bathroom of an Irish pub in Los Angeles. I went to traffic school with Charlie Rocket. I sat next to James Taylor in a restaurant two nights after seeing him in concert. I saw Ernie Banks in a gas station when I was a kid. Oh, yeah: I had dinner with Sir Edmund Hillary at a friend’s house.

  3. When I was fifteen I crashed a political party Robert Redford threw for Morris Udall with the sole intent of meeting him – Redford not Mo of course!. I got all dolled up so that I would look older and managed to get passed the ticket takers. I did manage to have quite a conversation with a very pleasant Mr. Redford. The man was very nice to me but I felt nothing but pity for him as he was constantly sized up by every man in the building.

  4. I hope Jill mentioned the time that she posed for photos with the actor who played Urkel on top of the Seattle space needle. That ranks high on my list of brushes with fame.

    Also, one day I walked through the U.S. Capitol Building and Bob Sheaffer of the CBS Evening News complimented me on my hat.

  5. I saw Queen Elizabeth lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetary. Even have pictures to prove it. She’s pretty famous, I guess.

  6. Pretty hard to top Sir Edmund Hillary, though I did see John Glenn at a party once.

    Another time I attended a large party at Richard Nixon’s home in San Clemente. Former President Nixon and Mrs. Nixon were there, of course, but so was the entire California Angels baseball team.

    I saw Queen Elizabeth walk from her Rolls limo into Blair House one time. I consider anyone who is on the coins and currency of several nations to be famous.

  7. I saw the Dalai Lama at his home in exile in Daramsala, in India. He was quite close and made good eye contact. All the Tibetan’s were laying on their stomachs and the hair on the back of my neck stood up. Later the same year I was in Oslo when he was given the Nobel Peace Prize (1989) and I stood outside the hall to get pictures. I saw the King of Norway too.

    The next day he gave a talk open to the public in the same hall and posed for me as I shot his photo at the podium. I saw him again that night speaking at a high school just outside Oslo.

    I’ve seen him twice since, once in Seattle and once in Portland.

    I was eating a Sunday brunch with friends in McKlintocks, in Pismo Beach, CA and actor James Brolin was sitting a couple tables away with his family (not Barbara Streisand in those days).

    I spoke briefly with NBA legend Julius Erving (Dr. J.) after a playoff game in Philadelphia. I asked him to sign the back of a photo I had taken of him at the previous game. But he absent-mindedly signed the front, which I now realize makes a lot more sense. But he apologized when he realized that he hadn’t done exactly as I had asked.

    Once Bill Walton and his family were camping at the same campground in Kings Canyon National Park, CA. This was while he was still with the Trail Blazers. Saw him again crossing the street in Portland when he was in town doing a playoff game for ABC several years ago.

    Another time I flew from Nuku’alofa, Tonga to Suva, Fiji on the same plane as the South African national rugby team, fresh from their drubbing by the Tongans. Their biggest guy was about my size. I’m sure the Tongan water boy’s little sister outweighed him.

    I’ve had a few conversations with fingerstyle guitar legend Leo Kottke over the years. Last time I amazed him by presenting a copy of his first album (LP) “12-string Blues” for autographing. He told me they had only cut about 1500 copies.

    I have had personal guitar lessons, more than once with each, in their homes, with Stefan Grossman (New York City), John Miller (Seattle) and Mark Hanson (Portland) That’s a list which would wow folk musicians, but nobody else.

    And another coupe for a folkie was the time I drove Robin Williamson and John Renbourn from their gig in Seattle up to their hotel in Everett, and then the next day I drove them to a radio interview, my friend’s guitar shop (Blue Heart Music in Everett) and another friend’s restaurant, and eventually to their gig in Everett, where I got to hang out in the dressing room with them. Then on the third day I drove them to SeaTac Airport. I could do know wrong in Michael Gardner’s eyes after bringing those guys into his guitar shop.

    And last but not least, in 1994 I was in Danny’s Guitars, a well-known vintage guitar shop in Everett, WA, which is about 30 miles north of Seattle. Danny was always really cool about me coming in and playing old Martins and Gibsons. I never even bought anything from him but he was interesting to talk to about old guitars.

    One day I was playing a fabulous old Martin over in the corner, noodling around on some blues stuff, and a guy came into the shop and Danny was beside himself, only I didn’t know who the guy was. Danny had him autograph one of his personal guitars and two other customers were following the guy around like puppies, so I knew he was some rock God, only I don’t know the rock God pantheon as well as the fingerpickers.

    So I continued to amuse myself in the corner on this fantastic old Martin guitar and the guy ambled on over and grabbed some old vintage electric guitar off the rack and sat about 7 or 8 feet away and started jamming with me, with the guitar unplugged. I could still hear him and I was having fun. We smiled at each other. The other two guys were giddy by then.

    I found out later it was Eddie Vetter from Pearl Jam.

  8. Hello Newmexiken, I’ve been reading you for a while, and it seems to me that you can top us all. Spill it out! … Please.
    As for me, I was within 15 feet of President Kennedy in 1962.
    I shook Frank Zappa’s hand in a small punkish nightclub (The Spirit in San Diego)where he and I were customers. He had played at a Sports Arena earlier that evening in San Diego.
    I stepped on Princes’ foot while dancing with Vanity, at Prince’s birthday party, in his studio. I was a caterer who was allowed to mingle.
    Shook hands with Howard Dean, talked a little, at an early campaign stop, before he got going.
    I went to a party last year, with lots of beer and pot smoking, and there were TWO Nobel Prize winners there. San Diego is so hip.
    How does this register ? : Led Zeppilen front row in 1969?

  9. You over estimate my past Richard.

    However, the first time I met Walt Rostow, President Johnson’s national security adviser, and arguably a prime mover behind the Vietnam war, I was standing at a urinal. It did occur to me to turn and splash.

  10. I forgot that I also drank beer with ZZ Top when I was a reporter. I met Rita Rudner after her show in Las Vegas. I met Dirk Kempthorne (now Secretary of the Interior) when he was running for Senate. I think an interesting future New Mexiken posting may be “Who would you like to meet?”

  11. I’m going to stick to my no-professional-contacts pledge, but I remembered a few more entirely amateur encounters:

    I saw Milton Berle outside Junior’s Deli in Los Angeles, getting out of the passenger side of a giant Cadillac. I saw Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr. at the Kentucky Derby. And the kid from “Benson” on an elavator at MOCA. And Brandon Tartikoff on an elevator at Cedars-Sinai when my first son was born. I was in line behind Sally Struthers — in line! — outside the Improv. She was fat like a knockwurst. And I watched Senator Mitch McConnell at Brooks Brothers in Louisville. It took him, like, 40 minutes to choose a tie, and he chose a really boring, yellow one.

    Oh, and before we were married, my wife touched Tom Jones and came away with a sweaty hand.

  12. Oh yeah, one more: Once in a second-hand store in West Hollywood I found a huge “foundation garment” that had a tag on the inside explaining that it had been “Custom Made for Miss Ethel Merman.”

  13. I won’t even ask why you were in a second-hand store checking women’s undergaments Tom.

    I was once on a flight from Dallas to Washington with Red Skelton and he stood up and did a little routine. (For you young folks, Red Skelton was a comedian, movie star in the 40s, and huge TV star in the 60s.)

    Oh, and I waited on two-time Oscar winner Frederic March and honorary Oscar winner Ralph Bellamy when I worked at the Tucson Country Club a 100 years ago.

  14. I thought of another well-known face I’ve come across. One Saturday afternoon back in ’94 I had an out of town guest with me and were driving south on I-205 in Portland. When we reached the Clackamas County line I made a point of telling my friend Mark that we were now in Tonya Harding’s home county, which was also mine at the time.

    He asked if I ever see her and of course I told him, “Sure, all the time.” Not!

    Less than 10 minutes later we stopped at K-Mart to by some blank video tapes. I pointed him into a line that had the cutest checker. In line I realized Mark was standing next to a blond woman in tight shorts who had some very nice legs. Then she turned around and I almost started laughing.

    Mark was oblivious to the fact that he was standing within elbow room of Tonya. All of the K-Mart employees were atwitter though. The guy she was with was giving me the stink-eye as well. She paid with a personal check.

    I should have offered to buy the check for $50 plus the face value of the check. What could I get on eBay for a check from America’s most famous trailer queen to K-Mart, symbol of low budget white America?

    Later that year I almost literally ran into her in the produce section of my local supermarket. It was Sunday before Thanksgiving and she and her Mom were laying in supplies for the big event. I stood behind them in the checkout line. I was thinking about giving them a sob story about how I had just moved there that summer (true) and had no plans for Thanksgiving (not true) to see what would happen. But alas I am not that audacious.

    Later Tonya married the son of an electrician I have worked with on a few different jobs. The marriage was a publicity stunt by her to offer an exclusive to one of the tabloids. That was the time she chased a paparazzi down the freeway, still in her wedding dress, to get pictures he had taken of their wedding, possibly queering her deal.

    And lastly I worked with the guy who used to share a trailer with her over on the Washington side of the river. You might remember him. He got hit in the face by a hubcap.

    Sorry to use up so much comment space on my tiny little brushes with fame. Of course regulars here at MewMexiKen know my big brother has hobnobbed with presidents. Ex-presidents at least.

  15. Let me try again – I stood in line for the Matterhorn at Disneland with Sara Gilbert – Darlene the middle daughter on Rosanne

  16. Veronica and I just sat down to see who we could list. Some are mine and some are hers and some are ours. People who know us can probably tell which are which. I am not sure who is “most” famous.

    Persons spoken with:
    John Kerry (worked for)
    Howard Dean (worked for)
    Harry Reid (worked for friend)
    Christy Turlington (magazine photo shoot)
    Kate Moss (magazine photo shoot)
    Naomi Campbell (magazine photo shoot)
    Issabella Rossalini (magazine photo shoot)
    Elle McPhereson (magazine photo shoot)
    Famke Janssen (went to school with)
    Amanda Peet (went to school with)
    Paul Auster (had coffee with)
    Lead singer Fine Young Canibals (sat on train next to)
    Jesse Norman (met for work)
    Julianne Moore (friend of friend of friend)

    People seen in person:
    Ronald Reagan (2 speeches)
    George Bush (speech)
    Bill Clinton (speech)
    Al Gore (walking in hallway in White House)
    Dan Quayle (walking in hallway in Capitol)
    Ted Kennedy (played softball with)
    David Sedaris (speech)
    Woody Allen and daughter/wife (on NYC street)
    Steve Martin (speech)
    Salman Rushdie (sat behind in audience)
    Susan Sarandon (peace rally)
    Harrison Ford (shopping in Jackson)
    Jerry Seinfeld (eating in NYC)
    Antonio Bandaras and Melanie Griffith (shopping in Aspen)
    Uma Thurman (shopping in NYC)
    Liv Tyler (NYC subway)
    Regis Philbin (on NYC street)
    Adam Sandler (on NYC street)
    Bill Mahr (sat on same plane)
    Woody Harrelson (LA bar)

  17. Well, I saw Andy Warhol in … 1986? but then I didn’t. That was when he sent out just anybody in a wig and a mumble. I saw Buckminster Fuller the next week, and unfortunately, it was very similar. Mumbling. Droll movies. As interesting as you wanted it to be.

  18. A guy I carpooled with had a hair-trigger for road rage. Once when he felt he’d been cut off he cut right back. The car he cut off happened to be the limo with William Webster, director of the FBI, and the car that cut us off was the lead car of his motorcade.

    I’m surprised I’m not still spread eagled on some D.C. street.

    I saw First Lady Hilary Clinton, VP Gore, King Hussein of Jordan, Boris Yeltsin and Jesse Jackson in the lobby of my office building. In another building I nearly ran into Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice in the hall outside my office door. Saw Donald Rumsfeld there, too.

  19. Bill Clinton and Tiger Woods on the same day. It was at the President’s Cup in Manassas Lake, Virginia. Clinton was 5 ft away from me and I got to chat with Tiger.

  20. I don’t think seeing a professional golfer at a golf tournement ought to count. It’s not like seeing, just for example, Pia Zadora in a grocery store in North Hollywood. I just thought of that. Also, I sat next to Mayor Bradley’s wife at a Dodger game and she did nothing but eat the whole time.

  21. Sorry, I promise: This is it. I forgot about airports. Ray Charles at O’Hare, Muhammad Ali in Atlanta, and Wynton Marsalis at LAX, really early in the morning, sitting on a bench by the ticket counters in Terminal 1.

    Oh, yeah: Ted Danson at Gladstone’s 4 Fish in Malibu. His hair looked completely artificial, like it was made out of vulcanized rubber.

  22. In order of importance. To me, anyway.

    On my way to a concert by the band David and The Giants (Christian rock band from the late 80s) I rode the hotel elevator all the way down with the entire band.

    I saw Muhammad Ali in the airport in Louisville, KY about 10 or 12 years ago. He was being picked up at the gate by one of those little transport cars, and it nearly ran me down.

    In 1987 I was 18 years old and my family was vacationing in Washington, D.C. We were standing on the steps of the capitol building when a Huey gunship flew overhead. It was so low that we could clearly see the the 50 cal. machine guns hanging off each side. It hovered overhead for a few moments and then Marine 1 came into view. It was low enough that we could see President and Mrs. Reagan sitting inside. We were the only people visible around the capitol at the time, and we waved to the President, and we could clearly see him waving back.

    This doesn’t count exactly, but I’m sharing it anyway. A few years later, after learning of President Reagan’s Alzheimer’s disease, i wrote a letter to the President. I received a hand written note from Mrs. Reagan thanking me for the kind words. It’s among my most prized possessions.

  23. It IS addictive, isn’t it?

    I forgot to mention that I went to high school with Moe Udall’s son Brad. Had him in 2 or 3 classes too. NFL referee Ed Hochuli was also there; he was two years ahead of me, but his brother was in a few of my classes over the years.

    And once while backpacking in the Sierra Nevadas my buddy and I were overtaken by a group on horseback. A guide was taking clients up to an isolated lake to drop them off for a week. As we sat talking with the guide my friend Richard noticed that one of the clients was actor Kirk Douglas.

    Not so lonely were the Brave that day.

    And NewMexiKen’s pop, (and mine too) once had Yogi Berra pull up next to him at a red light in Tucson and ask directions to a local strip club. Dad actually made a u-turn and had Yogi follow him there. Dad didn’t go in. He probabaly had enough on his hands explaining to our step-mom how he knew about that place.

  24. During his “hooked on pain meds” phase, I had breakfast with the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist, along with student representatives of every special interest group at the University of Michigan who held him in contempt (I was there for the ACLU). He seemed very, very calm.

    Oh, I went to a Cub’s game at Wrigley Field with my brother and his friend Mark DeCarlo when Studs was white hot and I thought TV couldn’t get any crasser and Microsoft was overpriced.

  25. A few more:

    Evander Holyfield and family (skiing in Steamboat Springs)
    Tom Cruise and Rob Reiner (filming A Few Good Men on the street outside my house)

  26. The flood gates of memory remain open.

    Actress Brianne Leary from the TV show CHiPS and numerous parts in other forgetable TV shows went to my high school. I believe she graduated a year behind me.

    And I saw Mr. T at a Seventy-Sixers’ basketball game in Philadelphia.

  27. Dean Martin at the Hamburger Hamlet on Sunset. I forgot about that. He was really old and ate alone in one of those big booths. And Michael Eisner and his family eating at the Hollywood Athletic Club, which is a bar and restaurant not a gym. And Peter the rapist from St. Elsewhere at Venice Beach. He was walking along with some babe and I felt like warning her, but then I remembered he was only a rapist on TV and he probably wasn’t dangerous in real life.

    Oh, and on our last night out in Los Angeles, before we moved, we saw Tim Allen in the bar at Campanile on La Brea. I think it was Campanile, anyway. I’d had a few drinks, enough that later that night my wife and I seriously considered getting tattoos. Anyway, I think it was Campanile, though it might have been Ca’Brea. But it was definitely Tim Allen.

    Oh yeah: Clarence Williams III leaning up against the back wall of the front bar at the Improv, looking very Linc, if you know what I mean, all slouchy.

  28. I’m very impressed.
    Patty Berg, watched her play a round of golf- have autograph
    Roy Rogers and Dale Evans – from a distance
    Leon McAuliffe (Steel Guitar Master) met him
    Ben Johnson (Academy Award Winner) met him in Pawhuska, OK at the rodeo
    Jackson Browne- met him
    Hoyt Axton- met him
    Linus Pauling- shook his hand
    Aaron Copeland- barely met him
    Michio Kaku (co-founder of the String Field Theory) was an overnight guest
    Gerry Spence -lawyer- met him
    Michael Caine- chatted with him at a juice bar in Miami
    Barry Switzer (football coach) danced with him
    RC Gorman- posed for picture with him
    Fred Williamson “The Hammer”- met him
    Gene Siskel- showed him some antiques
    Mercedes Ruehl- met her
    James Dickey- Poet- met him
    Can I add more later?

  29. Once, I went to Dennis Rodman’s birthday party at a club in Chicago called Crobar. With caged performers dripping wax on each other and scantily-clad men in butterfly wings, it was quite an occurrence to say the least and I was probably the most clothed person in attendance. Best “fly on the wall” experience I’ve had thus far.

Comments are closed.