Have you had a brush with fame.

[wellstone dem]

I spoke with Alan Alda on the phone once. I had a college internship at the National Women's Political Caucus and was helping to organize a fundraiser. We had asked Alan and his wife to be sponsors. He called to tell us he would be happy to do so.

[HEyHEY]

1. Everytime someone almost sees me naked

[CottonBear]

5. My husband knows the guys from r.e.m.

and his band opened for them back in the 1980's. They were all in the same music scene from the late 1970's-1980's and played the same clubs here.

[HEyHEY]

8. That's cool, but what does it have to do with me being naked?

[dr.strangelove]

37. I don't care

Talk more about being naked!!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. No; I'm amazingly obscure.

And I like it that way.

[Padraig18]

3. I've had drinks with John Malkovich.

He came here to accept a distinguished alumnus award from one of his alma maters, E.I.U., and Tony and I were having supper at a local bar when he came in and sat down next to me. It was odd, because almost no one seemed to realize who he was, probably because the place was so crowded (homecoming weekend). I can report that he is pleasant, witty and intelligent, and not the least bit 'snobbish', or self-important.

:)

[YellowRubberDuckie]

27. Malkovich is a very different guy...

I'm sure he is witty and intelligent and I like hearing that he's not the least bit snobbish. Most genius actors are strange. And he's a genius.

Duckie

[UrbScotty]

4. I've met NASCAR's Johnny Benson and The Honorable Jennifer Granholm

:D

[derrald]

6. related to Leo DiCaprio

and I know Jennifer Garner.... so, how's that one work out?

[callous taoboy]

7. Yes:

Here's some name dropping for you: David Byrne, Ken Kesey, Hunter S. Thompson. Oh, and Roger Mudd. Also got to hang out last year with most of the cast of Dazed and Confused, chatted with Nicky Katt about Austin in the 70's.

[callous taoboy]

12. also Douglas Adams-

Gave him a ride from the Anchorage airport and he made me pull over so he could check out comet Hail-Bopp.

[LSparkle]

13. Dr HST!!!!

That is the coolest thing ever! Not to mention Kesey ... wow.

[callous taoboy]

35. LSparkle, it was a night to remember-

Got to ride in the psychedelic bus out to Kesey's farm and hang out at his dining table with a bunch of deadheads, HST, and a couple of pranksters. Really great evening. Kesey kept making silver dollars appear and disappear, all the while talking and talking about life is an illusion, about how it's best to take an obscure middle road rather than put a sticker on your car letting the world know exactly where you stand. He said that that is what the gov't wants- Get the masses divied up into clear groups so they know who they are dealing with. He said that that was what the whole bus thing was about in the 60's. They'd roll into some town, harmless but still like aliens from outer space. HST was really nice, and he kept tossing off these perfectly acidic Thompsonesque lines that would crack us all up. Magical night that all started with me deciding to step onto the bus which happened to pull up to the corner where my rent house was in Eugene, Oregon. Like that Dead tune about the bus door opened and I stepped on. On the bus.

[DODI]

9. I met and spoke with Al Stewart after a show at Toad's Place

Very nice guy. My husband shook hands with Pete Conrad.

[Dem Agog]

10. I was on prime time television once...

A good 45 seconds of my fifteen minutes were eaten up with a little appearance by me on "Candid Camera" when I was 5. I was at a dairy in Atlanta known as Mathis Dairy. Our school went there to milk Rosebud, their little mascot cow.

Wes Mathis (hot little kid) was one of the family there, and he was in my class. So he's in it too, drinking milk straight from the udder (shiver)... I was the kid who was too scared to milk the cow. They have me backing up to the milking stool, pouting and putting my head in my hands and sobbing, "But I don't wanna" very quietly (so as not to disturb the cow).

My mother keeps this on VHS to embarrass me.

[Left Is Write]

11. No, but I've had lots of brushes with people who are famous.

I was a radio disk jockey and music director for a few years in the early-mid 90s, and I met and/or interviewed a number of famous people during that time. Some were stars, some were has-beens, some were wannabes.

[barackmyworld]

14. You may have seen this yahoo photo during the DNC

It is me:

[DemocratSinceBirth]

15. I've Actually Met And Chatted With Arnold During His Conan Days

[DenverDem]

16. Bruce Springsteen stole my girlfriend in college.

I was going to Texas in Austin and going with a red headed model and drama student. We went to see Bruce on his first tour in 75, he played in front of about 300 people in Armadillo World Headquarters. We were backstage afterward and when Bruce met Karen, he fell instantly in love with her (completely unbeknownst to me) and started a hot correspondence with her. When she broke the news to me that she was leaving me and school and moving to New Jersey, she said "If you were rich and famous I'd rather stay with you, BUT. . . " and I threw her out of my house. She threw one of her shoes, the big platform things that were trendy at that time, missing me but putting a huge hole in the wall of my living room.

A month later, Bruce was on the cover of both Time and Newsweek the same week and Karen was pictured with him in Newsweek. I was legendary among my peers, but it was a very painful experience, nonetheless. She ended up leaving Bruce for Todd Rundgren, another of my hero's, so I guess Bruce got some karmic comeuppance. I think she's still with Todd, and I'm happily married so I guess we both made out fine.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

19. She Gave Up The Boss For The Hello It's Me Guy...

That's like giving up Anna Kournikova for Roseanne Barr...

[DenverDem]

24. I'd have to disagree with you on that.

Todd is cool and brilliant, he's just worth a few million less than Bruce.

But, hell, she gave ME up for Bruce, so, of course, her judgement is suspect.

[miss_kitty]

28. I met Todd rungren once

At the Edgewater Inn, Here in Seattle, home of the famed 'Mudshark' Incident Frank Zappa wrote of.

We were both extremely high, and half his face was painted blue. Before your ex met him.

[DenverDem]

30. Wow, massive hipness cred on at least two counts there.

I am totally impressed.

Todd is still a hero of mine both because of his musical achievements and his high tech cutting edgeness.

[Rambis]

17. Henny Youngman

It was in Indiana at some hotel restaurant, he asked me what I was having to eat. I was confused because my parents who told me never talk to strangers were motioning me to go sit with this old guy who I didn't know. In case anyone is remotely interested I was having a hot dog.

[one_true_leroy]

18. No.... but I had comb with lots of moxie!

[UncleSepp]

20. Interviewed Vladimir Zhirinovsky

I was in Moscow in the summer of '93, and I was doing some research for a thesis on the rise of the radical right in Russia. I thought the LDPR seemed like a promising party within that movement, and got an appointment for an interview. I thought I would be interviewing a secretary or public relations person, but was told on arriving that Mr. Zhirinovsky would be available after his conference. The whole leadership of the LDPR filed out of his office. I went in, met him and his wife, had some sekt and chocolates, and did an interview that ran for nearly two hours. The whole experience was hair-raising in its ordinariness, and hasn't gotten any less so with time even though it has been ten years.

[RiffRandell]

21. Met the Ramones in 1988

backstage in Providence, mostly talked with Deedee. Shook Bill Clinton's hand in 1992 while he was campaigning in CT.

[Modem Butterfly]

22. T-Day with Charlton Heston

In college, I had a friend who's parents had Hollywood connections (production side, no one famous). She invited me to have T-Day with her family one year when my parents had won a cruise. Charlton Heston was the guest of "honor", and let me tell you, he was a total asshole. He pontificated through about half the meal, then, about the same time as the turkey was served, he actually LEFT because he had a "prior" engagement. We were all nicely toasted before he arrived, and as I recall, there was a lot of tension between my friend's parents, who divorced not too long after that. This was in the early '90's, and Chuck had made some sort of God-awful TV movie with my friend's dad's company.

[Rumba]

23. Vincent Price, Michael Stipe, Meredith Baxter-Birney

Vincent Price gave a talk at my high school once. As the crowd was leaving a firend and I, both being in drama, knew how to slip backstage. Once we said hello his aide went and locked the door we had used, while he talked with us for about 5 minutes.

I kind of annoyed Michael Stipe once at a bar in Athens GA. He wasn't really in the mood for fans, just wanted to hang out with friends.

In LA last spring I went to a ballroom dance place and ended up doing a foxtrot with Meredith Baxter-Birney.

Oh, and a friend got us seat filler tickets to the Emmy's last spring. I sat beside Gary Sinise, right behind Donald Trump and just in front of Antonio Banderas and Melanie Griffith. The Donald reached over my shoulder to shake hands with Banderas and probably "brushed" my shoulder. Does that count? :)

[leftofthedial]

25. my whole life has been

a brush with fame

[TroubleMan]

26. I've had a few

I got touched on the chin by Salt of Salt N Peppa while she was singing a song. I was able to go backstage and talk to her, because I was friends with the owner of the club.

At the same club, Biz Markie used to guest DJ. I had several conversations with him.

Same club again: I talked about a minute with Guru of Gangstar.

I went to elementary school with Cory Fleming. He played receiver for the University of Tennesse and the Dallas Cowboys. He even went to one of my birthday parties.

I met Soleil Moon Frye once when Punky Brewster was popular. My next door neighbors' granddaughter often stayed with them during the summer. She was Soleil's cousin, and Soleil visited them one day. I talked to her right from my backyard.

In Okinawa I partied pretty hard with the Ayame Band. They're not big stars or real famous, but they did have a CD out at that time, and I saw them on TV a couple of times. I used to go to the bar they owned in Nago a lot.

I went to high school with Kidd Money, who was a rapper somewhat famous in South Florida. He was a member of the Splack Pack, who had a big national hit in the mid-90's. Actually he headlined the group. I didn't really know him that well though. It was a big high school, and I only went there my senior year. He was barely an acquaintance.

I once dated a former girlfriend to Curt Warner (former Seahawks running back), and a former girlfriend of Brad Johnson (superbowl winning quarterback for Tampa Bay). Of course, I don't know if they were telling me the truth, but I've go no reason to doubt them.

I'm sure there's a couple more, but I can't think of them of the top of my head right now.

[Cadence]

29. Had a conversation with Francis Ford Coppola once

I didn't know who he was at the time. I was just standing there and he started talking to me and when the conversation ended he went and sat behind a table with a guard and started signing autographs.

I've had that happen a LOT. I'm incredibly unfazed by famous people I don't know why that is, sometimes I wish I would get excited about it just so I'd have SOME reaction....but nope...nothing..nada.

Plus I'm a geek because the people I'd get excited about would be Senator Robert Byrd, Maya Angelou, Nelson Mandela. Why can't I ever accidentally have a conversation with them?

[tigereye]

31. Mick Jagger and Jerri Hall walked right by me

at a theater in Pittsburgh. They were inches away. It was really weird. There was no body guard with them... I think he was outside. Jagger was really craggy and short. She was tall and beautiful. Good thing my friend was late for the film or I would never have seen them.

[yellowdogintexas]

32. Sat in Earl Scrugg's living room while he played the banjo

which my husband had just bought from him. Pretty cool.

Met Al Gore two times
Go to church with Retired Speaker of the House Jim Wright (I LOVE him, he is so sweet!)
Shook hands with Ann Richards once
Rode in an elevator with Chet Atkins
Graduated from college with Minnie Pearl (actually she received an honorary degree from my college at the time of my graduation.)

My ex husband went to grad school with David Stockman, so I met him a few times.

(on edit:) completely forgot! Ethan Hawke was at my church yesterday. His grandparents are members and he shows up periodically with them. I have met him before but did not talk to him yesterday. But I met his mom

[MichaelHarris]

33. yup

was in a horrible movie with Roy Schieder called "Night Games" He got to knock me down at the end of the movie. It's weird because in real life he's like 3'5"

[Baldsicle]

34. I shook Dennis Kucinich's hand

first time in 2002 and then again in 2004. He's my Congressman.

[flygal]

36. I babysat Howie Long's kid for a couple of hours one day

I worked on the set of one of his movies and offered to watch his son while Howie was filming. Nice guy.

[City of Mills]

38. Shared a doob with...

...the guy who wrote and sang "That Thing you Do!", from the Tom Hanks movie of the same name. :headbang:

[Patiod]

48. My S.O. showed Cesar Romero how to use a bong

He was appearing in a local production, and my S.O. was working as a stagehand. Mr. Romero approached him, and asked to be shown how to use the bong properly so he would look authentic on stage.

I wonder how he knew to approach my then-shaggy & bearded S.O. for this information?

[Byronic]

39. In a sinister kind of way....

Perhaps a brush, not so much with fame, but with infamy.

I once interviewed Diana Mosley (the wife of the war-time British Fascist leader Sir Oswald Mosley). She seemed very pleasant, very friendly, but I found it impossible to concentrate on the topic in hand: my eye kept straying to a photograph she had on a side-table of her and a certain Nazi leader and dictator of Germany.

She had got married in the drawing room of Goebbels' house, and Hitler had attended the wedding.

I did try to remain professional but it was really quite chilling. Till the day she died, she kept that photograph of Hitler on display in her apartment.

Not a nice lady.

[City of Mills]

40. The details of my life are quite inconsequential....

Very well, where do i begin? My father was a relentlessly self-improving boulangerie owner from Belgium with low grade narcolepsy and a penchant for buggery. My mother was a fifteen year old French prostitute named Chloe with webbed feet. My father would womanize, he would drink. He would make outrageous claims like he invented the question mark. Sometimes he would accuse chestnuts of being lazy. The sort of general malaise that only the genius possess and the insane lament. My childhood was typical. Summers in Rangoon, luge lessons. In the spring we'd make meat helmets. When I was insolent I was placed in a burlap bag and beaten with reeds- pretty standard really. At the age of twelve I received my first scribe. At the age of fourteen a Zoroastrian named Vilma ritualistically shaved my testicles. There really is nothing like a shorn scrotum... it's breathtaking- I highly suggest you try it.

[dorktv]

42. you poor baby!

[dorktv]

41. Let me see...

Internationally known people:
Howard Dean-worked my heart out on his campaign and got my picture in the papers for the first time with his campaign, have seen/met him at almost every event he has come out to Phoenix for.
Ambassador Joseph Wilson-met him at a Foothills Democrats Fundraiser got the only interview allowed. (the press was only allowed to film his speech but I got to actually interview him...ooh lala! he is a total sweetheart)
Al Franken-met him at a book signing/speech
Michael Moore-backstage at the Slacker tour. Not much of a meeting though but I did get a free set of the F9/11 materials.

Nationally known people:
Governor Janet Napolitano-Various Democratic events
Paul Babbitt-Same
JD Hayworth-Round Table discussion. I kicked his ass but no one talks about that because it might make him cry.

Locally known people-
Jim Pederson-State Party chair
Raul Grijalva-Congressman from Tucson
Ed Pastor-Congressman from West Phoenix
Various local politicians.
Tony Cani-Generation Dean national organizer

And of course...I was a congressional candidate...so...I am nationally known too. :)

[obreaslan]

43. Hung out backstage with Asia...

For those not in the know, Asia was a progressive rock group from the early 80s.

They were in Philly about 15 years ago, and a friend worked security at the place they played. He got us back stage, and we actually hung out with the band. It was 1991, so their fame had faded, so we were the only ones there with the band. It was a real "Almost Famous" moment, sitting back stage with the band. Geoffrey Downs offered us some vegetable dip. Over all a surreal experience.

[Downtown Hound]

44. I used to landscape right next door to Charles Schultz's house

and see him all the time taking walks. I spoke to him a few times. While I was in Junior College I worked in a movie theater and Joe Montana came in. He couldn't find the bathroom and it was right in front of him. It was pretty funny. He seems like a real decent guy. Another time I used to canvass for an environmental group and I canvassed the house of the guy that played Timmy in Lassie. He had this ornament hanging up that had ceramic border collies hanging from it. I didn't even know it was him until one of my fellow canvassers told me later on.

[Patiod]

45. Put make-up on Justice Breyer & others

A friend who owns a costumer & theatrical make-up store called me at 11pm one Friday - could I show up downtown at 5am for "a PBS thing with a bunch of lawyers". He needed one more pair of hands and I needed the money, plus I've done theater make-up.

So the first person led in was a nice lady, I start her make-up, and someone comes over saying "Senator Boxer, I heard what you said yesterday about..." Senator Boxer? Senator Boxer? Soon realized this was not a "bunch of lawyers" but a Fred Friendly seminar, with (among others)

Stephen Breyer
Antonin Scalia
Bob Squier
Nadine Strossen
Fred Thompson
Barney Frank
Joe Califano
Barbara Boxer
Joe Califano
William H. Webster
Alexander Haig

The store-owner was putting make-up on Barney Franks, and said "I'm using the red base so you don't see your 5 o'clock shadow - we don't want you looking like a transvestite." I asked him later if he had any idea who Franks was, and of course, he didn't.

Alexander Haig was unexpectedly charming, and Justice Breyer very sweet.

[dorktv]

46. did you make sure that Justice Scalia looked dissolute?

[Guaranteed]

47. I had a flame war with Will Pitt once. nt

[dorktv]

49. yeah but everyone has done that.

[obreaslan]

50. I did have a Brush with Death on vacation...