Disastrous brush with a celebrity?

No, but I once met a disastrous celebrity with a brush.

Working in an office, the phone rings, I pick up and a gruff voice says: hello is Wendy there please? I recognized his voice as Lemmy from Motörhead/Hawkwind.

We had a nice conversation as I gushed my approval of his unusual singing and bass playing, affiming my belief that he is a really top bloke.

It was Wendy's day off, I reckon she was sitting next to him trying not to laugh.

Just before my last conference xc meet I got to share the breakfast counter with Arlo Guthrie and his band at the Windemere Hotel in Chicago's South Side. The team had eaten earlier and I told the coach I saw no reason to get up at 5:30 AM for an 11 AM race, so he let me go on my own at 7:30 or so.

Sat at the counter alone, and all these guys gathered. I didn't ask for autographs or make any remarks about Alice's Restaurant, just enjoyed the banter and said good day to them. They were funny and nice.

JCR2000 wrote:

This is a serious question. Why do grown men, who are not collectors, get autographs? I understand pictures, but an autograph on a napkin or piece of paper I don't.

I don't either, I was there for the free beer.

A few yeas ago I was in Indy to watch USA's. I ran into Adam Nelson at a bar...I asked to have my picture taken with him...he said yes...I then asked that we could make it look like we were arm wrestling...he said yes...and then he totally hammed it up making it look like I was kicking his butt...great guy, very very nice.

I also ran into the Brojos at the same bar. I challenged Wejo to an arm wrestling match for a beer...he declined...but I got Rojo to do it...I won...and Rojo never bought me the beer...jerk.

Up The Irons, are you a Maiden fan like me? Remember this bar bill when they bought for all the roadies, etc?

http://therecshow.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/ironmaidens-bar-tab.jpg

Yea I had a run in with Timothy Hutton, it was gnarly. Was supposed to interview with someone on Skype, and when I get on they give me the name, and its Timothy Hutton, so I skype him, he answers, and like a total douche, tries to do the "uhhh I dont have time right now, I've gotta be somewhere, and youre breaking up I'm losing you! rthghrjhfgdhfdhfjdh". The guy looked dead and hungover, and must have totally forgot that on skype I CAN SEE HIM! It was a great run in, and at the same time glad I never worked for the guy, haha!

Lorenzo the Magnificent wrote:

Up The Irons, are you a Maiden fan like me? Remember this bar bill when they bought for all the roadies, etc?

http://therecshow.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/ironmaidens-bar-tab.jpg

I am a fan...but I have not seen that...ahahahaha...awesome

Ran into Franco Harris at a restaurant 10 years ago. He was very gracious, quiet and said all the right things. The nicest person in the world.

I have a friend who worked at a running store in Eugene, ca. 1979-80. He said one day Mary Decker walked in so he chatted her up, pretending not to know who she was. He asked her PRs and she said 4:20 mile and he blurted out no way! Totally disbelieving. He said she got all flustered, but he played it up for a bit more, and only acted half convinced that she was indeed the American record holder.

The cad!

I grew up in Oakland in the 1970s and my Dad and I used to go to Raider games back when they were colorful and before they were gangbanger-ish. We used to have big tailgates and the Raiders team bus came by our tailgate and the players stepped off which was a huge thrill for me as I was 8-9 yers old. They wound up spending 20 minutes or more, chatting with everyone and signing a lot of autographs for me and a couple of other kids my age, I even got to toss the ball around. They ate most of our burgers, chicken, steaks and dogs, but I met 20 of them or more: Ted Hendricks, Fred Biletnikoff, Otis Sistrunk, Gene Upshaw, Art Shell, Kenny Stabler, Ray Guy, Cliff Branch, Jim Otto, Marv Hubbard, Jack Tatum, George Atkinson, a whole shitload of guys who at the time were heroes.

As amazing as it was, I can't stand today's version of the Raiders or their thug fans. They are still my team but it is painful.

Met Frank Shorter at a race. My drunk girlfriend told him that a I broke a course record of his from long ago. I was horrified for a second but Frank was cool as $hit. He was like, wow, damn , I thought I still had that record, and acted like he actually cared. Very fun guy, had several beers. The girlfriend got dumped but not for spouting off to frank shorter.

Oh aren't you just the funniest guy, so witty and charming. Tool.

I don't think any of my celebrity encounters have been disastrous. But once I was on a NYC-bound train that got held up on a track at the Stamford, Connecticut station while an Amtrak was on the track next to us. After several minutes of waiting, Donald Rumsfeld and his entourage strolled up and got on the Amtrak, which had to leave before our train. He was smiling goofily, as always.

I met Jim Ryun and Maurice Green when I was at the KU Relays. They signed my copy of Once a Runner and got a picture with both of them. Two of the nicest people I have ever met.

I don't have a good celebrity story, but my wife does.

She was walking out of a smoothie king in Atlanta one day eating with a friend. The friend has a smoothie and my wife a bag of yogurt balls. As they approached their car my wife drops the contents of the bag near the tires of the range rover parked next to her. She proceeds to kick the yogurt balls away from the tires so the RR won't have to drive over them on her account (just the type of person she is). As she is doing this, the owner of the range rover approaches, a thin black man dressed oddly - Andre 3000, but she didn't realize it was him (she's not too in to pop culture). From his perspective it appears she is kicking his tires. He asks what she is doing and she explains. He says "oh, ok" gives her a grin like, "yes it's me, Andre, go ahead talk to me". With her thinking he was just some guy, she awkwardly grins back for a second and gets into her car and leaves.

Once in the car her friend says you do realize that was Andre 3000, right?

Larry David was a guest speaker at my undergraduate school for Barak Obama during the primaries. I showed up late and drunk just in time for the Q&A session. Students asked him questions about Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm and whether he would go to xyz frat to drink afterwards.

I raise my hand and proceed to ask him questions about Arrested Development and when the movie was coming out. He claimed he had no idea, I said bullshit and asked again. He laughed it off and continued taking questions.

4 years later I call bullshit again:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0901469/

So I am at the New Jersey Meet of Champions. I'm hanging out with a friend who is one of the best coaches in NJ. We're chatting about the 4 x 400 team from Winslow that is made up of two sets of twins and were favored to win the meet.

My buddy said (maybe a little too loudly) that Winslow will run 3:10. Harry Groves turns around and says that my friend is nuts and that he would bet him a buck that they wouldn't run faster than 3:12. After some good natured crap talking, the bet was on.

Winslow ran 3:10 and they continued to talk crap. My buddy departed to go coach his team. Harry asked me who my friend was and what school he coached.

Apparently, Harry signed a dollar bill and sent it to my friend with an obscenity laced note.

Good stuff. Only from Harry.

I saw Rummy get rejected by a cab driver on Connecticut Avenue a few years ago. The cabbie pulled up to pick him up, but once he saw who it was, he burned rubber, leaving Rummy standing there dumbfounded in his gigantic, billowy suit.