1. Got to have lunch with Evel Knievel as a kid. 2. First time golf caddying was for Telly Savalas. 3. Rode in a tour bus from Eugene to PDX getting really stoned with Bob Marley's daughters while a friend of mine was in the bedroom in the back of the bus with Ziggy Marley. 4. Jammed with Carlos Santana and met the Grateful Dead while partying at Ken Kesey's ranch. 5. Met Ken Kesey. Worked one summer on his ranch. 6. Met Gretchen Corbet 2 different times, one of those times was with Lanny. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0179151/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_0_nm_8_q_Gretchen%20c
I haven't met many celebs. Megan Mullaly when she did a musical preview of young Frankenstein. She was really sweet and it's very odd to watch a multi million dollar person walk down the street, no security or nothing, and be reminded that you watched her on television for years. Always stuck with me. Bob Odenkirk at Powell's (breaking bad had just finished and maybe season 1 of BCS). He bumped into me while walking up to the mic and I was like "what asshole just ran into me" then realized. Saul Goodman knows people so I didn't say anything. Great guy though. In 2019 I finally met the person who most closely resembles what I would call "my idol" though I don't like that term. Brandon Boyd of Incubus. Had seen them several times live but never got a chance. They did Keller auditorium, and he was at the side door. Lots of people wanted to meet him obviously, and one person got really upset and told people to stop kissing "her husband" on the cheek. I just wanted to tell him how much their music and his lyrics meant to me, told him I didn't want a picture. He looked a little confused lmao. I have that memory seared into my brain. That's good enough for me.
Shook hands with Frank Zappa back stage. Met Ann and Nancy Wilson backstage. As a DJ, I interviewed Juice Newton. Ran into an idol an of mine, Mickey Mantle who was in a restaurant booth along with Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford, Billy Martin, Gene Michael, and Charlie Keller...got their autographs !
I've hung out with Michael Andretti a couple times. Very nice guy, down to earth. You'd never know he's a very wealthy racing legend.
Was at the Final Four in Dallas a few years ago, got on the media elevator from the press box down to the floor level and Bill Walton was right behind me. Quickly told him about how he was my dad's favorite and thanked him for the title, even if I wasn't alive back then. The elevator dings for the ground floor, doors open and there is Clyde standing right there, two of the Blazers Mt. Rushmore, they exchanged a quick convo but didn't get to say much to Clyde. Worked a couple of Finals when the Spurs and Heat were playing, got to sit and talk to Kawhi before he was 'Kawhi' and interview all the Spurs in the locker room. Remember one time coming out and seeing LeBron about five feet away standing there and realizing what a giant human he is, not quite in awe like standing next to Shaq but close. Have been to a couple Cowboys camps and fun to talk to some of the younger players after practices and then watch them make it in the NFL and realize those convos would be very different now, like I did back in the day with Dak Prescott. One of the better non sports ones was a while back I went to LA with my ex and she wanted to see some celebs. We parked up in the hills and we're just walking around not seeing much of anything. Crossing a street and this white SUV comes roaring up to a stop light and I look at the driver with an annoyed expression and there was Al Pacino, going full Al Pacino at someone on the phone yelling and being very animated. Ex got a quick pic before the light turned green and he was back on his way.
I met Fred Armissen and Carrie Brownstein when they filmed part of an episode of Portlandia in my house.
Totally forgot about the time I was at a music festival and the Canadian girl I was running around with got us into the artist camping area and we met a few people. Macklemore, Nick Offerman, Danny Brown, and a few other. It was going great until we got busted for dancing on top of Tyler, the Creator's RV and they kicked us out. Another funny story from that event. My friend told me to meet her down by the stage at like 2 o'clock or something. I was wearing flip flops. I got their early right as Dropkick Murphy hit the stage. Was caught right in the middle of the pit. Sandals were gone almost immediately. I had to walk back to my tent a mile or so away barefoot after getting them stomped on a few dozen time. It was BRUTAL.
One of my best friends is actor Eric Millegan. I had lunch with Nobel peace prize winner Betty Williams during peacejam at OSU in April 2007. I was one of a few chosen by her after giving a speech. I met Zach Randolph and Bonzi Wells in the concourse of the Moda Center. They said, "What's up, Little man!" I talked to them about the Blazers for a bit. I met Rasheed Wallace at Fred Meyers. He walked in to buy something. I later got to go to his mansion after he had been traded. His wife's mother and step father were in charge of watching over it after he left. My mom and dad were good friends with them. My dad told them how much of a Blazer fan I was. They gave me a signed Rasheed Wallace jersey that he wore. They also brought me to his mansion where I got to watch a movie in his basement cinema, play basketball on his court. He had a really cool place. A gold golf cart, an aquarium the length and width of his living room wall, and outside his cinema downstairs he had an old-time popcorn machine and a lifesize replica of the predator. I met David Copperfield. My dad was a magician and member of the magic castle. I met him through my dad. Not really me, but my mom had the same babysitter as Steve McQueens kids. She met him one day as a kid when he came to pick up his kids. My mom's grandfather created Orange Winzet, which he sold, and which became Orange Julius.
Dumb encounter with a celeb #2: Met Dame at a Blazer event and said to him, "Yeah, I got a pretty good outside shot too." Totally cracked him up. That was fun.
My ex bro in-law was a caddy for Tom Shaw then Gil Morgan. He left a set of Gils Ben Hogan directors at my house for two years. I used them probably 25 times.
I once had dinner with CJ, Mo Harkless, and Tim Frazier at Bamboo Sushi. They were a couple table away and didn't know it, but it still happened.
I sat next to Ursula K Le Guin at a tiny stage performance of three of her short stories in 2008(?), one of which was written and acted by a close friend of mine from high school (who is an award-winning playwright, which is its own small-time fame thing). We didn't speak but it was intimidating to be within ten feet of a living local and world-wide legend.
