brushes with greatness (again)

Steven Gately and friends in covent garden.

Mike Skinner(the streets) at N.E.R.D. at the astoria.

Jade Goody's new boyf on old compton street

These were my recent discoveries

Jade Goody - Z list big bro fame'r

Steven Gately - the lil one out of Boyzone

Where do you live Fritz?

I smoked a joint with Julia Krafnitz and Bob Bert when Pussy Galore played the Silver Dollar.

I saw Mary Tyler Moore shooting a made-for-TV movie in Union Station.

I got R.L. Burnside's autograph, the only autograph I've ever gotten.

I served drinks to Sean Penn. Lotsa drinks.

Dave Q of the Brazen Hussies sent me his CD.

My ex's best friend slept with Liam Gallagher when she was 16!

I don't know Woody Allen.

i also saw kevin spacey in NY walked right past me and i nodded as i was a lil star struck.

and i have smoked a j with the blutones in Bedford

*ducks*

i have probably pantsed or mooned the entire roster of k records by now

How did that happen?

Hello Google :)

He called him a Gelfling.

so take that you all! I r00l!

Matt DC-applause!

Except, the last time I went to the GM with Boyfriend X (of mildly successful indie band) to wait until indie popsters... and suddenly realised that all of the Swedish tourists were staring at US and whispering! V. embarrassing!

I am in a Sleeper video (not saying which one as I am v prominent), and the US video for Suede's "The Drowners".

I am not a fan of either band.

I just imagine him wildly flailing around girlishly trying to slap people. Could he even beat up a seventh grader?

She has green teeth, but otherwise is pretty friendly but a bit dim. I think that's why she never talks and people think she's "mysterious."

But well done. no need for such a small font.

I nearly ran Melvyn Bragg over on my bike. Camel overcoat, shifty-looking.

re: above

hahaha.... maybe. Yeah, this thread needs to get un-googleable by some very nice Mod.

Cheers Nordic!

I was just remembering the other day that me, her, the guitarist/singer from the Sights and my friend who's currently in Pas/Cal had a one-off band rehearsal. I think we wrote and recorded 5 songs that M@rcie wound up with... It'd be funny to hear them today.

Okay, enough from my past... I am bad.

We would expect no less from a Cosmo man.

not olympia

(In fact, Aaron, I wonder if you know my "sis" - we're not actually related, we just grew up together and played in the same bands half our lives so we used to tell people we were sisters - D@ra A1br0 ???)

Kate-- Don is probably one of the nicest, sincere people I've ever met. Seriously, I give him an A+. (Don't know your sis's name... but it wouldn't surprise me if I'd met her or someone I know knows her.)

I met Jonathan Ross. I've been inside his house. He has (or had) leopard-skin wallpaper in the hall and a study down in the cellar hidden behind a fake bookcase. This is where he has his computer and comics and all kinds of other ephemera. (The wallpaper for his computer was a scan of one of his kids in utero!)

I also met Paul Gambaccini once. I was incredibly drunk and made a joke he was polite enough to smile at.

Oh well, that's as good as it gets here!

Also, I did a fun interview with Cynthia 'Plaster' Caster, and that's about the closest I've come to John Langford and Wayne Kramer(if you know what I mean).

Peter (Yarrow) from Peter, Paul, and Mary went to my high school!

Don Shelby (Minneapolis news anchor with whole slew of Emmys) was a great friend of my uncle's and used to attempt to teach me magic tricks. Also he introduced me to nauseating local talk show hosts Steve Edelman and Sharon Anderson, mentioning that he reckoned they thought their shit didn't smell - while the couple were in earshot.

Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward were regular Sarah Lawrence visitors when I was a student there. As were Yancey Butler, Melora Hardin, Guinevere Turner and Julianna Margulies. My best friend lived across the street from David Lee Roth in Pasadena.

My uncle (the one who ran the Mpls Vice Squad, also mentioned above) was in charge of security operations for important visitors so we were forever being dragged to Orchestra Hall or wherever to meet: the Osmonds, Richard Simmons, Sophia Loren, Catherine Deneuve and once, he had to mastermind security for Mikhail Gorbachev. My cousin was invited to lunch/tea/whatever with Raisa but was too shy to go.

Waited on in shops: Holly Johnson, Angela Lansbury, Elizabeth Jane Howard.

Met through menial/admin jobs of one sort or another: Larry McMurtry, Allen Ginsberg, Kinglsey Amis, Kathy Acker, Gary Indiana.

Passed in street: Dustin Hoffman, Howard Jacobson, Peter O'Toole, John Malkovich (pushing a pram).

Really famous people at same party who are not friends or acquaintances: Kate Moss, Phil Daniels, Claire Danes, Ben Lee, Chloe Sevigny, Will Self.

Grandparents knew: Hubert Humphrey, JFK and Jackie, Bob Hope, Bing Crosby and John Wayne (grandfather's ex-flatmate). Clark Gable tried to pick up my grandmother in 1930. I say 'tried'.

Mother babysat for: Harry Reasoner.

With a group of high-school pranksters, approached former Vikings coach Bud Grant at high-school football game to ask if he was having an affair with one of his players, Scott Studwell (turns out SS is my friend Stuart's cousin).

Spotted Bernard Butler and wife while walking back from watching Princess Diana's hearse go up Finchley Road. As I've never really spoken to him (unlike the rest of Suede, who I know from 'around') I suppose he counts.

Three weeks ago I met K1d C0ng0 P0w3rs, like for real! He said that at his last show people were "trying to lick him".

I keep seeing Jimmy Fallon everywhere. Ally just hang with me and you'll get your chance, seriously.

There are scads of others that I've seen/met/interacted with/fellated but I'm not really interested in listing them all. It's not hard to meet celebs, after all, especially if you live in a big city (though even in small cities you can meet the local celebs easily; it's not so hard to meet the Malkmus here in Portland).

Ex-teen actresses I have either gotten high with or been there while they've gotten high: Claire Danes & Mel1ssa Joan Hart

Crime novelist I was a personal chauffer for for a week: James Ellroy

Actor/bad writer who I've talked about Nick Tosches with: Ethan Hawke

Hey Suzy - what about Ian McCulloch - he give me a big glass of scotch for asking him to show his third nipple off .... and we chatted about echo for awhile and the cast and crew of Holly Oaks!

see, i love spotting and reading spotting but I sound obsessive - you know -WHO HASNT GONE THROUGH MICK JAGGERS GARBAGE ... GEEZ. bahaha..

I was got the drummer from well known band really high on mushrooms (didnt knwo that he was a drummer - I just happen to have some and he happened to ask ... we ended up at this socialite debutante party ... donig all sorts of chemicals by the poool - when girl and i got back to the hotel room to drop him off - the rest of the band was there, really pissed, as they were nine hours late on their tour schedule ... bahahaha...i.e. he was gonig to get the mushrooms for hte bus but i convinced him to take them with me. cause i was a bored teenager!

oh my god Yancey, you serious? you must have one or two stories you can share, please???

i have also met and chatted with mary timony, kim deal, thurston moore, elliot smith, lou barlow, bill callahan and others.

but who really cares.

anyone ever meet harlan ellison?
id trade it all to meet him.

I like the ellroy one too! we need more stories about writers!

My best friend (whom I've not gotten in touch with for awhile), his mother, dated a member of the Young family. Often when I would come over to my best friend's house - Neil would be there and we would talk about the Butthole Surfers. I had no clue who Neil Young was. I was a punk, see. Of course, now - now - would be different. SIGH.

My best friend (whom I've not gotten in touch with for awhile), his mother, dated a member of the Young family. Often when I would come over to my best friend's house - Neil would be there and we would talk about the Butthole Surfers. I had no clue who Neil Young was. I was a punk, see. Of course, now - now - would be different. SIGH.

I was twelve at the time.

My best friend (whom I've not gotten in touch with for awhile), his mother, dated a member of the Young family. Often when I would come over to my best friend's house - Neil would be there and we would talk about the Butthole Surfers. I had no clue who Neil Young was. I was a punk, see. Of course, now - now - would be different. SIGH.

I was twelve at the time.

I can't tell stories about the writers I know cause they are friends. Same with a couple of other 'famous' people who are my friends. But I can whine to them! Boy can I whine!

My best friend (whom I've not gotten in touch with for awhile), his mother, dated a member of the Young family. Often when I would come over to my best friend's house - Neil would be there and we would talk about the Butthole Surfers. I had no clue who Neil Young was. I was a punk, see. Of course, now - now - would be different. SIGH.
I just thought that he was another haggard hippie burn out that hung around my best friend's mother's house.

I was twelve at the time.

I can't tell stories about the writers I know cause they are friends. Same with a couple of other 'famous' people who are my friends. But I can whine to them! Boy can I whine!

I've been for a pint with Jarvis and various other members of Pulp.

And got incredibly pissed with Thousand yard stare.

There are others but I can't remember them.

Oh yeah, I told Pete Kember he looked like a bit of a geek once.

I kept on pushing stop whilst I was drafting it.

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_768681.html

What's Helen Knode written?

I've had conversations with John Cooper-Clarke, Wreckless Eric, Captain Sensible twice and the rest of the Damned once*. I've touched Jonathan Richman's bare chest.

I've passed in the street: Edwina Currie (couple of weeks ago), Armando Ianucci, Phil Jupitus, Dave Allen.

*I mentioned these and some comics people in a conversation about this stuff with this woman I was involved with a while back. She mentioned those she had spent time with: Prince, Aretha Franklin, Spike Lee, Toni Morrison, Denzel Washington - a vast list of the biggest black stars, due to having spent time working on a top British black paper. She was a respected novelist too, and had been on loads of panels and things recently with Zadie Smith.

(Also I google-proofed his name up there so that hordes of crazed Argo fans don't descend on this thread and pester me for details).

I don't keep a list of these encounters - my memory is sufficient. For obvious reasons I'm not naming friends or acquaintances on this thread - and I meet artists/band people so much through work etc. so it's not weird, special or random. That person you consider famous might well be my ex-boyfriend (one person on this thread has named someone I went out with for a spell, but I'm saying nowt).

Oh and when I was leaving BBC London after promoting my book I saw Neil and Christine Hamilton waiting in the lobby, clocked CH's dress, and went 'niiiiiice dress' with extreme sarcasm as I swept out.

For my part:

Met William Shatner during his stint on _TJ Hooker_. He's much shorter than you'd think. Good grip. Wrong hair.

Crossed paths with Tim Leary on a couple of occasions. Dodged pixie dust trailing behind him.

Sat next to Terrence McKenna at a dinner held by one of my old profs. Nice guy. Great conversationalist. Loony, in a good way.

Turned down a joint passed to me by one Peter Kember. Nearly had him nod off on my shoulder; had to wake him after jet lag caught up with him. Very tall. Very gaunt. Very dry. Likes his Velvets boots.

Chatted once with Dave Pearce, but that's only a big deal to those of us not from Bristol, i suppose.

Yep, Tim Booth sat down, sat down next to us. He has a little girlie phone which I mistakenly handed in at the counter as I didn't put it together with the ginger Bonowee wannabe. We had to leave the cafe due to large amounts of 'freelance creatives' having 'meetings'.

(must resist temptation to trump nick)

Sex degrees of separation!

You know when someone behaves in a way that you suspect you might behave in too in those circumstances, but then you see them behave like that and realise that it's lucky you didn't, cos you'd look like a bit of a twat?

Someone once broke up with J0hn Luri3 so she could go out with me. I was like "from what I know of J0hn Luri3 I'm surprised it was necessary to break up in the first place." She told me his constant hypochondria was making her feel vindictive.

(Hey! Isn't the book group like, pretty crap?)

He's HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE!

I saw Henry Thomas hiking shirtless in Griffith Park a couple of weeks ago, that's been my favorite celeb sighting so far this year.

Yeah, so I went to see My Own Private Idaho with my friend Marina and Nick Cave. He didn't laugh at Udo Kier's wacky performance art in the hotel room. Marina and I bust a gut. And I braided Jeffrey Lee Pierce's hair in my dorm room, but that wasn't really a chance encounter.

I don't know anyone famous anymore. Except Kid, he should be more famous.

Q: Are we not men? A: We are Cave-O!

Rude!

Of all the famous mentioned in this thread, I would really like to know more about Captain Sensible.

Martin?

there's prolly several more that I don't remember.

My friend once went into the bathroom of Hootie's mansion and peed on his soap.

Also, funniest encounter - I was in Las Vegas once for a completely unrelated reason, but it happened to coincide with the "Adult Film Awards". Well, it turned out a friend of a friend who was in the porn industry (just as an IT grunt for some website) was out there for it, and he invited me to an industry party (hosted by the guy whose claim to fame was owning the rights to the Tommy / Pamela video or something like that). Pretty lame party (lots of nude women, yeah, but whatevah), so we go to leave and Warren Moon gets in the elevator right next to us! Warren fucking Moon! He was a free agent at the time and I kind of sheepishly asked him if he'd consider playing for the Lions (my fave team). He kind of wrinkled his nose and said "no."

Oh, also met Cobain back in like '89 when Nirvana played the Blind Pig in Ann Arbor right after Bleach came out (a very commonly bootlegged show - I've got an lp of it). I was pretty drunk. I remember asking him "did you know everything you guys have recorded fits perfectly on one side of a 100 minute cassette!" He looked at me very strangely.

Is someone a celebrity if they fall in a forest and no one has ever heard of them? probably not. . .

I went to junior high with Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez of the Love and Rockets comic fame, and met them again along with Matt Groening at a comics show. Matt drew me a Homer saying "Yo, Nick."

And I got autographs from Hunter S. Thompson and Tina Weymouth (different times).

Wow, Mike Garson! To me that is one of the most impressive, but that's probably because Aladdin Sane just might be one of my favorite Bowie albums.

One time while walking through the Denver airport, I saw Magic Johnson.

Well, just cuz YOU'VE never heard of them doesn't mean no one has...

I went with a couple of pals to the Bristol gig on the Damned's first tour. There were maybe 10-20 punks there, plus the curious and the hostile. We chatted to th band before they played. One of my friends mentioned that he was a drummer, and Rat Scabies ran backstage and came back and gave him a really good big cymbal. We liked him best, and Captain Sensible next.

Twenty years later I went to a CD/Record Fair in Leicester, where I was living then. Making a not very grand opening was Captain Sensible. He was also kind of greeting when we went in, so I said "You don't remember me, do you?" He looked sort of confused and uneasy for a fraction of a second, before I made it clear I was kidding. He didn't remember the cymbal thing, even.

Nickn has the best story - - a personalized Homer drawing!

I have to agree very much! :-) Then there's his work with the Smashing Pumpkins and him guesting on NIN's The Fragile and...

-Listening to Ned, Steve Kilbey, and Peter Koppes argue over which is the best T. Rex album.
-Watching Anton from BJM tell Marilyn Manson that he (Anton) was going to kill him - just not that day.

Others:

-Shared an elevator with Harry Belafonte. Totally awesome guy - I was pretty much dumbfounded and speechless until he said hi and asked how I was..
-I almost ran over John Lithgow as he ran out between two parked cars (he had a coffee in one hand and a cell phone in the other)
-Met Robert Anton Wilson once and he made me a Discordian Pope!
-Had dinner with Tim Powers and his wife - actually got to ride in the old blue truck that he put into Last Call.

and under table in the thireenth note club [tripped, rolled, ran].

I've thought of a few more:

Haircut next to: Kim Wilde (Vidal Sassoon, Covent Garden), Cameron McVey , Daniel Miller (Cuts).

Shopping near: Helena Bonham-Carter, Peter Cook (!!!!!!!!), Michael Clark.

Backstage with me and friends at White Stripes, Saturday: Jude Law, Rufus Wainwright, Billy Childish.

(not at all a dig, I mean it most affectionately)

I have met a couple of professional sportsmen - Peter Hucker, QPR & Oxford goalkeeper of the 80s, dated my au pair at the time, and Sir Richard Hadlee stayed at my parents' house for a couple of nights. He was most unfriendly.

I should probably mention that the 'backstage' we were in on Saturday was a much better 'backstage' than that occupied by Miranda S@wyer et al.

Footballers are ten a penny in Glasgow, but depends which of them you classify as famous. I did however used to work for a bloke who used to play for Celtic, whose brother is the manager of the Icelandic national team.

more Suzy stories please!

the most "famous" people i've met are johnny marr and bernard sumner. they were both SUPER NICE, and johnny sat down and chatted to us (my sister and i) and signed one of my smiths records!

jim reid was standing right next to me at a gig upstairs at the monarch once, but i was too scared to say anything.

also, the toronto maple leafs were always coming in to the bookshop i worked at, but i never knew who they were until people from the other shops would come in and tell me. my sister met all of them and got them to sign some leafs book for her manager (becuase her manager was too afraid to go up to them and ask them). i was like YOU SHOULD HAVE GOT ONE SIGNED FOR YOURSELF AND SOLD IT. i'm sure her manager made a killing on it though. the small one out of sloan almost came in to that same bookshop once, but then changed his mind at the last minute.

the toronto maple leafs in knowing-how-to-read shockah!

(ile-incest-wise this = i have slept w.ph!l jup!tus which also i don't at all remember)

i've honestly wondered that myself. but "go leaves go" just doesn't have the same ring to it. maybe some hockey people can shed some light on this phenomenon?

I have Kim Wilde's autograph because I met her at an automobile convention in Knebworth when I was ten and my mum did a class for her sister-in-law.

My Dad used to co-own the lesser-known boat off of "Howard's Way" (The Flying Fish, not the Barracuda) and I slept in the bunk where there was a sex scene. Luckily my Dad cleaned the covers when he got the boat.

I also met some chick out of that show in Maxwells in Hampstead when I was 10.

I used to see Rory McGrath in Cambridge station on a weekly basis and the first time I saw him I couldn't remember his name so I just shouted "Oi! That's that bloke off the telly! Oi mate!". He looked very unamused. Then I realised he was out to get me because I also saw him in Colchester and London on several different occasions.

I saw Porkpie from Desmonds drinking in a pub once.

My ex-wife shagged a womble.

I also saw Beck and Marissa Ribisi a few weeks ago at the Arc Light movie theater.

-- Martin Skidmore (martin.skidmore...) (webmail), April 16th, 2003. (Martin Skidmore)

Underground? Overground? Or wombling free?

As I was walking through a dorm corridor, apropos of nothing, Dan Littleton from Ida showed me his newly-purchased vinyl copy of Young, Gifted and Black. "Do you know how long I've been trying to find this?!?!" He sighed with great satisfaction.

Dude, this was in like 1991! Of course I did!

John Cleese has been confiding in me lately about a film he's involved with - I think he thinks I'm somewhat more important than I am. Nice chap though. Very serious.

A little while later, I ran into Tony Conrad and his son - we chatted for a minute - which was nice because I haven't seen him since 1998 or thereabouts.

Nick, I know you said this like a year ago, but can you please explain more?

Today on a thread I posted a message shortly after N.

Steven Spielberg, John Malkovich, Jude Law, Alan Bates, Patrick Malahide, Frederick Treves, John Madden, Nigel Havers, Niamh Cusack, Rik Mayall, Polly Toynbee, Stuart Murdoch, Ann Diamond, Miranda Richardson, Jarvis Cocker, Fiona Banner, Alan Rusbridger, Hugo Young, June Brown, the cast of Blakes 7, Will Hutton, George Monbiot, Roy Hattersley, Sam West, Prunella Scales, Timothy West, most of Camera Obscura, Haydn Gwynn, Queen Elizabeth II, Graham Spiers (just for Cozen).

I've been in NYC for 3 months now and I STILL haven't seen a Stroke yet. I have seen Vincent Gallo though. And he kept staring at me.

"Oh, we know who you are, we just don't care."

Saturday night at my bar: Mark Ibold, Matt Sweeney, Roger Monotract (ha!), RU55 W@TERHOU53, etc.

I've seen a number of interesting people introduce films at the Cinematheque and TIFF over the years: Cronenberg, Frederic Wiseman, Jonas Mekas, Steve James, Molly Haskell, Hoberman, Rosenbaum, etc., etc. Just got an e-mail alert for this--quite esoteric:

http://tiff.net/filmsandschedules/tiffbelllightbox/2012/2550006004

(I think Kael was a fan of the film, actually.)

I really, really thought I saw Zach Galifianakis on the E train, but the problem is (1) a million lookalike beardo hipsters, and (2) what would he be doing on the E train from Queens at 9:30 in the morning (I mean I guess he could have gone home with someone the prior night or w/e). Still, I kept staring at him trying to convince myself it wasn't him, and it looked a lot like him.

oh apparently he just got married, so I guess the pickup theory is out

I shared a runway at Las Vegas McCarran with Barack Obama a couple of weeks ago. Bastard delayed my flight to LA by half an hour.

i saw mike skinner in bodeans in soho a few months back. kate moss on great portland street, being hounded by celebs. michael fassbender i see regularly, think he lives near london fields and he's often there or in the sebright arms in hackney.

oops, being hounded by press i meant to say.

she was.