Ever met a big celebrity?

Martina Navratilova when she lived here for a little while. She had just won the German Open and part of the winnings was a 911. We were the closest Porsche dealer so it got shipped there She was with Nancy Lieberman at the time who played her college ball here. I was moving their vehicle for a photo OP, when I started it up Olivia Newton John was on the radio, Physical about blew me out of the drivers seat.

Saw her a few times after that, right after she won the US Open and did car sitting duties at her house for a Tennis magazine photo shoot as well. Pretty nice lady, a bit on the quiet side

 

I will add a quick somewhat funny story.
For many years i played in a wedding band.
We were playing in a downstairs ballroom at the Ritz in center city Philadelphia.

After a long boring gig, we were loading our stuff out. We had to put our equipment on dollies and take turns using the elevator, just so we could get to street level and retrieve our cars.

Center city gigs were especially trifling.
Anyway, there's a crowd around the back door where we had to exit.
A few rather large gentlemen seemed to be holding us up. So i said to the bassist... wtf is this now?

He says, i think bon Jovi is here.

I said, bon Jovi? Who the f cares, i got to load my sh#! Out of here!!!

And as i look up, this tiny little figure, wearing a scarf and sunglasses, puts his hand on my shoulder and apologizes to me for the inconvenience. Lol. Bon Jovi.

I felt this big >

 

I don't even know what an orchid people is, much less who famous orchid people are.

 

Lieutenant Colonel Bo Gritz - Americas most decorated Green Beret commander .

 

Last year - Dave Matthews, and James Taylor.

 

And another meeting with EC was a little bit strange. I say strange, but perhaps more correctly, coincidental. I was on my way into the cinema in Guildford, Surry. Having just admired a very nice yellow Ferrari parked opposite the cinema, the man in front of me in the que was EC. Nothing particularly unusual about that, give the fact that Hurtwood Edge is his Surry home, in Ewhurst, which is about 25 mins (10 for Eric) and, his local cinema.

What I felt to be strangely coincidental was that he (EC) was going to watch the film The Fly and I was going to see a film called “Crossroads” which featured his name on a couple of times during the viewing.

 

“Willie”?

 

I was renting an apartment and stopped by the landlord's home to talk to him about something or other. He was having a party and introduced me to everyone that was there. I shook dozens of hands, made some small talk, had a beer and left.

I never realized that i had a conversation about baseball with the then manager of the Yankees, Lou Pinella! I didn't believe it until the landlord showed me the picture of us talking. He was supposed to make a copy for me, but I never got it, no digital back then lol

 

Not buying that last comment. I am always suspicious when someone plays that I have a secret but won't tell you. Maybe it's true but maybe it's not.

I have always been a huge fan of Motocross. Back in the early 90's at the Kingdome the pits were open the day before and day of the event and you could just walk in and talk with the racers. Not trying to be one of them so to speak but you could walk the pits, check out their bikes, get autographs and make small talk. Met all the big names in 1994 that year. Because all the top guys are at all the races it is like an all-star event for basketball or football. But instead of just watching from the stands you could go onto the court of field so to speak. For security reasons those days are long gone but it was cool to see them all at once in person.

NC

 

I worked pumping Avgas at Dixie Air in Tuscaloosa, AL in the late 70s. One horrifically stormy evening, I ducked under an awning where this old geezer was standing. We stood there waiting for the rain to let up. Chatted a bit and he shook my hand (which I thought was odd) and told me to "stay in school" (I was a student at UA). I had to ask the receptionist who he was, she leaned over and squinted out the window: "That's Bear Bryant". I said, "who's he?"....(legendary UA football coach, I didn't follow college football at the time).

I had Linda Ronstadt tell me "thank you" for standing out in the dark by her private jet, waiting to hook it up to the APU cart so they could start it after her concert. All I remember is that she appeared tiny (she's listed at 5' 3"). Musically: Norman and Nancy Blake (they occasionally came over and played at our local dances). Met Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn at a collector's gathering. Hung out a bit with Claire Lynch (and the Front Porch String Band), she's a local. Met a several other famous banjo players, bluegrass or otherwise.

As a kid going to the EAA airshow in Oshkosh every year thru the 70s and early 80s, I would always go to the "meet and greet" tents. I never did autographs but I got to shake hands with people like C. G. Taylor, Jim Bede, Pappy Boyington, Ensign Gay, Galland, Hartmann, Tuck, Gabreski (I can't remember 'em all), etc. I sat in many seminars with Burt Rutan. Got to stand next to Bob Hoover and listen to him tell "there I was, flat on my back at 25,000 ft..." stories.

I was standing on the flight line watching a string of 1940's Piper aircraft fly by on display and the old guy standing next to me said something like, "I always liked those (pointing)." At the time, I owned one (Piper PA-16 "Clipper") and I said so. He said, check your logbook, I probably took it out for its first test flight. He was Piper's chief test pilot in the post WWII era. Sure enough, his signature was in the logbook, ca 1949.

 

I'm not a liar.

Ignore earned.

Have a nice day.

 

I had met Michael Anthony. He was at a race shop in Southern Calif just meandering around like the rest of us. Super nice guy.

 

Lots of NBC folk. You in the industry?

NC

 

Many of us would probably do the same when star struck. I wouldn't feel too bad.

NC

 

A few times, in the same room with hot pickers.

 

I'll second that.

 

Yeah

I see Tom Brokaw on the elevator from time to time.

 

I have met a few. hung out with a few. Argued with some. Got into a fight with one. I grew up just outside of Washington DC in the 50s, 60s and early 70s. Had Girl friend whose mother knew Roy Clark met him, Had a Friend that knew Roy Bucannan met Him at his house Stanly Clark was their.

 

OK,

I first moved to Austin in 1975. I rolled into town late at night and saw some lights, pulled into the parking lot and went inside.
It was a little joint called Willie's Pool Hall. The only people in there were this older couple who turned out to be Willie's Mom and Pop.

We hit it off that night and they gave me a job working in the place. We became great friends. I was driving Willie's pickup truck all over town running errands.
I played music in that place with a lot of friends of the family that would drop in. Jimmy Day, Jessy Ashlock, Jerry Jeff Walker, Guy Clark and Pop (Ira) Nelson would play bass.

Willie would swing by when he was in town. One cold night it was he and I warming our hands over a burn barrel in the beer garden outside passing a joint back and forth.

I had a band in Austin with by best friend Bill Carter called "The Blame" and some of Willie's band would sit in with us at times; Bea Spears, Jodie Payne and Mickey Raphael.
Al Kooper was part of "The Blame" for a while playing rhythm guitar and Joe Ely used to do some shows with us as well.

We shared stages with Waylon, Willie, David Allen Coe, George Jones, Gatemouth Brown, Willie Nile, Humble Pie, Elvin Bishop and others.

Bill Carter wrote some hit tunes, notably "Crossfire" and "Willie The Wimp" for Stevie Vaughan, "Why Get Up" for the Fab T Birds and many more recorded by a long list of well known artists..
So I met a lot of people during that time, and a lot more during my 30 something years on the road.
I could write a book.

Bill still lives in Austin. He plays Antone's every wednesday night and you can look him up on line. I back him up when he tours the Northwest.

S Mac

 

Met Paul Westerberg sitting at the bar before one of his (Replacements) shows, way back in the late 1980s. Not exactly a guitar hero, nor a real celebrity. But some people will have heard of him.