Were you the nearly megafamous MeFite? August 27, 2016 3:10 PM Subscribe
Refound an anecdotal comment from OverlappingElvis on how he was once in a band with people who became Walk the Moon.
If it's not too painful/regretful for people to say (or, maybe it'll help and bring closure?), have you been in a situation, group, job, team, project, garage band, whatever, and some or all of the others went on to great glory - but yourself, less so?
(This may by definition exclude MeFites who are actually megafamous but if they have any great relevant anecdotes would love to hear them anyway)
That reminds me, I need to go see Don't Think Twice.
posted by OverlappingElvis at 5:20 PM on August 27, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by OverlappingElvis at 5:20 PM on August 27, 2016 [3 favorites]
I used to write recaps for a very beloved show for Mighty Big TV/Television Without Pity. Many people from the site have gone on other careers in entertainment and writing, but not me! I didn't feel a pull towards professional writing.
posted by Squeak Attack at 6:44 PM on August 27, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by Squeak Attack at 6:44 PM on August 27, 2016 [4 favorites]
The drummer for My Morning Jacket, Tom Blankenship, was my first boss. We worked at a Movie Warehouse together and he was one of the managers. He sold his CDs off the counter for like $5 a pop, next to the Kenny's Cajun Corn.
posted by pecanpies at 7:07 PM on August 27, 2016 [6 favorites]
posted by pecanpies at 7:07 PM on August 27, 2016 [6 favorites]
I have some friends who (wisely) bailed on grad school/academia and are now New York Times bestselling, prizewinning authors. Whereas I stuck with academia and now write articles that probably three people read! Sigh.
posted by TwoStride at 7:21 PM on August 27, 2016 [9 favorites]
posted by TwoStride at 7:21 PM on August 27, 2016 [9 favorites]
Worked for a start up which I left three months before it got bought by Hewlett Packard. To get married. To my now ex husband. As one of the first employees I could have bought a canal house in Amsterdam outright. Sigh.
Also acted with a theater group right after college where quite a few of the members went on to be quite well known television actors. Not me, alas.
posted by frumiousb at 7:42 PM on August 27, 2016 [3 favorites]
Also acted with a theater group right after college where quite a few of the members went on to be quite well known television actors. Not me, alas.
posted by frumiousb at 7:42 PM on August 27, 2016 [3 favorites]
I've known two different Presidents of the NAACP (one was already famous, to be fair, but the other was a childhood friend). I also used to hang out with a dude who became a Decembrist.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 7:54 PM on August 27, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Joseph Gurl at 7:54 PM on August 27, 2016 [2 favorites]
What you mean, "were?" There's still time!
posted by Miko at 7:55 PM on August 27, 2016 [17 favorites]
posted by Miko at 7:55 PM on August 27, 2016 [17 favorites]
Also went to college with the woman who wrote the Frozen song and Ethan Zuckerman, and I played rugby with Senator Chris Murphy, of filibuster fame.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 7:56 PM on August 27, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Joseph Gurl at 7:56 PM on August 27, 2016 [2 favorites]
Oh, and I sometimes play with a guy from Clipping, whose MC is, uh, now super famous because he's in Hamilton.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 7:57 PM on August 27, 2016 [9 favorites]
posted by Joseph Gurl at 7:57 PM on August 27, 2016 [9 favorites]
I made a good friend in my MFA program who wrote a book on disability and social class that has become kind of famous in certain circles and is used in a lot of college courses, Exile and Pride. It was originally published by a small press but was re-issued last year by Duke University Press.
I am a writer as well, and for in the 90s I was publishing a fair bit in lesbian media and was pretty well-known regionally as a storyteller. One day, around 2000-ish, say, I'm at a big lesbian event, and when I introduce myself, a woman says, "Oh, my god. You're not that girl?"
I say, "Why, yes I am," and modestly prepare to receive her gushing praise of my writing and/or storytelling.
She says, "You're in the acknowledgments of Eli Clare's book!"
Yes. Yes I am. So pleased you noticed.
posted by not that girl at 8:08 PM on August 27, 2016 [34 favorites]
I am a writer as well, and for in the 90s I was publishing a fair bit in lesbian media and was pretty well-known regionally as a storyteller. One day, around 2000-ish, say, I'm at a big lesbian event, and when I introduce myself, a woman says, "Oh, my god. You're not that girl?"
I say, "Why, yes I am," and modestly prepare to receive her gushing praise of my writing and/or storytelling.
She says, "You're in the acknowledgments of Eli Clare's book!"
Yes. Yes I am. So pleased you noticed.
posted by not that girl at 8:08 PM on August 27, 2016 [34 favorites]
Used to hang out on IRC with Julian Assange, Sean Fanning & Sean Parker. Not all at once I think. But we were all part of a hacker social scene back then & all knew each other.
posted by scalefree at 8:37 PM on August 27, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by scalefree at 8:37 PM on August 27, 2016 [4 favorites]
I was a cook at a restaurant where David Yow & Dave Sims of the Jesus Lizard worked as bus staff/waiters. In fact, I think they met there. We hung out a bit - they used to invite me to parties & gigs around the time they were starting Scratch Acid. We never played any music together, but we did listen to The Birthday Party albums together & Yow was very enthusiastic about them.
A friend I played quite a few gigs with ack in the 80's is now drumming for Carolyn Wonderland & touring the world constantly and is always posting pics from these lovely outdoor blues festivals on Facebook. I'm really glad for him - he's a great player.
posted by Devils Rancher at 8:50 PM on August 27, 2016 [4 favorites]
A friend I played quite a few gigs with ack in the 80's is now drumming for Carolyn Wonderland & touring the world constantly and is always posting pics from these lovely outdoor blues festivals on Facebook. I'm really glad for him - he's a great player.
posted by Devils Rancher at 8:50 PM on August 27, 2016 [4 favorites]
An ex coworker and I used to trade short stories we'd written and bounce story ideas off of each other over beers. He went on to write this.
posted by prufrock at 9:10 PM on August 27, 2016 [37 favorites]
posted by prufrock at 9:10 PM on August 27, 2016 [37 favorites]
Trent Reznor used to call my house to talk to my live-in boyfriend.
posted by xyzzy at 10:12 PM on August 27, 2016 [6 favorites]
posted by xyzzy at 10:12 PM on August 27, 2016 [6 favorites]
My brother went to college with Lupita Nyong'o. He spoke of regretting not being better friends with her.
posted by spelunkingplato at 10:30 PM on August 27, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by spelunkingplato at 10:30 PM on August 27, 2016 [3 favorites]
My best friend when I was 10-13 in the mid-1970s was a bit of a prodigy - he made stop-motion animated films, devised practical FX and makeup (latex) stuff. We both subscribed to Starlog, were members of the Science Fiction Book of the Month Club, and so on. He gave me Delaney's Dhalgren, which was a challenging book for a 12 year old in a small town in 1977. He was pretty much the only close friend I ever had who represented that aspect of my interests and personality. In many respects, I felt much more simpatico with him than any other childhood friend.
He moved away right before I started eighth grade and we slowly fell out of contact. But he called me sometime when we were both in eleventh grade, probably the fall of 1980 -- he said that he had been awarded some kind of national young filmmaker grant..and he thought there was no one more capable than me to write the script. But all I cared about around that time was getting drunk and crazy and I didn't take his offer seriously and I blew him off.
The following year, one night my parents called me into the living room, explaining that they were watching the Sunday Night TV movie and they thought one of the actors was my friend, playing a lead role alongside Elliot Gould. Sure enough, it was him.
He didn't end up acting as an adult, but he became an editor and then a director who makes B-movies. You've possibly seen one of them on SyFy. I've always regretted my idiocy in refusing his offer and wonder how my life might have been different if I hadn't. It probably wouldn't have made any difference, but I can't help but think it was a missed opportunity.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 10:47 PM on August 27, 2016 [11 favorites]
He moved away right before I started eighth grade and we slowly fell out of contact. But he called me sometime when we were both in eleventh grade, probably the fall of 1980 -- he said that he had been awarded some kind of national young filmmaker grant..and he thought there was no one more capable than me to write the script. But all I cared about around that time was getting drunk and crazy and I didn't take his offer seriously and I blew him off.
The following year, one night my parents called me into the living room, explaining that they were watching the Sunday Night TV movie and they thought one of the actors was my friend, playing a lead role alongside Elliot Gould. Sure enough, it was him.
He didn't end up acting as an adult, but he became an editor and then a director who makes B-movies. You've possibly seen one of them on SyFy. I've always regretted my idiocy in refusing his offer and wonder how my life might have been different if I hadn't. It probably wouldn't have made any difference, but I can't help but think it was a missed opportunity.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 10:47 PM on August 27, 2016 [11 favorites]
Dhalgren at 12? Yowza.
Challenging book for any age, any town. Worth it, though.
Good story.
Oh, this guy was my best friend in elementary school.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 1:59 AM on August 28, 2016 [4 favorites]
Challenging book for any age, any town. Worth it, though.
Good story.
Oh, this guy was my best friend in elementary school.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 1:59 AM on August 28, 2016 [4 favorites]
Back in the summer of 2002, a certain local-to-Boston rock star hooked up with a man I was in love with. When things didn't work out with him, she called me and left a long, nasty message on my voicemail detailing all the things he said about me. She went on to marry a millionaire. It's nice that things are working out for her.
posted by pxe2000 at 5:03 AM on August 28, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by pxe2000 at 5:03 AM on August 28, 2016 [2 favorites]
The two guys who built the website I used to work for left our employer and then went on to found GitHub. They're not precisely famous in the way that, say, Zuckerberg, is famous, but still. GitHub.
posted by jacquilynne at 5:25 AM on August 28, 2016 [7 favorites]
posted by jacquilynne at 5:25 AM on August 28, 2016 [7 favorites]
My college roommate isn't famous but his son (who he shares a first name with) is one of the most famous and accomplished surfers in the world.
posted by octothorpe at 5:37 AM on August 28, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by octothorpe at 5:37 AM on August 28, 2016 [2 favorites]
I have some friends who (wisely) bailed on grad school/academia and are now New York Times bestselling, prizewinning authors. Whereas I stuck with academia and now write articles that probably three people read! Sigh.
A couple of people I knew in grad school went on to become bonafide public intellectuals, quoted all the time in the New York Times and the subject of FPPs here. A few other people I knew returned to their home countries and went into politics, so they show up in the news whenever their side is in power.
posted by Dip Flash at 5:40 AM on August 28, 2016 [3 favorites]
A couple of people I knew in grad school went on to become bonafide public intellectuals, quoted all the time in the New York Times and the subject of FPPs here. A few other people I knew returned to their home countries and went into politics, so they show up in the news whenever their side is in power.
posted by Dip Flash at 5:40 AM on August 28, 2016 [3 favorites]
Two years ago I wrote pretty regularly for the web site Atlas Obscura.
Last year they changed their editor, their focus, and their story pitching process and my work stopped fitting; the one time I've pitched something to them they ignored me, and then a few months later someone else did something similar.
This year they've been getting way more attention and press, and I'm left out.
Also - the one and only time something I wrote for AO was linked here on the Blue on its own merits, the person who linked it forgot to mention it was me who wrote it so I missed out on a chance to be a "Mefi's Own".
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:04 AM on August 28, 2016 [20 favorites]
Last year they changed their editor, their focus, and their story pitching process and my work stopped fitting; the one time I've pitched something to them they ignored me, and then a few months later someone else did something similar.
This year they've been getting way more attention and press, and I'm left out.
Also - the one and only time something I wrote for AO was linked here on the Blue on its own merits, the person who linked it forgot to mention it was me who wrote it so I missed out on a chance to be a "Mefi's Own".
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:04 AM on August 28, 2016 [20 favorites]
I've played poker with a lot of people who were then or later became tv poker stars, including a couple of Main Event champs. In fact the guy who busted me from the 2008 WSOP (80 from the money bubble of course) went on to the final table that year, so hey at least my chips got famous! 😪
posted by Potomac Avenue at 6:37 AM on August 28, 2016 [6 favorites]
posted by Potomac Avenue at 6:37 AM on August 28, 2016 [6 favorites]
When I moved to Austin in 1998 I'd been the bass player in this regionally well like band up in Denton Texas and these guys in Austin approached me excitedly wanting me to rehearse with their band and join them. I passed because at that point I was so "over being in bands" and later I kicked the shit out myself when Explosions In the Sky was killing it everywhere.
posted by Annika Cicada at 7:08 AM on August 28, 2016 [21 favorites]
posted by Annika Cicada at 7:08 AM on August 28, 2016 [21 favorites]
My husband was in a band in college that was the favorite band of the eventual lead singer for The Ataris. When The Ataris were at the pinnacle of their arc, the singer got in touch with husband and the other guys and wanted to get a band together with them. They recorded some songs and did a small tour. Didn't really go anywhere because Kris was kind of flaky but it was fun at the time.
We got a Christmas card from Kris and his wife that year that was a picture of them with Gene Simmons in full Kiss makeup. Still have that somewhere.
posted by cooker girl at 7:46 AM on August 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
We got a Christmas card from Kris and his wife that year that was a picture of them with Gene Simmons in full Kiss makeup. Still have that somewhere.
posted by cooker girl at 7:46 AM on August 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
I've been given a drunken piggy back ride by a colleague who will probably not reference the event in their eventual Nobel prize lecture.
posted by Blasdelb at 8:12 AM on August 28, 2016 [17 favorites]
posted by Blasdelb at 8:12 AM on August 28, 2016 [17 favorites]
> Also - the one and only time something I wrote for AO was linked here on the Blue on its own merits, the person who linked it forgot to mention it was me who wrote it so I missed out on a chance to be a "Mefi's Own".
OK, this gives me an occasion to beat my drum again: always name the author when you're linking to a piece of writing!
posted by languagehat at 8:36 AM on August 28, 2016 [9 favorites]
OK, this gives me an occasion to beat my drum again: always name the author when you're linking to a piece of writing!
posted by languagehat at 8:36 AM on August 28, 2016 [9 favorites]
New York City's 11 Most Accessible Ruins, an AO piece which was also the subject of an FPP. By Mefi's own EmpressCallipygos.
posted by Wordshore at 8:57 AM on August 28, 2016 [59 favorites]
posted by Wordshore at 8:57 AM on August 28, 2016 [59 favorites]
I several friends who have art in very prestigious museums. Here's the rub though: I actually made the work while in their employ as their studio assistant. I'm not bitter, but I do get to say, somewhat tongue in cheek, that I have pieces in said museums. I do have some of my work under my own name in somewhat prestigious collections, so don't feel too bad for me.
As a graduate student I also pitched, researched and wrote on a big project in a small field of art history that was set to be Very Important, but I walked away from it after having a very big falling out with one of my advisors.
posted by 1f2frfbf at 9:03 AM on August 28, 2016 [7 favorites]
As a graduate student I also pitched, researched and wrote on a big project in a small field of art history that was set to be Very Important, but I walked away from it after having a very big falling out with one of my advisors.
posted by 1f2frfbf at 9:03 AM on August 28, 2016 [7 favorites]
I once got mugged by a guy dressed as Elmo.
posted by beerperson at 9:19 AM on August 28, 2016 [38 favorites]
posted by beerperson at 9:19 AM on August 28, 2016 [38 favorites]
As a grad student, I did a summer rotation at a Weill Cornell lab in New York City. The PI of that lab, Sheila Nirenberg, went on to win a MacArthur Genius Grant for work she did along with another grad student (Chethan Pandarinath) who I got to know really well that summer, on creating a new kind of prosthetic device that could restore sight to certain kinds of blind people.
posted by peacheater at 9:29 AM on August 28, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by peacheater at 9:29 AM on August 28, 2016 [4 favorites]
Thanks, Wordshore.
Heh; I actually think that post was weirdly cursed because I was in the habit of tweeting and facebook-posting links to all of my stuff when I did it. And that one was no exception - but two weeks after I linked it, I started seeing a lot of my friends re-posting it on THEIR walls with the note "I don't remember where I learned about this, but this was really cool!" One of my friends even sent the link to ME with the note "these may be places for you to think about visiting, have you read this?" (I think I wrote back, "yeah, about five times when I was WRITING THE DAMN THING.")
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:33 AM on August 28, 2016 [11 favorites]
Heh; I actually think that post was weirdly cursed because I was in the habit of tweeting and facebook-posting links to all of my stuff when I did it. And that one was no exception - but two weeks after I linked it, I started seeing a lot of my friends re-posting it on THEIR walls with the note "I don't remember where I learned about this, but this was really cool!" One of my friends even sent the link to ME with the note "these may be places for you to think about visiting, have you read this?" (I think I wrote back, "yeah, about five times when I was WRITING THE DAMN THING.")
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:33 AM on August 28, 2016 [11 favorites]
shortly after I gave up trying to write professionally, which is 100% Dave Eggers' fault and not a story I am nearly drunk enough at 9:30am on a Sunday to share with the internet, one of my childhood friends self-published a children's book that became a cult hit with parents and sold a zillion copies
posted by prize bull octorok at 9:45 AM on August 28, 2016 [5 favorites]
posted by prize bull octorok at 9:45 AM on August 28, 2016 [5 favorites]
Is this where we take up a collection to get prize bull octorok to drink more?
posted by nebulawindphone at 10:04 AM on August 28, 2016 [17 favorites]
posted by nebulawindphone at 10:04 AM on August 28, 2016 [17 favorites]
Me and The In Out split ways when they found out they got the opening spot for Sebadoh on their 1996 European Tour. Also, during my last gig, I had a good time hanging out with Sean Lennon. That's as close as I got, I think. I also worked as a PA for Errol Morris before I knew who he was, and had by that time quit for a gig doing research for NOVA on WGBH. I used to have an IMDB entry for that, but I can't find it.
posted by not_on_display at 10:54 AM on August 28, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by not_on_display at 10:54 AM on August 28, 2016 [3 favorites]
In the 90s I used to get cranky when Damon and Naomi would make a racket 'cuz I needed to get up early for work.
posted by cocoagirl at 10:55 AM on August 28, 2016 [6 favorites]
posted by cocoagirl at 10:55 AM on August 28, 2016 [6 favorites]
HA, we played a gig with Damon and Naomi in some MIT courtyard shortly before said departure. They were giving out free whole packs of cigarettes in some room inside. And they were Nat Shermans! Best gig ever when I smoked. Naomi had a cherry-red semi-hollow bass, and I had the same guitar, so I got to tell her that. She mumbled back something that indicated "oh."
posted by not_on_display at 11:19 AM on August 28, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by not_on_display at 11:19 AM on August 28, 2016 [3 favorites]
I was in a band with Jemaine Clements wife.
posted by Sebmojo at 11:48 AM on August 28, 2016 [7 favorites]
posted by Sebmojo at 11:48 AM on August 28, 2016 [7 favorites]
I used to work in the film industry loading cameras for a very short time in my twenties. A close up of my eye was in a video that got played a lot on MTV, and I had a tiny 30 second part in a crappy film that somehow got me listed in IMDB. My brush with fame...
posted by WalkerWestridge at 12:05 PM on August 28, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by WalkerWestridge at 12:05 PM on August 28, 2016 [3 favorites]
HA, we played a gig with Damon and Naomi in some MIT courtyard shortly before said departure. They were giving out free whole packs of cigarettes in some room inside. And they were Nat Shermans! Best gig ever when I smoked.
I'd lay odds that that would have been a show at Senior Haus, likely for Steer Roast, though Bexley (and their event Beast Roast) is also a possibility. As someone who used to book shows there myself, somewhere I have a list of everyone who played Steer Roast back through the mid '90s, with spottier results going back a decade or two earlier, but I'd have to do some digging to figure out where it is & see whether you guys were on it. In any case, if the courtyard had a big tree with a tire swing, and the stage was in the corner of an L-shaped building stone building, it would've been Senior Haus.
As far as I can tell, people I know reasonably well (vs. friends-of-friends or people broadly in the same scene) seem to so far be closer to "mild internet fame" or "success in their subfield" rather than "rock star" or "McArthur genius grant." Though I guess with a top achievement of "grad student", I am still getting left behind!
posted by ubersturm at 12:31 PM on August 28, 2016 [5 favorites]
I'd lay odds that that would have been a show at Senior Haus, likely for Steer Roast, though Bexley (and their event Beast Roast) is also a possibility. As someone who used to book shows there myself, somewhere I have a list of everyone who played Steer Roast back through the mid '90s, with spottier results going back a decade or two earlier, but I'd have to do some digging to figure out where it is & see whether you guys were on it. In any case, if the courtyard had a big tree with a tire swing, and the stage was in the corner of an L-shaped building stone building, it would've been Senior Haus.
As far as I can tell, people I know reasonably well (vs. friends-of-friends or people broadly in the same scene) seem to so far be closer to "mild internet fame" or "success in their subfield" rather than "rock star" or "McArthur genius grant." Though I guess with a top achievement of "grad student", I am still getting left behind!
posted by ubersturm at 12:31 PM on August 28, 2016 [5 favorites]
I went to school with Jack Dorsey (of Twitter and Square fame), for a year, and was in the Association of Computing Machinery with him.
posted by jferg at 12:36 PM on August 28, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by jferg at 12:36 PM on August 28, 2016 [3 favorites]
I had a list I created published in one of the McSweeny's humor anthologies. A guy I went to elementary school with is good friends with Chris Pratt. And an old work friend has published a couple of books. Also when I worked in publishing I once talked to Stephen King on the telephone. He calls himself Steve.
posted by MsMolly at 12:54 PM on August 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by MsMolly at 12:54 PM on August 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
My incredible brush with fame: Robert Deniro bumped into me once. He made me spill my coffee. It happened on the corner of 7th Avenue and 14th Street, right in front of a coffee shop. So he bought me another cup of coffee. It was really good. He bought me a cruller too. The end.
posted by the webmistress at 1:04 PM on August 28, 2016 [17 favorites]
posted by the webmistress at 1:04 PM on August 28, 2016 [17 favorites]
A classmate asked me to join a band she was forming; I declined, because I have stage fright. The band went on to be Bikini Kill.
posted by The corpse in the library at 1:12 PM on August 28, 2016 [44 favorites]
posted by The corpse in the library at 1:12 PM on August 28, 2016 [44 favorites]
Oh wait. It might have been Paul Stanley instead. I'll have to dig it up and see.
posted by cooker girl at 1:12 PM on August 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by cooker girl at 1:12 PM on August 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
At one point in my 20s, things got weird between me and a roommate after I moved out. Six months later he got pretty famous on TV and in print. Can't say any more than that, except that I still hear people talking about him.
When I was 17 I met a prolific actor and director who thought I was a natural and wanted to cast me for something. It was what would today be described as a Michael Cera role (this was before Arrested Development). Everyone said it would be a good idea to take it because he could launch a career for me. I couldn't do it because my school year was about to start. A month later I ended up dropping out anyway. A little while after that I got a cold call from a talent agency saying someone had referred me to them. I got cold feet and didn't go to the meeting. It was never a guarantee I would have had a career, but it's an opportunity missed anyway.
A few years ago I was stopped on the street in Silverlake because some people were filming a show for MTV and wanted someone "with a hipster style." I was running late to see my therapist so I said no.
posted by teponaztli at 2:03 PM on August 28, 2016 [2 favorites]
When I was 17 I met a prolific actor and director who thought I was a natural and wanted to cast me for something. It was what would today be described as a Michael Cera role (this was before Arrested Development). Everyone said it would be a good idea to take it because he could launch a career for me. I couldn't do it because my school year was about to start. A month later I ended up dropping out anyway. A little while after that I got a cold call from a talent agency saying someone had referred me to them. I got cold feet and didn't go to the meeting. It was never a guarantee I would have had a career, but it's an opportunity missed anyway.
A few years ago I was stopped on the street in Silverlake because some people were filming a show for MTV and wanted someone "with a hipster style." I was running late to see my therapist so I said no.
posted by teponaztli at 2:03 PM on August 28, 2016 [2 favorites]
Also, I met a porn director once who begged me to be in his movies because my face reminded him of "a young John Holmes." I said no. I don't regret that one, at least.
posted by teponaztli at 2:08 PM on August 28, 2016 [10 favorites]
posted by teponaztli at 2:08 PM on August 28, 2016 [10 favorites]
I once turned Chelsea Peretti down when she applied for a job at my dotcom in the early aughts (we'd run out of VC funding) and soon after that she created a pretty unflattering voiceover character with a name eerily similar to my own. And by eerily similar, I mean she used my actual name.
posted by mochapickle at 2:17 PM on August 28, 2016 [52 favorites]
posted by mochapickle at 2:17 PM on August 28, 2016 [52 favorites]
I'd lay odds that that would have been a show at Senior Haus... if the courtyard had a big tree with a tire swing, and the stage was in the corner of an L-shaped building stone building, it would've been Senior Haus.
Yeah, it had to have been Senior Haus. Most likely 1995, too, so not right before I exited. I did get to meet some neat indie rock names the two years I was in that band (e.g. The Dead C, Harry Pussy, Cibo Matto) so it wasn't like I was famous, but I got to meet a chain of them famous people.
also jessamyn has me in her pokkit.
posted by not_on_display at 2:18 PM on August 28, 2016 [5 favorites]
Yeah, it had to have been Senior Haus. Most likely 1995, too, so not right before I exited. I did get to meet some neat indie rock names the two years I was in that band (e.g. The Dead C, Harry Pussy, Cibo Matto) so it wasn't like I was famous, but I got to meet a chain of them famous people.
also jessamyn has me in her pokkit.
posted by not_on_display at 2:18 PM on August 28, 2016 [5 favorites]
On the Woz thread, someone commented that Woz's 10-year break between comments might be the largest of any user on Mefi.
I wrote a quick script to parse the Infodump for the longest gap between comments for the same user, and it turns out to be FFMike, with a gap of more than 12 years.
I don't even remember passwords I created 1 year ago.
posted by miyabo at 2:40 PM on August 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
I wrote a quick script to parse the Infodump for the longest gap between comments for the same user, and it turns out to be FFMike, with a gap of more than 12 years.
I don't even remember passwords I created 1 year ago.
posted by miyabo at 2:40 PM on August 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
A few members of the ASME Magazine Internship Program Class of 1994: Rebecca Adams, Maggie Battista, Susan Crabtree, Jeremy Olson, Romesh Ratnesar, Michael Schneider, Andrew Wallenstein, and...me. One of these things is definitely not like the others.
Marie Rutkoski and my sister have been best friends since high school.
posted by SisterHavana at 3:01 PM on August 28, 2016 [2 favorites]
Marie Rutkoski and my sister have been best friends since high school.
posted by SisterHavana at 3:01 PM on August 28, 2016 [2 favorites]
From a Mefite who wanted to remain anonymous:
A friend invited me to come hang out while a band he managed filmed a music video, and when I got there he asked if I wanted to be in it. I loved the band but I knew these things last forever and I didnt want to commit to being there all day. I just checked, and "Smells Like Teen Spirit" has been viewed 427,726,613 times.posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 3:07 PM on August 28, 2016 [55 favorites]
Sebmojo: I was in a band with Jemaine Clements wife.
Small world; her sister is one of my closest friends.
Not quite me, but my brother met Jemaine, Bret McKenzie and Taika at university, was in a comedy show with them, and ended up co-writing some of the sketches that Jemaine did on Skitz. Then he went overseas to pursue a relationship and his writing career stalled.
And seeing as we're doing more general brushes with fame: I played touch rugby with Grant Robertson, who would be the leader of the Labour Party and probably the future Prime Minister, except homophobia. And my workplace touch rugby team could have legitimately included an ex-All Black, but for some reason he didn't show up. (In American terms, this is probably something like you have a casual work softball team, and one of your workmates used to play MLB).
posted by Pink Frost at 3:13 PM on August 28, 2016 [2 favorites]
Small world; her sister is one of my closest friends.
Not quite me, but my brother met Jemaine, Bret McKenzie and Taika at university, was in a comedy show with them, and ended up co-writing some of the sketches that Jemaine did on Skitz. Then he went overseas to pursue a relationship and his writing career stalled.
And seeing as we're doing more general brushes with fame: I played touch rugby with Grant Robertson, who would be the leader of the Labour Party and probably the future Prime Minister, except homophobia. And my workplace touch rugby team could have legitimately included an ex-All Black, but for some reason he didn't show up. (In American terms, this is probably something like you have a casual work softball team, and one of your workmates used to play MLB).
posted by Pink Frost at 3:13 PM on August 28, 2016 [2 favorites]
I taught Ellie Kemper linear algebra.
posted by escabeche at 3:16 PM on August 28, 2016 [36 favorites]
posted by escabeche at 3:16 PM on August 28, 2016 [36 favorites]
Now I want to know how good Ellie Kemper was at linear algebra. Stupid FERPA.
posted by Elementary Penguin at 3:31 PM on August 28, 2016 [10 favorites]
posted by Elementary Penguin at 3:31 PM on August 28, 2016 [10 favorites]
When I was 17, my band played an all-day show higher on the bill than a new ska band that AFAIK was playing its first show ever. My friend and I had a fanzine, so we went to talk to the girl singer of that band about an interview, but while she was very sweet, she -- probably nervous to be talking to ace faces like us -- had absolutely nothing to say for herself. We decided not to interview Gwen Stefani.
posted by pH Indicating Socks at 3:39 PM on August 28, 2016 [13 favorites]
posted by pH Indicating Socks at 3:39 PM on August 28, 2016 [13 favorites]
In early 2000 or so I was invited by my internet buddy to poke around his website he'd made where you got to play games with a virtual creature that you'd name and feed and stuff. I declined on account of Neopets clearly being for babies (I was 16) and how I didn't want to be rude to this dude about his dorky web design. Ooops
posted by Mizu at 3:42 PM on August 28, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by Mizu at 3:42 PM on August 28, 2016 [4 favorites]
We are all Schrödinger's Smells Like Teen Spirit Extra now
posted by prize bull octorok at 3:46 PM on August 28, 2016 [12 favorites]
posted by prize bull octorok at 3:46 PM on August 28, 2016 [12 favorites]
I went to elementary school and hung out occasionally with Dustin Diamond. Once, I could share this casually with a laugh. Now, I don't tell many people.
posted by veggieboy at 3:51 PM on August 28, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by veggieboy at 3:51 PM on August 28, 2016 [3 favorites]
I was interning at Zentropy Partners in Cambridge when Eugene Mirman decided to quite his marketing job and try to make it as a comedian in NYC.
posted by Narrative Priorities at 4:10 PM on August 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Narrative Priorities at 4:10 PM on August 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
Well, one of us didn't take High School Debate seriously enough to be a talking head columnist, but the other one of us is Ross Douthat.
posted by Weighted Companion Cube at 4:11 PM on August 28, 2016 [12 favorites]
posted by Weighted Companion Cube at 4:11 PM on August 28, 2016 [12 favorites]
Oh. Hah.
And Captain America was in my class at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School.
posted by Narrative Priorities at 4:12 PM on August 28, 2016 [7 favorites]
And Captain America was in my class at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School.
posted by Narrative Priorities at 4:12 PM on August 28, 2016 [7 favorites]
Yeah, it had to have been Senior Haus. Most likely 1995
I was at Steer Roast that year so I heard you play. Wasn't paying much attention to the music though, sorry.
posted by scalefree at 4:16 PM on August 28, 2016 [2 favorites]
I was at Steer Roast that year so I heard you play. Wasn't paying much attention to the music though, sorry.
posted by scalefree at 4:16 PM on August 28, 2016 [2 favorites]
Not an almost-famous, but I am pretty sure the first girl I ever had a crush on in the 4th grade was Violet Blue (not named that at the time).
posted by ctmf at 4:20 PM on August 28, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by ctmf at 4:20 PM on August 28, 2016 [3 favorites]
During my senior year, my pastor called wanting me to be the groom in the randy Travis Forever and ever amen video.
Unfortunately, I had to go to my grandmothers.
That video is filled with members of my childhood church.
posted by wester at 4:26 PM on August 28, 2016 [2 favorites]
Unfortunately, I had to go to my grandmothers.
That video is filled with members of my childhood church.
posted by wester at 4:26 PM on August 28, 2016 [2 favorites]
Kevin Garnett was in my graduating class; but then, we'd been school mates since middle school.
posted by Kitteh at 4:35 PM on August 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Kitteh at 4:35 PM on August 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
Steven Seagal rode in our family minivan.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 5:00 PM on August 28, 2016 [13 favorites]
posted by robocop is bleeding at 5:00 PM on August 28, 2016 [13 favorites]
Does work-famous count? Many years ago I was the lead developer over a team of new college hires. Now one of those kids is the VP of my division at a different company. I'm still an individual contributor and have no plans to rise any higher.
posted by CathyG at 5:08 PM on August 28, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by CathyG at 5:08 PM on August 28, 2016 [2 favorites]
Steven Seagal rode in our family minivan.
This requires additional explanation.
posted by mochapickle at 5:11 PM on August 28, 2016 [11 favorites]
This requires additional explanation.
posted by mochapickle at 5:11 PM on August 28, 2016 [11 favorites]
This dude's signature (and a drawing of Bart Simpson) are in my 4th or 5th grade yearbook. Maybe both. He seems to be doing pretty okay in the music industry.
I also grew up playing baseball with one of Frank "Catch Me If You Can" Abagnale's sons.
posted by Ufez Jones at 5:14 PM on August 28, 2016 [2 favorites]
I also grew up playing baseball with one of Frank "Catch Me If You Can" Abagnale's sons.
posted by Ufez Jones at 5:14 PM on August 28, 2016 [2 favorites]
Like, did you want him in there?
posted by The corpse in the library at 5:14 PM on August 28, 2016 [9 favorites]
posted by The corpse in the library at 5:14 PM on August 28, 2016 [9 favorites]
Steven Seagal rode in our family minivan.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 1:00 AM on August 29
Wait what sorry what the hell?! You cannot just leave that as a seven word comment with like ZERO EXPLANATION of why STEVEN SEAGAL was RIDING in YOUR FAMILY MINIVAN.
Flagged for frustratingly intrigued.
posted by Wordshore at 5:15 PM on August 28, 2016 [7 favorites]
posted by robocop is bleeding at 1:00 AM on August 29
Wait what sorry what the hell?! You cannot just leave that as a seven word comment with like ZERO EXPLANATION of why STEVEN SEAGAL was RIDING in YOUR FAMILY MINIVAN.
Flagged for frustratingly intrigued.
posted by Wordshore at 5:15 PM on August 28, 2016 [7 favorites]
Flagged for frustratingly intrigued.
posted by Wordshore at 8:15 PM on August 28 [+] [!]
I think this is a pretty ballsy thing for you to say after the Mysterious Cheese Affair over in AskMe.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 5:24 PM on August 28, 2016 [60 favorites]
posted by Wordshore at 8:15 PM on August 28 [+] [!]
I think this is a pretty ballsy thing for you to say after the Mysterious Cheese Affair over in AskMe.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 5:24 PM on August 28, 2016 [60 favorites]
P.S. I say that with so much affection and respect but seriously dude. Seriously. Dude.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 5:25 PM on August 28, 2016 [18 favorites]
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 5:25 PM on August 28, 2016 [18 favorites]
I think this is a pretty ballsy thing for you to say after the Mysterious Cheese Affair over in AskMe.
A very detailed explanation was given. eventually In the same vein, am hoping for a resolution to the mysterious Steven-Seagal-Family-Minivan affair.
posted by Wordshore at 5:30 PM on August 28, 2016 [5 favorites]
A very detailed explanation was given. eventually In the same vein, am hoping for a resolution to the mysterious Steven-Seagal-Family-Minivan affair.
posted by Wordshore at 5:30 PM on August 28, 2016 [5 favorites]
His car was not cleared for entry to the base - so it was the minivan or go home.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 5:31 PM on August 28, 2016 [8 favorites]
posted by robocop is bleeding at 5:31 PM on August 28, 2016 [8 favorites]
A friend of the family got drunk and stole Steven Segal from the asshole neighbor's closet and didn't know what to do with him.
posted by beerperson at 5:39 PM on August 28, 2016 [8 favorites]
posted by beerperson at 5:39 PM on August 28, 2016 [8 favorites]
I was hoping for a dramatic retelling of the minivan incident featuring earnest quotes from his various movies, but OK.
posted by mochapickle at 5:41 PM on August 28, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by mochapickle at 5:41 PM on August 28, 2016 [4 favorites]
One of the guys who lived across the hall from me cofounded Blavity, but he also spent a lot of his freshman year in boxer briefs and tank tops walking around on our floor and occasionally would sit in our hammock (I lived in a triple which was built for wheelchair accessibility; one of my roommates basically moved in with her boyfriend, so we had a lot of space).
posted by ChuraChura at 5:56 PM on August 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by ChuraChura at 5:56 PM on August 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
I went to high school with a serial killer. We didn't hang out.
posted by wallabear at 6:04 PM on August 28, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by wallabear at 6:04 PM on August 28, 2016 [3 favorites]
Murder...pedia?
posted by beerperson at 6:10 PM on August 28, 2016 [5 favorites]
posted by beerperson at 6:10 PM on August 28, 2016 [5 favorites]
The preferred sub my band usually gets for me when I can't make a gig is frequently unavailable himself while he's touring with Ryan Adams & The Shining.
posted by emelenjr at 6:18 PM on August 28, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by emelenjr at 6:18 PM on August 28, 2016 [2 favorites]
I went to high school with David Harris. My girlfriend went to high school with Al Horford.
posted by pseudodionysus at 6:22 PM on August 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by pseudodionysus at 6:22 PM on August 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
Not me, but my brother was technically "in a band", if you count marching band, with both Ezra Koenig (of Vampire Weekend) and Wes Miles (of Ra Ra Riot). We might still have some ultra-slick VHS tapes that some of the band parents would put together every year of the season with them on it floating around my parent's house somewhere.
My ultimate "before it was cool" is thus having had a crush on Ezra Koenig (c. 2001/2002, when I was in 8th grade).
posted by damayanti at 6:28 PM on August 28, 2016 [6 favorites]
My ultimate "before it was cool" is thus having had a crush on Ezra Koenig (c. 2001/2002, when I was in 8th grade).
posted by damayanti at 6:28 PM on August 28, 2016 [6 favorites]
I had a conversation with Jonah Peretti where he told me he planned to just show up at MIT and explain why he wanted to go there for grad school. He was pretty sure they'd let him. I was like, 'Good luck with that, pal.'
posted by cocoagirl at 6:30 PM on August 28, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by cocoagirl at 6:30 PM on August 28, 2016 [3 favorites]
I went to high school with Andrew W.K. He seemed like a pretty okay guy.
posted by nebulawindphone at 6:34 PM on August 28, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by nebulawindphone at 6:34 PM on August 28, 2016 [4 favorites]
I did children's theater and went to a small private high school for a couple of years with Marisha Pessl , at a place not unlike the one she wrote about in her first novel.
I went to elementary school through junior high school with Paul Schneider, who was always charming and funny, even when we ran the "Ye Old Fish Shoppe" together for the 6th grade Medieval Fair.
I have a fair amount of friends who've enjoyed varying levels literary/journalistic success and a fair amount of friends who are in bands or who have played with bands that have gone on to be reasonably successful by indie rock metrics. Some piece of me wonders if I shouldn't have kept writing for Pitchfork a few years longer than I did, given how many of the writers from my era are now publishing in much bigger and more illustrious publications, but I'm also pretty happy to not be writing record reviews anymore.
posted by thivaia at 6:40 PM on August 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
I went to elementary school through junior high school with Paul Schneider, who was always charming and funny, even when we ran the "Ye Old Fish Shoppe" together for the 6th grade Medieval Fair.
I have a fair amount of friends who've enjoyed varying levels literary/journalistic success and a fair amount of friends who are in bands or who have played with bands that have gone on to be reasonably successful by indie rock metrics. Some piece of me wonders if I shouldn't have kept writing for Pitchfork a few years longer than I did, given how many of the writers from my era are now publishing in much bigger and more illustrious publications, but I'm also pretty happy to not be writing record reviews anymore.
posted by thivaia at 6:40 PM on August 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
A few years ago, I stopped into an airport newsstand and saw they were featuring a book that was coauthored by a girl who lived on my floor sophomore year at IU.
Also at IU, Sage Steele and I lived in the same dorm freshman and sophomore years. She didn't live on my floor, so I didn't know her super well, but I saw her around all the time. Julie DiCaro and I had several classes together at the journalism school. Alan Henderson was in my honors seminar second semester freshman year.
And then there are the now-famous people who were at IU the same time I was, but with whom I didn't cross paths (at least not that I remember): Trista Sutter, Sarah Clarke, Sarah Becker (from The Real World: Miami) Laverne Cox, Dave Giuntoli (2nd time around), and Catt Sadler, among others.
posted by SisterHavana at 6:43 PM on August 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
Also at IU, Sage Steele and I lived in the same dorm freshman and sophomore years. She didn't live on my floor, so I didn't know her super well, but I saw her around all the time. Julie DiCaro and I had several classes together at the journalism school. Alan Henderson was in my honors seminar second semester freshman year.
And then there are the now-famous people who were at IU the same time I was, but with whom I didn't cross paths (at least not that I remember): Trista Sutter, Sarah Clarke, Sarah Becker (from The Real World: Miami) Laverne Cox, Dave Giuntoli (2nd time around), and Catt Sadler, among others.
posted by SisterHavana at 6:43 PM on August 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
I took improv and theatre classes as a kid with Ann and Joan Cusack along with Shira and Jeremy Piven - their mom Joyce Piven was the teacher. To say I am not a gifted actor is a masterpiece of understatement but the contrast, even as young kids, was notable. (don't remember if John was in the classes).
posted by leslies at 6:46 PM on August 28, 2016 [5 favorites]
posted by leslies at 6:46 PM on August 28, 2016 [5 favorites]
wallabear: "I went to high school with a serial killer. We didn't hang out."
When I was in college my mom called me to tell me that the police had found a serial killer a few doors down from our house.
posted by octothorpe at 6:47 PM on August 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
When I was in college my mom called me to tell me that the police had found a serial killer a few doors down from our house.
posted by octothorpe at 6:47 PM on August 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
I had a conversation with Jonah Peretti where he told me he planned to just show up at MIT and explain why he wanted to go there for grad school. He was pretty sure they'd let him. I was like, 'Good luck with that, pal.'
Good thing he didn't create a character named after you!
posted by Room 641-A at 6:49 PM on August 28, 2016 [2 favorites]
Good thing he didn't create a character named after you!
posted by Room 641-A at 6:49 PM on August 28, 2016 [2 favorites]
I played a show with Terri Sue Webb...she was naked
posted by Joseph Gurl at 6:51 PM on August 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Joseph Gurl at 6:51 PM on August 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
I went to high school and was teammates with the current GQ fashion guy. He was exceedingly cool and handsome in high school despite us being forced to wear uniforms and was really really nice besides. It has been sort of delightful being able to watch him become a handsomeness professional.
posted by dismas at 7:08 PM on August 28, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by dismas at 7:08 PM on August 28, 2016 [3 favorites]
I think I've mentioned this before, but my Aunt (my mother's sister) called home from California in the late 60's to tell her parents (my grandparents) that she was doing fine, she's met this real nice guy, he's a guitarist for this band called Buffalo Springfield.
Yes, my aunt was living with Neil Young.
Their relationship didn't last too long, but I always got huge mileage out of the story. Flash forward to last fall - at the 25th Anniversary Draft for my fantasy football league, I had invited several people who were in the league at one point but weren't at the moment to come back, and my cousin, who lives on the East coast near me now too, said yeah, he'd love to come by and say hello. After all, my father was coming all the way from Oklahoma to be there.
What my cousin didn't say was that his mother was visiting him that weekend as well, and he surprised me and everyone else by bringing her by.
So, my aunt was suddenly surrounded by a whole bunch of fanboys who'd heard my stories over the years and wanted to know what Neil Young was like in the sack.
To her credit (of course!) she was very gracious.
posted by yhbc at 7:36 PM on August 28, 2016 [14 favorites]
Yes, my aunt was living with Neil Young.
Their relationship didn't last too long, but I always got huge mileage out of the story. Flash forward to last fall - at the 25th Anniversary Draft for my fantasy football league, I had invited several people who were in the league at one point but weren't at the moment to come back, and my cousin, who lives on the East coast near me now too, said yeah, he'd love to come by and say hello. After all, my father was coming all the way from Oklahoma to be there.
What my cousin didn't say was that his mother was visiting him that weekend as well, and he surprised me and everyone else by bringing her by.
So, my aunt was suddenly surrounded by a whole bunch of fanboys who'd heard my stories over the years and wanted to know what Neil Young was like in the sack.
To her credit (of course!) she was very gracious.
posted by yhbc at 7:36 PM on August 28, 2016 [14 favorites]
Does "gracious" mean you still don't know how Neil Young was in the sack?
posted by jacquilynne at 7:38 PM on August 28, 2016 [17 favorites]
posted by jacquilynne at 7:38 PM on August 28, 2016 [17 favorites]
A well-known domestic maven - before jail - wanted to turn me into a mini-version of herself. I quit. Sometimes I wonder "what if."
posted by Lil Bit of Pepper at 7:40 PM on August 28, 2016 [14 favorites]
posted by Lil Bit of Pepper at 7:40 PM on August 28, 2016 [14 favorites]
Ha! Her exact words were "it was a long time ago!"
posted by yhbc at 7:40 PM on August 28, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by yhbc at 7:40 PM on August 28, 2016 [4 favorites]
Question - is this thread for "I knew them before they were famous" stories or is it for "I quit something and then it got big after I quit" stories?
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:41 PM on August 28, 2016 [5 favorites]
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:41 PM on August 28, 2016 [5 favorites]
The guitar player in my Yes tribute project has a dog that Robert Plant needed to re-home when he split Austin a couple years ago. She's a real sweet dog.
About 3 years ago, I did a semi-spontaneous Elevators tribute thing, & I dragged my recording rig to the show & got a decent recording. I thought our version of Kingdom of Heaven came out pretty good, so I emailed it to Fred the guitarist... Who emailed it to Powell St. John in California, & St. John remarked that it was one of the best takes on the song that he'd heard. I had NO IDEA that Fred knew St. John when I sent him the recording.
The next year, Fred got recruited to play rhythm guitar in the live Elevators reunion they just did recently.
posted by Devils Rancher at 7:44 PM on August 28, 2016 [3 favorites]
About 3 years ago, I did a semi-spontaneous Elevators tribute thing, & I dragged my recording rig to the show & got a decent recording. I thought our version of Kingdom of Heaven came out pretty good, so I emailed it to Fred the guitarist... Who emailed it to Powell St. John in California, & St. John remarked that it was one of the best takes on the song that he'd heard. I had NO IDEA that Fred knew St. John when I sent him the recording.
The next year, Fred got recruited to play rhythm guitar in the live Elevators reunion they just did recently.
posted by Devils Rancher at 7:44 PM on August 28, 2016 [3 favorites]
Several of my exes went on to have long-term, meaningful, committed relationships (with someone else) - but I don't think that's quite what you're talking about.
posted by soakimbo at 7:49 PM on August 28, 2016 [8 favorites]
posted by soakimbo at 7:49 PM on August 28, 2016 [8 favorites]
at the 25th Anniversary Draft for my fantasy football league,
Weirdest part of any of the stories and we're just going to let that go?
posted by bongo_x at 8:11 PM on August 28, 2016 [4 favorites]
Weirdest part of any of the stories and we're just going to let that go?
posted by bongo_x at 8:11 PM on August 28, 2016 [4 favorites]
I think this is a pretty ballsy thing for you to say after the Mysterious Cheese Affair over in AskMe.
Wow, I never knew the cheese story was so involved. That is something. A couple of things I have learned;
1. Apparently I am not that curious as I initially read the question and the first answers and never gave it another thought.
2. I will never live in an English village or any variants of such. That whole scenario blows my mind.
posted by bongo_x at 8:15 PM on August 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
Wow, I never knew the cheese story was so involved. That is something. A couple of things I have learned;
1. Apparently I am not that curious as I initially read the question and the first answers and never gave it another thought.
2. I will never live in an English village or any variants of such. That whole scenario blows my mind.
posted by bongo_x at 8:15 PM on August 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
From a Mefite who wished to remain anonymous:
My dad and stepmom used to live across the street from some old family friends. A few years ago they lost their power on Christmas morning due to a small fire. They had been hosting her sister and brother-in-law, but now they had no place to eat Christmas dinner. They asked if my dad and stepmom could host for them, but my stepmom said no because my dad had left the house too messy and she was embarrassed to let their friends see it.posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 8:27 PM on August 28, 2016 [21 favorites]
So we missed out on celebrating Christmas with Ringo Starr and Barbara Bach.
Question - is this thread for "I knew them before they were famous" stories or is it for "I quit something and then it got big after I quit" stories?
I thought mostly the second, but am enjoying examples of the first too. For instance, I went to high school with Gabby Giffords. After college, I lived in a duplex next to Bob Log.
posted by Squeak Attack at 8:29 PM on August 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
I thought mostly the second, but am enjoying examples of the first too. For instance, I went to high school with Gabby Giffords. After college, I lived in a duplex next to Bob Log.
posted by Squeak Attack at 8:29 PM on August 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
Well, I went to high school with a guy who later became slightly famous for making a couch out of telephone books. But that's nothing. Following is the list of luminaries with whom I share an alma mater: Big Deal Hollywood Star Wars Guy. Actress who has played a Wife and an ER nurse. Writer of well-received film about investment banker/serial killer. Personage who runs a store full of peculiar objets (d'art and d'other things) about which a reality TV show was made. Some formerly nice girls who wound up in a few Richard Kern photo sessions. A guy who is on the cover of the Circle Jerks album Wild in the Streets. Someone who just had an op-ed published in the New York Times. Another person who recently won a National Book Award. Is that enough? If I think of anyone else I'll be sure to let you know.
posted by scratch at 9:00 PM on August 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by scratch at 9:00 PM on August 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
Fascinatingly, I only recognize 1:5 of these names and basically none of the musical references.
posted by arnicae at 9:16 PM on August 28, 2016 [10 favorites]
posted by arnicae at 9:16 PM on August 28, 2016 [10 favorites]
After college, I lived in a duplex next to Bob Log.
Inventor of the log?!
posted by beerperson at 9:53 PM on August 28, 2016 [19 favorites]
Inventor of the log?!
posted by beerperson at 9:53 PM on August 28, 2016 [19 favorites]
I have autographs from two of the Dead Milkmen from the very first show with a pit I ever went to. At The Rat in Boston, 1990. One of them is Dave Blood.
I once crossed the street behind Kurt Vonnegut. I was waiting for the light to change thinking, idly, that guy looks familiar. A guy walked up next to me and whispered, "That's Kurt Vonnegut!" I walked behind them both and contemplated my life.
posted by bendy at 10:14 PM on August 28, 2016 [2 favorites]
I once crossed the street behind Kurt Vonnegut. I was waiting for the light to change thinking, idly, that guy looks familiar. A guy walked up next to me and whispered, "That's Kurt Vonnegut!" I walked behind them both and contemplated my life.
posted by bendy at 10:14 PM on August 28, 2016 [2 favorites]
Inventor of the log?!
Log. (NOTE: I know neither Ren nor Stimpy.)
posted by scalefree at 10:43 PM on August 28, 2016 [2 favorites]
Log. (NOTE: I know neither Ren nor Stimpy.)
posted by scalefree at 10:43 PM on August 28, 2016 [2 favorites]
When I was twelve-years-old, I saved up my money to buy my first record. The one I chose, out of all the options in the 80s, was Red Roses for Me by the Pogues. That was my first record.
This was, I assume, my brush with celebrity because this is where the universe split and there was one version of me that went on to become a really cool music critic and occasional session player and general cool guy and the other one became me.
posted by stet at 11:04 PM on August 28, 2016 [3 favorites]
This was, I assume, my brush with celebrity because this is where the universe split and there was one version of me that went on to become a really cool music critic and occasional session player and general cool guy and the other one became me.
posted by stet at 11:04 PM on August 28, 2016 [3 favorites]
Oh, when I was a kid, my mom worked as the office manager for Eastern Decorators in Winthrop and East Boston, MA They basically did all sorts of work, from sandblasting bridges to painting dorm rooms. In the late 70's and early 80's, Mike Eruzione (Captain of the 1980 US Olympic Gold Medal Hockey Theam That Beat The Soviets in the "Miracle On Ice") did some side work for them, and somehow I got to hang out with him a handful of times. I was 10 years old. We all went skiing in NH once. Even though I wasn't a huge hockey nut, it was pretty cool being around someone whom everyone recognized, and was cheering for and congratulating and high-fiving.
posted by not_on_display at 12:02 AM on August 29, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by not_on_display at 12:02 AM on August 29, 2016 [3 favorites]
I auditioned to play a character in a short film who was based on me and did not get the part. The guy who made the film runs a show on the Cartoon Network now. I guess if I'd been better at playing myself it could have been my big break.
posted by the marble index at 12:55 AM on August 29, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by the marble index at 12:55 AM on August 29, 2016 [4 favorites]
"That's Kurt Vonnegut!"
Holy shit the guy from Back to School?
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 1:58 AM on August 29, 2016 [6 favorites]
Holy shit the guy from Back to School?
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 1:58 AM on August 29, 2016 [6 favorites]
Question - is this thread for "I knew them before they were famous" stories or is it for "I quit something and then it got big after I quit" stories?
Originally meant the latter, but it is admittedly a poorly-worded original post (sorry) so either, or however people interpret it, I guess.
posted by Wordshore at 2:32 AM on August 29, 2016 [1 favorite]
Originally meant the latter, but it is admittedly a poorly-worded original post (sorry) so either, or however people interpret it, I guess.
posted by Wordshore at 2:32 AM on August 29, 2016 [1 favorite]
I played in a jazz trio in high school with a drummer who got hired (right out of high school) to tour with Wynton Marsalis. I like to think it was keeping up with my stellar bass playing that drove him to such drumming heights that Marsalis hired him (It wasn't).
In the "meeting famous people" vein, when I was a kid John Candy filmed a scene for Uncle Buck down the street from my parents' house and one of the hair and makeup trailers was parked on our front lawn. I didn't see him use that one, but one evening my BFF saw him go into one around the corner for makeup and his security guy let us hang around outside until he came out and he was very nice and signed autographs for us and said he liked the neighborhood.
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 2:35 AM on August 29, 2016 [3 favorites]
In the "meeting famous people" vein, when I was a kid John Candy filmed a scene for Uncle Buck down the street from my parents' house and one of the hair and makeup trailers was parked on our front lawn. I didn't see him use that one, but one evening my BFF saw him go into one around the corner for makeup and his security guy let us hang around outside until he came out and he was very nice and signed autographs for us and said he liked the neighborhood.
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 2:35 AM on August 29, 2016 [3 favorites]
I used to work for someone who is featured in a Werner Herzog documentary. I haven't actually seen the doc (because if I see my ex boss' face that large on screen I cannot be responsible for what I might do, it was an unhappy work environment) but I imagine it probably touches on the work done in our lab as well as on the guy himself. And so it is possible that, had I stayed, I might have gotten interviewed for or at least been shown in the background of a scene of a Herzog documentary.
I am slightly sad I missed out on this, but on the other hand every day I no longer work for that guy is a gift, so, it worked out okay.
posted by Stacey at 3:37 AM on August 29, 2016 [6 favorites]
I am slightly sad I missed out on this, but on the other hand every day I no longer work for that guy is a gift, so, it worked out okay.
posted by Stacey at 3:37 AM on August 29, 2016 [6 favorites]
Inventor of the log?!
Oh, beerperson, I love you now more than ever.
posted by wenestvedt at 3:59 AM on August 29, 2016 [2 favorites]
Oh, beerperson, I love you now more than ever.
posted by wenestvedt at 3:59 AM on August 29, 2016 [2 favorites]
Orivginally meant the latter, but it is admittedly a poorly-worded original post (sorry) so either, or however people interpret it, I guess.
Fair enough - then in the "knew/worked with them before fame" world: I've mentioned some of these before, but it's probably no surprise that someone who worked in theater in NYC has a few -
* I was the assistant SM for the workshop of this ungodly terrible goth musical that starred Cote de Pablo in 2002. She ran into me six months later in Chinatown, gave me a big hug and asked how I was doing; she was about to go to Los Angeles to do a musical about the Mambo Kings. The musical closed there and never came to Broadway, but she stayed in LA and auditioned for a TV show and then ended up as "Ziva David" for five years on the show NCIS.
* Constance Wu was one of the romantic leads for this really sweet show I did in 2006. It was set during the Ping Pong friendship games between China and the US in the early 70s, and she was cultivating sass to counteract the fact that she was usually seen as a cute ingenue (during one rehearsal, the way she said one line was so adorable that the rest of us watching said "awwwww!" and she broke character and turned to us all and retorted, "I'm NOT CUTE, guys, stop!"). She is now Jessica on Fresh off The Boat.
* In 2003 I was the SM for this wacked out show that was about a racially dystopic future America, and Colman Domingo was part of the ensemble, playing everyone from a street drifter to Thomas Jefferson to a Henry-Louis-Gates type of character. He also filled in as music director in a pinch when the director decided he wanted to try recording a hip-hop song as a plantation work song as the "incidental music" during a scene on Jefferson's plantation, and Colman got an idea, rounded up the cast and went into a side room, and they all came out five minutes later singing an acapella rendition of Nelly's "Hot in Herre". I became Facebook friends with him a year later, and so I've watched him go on to play Billy Flynn in Chicago, Mr. Venus in Passing Strange, Rev. Abernathy in Selma, and now Victor Strand in Fear the Walking Dead and soon he'll be in Birth Of A Nation.
And fortunately, I can swear to the fact that all three of them are super-cool.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:58 AM on August 29, 2016 [5 favorites]
Fair enough - then in the "knew/worked with them before fame" world: I've mentioned some of these before, but it's probably no surprise that someone who worked in theater in NYC has a few -
* I was the assistant SM for the workshop of this ungodly terrible goth musical that starred Cote de Pablo in 2002. She ran into me six months later in Chinatown, gave me a big hug and asked how I was doing; she was about to go to Los Angeles to do a musical about the Mambo Kings. The musical closed there and never came to Broadway, but she stayed in LA and auditioned for a TV show and then ended up as "Ziva David" for five years on the show NCIS.
* Constance Wu was one of the romantic leads for this really sweet show I did in 2006. It was set during the Ping Pong friendship games between China and the US in the early 70s, and she was cultivating sass to counteract the fact that she was usually seen as a cute ingenue (during one rehearsal, the way she said one line was so adorable that the rest of us watching said "awwwww!" and she broke character and turned to us all and retorted, "I'm NOT CUTE, guys, stop!"). She is now Jessica on Fresh off The Boat.
* In 2003 I was the SM for this wacked out show that was about a racially dystopic future America, and Colman Domingo was part of the ensemble, playing everyone from a street drifter to Thomas Jefferson to a Henry-Louis-Gates type of character. He also filled in as music director in a pinch when the director decided he wanted to try recording a hip-hop song as a plantation work song as the "incidental music" during a scene on Jefferson's plantation, and Colman got an idea, rounded up the cast and went into a side room, and they all came out five minutes later singing an acapella rendition of Nelly's "Hot in Herre". I became Facebook friends with him a year later, and so I've watched him go on to play Billy Flynn in Chicago, Mr. Venus in Passing Strange, Rev. Abernathy in Selma, and now Victor Strand in Fear the Walking Dead and soon he'll be in Birth Of A Nation.
And fortunately, I can swear to the fact that all three of them are super-cool.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:58 AM on August 29, 2016 [5 favorites]
A fellow once offered me a permanent gig in the house band at a German-style beer hall. I asked, "Do I have to wear lederhosen?" He said, "Yes." I said, "No thanks." For several years after, I would see the fellow and his band, in their lederhosen, in late-night TV ads for the beer hall. Could've been me...
posted by Jode at 5:49 AM on August 29, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by Jode at 5:49 AM on August 29, 2016 [3 favorites]
In college, I knew the guy who sold Amy Fisher the gun she used to shoot Mary Jo Buttafuoco.
posted by jonmc at 7:40 AM on August 29, 2016 [7 favorites]
posted by jonmc at 7:40 AM on August 29, 2016 [7 favorites]
I was acquaintance-level friends with author/science blogger Carl Zimmer in High School, and have the yearbook signature to prove it; we shared several classes, including Calculus. I'm fairly sure we were in the same D&D game at least once.
posted by fings at 8:28 AM on August 29, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by fings at 8:28 AM on August 29, 2016 [2 favorites]
Hey, serial killers count as brushes with fame? In college I rented the bedroom that Andrew Cunanan (of killing Versacce fame) lived in when he went on his spree.
posted by BuddhaInABucket at 8:46 AM on August 29, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by BuddhaInABucket at 8:46 AM on August 29, 2016 [2 favorites]
I went to summer camps with Katheryn Winnick (Lagertha from Vikings).
posted by Kabanos at 8:58 AM on August 29, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Kabanos at 8:58 AM on August 29, 2016 [2 favorites]
I have a chair that Eddie Rickenbacker more than likely sat in.
posted by marxchivist at 9:02 AM on August 29, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by marxchivist at 9:02 AM on August 29, 2016 [1 favorite]
I went to high school with Ross Levinsohn, Tate Donovan, Hope Davis and Mira Sorvino.
I left NJ to go to Northeastern University, where one of my roommates was Wendy Williams.
I was at WBCN in Boston where I worked closely with Billy West, and was a DJ at The Paradise in Boston, where I spurned the advances of Warren Zevon, Simon Townshend and Bono.
My kids went to school with Sir Tim Berners-Lee's kids, one kid worked closely with Amanda Palmer and Rachel Dratch and Eugene Mirman spoke at their graduations.
posted by yes I said yes I will Yes at 9:11 AM on August 29, 2016 [3 favorites]
I left NJ to go to Northeastern University, where one of my roommates was Wendy Williams.
I was at WBCN in Boston where I worked closely with Billy West, and was a DJ at The Paradise in Boston, where I spurned the advances of Warren Zevon, Simon Townshend and Bono.
My kids went to school with Sir Tim Berners-Lee's kids, one kid worked closely with Amanda Palmer and Rachel Dratch and Eugene Mirman spoke at their graduations.
posted by yes I said yes I will Yes at 9:11 AM on August 29, 2016 [3 favorites]
I worked on the Obama campaign in the summer and fall of 2007. I left before the first primaries for a variety of good reasons. Several of my close coworkers went on to work in the White House and a couple of them have even been profiled in places like the NY Times.
posted by lunasol at 9:12 AM on August 29, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by lunasol at 9:12 AM on August 29, 2016 [4 favorites]
And then there are the now-famous people who were at IU the same time I was, but with whom I didn't cross paths (at least not that I remember): Trista Sutter, Sarah Clarke, Sarah Becker (from The Real World: Miami) Laverne Cox, Dave Giuntoli (2nd time around), and Catt Sadler, among others.
I'm just going to crib this, since according to Sarah Clarke's bio/age I would have been at IU at the same time. Relatedly, I dated a semi-famous musician who has continued to be semi-famous. One of my musician friends from there has also been touring the globe lately according to facebook, so she's some level of famous.
My high school class produced two nationally known athletes that I'm aware of (baseball, hockey), and more notably the now-billionaire founder of a software tool that is widely used for online course management (it is a virtual board made of black).
As a scientist I'm connected to a spectrum of fame, really, MacArthur people, people in newspapers all the time. At the moment, of those I'm most proud/amazed that I know the founder of a certain Ivy Election Consortium, who does heavy poll-crunching.
posted by Dashy at 9:25 AM on August 29, 2016 [2 favorites]
I'm just going to crib this, since according to Sarah Clarke's bio/age I would have been at IU at the same time. Relatedly, I dated a semi-famous musician who has continued to be semi-famous. One of my musician friends from there has also been touring the globe lately according to facebook, so she's some level of famous.
My high school class produced two nationally known athletes that I'm aware of (baseball, hockey), and more notably the now-billionaire founder of a software tool that is widely used for online course management (it is a virtual board made of black).
As a scientist I'm connected to a spectrum of fame, really, MacArthur people, people in newspapers all the time. At the moment, of those I'm most proud/amazed that I know the founder of a certain Ivy Election Consortium, who does heavy poll-crunching.
posted by Dashy at 9:25 AM on August 29, 2016 [2 favorites]
oh, and one of my IU classmates is Samira Wiley's cousin.
posted by Dashy at 9:32 AM on August 29, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Dashy at 9:32 AM on August 29, 2016 [2 favorites]
I was neighbors and friends with Peter Gabriel's family when I was a boy (my mother friends with his wife), both Dan and Matt Wilson of Trip Shakepseare (and, in Dan's case, later Semisonic and Grammy winning work with the Dixie Chicks and Adele) were my babysitters, Judd Hirsch is my mother's cousin, Lalo Schifrin is my father's cousin (somewhat removed), I worked very closely with Shelley Winters on a theater program for homeless teens in Hollywood, and my biological mother was married to Illuminatus coauthor Robert Shea.
However, I refuse to admit that, in my own way, I am not famous. I am not the most famous person I know, but I am the most famous person a lot of my friends know, which isn't hard to do in Omaha.
posted by maxsparber at 9:36 AM on August 29, 2016 [4 favorites]
However, I refuse to admit that, in my own way, I am not famous. I am not the most famous person I know, but I am the most famous person a lot of my friends know, which isn't hard to do in Omaha.
posted by maxsparber at 9:36 AM on August 29, 2016 [4 favorites]
They filmed Wonder Boys when I was at Carnegie Mellon and a bunch of my Scotch and Soda friends were extras in it, but for a bunch of reasons I didn't try to get in on it. Michael Douglas told them all how much he appreciated how hard they were working one day when they had to do a bunch of takes. So I missed that chance. Also, they covered school in artificial snow for some winter scenes, but someone wrote "I LOVE KATIE HOLMES" in it.
posted by Elementary Penguin at 9:53 AM on August 29, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Elementary Penguin at 9:53 AM on August 29, 2016 [2 favorites]
I'm probably the only person who's met both GG Allin and John Hall.
posted by Confess, Fletch at 10:11 AM on August 29, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by Confess, Fletch at 10:11 AM on August 29, 2016 [3 favorites]
Most of my friends have had brushes with Tina Fey by virtue of having participated in the same summer theater program as middle- and highschoolers, which she dedicated a chapter to in Bossypants. The closest I get is that I'm friends with "Larry Wentzler's" children and was in his second son's wedding.
posted by moviehawk at 10:39 AM on August 29, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by moviehawk at 10:39 AM on August 29, 2016 [1 favorite]
Oh, I thought of a near-miss -
it was the last day of a show I did in the late 90's; we were performing at one of the tiny off-off-Broadway theaters on 42nd Street. We had a matinee and an evening show, and a bunch of the cast were going out to get dinner together before our evening show; they invited me along, and I said sure, I just needed to clean some things up first. But I was taking a while so I said they could go on without me; they did. I just got dinner with another random cast member who also was taking her time winding up too.
And that's how I missed out on being part of the group that tried to get dinner at one of the restaurants who'd bought an ad in our program on the same night that the Broadway cast of The Judas Kiss was there having its own closing night party, and so i thus was not introduced to the Judas Kiss cast, and so I thus did not get to hang out with Liam Neeson.
Apparently Liam was really nice, and was bonding with them all about how it was all of their closing nights and "oh gosh, it feels like you've only just gotten the hang of the part and now you have to end the show, right? Doesn't that suck?" At one point he threw an arm around one of our women's shoulders and said something about "welp, I'm cheerin' myself up after this with a vacation in Italy, you got any big plans yerself, darlin'?" and the actress said, "uh....I'm going to see my mom in Ohio."
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:46 AM on August 29, 2016 [4 favorites]
it was the last day of a show I did in the late 90's; we were performing at one of the tiny off-off-Broadway theaters on 42nd Street. We had a matinee and an evening show, and a bunch of the cast were going out to get dinner together before our evening show; they invited me along, and I said sure, I just needed to clean some things up first. But I was taking a while so I said they could go on without me; they did. I just got dinner with another random cast member who also was taking her time winding up too.
And that's how I missed out on being part of the group that tried to get dinner at one of the restaurants who'd bought an ad in our program on the same night that the Broadway cast of The Judas Kiss was there having its own closing night party, and so i thus was not introduced to the Judas Kiss cast, and so I thus did not get to hang out with Liam Neeson.
Apparently Liam was really nice, and was bonding with them all about how it was all of their closing nights and "oh gosh, it feels like you've only just gotten the hang of the part and now you have to end the show, right? Doesn't that suck?" At one point he threw an arm around one of our women's shoulders and said something about "welp, I'm cheerin' myself up after this with a vacation in Italy, you got any big plans yerself, darlin'?" and the actress said, "uh....I'm going to see my mom in Ohio."
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:46 AM on August 29, 2016 [4 favorites]
my roommate's uncle is john zorn but since really only music freaks know/care who that is she doesn't get to brag about it too often but when she does to the right audience there's some satisfying fanboying
posted by burgerrr at 11:57 AM on August 29, 2016 [12 favorites]
posted by burgerrr at 11:57 AM on August 29, 2016 [12 favorites]
I was hoping for a dramatic retelling of the minivan incident featuring earnest quotes from his various movies, but OK.
Well, there was a railgun involved.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 12:02 PM on August 29, 2016 [1 favorite]
Well, there was a railgun involved.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 12:02 PM on August 29, 2016 [1 favorite]
I managed Buckethead's first real Website.
And burgerrr, I love John Zorn!
posted by Gorgik at 12:03 PM on August 29, 2016 [2 favorites]
And burgerrr, I love John Zorn!
posted by Gorgik at 12:03 PM on August 29, 2016 [2 favorites]
Steven Seagal rode in our family minivan.
Yeah, well, I was visiting my cousins out of state one summer when I was a kid, and the mother of a friend of one of the cousins was driving us to the county fair or some such in their family van (white Chevy van, early 80s, racing stripes, lushly upholstered bucket recliner seats in the back, with CUPHOLDERS). The family van had a little gold plaque glued to the glove box, the kind you'd get engraved down at Things Remembered in the mall, that said "This van was once owned by Johnny Cash."
So there.
in the "knew/worked with them before fame" world
Also in this vein, "great american hero" and "american sniper" Chris Kyle was a year behind me in high school. He was a big, quiet, shuffling kid who always seemed (to me) to be kind of lost. I didn't know him well, but I was friends with his best friend, a guy smaller than me who was meek-ish, very quiet, blushed easily, and got picked on some. He and I (the friend) carpooled together sometimes because he lived down the street.
I don't buy into the hero story/myth at all, but the whole rest of the Chris Kyle story (including the fact that he fully embraced where we came from, and it surely influenced who he turned out to be, while I've been running from that place and everything that comes with it since I graduated and left town) makes me very, very sad.
posted by mudpuppie at 12:21 PM on August 29, 2016 [3 favorites]
Yeah, well, I was visiting my cousins out of state one summer when I was a kid, and the mother of a friend of one of the cousins was driving us to the county fair or some such in their family van (white Chevy van, early 80s, racing stripes, lushly upholstered bucket recliner seats in the back, with CUPHOLDERS). The family van had a little gold plaque glued to the glove box, the kind you'd get engraved down at Things Remembered in the mall, that said "This van was once owned by Johnny Cash."
So there.
in the "knew/worked with them before fame" world
Also in this vein, "great american hero" and "american sniper" Chris Kyle was a year behind me in high school. He was a big, quiet, shuffling kid who always seemed (to me) to be kind of lost. I didn't know him well, but I was friends with his best friend, a guy smaller than me who was meek-ish, very quiet, blushed easily, and got picked on some. He and I (the friend) carpooled together sometimes because he lived down the street.
I don't buy into the hero story/myth at all, but the whole rest of the Chris Kyle story (including the fact that he fully embraced where we came from, and it surely influenced who he turned out to be, while I've been running from that place and everything that comes with it since I graduated and left town) makes me very, very sad.
posted by mudpuppie at 12:21 PM on August 29, 2016 [3 favorites]
In another life, I spent a couple of years serving valiantly as the booty call of choice for a musician whose band often came through my city on tour. The last time we hooked up, we fucked in the backseat of my rental car parked adjacent to the lot where the city of Chicago stores all of their service vehicles, and a couple of months after that, he confessed that we couldn't see each other anymore because he had just started dating someone exclusively, which was fine by me because I had a small stable of decidedly non-attached dudes to attend to in his stead.
Less than a year later, I was at an Oscar party in my hometown watching as my old booty call and his new gf took their turn on the red carpet in Hollywood after winning a goddamn Oscar. It was amazing and surreal. And as much as I secretly wish I had figured out a way to snag an Academy Awards +1, he was (and, I'm certain, still is) a super-mensch and I couldn't be happier that the spotlight finally found him.
posted by amnesia and magnets at 12:56 PM on August 29, 2016 [12 favorites]
Less than a year later, I was at an Oscar party in my hometown watching as my old booty call and his new gf took their turn on the red carpet in Hollywood after winning a goddamn Oscar. It was amazing and surreal. And as much as I secretly wish I had figured out a way to snag an Academy Awards +1, he was (and, I'm certain, still is) a super-mensch and I couldn't be happier that the spotlight finally found him.
posted by amnesia and magnets at 12:56 PM on August 29, 2016 [12 favorites]
I went to a gargantuan cattle call audition for the movie Primal Fear in Boston. I am not now nor was I then an actor. It was huge - probably a thousand people STILL in line when I got there in the mid-day. I made it through the gauntlet of some minor casting manager walking briskly down the line desperately triaging 2/3 or 3/4 of the people out the door with "sorry but you aren't right/too old/too young." (favorite part - she asked a fellow a few spots up from me how old he is. Eager to make an impression, any impression, fellow says "How old do I look?" Sternly she responds, "How old are you?" "Thirty" "You look it." Ouch.) She gets to me, stops cold for 10 seconds looking me up and down (an eternity compared to how long she engaged with any other people I saw) checks my number, flips through her clipboard, finds my number (I guess?) and marks something down. Nods, smiles, and moves on.
An hour or so later I was literally the next person in line to go in through the giant doors to read my part when a different staff member comes out and says, "we're done here. Everyone go home"
I could have been Ed Norton! Well, other than the ability to act.
posted by dirtdirt at 12:58 PM on August 29, 2016 [3 favorites]
An hour or so later I was literally the next person in line to go in through the giant doors to read my part when a different staff member comes out and says, "we're done here. Everyone go home"
I could have been Ed Norton! Well, other than the ability to act.
posted by dirtdirt at 12:58 PM on August 29, 2016 [3 favorites]
Ha, my mother is friends with the guy who directed Primal Fear.
posted by prize bull octorok at 1:04 PM on August 29, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by prize bull octorok at 1:04 PM on August 29, 2016 [4 favorites]
A significant number of my high school classmates (or within a year or two of my graduating class) are famous or very influential, or both. Examples: Joshua Malina, Andrew Solomon, Jane Mendelsohn, Edward Steinfeld, Kenneth Pollack, Jonathan Mermin.
posted by holborne at 1:07 PM on August 29, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by holborne at 1:07 PM on August 29, 2016 [1 favorite]
My father notoriously auditioned for a band in a last-ditch attempt to make a professional music career Happen, post-marriage-and-kids. They offered him the gig, but he was like, "eh, I just don't think that style of music has a future."
And that's why my family doesn't have Richard Marx money.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 1:55 PM on August 29, 2016 [4 favorites]
And that's why my family doesn't have Richard Marx money.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 1:55 PM on August 29, 2016 [4 favorites]
During the height of the blogs-getting-bought-and-turned-into-books craze, 50 Cent's agent wanted me to expand my blog into a memoir. I got cold feet and dodged his calls.
The part of this story that people always find the most entertaining is the notion that 50 Cent has a literary agent.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 2:31 PM on August 29, 2016 [7 favorites]
The part of this story that people always find the most entertaining is the notion that 50 Cent has a literary agent.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 2:31 PM on August 29, 2016 [7 favorites]
Well, there was a railgun involved.
OK, I think we all more than deserve the full story. So what are you, some special forces guy?
posted by mochapickle at 2:31 PM on August 29, 2016 [1 favorite]
OK, I think we all more than deserve the full story. So what are you, some special forces guy?
posted by mochapickle at 2:31 PM on August 29, 2016 [1 favorite]
I got asked to join the Dangerous Toys after their first bass player quit, but had to decline because I had just started a small business that was absolutely blowing up at the time & it would have folded had I left to go on the road. A year or two later, I did a Van Halen tribute night with Scott Dalhoover from the Toys, & we just did the whole first album, start to finish.
posted by Devils Rancher at 2:31 PM on August 29, 2016 [5 favorites]
posted by Devils Rancher at 2:31 PM on August 29, 2016 [5 favorites]
This thread hurts and is simultaneously fun.
Decades later I'm still ashamed of my feckless foolish pride.
Fuck - oh well.
The best tales, the most personal, remain mostly untold.
love,
dave
posted by vapidave at 2:36 PM on August 29, 2016 [2 favorites]
Decades later I'm still ashamed of my feckless foolish pride.
Fuck - oh well.
The best tales, the most personal, remain mostly untold.
love,
dave
posted by vapidave at 2:36 PM on August 29, 2016 [2 favorites]
In this rather excellent video you can see me playing the drums and the shamanic drum as well.
In 2004 I had to decide between the band and the university. I decided in favor of the uni. After I left, they recorded an album which crushed all sales for music in Estonia in 2005. They got an award from the national Music Awards thing in 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2011. Then they signed on to Spinefarm records, part of Universal Music. They went on to record and release the best selling album in Estonia, UM group's best selling Estonian artist, and so forth. (Yeah I know, it's just your minuscule Estonia, but still.)
Myself, I went to make a small career in academia, I've done the academic tourist thing well enough, I'm happy where I am. It was the right choice, but I was actually a proper rockstar for a short while. How many of you know what it feels like to jump on top of thousands of cheering fans hands and they will carry you around? I know. :)
posted by Pyrogenesis at 2:47 PM on August 29, 2016 [6 favorites]
In 2004 I had to decide between the band and the university. I decided in favor of the uni. After I left, they recorded an album which crushed all sales for music in Estonia in 2005. They got an award from the national Music Awards thing in 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2011. Then they signed on to Spinefarm records, part of Universal Music. They went on to record and release the best selling album in Estonia, UM group's best selling Estonian artist, and so forth. (Yeah I know, it's just your minuscule Estonia, but still.)
Myself, I went to make a small career in academia, I've done the academic tourist thing well enough, I'm happy where I am. It was the right choice, but I was actually a proper rockstar for a short while. How many of you know what it feels like to jump on top of thousands of cheering fans hands and they will carry you around? I know. :)
posted by Pyrogenesis at 2:47 PM on August 29, 2016 [6 favorites]
One of my tattoos was partially designed by a dear friend who, before I met him, was an honest-to-God rock star. He and his band toured all over the place, played the pyramid stage at Glasto, etc. (The band split up a hot minute before I met him, and I had never heard of them because I am a philistine. He liked me anyway!)
posted by kalimac at 5:29 PM on August 29, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by kalimac at 5:29 PM on August 29, 2016 [1 favorite]
i went to the same high school as del shannon ... 15 years later
posted by pyramid termite at 5:42 PM on August 29, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by pyramid termite at 5:42 PM on August 29, 2016 [2 favorites]
A classmate asked me to join a band she was forming; I declined, because I have stage fright. The band went on to be Bikini Kill.
posted by The corpse in the library at 1:12 PM on August 28 [30 favorites −] Favorite added! [!]
I'm not sure how to transcribe the noise I just made. something like "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!"
I'm not sure what it means. but it was a very intense noise.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 6:00 PM on August 29, 2016 [10 favorites]
posted by The corpse in the library at 1:12 PM on August 28 [30 favorites −] Favorite added! [!]
I'm not sure how to transcribe the noise I just made. something like "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!"
I'm not sure what it means. but it was a very intense noise.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 6:00 PM on August 29, 2016 [10 favorites]
I used to play Magic: the Gathering pretty heavily, Vintage specifically. One of the members of my team (yep, seriously) was really good and was also a pretty big name in the more popular formats. We didn't play each other too often, but I do recall beating him once or twice. Not too many times, though--he was, and is, really good. We traveled to a few events together, though we didn't spend a ton of time together as he definitely had plenty of other stuff going on Magic-wise. He's currently the top-ranked Magic Pro in the world.
posted by Slinga at 6:10 PM on August 29, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by Slinga at 6:10 PM on August 29, 2016 [3 favorites]
You may know him as the chairman of Chicon 7/WorldCon 2012. Or as administrator for the Hugo Awards. But to me, Dave McCarty's just some slacker friend from college who introduced me to acid.
posted by drlith at 8:04 PM on August 29, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by drlith at 8:04 PM on August 29, 2016 [3 favorites]
i went to the same high school as del shannon ... 15 years later
I went to the same high school as Bo Burnham ... 21 years earlier; and Bobby Carpenter, 6 years later.
posted by not_on_display at 8:48 PM on August 29, 2016 [1 favorite]
I went to the same high school as Bo Burnham ... 21 years earlier; and Bobby Carpenter, 6 years later.
posted by not_on_display at 8:48 PM on August 29, 2016 [1 favorite]
bell hooks is the sister of one of my best friends. Leonard Cohen is friends with one of my siblings. I have spent about two hours with each of them over the last twenty years. They are both lovely people.
posted by cairnoflore at 12:10 AM on August 30, 2016 [5 favorites]
posted by cairnoflore at 12:10 AM on August 30, 2016 [5 favorites]
Rejected after interview for Undergrauate Fine Art at Goldsmiths in 1986. Had I got in I would have been in the same cohort as one Damien Hirst. Got into my second choice college (Middlesex) where I was friendly/drank a bottle of Tequila with Andrew Levy, the drummer from the Brand New Heavies. He built an enormous egg and left to pursue his music. He still has my vinyl copy of Kraftwerk's Computer World.
A friend of mine turned down the opporunity to be The Sundays' drummer.
No regrets all round.
posted by Chairboy at 1:46 AM on August 30, 2016 [1 favorite]
A friend of mine turned down the opporunity to be The Sundays' drummer.
No regrets all round.
posted by Chairboy at 1:46 AM on August 30, 2016 [1 favorite]
In the late 90s I had the opportunity to drive around and host a bombastic personality now and (probably) forever associated with K Records. This person asked me if I had the oldies station on because he was in the car (no). Then in the morning he tried to fix our plugged kitchen sink by pulling goop out of it with his hands. Although God don't make no junk, she also doesn't give everyone common sense. Maybe it was a momentary lapse.
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 12:39 PM on August 30, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 12:39 PM on August 30, 2016 [1 favorite]
Also, since I was in high school in NYC in the 90s, half my friends from back then seem to know Lin-Manuel Miranda, but nobody has offered me free Hamilton tickets, for some reason.
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 12:41 PM on August 30, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 12:41 PM on August 30, 2016 [4 favorites]
I grew up in Columbus, Georgia. Growing up there, I can remember seeing ads for a small time local company called American Family Life Assurance Company. One of my closest friends growing up got a job there when she was 18 or 19. Instead of applying for a spiffy job with her, I left to go be a military wife. Years later, I got divorced and moved back home and got a job at the same company. I worked there for a bit over five years.
Shortly after I started my job, my childhood friend was listed in a company newsletter (or something) as hitting her 25th year at the company and I emailed her and said "hi." She was making scads more money than my entry level job.
For a time, the boss of my boss's boss at that company was a woman I graduated high school with. I had been STAR Student and a National Merit Scholarship winner and one of the top three students of my graduating high school class. She had been a teen mom, which was quite the scandal back in the day. She was a really great lady and a real asset to the company. She sometimes said she wasted her youth on beer and boys. I sometimes joke that maybe I should have been drinking with her instead of studying so hard. (But, then, I don't much drink. So that's kind of a non-starter.)
The company was founded in 1955 and when they got tired of their cumbersome name, they began going by the acronym and are now a household word. I occasionally blog about them.
I also used to talk to someone who applied for that Thiel 20 Under 20 thing. They got into the final interviews, but were not one of the winners.
posted by Michele in California at 3:22 PM on August 30, 2016 [1 favorite]
Shortly after I started my job, my childhood friend was listed in a company newsletter (or something) as hitting her 25th year at the company and I emailed her and said "hi." She was making scads more money than my entry level job.
For a time, the boss of my boss's boss at that company was a woman I graduated high school with. I had been STAR Student and a National Merit Scholarship winner and one of the top three students of my graduating high school class. She had been a teen mom, which was quite the scandal back in the day. She was a really great lady and a real asset to the company. She sometimes said she wasted her youth on beer and boys. I sometimes joke that maybe I should have been drinking with her instead of studying so hard. (But, then, I don't much drink. So that's kind of a non-starter.)
The company was founded in 1955 and when they got tired of their cumbersome name, they began going by the acronym and are now a household word. I occasionally blog about them.
I also used to talk to someone who applied for that Thiel 20 Under 20 thing. They got into the final interviews, but were not one of the winners.
posted by Michele in California at 3:22 PM on August 30, 2016 [1 favorite]
I never did get asked to join Sparklehorse, but Mark Linkous's dad Randy was my boss in the summer of 1994, when I worked at Barnes & Noble.
posted by emelenjr at 6:45 PM on August 30, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by emelenjr at 6:45 PM on August 30, 2016 [3 favorites]
I lived in Denton, Texas, for a year and spent most of that time being a very serious slut.
I once dated a guy who drummed for John Zorn when he was only 19 or so straight outta rural Wisconsin... the guy, not Zorn. The guy still drums for a super popular North Texas trio that's named after a paint color. And I think he still hits the skins for another band that's still signed to SubPop and another to Kill Rock Stars.
I was a very serious slut in my time.
posted by blessedlyndie at 10:24 PM on August 30, 2016 [3 favorites]
I once dated a guy who drummed for John Zorn when he was only 19 or so straight outta rural Wisconsin... the guy, not Zorn. The guy still drums for a super popular North Texas trio that's named after a paint color. And I think he still hits the skins for another band that's still signed to SubPop and another to Kill Rock Stars.
I was a very serious slut in my time.
posted by blessedlyndie at 10:24 PM on August 30, 2016 [3 favorites]
When I was in college at the University of Iowa, I wrote a play that was in an Undergrad Short Play Festival. It was admittedly not great, and one character in particular was pretty much there as a plot device. The director and I ended up casting a guy who seemed funny and weird in the hopes he'd bring a quirky energy to the role. His bland lines were the ones that got the biggest laughs. Today, he's better known to Comedy Bang! Bang! listeners as Maxwell Keeper, the Time Keeper, aka Neil Campbell (also the head writer of the CBB show.) He and I and many others wrote and performed together at No Shame Theater, including another CBB regular, Paul Rust. It was really weird seeing Paul's face all over the place when he was in that Beth Cooper movie, and now to see him every time I scroll through Netflix.
posted by cottoncandybeard at 11:03 AM on August 31, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by cottoncandybeard at 11:03 AM on August 31, 2016 [2 favorites]
I've beaten Michael Phelps in the Baltimore City Paper's reader's poll for "Best Local Celebrity".
posted by josher71 at 11:29 AM on August 31, 2016 [5 favorites]
posted by josher71 at 11:29 AM on August 31, 2016 [5 favorites]
oh hey I got another when I was like ten a friend of mine made it to, like, the very last round of auditions before the final selections for the new Mickey Mouse Club thing, so if she'd just been able to seal the deal I'd only be one degree of acquaintance separation from JT, Britney Spears, etc
posted by prize bull octorok at 2:40 PM on August 31, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by prize bull octorok at 2:40 PM on August 31, 2016 [2 favorites]
My first job out of Uni in the late 90s was a dead-end admin role, where one of the other people who kept me sane was a wannabe comedian. I was a PA, he was the office junior, and we’d pretend to be Alan Partridge and Lynn to amuse ourselves. It was basically Tim and Dawn in The Office (sans romance) a few years before The Office came out.
A few years later I went out with a guy whose flatmate was (actually) Stephen Merchant of The Office fame, around the time they were filming the second series.
Now the first guy (Alan to my Lynn) is a writer on Man Down on Channel 4.
Basically, if you want to write TV comedies about under-achieving men, come and hang out with me.*
* Important note: Am female, do not believe myself to be the inspiration for either David Brent or Dan. Still aspire to be Lynn.
posted by penguin pie at 3:37 PM on August 31, 2016 [2 favorites]
A few years later I went out with a guy whose flatmate was (actually) Stephen Merchant of The Office fame, around the time they were filming the second series.
Now the first guy (Alan to my Lynn) is a writer on Man Down on Channel 4.
Basically, if you want to write TV comedies about under-achieving men, come and hang out with me.*
* Important note: Am female, do not believe myself to be the inspiration for either David Brent or Dan. Still aspire to be Lynn.
posted by penguin pie at 3:37 PM on August 31, 2016 [2 favorites]
I went to college with the girl who played Kimmy Gibbler in Full House. She went on to play Kimmy Gibbler in Fuller House. I'm just a schnook.
posted by pheide at 6:56 PM on August 31, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by pheide at 6:56 PM on August 31, 2016 [2 favorites]
In college, I was part of the editorial team on a literary magazine that published a couple of poems by a guy named Daniel Handler.
In the early sixties, my dad was stage manager at the Kennebunkport Playhouse, whose summer stock cars included Bob Newhart and Tom Poston.
posted by SobaFett at 7:04 PM on August 31, 2016 [2 favorites]
In the early sixties, my dad was stage manager at the Kennebunkport Playhouse, whose summer stock cars included Bob Newhart and Tom Poston.
posted by SobaFett at 7:04 PM on August 31, 2016 [2 favorites]
The year I started grad school in astronomy at Cornell, Carl Sagan was too ill to teach. He was feeling better, though, and was going to teach a course on critical thinking in the fall of my second year. Sadly, he passed away that summer. I did get to grade for the class, which was hastily taken over by another professor, who is a cool guy, though you won't know his name unless you're a Mars geek.
posted by BrashTech at 5:53 AM on September 1, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by BrashTech at 5:53 AM on September 1, 2016 [3 favorites]
When my Dad coached youth soccer he had two players who eventually went on to become NFL players of some renown, one as a kicker (my Dad took tons of credit for his footwork) and one as a husband.
posted by Rock Steady at 9:12 AM on September 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Rock Steady at 9:12 AM on September 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
- In college, I lived in a dorm with someone who had a small part in the movie My Bodyguard; he was completely honest about not having any real acting ability, and I lived in Chicago about the same time he did, so that's something that I could have at least auditioned for, at an age when I was mildly interested in acting. Also in Chicago around that time, I also was looking around at some martial arts schools in my area to replace the dojo that I'd soured on, and one of them was the school that John Belushi worked out at prior to shooting Continental Divide.
- I was a regular on alt.peeves at the same time that it was frequented by MeFi's Own cstross. A little bit later, I was in NYC and used panix as my Internet provider, and had trouble downloading some utilities; I had a floppy of what I needed hand-delivered to my door by none other than Clay Shirky.
- No names here: I used to room with someone who has since become a published writer, and always seems on the verge of breaking into the big leagues, but never quite makes it there. As we didn't part on the best of terms (to put it mildly), I've been treated to little doses of schadenfreude at their perennial failure to stick the landing.
posted by Halloween Jack at 1:21 PM on September 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
- I was a regular on alt.peeves at the same time that it was frequented by MeFi's Own cstross. A little bit later, I was in NYC and used panix as my Internet provider, and had trouble downloading some utilities; I had a floppy of what I needed hand-delivered to my door by none other than Clay Shirky.
- No names here: I used to room with someone who has since become a published writer, and always seems on the verge of breaking into the big leagues, but never quite makes it there. As we didn't part on the best of terms (to put it mildly), I've been treated to little doses of schadenfreude at their perennial failure to stick the landing.
posted by Halloween Jack at 1:21 PM on September 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
A zillion years ago, I did part-time work for a retired government official. He offered me tickets to see his son's band , and then I could go to the after-party, and meet his son, Stewart. I made some feeble excuse as to why I couldn't go.
posted by Ideefixe at 9:43 PM on September 1, 2016 [7 favorites]
posted by Ideefixe at 9:43 PM on September 1, 2016 [7 favorites]
Oh yeah, forgot about the time I was walking quickly somewhere from one building to another on campus, rounded a corner, and almost knocked E.O. Wilson to the ground. He barely noticed; he must have been concentrating on some task or following the scent of some trail of thought or something.
posted by not_on_display at 9:59 PM on September 1, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by not_on_display at 9:59 PM on September 1, 2016 [2 favorites]
Oh, here's another one: Grant Hart crashed on my floor a few years ago. I was not healthy when I put a show together for him, and I regret that I couldn't be a particularly competent promoter or hostess. (Before anyone asks, we talked about Joseph Conrad more than any of his previous bands.)
posted by pxe2000 at 6:27 AM on September 3, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by pxe2000 at 6:27 AM on September 3, 2016 [1 favorite]
None of mine are, "I could have been famous" but since it seems like we're occasionally going with a brush-with-celebrity/ "6 degrees of Kevin Bacon" thing here, I'll bite:
- One of my friends is Jewel's cousin; her other cousin starred as Pocahontas in Terrence Malick's "The New World"; seemingly her entire dang family was the star of that "Alaska: The Last Frontier" show on The Discovery Channel.
- Another friend, after playing a show with a few other bands, let one of the band's singers and his girlfriend crash on his couch. The guy and his girlfriend fought/screamed at each other all night and kept everyone else in the house from being able to sleep. That guy was Jay Reatard.
- I used to date someone whose previous ex had been Joan Baez's nanny. (He was a lot older than me, needless to say.)
- My best friend once worked for (ick, yes) Mary Kay Letourneau's brother. High level civil service guy, apparently a huge dick.
- When I was a kid, my parents took me to a (double ick) David Copperfield magic show. We had front row seats. I was seated by the aisle. Midway through the show, a very attractive woman approached me and my parents and said, "I'm sorry, but I'm supposed to sit here. Do you mind?" We obliged and moved down a seat so she could sit at the last seat by the aisle. Then maybe twenty minutes later, David Copperfield descended from the stage, walked over, gave her a rose, took her hand, and FLEW WITH HER OVER THE AUDIENCE. THEY WERE FLYING. To this day, my Dad says, "If we hadn't moved over, nightrecordings would have been the one flying with David Copperfield!!!!" Eh, no thanks. Also, audience plant, much?
posted by nightrecordings at 8:23 AM on September 3, 2016 [1 favorite]
- One of my friends is Jewel's cousin; her other cousin starred as Pocahontas in Terrence Malick's "The New World"; seemingly her entire dang family was the star of that "Alaska: The Last Frontier" show on The Discovery Channel.
- Another friend, after playing a show with a few other bands, let one of the band's singers and his girlfriend crash on his couch. The guy and his girlfriend fought/screamed at each other all night and kept everyone else in the house from being able to sleep. That guy was Jay Reatard.
- I used to date someone whose previous ex had been Joan Baez's nanny. (He was a lot older than me, needless to say.)
- My best friend once worked for (ick, yes) Mary Kay Letourneau's brother. High level civil service guy, apparently a huge dick.
- When I was a kid, my parents took me to a (double ick) David Copperfield magic show. We had front row seats. I was seated by the aisle. Midway through the show, a very attractive woman approached me and my parents and said, "I'm sorry, but I'm supposed to sit here. Do you mind?" We obliged and moved down a seat so she could sit at the last seat by the aisle. Then maybe twenty minutes later, David Copperfield descended from the stage, walked over, gave her a rose, took her hand, and FLEW WITH HER OVER THE AUDIENCE. THEY WERE FLYING. To this day, my Dad says, "If we hadn't moved over, nightrecordings would have been the one flying with David Copperfield!!!!" Eh, no thanks. Also, audience plant, much?
posted by nightrecordings at 8:23 AM on September 3, 2016 [1 favorite]
I used to be friends with the sister of a Beatle.
The cool one. (Beatle, not sister. Though she was the cooler of the two sisters.)
posted by PeterMcDermott at 9:06 AM on September 3, 2016 [1 favorite]
The cool one. (Beatle, not sister. Though she was the cooler of the two sisters.)
posted by PeterMcDermott at 9:06 AM on September 3, 2016 [1 favorite]
Ah yes, celebrity brush stories: I don't think I've ever shared this before, but I met Leon Lederman a few years ago and he told me I was beautiful. I don't think I've ever been so fluttery.
posted by spelunkingplato at 10:17 AM on September 3, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by spelunkingplato at 10:17 AM on September 3, 2016 [1 favorite]
Just got the Fan-Gal Vapors from hearing that someone had physical contact with E.O. Wilson. The "following the scent of some trail of thought or something" took that comment to a higher level. Wilson entirely changed the way I look at the world. For the better.
posted by pipoquinha at 6:28 PM on September 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by pipoquinha at 6:28 PM on September 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
My best friend's sister's boyfriend's brother's girlfriend heard from this guy who knows this kid who's going with the girl who saw Ferris pass out at 31 Flavors last night.
posted by entropicamericana at 3:24 PM on September 6, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by entropicamericana at 3:24 PM on September 6, 2016 [4 favorites]
(Incredibly Famous Person) was a gogo dancer in my bar when she hit it big.
Funny story. I was living part time in Australia with my (now ex) partner and part time in NYC to take care of my businesses, hopping back and forth every few months.
I had timed a return to Melbourne to coincide with my SO's return from going to the Rugby Sevens which were held that year in Singapore. At dinner that night he excitedly described the entire crowd of 50,000 erupting into the chorus of a song that was apparently hugely popular by a transvestite named (Incredibly Famous Person) (there were the rumors of this at the time). He started singing the chorus to (very well known song) to see if I knew it.
I told him I'd never heard of it or the singer.
Fast forward six weeks, and I'm back in NYC, checking in on one of the bars and I hear the bartender mention something about (Incredibly Famous Person). I tell the story of the whole crowd at the Sevens singing (very well known song) and how excited my husband was about it and that I wasn't sure but i thought that he/she was a transvestite.
I was immediately set straight and informed that NO! (IFP) was not a transvestite, and was in fact the person I knew as (Incredibly Famous Persons Real Name)! How did I not know this???? asked outraged bartender. (IFP) had started out as a regular at another of my bars and was until very recently a gogo dancer at this one in addition to being the longtime girlfriend of my bar manager. I just didn't know that she had musical aspirations is all.
Couldn't wait to drop this tidbit casually into my next conversation with hubby, though.
Also, I used to party with (famous political drama series writer, who also dabbles in sports talk show dramas and such, but he had just won a Tony for best Broadway play at the time I was hanging with him).
posted by newpotato at 5:22 PM on September 10, 2016
Funny story. I was living part time in Australia with my (now ex) partner and part time in NYC to take care of my businesses, hopping back and forth every few months.
I had timed a return to Melbourne to coincide with my SO's return from going to the Rugby Sevens which were held that year in Singapore. At dinner that night he excitedly described the entire crowd of 50,000 erupting into the chorus of a song that was apparently hugely popular by a transvestite named (Incredibly Famous Person) (there were the rumors of this at the time). He started singing the chorus to (very well known song) to see if I knew it.
I told him I'd never heard of it or the singer.
Fast forward six weeks, and I'm back in NYC, checking in on one of the bars and I hear the bartender mention something about (Incredibly Famous Person). I tell the story of the whole crowd at the Sevens singing (very well known song) and how excited my husband was about it and that I wasn't sure but i thought that he/she was a transvestite.
I was immediately set straight and informed that NO! (IFP) was not a transvestite, and was in fact the person I knew as (Incredibly Famous Persons Real Name)! How did I not know this???? asked outraged bartender. (IFP) had started out as a regular at another of my bars and was until very recently a gogo dancer at this one in addition to being the longtime girlfriend of my bar manager. I just didn't know that she had musical aspirations is all.
Couldn't wait to drop this tidbit casually into my next conversation with hubby, though.
Also, I used to party with (famous political drama series writer, who also dabbles in sports talk show dramas and such, but he had just won a Tony for best Broadway play at the time I was hanging with him).
posted by newpotato at 5:22 PM on September 10, 2016
it must have been difficult to tell that story with a poker face.
posted by entropicamericana at 8:51 PM on September 10, 2016 [5 favorites]
posted by entropicamericana at 8:51 PM on September 10, 2016 [5 favorites]
Celebrity gossip is completely pointless--worse, maddening!--with the names redacted. Dish or don't dish; there is no in between.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 7:11 PM on September 12, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by Joseph Gurl at 7:11 PM on September 12, 2016 [3 favorites]
A famous person I know feels the same way.
posted by bongo_x at 7:36 PM on September 12, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by bongo_x at 7:36 PM on September 12, 2016 [2 favorites]
I HAVE IN MY HAND A LIST!
posted by Joseph Gurl at 7:49 PM on September 12, 2016
posted by Joseph Gurl at 7:49 PM on September 12, 2016
I was once related to the man who created the character the Vault-Keeper and who wrote very creepy horror (e.g., murderous infants) and very graphic crime comics. He also happened to be an incredibly smart, interesting, and very sweet man. (RIP, John. Your grandkids miss you.)
posted by she's not there at 9:33 PM on September 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by she's not there at 9:33 PM on September 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
I went to college with a guy who was a really good violinist and just a generally nice guy. He later went on to tour with World/Inferno Friendship Society and Franz Nicolay's solo project.. which wouldn't really count as celebrities, but, well, see my username... I'm pretty obsessed with those guys.
And a saw/met a bunch of Australian bands before and after they were famous.
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 10:09 PM on September 12, 2016
And a saw/met a bunch of Australian bands before and after they were famous.
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 10:09 PM on September 12, 2016
Reza Aslan was my Intro to Islam instructor the fall of 2001. I took a few more of Aslan's courses before I graduated and he finished his MFA and I heard a lot about his first book and early speaking engagements.
posted by Fukiyama at 9:10 PM on September 21, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Fukiyama at 9:10 PM on September 21, 2016 [2 favorites]
I forgot a couple:
I was camp counselor for a kid who became The Bachelor, and Andrew Friedman (LA Dodgers boss man) went to my high school, a few years below me, as did Alexander Wang (fashion dude), but both of them transferred out.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 10:01 PM on September 21, 2016
I was camp counselor for a kid who became The Bachelor, and Andrew Friedman (LA Dodgers boss man) went to my high school, a few years below me, as did Alexander Wang (fashion dude), but both of them transferred out.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 10:01 PM on September 21, 2016
My best friend in middle school was until very recently the publicist for Dark Horse Comics - I'd see him showing up on my Facebook feed at all the big conventions promoting Hellboy and Zelda and Alien vs Whatever while I had to buy them from the bookstore (or read them at the library) like a chump.
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 10:34 PM on September 21, 2016
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 10:34 PM on September 21, 2016
First the nearly megafamous. Back in the early 90s, I was a text analysis researcher in the Information Science department in Sheffield University. Didn't enjoy it much, and found what the library school courses taught, and (especially) this new thing called the "Web" to be far more interesting. However, I did get a few papers out - for example - and did some things, I guess.
While I was doing this research, email and the web were still in their infancy, with more exchanges of views, comments, collaborations and connections happening on Usenet groups and mailing lists. However, email would still be used a fair bit, even then, in the Information Science community. One of the people who emailed me about my research sent a few questions, on and off (I seem to remember a bit abruptly, though as he didn't have an English name I thought okay, second language and all that). He seemed super-smart and was particularly interested in the Tanimoto Coefficient, which I'd been doing some work on - alas not all of it ended up being published, as I lost interest and got a Web-based role elsewhere, which ended the work. So I didn't answer his last email, which was concerned with indexing web-based content with a variation on the coefficient, and also invited me to meet up and have a further chat about it.
I kinda don't want to think about what different parallel universe I may have ended up in if I'd answered in the affirmative.
+ + + + +
Now the meeting the famous. This is a bit odd, as I've met more famous people than most people who don't move in famous people circles. The reason for this is that my family owned a roadside farmshop (one of many) in the Vale of Evesham in South Worcestershire, just off the edge of the Cotswolds. Back in the day, supermarkets and the like weren't open on a Sunday and it was very busy then; in addition, in the 70s and 80s especially, it was more of a thing to go out for a drive and stop at these places. And also we were on the main route out of the Cotswolds and heading north. So if you were tootling on the A44 between Evesham and Broadway a few decades back and glanced something like this (myself and Grandmother in front of one of the little stands that made up the area) then you'll know it.
So every now and then some famous person, sometimes with their family in tow, would appear and buy things, then go. This happened regularly, as many active and retired showbiz people and musicians bought big houses in the Cotswolds. We were usually too busy to be all gushy over celebrities (the exception being when Pam Ayres turned up and bought some marmalade and my mom went into hero worship mode). That and, they were just people, like all of the other people who wanted apples or plums or pickles or what-not.
So famous people (if you are English) I served on our farmshop included (I can't remember all of them) Robert Plant (bought pickled onions), Simon Le Bon, Ian Botham (was not polite), Toyah (local resident, really nice), Ronnie Corbett, Nigel Kennedy (bought our scrumpy cider, swore a lot), Melvyn Hayes, Judith Hann and Lenny Henry. There were probably a lot more. I'm currently in correspondence with an ex-local, Roger Burrows of Altair Design geometry fame, and he remembers the farmshops too,
Also, I remember Kate Bush turning up at a quiet time and buying jam. She was quiet but was instantly recognisable and had a ... presence ... about her. I remember it extremely well as unfortunately I was a teenage boy and, though I wasn't into her music at the time, had seen the infamous publicity photoshoot and ... look, I was a teenage boy in a very rural place. So I was flustered and a bit terrified, thinking 'must not look down' because of those leotard photos and so looked up. And Kate saw me do this and looked up as well, and we had a short and odd and surreal conversation about a cloud that was floating overhead in the Worcestershire sky.
Ever since the Hounds of Love album came out, I've wondered about two songs (this and this) in particular and, just maybe, whether I had a tiny bit of influence in there, somewhere.
posted by Wordshore at 1:26 PM on September 24, 2016 [4 favorites]
While I was doing this research, email and the web were still in their infancy, with more exchanges of views, comments, collaborations and connections happening on Usenet groups and mailing lists. However, email would still be used a fair bit, even then, in the Information Science community. One of the people who emailed me about my research sent a few questions, on and off (I seem to remember a bit abruptly, though as he didn't have an English name I thought okay, second language and all that). He seemed super-smart and was particularly interested in the Tanimoto Coefficient, which I'd been doing some work on - alas not all of it ended up being published, as I lost interest and got a Web-based role elsewhere, which ended the work. So I didn't answer his last email, which was concerned with indexing web-based content with a variation on the coefficient, and also invited me to meet up and have a further chat about it.
I kinda don't want to think about what different parallel universe I may have ended up in if I'd answered in the affirmative.
+ + + + +
Now the meeting the famous. This is a bit odd, as I've met more famous people than most people who don't move in famous people circles. The reason for this is that my family owned a roadside farmshop (one of many) in the Vale of Evesham in South Worcestershire, just off the edge of the Cotswolds. Back in the day, supermarkets and the like weren't open on a Sunday and it was very busy then; in addition, in the 70s and 80s especially, it was more of a thing to go out for a drive and stop at these places. And also we were on the main route out of the Cotswolds and heading north. So if you were tootling on the A44 between Evesham and Broadway a few decades back and glanced something like this (myself and Grandmother in front of one of the little stands that made up the area) then you'll know it.
So every now and then some famous person, sometimes with their family in tow, would appear and buy things, then go. This happened regularly, as many active and retired showbiz people and musicians bought big houses in the Cotswolds. We were usually too busy to be all gushy over celebrities (the exception being when Pam Ayres turned up and bought some marmalade and my mom went into hero worship mode). That and, they were just people, like all of the other people who wanted apples or plums or pickles or what-not.
So famous people (if you are English) I served on our farmshop included (I can't remember all of them) Robert Plant (bought pickled onions), Simon Le Bon, Ian Botham (was not polite), Toyah (local resident, really nice), Ronnie Corbett, Nigel Kennedy (bought our scrumpy cider, swore a lot), Melvyn Hayes, Judith Hann and Lenny Henry. There were probably a lot more. I'm currently in correspondence with an ex-local, Roger Burrows of Altair Design geometry fame, and he remembers the farmshops too,
Also, I remember Kate Bush turning up at a quiet time and buying jam. She was quiet but was instantly recognisable and had a ... presence ... about her. I remember it extremely well as unfortunately I was a teenage boy and, though I wasn't into her music at the time, had seen the infamous publicity photoshoot and ... look, I was a teenage boy in a very rural place. So I was flustered and a bit terrified, thinking 'must not look down' because of those leotard photos and so looked up. And Kate saw me do this and looked up as well, and we had a short and odd and surreal conversation about a cloud that was floating overhead in the Worcestershire sky.
Ever since the Hounds of Love album came out, I've wondered about two songs (this and this) in particular and, just maybe, whether I had a tiny bit of influence in there, somewhere.
posted by Wordshore at 1:26 PM on September 24, 2016 [4 favorites]
"I kinda don't want to think about what different parallel universe I may have ended up in if I'd answered in the affirmative."
I've assumed the point of this thread were these kind "almost/what if" situations and I've enjoyed those stories the most. But I think you win the thread.
That would drive me a bit nuts. When I quit working in 2000, my boss and the HR director both wanted me to do the "permanently disabled" clause in the insurance. Even though a few years later I went ahead and did SSDI -- and now I get a small benefit -- at the time I insisted that I didn't feel I was "permanently disabled." The super-nice HR director called me at home a couple of weeks later just to double-check. At the time I'd made a fair amount of money from vested and exercised options and I (foolishly) felt financially secure. So, a few months later for some reason one day I was looking at my employment contract and I saw the clause that said in the event of permanent disability, I would have immediately vested all my remaining options (which I had forfeit when I quit). No one had mentioned this to me and maybe I wouldn't have qualified. But on the day I discovered this, those exercised options would have netted me about $2.5M. I try never to think about this.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 2:04 PM on September 24, 2016 [5 favorites]
I've assumed the point of this thread were these kind "almost/what if" situations and I've enjoyed those stories the most. But I think you win the thread.
That would drive me a bit nuts. When I quit working in 2000, my boss and the HR director both wanted me to do the "permanently disabled" clause in the insurance. Even though a few years later I went ahead and did SSDI -- and now I get a small benefit -- at the time I insisted that I didn't feel I was "permanently disabled." The super-nice HR director called me at home a couple of weeks later just to double-check. At the time I'd made a fair amount of money from vested and exercised options and I (foolishly) felt financially secure. So, a few months later for some reason one day I was looking at my employment contract and I saw the clause that said in the event of permanent disability, I would have immediately vested all my remaining options (which I had forfeit when I quit). No one had mentioned this to me and maybe I wouldn't have qualified. But on the day I discovered this, those exercised options would have netted me about $2.5M. I try never to think about this.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 2:04 PM on September 24, 2016 [5 favorites]
Holy mother of jebus, Ivan. My condolences. Wow. I think I'm going to have to try not to think about that.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 3:37 PM on September 24, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by Joseph Gurl at 3:37 PM on September 24, 2016 [3 favorites]
@Wordshore, but if you'd answered in the affirmative your local friend probably would have been axe murdered for cheese theft by now, so... butterfly effect?
posted by MsMolly at 4:19 PM on September 24, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by MsMolly at 4:19 PM on September 24, 2016 [2 favorites]
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posted by dersins at 4:14 PM on August 27, 2016 [11 favorites]