Re: Celebs you met/seen over the years??


EVIL ELVIS wrote:

-- Bill Murray: Awesome guy.

I saw him standing outside of the Hollywood House of Blues one night when
Yes was playing there...

-- Steven Speilberg: Really nice and friendly.

Never met him, but for several months about a dozen years ago, I dated a guy
who worked directly for him at Dreamworks. There were a few times when we'd
be talking on the phone and his other line would ring......it would be
Speilberg calling. Bet you can guess which of the two of us was always
told, "Sorry, I'll have to call you back."

-- John Cusak: An okay dude, kinda quiet.

He's one of my favorites. I absolutely love the movie, "High Fidelity."

-- Tom Hanks: Really nice, cool and professional.

Another one of my favorites and probably the only film star that I would
really like to meet and know--he comes across as very down to earth and
genuine.

-- Andy Garcia: Nice and he's pretty short too.

You left out the part about him being pretty great looking......and although
he isn't, he plays Italian rather well.....

I have to dig way back for my list and of course I can't just name names. I
have to include details and will put them in weird groupings. Will include
many that probably few, if any here, have heard of.

People I've spotted in Vegas:

* Little Richard -- Watched him play Blackjack at the Paris several years
ago. He was surrounded by his people.

* Edie Falco -- Saw her walking through the V.

* Don Rickles -- After just seeing his show, I saw him pull away in his car
from whatever hotel the show was at. (Was a VERY long time ago--I don't
remember where.) He saw that I recognized him and he smiled and waved.

People I got to spend a bit of time with:

* Michael Cole -- Played Pete Cochran on the TV series, "The Mod Squad."
Summer of '69 -- I was 15 and flew first class from Newark to L.A. He was
sitting next to me. Traffic was backed up at Newark and we waited in queue
for takeoff for at least 45 minutes. When the plane finally took off, he
completely forgot about his drink which was sitting on the table between us.
It fell over and spilled all over me. He was so apologetic.....wanted me
to send him the dry cleaning bill. At the time, I don't think I owned an
article of clothing that required dry cleaning so told him thanks, but it
wasn't necessary. From what I remember, nice guy.....I remember that the
flight attendants paid him a LOT of attention.

* James Taylor -- Got to meet him and hang out with him once in his dressing
room in 1993 after one of his concerts at Universal Amphitheatre. His
personality was just what you would expect of someone capable of writing
such beautiful music. There was a baby grand piano in the room and the top
was covered with quite a spread of food. He was pretty funny......insisted
that we have something to eat.

* Penny Marshall -- She walked in when I was in JT's dressing room when my
date had walked away for a moment and I was standing there alone. She
walked up to me and struck up a conversation. She was a lot like
Laverne--very funny, down to earth, quite likeable but a bit ditzy. JT came
over and joined us (this was right after he recorded a song for her film, "A
League of Their Own") and Penny was telling us how she was trying to quit
smoking by using patches--quite unsuccessfully--for her third time.
Earlier, during the show's intermission, I had spotted her backstage puffing
away.

* Leland Sklar -- Bass player who has played, recorded and toured with a
long list of folks. Unless you're really into music and read the musician
credits on your albums/CDs, chances are that you've never heard of him. But
if you ever watched MTV or VH1 in the days when they actually showed videos,
you've probably seen him. With his extra long flowing beard and hair, he is
rather unique looking. I spent a day with him in 1992. He took me to lunch
at the Third Street Promenade and I was surprised at how many people
recognized him. I still occasionally receive email from him. Super nice
guy.

* Kim Marriner -- Former L.A. newscaster who I think currently broadcasts at
L.A. news radio station, KNX1070. He also played the part of a newscaster
(big stretch) in a handful of movies. In 1984, he was with a nationally
syndicated cable TV news magazine show (I can't even remember the name).
The show's producer was a friend of mine (that I originally met on The
Source) and they wanted to do a story about people who met online. Kim, my
producer friend and an entire camera crew came to my house and spent over
two hours with me. They filmed about a 20 minute interview with me and also
interviewed a couple of my friends who were there that I originally met
online. When the story aired, it was all of two minutes long. They used
two of my quotes from the interview and my friends each had one quote. I
think they included about 10 seconds of me sitting at my Apple typing up a
message for my BBS. Somewhere, I still have it on videotape.

* Andrew Seybold -- Computer industry guru I first learned of in the early
to mid 80s when I started seeing him constantly quoted in tons of computer
magazines. After my marriage ended, we met on The Source and he wound up
being the first person that I dated. That lasted just a few months (he
actually dumped me via email) but years later in 1994, we reconnected (that
time on Compuserve) and still remain friends. The most fun I ever had
shopping at a Fry's Electronics store was about 10 years ago with him. We
went up and down the aisles and if he saw anything even remotely
interesting, without looking at the price, he'd put it in his cart. Now
he's completely focused on the world of wireless. Oh, to make this
on-topic, he loves Vegas and he was the first person I knew who played high
limit slots. I remember cringing when he first told me he plays $5 slots.
Yes, that WAS a long time ago!

* Steve Harder-Kucera -- Got to have brunch with him and his lovely wife
last month at the Red Rock. If that wasn't enough excitement for one day,
he showed up at our AVLV gathering at Mainstreet Station. Great guy!

Met but didn't spend much time with:

* Jennifer Love Hewitt -- She went to the same very small, private high
school (a home study school named Laurel Springs) that my daughter attended.
The day of their graduation, both she and my daughter arrived early and hung
out together all day. When I arrived, my daughter introduced us. I had
never seen "Party of Five" and had absolutely no clue who she was. She
seemed like a nice girl and phoned my daughter a few times after their
graduation.

* John C. Dvorak -- Computer guru. Met him twice at a couple of the One
BBSCON conventions in the early to mid 90s. Very BUSY guy. Used to
occasionally chat/email with him in my early Source days.

Actors that I've seen and/or said hello to, but didn't actually meet:

* Johnny Whitaker -- That red headed kid who was on "Family Affair." Saw
him playing on Tom Sawyer's island at Disneyland.

* Tim Curry -- he was also in JT's dressing room.

* Jo Anne Worley -- saw her at a movie in Westwood.

* Ryan, Tatum and Griffin O'Neal -- saw them at a movie in Hollywood. Tatum
and Griffin were fairly young and were running around fighting with each
other. Ryan was trying frantically to gain control and calm them down.

* Michael Richards -- I don't know why, but he was at my daughter's high
school graduation and was sitting just a few seats from me. My guess is he
was related to one of the graduates. Actress Ariana Richards (played the
girl in "Jurassic Park") also graduated that day. I wondered if they were
related. <shrug> Anyway, he said hello to everyone and he seemed friendly.

Politicians:

* Barry Goldwater -- He spoke when my brother graduated pilot's training at
Williams AFB in Phoenix in I think 1969. Afterwards, we had to go through a
reception line he was part of. We were introduced and we shook hands. Felt
very awkward; not one of my favorite teen memories.

* Robert Kennedy -- Didn't meet him but shook his hand as he leaned out of
a bus that drove down a street in the city where I grew up. This was just a
few days before he was shot and killed on the day of the California
presidential primary. His death really shook me up.

People that I've spoken with either on the phone or online but never
actually met:

* Dennis Wilson -- Back in the 60s, The Beach Boys answered the request
phone line for a couple of hours at L.A. radio station KRLA. I called in
and got to talk to Dennis who at the time, was my favorite Beach Boy.

* Leslie Gore -- She also answered the request line for KRLA. Today I
have absolutely no idea why I called in to talk to her, but I did.

* Regis Philbin -- I called in to take part in a trivia challenge many years
ago when he hosted a morning tv talk show in L.A. I lost.

* Carnie Wilson -- She's a good friend of one of my aunts and about 1.5
years ago, completely out of the blue, she called me. For the year or so
that followed, we stayed in contact via email. Very nice lady.

* Carl Gottlieb -- He's an actor/writer/director but is probably best known
for the screenplays he's written (all of the Jaws films, several Steve
Martin films, etc.) We met on the Source and then he became one of my
regular users on my BBS. We were both going through a divorce and chatted
often to share our war stories. He invited me to go to Universal Studios
(where his office was) to meet him, but I never did. When he realized I
wasn't going to go, he stopped calling my system.

* Herbie Han*** -- Chatted with him on the Source a few times.

Groups/musicians/performers/etc. that I've met just long enough to get their
autograph:

* David Crosby and his group, CPR.

* Ian Anderson, Martin Barre and the rest of Jethro Tull (early this
decade--other than those two, not the original lineup).

* Matt Johnson and the rest of his group The The.

* Michael Hedges -- He was a PHENOMENAL acoustic guitar player. Met him
several times. The last time was just before he was killed in a car
accident.

* Chuck Greenberg and his jazz/new age group, Shadowfax -- multiple times.
The last time was just before Chuck suffered a fatal coronary.

* Mike Keneally -- former stunt guitarist with Frank Zappa, but I'm a huge
fan of his solo stuff. Met him multiple times. Great guy.

* Alton Brown -- Met him at a cookbook signing at the county fair a few
years ago and took a picture with him. As my mom would say, he has the
patience of a saint. He stood in the hot sun signing for hours until every
person in line was taken care of.

A few of the jazz musicians that I've met thanks to my cousin:

* Mark Isham -- Trumpet player, but much better known as a film composer.
His album Blue Sun remains my favorite jazz album. I never much cared for
his new age stuff. For many years, my cousin was his pianist so I used to
frequently go see them at L.A. jazz clubs. Haven't seen him in close to 10
years but he's a nice guy--he used to know me by name (probably only because
his wife is also named Donna).

* Vinnie Colaiuta -- Was Sting's drummer for years and he's probably about
the closest that I'll ever get to meeting Sting.

* John Patitucci -- great bass player.

* Dave Weckl -- another drummer extraordinaire.

Celebrity close encounters of the embarrassing kind:

* Ellen DeGeneres -- A few years ago, I was sitting in the end seat of the
7th row, center section at a Sting concert. Before the show, I stood up and
rather quickly turned into the aisle. Ellen DeGeneres was on her way to her
seat in the front row and crashed right into me.

* Ian Ziering -- I took my daughter to Universal Amphitheatre to see the
Broadway production of "The Who's Tommy" back when "Beverly Hills 90210" was
still going strong. I had second row pit seats which were folding chairs
with the rows placed VERY close together. Ian's date was already seated
close to the opposite end of the row. He thought he'd work his way over to
her by going face to face along the row from our end and excusing himself as
he went. Although everyone stood up to let him by, it was basically chest
to chest contact. He went about 3 or 4 seats beyond mine and decided it
wasn't going to work. Back he came, again excusing himself and apologizing.
He was quite red faced and embarrassed.

* David Grohl and the Foo Fighters -- In the fall of 2000, I did a
consulting gig at ARTISTdirect. One day when I arrived, as I almost always
did, I went into one of their tiny kitchen areas to make a cup of herbal
tea. These kitchens were probably 10' X 5' and this one was closest to our
office and to the ARTISTdirect studio. That particular morning, there were
these four rather artsy looking, mostly long haired guys in there. That was
the norm at that company and I wasn't paying attention. The guys were all
friendly, wished me good morning, etc., but five of us in that tiny kitchen
made maneuvering rather interesting. When I finally brought my tea into
our office, my colleagues said, "Do you know you were just in the kitchen
with the Foo Fighters?" I had no idea. They were there to do a live
webcast acoustic concert. After the webcast, David Grohl came running out
of the studio, came up to me, was literally jumping up and down with
excitement wanting to know what I had thought. At the time, "Learn To Fly"
was at the top of charts (and probably the only song of theirs that I knew).
Good thing it was a song that I REALLY liked and I loved the acoustic
version they did that day, so I was able to give him a very enthusiastic
thumbs up.

Donna



















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