Brush with fame

I was doing a bit of bragging in comments below about how noted columnist and author Gene Lyons had written me about pieces I'd written for an on-line political journal, and it led to this idea.

Almost everyone has at one time or another met someone who was famous (or infamous).
I mean, these days the standard for celebrity seems fairly low, there's a lot of "famous" people running around out there.

My own list is amazingly long, and I'd met most of them before I was 35, and even more amazingly, most of them I met in the Quad Cities. A few of the notable ones include Malcolm Forbes. I sat at a local bar on a Saturday afternoon and shot the breeze with him when he stopped in on a trip down the Mississippi with his motorcycle group, the "Capitalist Tools." They were largely composed of hardbody pretty boys (in leathers) that old gay Malcolm preferred. I was the only person who recognized him. What did one of the world's wealthiest men, a guy who dated Elizabeth Taylor and who owned a chateau in France with one of the world's most lavishly stocked wine cellars drink? A Paul Masson wine spritzer. (not that there was anything in the way of fine wine at this place.)

I "met" Frank Sinatra backstage, when he appeared at the Mark shortly before his death. I said "Hello Mr. Sinatra", and he said, "How's it goin'?" before receiving applause from the backstage crew and boarding his limo which was parked backstage.

I spoke with Stephen Stills at of all places, a small Lane Evans benefit in Rock Island.

I was backstage in the dressing room of a famous musician who shall remain nameless, when Hunter Thompson came back with his pal Ed Bradley of 60 Minutes. Thompson at one point began relieving himself in the sink, to which a musician in the band took strong exception as there was a female band member present. Things got a bit heated, but any ugliness was averted.

And one weird one where the guy who played the bearded sidekick to Michael Landon on "Little House on the Prairie" (his name escapes me) was in town for a Michael Nunn fight. He was stinking drunk and stumbling around the bar with a whoopie cushion, which he employed often. I read less than a year later that he was dead.

I was in a small bar in a very toney town in Florida when Rod Stewart walked in. After a few hours, we happened to be leaving at the same time and I said hello and introduced myself. Rod the Mod said, "Oh yeah! I've heard of you!". Now that's a great line!

I rode the shuttle between the U.S. Capitol and the Senate office buildings sitting directly across from Ted Kennedy.

And everyone sees celebrities on the streets of New York, right? Mine was a big one. I saw Nipsy Russell walking down 5th Avenue in Manhattan. (sheesh)

Those are only a few to get you started. So, tell us about your "brush with fame." Who did you see or meet, and how did it come about? What was your impression of the person? Politicians, sports figures, musicians, criminals, movie or TV stars, anyone we may have heard of. I know you've got them but usually don't have a reason to tell anyone. Now's your chance.