So how are you not famous

[Silurian]

I'm not famous because I don't have any discernable talent and I'm too old for most reality TV formats.

30 years ago, who knows? Big Brother, Love Island, The Real Middle Managers of..., etc, etc.

I coulda been a contender.

[tbeltrans]

Originally Posted by Silurian

I'm not famous because I don't have any discernable talent and I'm too old for most reality TV formats.

30 years ago, who knows? Big Brother, Love Island, The Real Middle Managers of..., etc, etc.

I coulda been a contender.

Too good a comment to pass up...



Tony

[Acousticado]

I may have posted the following here some years ago.

Back around 2002, I met Ike Turner at the Philly airport while there on business, waiting for a flight back to my hometown in Ottawa, Canada, and was actually surprised that I recognized him as he entered a smoke shop with the "new Tina" (who was performing with him). I decided to walk in and introduce myself. He was very personable, but a bit loud. We chatted for a few minutes and he pulled out an 8x10 glossy and signed it "To Tom, Love Ike”. Turned out, he was also travelling on the same plane as me to perform the next evening at the annual blues festival in Ottawa. I went to see him, he played a real good show considering he was no longer a spring chicken.

I happened to have a CD with me of a song I’d recently co-written (me music, arrangement, most of the lyric based on co-writer’s “story”) that was meant for a female singer, so based on my home demo, a Tampa studio recorded a full production demo (I’m not playing on it).

When on the plane, I worked-up the nerve to ask Ike if he'd mind listening to my song at his leisure. He said sure. I left him with the CD (with my contact info) and about two weeks later, I received an email from his assistant, June. She told me she’d just returned from Ike's place and they had just listened to the song. She said Ike really liked it (and that she did too). About two hours later, Ike emailed me and said the same thing and also asked that I send a copy to his manager, which I did.

I received subsequent emails from June keeping me up to date and to be patient, but nothing ever did come of it (I think at least the subject had something to do with it). That's ok. For a nobody like me, he didn't ever have to communicate with me, but he did. For me, that was enough to be my "gold record". Perhaps silly, but I actually burned a copy of the song on a gold-faced CD and framed it along with the signed 8x10 glossy he’d given me and copy of the email exchanges.

Fwiw, below is the song titled “Guilt” (a bit of irony given Ike’s past).

[rllink]

1971, stationed aboard the USS Independence standing on the hanger deck waiting for a USO show to start, and Jeannie C. Riley came up behind me, took my arm and said, "excuse me sailor, can I get past so I can get up on the stage." Then she winked at me and smiled.

[MrDB]

I'm not famous but I do get mistaken for George Clooney fairly often.

Kevin Costner sometimes too.

And I'm on the same guitar forum as Wade Hampton Miller, so there's that

[Shepsdad]

I was at a banquet of some sort that my wife dragged me to, and was standing at the bar having a beer when this guy walks up next to me and says hello. I have a pretty public job that puts me in contact with a lot of people throughout the day, and this guy looks really familiar, so I assume I’ve probably met him at some point through my job (I’m terrible with names and faces). Anyway, the guy stood and talked for a few minutes and somehow knew that I was in some way connected to the group my wife was a member of. We talked for maybe 5 minutes and he moved on, saying it was nice to talk to me.

A little later, my wife walks over to me, and says “I see you hit it off pretty good with the governor”. I really wasn’t sure who she was talking about and she pointed him out. Ohhhh! That’s why he looked familiar! It was Mike Pence, governor of Indiana, and now Vice President.

I’m not famous, my YouTube channel gets almost zero traffic, but I have stood at a bar BSing with a guy who would become Vice President a few months later. Who knows, he may even still remember me.

[imwjl]

I was on an airliner that had an emergency landing. For a moment, when it came down slowly, I saw flashing lights from fire trucks and ambulances and thought the incident if not me might make headlines. Fortunately it worked out and no headlines.

[alnico5]

I was not famous for 15 seconds one night in the dark of One Eyed Jack's in New Orleans. I had driven 500 miles to see Masters Of Reality. Chris Goss, their singer, guitarist and song writer walked up to me and said "I thought you were Ginger Baker." Mr. Baker was a member of the Masters in the early 90s and recorded their CD, Sunrise on the Sufferbus. Mr. Goss was very nice and friendly after he found out I was not G.B.

[DCCougar]

Back in the 70s I was keyboardist on a whirlwind tour with Bobby 'Boris' Pickett of Monster Mash fame. Now there's a claim to fame if I ever heard one, LOL! The backing band stayed together for a while after we got back but never did much.

We did, however, play a benefit for Phil Kauffman, the Road Mangler, who had stolen Gram Parsons body and taken it out to cremate it in Joshua Tree National Park (as he and Gram had planned in case either one of them died). Phil had some legal fees resulting from that little escapade, hence the benefit.

Several years later, while watching the Super Bowl halftime show, I noticed my old band mate, guitarist Brian Ray, from the Monster Mash gig playing with Paul McCartney. That was his first time playing with Paul, but he's toured with him a lot since.

Me, I got a straight gig. No fame for me. Always enjoyed playing music though.

[pukematrix]

Originally Posted by TBman

My closest claim to fame is my late great uncle (my grandmother's brother-in-law) was Joe DiMaggio's barber and they played golf together.

Along those lines, my late grandfather (Alton Brown) was a righty pitcher for the Washington Senators, called up from the minors for a seven game stretch in 1951. His first action on the mound was against the Yankees on April 21st of that year, where he faced Phil Rizzuto, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra and, yep, Joe DiMaggio. No pressure, right?

He took me up to my elementary school diamond when I was maybe 10 years old to see if I had the stuff. I did not have the stuff.

Amusing (to me, anyway) footnote. He received mail throughout the years from autograph seekers and was always happy to oblige with a signed copy of his official team photo. One of the last letters he received was from a woman who mistook him for Alton Brown, the celebrity chef. He wrote back that, no he wasn't that Alton Brown, but he was a pretty big deal for seven games back in '51 (I'm taking editorial liberties here) and included an autographed photo and his stat sheet. She was kind enough to write back to thank him for his reply and was quite complimentary of his career. That made his year.

Fun thread!

Austin

[catdaddy]

One would think that being the pharmacist for Diana Spencer and working with Elizabeth Taylor might be cause for a bit of fame to somehow rub off on me, but that hasn't been the case.

Of course, the Diana Spencer I knew had no royal title, and for all I knew was just a very nice lady for whom I had the pleasure of filling her prescriptions for several years. When she passed away my technician brought to my attention her obituary in the local newspaper which stated that she had been an actress in Hollywood for a number of years, and had co-starred with Jerry Lewis in the 1959 film Never Give Up The Ship. In all the many times we talked with Diana, she never once mentioned her acting career to either me or my staff.

Many years ago when I was in college I worked part-time at a pet store with a girl named Elizabeth Taylor. While she was fond of horses, she had never met Richard Burton nor seen The Nile, so arguably I could claim to be as famous as that Elizabeth Taylor which is to say not famous at all.

[islandguitar]

With many years as a college admissions director, I came in contact with some celebrities at various time. Always interesting and fascinating when this happened. Among those I recall,
The Prince of Monaco

Dr. Robert Ballard (who discovered the Titanic) who once flew from England to meet with me about his son's application, which I thought was quite an effort.

Mr. Wellington Mara the owner of the New York Giants. I was a huge Giants fan back as a kid and it was amazing to have him sitting in my office talking through our process. It was all I could do not to ask him, "what was Sam Huff like?" LOL! Tell me about Y.A. Tittle!!!

But one of the most interesting was Claudia Williams.....youngest daughter of Ted Williams. I had no idea at the time this was who she was, and we started to work on her application while she was in France. She was delightful! She enrolled with us and it was only then that I discovered her background, as often these applications intentionally don't reveal all.
. My boss (Bob) at the time advised a small number of students who hadn't yet declared a major and I thought he and Claudia would really be a great match/connection. It was! And they became quite close in that first year.
During this time, there was a tribute to Ted Williams that was a big event that would include the whole family, many in sports and public life attending.....Claudia was not close to her father and really didn't want to go........and she sat in Bob's office one day to lament this. She casually talked with him about how, "the president called the other day" to encourage her participation. Bob looked puzzled, "why would the college president be giving her a call"? Claudia looked over the desk and easily replied, "No, THE PRESIDENT had called her"! THE PRESIDENT.....dumbfounded, Bob could only smile and take it all in. I believe it was George HW, that made that call direct to her dorm room...amazing. Fun memories!

[H165]

LOL - this is a good thread. Gotta keep it diplomatic though.

Back in another life, I took a now-world-famous Dodger pitcher's stepmom to the prom.

Before that, I may have appeared in a couple of educational science films when I was a kid. Never saw the films we made, so don't know if I ended up in everyone's 7th grade science class, or laying on the editor's cutting room floor.

A life long friend's great uncle was a co-founder of Augusta National.

Almost forgot.... Twice, due to unusual circimstances, we've been seated right in the middle of a large group of celebrities at music concerts. Everyone at these events just assumed we were "also famous". Both times it got pretty amusing, if not downright fun.

[sayheyjeff]

In addition to tying the world record for the 60 yard dash, my Dad played football for Bear Bryant at Carolina Pre-Flight and the University of Maryland, and Sid Luckman at Miami of Ohio. We were proud.

Jeff

[endpin]

Reading about Ted Williams earlier in this thread reminded me of getting a “bone-crusher” handshake from the man as a kid at one of his promotional appearances for Sears sporting goods.

He gave quite an impressive talk on the science of hitting a baseball when really the only requirement of him was to show up and schmooze - just being Ted Williams.