Met Ray Liotta last night! What stars have you met?

OldPhysics said:
It's midnight at Tommy's on Rampart.
Click to expand...

That Tommy's is still around and making great food. Now they own the whole parking lot; the original stand is still there, but now on the other side of the parking lot the whole L-shaped building is another duplicate stand, a couple restrooms and a soda fountain. The bars are still there and it's not so bad anymore to get a parking spot, sometimes you need to park on the street on the same side of the block. No cops hanging out though, only coming to eat.

Service is super quick now too. The old stand is more popular and a little slower, but even on a weekend night usually you'll get your food within 5 minutes of walking up to the line. Could be because there's a pretty good spread of Tommy's around town.

Still cash only, it's interesting to see the looks of desperation on the faces of the late night club goers with nothing but a debit card and a Tommy's shaped hole in their belly.
 
I've had two major-ish brushes with celebrity, one good and one bad.

The good: Joe Mantegna... we literally bumped into each other in a walk-in humidor at a well known Chicago cigar shop. I said Hi Joe, and we talked cigars for 10 minutes or so. Very nice down to earth guy.

The bad; Jim Belushi... I had 7pm reservation at Rosebud in little Italy part of Chicago. Was finally getting seated at 8:30pm (:mad: Not good to make Mongo hungry), and in strolls Jim Belushi, a buddy of his, and two hot women... all 4 of them notably drunk. Stole my table out from under me. After the Maitre'd got the message that I was about to disembowel him and eat his liver, they found me and my date a table. Passed by Belushi and gang and gave 'em the stink eye. Later, the manager comes by and informed me that my tab had been comped! Not sure if by the restaurant or Belushi though.

I've had many other encounters with people that I would consider famous, but most others wouldn't. Various music and sports peoples etc. Literally ran into Mr. Cub himself, Ernie Banks, while on my way to the eye doctor! (the irony!;))
 
Back in my teens I was at my ear doctors, I was next to see the doc, when all of a sudden Anthony Quinn, is rushed right by me. He was in town doing a play and was having trouble with his voice.
 
Many years ago, I used to work in the Forum Building in Harrisburg, PA. There was an auditorium in the building where the Symphony played, but they also had other bands play from time to time, often pretty big time acts. I saw B.B. King, Stephen Stills and a few others there. I usually took the stairs down after work and one night worked a bit late. Going down the back stairwell put me near the rear entrance to the venue. There was a guy with long white hair smoking a cigarette in the stairwell near the exit as I was leaving. I stopped to ask him who was playing the Arlo Guthrie tunes in the Forum. He said that his band was playing them warming up for the show later that night. Well, duh, it was Arlo Guthrie. We chatted for a while and as I had played in rock bands for most of my misspent youth we still could relate even though I was now a typical "suit" with short hair and briefcase. He was a real nice guy and gave me a couple of tickets so I could come back and see the show. Great time.
 
My Mom had a diner in a little town in VT. One day this nice looking guy comes in, chats with Mom for a second and gets a cup of coffee to go. He gives her a $20.00 bill and says thanks and walks out. Mom runs out into the street and says "young man, you forgot your change" and handed it to him. She said he kind of laughed and thanked her and went on his way.

A few minutes later his driver comes in and give her an 8X10 signed picture. It was Billy Ray Cyrus.



My Sister sang in a benefit with Richie Havens (opened Woodstock) who told her she had a great voice. Unfortunately, she later had some kind of lymph node cancer and they damaged her vocal cords when they cut it out so she can't sing much any more.
 
Hopalong Cassidy when I was 5 .Opened a Safeway store in Oakland.
Tony Curtis and Lee Marvin when I was in the Marines
Steve McQueen Barstow to Vegas motorcycle race.I left 30 seconds behind him and never saw him again until the finish line.Saw him again when he was filming " the Escape" with Ali Mcgraw.Came up and shook my hand and asked if I was still riding.
James Garner brought us coffee one morning when I was building a house in Toluca Lake.Nice guy.Just out of the blue.
Clint Eastwood at the Boars Breath in Carmel.He owned the place and bought my friend and I a drink.
Janis Joplin, Eric Clapton,Chet Atkins.
 
I've met a few celebrities. In Miami, you see famous people all the time.
Folks I've run into:

Andy MacDowell- grocery store in Missoula Montana- she was at least 6' tall- and HAWT!

Sophia Coppola- on the sidewalk in Miami- she was tiny- and HAWT!

Ving Rhames- Miami airport- in a wheelchair for some reason. Seemed real cool.

Winona Ryder- Black Cat, Washington DC- I've been obsessed with her since I was a kid. In person- she's so beautiful you can't even look at her- it's like looking at the sun.

Kenny G- Scope Art Fair, Miami- He was like 4' tall, with an attitude- but he had a stunningly gorgeous model/girlfriend on his arm, so we'll forgive him.

Keith Richards- at an opening in Miami- he was exactly like you would imagine. Smelled like whiskey and cigarettes- bombed out of his gourd, babbling incoherently.

Russell Simmons- at the opening he threw for my wife in Miami- He was very pleasant. The poor guy has an army of music industry wannabes that shadow his every move- following him wherever he goes, parasites hoping he'll give them their "big break"

Dale Chihuly- walking outside of Art Basel in Miami- he seemed like ten feet tall. All of the famous artists I've met have this ridiculous charisma- like an aura of power they project around them. John Currin and Fred Tomaselli had it too. I met them at ASAP in Maine a couple of years ago.

I'd never seen John Currin before- didn't know what he looked like- but I took one look at the guy and knew he was somebody important.
johncurrin.jpg

His wife looks like she's been pulled directly out of a Rococo painting- it's eerie. She's an artist too- but is mostly known for her husband-

rachel2.jpg


Fred Tomaselli looks and acts like an aging punk stoner- until he starts talking- and the most erudite paragraphs you can imagine come pouring out. I got good and drunk with Fred Tomaselli. He's good people.
artwork_images_424591215_258521_fred-tomaselli.jpg
 
Neat stories but something is clearly missing in this thread. Every election cycle I see the rope lines filled with people shaking candidates hands. I've never done this as I've never been to a political rally but surely SOMEONE here has.

Great story about Clint. By the way, he's a health nut now so the greasy burgers are out.
 
Hank Williams Junior at a gunshow, wasn't looking for anything I was selling.

Christopher Penn when he was in Nebraska shooting the To Wang Fu Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar movie.
 
I saw Tom Berenger at Safeway downtown Vancouver when he was filming or something in town. Also One of the guy's from Saving private ryan, sorry can't remember his name. Also Jeff goldbloom in blockbuster in Vancouver, and also jean Claude Van dam at the hospital in Vancouver, Robin Williams also at the hospital and Biff naked down the road from the hospital coming out of Blends with water for her dog.I ran into Cuba gooding junior at future shop downtown Vancouver.
Thats all that I can remember.
 
In the early 90's, I was visiting my brother in Houston the night before a Rockets/Lakers game and he took me to strip club where we saw Magic Johnson (not dancing, thank god) - this was a year or two before he announced he was HIV+.

Flying from Houston to Nashville, I sat a severals rows away from Mickey Gilley - and he didn't shut up the entire flight; there had to have been 20 people in the rows between us, but his voice just stood out.

About every couple of weeks here in town, I'll see Hillbilly Jim somewhere.
 
Ron Howard. The movie Edtv was being filmed on our street in San Francisco, and my wife & I came home from errands one night, and there's all these bright lights, extra park benches, mail boxes, street lights, etc. (All props.) I went out to watch everything, and I see this guy start to get into a big SUV - it was Ron Howard. I normally don't stop to bother well-known folks but he stopped to talk to some of my neighbors, so I 'got in line', so to speak. I got his autograph for my dad; I told him that American Graffiti was my dad's favorite movie, and that's where I remembered him from. He just laughed and said that was funny, most people remember him as Opie on Andy Griffith.

He was really nice & down to earth, and I gave my dad the autograph for Christmas. He loved it.

thx - cpr
 
I met Jake "The Snake" Roberts in the mid-1990s. I've met Sid Haig, Bill Moseley, and Rob Zombie. They're all awesome and genuinely kind people. Ken Foree was at a horror movie convention that I went to; his was equally nice. I met Rosario Dawson, who was courteous, but seemed too busy to talk.

We've met many WWF / WWE wrestlers at the Hooters in Newport (they eat there whenever they come to Cincinnati for a show). The only one I didn't like was Jimmy Wang Yang, who signed an autograph and immediately walked away.

I met Ken Onion, but we didn't exchange words; just a hand shake.

I also met Dick Trickle (a NASCAR driver) at one of the Cavalcade of Customs. We bumped into each other outside, he was wearing street clothes and I had no idea who he was (I don't watch NASCAR and only went to see the cars). He got really loud and seemed to be picking a fight. Event security had to get between us.
 
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I did retail theft investigations and security for several different companies for almost a decade, one of them was a pretty popular music chain that now no longer exists. I got to do security for and chat with all of the entertainers/stars that came in to perform and/or sign autographs at our various stores. Some of the more memorable "people/stars/groups" I've had the pleasure of meeting are Usher, The Cure, Nate Dogg, Vince Gill, George Strait, Metallica, Clay Walker, Willie Nelson, Dick Marcinko, Steve Young, Brett Jones, Merton Hanks, Chester McGlockton, Kenny G, Kristi Yamaguchi, Val Kilmer, Ice Cube, Brande Roderick, Neferteri Shepherd, Michael Bolton, Ralph Tresvant, John Berry, Chumbawamba, Deion Sanders, Hammer, Smash Mouth, and Terri Clark. Of all these people, the absolute frendliest and easiest to work with were Willie Nelson, Ralph Tresvant, Vince Gill, and Kristi Yamaguchi. I can't say enough nice things about them! Also, I should add, I've yet to meet a 49er I didn't like!:thumbup:

While in college, at Cal State Bakersfield, I spent many a weekend night down at Buck Owens' nightclub, the Crystal Palace, where I had the opportunity to meet and speak with him on a few occasions. He was about as "down to earth" as one could get, and having been a huge fan of his music since childhood, I'm really glad I got the opportunity to meet him and hear him sing and play live several times! Hangin' out at Buck's nightclub afforded me an opportunity to meet and talk to a couple other Country Music stars I never would have otherwise met, the most enjoyable and memorable of those being Hal Ketchum.
 
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