My brushes with fame
I suppose that we have all had one or another brush with fame; mine tend to be undistinguished or, in some cases, nearly infamous.
For example, I once ruined a perfectly good dinner for John Cleese. (I was a sophomore in high school at the time; pretty much all the rest of the story is just post-script to that crucial fact.)
I was once interviewed by a TV news crew about how I felt about the O.J. verdict (man-on-the-street stuff) and I was so angry -- at the TV crew -- that I was completely stymied and they moved on to someone else.
For a college newspaper, I once interviewed a band member of the band Public Image Limited, while hanging out with the band prior to their show in Milwaukee -- back stage pass, how cool is that? I lost the tape of the interview.
For another college newspaper,I interviewed the leader of the ACLU. That tape failed to record. (I wasn't able to find much subsequent work with college newspapers; I think I was blacklisted, or they put the kibosh on me or something.)
I once called Ron Santo a creep for not signing a baseball for me. It's a lie! I love Ron Santo! (I love ya, Ronnie!)
There are a few other things, though, not quite as nightmarish:
I am related to the poet James Whitcomb Riley on my father's side;
My aunt grew up next door to Ralph Stanley, of bluegrass music fame;
I have celebrated at the altar of a priest who later went on to become one of the antipopes in the Western Schism, which involved the papacy moving to Avignon. I'm not sure just which one it was, but I suspect it was this one. (It also happens to be the parish church where Sting attends); and
I have copyedited something that the present Pope wrote.
Not much, I grant. How about you?
For example, I once ruined a perfectly good dinner for John Cleese. (I was a sophomore in high school at the time; pretty much all the rest of the story is just post-script to that crucial fact.)
I was once interviewed by a TV news crew about how I felt about the O.J. verdict (man-on-the-street stuff) and I was so angry -- at the TV crew -- that I was completely stymied and they moved on to someone else.
For a college newspaper, I once interviewed a band member of the band Public Image Limited, while hanging out with the band prior to their show in Milwaukee -- back stage pass, how cool is that? I lost the tape of the interview.
For another college newspaper,I interviewed the leader of the ACLU. That tape failed to record. (I wasn't able to find much subsequent work with college newspapers; I think I was blacklisted, or they put the kibosh on me or something.)
I once called Ron Santo a creep for not signing a baseball for me. It's a lie! I love Ron Santo! (I love ya, Ronnie!)
There are a few other things, though, not quite as nightmarish:
I am related to the poet James Whitcomb Riley on my father's side;
My aunt grew up next door to Ralph Stanley, of bluegrass music fame;
I have celebrated at the altar of a priest who later went on to become one of the antipopes in the Western Schism, which involved the papacy moving to Avignon. I'm not sure just which one it was, but I suspect it was this one. (It also happens to be the parish church where Sting attends); and
I have copyedited something that the present Pope wrote.
Not much, I grant. How about you?
posted by Jason at 11:03 PM
5 Comments:
I once gave the chalice to the woman who played Alice on the "Brady Bunch." (She's an Episcopalian in the Diocese of Colorado and was visiting a relative in Tucson--who knew?)
I once served a sno-cone to Gov. Jim Thomson while working at the fair when I was a teenager.
I was in a move with John Denver. A made for TV movie, and I was in sixth grade, and I was an extra. But still. I have the tape to prove it. No, you can't see it.
I have shaken the hand of Pres Bush I. And have been in meetings with Gov. Edgar and Ryan.
But I played guitar for "They Might Be Giants" in 1993. This was at the Metro for a show broadcast on XRT. We were in the front of the stage and John thrust a pick in my hand and held out the guitar. I still have the pick.
Jay, didn't I hear a long time ago that you were an extra in a movie?
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