Met anyone famous?

[docbrown]

Tell us your experience with a celebrity? it could be here online or in person, here is who I met:

-Thomas F. Wilson (Biff Tannen=Back to the future trilogy) I met him back in 2002 in person he was really nice! and funny!
-Mike fass (Zangief=Sf:Tly) An Awesome person you would ever want to be friends with, I'm quite proud.
And most of the Sf: Tly cast they all are kind hearted, even Bison!  I wish I could meet them all in person!

[Zangief]

Who'd ever have thought that there was anyplace where one could meet a kind hearted M. Bison?

Thank you BIG TIME, Corey! You're beautiful!

Many celebrities I've met were those with whom I was working the same venues. As for others outside the job, one of my favorite celebrity meetings was when I met The Ventures for the first time backstage during their 25th Anniversary tour and got to tell my hero, the late Mel Taylor, that he is the primary reason that I became a drummer. He was so cool, too! Actually, all of them were. What struck me was how different they were in person from the stern and serious image they'd always conveyed on all their album covers and publicity shots. These guys were actually a bunch of loons! Very funny men who made us all laugh and have a great time! They also treated us fans like gold and I will always treasure that.

[docbrown]

Who'd ever have thought that there was anyplace where one could meet a kind hearted M. Bison?

Thank you BIG TIME, Corey! You're beautiful!

Many celebrities I've met were those with whom I was working the same venues. As for others outside the job, one of my favorite celebrity meetings was when I met The Ventures for the first time backstage during their 25th Anniversary tour and got to tell my hero, the late Mel Taylor, that he is the primary reason that I became a drummer. He was so cool, too! Actually, all of them were. What struck me was how different they were in person from the stern and serious image they'd always conveyed on all their album covers and publicity shots. These guys were actually a bunch of loons! Very funny men who made us all laugh and have a great time! They also treated us fans like gold and I will always treasure that.

Aww your welcome Zangief! That is really great! I wish I could experience something like that in person!

[CaptainSawada]

I high-fived the pro-wrestler RVD and met a local news anchor, do those count?

[docbrown]

I high-fived the pro-wrestler RVD and met a local news anchor, do those count?

Sure do my Friend, That's really cool!

[vegafabiolacerda]

I met Will Ferrell, he was filming a movie in my neighbourhood. I was on set everyday, a lot of the people there thought I was an extra, so I get a lot of free food, but sadly wasn't in the movie.
I breifly got to see Conan O'Brien when he was here filming his show, I ditched school to stand in line in for hours, but it was worth it, my friends and I can be seen in the show, and Uno Pizzaria gave us free pizza.

[Zangief]

Now that's the kind of persistence that makes actors themselves successful!

[Saubha]

I was in SoHo one time, and I saw this big, eyebrowless head out of the corner of my eye. I do a double-take and it's Whoopie Goldberg! She looked at me like

[Zangief]

I'm willing to bet that Sean Krishnan, among many others (myself included), will be very interested to know.

[Saubha]

Well, there isn't THAT much to tell. I was at the Delhi Airport and I saw Jackie Shroff hiding in tight leather clothes, a big hat, full facial hair and sunglasses. He apparently was trying to disguise himself, but was doing a VERY poor job of it. He looked VERY scary though! I was a little kid back then, and my mom was encouraging me to approach him, but I thought he looked like a child molester dressed like that. I was scared!  Then when I was in Mumbai, I saw Salman Khan at the Centaur Airport (now Sahara) Hotel. He walked into some shop and looked REALLY antisocial. It is said that he isn't a very nice guy in person anyways, so I decided that approaching him wouldn't be the wisest thing. Oo, also when we were at the Sayaji Sports Club/Resort in Indore, my brother and my cousin saw Daler Mehndi sitting at a table with a bunch of women. He wasn't very nice, they asked him for his autograph, they were both little children at the time. He signed one and shooed them away like little pests. From what I've seen, Bollywood movie stars ARE NOT very approachable! 

[Zangief]

Man, that is SO disappointing to know! Entertainers are nothing without their fans. Don't they realize that?

I must admit, though, that your Jackie Shroff encounter is pretty funny in retrospect. It reminds me of my encounter with Cher. In 1982 I was on First Avenue not far from the U.N. Building where I caught site of a woman at a fruit stand wearing very large designer sunglasses and a bright purple plastic windbreaker. It very clearly was Cher who was working in town at the time in the production, "Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean", so you could see her on the subway a lot, then, too. Now she was just as clearly trying to go incognito while checking out the produce and just as unsuccessful at it as Jackie Shroff and, I might as well throw in for that matter, Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson (who were usually terrible at disguising themselves). Since I was a huge Sonny & Cher fan during the 1970s my friends thought I was crazy for not approaching her. It was because I could tell that she was trying so hard NOT to be noticed that I left her alone. One of these days I'll get to meet her under more amenable circumstances, I'm sure.

[Saubha]

That's cool that you saw Cher, I totally agree with you though! Actors seem to treat their fans like pests even though they would be nothing without them. I can understand, though, how they are afraid of masses of people preventing them from going about their business if they get out in the open. Then, before you know it, someone has spilled the lead to the Paparazzi and it becomes one big media circus! It is a complicated issue!

[Zangief]

I know what you mean. I remember my cousin telling me about a teacher of his who developed a rather low opinion of Sonny Bono after Sonny answered his request for an autograph for his son with, "I'm really sorry, I just don't have the time", as Sonny rushed to catch his plane (this happened at an airport).

Even for a lowly "web star" like me, it breaks my heart when I log into one of my email accounts to try to catch up on mail (you never really can) and find that my webmaster has had no choice but to delete another couple of thousand unread emails (in one case there were still hundreds of unanswered birthday greetings among them) to relieve the crush on the servers. No matter how much I appreciate the beautiful thoughtfulness of people taking time out of their busy days just to say something nice and positive to me, I can't escape the feeling that I come off as an uncaring and insensitive snob because I can only answer so many of them before they disappear! I've been admonished for it many times, in fact. I'd answer every single message were it humanly possible to do so.

Then, of course, you do have stars who just really don't appreciate their fans. John Denver became notorious for his shabby treatment of the very people who loved him the most, yet he always seemed so affable on TV talk shows. Go figure.

[Saubha]

One thing that I find ironic is that MOST people (actors or not) WISH they were that famous and then, when it happens, they do not know how to handle it. I wish I was that famous, I think I would handle it well! I'd have a team answer emails on my behalf, and send out autographed photos! I would also try and answer as many emails myself as possible, and host meet and greet sessions so that I can be as accessible as possible to my fans. After all, I think movie stars are just people who have been elevated to a high status, and these are all superficial things. They should definitely make time to talk to fans, as fame is fickle and I would NEVER want to lose the down-to-earth element to me. That is why I believe many movie stars are unhappy, because they internally feel like fame has cropped a good deal of their sense of identity. 

[Zangief]

I have to agree with you, Saubha, and I admire the way in which you would handle your fame. Elvis Presley has said that you have to accept that your life is no longer really your own if you really want to be in this business and that he could always have time to himself if he really needed it anyway.

I swear that, as soon as I'm a lot more financially solvent, I intend to hire a staff to answer my mail for me. Let's hope that one of the TV projects or feature films with which I'm currently in development will take off and make that possible.

I think that another reason why so many young people can't handle their fame is that they so want to believe all the wonderful platitudes bestowed upon them but, at the same time, they find it hard to simply ignore the really horrible reviews of their performances, too. The need for approval is often behind the professional entertainer's initial motivation for entering show business and that vulnerable sort of insecurity is still just under the surface of even the most thickened skins among us. To survive that sort of thing often requires, I'm afraid, that one takes the compliments and insults with an equal sense of noncommittal regard.

I will read, for instance, that I couldn't have nailed the Zangief character more perfectly and then, on the same day, read that I'm the most horrible actor in the cast! It does tend to mess with your head, LOL!