The closest I have been to a famous person we last year. Gladys Knight brushed up against me and said, 'Hello' at a concert she put on at a LDS church in Sacramento. Yes, Gladys Knight is LDS. I am not, but I am graced with many LDS friends. Her choir is amazing and the show left me speechless. It was very heart warming to see her so happy.
So, who else has had a brush with a famous person?
Oh, I forgot. I saw O.J. Simpson and Nicole, with their children in Disney Land in 1987. They looked happy then, I wonder what could have gone wrong.
I, also, met Jack Lemmon at the Eddie Bauer Store in San Fransisco.
Is this a stupid topic? Can you tell I am trying to avoid work?
I forgot. At the same Gladys Knight performance, the gal, Tina Cole, who played the wife of one of the 'My Three Sons' and the mother of the triplets, was there, too. Also, one of the McGuire Sisters was there. Gosh, I was star struck.
I too have seen O. J. Simpson. Living in upstate NY, I've been to many Buffalo Bills games. A couple of years ago he was sitting a few rows down below us. Once he was noticed, the crowd around him began pointing and heckling him. Due to the disturbance it was causing, security asked him to leave. As he was heading up the aisle to go, he passed right by me, as I was sitting in the third seat in from the aisle.
Also, back in 2006, Hillary Clinton came to tour the plant where I work. She was with our Congresswoman and some other local politicos. I didn't speak to her or shake her hand or anything, but she walked by within 10 feet of me.
I've seen or met several famous people over the years, but 2 instances stand out more than the rest.
The first time was in 1974, at a coffee shop on Encino Blvd. in California. I was eating breakfast with my sister when a waitress brought over a note for me. It was from a man at an adjacent table. It was the guy in Wild Wild West, not the star, but the sidekick. Artimus, I think was the character's name. The note said he wanted to take me out on a date. I turned him down, as my sister and I were leaving that morning, but he bought our breakfast and sat with us for a short while.
The other famous person who stands out was a big band leader named Woody Herman. This was in 85 or 86 when I was working in PR here in town. I was handling press coverage for the Camelback Inn, and they brought him and his band to town for a big show. I had to show up at the event that night, and I brought my 3 year old daughter with me. I was plenty nervous about doing this, as I was fairly sure it would be frowned upon. When Mr. Herman walked into the backstage room and saw my daughter, his face lit up, he stretched his arms out towards her and exclaimed, 'Hello, you beautiful doll! Come over here!' She just stood there, but I nudged her over, and for about 2 minutes he held her in his lap, cuddled her and told her how pretty she was. It made a big impression on me, but my daughter, now almost 27, has no memory of it.
Before moving to Flagstaff, I was in Vegas 27 years. You always run into someone. Robert Guillam ? on Desert Inn Rd. Dean Martin on a Putting Green just me an him. Wayne Newton in Eastgate Pharmacie twice. Jack from the Young and the Restless in Mervyns. Nick Cage, Sarah Jessica Parker, and James Caan when I was an extra in HoneyMoon in Vegas. I did a seen with them in Balleys Show Room and Coach Tark Regularly. My already mentioned time with Steppenwolf.
We took a leave of sanity and lived in Cincinnati from '03 to '06, where I tried to make a living doing art, building and designing sets, watching trees fall on our house, etc. I got called to do stage crew for Betty Buckley, the actress who played the mom on 'Eight is Enough'. During setup in the afternoon they were playing with the sound system. I heard someone singing and looked over to see a dumpy woman in a jogging suit, and thought they'd found someone to test the sound levels. No, it was Betty. She could sing well, though.
My only other famous person connect is another of the 'Eight is Enough' cast. Grant Goodeve, the oldest brother, goes to our church in Seattle. Nice guy and looks pretty much the same.
Maybe not so famous, but I think many will remember him. He was mentioned in another post. Toad Hall from KCAC then later KDKB. When our first son was born, I called in a request on his morning show and spoke with him. Not too much later, I met Toad and his family and began our friendship, visiting with them often. He made some awesome soft tacos. Beautiful wife, Felipa, and 3 children. He left the radio station, can't remember why, then took a trial announcing job at KNIX Country (not KNIX then, what was it?) It was only one or two days running, but he called it the Rick Evans Show. (Country wasn't his bag, even though he could sing it very well) Anyway, Gary was an unusually gifted and talented man; singing, dancing, acting, cub scout den master, MC, etc. However, he took a wrong turn in life and died several years ago of AIDS. He called me a few weeks before his passing, but I procrastinated in returning his call and didn't get to visit with him. That has been a deep regret in my life, not responding to a friend reaching out to me. A lesson learned the hard way.
Richard
PS, I did meet Marie Osmond in Madrid, Spain. I knew her ex, Brian Blosell.
Was it KTUFF country radio? Speaking of famous people, the latest issue of the Smithsonian Air & Space magazine contains an article about the uses of un-manned aircraft. It mentions a certain Proffesor at Cornell that is working on drones that can map crops for water stress, insect damage etc. That famous Prof is none other than our very own Elson Shields!
Jerry
PS When did you become Richard, I still think of you as Ricky Evans
Yes, but who sometimes . . . sometimes gets his fingers caught up in his work . . . and then sends old classmates photos of the carnage. How many hp is your lawnmower, five? Elson's planes are 20 hp, with 10-foot wingspans. Should I post the photos? I hear he's short-handed these days.
The Summer before my senior year, “1968” I worked at “Dell’s Marine Wonderland”, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. There I learned how to handle Alligators, work with Dolphins and other sea life. We would also had famous people in the marine several times during the summer. Who is this famous person next to me in this photo?
Beatle Number 1:
There was an art professor at school, who was active in India arts and culture, and who in my senior year (Spring 1973), sponsored various Indian related lectures. One of his events was an evening of Indian music, to be held in the campus chapel. My roommate and I had nothing better to do and decided to go. The audience had a few professors, a bunch of people interested in India, and about 30 students. Not advertised, but performing was Ravi Shankar. We were all thrilled. It turned out that that day was Shankar’s birthday. An audience member got up to help cut and serve the cake and it was George Harrison. Adults mingled and talked, but roommate and I were intimidated and stood in the corner saying to ourselves, “wait till our friends hear about this.”
Beatle Number 2:
I lived in Japan pretty much from college graduation in 1973 until 1983. In 1976, a friend and I went up to a resort town, Karuizawa (think Tahoe) a few hours drive from Tokyo. We were hanging out on the town’s main street and spotted this “hippie” strolling. Right behind him was a wild haired Japanese woman. As they passed us we realized that it was John and Yoko. The street dead-ended a few hundred yards away, and we knew they would come back and waited. As they passed by, John said, “Thanks for not making a fuss about us.” What amazed us, was that either the Japanese people there did not recognize them (impossible) or were too polite to react. Whatever the case, I got the impression that we were the only two people who knew who they were.
The summer before my freshman year at THS (1965), my family and I were vacationing in San Diego.
It was my Dad who told me that The Beatles were performing there, and asked if I'd like to go. Well yes, of course!!! Since I was only 14 years old, he said, 'Your Mom will need to go with you'. He also asked my 9 year old brother if he wanted to see either The Beatles or go to the play Peter Pan. My brother actually chose Peter Pan!! To this day he talks about what a dumb decision he made, and is so regretful. We still laugh about that.
When I was 16 years old, my family and I saw Charles de Gaulle walking in front of the Paris Opera House, when we were in Europe. We just happened to be driving by in a taxi.
On a flt to San Diego I landed right behind Arther Godfrey. we had a nice visit at the urnial. One of the few times pilots cant talk with their hands. (does anybody else know who the heck old Arher was) :0)
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