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Another Brush with Greatness

Edgy DC Oct 13 2009 07:22 AM

So I'm walking behind a guy as I enter the lobby today, and notice that he had a canvass briefcase that looks like it's been around the world, but is hanging together. Trained by my wife to notice handbags and trained by myself to notice alternatives to leather, I fixate on it. "That's a heckuva briefcase you have there," I say as I we get on the elevator. "It looks like it's been around the world with you a couple of times." "Thanks!" he says. "Yeah, I just got this baby repaired. I've had it about thirty years and it's come a long way with me. I had an older one I gave to my daughter, so this is my 'new' one." I take my eyes off the stupid bag, look him in the eye and think, "Oh... Secretary Rumsfeld. My God, I'm flirting with Rummie." It's not always easy to recognize these guys without goons or minions or something.

metsguyinmichigan Oct 13 2009 07:35 AM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

That's so cool!!!! And I still tote around the backpack I had in college. Indestructible!

Fman99 Oct 13 2009 07:43 AM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

[quote="Edgy DC"]So I'm walking behind a guy as I enter the lobby today, and notice that he had a canvass briefcase that looks like it's been around the world, but is hanging together. Trained by my wife to notice handbags and trained by myself to notice alternatives to leather, I fixate on it. "That's a heckuva briefcase you have there," I say as I we get on the elevator. "It looks like it's been around the world with you a couple of times." "Thanks!" he says. "Yeah, I just got this baby repaired. I've had it about thirty years and it's come a long way with me. I had an older one I gave to my daughter, so this is my 'new' one." I take my eyes off the stupid bag, look him in the eye and think, "Oh... Secretary Rumsfeld. My God, I'm flirting with Rummie." It's not always easy to recognize these guys without goons or minions or something.

You should have licked his face.

Edgy DC Oct 13 2009 07:44 AM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

Mmmm. The sweet taste of rum.

Benjamin Grimm Oct 13 2009 08:23 AM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

[quote="Fman99":1r2tiwph]You should have licked his face.[/quote:1r2tiwph] I'm no expert on etiquette, but that might be considered a bit of a faux pas. Anyway, did you acknowledge that you recognized him?

Edgy DC Oct 13 2009 08:39 AM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

Nope. I'm cool like that. New Yorkers never let on that they recognize a big shot.

Benjamin Grimm Oct 13 2009 08:44 AM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

Good. I think I would have played it the same way. (Unless it was a big shot I cared about. I'm sure that if it was Keith Hernandez or Mookie Wilson, I probably would have shaken his hand. But I wouldn't have gotten all gushy or anything.)

metsguyinmichigan Oct 13 2009 12:02 PM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

I was on an elevator at Shea with Glenn Close -- twice in one day! I didn't say anything because I was wearing a Mr. Met temporary tattoo on my face, and, well, she probably has to deal with enough strange people as it is. She's not as tall as I thought.

sharpie Oct 13 2009 01:24 PM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

I was on an elevator in 1984 with David McCallum and we talked about Mario Cuomo's speech at the Democratic Convention. He said that he was a conservative but that he was very impressed with that speech. I rode on an elevator with Shirley MacLaine. She complained about how she didn't have her glasses with her and couldn't see which elevator button to push unless she practically pressed her face against the numbers. I rode on an elevator with Jacqueline Onassis a few times. She didn't say anything. That's all I've got elevator-wise.

themetfairy Oct 13 2009 02:03 PM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

I was on an elevator at the Skydome Hotel in Toronto this summer (now the Renaissance) and recognized David Cone. I adroitly blurted out, "You're David Cone!" It shouldn't have been a shock that he knew who he was....

Benjamin Grimm Oct 13 2009 02:08 PM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

It's been a very long time since I just chanced upon a famous person. Probably a big part of the reason is because I spent the vast bulk of my time in suburbia. When I lived in Manhattan, while I was at NYU, I did sometimes see famous people in public. I saw Karen Allen in a movie theater lobby, and Howard Cosell walking on 6th Avenue in front of the ABC building.

soupcan Oct 13 2009 08:37 PM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

I was in an elevator with Billy Squier.... As a matter of fact - it was an elevator in the burning building from the other thread.

TransMonk Oct 14 2009 07:20 AM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

Saw Tommy Thompson (another Bush cabinet member) at a local hardware store last Saturday. We were checking out at different registers. He looks like shit.

metirish Oct 14 2009 07:25 AM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

Had a beer with Lars Ulrich and Kirk Hammett from Metallica in a bar(American Trash) on the Upper East Side in the late 90's ...both were cool....quite small though.

Benjamin Grimm Oct 14 2009 07:32 AM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

American culture has become so fragmented, I'll bet that none of us could recognize more than 25%* of today's celebrities. I may have ridden on an elevator yesterday with some world-famous pop star or soccer player that I've never heard of. (That is, if I had actually ridden an elevator yesterday.) *Completely arbitrary number that I just made up.

Centerfield Oct 14 2009 07:57 AM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

[quote="Benjamin Grimm":1e2vqrkc]I saw Karen Allen in a movie theater lobby[/quote:1e2vqrkc] Now that's a face worth licking.

Benjamin Grimm Oct 14 2009 07:58 AM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

She didn't seem to agree.

Edgy DC Oct 14 2009 08:00 AM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

OK, we're doing well on Bush cabinet members. Somebody find me Elaine Chao.

metirish Oct 14 2009 08:23 AM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

I may have told this story before but when I was maybe 9 or 10 me and my best friend at the time Simon wrote a letter to then President of Ireland Patrick Hillery asking if we could come to Dublin to meet him, his office wrote us back with a nice letter saying how he would like to meet us yyybbb.....it was signed by him though which was cool.

Edgy DC Oct 14 2009 08:47 AM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

But you didn't go? I met Albert Reynolds. He claimed to have known my grandfather. I imagine he said that to all the visiting Yanks. He was from the right constituency, though, but he seemed too young. He might have known of my grandfather. Good guy (to me anyhow) and an important figure in Anglo-Irish relations, but finished his career under an ugly cloud.

metirish Oct 14 2009 09:08 AM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

[quote="Edgy DC"]But you didn't go? I met Albert Reynolds. He claimed to have known my grandfather. I imagine he said that to all the visiting Yanks. He was from the right constituency, though, but he seemed too young. He might have known of my grandfather. Good guy (to me anyhow) and an important figure in Anglo-Irish relations, but finished his career under an ugly cloud.

No we didn't go , I liked Albert Reynolds a lot at the time , the country was in turmoil at the time and in his short period in offic e he had some huge controversies to deal with...The X Case , Brenden Symth ..a beef tribunal ....Haughhey loyalists.... Still the Downing Street Declaration is something he can always hang his hat on, his dealings with Downing Street at the time was a marked difference to what came before him , where before it was a case of never trusting them he and major really helped change that way of thinking. At a recent tribunal he was deemed not fit to give evidence with a rumor of dementia, very sad.

Edgy DC Oct 14 2009 09:14 AM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

Don't forget the Great Yeltsin Snub.

sharpie Oct 14 2009 09:19 AM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

Before my wife and I had our first child, her work threw us a baby shower at the quite beautifual Upper West Side apartment of one of the higher-ups. At the time she worked for a well-known human rights group. I got there pretty early and sat around talking with some of the other early-arrivers. When I asked the guy next to me what he did he told me that he was the former President of Singapore. I don't know if he chipped in on the stroller that they all gave us.

metsmarathon Oct 14 2009 09:34 AM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

[quote="Benjamin Grimm"]American culture has become so fragmented, I'll bet that none of us could recognize more than 25%* of today's celebrities. I may have ridden on an elevator yesterday with some world-famous pop star or soccer player that I've never heard of. (That is, if I had actually ridden an elevator yesterday.) *Completely arbitrary number that I just made up.

define "top celebrities" also, i probably wouldn't recognize david wright if he came up to me in an elevator and licked my face. well, if he was wearing that awful yellow watch or that gaudy t-shirt, i'd have half a chance, i guess. but the point remains mostly intact.

Benjamin Grimm Oct 14 2009 09:55 AM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

[quote="metsmarathon":3bq3ouqi]define "top celebrities"[/quote:3bq3ouqi] Umm... I didn't use that phrase, but okay. A top celebrity is one is is more famous than other celebrities. Oprah Winfrey is a top celebrity. The people who come and go from reality shows are, for the most part, minor celebrities. Me, I'm just saying that there are many celebrities who might be famous around the world who I wouldn't recognize. For me, that would include most musicians and athletes and most actors or actresses whose shows I don't watch or who I haven't seen on David Letterman three or more times.

metsmarathon Oct 14 2009 09:57 AM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

oops. i misread today as top. my bad.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Oct 14 2009 12:03 PM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

Following some jukebox-selection one-upsmanship in a midtown dive bar, ended up having a few beers and shots with Jimmy Fallon (in 2002?). Good taste in music (we talked everything from "Sweethearts at the Rodeo" to the Strokes to hip-hop). Funnily enough for someone with his SNL-scene-ruining rep... not an easy laugher in person. Literally ran into David Hyde Pierce a year or two ago-- sharp elbow into solar plexus at a Midtown crosswalk. (He was exceedingly apologetic.) There have been weeks where I've seen certain New Yorker semi-celebs (Cynthia Nixon, Ethan Hawke, Belzer and wayback, Dave Chappelle) so often that I think they're following ME around.

Benjamin Grimm Oct 14 2009 12:10 PM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

Cynthia Nixon is only a "semi-celeb"??? The impression I get from the Daily News is that the biggest celebrities are the cast members of "The Sopranos," "Sex and the City," and the members of the Gotti family.

metirish Oct 14 2009 12:34 PM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

I think it's worse in Britain and Ireland where shows like Big Brother , The X-Factor and I'm a Celebrity,Get Me out of Here are huge and create Z-List type celebrities that then appear on Celebrity Big Brother. Jade Goody would be one of those , became famous on Big Brother and after her eviction headed her own Reality shows....she succumed to cancer this year and of course her treatments and death were Reality Shows. Then you have the WAGs ....wives and girlfriends of soccer players......some as famous as their husbands...

MFS62 Oct 15 2009 07:53 AM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

Folks, think about this. Somewhere, on a celebrity's website (maybe more), they're posting about a moment of greatness because they ran into a CPF-er. Later

Benjamin Grimm Oct 15 2009 08:02 AM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

You're talking about me and Beyonce, aren't you?

Edgy DC Oct 15 2009 08:13 AM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

He's probably talking about the chatter on the Bush Cabinet Forum.

MFS62 Oct 15 2009 08:14 AM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

[quote="Benjamin Grimm":2bjxvhhq]You're talking about me and Beyonce, aren't you?[/quote:2bjxvhhq] I didn't realize there was an App for dreams. LOL! Later

dgwphotography Oct 15 2009 08:32 AM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

Back in the day.... I used to know Michael Bolton... This was in the early 80's - he had minor success with one single, and was doing a more song writing than recording. He and his wife used to come down almost every Saturday night to the local bowling alley where I worked. He used to stand out a bit with the long black hair, and the black leather pants, but I digress.... A few years later, I ran into him again at a Howard Johnsons that used to be right off the Merritt Parkway. I was having dinner with my girlfriend (now the Mrs.), and he told me that while he was doing well and was happy writing, the record company was pressuring him to record again, and that he was heading into NY to start recording the next day.... A little after that "The Hunger" was released...

Benjamin Grimm Oct 15 2009 08:39 AM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

You should have talked him out of it. It might have spared us all his version of "Dock of the Bay."

metirish Oct 15 2009 08:41 AM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

[quote="Benjamin Grimm":5ryaft8d]You should have talked him out of it. It might have spared us all his version of "Dock of the Bay."[/quote:5ryaft8d] Grims killing it today... DWP , was that in his hard rocker days that you knew him ?

dgwphotography Oct 15 2009 08:50 AM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

[quote="metirish":8lcv5tfo][quote="Benjamin Grimm":8lcv5tfo]You should have talked him out of it. It might have spared us all his version of "Dock of the Bay."[/quote:8lcv5tfo] Grims killing it today... DWP , was that in his hard rocker days that you knew him ?[/quote:8lcv5tfo] Yes - Fools Game was released around that time.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Oct 15 2009 08:55 AM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

That story reminds me of a scene from my freshman year in college. Roomie (talking about his friend, a songwriter): He wrote a song for Michael Bolton. Have you heard of him? Me: He does that song 'Fools Game' Roomie: Oh yeah! (Singing) "Fools Game!" Me: Yeah, it sucks.

Edgy DC Oct 15 2009 09:03 AM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

It's awful, because he was doomed by his record company actually buying commercial time on MTV for his attempted breakthrough release --- almost unheard of because, well, if you wanted to sell an album via MTV, you'd get them to play your video for free. "America has a new rock and roll HERO! And his name is Michael BOLTON!" "?? It's a FOOL'S GAME! ??" "Michael Bolton, available at music stores from Columbia Records and Tapes." The pandering made it so overwhelmingly doomed to fail even if it wasn't so poseuriffically bad.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Oct 15 2009 10:34 AM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

[quote="metirish":380bdmy4]I think it's worse in Britain and Ireland where shows like Big Brother , The X-Factor and I'm a Celebrity,Get Me out of Here are huge and create Z-List type celebrities that then appear on Celebrity Big Brother. Jade Goody would be one of those , became famous on Big Brother and after her eviction headed her own Reality shows....she succumed to cancer this year and of course her treatments and death were Reality Shows. Then you have the WAGs ....wives and girlfriends of soccer players......some as famous as their husbands...[/quote:380bdmy4] To here my actor/entertainment-industry friends tell it, this is pretty much the way greater Los Angeles is, with more MTV/network reality alums around than aspiring actors, and subbing Laker hangers-on and various Kardashians for WAGs.

sharpie Oct 15 2009 10:49 AM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

I went to high school both with Michael Bolton's guitar player and his producer. The producer later foisted Mariah Carey upon us.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Oct 15 2009 11:09 AM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

I went to high school with Mariah Carey. Just a regular dirtbag Centerport chick until Soupy's producer friends got a hold of her.

metirish Oct 15 2009 11:18 AM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

I doubt she has changed all that much.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Oct 15 2009 11:26 AM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

I didn't really know her, she was a couple of years younger than me. But plenty of dirtbags in her crowd, mainly maladjusted rich kids and one guy who hit girls, tortured cats and got kicked out of school for making a bomb threat or something.

Frayed Knot Oct 15 2009 11:29 AM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

Bolton is one of those pop-culture touchstones (like 'Baywatch' and 'Saved By the Bell') that I was totally unaware of until it had already crossed-over to the caricature/punch-line phase (although maybe that wasn't too long of a gap). IOW, if he ever had a real career I pretty much missed it. He now shows up in celeb pro-am golf outings like 'Pebble Beach' and brings a pretty good game. Mariah Carey I've always been aware of but just never knew any of her music. I heard recently that she has more '#1' songs or top-10 hits than anyone ever (or something like that) yet I couldn't name one even though I've been alive and presumably conscious for all of them.

Edgy DC Oct 15 2009 12:21 PM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

[quote="John Cougar Lunchbucket"]I didn't really know her, she was a couple of years younger than me. But plenty of dirtbags in her crowd, mainly maladjusted rich kids and one guy who hit girls, tortured cats and got kicked out of school for making a bomb threat or something.

W- wait. She didn't go to band camp?

John Cougar Lunchbucket Oct 15 2009 12:38 PM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

I don't know how many understood it at the time but I'm sure she was too bent on success to participate in lowly school activities. I know for example that she was known to be a good singer but wouldn't try out for school plays.

MFS62 Oct 15 2009 12:55 PM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

[quote="John Cougar Lunchbucket"]I don't know how many understood it at the time but I'm sure she was too bent on success to participate in lowly school activities. I know for example that she was known to be a good singer but wouldn't try out for school plays.

I had read that she was very shy, and, although she had a seven octave voice, she did not like to perform in public. She had many hit records and albumns before she gave her first live performance. Later

Frayed Knot Oct 15 2009 02:32 PM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

I don't know about 7 octaves - I suspect those claims tend to get exaggerated in the same way as pitch speeds and vertical leap measurements do with baseball & football prospects - but her mother sang opera and so she did inherit a legit set of pipes. The part about being shy (even if true) wasn't the reason she skipped the HS play route. Instead she basically sent word out to the theatre director that she was going to be a famous singer one day and therefore wasn't going to waste her time on crummy high-school musicals. In fact she only wound up going to HS part-time, enrolling instead in a program that allowed her to combine HS with courses at a beauty school academy, although that was essentially just an excuse to allow her to travel into NYC on a regular basis and start laying the groundwork for setting up auditions.

Edgy DC Oct 15 2009 02:39 PM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

Her wikipedia page says her classmates called her "Mirage Carey" because they saw so little of her. Nicely done.

dgwphotography Oct 15 2009 02:42 PM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

With the way this thread has turned, only a few more posts until Kevin Bacon...

themetfairy Oct 15 2009 03:17 PM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

Ooh - I actually did pass by Kevin Bacon once! It was when I was working in the Empire State Building in 1987. I was taking a break in order to check out a sample sale, and I passed by him in the hallway.

metsguyinmichigan Oct 15 2009 03:52 PM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

Cool, Fairy! I went to high school with some of the younger Baldwin brothers. Served on GO -- like the student council -- with their sister, who was very, very nice.

themetfairy Oct 15 2009 05:49 PM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

I went to high school with Ralph Macchio. And D-Dad graduated college with Barack Obama (which gets an asterisk, because we didn't know him).

metirish Oct 16 2009 08:02 AM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

I saw Mariah Carey today in the News referred to as African American........

Edgy DC Oct 16 2009 08:04 AM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

Why do folks still read the News? If you're black enough to have been banned from baseball, that's black enough for me to accept that as a cultural identifier.

metirish Oct 16 2009 08:06 AM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

Sure , I just never thought of her as AA.

Frayed Knot Oct 16 2009 08:08 AM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

[quote="metirish":2prtursc]Sure , I just never thought of her as AA.[/quote:2prtursc] Her father is black - of Brazilian or some South American descent IIRC.

SteveJRogers Oct 19 2009 10:24 AM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

This weekend I had a brush with a couple of giants in the comics industry at the Big Apple Con in New York, Neal Adams (Green Lantern/Green Arrow, Batman) and Jerry Robinson (creator of The Joker). As well as Adam West and Julie Newmar. Also Lou Ferringo was there as well. Funny story, heard a podcaster tell a story about one convention that he met Ferringo at. The guy shook Lou's hand, and Lou then proceeded to take a bottle of hand cleanser and used it, in plain view of the guy who had just shaken hands with. So I decided to shake Lou's hand, walked away, but kept looking to see if he'd pull out some lotion or whatever. Nothing happened, so maybe it says something more about the podcaster than it does on Lou being OCC or something!

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Oct 19 2009 11:16 AM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

[quote="SteveJRogers":3ohu97pu]This weekend I had a brush with a couple of giants in the comics industry at the Big Apple Con in New York, Neal Adams (Green Lantern/Green Arrow, Batman) and Jerry Robinson (creator of The Joker). As well as Adam West and Julie Newmar. Also Lou Ferringo was there as well. Funny story, heard a podcaster tell a story about one convention that he met Ferringo at. The guy shook Lou's hand, and Lou then proceeded to take a bottle of hand cleanser and used it, in plain view of the guy who had just shaken hands with. So I decided to shake Lou's hand, walked away, but kept looking to see if he'd pull out some lotion or whatever. Nothing happened, so maybe it says something more about the podcaster than it does on Lou being OCC or something![/quote:3ohu97pu] that's awesome-- Neal Adams' Batman is the Batman in my head when I think about Batman. [Also, EVERYBODY who shakes a lot of hands in a day uses antibacterial cleanser. Politicians' campaigns buy the fluid by the case.]

Edgy DC Oct 19 2009 11:19 AM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

Yeah, but bacteria should know better than to fuck with Lou Ferrigno.

A Boy Named Seo Oct 19 2009 12:00 PM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

[quote="Edgy DC":rc6h49yk]Yeah, but bacteria should know better than to fuck with Lou Ferrigno.[/quote:rc6h49yk] Funny to read that at the top of the page by itself with no context.

Edgy DC Oct 19 2009 12:04 PM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

"Context is for pussies." --- Lou Ferrigno

Fman99 Jan 11 2010 06:52 PM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

Walking through JFK this morning on a layover, fairly early in the morning (around 8 AM or so), and I see someone familiar walking towards me. It's the face of someone that looks real familiar and I can't help it so I stop him. Fman: "Excuse me, aren't you Luis Guzman?" Luis: "Yeah, that's me." This guy... Managed to tell him how great he was in "Boogie Nights," only to remember afterwards that he was also great in "Traffic." And lots of other stuff.

Edgy DC Jan 11 2010 07:17 PM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

"Excuse me. Aren't you Luis Guzman?" "Yeah, that's me." "Cool. Honey, this is the guy we saw in The Cowboy Way." "No way. I wasn't in that shit." "Yeah, you totally were." "Fuck."

Nymr83 Jan 11 2010 08:42 PM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

But he got paid to be in it while you* just admitted to watching it, so who really lost there? *the hypothetical you

Edgy DC Jan 11 2010 08:47 PM Re: Another Brush with Greatness

Nah, saw a trailer or the commercial or something. That's my story. I think he was also James' father on NYPD Blue.