Brushes with fame

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We had some interesting customers at the marina where I worked. The names were written on the wrap in winter or they'd go unnoticed. Harry Conac Jr. The Kennedy kids were nice to deal with too.

Most just blended in unnoticed.
 
I had a couple brushes with bands, Motley Crew called our company for some "E" tank oxygen bottles for exchange for 4 tickets. The bonus was that I delivered the tanks to the Omni in Atlanta before the concert and got to wait outside the bands dressing room while waiting for the rep to deliver the tickets and passes; well it took him 45 minutes to get them to me but I didn't mind! I never did see any of the Crew but Guns and Roses were opening for them and Axle Rose walked in and out of the room a couple of times along with a steady flow of hotties trying to get into see the Crew.
My roommate worked at a record store and a drummer so he was a big fan of Def Leppard's Rick Allen so he got some tickets and back stage passes. The show was good and well went backstage into the hospitality room and had some finger food and pop and juice! Lame! We were lined up the band shuffled by shaking our hands with wimpy wet hands! Not impressive! My roommate was happy to meet Rick Allen. After his accident and were touring again we got to see them again and I was more impressed when we met them a second time back stage.
 
I had a couple brushes with bands, Motley Crew called our company for some "E" tank oxygen bottles for exchange for 4 tickets. The bonus was that I delivered the tanks to the Omni in Atlanta before the concert and got to wait outside the bands dressing room while waiting for the rep to deliver the tickets and passes; well it took him 45 minutes to get them to me but I didn't mind! I never did see any of the Crew but Guns and Roses were opening for them and Axle Rose walked in and out of the room a couple of times along with a steady flow of hotties trying to get into see the Crew.
My roommate worked at a record store and a drummer so he was a big fan of Def Leppard's Rick Allen so he got some tickets and back stage passes. The show was good and well went backstage into the hospitality room and had some finger food and pop and juice! Lame! We were lined up the band shuffled by shaking our hands with wimpy wet hands! Not impressive! My roommate was happy to meet Rick Allen. After his accident and were touring again we got to see them again and I was more impressed when we met them a second time back stage.
I lived next door to nikki sixx in sherman oaks ca when i first moved to los angeles-
I'm not going to tell you what band i played in but i am sure some of you guys and gals have heard of them.:th_rockon:
 
I lived next door to nikki sixx in sherman oaks ca when i first moved to los angeles-
I'm not going to tell you what band i played in but i am sure some of you guys and gals have heard of them.:th_rockon:
I've met Godzilla before, Madam X's Chris "Godzilla" Doliber that is. He had a couple bars in the area, one in Eckerman, MI called Tumble Inn. for a few years. He had a house band but brought in nationally known bands to play at his bars. I met him there in the late 90's while I was up deer hunting from down state of Michigan
His two brothers, Jeff and Matt, went to Whitefish Township school with me when I originally lived the U.P. as a young lad.
 
I have met a few other people but I have just never really been the kind to pay attention to famous people there just people to me. I did enjoy shooting the bull with Don Garlits for a bit & Larry Mcbride . I guess it all depends on what you call famous some people may not consider the same people famous that you would. I have seen quite a few different people I public but refuse to bother them. I think that is how I wound u having dinner with Goldie is I did not bother her.
 
I was at Daytona for Bike Week awhile ago, for the vintage races. We were in the pits, watching the bikes come & go to the hot pits. John Britten was there w two V twins, and after one of the heat races, the crew member was rolling the dead bike (not broken, just turned-off) out of the hot pits, into the pit area where they were going to check it over. I started to take a bunch of pictures of the bike, walking alongside, and he stopped pushing the bike, and held it so I could walk around it snapping away. When I lowered my camera, he smiled at me, I said, "thank-you!" and he resumed pushing the bike to the Britten pit area. I got a few of Jay Springsteen who is a friend of other friends of mine from Rochester NY who are former pro racers in Europe and stateside, and in the NY Mcy Hall of Fame.

That same year, also during the historic races, I glanced to my left, and who should I see but John Surtees, doing the same thing I was doing, peering thru the chain link fence into the hot pits, watching the work going on. I walked over to him and asked if he minded if I could speak to him for a bit. I told him that over 40 years prior, I had watched him racing Formula 1 Ferraris at Watkins Glen, and we spoke of the racing then, which was very hazardous, people were driving and getting killed every season, it seemed like. He said he was very fortunate to leave F-1 car racing intact, and that he loved to watch the competition, bikes or cars. He was very gracious, I kept it short and had a great memory. Anyone know what his unique claim to competition fame is w/o googling it?

A year or two before that, I got a chance to speak to Knobby Clark, who was the mechanic for Honda when they were racing GP bikes in the 1960's. He was also a F-1 car mechanic. He is still very active in the historic racing scene today. He tuned Mike Hailwood's bikes.
 
Back in the day. Probably mid 70's. I was to young, but a local bar (Belle star) had BB king playing. My neighbor Jim used to go see him. My sister-in-law used to live in Texas when she was young. I can't remember if it was Houston or Humble, but she was a cashier for a grocery store. She cashed out George Forman.
 
ALL very impressive, but I'm afraid i've got you beat.....
Because, I once met SEAN MORLEY in person!:punk:

I got that beat all to he!! Miles. I get to swap stories & share the wind with Sean 2-3 times a year.

I've got to take a nap every now and then lol!

And I've also caught you in a moment of "napping" on one occasion.
 
Back around 1977 or 1978 my ex wife and I met George Harrison at Watkins Glen, at a Grand Prix F1 race.

Back in the late 1960's I was on a stage singing (of all things) "Hey Jude" with a guy who was a relative unknown at the time - Bob Seger, of "The Bob Seger System".

Drank cheap whiskey with Wayne Cochran (the king of blue - eyed soul) backstage after a show in Buffalo, back around 1974.
 
Back around 1977 or 1978 my ex wife and I met George Harrison at Watkins Glen, at a Grand Prix F1 race.

Back in the late 1960's I was on a stage singing (of all things) "Hey Jude" with a guy who was a relative unknown at the time - Bob Seger, of "The Bob Seger System".

Drank cheap whiskey with Wayne Cochran (the king of blue - eyed soul) backstage after a show in Buffalo, back around 1974.

Hey Bill, Did you ever go to the Belle Star. Its was in Colden, going down the hill towards Kissing bridge.
 
I started attending the F-1 Grand prix races in Watkins Glen from 1964 and went every year until I left NY in 1968. I saw plenty of famous now-dead racers like Jim Clark, Jack Brabham, Dan Gurney (he's still around); one of my favorites, Graham Hill; Ritchie Ginther, Pedro Rodriguez, and Lorenzo Bandini. And I have a Watkins Glen F-1 race ticket w/Stirling Moss's autograph on it, that he begrudgingly signed for me. No I never met a Beatle there.

I did see Bob Seger sing in MI plenty of times in the 1960's and early 1970's and one of my friend's was well acquainted w/a member of Bob Seger's business group, a woman who was her maid of honor at her wedding. The woman was a looker, tall, slim, black hair, white skin. "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man" was a big hit in 1968 and I saw him play it live back then in MI nightclubs from then on, before he played the big venues.

I saw Wayne Cochran sing "Goin' Back to Miami," in Miami FL, which was a great concert. Never met the man. He had a great voice, and put a lotta energy into his shows.

Another one I did meet in about 1970 was George Clinton, who put on one of the most high-energy shows I ever saw, right up-there w/Sylvester Stewart in his prime, who I once saw in Cobo Hall-Detroit one weekend, and the next weekend in Kalamazoo, MI. Trivia: what was his (S. Stewart's) stage name? No-fair googling! And, bonus round! What was the name of George Clinton's band (he changed the name a bit over the years)?

I did watch from the front row while BB King sang, among others, "Lucille," on his Gibson, in the city where "Lucille" was built. That was in about 1971 on the rooftop of a parking garage in MI.

Back around 1977 or 1978 my ex wife and I met George Harrison at Watkins Glen, at a Grand Prix F1 race.

Back in the late 1960's I was on a stage singing (of all things) "Hey Jude" with a guy who was a relative unknown at the time - Bob Seger, of "The Bob Seger System".

Drank cheap whiskey with Wayne Cochran (the king of blue - eyed soul) backstage after a show in Buffalo, back around 1974.
 
Mulholland Drive is a road starting at the HOLLYWOOD sign and ending 25 miles aways in Malibu.There are no parts that are straight.You pass the Hollywood Bowl next as you go through Hollywood.It is arguably the most scenic drive in the United States. I spent 25 years there and nothing i have seen compares.Maybe Scotland.
It runs on the crestline of the Santa Monica mountains.
In the 1960's a young man named Don Prudhomme (aka the Snake) was the king of the hill. The man to beat from one end to the other. In the late 70' he was still king and doing it with a honda cbx.Some of the most expensive homes in the world are built on this drive. Los Angeles on one side and the San Fernando Valley on the other. I was fortunate enough to stop at hundreds of these houses and the famous names go on for years.
A few miles before the end is a famous biker hangout named the Rockstore.
Every weekend you will see bikers like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jay Leno, Matt LeBlanc,Tom Cruise, Ewan Mcgregor,Pam Anderson, Harrison Ford. I used to work on a few of Matt's bikes and we road out there many times. One weekend Leno was on his Y2K and as he was warming it up a car pull up next to him and we watched the paint melt off the front fender and passenger door.As you come out of a mile or so tunnel on Kanan Dune rd toward the end of it you see the pacific ocean.
There are many stops along the 25 mile ride to stop and it is worth the trip.
You can sense the history.
 
Hanging out with my "buddy" Dennis.

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Met John Madden.
I don't watch or follow football. It just doesn't interest me. I'll watch one if I have to, but otherwise I'm in the garage tinkering with my vehicles. They ALWAYS need something.
Having said that, when I was in the Air Force, we assisted with security at a preseason Seahawks game against the Cowboys - I think in 2008. I was selected to be in the "National TV Coverage" room, standing next to John Madden. Yes, he's a VERY big guy. My co-workers hated me. They said, "You don't even watch football and you're up there with John Madden..." :confused2:

Also Flying Crew Chief on C-17 Presidential missions delivering many Secret Service and the President's limo places.
BTW... The Marines assigned to guard the President's vehicles are VERY jumpy. I attempted to refuel while they were downloading the special "cargo." A Marine wrote down my name and put his hand on his weapon while staring at me. Wow.
 

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