Brushes with Greatness

[G. S. Carnivals]

Presidents: A brief glimpse of Richard M. Nixon (1974). Saw Bill Cinton's limo depart downtown Lansing MI (sometime during the 1990s).

Senators: Shook hand with Daniel Inouye and hands with Philip Hart and (Senator-to-be) Donald Riegle (circa 1974).

Rock 'n' Roll: Shook hands and talked to Chuck Berry (1971). Met Adrian Belew at a record store in Mt. Pleasant MI the day after a Zappa/Mothers concert (1978 or 1979). Smoked dope backstage with two members of The Tubes after a show in Royal Oak MI (circa 1983). Later listened to Fee Waybill pontificate on many subjects (circa 1983). Had a cigarette with the drummer for The Romantics in Flint MI (circa 1983).

Who have you met?

[qcrisp]

This all depends on one's definition of greatness, of course.

I think the two people who most qualify in my case would be Brian Eno and Alan Moore.

....

And Tom Araya out of Slayer.

[qcrisp]

Thinking about it, that which would be most recognised by the world as a 'brush with greatness' in my case was probably the occasion on which I met ... can't think of his name now... Ted Hughes. That's it. That was an interesting encounter.

[mgriffin]

Brian Eno qualifies, if you ask me. He would be high on my own "wish to meet" list.

[G. S. Carnivals]

I neglected to mention that I met the late author Thomas M. Disch at a book signing event in East Lansing MI in 1986.

[waffles]

I made Lou Reed give me a dirty look when I asked him to sign a dollar bill.

When I asked Christopher Hitchens to sign a book to Waffles, he kept saying "Raffles?". When I said "No please, Waffles. It's a long story." He replied "I certainly hope so." I really hope Hitchens lives long enough to write Henry Kissenger's obituary.

[Sam]

Nothing too substantial, but I have had a few sightings and/or close encounters. Certainly nothing as awesome as hanging out with Fee Waybill (one of my first rock concerts was The Tubes in '83.)

Not sure how great this is, but I did see Flavor Flav at the Sacramento airport a couple of years ago. He was with an entourage of exactly one guy, and was much shorter than I expected. Most people gave him a pretty wide berth...

I also saw Tone Loc at the San Jose airport, many more years ago. My ex-wife is a fan, and she said hi to him. He responded in his trademark gruff voice "Hey, girl." That was fun.

Joe Montana (quarterback for San Francisco 49ers back in the day) held the door open for me at a donut shop in Redwood City, sometime in the mid-late '80s. I thanked him and he gave a shy smile. He also came to our middle school a few years before that and signed stuff for us kids. Seemed like a nice guy.

Spastik Children, a Metallica side-project/joke band played with my friends' hardcore band in San Francisco back around '86 or '87. Lars Ulrich and James Hetfield were there, and they borrowed my (straightedge) buddy's amp for their set. They spilled beer on the amp, and generally were pretty dickish to everyone that wasn't part of their little crew. I don't remember many other details form that night.

And while it may seem trite to say so here, I had a brief email exchange with Mr. Ligotti when I bought some books from him. Though mostly transaction related, I saved the messages.

[Aeron]

Clive Barker at a few signings many years ago, he was nice enough to create a few drawings for me. I met Bruce Campbell at a signing and a second time by sheer accident when I was going to see his film "The Man With The Screaming Brain" at a small art theater. I noticed the parking lot was full, which was unusual for this particular theater, then saw on the marquee, "Welcome Bruce Campbell!" and realized he was there to promote the film. So inside the small theater at the front of the screen were tables and a microphone set up for him to do an introduction to the film and question and answer session prior to its playing.

[Karnos]

I have shaken hands and talked briefly with Michael Gira of Swans.

One of my creative writing teachers is an Argentinean writer who recently won an award for his last novel.

I also was the front neighbor of a local clown that was quiet the star back in the old days in my native city back in Mexico, if that's serves for anything