I am looking for all contact - spotting in the street yesterday, autograph collected in your youth, meeting held with, picture taken with, gift received from, or whatever - with political figures.
Now famous is fine but semi-famous is even better, faintly ludicrous is best of all. Pictures are particularly welcome, especially if they show the semi-famous figure doing something prosaic.
Oh what fun. By all means go to the blogsite and share your entry. But include it in the comboxes here too.
I have three entries:
1. In college, I got drunk with washed-up Sixties radical Abbie Hoffman (who was also loaded on pills), and went speeding through the campus of Jimmy Swaggart Bible College after midnight, with Hoffman leaning out the window shouting, "Lock your doors! Bar your windows! Heathen Jew on campus!" The Jimmy Swaggart Bible police stopped us for trespassing, and nearly took us in.
2. Once, while a writer at the Washington Times, I met the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, who shook my hand and said, cryptically, to an associate, "Young man."
3. I was standing in a press pool onsite at Ground Zero, when it was still a smoking charnel house, covering a presidential speech. When the most powerful man on the planet walked directly in front of me, as we both stood in the pit of hell, and at the very spot where the 21st century began, all I could think was, "Oh wow, I'm taller than him."
(Hat tip: The guys sitting in for Andrew Sullivan this week. Hi Clive! You guys are doing a great job.)
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1. I work in the Convention industry at large convention center in California, and Bill Clinton and Jesse Jackson were both speaking at a large union convention (I don't remember which union). I was backstage and saw them both walk a few feet away from me and go into the restroom together. I really wanted to go in after them just to hear what Bill Clinton and Jesse Jackson would talk about while relieving themselves together. His security wouldn't let me in of course.
Too many obscene images go through one's mind when reading this. The last thing I want to know is what Bill Clinton and Jesse Jackson do with each other when they are in a restroom together.>
I met Ian McKellan after a one of his 'Acting Shakespeare' performances in the mid-80's, before he was famous here in the states. Following that meeting, I sent a note thanking him for his time, and he sent a very kind, handwritten note back to me. I still have it.
I also met Faye Dunaway at a Blind Boys of Alabama concert. I also used to regularly wait on Bill Kreutzman (Grateful Dead) and Taj Mahal when I was waitressing in Hawaii. And I used to see Graham Nash at the shops around Hanalei on a fairly regular basis.
When I lived in Los Angeles, I met or bumped into any number of actors and actresses. Plus, one of my housemates was a music video director, so it wasn't entirely surprising to find myself sitting next to one of the guys from Faith No More in the living room at one point. I don't remember his name, but I do remember thinking that for all the money they must be making, surely he could afford to BATHE. Ditto the lead singer from Metallica. I was stuck in line behind him at B.Dalton and kept wishing I had a can of air freshener.
Here in Boston, I've passed Peter Wolfe and Sam Waterston in the streets around the Hancock Tower, I watched John Malkovitch shooting a scene for a movie at the hotel across from my job, and I passed Stephen King coming out of the movie theater as I was going in.
But it's my brother who really meets all the interesting people. Like Rumsfeld. And Bush. And, er, Rod Dreher. Heh.>
Eric W Wrote:
"Too many obscene images go through one's mind when reading this. The last thing I want to know is what Bill Clinton and Jesse Jackson do with each other when they are in a restroom together."
Ha ha ha. I would agree with that, except, I didn't want to know they would do with each other, rather, I wanted to hear what they would say to each other.>
Ha ha ha. I would agree with that, except, I didn't want to know they would do with each other, rather, I wanted to hear what they would say to each other.
I know. I changed the wording on purpose.>
Thanks for the kind words, Rod!
Looks like you're a prime candidate for the Colson Award!>
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