Who is the most famous person...

[Bruce]

Who is the most famous person that you ever had a conversation with?

I've been trying to figure out who this would be in my case.

Here's some famous people that I have had conversations with.

Rich Cody (former governor of NJ)
Carl Perkins
Joe Turner
Dave Bartholomew
George Benson
Phoebe Snow
Carol Blazejowski (Basketball hall of famer)
Phil Pepe (famous sportswriter)
Mike Lupica (same)
Nick Nolte
Wilson Pickett
Jim Bouton
Bill James (via email)
Gene Michael
George Carlin
Gary Talent
Jim Boeheim (while we were next to each other at urinals)

[Nick]

Eliot Spitzer, probably. We talked for about 2 minutes. This was about a couple months before the prostitution scandal.

[Mattceinicram]

I got to have a short conversation with Jeff Saturday, an ex center for the Indianapolis Colts.

[JimmyJazz]

Ok, I'll bite...

While I'm too young to have met anyone really famous just yet (I'm currently applying for college), many people I know, including my own parents, have met quite an impressive number of famous people. Here's a list for you:

- Lars Ulrich, drummer for Metallica (my dad worked at a bar in Toronto in the 80s and early 90s. A lot of his famous meetings were through this job. Ulrich showed up one day, and was apparently a complete asshole.)
- Geddy Lee of Rush (my mom once worked at a tennis court in Toronto, and met him one day when he was playing. Very nice person, apparently.)
- Paul Stanley of Kiss (my mom and her friend met him while clubbing in Toronto in the 80s)
- Tina Turner (my dad served her a drink at his bar one time. There was this amazing guitar player who played gigs at the same bar often who my dad befriended, and he got to do some work with David Bowie actually. The same guy also spent the evening with Tina on that night. )
- Peter O'Toole RIP (my dad served him a drink once as well. As bad a drunk as all the stories say he was.)
- Christopher Plummer (my mom once acted in a small movie called Shadow Dancing when she lived in Toronto in the 80s. Plummer was one of the actors in the movie and once invited her to his yacht, like he did to all the much younger women on the set of the movie. She declined. Through that same movie, she also got to meet Kiefer Sutherland, because his mom was in the movie, Shirley Douglas.)
- David Cronenberg (At the after party for the premiere of her movie, my mom met him, via his friendship with the assistant director of the film. He called her "an erotic spitfire ball".)
- Ginger Rogers (when my mom was little, her dad, and my grandpa, worked at various casinos in Vegas, and also was friends with quite a few mobsters who helped to really establish the city. In the 70s, she got to meet her briefly at a casino.)
- Slash (Also, in Vegas, my grandpa met him. He threw him a towel and told him to clean up the table he had made a mess of.)
- Redd Foxx (my grandpa often had coffee with him in the morning when he worked at Vegas)
- U2 (my mom's best friend, who has always been like an aunt for my whole life, works in the publicity industry. She once worked with and met the entire band. They were all complete douchebags, particularly, surprise surprise, Bono.)
- Michael Douglas
- Al Pacino
- Keanu Reeves
- Werner Herzog (all 4 of these guys my aunt worked with as well.)
- Mick Jagger and David Bowie (my aunt's father, I know I keep calling her that, but she really is like one to me, who behaved like a father figure to my mom at one point, often used to sail down in the Caribbean, specifically in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. He met both of them on one of the islands having dinner together with an entourage. Both pretty nice guys apparently.)
- Lou Reed (one of my dad's old friends who is now in the music business once met and talked with for a long time Lou, as I found out following his death recently.)
- Atom Egoyan (my grandmother once went to the symphony to see a violin concerto with a friend of hers, and she was sitting right next to Egoyan, whose sister was in the orchestra and if memory serves may have been the soloist.)
- Bob Rae (former premier of Ontario. My other grandmother once met him at a party. Very nice guy apparently)
- Siegfried and Roy (when I was little, my parents, my (real) aunt, and my cousin were in Vegas at one time. We went to see their show, and both me and my cousin got stuffed white tiger toys from them. They were disguised at the time, and we were the only two kids who got those toys that night.)
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (when my parents and I were in a Kinkos in downtown LA, he was in the store at the same time.)
- Neil Patrick Harris (A friend of mine from LA once met him.)

But, I saved the best for last:

- Mikhail Baryshnikov (one of the greatest ballet dancers in history. My mom was an accomplished bunhead during her early years, and once did a class with him.)
- Ronald Reagan (once the most powerful man in the entire world, being the President of the United States. My mom took a ballet class with his own son, and got to meet him a few years before he became President.)
- Bob Dylan (no introduction needed. BOTH my parents met the #2 artist of all time. My mom met him at the bar at the after party for an awards show in Toronto where he presented an award to his friend Gordon Lightfoot. My dad actually served him at his bar. On both occasions, he was making his nice origami, they both say to me. He was very quiet but nice enough guy, not the asshole that many say he is and that he comes off as sometimes.)

...So, there you go. I am currently applying for Chicago University, and while I may not get accepted, if I am I could have the possibility of meeting Paul Sereno, one of the world's most respected paleontologists, as well as freakin' Gandhi's granddaughter, both of whom teach there.

[Bruce]

- Redd Foxx (my grandpa often had coffee with him in the morning when he worked at Vegas)

...So, there you go. I am currently applying for Chicago University, and while I may not get accepted, if I am I could have the possibility of meeting Paul Sereno, one of the world's most respected paleontologists, as well as freakin' Gandhi's granddaughter, both of whom teach there.

Redd is the one on that list that I would most like to have spent some time with. He made a great record that is on my 1957 list:

I was just in Chicago a couple of months ago. My girlfriend's daughter lives there. Had the best Eggs Benedict ever at a Brunch place there.

[Bruce]

Eliot Spitzer, probably. We talked for about 2 minutes. This was about a couple months before the prostitution scandal.

He might have just returned from the hooker's place.

[SuperFurry]

Stuart Appleby (my wife's cousin)
My little brother played NCAA college football so he must be next on my list.

[DocBrown]

Bob Rae (former premier of Ontario. My other grandmother once met him at a party. Very nice guy apparently)

I know this is meaningless to Bruce, since it involves only Canadians, but at one time I had, on three different occasions, sat next to three different men at three different meals who were later to be simultaneously premiers of three of Canada's four largest provinces. That is to say, none of them were yet premiers (roughly equivalent to a state governor), or even leaders of their respective parties when we shared a meal. The three premiers were Ernie Eves of Ontario, Ralph Klein of Alberta and Jean Charest of Quebec, whose terms overlapped about a decade ago. None of those functions were political, by the way, and I am apolitical, so our meetings were more or less coincidental. Of the three, I'd have to say Klein, who died last year, was probably the most famous, or infamous, depending on your point of view.

Also met Bob Rae once. I can verify he's a very nice guy.

Also met Pierre Trudeau twice. Not so nice.

And on the general subject of Canadian claims-to-fame, I once had my car parked, on street and overnight, with the Stanley Cup in the backseat. Top that.

[Bruce]

And on the general subject of Canadian claims-to-fame, I once had my car parked, on street and overnight, with the Stanley Cup in the backseat. Top that.

WHY would you possibly leave it in the car overnight?

How did this come about?

[DocBrown]

And on the general subject of Canadian claims-to-fame, I once had my car parked, on street and overnight, with the Stanley Cup in the backseat. Top that.

WHY would you possibly leave it in the car overnight?

How did this come about?

This is Canada, where we leave our doors unlocked.

My employer at the time had access to the Cup (THE Cup is sufficient identification in Canada) for a late evening event. It had to be on a 5 a.m. flight to Toronto and I lived close to the airport (the event was held across town), and had a large hatchback. So late the night before, the Cup was packed into its very anonymous shipping crate, loaded into my car under the tonneau cover, and I went home, then delivered it to the airport a few hours later where I met my boss, who accompanied it on its flight.

Three things to note:

- this wouldn't happen today. This was over 25 years ago. Today a Hockey Hall of Fame staffer travels with the Cup at all times.
- when driving with the Stanley Cup in your car, you drive VERY carefully. It is irreplaceable.
- when flying with the Stanley Cup, you get upgraded to First Class.

I did have a number of pictures of myself and family members with the Cup, taken before it was loaded up, but unfortunately they must be with my ex-wife.

[DocBrown]

the Cup was packed into its very anonymous shipping crate,

I should stress this point is the most important. If my neighbours had known what was in my car, a street hockey game might have broken out!

[Bruce]

Rich Cody (former governor of NJ)

I saw him last night and we spoke for a while. I was the clock operator at a high school basketball game and his son plays for the visiting team.

[Live in Phoenix]

I did meet Billy Idol at an autograph session, and I said he should like Whiplash Smile more. Billy, a bit unsettled: "I know, just...weird, weird times." He was going through personal drama during those sessions, as well as being on a Station to Station amount of drugs.