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Meeting someone famous
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Author:  Nitefox [ Fri Jan 28, 2011 1:04 pm ]
Post subject:  Meeting someone famous
If you had the opportunity or have had the opportunity to meet someone famous, what is the protocol? How do you or did you handle it?

LK and I are getting to see Huey Lewis and the News tonight and there is a small, small chance we may be able to take part in a meet and greet. He's been one of my favorite bands of all time. While everyone was listening to MJ, Madonna and the hair bands, I was listening to Huey. I'm just looking for a mindset if I get to meet him that doesn't have me looking like a goober.
Author:  FarSky [ Fri Jan 28, 2011 1:11 pm ]
Post subject: 
He's just a regular person that you're meeting, like any other. Eats fast food, sleeps late, has headaches and bills and family problems and shat himself when he was a baby. Has a job, just like you. He just so happens to produce work you enjoy. Don't fawn, or spaz, just shake hands, say "hi," and if a particular piece of work meant something to you, you can say so. Most real artists recognize that's why they do what they do, so they appreciate feedback, but I've never met one who enjoys having a fan melt into a pile of bubbling goo at his or her feet. Maybe some really dickish ones do, but you always hope someone whose work you admire will have more class than that. :)
Author:  Nitefox [ Fri Jan 28, 2011 1:13 pm ]
Post subject:  Re:
FarSky wrote:
He's just a regular person that you're meeting, like any other. Eats fast food, sleeps late, has headaches and bills and family problems and shat himself when he was a baby. He just so happens to produce work you enjoy. Don't fawn, or spaz, just shake hands, say "hi," and if a particular piece of work meant something to you, you can say so. Most real artists recognize that's why they do what they do, so they appreciate feedback, but I've never met one who enjoys having a fan melt into a pile of bubbling goo at his or her feet. Maybe some really dickish ones do, but you always hope someone whose work you admire will have more class than that. :)



Yeah...I tend to ramble at times, that's all I'm worried about pretty much.
Author:  FarSky [ Fri Jan 28, 2011 1:15 pm ]
Post subject: 
Just keep it short and sweet, since there'll be others there who want to do the same thing. :)

"Hey, I really enjoyed <insert work here>. It meant a lot to me when I was <insert personal anecdote here>. Thanks for helping make <insert hard time here> a little easier." :)
Author:  Nitefox [ Fri Jan 28, 2011 1:25 pm ]
Post subject: 
Maybe I should go with a joke..."I hope the concert isn't too darn loud".
Author:  Hopwin [ Fri Jan 28, 2011 1:27 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Re:
Nitefox wrote:
FarSky wrote:
He's just a regular person that you're meeting, like any other. Eats fast food, sleeps late, has headaches and bills and family problems and shat himself when he was a baby. He just so happens to produce work you enjoy. Don't fawn, or spaz, just shake hands, say "hi," and if a particular piece of work meant something to you, you can say so. Most real artists recognize that's why they do what they do, so they appreciate feedback, but I've never met one who enjoys having a fan melt into a pile of bubbling goo at his or her feet. Maybe some really dickish ones do, but you always hope someone whose work you admire will have more class than that. :)



Yeah...I tend to ramble at times, that's all I'm worried about pretty much.

LK seems a bit more level-headed so if you are truly worried just have her wear pointy-heeled shoes and if you start gushing like an idiot she can stamp your foot :)
Author:  Micheal [ Fri Jan 28, 2011 1:35 pm ]
Post subject: 
/agree FarSky
Author:  Vindicarre [ Fri Jan 28, 2011 1:50 pm ]
Post subject: 
If it helps, Huey Lewis does seem like a nice, normal guy. I met him during the intermission of either (memory fails) Picasso at the Lapin Agile or The Late Henry Moss. I did basically what 'Sky describes. Told him that I really liked his music growing up, and even did "Heart of Rock and Roll" in a talent show in grade school. He laughed, said that's why he does it; I bought him a drink and said thanks.
Author:  Lonedar [ Fri Jan 28, 2011 2:08 pm ]
Post subject: 
Just be yourself. Unless you're a dork. In which case, be somebody else.


In all honesty...don't overthink it. Just expect that you will get 30 seconds of his time and if you end up striking a good conversation, then good for you. Kinda like when you were first hittin' on LK. :D
Author:  Nitefox [ Fri Jan 28, 2011 2:09 pm ]
Post subject:  Re:
Lonedar wrote:
Kinda like when you were first hittin' on LK. :D


Hmmm...I better keep it light then. Don't want Huey throwing himself at me. Would be embarrassing for both of us.
Author:  Squirrel Girl [ Fri Jan 28, 2011 2:13 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Meeting someone famous
FarSky did a great job or how to handle this.

Enjoy and have fun.

I got to meet Leonard Nimoy, and was only able to blush and shake his hand. The fact that I was all of 14 at the time probably explains why I was gauche.
Author:  Lenas [ Fri Jan 28, 2011 2:56 pm ]
Post subject: 
Reminds me of my mom.. She and a friend met Shatner at a Miss World Pageant when they were 14 (would have been around '68?) and the friend promptly fainted while asking for an autograph.
Author:  Kirra [ Fri Jan 28, 2011 3:04 pm ]
Post subject: 
I think I would pass out or at the very least become mute if I was face to face with Jared Leto..
Author:  Shelgeyr [ Fri Jan 28, 2011 3:07 pm ]
Post subject: 
I sometimes wonder about this and have discovered that, for me, the level of fame and size of venue impacts my comfort level with the person in question.

When Taamar and I met Marian Call, we said "Hi, how are you? Good to see you, how was your trip?" and gave her hugs. Meeting her for the first time was really like catching up with an old friend.
When we met Jonathan Coulton, we shook his hand and I asked him whether or not he thought "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" would be a good fit for his "Soft Rock" medley while Taamar informed him that his music had provided content for many housecleaning playlists.
Author:  Taamar [ Fri Jan 28, 2011 3:09 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Meeting someone famous
I've been fortunate enough to meet several people of moderate fame levels... and they have been normal people, one and all (with the exception of Meg Ryan, who was a ***** diva, but she may have been having a bad day). I say 'thank you' and if we end up chatting then my brain goes where it goes. Last year I met fetish porn star Adriana Nicole and sex writer and porn producer Tristan Taormino... and we chatted about cupcakes and the superiority of french buttercream.
Author:  Stathol [ Fri Jan 28, 2011 3:44 pm ]
Post subject:  Re:
FarSky wrote:
He's just a regular person that you're meeting, like any other. Eats fast food, sleeps late, has headaches and bills and family problems and shat himself [...]

I got this far into your sentence, stopped, and wondered where the hell you were going with it.
Author:  FarSky [ Fri Jan 28, 2011 4:16 pm ]
Post subject: 
Dealing with celebrities on a regular basis, I have to say that pains in the *** have almost never come from the actual celebrity. It's virtually always from his/her/their manager or other "insulation" people. The artists themselves are incredibly nice, hardworking, friendly, open to anything, and down-to-earth.
Author:  Vindicarre [ Fri Jan 28, 2011 4:27 pm ]
Post subject: 
I agree with Shel about the size of the Venue, as well as my familiarity with the place.

I met Buddy Guy at his club in Chicago and was at a loss for words, I could only mumble something about thanks for the great music and club.

Nicholas Cage while walking through Ruby Skye (a Club/Lounge), told him I'd never been there before, and he said to treat it like a zoo and just look at people.

Chris Isaak at China Beach asked him about surfing in SF, and he told me he really liked it (surprisingly, because he could surf anywhere), and was building a house right nearby in Sea Cliff.

Robin Williams at a shawarma place, we discussed the difference between a Gyro and a Shawarma, decided that Gyros were better in Greece.

Jaime Pressly at Boulevard (restaurant) asked if she'd been there before (this was shortly after they opened), she said no and asked if I had told her it was my second time; we chatted about the pork loin, and her accent. She said she can pull it out at will after I told her I was surprised she didn't really have one. Man, she was hot.

Arnold Schwarzenegger didn't really talk just said "Hi" after a political event.

Beck was at a taqueria called Pancho Villa, I didn't recognize him and told him to hurry up.

Morgan Freeman used to frequent (every couple of months) at 850 Montgomery (cigar bar). In conversation (after I told him that some of his work was inspirational) I told him that the bartenders were saying that he doesn't tip, I asked him why he doesn't man up and drop a dollar or two. I never saw him there again, and the bartenders thanked me.

I gave Henry Winkler the "Aaayyy" thumbs-up in the Plaza Pub in Madison, WI ( I was pretty drunk), and he chuckled when I asked if that had ever happened before.

Really, the only bad impression I got was from Freeman, they were all pretty normal.
Author:  Lenas [ Fri Jan 28, 2011 4:32 pm ]
Post subject:  Re:
Vindicarre wrote:
Beck was at a taqueria called Pancho Villa, I didn't recognize him and told him to hurry up.

Morgan Freeman used to frequent (every couple of months) at 850 Montgomery (cigar bar). In conversation (after I told him that some of his work was inspirational) I told him that the bartenders were saying that he doesn't tip, I asked him why he doesn't man up and drop a dollar or two. I never saw him there again, and the bartenders thanked me.


Both awesome. Did Morgan answer your question?
Author:  Vindicarre [ Fri Jan 28, 2011 4:35 pm ]
Post subject: 
Heheh, he looked at me like I was shooting monkeys out my *** and said he "didn't bring his wallet".
Author:  Numbuk [ Sat Jan 29, 2011 12:33 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Meeting someone famous
**Warning, long story ahead**

In 1997 if you were to ask me who the one famous person I could meet would be, I would have told you. And I did in fact meet him (to an extent) that year. But, I could have handled it a bit better.

The year, again, was 1996. I was working at America Online right at the time when the internet was about to explode. My biggest celebrity idol at the time was Joe Satriani.

I was sitting at home after a day of work, realizing that so many people received those damned floppy diskettes (I worked there when the transition to CDs happened). I had also heard of the AOL employee who looked up Sandra Bullock's information and illegally found her and began stalking her virtually. It made me think, "I wonder if Joe ever tried AOL."

So I did a member search for the name of Joe Satriani. This was a legal search, one that any AOL regular user could do. I figured there was a snowball's chance in hell, especially since you can just hide your information from the world. But I thought, "Hey. Most people that use AOL aren't the greatest at computers. There's a chance."

There was one hit for a user whose name was Joe Satriani. I thought, "It's probably not him, but hey, what the hell." So I sent him an email.

Joe's music helped me out through some difficult emotional periods in high school, so if there was a chance I could at least say "Thank you" to the man, I was going to take it.

I sent an email pretty much saying thanks and what not. I actually received a reply a few days later. The person said some things that made me think "Either that's really Joe, or a very knowledgeable fan." So I sent another email, and got another reply. One that really started to make me wonder if it was really the actual guy or not. So I thought, "Eh, what the hell. If it's him, awesome. If not, at least it's another fan to talk to." So I put him on my Buddy List (same concept as instant messaging clients of today).

I was talking to my supervisor at work about the situation and he said, "You know... you can CRIS him. As long as you don't change any information, or have used that information to stalk him, it's cool."

CRIS was the database we AOLers had access to that contained everyone's info. It's what the guy used to find Sandra Bullock. Months later a few of us were kind of curious as to which celebrities actually used AOL or not. Trent Reznor? Never used it. But at least 50 people tried to fake being him. When it came time to bill the credit card, the name didn't match and the account was cancelled. Other celebrities who did use AOL at the dawn of the World Wide Web as we know it today? Valerie Britton Van Halen, Kirk Hammett, Jason Newstead, and Steve Vai.

But anyway, I CRISed Joe and saw that the account name was indeed tied to a credit card with the name of Joseph Satriani and that he lived in San Francisco (a fact all fans knew at the time). I was floored. I had emailed Joe himself.

A few days later while I was at work, I see my buddy list flash and I see a Mr. Satriani had hopped on line. I began to have a mini freak-out. I say hello and we start having a conversation. I didn't know what to do! I didn't know what to say!

I was a teenager, still unsure of how to handle such a situation. So I basically just was a "gusher." But he was very polite about it. He even had some problems with AOL on his Macintosh, and my supervisor was cool enough to take me off the phones to help him out.

We chatted off and on for a few weeks. He was actually on the road for the first G3 tour. One night (I worked nights) we were chatting and it was about an hour before he was to go on stage. I had mentioned that I would have loved to see the concert (it was him, Steve Vai, and Eric Johnson) but couldn't get the time off and the closest venue was 500 miles away. He asked if I wanted a concert shirt, I of course said HELL YES. A few days later I get a Fed Ex of a G3 tour shirt. Awesome.


After a while I never really saw him much on, and I didn't keep that job for very long anyway. I became less of a technician and more of a warm body to be yelled at. AOL had switched to unlimited pricing, and they grew far more than their hardware could allow, so thousands of people had no internet access. The problem was not going to be fixed until 6 months later, but we couldn't tell the customers that.

Looking back I wish I hadn't been a too excited and gushing teen when talking to Joe. If I had been a bit cooler and more collected, who knows? Maybe we'd still be buddies today. But I can say he was very polite and patient with me and never once made me feel bad or stupid. He's a totally great guy in every respect.
Author:  Jeryn [ Sat Jan 29, 2011 12:44 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Meeting someone famous
Hope you got to meet him Nitefox!

I guess I kind of look at exchanges as being as much a function of venue as of who I'm talking to. I met Billy Joel in the elevator of this hotel in Leningrad; he looked like hell. Then again so did I. Figure we were both ridiculously jetlagged. So it wasn't, you know, a "hey love this thing you did" sort of moment, more a "man you look like I feel" one. So that's what I said :P If it's a meet and greet? He knows everyone's there because they want to be and they're presumably into his work. I'd probably stick to hey man thanks, because it's not often you get to really tell someone you don't know, when they've contributed something meaningful to you.

What gets me? It's not fame itself, but one of the things that a decent numbers of celebrities have. What impresses me is the people who have Presence, and can just turn it on and off at will. When someone does the "watch this, I'm going to fill this room now" thing? I've seen CEOs do that a lot, too, have that gravity on/off switch.
Author:  Nitefox [ Sat Jan 29, 2011 5:17 pm ]
Post subject: 
Well we did get to meet him. It was meet and greet to the letter so I didn't get a chance to embarrass my self. Seemed like a really cool guy. The concert was great. He's one of those guys that sounds the same live. We had a great time.
Author:  Raltar [ Sat Jan 29, 2011 5:31 pm ]
Post subject: 
When I met my childhood idol I was still a child. So, I pretty much acted how you would expect a kid to act when meeting the biggest action hero star ever.
Author:  Taamar [ Sun Jan 30, 2011 12:03 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Meeting someone famous
See, the first time I met someone famous I had no idea who he was. He was visiting his sister who was a neighbor of mine, and I beat him at Frogger and sat on his lap while he played guitar. I told him he was pretty good at it, and did he know my mother plays guitar too? Carlos Santana patted me on the head and told me I was a cute little girl.
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