small-time name-dropping

My favourite experience with name dropping, however, was a conversation I got into over breakfast with my significant other's parents. Turns out that his mom sold her apartment in 60s NYC to John Fogerty, hung out with the Black Panthers, appears in the Woodstock movie, hitched to Vermont, took a plane chartered by Ken Kesey and the gang, and somehow ended up in the Yukon practising buddhism. His dad ran a club in the Yorkville district of Toronto during the sixties...at this club, he got Led Zepplin to perform, and Jimi Hendrix was all lined up to play until he got stopped at the border for drugs. How he ended up in the Yukon was even more foggy...

Now that's what I call good name dropping.

I think if you're gay and you live in a North American city, you've probably seen and spoken to a drunk Rufus Wainwright at some point in the past three years. He gets around. My friend Lisa lost her virginity to Jeff McDonald from Redd Kross about 20 years ago. They still don't acknowledge each other at parties, it's sad.

As the Nedtopia threads on That Other Board confirmed, we apparently walked right by him on Saturday night in a bar. Somehow I missed the golden opportunity to do something about it then and there. (Current approach -- to borrow a line from Dee Plakas of L7's father and shout in a hoarse Greek accent "I DID NOT RAISE YOU TO BE A ROCK AND ROLL PARTY BAD ASS!")

-As a kid growing up near Princeton, I used to sneak into the university to use their computers--and spent time talking to the crazy hobo guy who was always roaming around the computer cluster and mumbling to himself (a man I later found out to be uber-genius John Nash, the subject of 'A Beautiful Mind'..)

-One of my college suite-mates moved out to the Pacific Northwest after she graduated, and found a cheap house to live in out there-- she didn't realize until after she moved in that she was living with Negativland.

'sides that i've bummed a smoke from ian astbury, had a long conversation with denis johnson, watch jarvis from pulp pick up on very young girls, got drunk and demanded gowan to sing 'strange animal', met neil young when i was a young bastard and i dream of hanging out with eugene o'neil every night.

My friend was smoked up by Silverchair in some motel in Ohio. Yay for him.

My ex went bowling with Ed Harcourt and band. Yay for her.

A former housemate claimed one of his aunts is married to Bob Dylan.

I have waited 20 years to mention that.

In the eighties I worked as a waiter in an Italian restaurant on the King's Road. Bob Geldof, Paula and kids used to come in all the time. Bob was an incredibly obnoxious arsehole, the very epitome of "don't you know who I am" bad behaviour, shouting at waiters because the cappuccino wasn't hot enough, insisting on a plate of pasta for their pet poodle, despite the fact that it's against the law, etc. etc. What a prick, I will never buy any album of his on principle (and on good taste grounds).

In another London restaurant I served cabbage soup to John Huston, who was lunching with Anjelica. I served coffee to Wim Wenders... there are probably more but that's all I can think of for the moment... oh and I also visited Edmund White in his Paris flat (we have a mutual friend) - he was very chatty and friendly.

today i met a builder whose daughter goes out with krs-one’s son.

great revive

I was strolling through an art fair on Boston's north shore some years back and chatted with one of the vendors who turned out to be JOEY SANTIAGO!!!('s brother.)

He looked a lot like him.

My former co-worker’s brother has been Lenny Kravitz’s guitarist since 1991

Notable musicians whose musical offspring I have met:

Michael Schenker
Don Airey
Ted Milton of Blurt
John Bradley of The Specials

I did a moving job for Billy Corgan's wrestling company

I used to work with the wife of one of the fellas from Racey

I helped Laurence Fishburne find the tomatoes in a Whole Foods

I once saw an ophthalmologist who is the husband of former US commerce secretary Penny Pritzker

I used to see Trent Reznor at the dogpark when he was living in New Orleans. He had a Weimaraner. Also, he told my ex she "looked great" when she was about 8 months pregnant.

My mother drew John Wayne's blood when he had open heart surgery.

She said he was a dick and only wanted a man to draw his blood but none of the guys who tried to could get anything, so she ended up doing it and succeeded. He said something like "Ya did good".

She still thought he was a dick.

I helped Laurence Fishburne find the tomatoes in a Whole Foods

― pj, Monday, March 4, 2024 8:42 PM (thirty-four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

i once was at a party in college also attended by laurence fishburne's son