small-time name-dropping

Atom Egoyan sat to my left at a TIFF screening of Malle's Le Feu Follet, his wife was to his left. There were plenty of empty seats in the theatre.

...and Canadian director John Paizs (of Crimewave "fame") sat behind me at another.

I met Gabby Giffords at a screening of her documentary. One of the most . . . luminous people I have ever met. Monica Lewinsky was also in attendance.

Oh jimbeaux I kinda like Monica. She didn't ask for all the stuff that unfolded. I never met her, but knew a man who dated her. His name is, alas, Jake Tapper.

Strom Thurmond's daughter was in my AP Government class in 12th grade. There were some discussions that were slightly uncomfortable.

People tell me that Jared Leto was in my chemistry class but I have exactly zero memory of him.

I think I was exactly between the Cheney daughters.

That is probably more information than I should share, but I don't care anymore.

I am definitely on Monica's side. She's made a good life out of a bad situation and grown far past being a punchline.

One of my favorites: a friend of mine went to high school with Marge Taylor, as she was then known. Her assessment of the future Congresswoman: "Completely unremarkable."

Yeah my major problem about the Monica situation is that Bill received but did not, apparently, reciprocate. Bad form, dude.

(Apologies if that is too crude for this very erudite forum.)

Marshall Crenshaw’s mother had been an English teacher and the student newspaper advisor at my high school; she left before I arrived, though was still spoken of (as “Mrs. Crenshaw”). Not even a direct encounter, I guess…

I went to college with a guy who later became the frontman of an alt-rock band known more for their videos than their music; and a woman who went on to sing in a mystical folk/indie band (I just learned from Wikipedia that the first guy produced one of their albums).

very Brooklyn!! i talked to Dana Delany once which was one of the best moments of my life.

XP It's not name dropping if you don't name names (Damian from OK Go and Becky from Lavender Diamond?)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5C7fcD5rhDc

I like to keep the mystery alive...

oh wrong clip, sorry flag away

People I rang up at the cash register when I worked at a bookstore:
Kathleen Turner
John Stewart
W.S. Merwin
Erykah Badu
Arlen Specter

― President Keyes, Tuesday, March 5, 2024 7:56 AM

Once while working the register at a bookstore, a customer approached, and I thought This guy has Hollywood hair. I checked his credit card - it was Steve Zaillian.

i peed next to van dyke parks in a club in los feliz. we exchanged small talk as we did our business, then went our separate ways.

i bumped into billy bob thornton outside a terminal at logan airport and told him i liked his music. this was not exactly true; i hardly knew his music. he flashed a big smile and thanked me.

i stood next to failed democratic presidential candidates al sharpton and general wesley clark at separate delis in and around penn station. al was smooth as fuck and exuded all kinds of charisma. wesley, a military man to the end, asked the guy behind the counter multiple questions about where exactly he should stand after placing his order and who, and how, he should pay. i did not see the need to make small talk with either of them.

When I worked at a record store I sold sound of silver to a guy who looked like James Murphy, whose name was James Murphy (he showed me his driver license) and had a sassy attitude like the LCD James Murphy does in his music. I’m still not completely sure it wasn’t LCD James Murphy, he was being very ironic.

A friend of mine got my laser disc of Days of Heaven signed by Terrence Malick. (The special effects company he was working for was pitching to do FX on The Tree of Life.)

xxp oh yea, one time i went to cash my payroll check & got in line behind al sharpton, he is a larger than life presence for sure

My partner's ex shagged a Bay City Roller.

Trying to decide if this is more or less impressive than Martin Skidmore’s ex-wife shagging a womble.

Anyway my sister in law worked at the late, lamented John Smiths bookshop in Glasgow. She’d use her staff discount to get CDs for me which I’d collect from a mildly disgusted Stephen Pastel.

Depends on whether either of them did the deed 'in character'

xpost

Melissa Joan H@rtr is from my hometown and her dad was my dad's lobster guy when she was on Sabrina.

ENBB, just want to say that "her dad was my dad's lobster guy when she was on Sabrina" is a rather interesting turn of phrase.

Even just the idea of having a personal "lobster guy" is, to me, amusing.

that lobster man in full

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNmFiZjBjZmUtOTdkYS00YmU0LTlkMjItMjZiZTk1YWJlMjRkXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMDYyODAzNQ@@._V1_.jpg

(Yeah, you probably meant a seafood supplier, but my mind immediately goes to a hybrid man who has claws and antennae and such.)

That reminds me that my aunt worked for a meat co-op that Dusty Rhodes was a member of in the 70s or 80s. He apparently always showed up wearing a fur coat and with an attractive blonde on his arm. Even though she never saw him wrestle, she can still do a credible impression of him.

When I worked at a record store I sold sound of silver to a guy who looked like James Murphy, whose name was James Murphy (he showed me his driver license) and had a sassy attitude like the LCD James Murphy does in his music. I’m still not completely sure it wasn’t LCD James Murphy, he was being very ironic.

A friend of mine won a prize for his costume at a Halloween party in NYC some years ago, which was awarded to him by James Murphy. My friend later discovered this was actually a guy dressing up as James Murphy.

x-posts He had a lobster guy because he had a restaurant/was a chef and her dad literally just sold lobsters at Hart's lobsters! Should have just let you think the above though lol.

My former bandmate's youth pastor was the main guy from popular Grammy-winning Christian rock band Casting Crowns, who I have come to understand are like the Pearl Jam or maybe the Arcade Fire of so-called praise music

xxxp The woman who used to cut my hair’s partner did lots of editing work for MJH’s prodco (apparently she and her husband produce tv movies and stuff that she’s in). They would fly him to the east coast to be on the film sets

Oh, and in the 90s I very briefly met Molly Ringwald at an anti-seal clubbing protest organized by PETA at the Canadian embassy. She was very nice but she didn't stay long

Xp All good, ENBB. I enjoy ambiguity when it comes to hybrid humans/sea creatures.

Old, and probably terrrible, joke: which of these does not belong: a lobster, a flounder, and a Korean man who has been run over by a bus?

The answer is: the flounder. Because the other two are crushedAsians.

xposts - Huh! I met her a few times when I was in HS but just v casually.

A woman I grew up with is making a name for hersef as a director and has been dating T1m R@bbins for the last few years which is weird to see on IG.

i heard Molly was sort of a b to some folks at a previous workplace so always look for that in interviews now but you know what they say, everyone has bad days

Huh! I met her a few times when I was in HS but just v casually.

Was she actively filing the Nickelodeon show while she was in school(?)

*filming

No - she left public school while filming Clarissa and did the tutors on set thing but was around every now and then since her dad still lived in the area.

I went to college with a guy who later became the frontman of an alt-rock band known more for their videos than their music; and a woman who went on to sing in a mystical folk/indie band (I just learned from Wikipedia that the first guy produced one of their albums).

The dude I am sorta dating did Gary Coleman’s computer homework in high school

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNmFiZjBjZmUtOTdkYS00YmU0LTlkMjItMjZiZTk1YWJlMjRkXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMDYyODAzNQ@@._V1_.jpg

lol sorry bizarro, just wanted to see that again

the other day i mentioned to someone that i had met mario andretti as a kid, and someone else standing there was like 'oh yeah, i've met him too"

i stood next to dominic palermo of NOTHING as he puked into a garbage can during the (mind-melting) SLOWDIVE reunion tour show in philly

Oh yeah, back when I worked in a bookstore in the early 00s, there was a bunch of buzzing activity around the magazine section. I went over to see what was up and saw Jennifer Lopez browsing. I turned around to go tell a co-worker and Ben Affleck was standing behind me, giving me a glare. I think they were filming that Kevin Smith movie Jersey Girl at the time.

are ya fond of me lobster

while working the register at a bookstore

George Lucas came into the bookshop I worked at and bought a bunch of The Art Of Star Wars type books to give to the production artists on the Star Warses he was making, so they’d know how to make it look Star Warsy. But it was the weekend and I wasn’t there.

Michael Stipe and Natalie Merchant came into the record store I worked at in the 80s, it took me a few minutes to recognize them. At first, I thought they were homeless people.

And, in many ways, they were.

At a charity I worked for, one of our sponsors was an actress called Anastasia Griffith (who was once on the verge of becoming big but never quite made it) and, to raise money for the charity, she organized a gala premiere for this dull straight-to-video film she'd starred in. I can't remember who was at it - apart from Gaby Logan and her husband - but I did talk to Steven Berkoff, who was also in the film. Can't remember what he said or I said though.

- en route for a quick few days in NYC we had a short flight to dublin. small plane. daniel o' donnel was in first class i.e. the front seat with a small curtain across the top of his chair. once we arrive in dublin, i needed to go for a wee, yeah, was in the urinal next to me. no words were exchanged.

- about 10 years ago i had a day in Skipton. wandered into a print/art shop in a small rennovated walkway. fella doing all the prints etc turned out to be Tony 'Terrorvision' Wright.

My great-aunt (who died right before I was born) was friends and penpals with Flannery O'Connor.