Nicest/Meanest 'celebs' you've ever met?

Discussion
1

Anyone have any interesting run ins with famous people (preferably musicians) at all?

Was recently reading some horror stories regarding celeb run-ins on another forum and thought it would make for interesting discussion.

To be honest, I haven’t had any bad or uncomfortable incidents with famous folk (a few of my friends have though) but have had a few so so ones.

Mr Bungle - once, at an after gig get together in '99. Interesting experience. Really, for a band with their ‘out there’ rep, they were incredibly quiet and shy. At one point my friend offered Trey and Heifetz a joint and they politely declined, saying (nervous laugh) ‘No thanks, we…we don’t really do that kind of thing’. Apart from that, they didn’t really speak much. Patton acted like we weren’t even there and Trevor Dunn (the little Bungle/Fantomas bassist) was so timid I almost felt like patting him on the shoulder and assuring him that I was going to hurt him!

I also could not get over how damn short they all were. Seriously. They made me feel like a giant (I am just over 6ft).

Merzbow - met him after a gig in Melbourne. Hands down the nicest, most polite ‘noise god’ I have ever met.

King Buzzo - signed an album for me many years ago. Very nice chap.

Rey Washam - he was playing drums for some no name indie rock band I went and saw about 5 years ago. I don’t even remember their name. They were terrible. He was…ok. A little stand offish. He said he liked my t-shirt. When I mentioned Ministry he kinda rolled his eyes and looked bored. I asked him if he still kept in touch. He said no. Then I asked him if he had many good memories of working with Al and he chuckled “Um…few”. He also admitted he has only ever listened to Dark Side Of The Spoon twice in his life and said he couldn’t remember how to play that stuff if you paid him.

I also spoke to Michael Hutchence (INXS) and his wife only days before his death. I was playing pool in a hotel bar in Sydney with two friends. Michael and his missus wanted to use the pool table we were using - even though there were two more in the next room.

“Are you going to be long?”

“Um…yes”

silence

(gives me evil stare and walks off)

2

I have zero interesting run-ins, but have met some musicians over the years after gigs, all nice, having trouble thinking of anyone that wasn’t nice.

Al J. - 2/3/90 Ventura show, he was cordial and mellow. I think I posted our very brief chat here a while back

Ogre and Connelly - two Pigface shows in Phoenix/Scottsdale. Ogre was out of his mind and staggering around the parking lot after the Scottsdale show. Chris was Chris, friendly and conversive.

Rob Halford - stood next to him at a Laibach concert in Phoenix in '97 (He lives/lived here)

Terri Nunn - in '00, still hot as freaking hell, very friendly

Dave Wakeling - '99, Tempe, he was also very friendly and talkative. Best Beat show to this day, they tore the house down with a killer encore of Mirror In The Bathroom seguing right into March Of The Swivelheads, it was incredible

Cy Curnin, Jamie West-Oram, Rupert Greenall, Adam Woods (The Fixx) - Seen 'em 16 times since 1991, my favorite live band, very interactive with the fans, chatted with them all after several shows

Christina Ricci and Adam Goldberg - this was my only celeb sighting when I was in Hollywood. Stood by them inside a quirky underground bar in Silverlake. Ricci is TINY in person. They kept to themselves, nobody bugged them. I’m on/off with Ricci’s looks, sometimes she’s a hottie, sometimes, meh. She looked pretty good that night.

Fee Waybill (Tubes) - gig in Scottsdale in 1999. Great show, he was friendly

Bill Leeb - Talked to him at the bar in a Tempe club while Die Krupps was on stage (opening for FLA, Numb was the other opener). This was in '96 for the Hard Wired Tour…great show Bill was down-to-earth and chatty

Hardly impressive, but that’s who I’ve met

1002

3

Havent met much musicians, the notable ones I have met:

PJ Harvey (circa 2004): quiet, aloof. Thought she was kinda sexy at the time but that was then, wouldnt say the same now.

Shane McGowan: Some man. After a gig in 2001; he was well on his way when I met him, couldnt really understand what he was saying kept laughing with this rasping snake like sound that he makes because he basically has no teeth left. Had a drink with him and the rest of the Pogues. Another guy in the band, called Spider, crazy fucker. Reminded me of Mike Patton only genuinely crazy, not just for show.

Other than that its mainly film folk ive met:

Al Pacino: Tiny dude, had a freaky hairstyle. Just shook his hand and asked him to work with Michael Mann again. Amiable.

David Lynch: At a talk he gave. Spent most of his time going on about transcendental meditation which I had no interest in. Just complemented him on INLAND EMPIRE and asked him about Nastassja Kinski (who appears briefly in IE) didnt really answer my question, just said she was lovely or something like that.

The nicest film dudes Ive met have to be John Boorman and Sam Shepard (though the latter is primarily a playwright). Both down to earth, talkative and interested in what I had to ask them. I was dying to lambast John for Exorcist II but I just couldnt do it, he was too nice. Sam was cool, no pretensions, no bullshit. Mainly talked about his work with Wenders and American cinema in general, would have loved to talk more with him but, alas, their were scores of people wanting to do the same.

4

I once bumped into myself at a transvestite bar, and I behaved like a right cunt .

6

I had a great time drinking cheap beer with Tad.

Neil Gaiman used to be a regular at a comic shop I worked at and he was extremely nice. He brought various comic people with him sometimes when he’d come in. I met Jill Thompson but was dissapointed to miss Steve Bissette when he came in. I met lots of other comic people back in the early 90s, I’m sure that’s thrilling to all of you.

I met Ogre and Kevin briefly at the San Diego Comicon at a booth I was working. Didn’t know who they were but complimented Ogre on his Puppy shirt. Ogre told me who he was right as the two walked away.

I opened for Attrition if that excites anyone. Martyn was sick that night so I didn’t chat much. The woman singing with them (Laurie from High Blue Star) was a friend of mine so I talked to her too.

The Acid Mothers Temple guys stayed at a friends place and I saw a Satanic bloodletting Halloween garage performance standing next to one of the guys from the Overhang Party.

I used to hang out with Hecate (Rachel) whenever she was in town and email. She’s a genuinely out there personality. It got a bit much.

When I worked at a record store I met a few people. Elliot Smith came in after a show and signed a friend’s poster with a black marker on the black part of the poster. The bassist from Nirvana came in. Ben Harper did an instore but I took the night off.

My wife saw Tori Spelling from 90210 at a Hospital in LA.

The best sighting I ever had was as a kid in the airport, I saw Lorne Greene riding on one of those airport carts. It was a total Galactica moment.

7

I once bumped into myself at a transvestite bar, and I behaved like a right cunt .

lol

Sting - complete and utter asshole. he would not even turn his head towards me. he was in my bar.

The Edge - hands down the worst “meeting a celebrity” moment (on my part) in my life. they were in memphins filming parts to rattle and hum, and they were in the peabody lobby. they were in between shots and i walked up to him to say hi and get an autograph. while he was giving it to me all i could muster up to say was “where’s bono?”. utterly pathetic on my part.

chris robinson - (black crows) they come into the bar where i bartended. talked to him and his brother. i gave him his drinks for free and he gave ma a hunderd dollar bill. i spoke with his brother Rich for a while. we talked about music, he asked me about memphis and the blues. we chatted for about 20 mins. i asked him … “so , you’ve made 4 recordsd now, you guys have gotten to travel all over, you’re playing your guitar for a living. is it all worth it?” he calmly looked up to me and grins and say s “what do you think” then we both laughed.

ian astbury - brief and polite
billy duffy - same

eric clapton - didn’t talk to him, just stood next to him at a late night bar on beale street. very small guy.

billy ray cyrus - say what you want to about this guy, rip him and how lame he is, but he was one of the most authentic and nice celebrities i have ever met. he was recoding at a studio i was 2nd engineer in. spent a lot of time drinking coffee recording. i remember the studio i worked in was trying to impres him by having all this import coffee and exotic foods. we were standing in the kitched he’s looking through the cabnets and says to me. “you guys not having any maxwel house”. never forget that.

linoel riche - not much there - seemed very distant. once again - worked on some of his sessions.

Patrick Warburton (David Puddy) - i was at my local bar talking with other locals. He walked in with his brother-in-law. apparently his sister lives here. i go to the b-room and come back, and he was talking to my girlfriend. so when i walked up he introduced himself to me. Seemed nice. Bummed a Camel off of me. Said he was in town visiting his sister and had to do some benefit speech. Also a smaller guy.

there’s others i just can’t think of i’m sure.

8

I’ve met Ogre and Cevin a handfull of times, once in a club in 1991, very talkative and always pretty nice. I ran into the Legendary Pink Dots outside a random music store near Atlanta sometime in the mid '90s, Edward Ka-Spel was just sitting on the ground outside, and I did a double take which made him laugh.

Most of the people I’ve met have been of the sci-fi/horror/ comic artist types at conventions. High lights being Bernie Wrightson, Tim Vigil, Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean.

I also used to go to lots of book signings, saw Anne Rice about six times, Clive Barker (one of the nicest people I’ve ever met, very humble), William Gibson, and Rpbert R. McCammon.

Worst celebrity experiece - Dirk (Starbuck) Benedict. He was a pompus ass.

9

“Are you going to be long?”

“Um…yes”

silence

(gives me evil stare and walks off)

Perhaps he was looking for a 3some and if you would’ve obliged him he might still be alive today cause he would’ve been fascinating with filling his wife out like an application rather than choking himself! inxs killer!

I met Slash this year at a Velvet Revolver concert. I had him sign my leg and then I had it tatted. That guy is the end all be all for me since 6th grade! he was very humble and really put up quite nicely with my stupid ramblings about how much I adore his guitar playing. he was very cool with my insane fan boy ramblings especially since i am waaay to old for that shit. He even tried to decline when I asked him to sign my leg saying"no way man! I couldn’t wish that on anyone!" I countered with “oh know you could I already shaved part of my legso I won’t get in growns” he said “ok” I got him to draw his jolly roger with the top hat and the cig. along with his signature. he did it all in about 2 minutes!

Met Al at the Meet and greet. he seemed Jovial enough (probably cause he knew he was getting paid for it) I wasn’t super fan boy all awe struck Like I was with Slash but I showed him my Ministry tats on the tops of my feet and he and tommy were/acted impressed and then I had him sign my other leg and had that tatted. (yeah, laugh all you want I’ve had that idea in mind for a long time so I jumped on it-slash & Al have created my all time favorite music ever!! no shame in having the tats!)

Paul Super fantastic fella’ As I’ve already posted on here before. can’t say enough nice things.

I met Keith clark (Drummer for the circle jerks) back in '93 after a circle jerks concert he was super nice and was totally appreciative of the fans. My first real “famous person meeting and it went well”

I used to work at In N Out burger in the 90’s while I was going through college and celebs came in all the time on their way to vegas.

Tu Pac shakur came in 12 hours before he got shot in vegas SUPER TINY GUY his head barely came to the top of the mercedes. He was super skinny too. I remember laughing cause I was like, I Shit bigger than this guy! we are all supposed to be scared of this “gangster?”

Shug night was there too. I was scared of this mother fucker!! 6’6-6’7 easliy 350-450 lbs. jesus he has to be the biggest human being I have ever seen in real life! AND he was pissed!!! he was by the soda machines screaming into a cellular to the person about he was “gonna kill that bitch and kill You too if you give that bitch my number!!” Don’t give that bitch my #"

George Clooney came in and was super fucking smug! sitting by the back wall with his sunglasses on trying his best to be noticed by trying not to be noticed! I let him bus his own fucking tray!

Dave Mustain came in and was nice but severly bothered by all of the teen boys literally shoving napkins in front of his face for autographs. I felt bad for him He just wanted to wait for his double double!

End the list

Late,
grmpysmrf

10

Tony Hawk - He seemed nice enough, but there were about 6 other people circled around him so we didn’t really talk.

Phil Anselmo (Pantera/Down) - He was cool to me. Told me about the live 101 proof cd that was in the works. I bummed his lighter for a smoke. He was obviously wasted and had an eyehategod shirt on. He was just at a Machine Head /Neurosis /Downset /Vision of Disorder show in Tulsa a long time ago.

Jared Louche (Chemlab) - Really cool to me I think I was 18 or 19 at the time and I was drinking some sort of liquor with him out of an empty gallon sized milk jug. He said he made the liquor himself.

Wayne Coyne (Flaming Lips) - Met him in Oklahoma City. He lives there and it’s not that weird to catch him out watching local live bands. He is truly a nice/funny/weird/smart guy.

Chris Randall (SMG) - Wasn’t the friendliest guy I’ve ever met. He seemed a little upset that the turnout was so low for their show that night, especially when they used to pack a club here just a few years before. I offered to get him a jager shot but he said no thanks.

Miguel Turanzas (SMG) - Another really cool guy. After the SMG me and a friend and him ended up going to some girl’s apt. here in town with him and a few other girls. It was fun, he likes smoking the chron for sure.

Coolio - He came into Don Pablo’s when I used to wait tables there in high school. Kind of a tool. His eyes were so bloodshot and he kept trying say profound things that were anything but. His “entourage” locked their keys in their SUV and had to call a locksmith. His tab was around $120 and he left a $20 tip. What a baller.

Lajon Witherspoon (Sevendust) - He was a nice guy. They weren’t successful yet when I met them and he was surprised that I knew they used to be called crawlspace.

The All American Rejects - I went to Okla. State U when they were just a local band there in Stillwater. They used to play every Wed. at a bar called Mike’s. They were all cool enough guys (who knows now though). I will tell you this though: Those guys used to blow tons of cocaine.

Randy Blythe (Lamb of God) - Met him at an Mexican restaraunt downtown before they were to play the Sounds of the Underground show. They fucking killed it that night. He was really nice. We talked about another band from his hometown called Alabama Thunderpussy that I had just seen open for Corrosion of Conformity a few weeks before.

11

Heh, I know where you took this from, I loved reading that thread too. I don’t have many since I rarely get to go to shows. Mine were all nice encounters, Les Claypool’s band and couple from Ministry this year.

Les Claypool - Last year in Dallas. I was one of the last coming by the tour bus so I didn’t want to bother him much. I had him sign my book and got my picture with him. He was very cool in making sure everyone got taken care of. He went back around a couple of times asking to make sure everyone got what they wanted. I was the last to get a picture with him, as I called him when he started walking back to the bus.

Skerik - Saxophonist for Les, met him twice. Last year in Dallas and this year in Houston. The warehouse had an after party show of some jazz trio after Les. When they finished as soon as I went outside I ran into Skerik just kind of walking around. I talked to him for a bit while waiting on my mom. He said it was too bad our half of the tour didn’t get Secret Chiefs 3 as openers. He spoke very highly of them. I told him I had downloaded one of their sets from the tour and he told me to get the albums next. Nice guy.

Mike Dillon - Vibraphonist for Les. He was awesome, his mom was there as she goes to whatever shows she can to see him. She actually heard of my small town as her sister or daughter or someone used to live here. Mike was a blast, joking and having a good time. Someone suggested we should all go to a bar. I stuck out as a young one. He asked my age and gave me a high five when I told him almost 18.

Gabby La La - Really sweet. I regret not getting a pic with her.

Paulo Baldi - He didn’t say out long but was nice. Seemed on the shy side.

As for the Ministry side, we left after Al, but

Sin - He was really nice to us and answering questions about RevCo. I kind of felt sorry for him as people driving by would yell out to him thinking he was Al. He was just kind of standing there after a few of us talked to him and no one else bothered him. One thing I didn’t like was when a girl asked if he could get Al to sign something for her and he claimed Al always left immediately after shows and he would have no idea where he was. Not many of us bought that and I thought that was lame.

Al - I was thinking I wouldn’t get to meet him or he would be an ass because of not many others on tour talking about it, but he came out after a while and I go “AL!”. He looked over to us seemed taken back that we all waited out for him. Only about 30 minutes or so. He said we were awesome and he told whoever he was walking with he was signing everything for us and taking care of us. It became clear very fast that Al was pretty drunk, and in a very happy way. He said he was backstage drinking with Billy Gibbons(who we also saw leave in a van with hsi people but nobody called him). I must say he’s the coolest person I’ve met. At some point an ice cream truck drove by(at 1AM) and someone asked al if he wanted any ice cream. He said they were crack dealers or something funny. He was great about signing everything, even making someone from the bus get him a silver sharpie for black things. He light heartingly busted my balls when I took someone’s cell to take a pic for them, it kept saying error when I tried to take it so I had to do it like 3 times. He joked around with my friend when he was standing next to me for the pic. He puts his arm around everyone which is cool since some famous people worry about germs and stuff. Al was a lot of fun to meet, I had a blast. Only negative thing was when he signed my inner band pic of the dark side booklet he scribbled paul’s face out with a sharpie and told me he was an asshole.

John Bechdel walked to the bus and nobody talked to him. Tony Campos was waiting around to sign stuff after Al left. I would’ve liked to talk to him and Tommy for a bit but it was late and I was starving.

Hoping to see Melvins next month and meet any of them. The last musical hero of mine so far to meet is Phil Anselmo, since I’ve met Les and Al. I really wish I would’ve saw Down last year with the An Evening With tour. Soon… soon.

13

Good stuff here.

None too many celeb stories… I did meet Stephen King when I lived in New England a while back. Basically everything you’d think him to be in person.

14

You’ve all met more interesting people than me.

The most famous person I’ve ever met was Curtis Mayfield. I had to get him a soda with a straw. 'Cause you know, he was crippled from the neck down.

I met all the guys from the Goodie Mob. Cee-Lo was clearly the coolest, even back then.

Frankie Nardiello was super-nice, though clearly wasted.

I’ve met a couple of minor pro-wrestlers, Perry Saturn and Alex Wright.

My fiance is friends with Rachel Bolan from Skid Row.

And that’s about it.

15

Many.

So, I’ll only post the one encounter I’ve had who is just prickish: Michael Showalter. He was one of the members of MTV’s The State, he also directed a romantic-comedy and starred in it called The Baxter.

He’s a dick, and completely talentless unless he’s in an ensemble, as I have observed from his stand-up and his comedy album.

16

I’ve met/seen HEAPS of musos/actors/celebs. I must be a magnet for that kind of thing - no other way to explain it.

Musos:

Eddie Vedder - didn’t talk to him, just saw him as I was walking out of a burger joint in St Kilda, Melbourne. He seemed a little tipsy and was with a bunch of friends who were all talking over the top of each other.

He was also VERY short.

Thurston Moore - cold, aloof. Was working behind the counter, filling in for a friend, at an indie record store. I tried to engage him in converstaion but he was obviously WAY too cool-fer-school. He bought some jazz improv stuff and a Merzbow picture disc.

He was also VERY tall.

Gibby Haynes - also met him in St Kilda at a fast food joint. I said ‘GIBBY!! I salute you!!!’. He just grinned and asked if I saw the show. I had too tell him that I couldn’t cos I had to work, but I told him that I was a huge fan and that I hoped that the Buttholes could make another album again soon.

He was also VERY tall. And very scary lookin.

Nick Cave/Blixa Bargeld - saw them at a supermarket (yep, that’s right a supermarket) in Melbourne in 1990. Didn’t speak to them as they looked kind of…unapproachable.

Mike Patton - after a Fantomas gig some years ago. I was invited to a bbq at a house owned by a record label guy I knew and Patton was staying there while on tour. He was…well fairly rude. Actually he was more or less a total prick to nearly everyone who wasn’t a ‘somebody’…if you know what I mean.

Glenn Danzig - met him years ago at a club. Actually a very friendly person. Answered all my fanboy questions without a hint of ‘rockstar coolness’.

Actors:

Elijah Wood - at a party in LA. Was wearing a Butthole Surfers t-shirt which he kept staring at. He was friendly, but kinda nervous. Is a very tiny guy in person. Perfect size for a hobbit.

Rose Byrne (Aussie actress - very hot) - more or less a self centred arrogant bitch. And those were her good qualities.

Director/Author/Muso/Actor:

Harmony Korine - at a booksigning in London. For some reason he scrawled ‘Happy birthday you fucker’ on my book when I asked him to sign it. A strange guy.

17

Harmony Korine - at a booksigning in London. For some reason he scrawled ‘Happy birthday you fucker’ on my book when I asked him to sign it. A strange guy.

I have no idea who this is, but this amuses me nonetheless.

18

[reply]

Harmony Korine - at a booksigning in London. For some reason he scrawled ‘Happy birthday you fucker’ on my book when I asked him to sign it. A strange guy.

I have no idea who this is, but this amuses me nonetheless.[/reply]

He is a writer/director from New York (Gummo, Kids, Julien Donkey Boy, Mister Lonely).

I guess if you’re not into arty cinema you’d never have heard of him. He was going out with Chloe Sevigny for a while.

He was a crackhead for a while and lived in a squat in London near some of my friends.

19

The few times i’ve met patton he was nothing but the nicest guy in the world… guess maybe it was a bad night or the enviorment

i met all of manson during the mechanical animals tour backstage… not at all as crazy as one would think, manson likes chess alot

beck - kinda not all there in the head… but he was drunk off wine… this was during the odelay days

king buzzo - pissed he was at ozzfest being treated like shit by the tour people (sharon) but nice to every fan that was there

perry ferrall - an absolute charmer

john frusciante - heart of gold… gave me a big hug

head from korn - seemed like a nice guy but definately wanted to be elsewhere

fieldy from korn - stole my pen

tim skold - was drunk with a girl so i kept it to a hi and let him be

all the rest of kmfdm circa 1997 - totally cool to their fans
I was a field rep for them and got backstage passes and everybody took the time to thank me for all the help and whatnot

pig (raymond watts) - was talking to me about how fans come up to him like he’s some sort of alien… with really wide eyes and just look at him like he’s supposed to do something but he never has a clue as to what that is.

primus - down to earth cool guys with lots of funny stories

incubus - treated every fan and person around like their best friend

danny carey from tool - totally nice guy, spent about 30 minutes talking to me about crowley and magick and books to check out.

dope - nice enough but just wanted to go get laid or fucked up

system of a down - all really cool. the guitarist saw me in a skinny puppy shirt and asked why i was wasting my time with a shitty band like theirs

fear factory - again nothing bad to say about them.

wu-tang - brushed me off with a quick hello as they looked for girls to fuck

mike portnoy (drummer in dream theater) - sat around and loved to talk about music… really knows his shit about most popular bands in various genres

ogre - totally a really amazingly nice and cool guy… too bad he was getting hit on by an obnoxious girl with bo as we were trying to have a civil conversation

uhm… i’ll stop for now…

oh as far as sonic youth… I went to see them at irving plaza… it was like 2 days after scott weiland got busted for buying heroin on his solo tour and i found a backstage pass from the weiland show stuck to a phone, so i used it to get backstage. I met the band and they were all really nice and cool… it just pissed me off that I saw kim give an interview earlier that day on mtv or whatever where she said one of the reasons they’ve lasted is that they are a drug free band and lee renaldo was smoking a huge blunt.

i’ve met alot of drummers… stephen perkins, dave lombardo, terry bozzio, steve gadd, tim alexander, brian, johnny kelly from type- o, and they all were really nice guys.

you just got to talk to these guys like they’re people

20

, dave lombardo

he lives in victorville ca. (or did, he’s since moved to apple valley, one town over about 3 miles away) his son went to the jr high i teach at. unfortunately he was not in my class so i had no reason to call home.

Mike showalter and Michael ian black from the state really aren’t that funny by themselves but on the state they were great!!! that show was great!! I wish u could find it some where or they released it on dvd. “I wanna dip my balls in it!!!”

Harmony korin. I’ve never met him but i’ve seen a couple of interviews and i can’t stand that guy!! pompous, full of himself, little rich boy, no talent hack!!! I mean how stupid was “kids”? And all Gummo was, was a shitty exploitation flick! He makes me angry! [mad]
Late,
grmpysmrf

21

john frusciante - heart of gold… gave me a big hug

where/when dd you meet him? tell more. i would really love to meet this guy. to be honest i’d like to hug HIM. the guy practically came back from the dead (4-5 year heroin binge) and is still one of the best true guitarist today.

i would also like to meet ohgr - never been able to. I’ve always perceived him as a very intelligent person.

22

Harmony korin. I’ve never met him but i’ve seen a couple of interviews and i can’t stand that guy!! pompous, full of himself, little rich boy, no talent hack!!! I mean how stupid was “kids”? And all Gummo was, was a shitty exploitation flick! He makes me angry!

You can’t stand him off the back of a few interviews you’ve seen?

Yeah, that makes sense. And what would you know about him being rich? And does it matter if he was/is?

His films are full of vision - both poetic and quirky. I can think of very few (young) film-makers in the indie genre whose films have made as much of an impact on me as his have.

And as for Gummo being ‘exploitive’ - please see this film again and think about it for awhile and then come back to me.

Although, I guess I can’t expect somebody who gets excited over meeting Slash to be able to appreciate challenging and original film-making.

No offence Mr Voice Of The Working Man.

[;)]