Well done! How old is that thread?
There are date stamps on every comment, heebie.
However, my several comments in that thread referring to Phil Collins as Peter Gabriel were less impressive.
Does she smell like freshly-cut grass?
max
['With or without exhaust fumes.']
What are you trying to tell me?
That nights are forever without you.
Squeal! I'm going to dance around my living room.
7: Well, you probably get a lot accomplished, then.
The day shift manager at the Hardee's near my office could be Kanye West's twin brother.
But he's not wearing a pea coat.
Maybe he said "pee coat". On account of his cat.
10: You'd think that, but I just keep putting stuff off until the next morning.
The day shift manager at the Hardee's near my office could be Kanye West's twin brother.
Racist.
That song is v. cute. It reminds me of three Brit friends. One really, really, really wanted to go to Albuquerque, and the others were excited when I drove them somewhere in California and they saw an Actual Tumbleweed. Hee.
And huh, that's what the original mix of this song sounds like, huh? I've only ever heard the version they play on The Gayest Radio Station On The Planet(TM).
"This video is no longer available." Catchy idea for a pop song.
One really, really, really wanted to go to Albuquerque
Um. Any idea why?
They wanted to see you dance, teo.
Thank you, Heebie. I totally need this song right now.
I've got a pretty serious case of Anglophilia myself. It's so endearing when UK types, informed that I'm from SF, ask which celebrities I've seen. Weirdly, it's only UK types, incl. Ireland, and Israelis that do this. The rest of the world is much more well-behaved in this regard, with the exception of people like Bhutanis and such.
I am completely in love with this song.
I saw her live earlier this year, Estelle (at a festival). She was OK but not brilliant.
I did like her earlier UK stuff, though. Which had a nice old-school rap/pop sensibility.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0ODOYNAuGM
Before she got all glam'd up. The English accent is much more present, and she was rapping more than singing.
FM, I got the celebrity question quite a bit when I first moved to The South from The California. It provided the backdrop for many amusing whoppers.
What about when you do see celebrities fairly regularly?
Speaking for Oxford, I probably see some minor celebrity or musician most weeks, sometimes several times. Glasgow, ditto.
22: Because it's Albuquerque. You can't get more American than that.
I think that this explains the British obsession with Albuquerque.
Is that "American Boy"? I can't see it here in Japan because Youtube is all about regional blocking.
Yep, that's it. Here's another copy viewable worldwide:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VbzEqXaThY
The only thing more stupid than using region blocking is using region blocking knowing full well that someone else is just going to post another copy of the damn video anyway.
And yeah, it's a great song, but didn't it come out a long time ago? I'm surprised that's still on American radio.
I love the visuals in that video--I'm a sucker for a bleached out background and attractive people who can dance, I guess.
Thanks GB, for letting me find out that this was just that crappy song that came out a million years ago and was crappy then. Maybe Heebie has discovered how to be not right, but wrong, with a capital R.
Also, 26 is weird. Why would a 'UK type' think that SF has got famous people in it? I used to be a UK type, and the only people from SF I've ever heard of are Mr Who-the fuck? and Ms Huh?
I'm fairly sure you'd get a higher density of famosity in the UK.
Love the shout-out to Ripon - you don't hear that everyday.
i was reminded to go check the music charts for now and it seems i haven't listened to any of the recent songs listed on the billboard, the first song i recognized was Yglesias' Hero and i still didn't get an impulse to click and listen to what people listen and consider the best for now
so strangely inert
I'm fairly sure you'd get a higher density of famosity in the UK.
As mentioned already, I see semi-famous people [people who are on telly, make movies or release records] most weeks. I suppose Oxford is fairly dense, though. Hang around on Cornmarket, Broad Street or Cowley Road long enough, etc.
Try central London. You have to swoosh them away like mosquitoes.
34: Oh, there it is. Nice one.
Yeah, American Boy is tolerable as top forty goes, but the song ttaM links in 28 knocks absolute strips off it.
I can't think of any chart music that really floats my boat right now, 'cept M.I.A.'s Paper Planes which is a pleasant aberration that I never expected to chart. I did run across Pink's video for So What the other day; the song isn't that listenable but the video's pretty funny. That's all I got.
Yeah, it's pretty hilarious that "Paper Planes" is suddenly on the radio and I hear it blaring out of cars at a red light. I didn't realize there could be such a gap between a song's release and when it finally charts (with the exception of weird quirks like the second time "Bohemian Rhapsody" charted).
Then again... I think that may have happened with "Bitter Sweet Symphony" as well. Became a monster hit in the States like a year after its release, damn near made me hate the song from overplay.
Thanks for the song, Heebie! Probably the most annoying thing about being detached from popular music and the radio is that I never hear the few good summer singles until December when the decent top 50 or top 100 lists come out.
I like both "American Boy" and "1980" for entirely different reasons.
Lately, I've been listening to BIPPP: French Synth Wave 1979-85 and just at this moment, my favorite pop song is this version of Indochine's "3ème sexe" performed for last year's Nouvelle Star, the French American Idol. The video is a little dire, but the song is tremendously catchy.
(Interestingly, last year's winner of Nouvelle Star, Julien Doré, is Gustave Doré's great-great-great-nephew.)
Sure guys, but Hollywood is in California, a state that's only like, oh I don't know, 150,000 sq. miles. That's not nearly enough space to contain all of the celebrities!
Why would a 'UK type' think that SF has got famous people in it?
I'm not really sure, but to be fair, they all know there aren't loads of famous people in SF, they just assume I pop down to LA for the weekend all the time. I think it's a failure to conceptualize scale, perhaps related to the vaguely similar shapes of the UK and CA.
Then again... I think that may have happened with "Bitter Sweet Symphony" as well. Became a monster hit in the States like a year after its release, damn near made me hate the song from overplay.
I hated it due to Richard Ashcroft being a dick, it has to be said.
In ten years of living in New York, I have seen I think precisely two celebrities. Jerry Orbach---but who hasn't seen him?---and Russell Simmons. Oh wait, I also saw Mayor Mike, if that counts. I suspect that nobody is going to be impressed with this list.
You're beating me. I must just not be paying attention -- living in NY as long as I have, I must have seen famous people, but I've never noticed it. Buck still treasures the memory of riding in an elevator with Isabella Rosselini in sweaty workout clothes -- her gym was in a building he worked in.
Oh, I saw Rudy Giuliani once on a streetcorner before he was mayor. The wind was blowing his combover straight up in the air, like a flap.
It was pretty easy to spot Jerry Orbach. He was in his character's trenchcoat, he was surrounded by trailers and flunkies, and, strangely, he was waving enthusiastically at me. (I think he saw me looking at the set from across the street?) Also, this was on the not-especially-busy block I then lived on.
Only celebrity I've ever seen was Clint Eastwood at a restaurant in Carmel, which is at least in the direction of LA.
I used to walk by Mayor Mike's townhouse all the time, so when a short guy surrounded by security got out of a black car and hustled towards the front door, I suspected who it was. "Hello Mayor Mike!" I said. And he nodded amiably in my direction and skedaddled.
I swear I am not stalking Mike Bloomberg. My 54 looks a little fangirlish, doesn't it.
I hated it due to Richard Ashcroft being a dick, it has to be said.
But his remark that "Bitter Sweet Symphony" was the best song Jagger and Richards wrote in twenty years was funny, you have to admit.
Seems a shame that Jagger and Richards get credit for "Bitter Sweet Symphony," while lots of people still think that "Taj Mahal" is a ripoff of "Do ya think I'm sexy."
I'm going to see the Luis Miguel concert on October, then i'll see him in person
I've been listening to BIPPP: French Synth Wave 1979-85
Yes!!!! "Ping Pong" is also crazily addictive.
My list of celebrity sightings is also rather short, though I apparently met a few famous baseball players when I worked at the North Face store in Chicago (the MLB puts up all the baseball players in the Westin across the street from the store). Jerry Springer is a rather nice guy, though he now walks around his neighborhood rather briskly and with his head down to prevent people bothering him. Noel Gallagher took it surprisingly well when I let him know that he was trying on a woman's jacket. Rod Blagovich looks hilarious in a tightish yuppie jogging outfit with no security. Hmm... That's it, pretty short list for living in a major city center.
glad to be reminded of this
well, shigoto shigoto
Calgary is a pretty good place for celebrity sightings, owing to the second-stratum film industry and a less voracious local media culture, which means people walk around more. I've sighted Angelina Jolie (panicked and froze as she walked by), Aidan Quinn ("Hey, you look a lot like Aidan Quinn;" "I am;" "Oh. Cool."), and Dan Aykroyd (from behind a comically gratuitous screen of bodyguards).
I'm OK with Brits condescending to us because of our political culture and lack of social safety nets, but I don't think it's fair to condescend to us because one country's music industry promotes a song as a single at a different time from another country's music industry.
ho-ho, ToS you are dangerous, like even contagious i got deleted too it seems
well, don't know what were your terrible sins, have a good day anyway
Calgary is a pretty good place for celebrity sightings
I sort got in a fight with lead singer of in Calgary. It's a funny place that way.
You could have at least presidentialized the name of the band too.
read, you are a very sweet person, not that the individual you're talking to will appreciate it. Believe it though, the deletium is for the best.
Oh! Oh! And Vince Neil at The French Maid. Man, is that guy short.
66: oops, got bit by pseudo html. Should have been a < famous rock band > there.
I have occasionally seen Terminator X and KC (of KC and the Sunshine Band) around Durham. Met Buddy Hackett and Dom DeLuise when they were at the Rice Diet Clinic at Duke. Saw Robin Williams when he was filming Patch Adams here.
We see a fair amount of celebrities here, but they are either ill or visiting someone who is ill. Mother Mayo reminds us of our "Minnesota Nice" heritage and reminds us we need to leave celebrities along. Or risk getting fired.
So while I have seen a bunch (gaggle, posse, oscar??) of celebrities the only autograph I have gotten was on an airplane and it was Gayle Sayers. For someone raised near Chicago that was a BIG deal for me. A really big deal.
Saw Robin Williams when he was filming Patch Adams here
And you didn't try to stop him?
Lead singer of what band?
Blue Oyster Cult? Bachman Turner Overdrive? Lynyrd Skynyrd?
Reportedly Ethan Hawke came through Wobegon. Or maybe an imposter, but you know, we take what we can get. An Ethan Hawke imposter trumps Minnesota Miss Congeniality 2006, for sure.
And Garrison Keillor, of course. No Coen sightings.
Let's see, lead singer of a famous rock band, Alberta, inspires mild-mannered people everywhere to want to punch him, it could only be one man.
Just last week, Bave and I saw Jeremy Sisto at the Baths. That is, I saw Jeremy Sisto nearly nude, and I think he looked at my (momentarily) bare tits. Exciting!
What 73 said. Way to let civilization down, Apo.
Gayle Sayers
Oh right, and a truckload of NBA stars, thanks to the UNC-Duke programs.
I suppose it doesn't matter, dunno why I anonymized it: Def Leopard (or however it was spelled). Can't remember the guys name, but he was being a typical popstar asshole at the time. On the 8-th (4-th?) avenue mall. Nothing terribly dramatic. He shoved me, I knocked him down, big roady/bodyguard grabbed me but my friend made a credible threat to break the bodyguard if he didn't desist. Everyone walked away.
I've mentioned it before, but I'm related to Lady Aberlin.
75: Seems to me, Nickelback are rarely seen in Alberta. Which if you've ever seen Hannah (their hometown) is understandable.
There was some Britpop band round the pubs a couple of years back. Franz Ferdinand or something? That milieu, anyway. I remember because it was the same year Flock of Seagulls came through.
Leppard, Joe Elliot.
Ah, right. Didn't know who he was at the time, either.
79: Oh, sweet. I'm betting that would have been by The Attic and the Tropicana, yes?
My guesses were reasonably close, though a decade or two off.
Here's a weird, perverted site in which some guy enumerates a long string of wholesome, non-kinky crushes on wholesome celebrities such as Lady Aberlin and Julie Andrews. Sicko.
I saw David Hyde Pierce in NY, checking out cookware in Williams-Sonoma.
87: My boyfriend tells me that his first true love was Angela Cartwright, in her incarnation as Brigitta Von Trapp. Also: Olivia Newton John, Marie Osmond and Lynda Carter. So disturbing.
I'm trying to think back to who I crushed on as a kid, celebrity-wise. That guy has an impressive catalogue of television crushes from being six and seven, I must not have watched enough teevee back then.
I've never really understood the appeal of `seeing' celebrities. It's been interesting to talk to the couple of minor ones I've met, if for no other reason than a little window into a different world. I couldn't care less to have bumped into someone, and for that matter probably wouldn't notice. Then again, I've never really understood the process of celebrity. It's baffling to me where it doesn't at least somewhat track with actual achievements of something.
#90. Back in the 1970s, every American boy--gay and straight--had crushes on Olivia Newton John, Marie Osmond, and Lynda Carter.
I've never really understood the appeal of `seeing' celebrities.
You know how people count license plates on long road trips? It's a lot like that.
92: With film and musical celebrities, what makes it memorable is generally the overlap between the fantasia of the mass media/mass culture-sphere and one's own quotidian reality. Some people are more easily starstruck than others, but I think it's a rare person who would be totally immune to that phenomenon at every level.
I'm usually pretty chuffed to randomly run into people whose music, films or books I've admired. I've never asked for an autograph or tried to strike up conversation, though (the incident with Aidan Quinn was about as far as it goes); if I were them I'd find that obnoxious.
34: No, this is when Estelle was good:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbNdIEQYZrQ
There was a nice low budget video too.
Recently at a bar Scarlett Johansson was all over me, but I took out my pocket calculator and did the 1/2+7 and had to tell her, "Sorry, lady".
I'm usually pretty chuffed to randomly run into people whose music, films or books I've admired.
Yeah, I probably should have been more clear --- I understand this (both your being chuffed, and not wanting to bother them) insomuch as it's a reaction to your valuing their work. This is pretty much independent of what anyone else thinks. What I can't understand is extending this reaction to people merely because they have celebrity. `Wow, I saw a famous person' is bizarre to me, in ways that `Wow, I saw the girl who did X' isn't.
I saw Eric Hobsbawm give a lecture. That was pretty cool.
I heard a celebrity-like person talking once. I posted a note on Facebook about it. What she said was "Where is this alleged taco bar?"
I was about to second soup's 92 ((I don't even own a television!)), but then remembered that I sold a book over the phone to Alex Cockburn, and I swear to god I became all giddy, while remaining debonair, of course: "Are you the Alex Cockburn of Counterpunch, who writes a column for The Nation? I love your work, and your brother's as well! This is a lovely monograph you're purchasing."
He carried on a bit about how The Nation had become rather mealy-mouthed in recent years, did I not think?
It was great.
I saw Sandra Bernhard on the street one night in the Village. Maybe that sneer is just her normal expression, but I'd like to think it was directed at me.
96: Had the same experience with the Olsen twins. So annoying.
101: I'm sure it was, Jesus, I'm sure it was.
When my dad worked in NYC in the 70s he ran into Joe Namath and Sinatra (separately). Not bad. My mother's response to both was, "Why didn't you invite him for dinner?" Although she was actually kind of ambivalent about Sinatra.
When Jack Klugman spoke at my graduation, he passed by close enough that, when I called out, "Look, it's Tony Randall!," he smiled.
Also, I won backstage tickets to meet John Fogerty. He was quite friendly.
Good grief. The iTunes New Releases list includes several Christmas albums. Including one from Heart.
Had the same experience with the Olsen twins.
God, I guess we've all had the experience. Betty White was relentless.
I once saw Mark Strand buying risotto in Hyde Park.
I'm sneering at Jesus right now.
That's why real americans hate you.
108: Julian Barnes is a bit full of himself when buying books.
JRoth is the very face of something something.
remembered that I sold a book over the phone to Alex Cockburn
I spoke to Don DeLillo on the phone once. He has (or had that day, maybe he had a cold) a very quiet, rather hoarse voice which sounded exactly as I would have imagined, the perfect sonic equivalent to his magisterial gaze.
the perfect sonic equivalent to his magisterial gaze
Lovely, though I don't know what it means in DeLillo's case specifically (I haven't developed that sense of him). One wonders how much one projects onto these people. Does it comes down to: are you in character? Are you not in character?
I walked right past Richard Serra once! He was utterly unremarkable. Maybe a little better posture than the average guy, but that's it. Someone else pointed him out to me afterwards, obviously.
During the same gig at MoMA, I saw Ken Loach. I would never have recognised him had he not been signing giant posters for his latest film. I can't say that it was a great horde of fans asking for his signature, mind you.
I used to see Edward Said rather often, of course. He wore absolutely beautiful clothes, even hats.
I don't know what it means in DeLillo's case specifically
Partly, I was thinking of this famous picture of him and partly I was thinking of a long passage from Frank Lentricchia's The Edge of Night where he goes into raptures over the DeLillian "gaze."
But I did think it was humorous that his voice sounded (or that I could imagine it sounding) rather dry, ascetic, detached, a bit alienated, just like so many of the characters from his books.
I saw Kathleen Turner outside of MoMA once. I was in the middle of a conversation and said "hi" unconsciously, knowing that I recognized her but not realizing how, and she said "hi" back, in the same tone, but obviously more aware that we didn't actually know each other. I sort of love her for that.
118: It could be that she thought you might have met briefly once and she just didn't remember. I'm not even a celebrity and I get a lot of that; I would imagine its multiplied by several orders of magnitude for someone like Kathleen Turner.
Oh, almost-brush-with-Teh-Famous: I once punked out on attending the after-party at a Juliette Lewis & The Liks show, to which it turned out Ms. Lewis actually did show up. I still kick myself for that one.
I went to elementary school with Punky Brewster! No, really, I did.
Also, I used to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
Oh, almost-brush-with-Teh-Famous: I once punked out on attending the after-party at a Juliette Lewis & The Liks show, to which it turned out Ms. Lewis actually did show up. I still kick myself for that one.
I've met quite a few minor rock star types -- lots of Scottish ones anyway -- through the whole Glasgow indie mafia [of which I was never a part but I had friends who were]. I've met Alex Chilton a couple of times [and even told an embarrassing story about it on here].
http://www.unfogged.com/archives/comments_5884.html#450028
Not including people I've actually met, one 'near miss' was Evan Dando. Who was at a New Year party I was at one year, but I got pissed and left because I was feeling unwell [without meeting him].
OMG, ttaM, that linked story is the sort of thing that would make me cringe always and forever.
I went to elementary school with Punky Brewster!
At my last job, I worked with a woman who had pictures of her and Trent Reznor at their prom.
Trent Reznor went to the prom with Punky Brewster? That explains everything.
re: 122
Yeah. And I really hadn't made any big claims. Said friend had been going on about Chilton, I'd said, "Oh I met him once a couple of years ago" that was the extent of the conversation.
A few months later, we go back to my house after the pub and he is there [visiting my flatmate] -- total 'lord kill me now' embarrassment and it still makes me shudder. So, of course, I ignored him [Chilton] thereafter.
one 'near miss' was Evan Dando
Alameida has that one covered.
I've mentioned that in my restaurant days I frequently waited on Ursula Le Guin and Gus Van Sant (no, not at the same table, silly!). Both lovely people, but she's the better tipper.
125: I'd think the canonical, only-think-of-it-too-late answer to:
"And exactly when did we become friends, Matt?"*
would have been: `about 5 seconds ago, apparently'
127: It can be a weird area when your profession takes you into common contact with circles that aren't `yours'. I met a guy who worked as a recording engineer in a big studio who's attitude rapidly became: famous artists are a huge pain in the ass. I've known a couple of other people in similar positions, that didn't sound like much fun.
125: I know exactly what you're talking about. I had this girlfriend for a while who would go up to people I'd said I barely knew and hold forth about how close I'd [not] said we were. This was baffling for everyone concerned, but if they'd been famous, I'd never recover.
Tonight on the subway, the two seats next to me were open at the same time and a woman sat down and then a man, who turned his head to one side so he could pretend not to have seen another woman nearby who obviously wanted to sit. In avoiding her gaze, he apparently missed the fact that she was about eight months pregnant. She asked politely if she could sit, and he spat back, "What, you don't want me to sit just so you can?" I called him an ass, rolled my eyes, and gave the woman my seat. It was only later that I realized he may not have seen that she was pregnant and just thought some lady thought vagina=seat. I feel mildly bad about it.
My subsequent profession, classical music critic (sub-profession, technically, of freelance writer), brought me into contact with many illustrious people in that field, but that's different from chance meetings.
I called him an ass, rolled my eyes, and gave the woman my seat. It was only later that I realized he may not have seen that she was pregnant and just thought some lady thought vagina=seat.
Don't feel bad one bit AWB. I don't care how "feminist" the guy was being, let the lady, or elderly, or infirm have the seat. Yes it is patriarchical. It is also polite.
almost-brush-with-Teh-Famous: I once punked out on attending the after-party at a Juliette Lewis & The Liks show, to which it turned out Ms. Lewis actually did show up.
At a Daft Punk afterparty last year, I was pretty psyched to realize that the people chatting next to my dancing group were the crew behind DFA records, most notably James Murphy and Nancy Whang. Indie music is definitely a bit odd like that. Since most of the well-known and respected stars still kind of need to crash at people's places and don't need to worry about getting mobbed, you end up drinking and chatting with some of them just by spending any time in the scene.
I don't care how "feminist" the guy was being, let the lady, or elderly, or infirm have the seat. Yes it is patriarchical. It is also polite.
Actually you could go one better and say: If someone asks for your seat, give them the benefit of the doubt that they have a good reason.
Does it get boring being so right, heebie?
134 is exactly what I was thinking when I called him an ass.
Each day I'm right in a new and exciting way! What will tomorrow bring?
Make sure they have an actual vagina. Cross-dressers don't rate. Trannies might, depending on the quality of the work.
Make sure they have an actual vagina.
Well, at least you won't be accused of being a gentleman.
Don't hate on the transgirls, John.
I draw the line at giving up my seat on the bus for bionic vaginas. Sort of like the bionic sprinter problem.
Yeah, transgirls get all the breaks. Life is so easy when you're a pregnant woman or a transsexual.
(Sorry, I'm humorless w/r/t "tranny jokes.")
For $700 billion, we could buy bionic vaginas for every woman in America.
Why would a woman want a bionic vagina? Wouldn't you want to give the bionic vaginas to straight men, like a fleshlight? I suppose that there does need to be some sort of life support system. Nevermind.
Why would a woman want a bionic vagina?
Easier to upgrade.
And less likely to be damaged when she bleaches her asshole.
re: 133
Indie music is definitely a bit odd like that. Since most of the well-known and respected stars still kind of need to crash at people's places
Yeah, definitely.
re: 129
Yeah. A friend of mine was an engineer for a while. Not for long, I don't think he ever really made a go of it after the first year out of college. But he did some work basically for free helping a guy from a really big band* set up his 'home' studio [it was a commerical operation, just in the guy's house]. My friend put in shit loads of work over a few weeks in the expectation that when the studio opened, he'd get a call to do some work as an engineer. But no, nothing.
The Mixerman diaries are the canonical 'studio engineer bitches about bands' thing.
* famous in the 80s, loads of money, on the Breakfast Club sountrack, etc. This guy was the keyboardist, so not a famous guy, but not short of a few quid.
Bionic vaginas: that's a new one.
These brushes with the famous stories are sort of silly, you know.
re: 148
Said friend had no luck. He also helped compose/engineer the soundtrack to a film. Again, basically for free, on the understanding I gather that if the film did well [it did, it won a Scottish Bafta] he'd get the call for the director's next project. Nope. Nothing.
This film:
http://www.elementalfilms.co.uk/ols5/
Bionic vaginas: that's a new one.
Oh, absolutely. You should never let anybody talk you into buying a used one.
Oh, I don't know. Before I had mine, it belonged to a little old lady who only drove it to the grocery store once a week. Practically no mileage on it.
You should never let anybody talk you into buying a used one.
Electrical problems as bad as an MG. Fucking Lucas.
I can't believe no-one's made a lubrication joke, yet.
The seriously bad taste is right around the corner, ttaM, if it's not here already.
The seriously bad taste is right around the corner
...from the bionic vagina. Mostly due to hydraulic fluid leaks.
Bionics don't run hydraulically, you fool.
Credit where credit is due, though.
Mostly due to hydraulic fluid leaks.
You probably don't want to eat that.