They say never meet your heroes...

RonJ · Jul 20, 2020

JwRosenthal
Have run into him a few times at work (although he would never know who I am)- wickedly charming man and very engaging. Would take his binder full of women over grabbing a woman by her &$@@&@ any day...I think a chunk of the left leaning country would too.

Clever. "Binder full of women" Have to admit that is kind of clever.

😀
.

64Wing · Jul 20, 2020

M'Bob
I just watched two interviews on YouTube, one with the singer Sade, the other with American actress Barbara Eden. I couldn’t finish either of them...

Then, I thought back to people who I’ve actually admired, met, and spent time with, and almost none lived up to my expectations. Jimmie Walker and Albert Finney are two exceptions, they were both very decent guys. One of my patients went to dinner about a year ago with Faye Dunaway, and he told me she droned on about herself the entire meal.

Now, the most reasonable and likely reason is that I inflated these people to unrealistic levels, which they could never achieve, which was unfair of me.

Nonetheless: have you met anyone you’ve really admired, and they actually exceeded your expectations?

Jim Lovell, Fred Haise, Gene Kranz, Frank Borman, Gene Cernan, Bob Hoover, "Sully" Sullenberger, Jeff Skiles, Paul Poberezny, and more...(see a theme there?)

I've found that when given the opportunity to spend time in the presence of someone you have looked up to for a long time, the best course of action is to conduct yourself as you would with anyone else and not to fanboy it up. I think these people appreciate the chance to spend time with another person of similar interests that can converse intelligently & respectfully without asking a million questions or coming of as a know-it-all.

It's important to be humble, be an active listener, and relax. That's when they'll start telling the good stories, the ones that mean something to THEM. Those stories are often things the general public has never heard because people just keep asking about the same things/events that they perceive to define the person. Then you'll have a special memory that belongs solely to you and this respected individual and that's good enough for me!

OmegaP99 · Jul 20, 2020

flw
Captain Jim Lovell. We talked for about an hour over coffee.

64Wing
Jim Lovell, Fred Haise, Gene Kranz, Frank Borman, Gene Cernan, Bob Hoover, "Sully" Sullenberger, Jeff Skiles, Paul Poberezny, and more...(see a theme there?)

THESE are the types of people I consider heroes and would be happiest to meet! Or this gentleman Veteran I learned of from another post, now he would be somebody I would never forget shaking his hand if I were to be so fortunate:

Taddyangle · Jul 20, 2020

When I was in high school I was a bus boy (1983/84) and Barnaby Jones (tv show actor) came into eat by himself. I didn't say much more than hello, and refilled the water glass.

Dan S · Jul 20, 2020

Taddyangle
When I was in high school I was a bus boy (1983/84) and Barnaby Jones (tv show actor) came into eat by himself. I didn't say much more than hello, and refilled the water glass.

Buddy Ebsen?

Paulomega · Jul 20, 2020

M'Bob
Johnny Carson is a perfect example. Universally loved by audiences, I believe it’s not apocryphal that his own children did not attend his funeral.

His children could not attend the funeral as there was a scheduling conflict - they were all attending the reading of the will.

JwRosenthal · Jul 20, 2020

Paulomega
His children could not attend the funeral as there was a scheduling conflict - they were all attending the reading of the will.

Walrus · Jul 21, 2020

jsducote · Jul 21, 2020

Couple of name-drops:
Being a USAF/NASA-brat, I occasionally went with dad into the office on a weekend or something when he needed to grab something off his desk. We were walking down a corridor in Building 1 when he spotted an open office door and took me in to sit behind what was, in my memory, a rather nondescript desk. He told me I was sitting at Deke Slayton's desk but, stupid kid unimpressed by my dad's "ordinary" job, I didn't know who that was at the time (Head of flight crew operations? Whatevs).

Later, when I worked at JSC myself, I crossed paths with Buzz coming in with an entourage from the parking lot wearing a straight-from-the-70s red blazer. He seemed to be looking around at everyone looking at him, rather than whatever the people he was with were saying. You could just tell that HE knew everyone knew who he was.

Another time, I ran into Gene Kranz. He was alone and walking towards me when he stopped me to ask where a particular building was. My voice probably cracked as I pointed him in the right direction. He barked, "30 years and I still get lost around this f**king place."

Finally a non-NASA person: Sat at a table across the aisle from Chris "Mr. Big" Noth at the Rainbow Room in NYC. He must have been with an agent or manager, someone not famous. He ordered caviar and was just mashing it into his gob like an animal. I tried not to stare, but the positioning of the tables and his booth made it very difficult. Most atrocious table manners I've ever seen.

Taddyangle · Jul 21, 2020

Dan S
Buddy Ebsen?

Yes. I had to look it up. He must have been about 75 years old when back when I refilled his water glass. I was probably 16/17 years old. On a good night I'd clear $25 in tips busing tables back then (1983).

lillatroll · Jul 21, 2020

When walking out of the Airport in Barcelona a few a years ago, there was a driver with a hand written sign saying Jazzy Jeff. 2 paces behind me was the man himself, alone, pushing his own trolley. I bet Will Smith doesn't push his own trolley, and I bet he has a posse with him.

Walrus · Jul 21, 2020

lillatroll
When walking out of the Airport in Barcelona a few a years ago, there was a driver with a hand written sign saying Jazzy Jeff. 2 paces behind ime was the man himself, alone, pushing his own trolley. I bet Will Smith doesn't push his own trolley, and I bet he has a posse with him.

Ha, that reminds me I was in nyc years ago I heard a bunch of screaming and saw a bunch of girls and some guys running towards a limo. It was puff daddy, or diddy, whatever he called himself at the time. I’m not a fan but he stood outside the limo greeting everyone. I walked over just to see what was up he gave me a friendly hello.

nonuffinkbloke · Jul 21, 2020

As a young lad in the early 1960's I was drawn to guitar playing by British guitarist Hank Marvin. The clean, melodic sounds he produced from a Fender Stratocaster have influenced generations of guitarist ever since.

I got to see his band, The Shadows, play live but only met him once. I would have loved to have asked him about vibrato technique, amplifier, echo and reverb settings, but Oh no!... it was very different.🙁

In the early 1980's my mother asked me to take her to a large religious convention, held in a London, UK, sports stadium. It was a fairly well known fact, at the time, that Hank Marvin was a member of this religion and that he occasionally volunteered as a crowd attendant. (Very humble guy for a guitar hero.)

By about 3pm, I was tired, bored and my baby daughter was restless and in need of a change. I took her down to a quiet area of the stadium, and began to try to change my her nappy. There was no changing bench and I was struggling to hold the baby while sorting out the lotions and wipes and avoid getting covered in crap.

Suddenly a voice from behind said "are you OK? You look like you're in trouble! Can I offer some help?" I said "thankyou, can you just hold this bag open and pass me the stuff I need to change the baby?"

As I looked around I noticed that the smartly dressed attendant, helping me, was Hank Marvin. I apologised for the crap, but he just laughed and said "Don't worry, I'm a Dad and we've all been through it!"

The funny thing was that I had my original guitar hero all to myself, for 5 whole minutes (just me, him and my smelly baby). Not once did I mention guitars or his band The Shadows. We chatted about what a pain toweling and safety pins are and how the sticky tags on new disposable nappies don't stick properly.

5 minutes chatting to him and not one mention of guitars!😁.......🙁

Dan S · Jul 21, 2020

Taddyangle
Yes. I had to look it up. He must have been about 75 years old when back when I refilled his water glass. I was probably 16/17 years old. On a good night I'd clear $25 in tips busing tables back then (1983).

For me, he would have been Jed Clampett.

vbrad26 · Jul 21, 2020

Me and Christian von Koenigsegg at the New York autoshow in 2014.
Super cool dude. Humble, and I enjoyed his excitement and enthusiasm while talking cars.
This was just as the One:1 was coming out. Although they did not have one there, I did get a personal tour of an Agera R from the man himself. I'll never forget it.

Don't mind me, I was....excited to say the least lol.

SkunkPrince · Jul 21, 2020

I'm uncomfortable with the concept of a "hero".

I haven't had a lot of exposure to famous people except maybe musicians. I did go to school with a couple of them, writer/director John Ridley, and musician Willy Porter.

I do have two fun anecdotes.

Many years ago here in Milwaukee, was the World's Largest Office Party, for Christmas. Local celebrities would act as servers and so forth. I walk up to this man at one of the beer stations, and ask him, "Can I have a Leinie's?" He pours me the beer, hands it to me, and sticks out his hand. "Hi, I'm Jake Leinenkugel." Jake and I met again many times that night. 😁

I am also a musician, a trumpet player of some small ability. Once a year in Chicago, people who want to travel that far (some come from St Louis every year) spend an afternoon together playing each other's horns. One of the attendees is a player I had met before because he used to restore mutes, and I dropped one off. In any event, this monster player is Roger Ingram, who played for Maynard Ferguson and Woody Herman, and spent a couple decades as lead trumpet and musical director for Harry Connick Jr. At the gathering, I hand him my grandfather's trumpet, restored, the one I learned to play on, and after he plays a couple of notes, the first thing he says is, "do you want to sell it?"

Other random meetings included Cheap Trick, Xeno formerly of that band, Brian RItchie outside a bar, and I spent some time hanging out with Tommy Greywolf (violin, Brooks and Dunn) at the open jams.

IDXM · Jul 21, 2020

M'Bob
What is is about mentioning Henry Winkler that induces grammar issues?

Language is supposed to be economical in practice, but let’s re-phrase:

“I heard that Henry Winker was the nicest guy alive. But, that was years ago. He has become bitter and angry, and the title now goes to Mel Brooks.”

Man, tough crowd. I generally do well with grammar, but I have a mental block with there and their if I'm typing fast. However, watch out if you use infer or implied incorrectly, I'll be all over this.

JwRosenthal · Jul 21, 2020

IDXM
Man, tough crowd. I generally do well with grammar, but I have a mental block with there and their if I'm typing fast. However, watch out if you use infer or implied incorrectly, I'll be all over this.

And don’t end a sentence with a preposition!

SkunkPrince · Jul 21, 2020

JwRosenthal
And don’t end a sentence with a preposition!

There's nothing wrong with that. English has been doing that for hundreds of years.

All those "rules" you learned in grade school are all bullshit. A bunch of know-it-all jerks got together in the late 19th century and said, "let's tame English!" and made up a bunch of crap that tried to make English act like Latin, because Latin is beautiful or some such nonsensical BS.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/sep/30/10-grammar-rules-you-can-forget
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/626600/novel-bookwallets-kickstarter?utm_content=infinitescroll1
https://daily.jstor.org/grammar-rule-is-probably-fake/

Signed,
Impassioned professional writer

JwRosenthal · Jul 21, 2020

SkunkPrince
There's nothing wrong with that. English has been doing that for hundreds of years.

All those "rules" you learned in grade school are all bullshit. A bunch of know-it-all jerks got together in the late 19th century and said, "let's tame English!" and made up a bunch of crap that tried to make English act like Latin, because Latin is beautiful or some such nonsensical BS.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/sep/30/10-grammar-rules-you-can-forget
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/626600/novel-bookwallets-kickstarter?utm_content=infinitescroll1
https://daily.jstor.org/grammar-rule-is-probably-fake/

Signed,
Impassioned professional writer

Tell that to the professional editor to whom I was married for 10 years! She would red-line my cute post-it notes for errors and leave them on the fridge. 🤦