Last night some friends and I went to Hollywood to see The Dan Band. They are a popular cover band that sings songs originally performed by female artists. They throw in some hilarious dancing and movements, spice it up with a few choice words, and it is highly entertaining. Pumpkin Delight has been telling me about them for years now, and I wasn't disappointed.
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While we were waiting for the show to start, my friend, Stephanie spotted none other than Miss Bette Midler sitting a few tables away from us. It took us some staring and gawking to verify that it truly was, indeed, none other than The Divine Miss M.
A lady approached Bette's table and was chatting with her. We joked about the annoying, starstruck lady who had the nerve to go up to the table and chat it up with such a big star. Well, turns it that the annoying lady was Kathy Nijimy. All that was missing was Sarah Jessica Parker for our Witches reunion to be complete!.
I've lived in the LA area for 16 years now, and I still act like a giddy school girl whenever I see someone famous. I proudly add Bette Midler and Kathy Najimy to my ever increasing star sighting list:
Super Famous:
Janet Jackson
Madonna
Jack Nicholson
Whoopi Goldberg
Kirstie Alley
Heidi Fleiss
Cybil Shepherd
Ryan Seacrest
Vanessa Williams
Dick Clark
Sorta Famous:
Kimberly Myles from Miles of Style
Angelo Somethingerother from HGTV
The funny grandma from The Wedding Singer
The boss in Suddenly Susan
The actor who played Beaver Cleaver--what's his name?
Various local news anchors: Rick Chambers, Chuck Henry, and my personal favorite, Sylvia Lopez
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What about you? Tell us about your star sightings!
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36 comments:
ok...famous people...or not so famous. you decide.
mary lou retton (right after she was in the olympics...people were following her around the mall and i walked up and got her autograph.)
darlene from roseanne (at disneyland)
michael from barney (at the time i had a 4 year old who thought she had died and gone to heaven!)
leanna creel (well all three of the creel triplets...who were in parent trap 3...i know. but leanna was tori on saved by the bell. well actually i know them...sorta...but i'm still counting it!)
and um...i guess that's it. pretty sad list.
oh my dad went hunting once with dick cheney. true story.
yeah...i got nothing on you. sigh.
i love bette!!! how awesome.
um,
country singer whose name i forget at airport: amy someone
danced with nsync in music video (hello justin!)
i know there is more but i'm blanking
Wait. Maggie May danced with my boyfriend in an NSYNC video? She might be my new best friend.
I don't think you can count the person if you saw them in a concert. I'm just saying.
I've seen:
Patrick Swayze (filming out here)
John Stamos (mall)
Billy Hufsey (Fame-Tropicana in Vegas when he was famous)
Danny Tario (I was an audience member on Dance Fever)
Penelope Cruz (on the freeway)
Jeff Probst (the Grove)
Tracy Gold(BJ's restaurant)
Rick Dees (my sister in laws wedding!)
Michelle Rodriguez (From Lost-The Grove)
Jenny Garth (Cheesecake Factory)
Maria Bello (Dora Live on Stage)
Nicole Eggert (Dora Live On Stage)
IN CONCERT I've seen:
Smokey Robinson
MC Hammer
NSYNC
Garth Brooks
Clint Black
THIS is why I am almost famous.
You've spotted Whoopi Goldberg? I slept with her.
ok, you and JLo get around...that is all I am saying....
I have met Burt Reynolds. (was an extra and he hugged my young self)
Lori Morgan (country singer) at the DFW airport.
Mickey Rourke at an AZ grocery store.
I have seen Wesley Snipes 2x. really, he may be STALKING me. One time on our honeymoon, while he was filming white men can't jump and one time in vegas at the espy awards...in a hotel lobby.
Neil Patrick Harris, he was about 14..this was the same time I met Burt, it was a made for TV movie a hundred years ago.
Andre Aggasi and Steffi Graf in Vegas at dinner.
Jeff Gordon at a casino in Vegas.
Johnny Galecki from the big bang theory, but when I saw him it was years ago and years after "roseanne" Also in Vegas. the same restaraunt as we saw Andre.
Apparently Vegas is the place to be!
I am sure there is more.....I am getting a blank screen. :)
I have been to about 600 concerts...don't those count?
Silly JLo, she thinks I only saw Madonna in concert. No, no, no. I was at a Laker's game. Yes, a Laker's game. And Madonna and Jack Nicholson were a few rows down and I saw them and then I looked even closer with binoculars. And I saw Janet Jackson at a stop light in Encino. I looked over and there she was!
Oh, I love me some Divine Miss M.
Growing up in Santa Monica I saw many stars. My own claim to fame was being mistaken for Tatum O'Neal when I was young and then Jodi Foster as I got older--seriously I ended up just giving autographs.
I LOVE Bette Midler! I AM her character in Stepford Wives (pre Stepford makeover).
My favorite star sighting was Willie Nelson. I touched his foot (like he was Jesus or something) and then he talked to me!! It was great! I wish I could say we then smoked a joint together, but that was later, separately.
Well, back in the day, my NY actress days I had a little flirtation with Michael E. Knight from All my Children. I was out at a restaurant with my mom and he came over to our table and started asking hadn't we met before??? It was fun. I got flustered and blew him off. What!? I was all of 26.
Celeb sightings at the 2001 Academy Awards Elton John party. My husband costarred in the Live action short film that won that year, "The Accountant" with Ray McKinnon & Walton Goggins.
Halle Berry, John Goodman, and Elton himself greeting us at the door. Pretty cool.
Jason, Jenni Piccalo from Happy Days lives in your neighborhood!
I've seen her, and Richard Simmons. pathetic.
I actually got to hug Stevie Wonder at the Pomona Fair :)
Bette Midler is awesome.
My star sightings aren't exciting but I don't live in Los Angeles. When I lived in Northern California I lived in a small town where former 49's went to retire. Keena Turner and Ronnie Lott were easy to spot around town. MC Hammer also lived there but he was pretty reclusive. I saw him once at the bank and once pumping gas at Safeway. I also saw Ralph Nader in the airport in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Oh, and Hilary Clinton in South Dakota when Bill was running for office the first time.
Told you it was boring.
I feel totally hopeless. I don't think I have seen anyone...except maybe Ben Heppner, the Opera singer. I sat next to him on a much delayed plane when he was much much younger and not famous at all. He was really nice though and the cure he told me about for hiccups works EVERY time. (and it may not have been him, he was Canadian, an opera singer touring Europe and his name was Ben...there can't be too many of those.)
You mean these people are actually real.
The husband says if he spotted Kathy Najimi he would have ran over yelling "Peggy Hill, you got big feet Peggy Hill".
But then he's a bit like that.
Oh boy, do I have a list. I worked at the Golden Bear in Huntington Beach in the 60's and met several up and coming stars before they were famous, musical and comedy. Janis Joplin, Joan Baez, Steve Martin, Hoyt Axton, Theodur Bickel...the list goes on.
Then I used to see John Wayne at the Lincoln Mercury dealership often, as that's where all of my father's company vehicles got serviced, and JW's did too.
Another time, my father's cousin and her husband was visiting from RI and we were in South Coast Plaza..standing around all talking at once trying to decide which direction to go, when my dad's cousin kept saying (as we ignored her) "is that John Wayne..is that John Wayne over there?" All of a sudden, John Wayne walked over and said to her, "yes, I'm John Wayne", and proceeded to chat with her.
Years later, John Wayne and my husband had the same oncologist, and they were often at Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach getting chemo, side by side. He was such a nice personable man.
I saw Joey Bishop on occasions too. Once was in a movie theatre. Before the movie started, I looked over and he was several seats away. I said, "Hi Joey"...he got up and sat next to me and said "Hi". Then he reached into my popcorn, took some, and went back to his seat.
I guess I'm lucky growing up and living in Orange County back when it was more rural and laid back.
Oh and Willie Ames came to my house to see HSH, and she locked herself in the bathroom.
My brother-in-law played for the LA Dodgers, so I met tons of pro baseball players in the 70s.
Ha! I grew up in Utah and live in Oregon. My star sightings are fewer, but the stars came to ME!
I put myself through college selling lipstick at Nordstrom. Marie Osmond, Debbie Fields (of Mrs. Fields Cookies) and Stephen King (during Sundance) all shopped from me.
And I once saw Tom Petty at a movie theater (he had a stadium show the next evening) with his entourage seeing the 6th Sense. I totally stalked him by going into his movie instead of The Thomas Crown Affair, sitting near them and giggling with my friend the entire film.
Stars! They're not much like us, but they DO buy lipstick and watch movies.
How very cool!
I lived in OC for 13 years, and never saw anyone.
Now I live about 2 hours north, and I still never see anyone!
My husband & I saw Tommy LaSorta at Disneyland a few years ago. He shook my husband's hand and they chatted a bit.
Oh, and I was an extra in one of Kathy Mattea's music videos once (country singer), and we talked quite a bit.
That's it! Borrrring, huh?
I'm such a dork.
Three years ago in Palm Springs, I saw one of the Olsen twins and one of the main girls (whose name now escapes me) from Laguna Beach (MTV).
I also saw Rachel Ray earlier this year in Las Vegas, walking through the MGM Grande.
Okay, I think that's it!
Stephen King wears lipstick?
Oh, Lucky You, I adore Bette and Kathy Najimy. And THE DAN Band, I am so jealous, well and Also Very Happy for you because you are just adorable. Anywhoo, star sightings-
Muhammed Ali at Las Vegas Airport 20 yrs ago
Micheal Jordan on a Delta flight
Cast of Entourage on plane back from HI last spring (They are so short, you would Die!! Except maybe Drama, Kevin Dillion)
Joe Isuzu - swim team
Sabretooth from Xmen is a neighbor
I still get starstruck, I'm a transplant too.
While I lived most of my life in OC, I never really saw super famous people. I have seen Jack Nicholson at a Laker Game, but he wasn't that close. What person would make you the most starstruck? For me, it would be a tie between George Clooney and Johnny Depp.
I forgot that I saw Vanessa Williams at LAX and Dick Clark at the Burbank airport! I've also seen some local news anchors around.
Wow! Aside from our local weather guy, there's not much action around here. I LOVE the Devine Miss M though!
Also, I finally finished our interview: http://marlylynk.blogspot.com/2009/01/interview.html
Thanks!
A list of famous/sorta famous people include:
**Andrew Firestone from the 3rd Bachelor. Took a photo with him and he's really short, but very nice.
**Jennifer Bertrand from HGTV Design Star--I worked with her at Camp Lake Hubert (which is where she met her husband!).
**Puck from the Real World SF. Let's just say that he's a stinky in person as he is on TV. Nice, but stinky. Phew!
**Chris Carter, former Minnesota Viking. Saw him at a grocery store in Mankato during training camp. He was ahead of me in line.
**Brad Bombidire (sp?), former Minnesota Wild Hockey player. He went to my undergrad and was good friends with my roommate's boyfriend.
I wish I could say that there was more, but not that I recall.
When I was 13 years old I was visiting my grandfather at the retirement home and there was a woman sitting on the curb smoking a cigarette. My cousin whispers to me, hey that looks like Alicia Silverstone. I agreed but told her to stop staring. My cousin who was also 13 at the time was not easily embarrassed so she says to the girl who was a little over 20 feet away from us "Hey you look like Alicia Silverstone has anyone ever told you that?" to which she replied "I get that all the time." to which my cousin replied "Are you Alicia Silverstone." To which she replied "Yes I am."
She was totally cool about it and as it turned out our grandfathers were friends so not only did we get an autograph that day she gave our grandfather some signed pictures of her which was sweet. When I asked my grandpa why he never told us about her he said all grandparents brag and he thought the guy was lying about his famous granddaughter.
I also met George Lucas at 14 on an audition.. I had no clue who he was till after I had talked to him..
My two fave celebrity sightings took place in the same place, oddly enough:
1) angelyne in the parking lot of the Ralphs in Pacific Palisades. She droved a pink Corvette with personalized license plate ANGELYNE, and wore a leopard-print shorty jumpsuit. I wanted to follow her into the store and see what she bought, but I was loading my perishables into my car and thought better of it.
2) while shopping in the store, I saw a nice-looking woman about my age studying a display of pasta. I said to myself, "There's a woman your age who has managed to keep in shape. If she can do it, why can't you?" Then the woman turned and I saw it was Jamie Lee Curtis.
So - I will always be inspired by Jamie Lee at the pasta display. But Angelyne? I'm not sure.
When I was 11 I saw John Wayne in a restaurant in Hawaii...and when my daughter was a few months old I saw Kevin Mitchell and Will Clark (then star SF Giants players,)in Black Angus....and I was the annoying fan and went over to the bar and asked if they would take a picture with my baby....they not only did, but Kevin Mitchell went out to his car and got his rookie baseball card and signed it to my daughter!- Oh, and I met Ashley Wolfe at the K conference yesterday....I think children's authors are stars :)
I never see any stars - never, never, never. But then, I watch no tv and very few movies, so I probably see them all the time and I don't know it.
The only stars I've seen are up in the sky! Not too many famous people running around rural Minnesota..lol!
I live amongst the rednecks. Only stars I see are the ones they have tattooed on their neck.
peace
#2
Oh no! I have NEVER ever seen even one famous person. I can't believe this. I think I need to move to California. Immediately. cRaZy!
You just lived my dream...
PS I hate you!!! ;)
I started to leave a comment but my list was too long so I turned it in to a post on my blog.
http://icantbelieveanyonewouldwanttoreadthis.blogspot.com/2009/01/brushes-with-greatness.html
My friend's mom is Lee Grant (actress; some of your readers might have to ask their parents who she is) and her dad is Joe Feury (producer). I have been to a couple of their New Year's Eve parties, which were filled with scads of famous people, but most of them were before my time so I didn't recognize them. I did see Cyndi Lauper there, and Robert Downey, Jr., and once I watched "The Little Mermaid" with Martin Sheen and his grandson, and gave Mr. Sheen a synopsis of the part he'd missed.
Penny Marshall lived in my building when I was growing up. So did Frank Converse for a few years. He's not as famous-- he was on some soaps and acted on Broadway.
When I was a camp counselor, Al Franken's kids were on my bus, so I met him once or twice, but it was usually his wife that I saw. And when I was a preschool teacher, Gregory Hines's grandson was in my class, so I met him once.
Bruno Kirby was a regular customer in the health food store where I use to work.
As far as people I saw on the street or spoke fewer than a couple sentences to: Emeril, Madonna, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael J. Fox and Tracy Pollan, Fantasia.... I'm sure there must be more; I grew up in NYC so seeing someone famous, while always exciting, wasn't hugely uncommon. I can't think of any, though.
We don't have many famous people trotting around out here along the IA/IL border, but I did meet Vanilla Ice once at a Co-Op.
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