Have You Ever Met Someone You Idolized Only To Discover

[redstateblues]

they were rude or self absorbed and generally undeserving of your adulation.

[swag]

1. You mean a famous person?

If so, don't take it too hard. Fame and adoration are often curses and the afflicted individuals often cope by becoming aloof, rude, or even hostile.

Of course you have to wonder why they don't ditch the routine. Must be the money, the drugs, the chicks.

[redstateblues]

4. famous or Semi- Famous

[AlCzervik]

2. yes

I actually met Billy Idol back in 82, back stage passes, he wasnt "Big" yet. He was total bastard to my friend and asked her to blow him, he meant it. We were 15 at the time and we weren't groupies so we didnt realize that when Billy said "Blow me" some tart would get on her knees and get busy. Very upsetting at the time and everytime i see his face on tv i want to beat the shit out of him.

[Dookus]

18. lol

I met Billy Idol the same year, or maybe '81. I was his backstage bartender for a show. He was a real prick.

[AlCzervik]

21. I had some very unkind thoughts about him when he had his motorcycle

accident. 17 years later and i'm still holding a grudge.

[radwriter0555]

48. he's fat and unemployed now, if that helps any....

:)

[HEyHEY]

3. Dick Dale was kind of an asshole

I thought

[NightTrain]

17. I once did a phone interview with DIck Dale.

It lasted almost two hours, during which time I did very little talking. Suffice it to say, the man has a tremendous ego!

[HEyHEY]

19. He wouldn't sign my t-shirt

And spent most of his time being adored by some groupie. Then he shrugged off my request to hear the story of his first guitar. After the crowd kinda gave him a dirty look, he told it.

[mitchum]

33. At one gig, I heard him say that his views might get him assassinated

Assassinated! That takes a certain quantity of ego.

[johnnie]

63. Yes, I heard that also

Some friends in a band here couldn't wait to open for his show. They were huge fans, and after the show they weren't huge fans.

[redstateblues]

5. I saw Nancy Griffith( singer-songwriter) in a bookstore once

and got up the courage to tell her I loved her work and she looked at me like I was a turnpike killer. I was never much of a fan after that.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

10. Are you certain it was Nancy Griffith?

Years ago, I was in a cafe in Virginia Beach, and a couple of girls came over to me with autograph paraphenalia in hand, because they were certain I was Carole King. They were so embarrassed...

[redstateblues]

11. Unfortunately Yes- She's A Great Artist- But She was Very Mean

She was looking at some McMurtry books- I'm sure it was her- she probably thought I was a stalker

[GoddessOfGuinness]

13. It's possible that she was being harrassed by a stalker...

Or it could be that she is painfully shy...

Or maybe she's just a rude (if talented) bitch...

Whatever the reason, it sure sounds like the fantasy of meeting her was sweeter than the reality. :beer:

[enigmatic]

28. She's painfully shy..

I've met her a couple of times; nice, but she kinda hides from the public..

[GoddessOfGuinness]

46. She's certainly a very sensitive artist...

I can see why someone who exposes so much of their soul to strangers could feel uncomfortable relating to people outside their art.

[newsguyatl]

6. i met michael moore a couple months back

kind of short and curt.

tho i can't much blame him i guess.

[smirkymonkey]

38. I met him a few months ago as well, although he

was quite polite and gracious. It was about a month or so before F911 came out, so maybe he wasn't as stressed out at the time.

[NYC Liberal]

7. Nope.

Everyone famous person I met has been extremely nice and very down-to-earth. I've met the whole cast of SNL too and none of them were mean at all.

[Catshrink]

8. I saw Billy Bob Thornton in an airport and he was totally cool.

Asked me if the plane was boarding... I was mentally trying to figure out if I knew him or not, if I recognized him from somewhere. Then, it dawned on me. When I boarded the plane he was already seated in first class but he gave me a big smile.

Totally cool.

[miss_kitty]

34. i think that happens to him a lot

i have a friend who was in Cambodia and she kept staring at this woman she thought she went to school with and sorta recognised the 'old geezer' she was with too. my friend's traveling companion nudged and said "that's billy bob and Angelina Jolie." Myriam didn't believe it and kept staring, and he looked up at caught her and gave her what she said was the most beautiful friendly smile, and she said Angelina smiled at her too. :)

[swag]

9. I've met a few who were buttholes, and others who had problems

with Acquired Situational Narcissism.

Sorry about Billy Idol.

I think the late Sen. Paul Simon was one of the coolest celebs I ever met.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

12. I've met a lot of mystery writers, including

Earl Emerson, J.A. Jance, Anne Perry, Barbara Neely, Faye Kellerman, James Lee Burke, Kate Wilhelm, and others. (I used to live near a mystery bookstore.) The only one who wasn't pleasant and gracious was Ruth Rendell, whom I admire as a writer anyway.

[MercutioATC]

14. I met Dave Foley (from The Kids in the Hall and News Radio) on vacation

in Costa Rica. He was the most down-to-earth, cool celebrity I could imagine. Really, a great guy.

[HEyHEY]

24. A friend of mine

Was in charge of him for an evening (Getting him to the airport and such)
SHe was a HUGE Foley fan and could barely speak at first. An hour later she said they were having drinks and laughing like old friends. She says he's a great guy.

[Bat Boy]

25. Met John Cleese. He was a complete bastard.

Naw. He was the coolest guy ever.

Bill Murray and Dan Ackroyd, however....

[MercutioATC]

26. I was at an ecolodge in Costa Rica.

I was on a tour of the rainforest that day, but I'd heard that we'd be having two new couples show up that evening. The tour ran late and I didn't get to dinner until about 10 minutes after it started. I sat in my usual seat and somebody leaned across the corner of the table, stuck out his hand, and said "Hi, I'm Dave". I shook his hand and said "Yeah, I know you are" with a goofy smile on my face. (7:15 in the jungle is dark and we were eating by candlelight, or I'd have seen him when I first walked in.)


He was there with his (now) wife Chrissy, Jeff Turzo (of "God Lives Underwater") and Jeff's wife, Pinky. They were all great people. Jeff was a complete reptile freak and wound up diving into the brush on two occasions during a night tour coming up with a baby tree boa and a baby crocodile. Dave was very modest and talked to me in length about my job as an air traffic controller (he was asking me questions).

All of them impressed me as really genuine people.

[Hello_Kitty]

15. Describes pretty much everyone I've ever idolized. n/m

[ofrfxsk]

16. Sting and Bono

Sting's a gigantic poo. We did get a great picture though.
Bono, Mr. Hewson (my honey) was fantastic. Very sweet but alas no pic's. Just a very fine memory.

[Meshuga]

50. I would guess Sting is a prick

And he sucks!

[Dookus]

20. rarely

as mentioned above, I met Billy Idol and he was a dick. I also met Eartha Kitt, and she was a scary bitch, but I didn't find it terribly surprising. She's SUPPOSED to be a scary bitch.

Other celebs I've met have all been awesomely nice - Sinbad, Gregory Hines, Herbie Hancock, Mick Ronson, Peri Gilpin...

[miss_kitty]

36. my same friend who i mentioned above who met billy bob

and Angelina in Cambodia spent a week in Morocco with Eartha Kitt and said she is way cool. which is exactly the opposite of what my OTHER friend who married a relative of hers said.

Myriam has met scores of people. i think the worst was Imelda Marcos. cause she held up dinner with her 'singing.'

[Dookus]

60. She was actually both scary mean and way cool...

at varying times.

We met backstage at the SF AIDS Walk. I worked with one of the agencies receiving money, and got to go up on stage with all the celebs and dignitaries at the beginning of the walk. In the congregating room backstage, she was REALLY scary looking and stood off by herself, glaring at any who would dare approach her. One man came up beside her and touched her shoulder, and she jumped, turned and gave him the biggest stink-eye I ever saw.

Then... we all assembled on stage. Once in front of a crowd, she she was gregarious, funny, and chatted with us like we were old friends. I also got to watch her flirt outrageously with SF Mayor Willie Brown. It was fun.

[miss_kitty]

62. she was singing for the king's b-day when my pal met her

she was maybe less scary because of the social connections...now Toni thought she was a total cow, and maybe got the stand-offish hit you first got from her because there was less time involved with their contact...i was glad to hear of Myriam's experience and now yours, because i always thought she was cool. she did a tune that is on 'New Faces of '52' (Yes 1952) called 'Monotonous' which i grew up listening to-always loved it. and i loved her as 'Catwoman' on Batman...

[Taverner]

22. Met Chris Isaak once

At this bar near the surfing area in Santa Cruz. Totally cool and mellow guy, bought the entire bar drinks.

I also met Billy Joel once. Total asshole. I was a car park at the Fairmont and he was like "you better not fuck with this!" and then threw me the keys. He did leave a very genrous tip ($100!) so I guess it equals out.

[CanuckAmok]

31. I've got wasted with Chris Isaak a few times...

...he lived near me when his show was shooting in Vancouver, and I worked on the show occasionally.

He can DRINK, man, and he always pays the tab. Plus he's really nice.

[Meshuga]

49. Billy Joel is a loser...

I've seen him a couple of times.

[zanana]

56. The one important thing I learned in Alcoholics Anonymous...

They have a saying; "Never put anyone up on a pedestal, because when they fall, so do you".

[NYC Liberal]

23. Oh yeah...

I met Bill Clinton. What an arrogant, egotistical asshole!

LOL, just kidding...he was very friendly. I told him "We need you back!" and he said, "Thank you very much...you're very kind." :)

[jdj]

29. gosh, but, you weren't being kind. it's true.

I hope he knows that.

[NYC Liberal]

30. Me too.

I was going to meet John Kerry when he was on the Daily Show, but I had something to do. :cry:

[OneBlueSky]

27. over the years, I've had occasion to work with many, many . . .

performing artists in all different genres . . . and I can report as fact that many, many of them are indeed self-absorbed assholes, with egos the size of Texas . . . there are, however, many exceptions as well . . . Pete Seeger, for example, is as down to earth and approachable as anyone I've ever met, and he's genuinely interested in people and what they have to say . . . same can be said for Arlo Guthrie and any number of others in the folk genre . . .

jazz musicians, on the other hand, are notoriously difficult to deal with, and classical music has more than its share of prima donnas . . . bluesmen are usually pretty cool, but rockers are very often major league assholes or just plain nuts . . .

all of these, of course, are generalizations which have many exceptions . . . but the pattern fits more often than not . . .

[mark414]

40. buddy guy is the exception

he often makes appearances at the club bearing his name in chicago...he'll walk around the bar playing his guitar, very friendly very approachable.

and from time to time, the stones have been known to pop in for a set after a chicago show.

[maveric]

32. I drank with the southern rockers "The Outlaws", in a Tampa bar.

I cant remember the place but it was their hangout,and where they got their start. They were great guys and bought us "Yankees", pitchers of beer all night. Even gave us direcions to a good "Shroom field". Our Boston accents and party animal mentalities.
seemed to amuse them greatly.
Its a real shame most of those guys died young and tragically.

[mitchum]

35. Mother Teresa was all sloppy drunk and hitting on me

Okay...maybe that wasn't really her, but it sure looked like her.
Does anyone know if she ever wore acid-washed jeans and a Captain Morgan's T-shirt? Ever?

[Bunny]

41. Oh God! I just spit coffee all over the keyboard!

Good one! :toast: That Mother Theresa was such a tramp, wasn't she?

[johnnie]

64. Now THAT...

...is funny. I almost had beer coming out my nose.

[timtom]

67. That's too wild...

I can't wait til she becomes First Lady.

[smirkymonkey]

37. Almost all of them.

Nobody lives up to our fantasies of them.

[miss_kitty]

39. i got totally wasted with Todd Rungren's band and i didn't have to

have sex with any of them AND they gave me a ride home, and i was almost too wasted to find it.
my parents were active dems so i met a lot of WA st dems when i was little-Sen Henry Jackson and Sen Warren Magnuson, govs Rosellini, Gardner, and Lowry, all dems and gov Dan Evans R, all real nice guys.

[pagerbear]

42. Will Pitt

No, actually Will is lots of fun and totally sweet.

[tibbir]

43. Yes, my ex-husband.

It only took me 23 years to figure it out too.

[dancing kali]

44. Not to be a wet blanket...

but, just because someone has achieved celebrity/famous status by virtue of their occupation, this does not mean they want to be approached by every stranger on the street who recognizes them during their day to day life. I realize that most fans mean well and only wish to express admiration... this still does not make it acceptable to interrupt the object of your admiration when they are having lunch or dinner or shopping or having a quiet moment in a park. If they are rude or unresponsive, it may be due to a desire to be in their private lives not their public ones. The novelty of fan adulation wears off quickly for those whose fame lasts longer than "fifteen minutes". How long would one expect someone to put up with constantly being accosted by people who just want an autograph/photo/chat - on a constant basis. Really, it's annoying.

I work in the arts. I've met and worked with lots of these people. They are just plain, ordinary schmucks like the rest of us. Some of them are great, wonderful individuals. Others are complete idiots who should be amongst "the first against the wall when the revolution comes". Don't confuse the work with the person. Just because I like somebody's performance or music or writing, that doesn't mean that person is necessarily the most wonderful person in existence; and just because I think someone's work sucks -- their not automatically the scum of the earth.

Didn't mean for this to sound like a rant... I've had to run interference with fans who "just want..." and don't understand when the object of their admiration is not favourably responsive to the display of adulation.

[chenGOD]

45. Not me....

I've met a few famous people and they were all totally cool

hell Michael Brecker invited me backstage after i saw him play in Japan.

My friend on the other hand, we went to see the Allman Brothers and he was taping the show, manager invites him backstage, and he said Gregg Allman was not cool cause he was all strung out....(it was a hell of a show though, one of the best I've ever seen)

[name not needed]

47. The pope stole my bong

[JohnKleeb]

54. well duh

If you had been drinking some good Polish alcohol :eyes: I doubt he'd done it.

[Meshuga]

51. David Latterman is a DICK!

He just seems to love himself and seeing him without the cameras rolling he was a prick t everyone around him.

[gollygee]

65. I met David Letterman and he was a really nice guy (m)

Paul Schaffer too. They were both sweethearts.

[LWolf]

52. No,

but then, I don't idolize people I haven't met. I don't know if I've ever idolized anyone. I've met people whose work I admire and respect; I've known people that I've admired, loved, and respected for who they are, but I don't idolize them. There is no person who does not have their flaws.

[NashVegas]

53. You Can Never Predict How Some Celebs Will Act

or for that matter, *react.*

I used to go backstage a lot in the 1980s, and quickly developed the attitude, "you are responsible for your own good time." The nice celebs far outnumber the pricks, but you can't expect them to go out of their way to entertain you, personally. If someone's a prick, I just shrug it off.

Your idol has given you much already, by way of their art of whatever it is that that attracted you to them. When you encounter them in person, what are you willing to give back? You may think you know them - you've got all their work, you've read every interview they've ever given. But you don't know *them.* And they don't know you, either.

[MrScorpio]

55. Nope, not me

I'm into comic book artists and jazz musicians.

Everyone I've ever met would talk to me like they're normal people not "Stars."

They both are the coolest people in the world

[Kathleen04]

57. Definately never idolized him..

but once I met Pauley Shore. He was totally high, which was expected. I met him on Lake Tahoe..he was wearing tiny shorts that were going up his butt and a hat that said "strip club". We were all like 11 years old and he stopped to talk to us, we were looking at him because we couldn't immediately figure out who he was, so he was like "what are you looking at, man??".

And, we were hanging out on the shore..we had equipment like inner-tubes and jet skis, which he just sat on like he owned, until he finally left.

[pink-o]

58. Roger Daltrey

It was in 1980 when the Who played in Oakland, my friend found out where they were staying so we went to the hotel. My one friend was a total Daltrey freak, and she brought a pic for him to autograph. He was sweet as pie to her, put an arm around her while our other friend took a photo, met her eyes, laughed at her jokes. Then when I spoke up, he literally ripped me a new one and told me what I said didn't mean shit.

Shocked the living hell outta me--I swear I'd never had another encounter with the man, and it took awhile to understand how I offended him...

I finally realised this: The man is about 5'6" tall and I a 6'1" woman.

So to paraphrase Hard Day's Night, I had the temerity to be taller than him.

Go figure.

[Myrina]

59. Oh yea !!

23 years ago I had my first crush on a lil hockey hottie, worshipped the ground he walked on .... then lost track of him. A year or so ago I found him, now a coach - did some digging into where he's been and what's he's done, and sent him a 'wow you're still so cool' email.

He replied and put the moves on me something fierce, and we met for a long weekend.

Turns out, he's neurotic, shallow, self absorbed, cold, is a Republican AND listens to country music.


OMG, reality is such a bummer !!! :(

[bluedeminredstate]

61. Never idolized him b/c he's a repug

but I met Judd Gregg R-NH and thought he was a snobby, sanctimonious asshole.
I probably had that idea before I met him, but he proved me right.

Never met him, but loved him from afar - Johnny Damon of the Red Sox - and just weeks ago I had my heart broken when I saw a picture in the Globe of him and his fiancee. Not that I cared that he was getting married, but I think he either met her at a strip club when she did a lap dance or she was once a porn star. And I thought he was so wholesome and cute! What is it about athletes and overly-madeup, tight-clothed, bleached-blonde babes? (Not that I'm generalizing or anything...)

[johnnie]

66. My alter ego is a dick, but other than that

Most of my idols are dead.
The people who are "stars" that I have met have been really cool. Paul Butterfield told me to drink his beers and Eric Burdon was the coolest man ever. I have met quit a few and they all seem nice.