Famous People and Me

Chris had a cool post about famous people he's met. So I thought I'd steal the idea and post something about some of the famous peeps I've met in my travels. Here are my top 3 (in no order):

- President Jimmy Carter (This was awesome, because I met him at Disney World. I had just gotten out of the Phil-har-magic show and I was walking over to the restroom and a buddy of mine spotted him. I walked up to him and asked if I could take a picture with him. He must have had 10 Secret Service guys with him, but he was nice enough to let me take a picture with him. It was a thrill to meet a former president.)

- Theo Epstein (It's not quite the president, but I met Theo in Tampa the night that the Red Sox clinched the Wild Card in 2004. Within a month they would have done the impossible and brought a championship to a city that had waited for 86 long years. He was the architect behind the team and it was cool to meet him.)

- Steve Harris (Steve Harris is to this day one of my heroes as far as song writing and bass playing. He is the musical force behind Iron Maiden and not only did I get to meet Steve in 1992, but I got to hang out with him at a club and talk about music with him for a couple of hours. We gave him a copy of my band's album (Which he got back to us later and said that he loved - thank you very much) and he signed EVERY Iron Maiden album (yes I'm talking vinyl), single, CD, and he signed my Fender Precision bass. One of the coolest nights of my life was having a beer with the guy who wrote "The Trooper", "Run to the Hills", "Aces High", "Wrathchild", "Fear of the Dark" and a ton of other classics.*

*Please spare me the "Hells Bells" Christian video rhetoric about Iron Maiden being satanic. I was 17 and it was a big moment in my life. Can we find the strength to just leave it at that?

Comments

[Bill LaMorey]

Bob,

I met a few famous folks too; but sticking w/ the theme of the most important person you mentioned...it was a thrill for me to meet Nicko McBain (Iron Maiden drummer) and Dan Spitz (Anthrax guitarist) BOTH at Calvary Ft. Lauderdale...(there is a lot of room at the front of their stage there for a nice mosh pit)!

[Luis]

Hey, I wanna jump in on this conversation:
-John Major, former PM of England: while I was in the Air Force.
-Benjamin Netanyahu, former PM of Israel. Spoke to him for 10 mins about politics.
-Luis Palau, the great evangelist. I spent several hours with him when he was in town back in '03.
-Eddie Jones, the former president of the Miami Dolphins; had lunch with him & talked about (what else?) football.
-Does touching Adam Clayton's shoes while he was wearing them count?

[Donny Pauling]

I met Jimmy Swaggart at the Las Vegas airport. We spoke for quite awhile about Dudley Mugwump, one of the characters he'd created for children a long time ago. I used to listen to it as a kid.

Then he asked what I do for a living. At that time I had no yet surrendered my life to God, so I admitted to him that I produced pornography. He told me he'd be praying for me, but I think he also thought I might be making fun of him. I've met several famous people, but Jimmy was the first who popped into mind.

[Bob Franquiz]

Bill,

My old band played at Calvary Capo Beach and the people there DID create a mosh pit at the front of the stage!

Luis - I'm going to have to say "NO" on the Adam Clayton touch. Nice list, by the way.

Donny - I'm glad you've had a change of career.

[chris g]

id have to say any time you have a prez on the list you are in the big time. my wife has everyone beat. look at my comments and you will see. she could have kept adding to the list too but shes humble.