Celebrity Encounters

I once shared an elevator with Blackie Connors from Glenroe. Must be 10-15 years ago now. Starstruck I was.

Was at the Castlebar Blues Fest about ten years ago. As we were heading home on the last day we saw a stage being set up on Main Street so we said feck it and parked up for another night, got a few cans and settled down across from the stage. Who turns up but Enda Fúcking Kenny making an election speech.
Was having a chat/drink with Ann Cassin from RTE and her sis from the airport a while back when this huge guy lumbered over to us, grabbed the three of us in a bear hug and went 'I love yere weather' before heading off to the jacks.
Shane handed me the last third of his pint of Smithwicks from the stage during a Pouges gig in '89. He must have been cutting down.
Would have met almost every musician and actor who came out of Galway over the years. All sound.

sh1tstirrer wrote: »

Pat Short is a comedian on stage but off stage he isn't, he said himself that when people meet him they expect him to be funny and they get pissed off when he isn't.

Now i wasnt pissed off with him and at the time every second person commented on my hair. It was my simple response so that i didnt have to actualy engage with people when the bar was busy.

Another time when i was managing a hotel i was walkin trough one of the bars andthe band we were paying hundreds to were nowhere to be seen. Some guy was up on stage playing guitar and singing. I was goin ballistic thinking were wernt getting our moneys worth from the band. I found the band out the back of the hotel in the delivery area and was about to go mental at them but there reason was pretty good, mundy was in the crowd and he wanted to get up and do a few songs

KatW4 wrote: »

I was an extra in the film Becoming Jane a few years ago. James McAvoy came over to us and had a chat. He was lovely

Also met Anne Hathaway, Julie Walters, Maggie Smith and James Cromwell that day.

I met Matt Willis at the stage door of Wicked twice. He was so nice to everyone!

Ha, I was an extra in that as well. I was only in the boxing scene, and I've never even watched the movie. I'll be honest, I found James McEvoy fairly annoying because he kept suggesting shots to do and thereby wasting time and dragging the day out (directors routinely have to placate stars on stuff like this and never use the shots).

I once said hello to Bill Murray when he was in Kilkenny at the comedy festival when I was a teenager and he said hello back. Not exactly a classic story, but he is a hero of mine. That was cool. Dara o'briain was walking down high st at the festival another year and we chatted away to him, a lovely man.

Oh, I had a Twitter conversation with Graham Linehan a couple of weeks ago about Patricia Highsmith, who he hadn't realised was anti Semitic, he was very appreciative of the info. Dunno if Twitter encounters count though.

Met Dennis Hopper on Camden Street of all places back in the '90s. Was showing off and said 'Hey Dennis, loved you in Speed', he laughed and said thanks.

I still cringe about it now.

I ended up at a very small but excellent little music venue in Kilburn London that no longer exists called the Luminere.. it was a showcase gig for a band called the Hours... i got there mad early on my tod not a sinner in the place... next person through the door was Ian Brown of Stone Roses fame... the small bar in the venue only me and him so we ended up yapping about music for a good while until his gang came in... as much as i loved his music i always had a pre conception he might be a bit of a wanker but what a total sound down to earth guy...

It was a surreal night as later while taking a piss i ended up with Flea and Anthony Keidis at urinals either side... "howya lads" and also spent a good hour in the company of Geoff Travis who signed the Smiths not having a bulls notion it was him i was talking to.. i even asked him what he did for a living.. again a very nice bloke as it goes..

KatW4 wrote: »

No way? I was in the dance scene. He was fine that day but Anne Hathaway wouldn't stop singing! Took hours to film because of her!

Yeah I was studying at the time and a friend knew the people involved in casting extras. Was good money, and we lived in the liberties so it was handy, although walking from costume and make up in the Tivoli past the day drinkers in Francis st to get to the set, in your eighteenth century garb and stupid hair was fairly embarrassing. Basically spent the day trying to chat up the other extras, who were all acting students or whatever. Didn't go well on that front because I'm an embarrassment. But they fed us well. I'd recommend it as an experience but for most people there it seemed more important than that, which was kind of unfortunate. More importantly, unlike you, I didn't get to be in a scene with Anne Hathaway.

I heard she was asking for me but...

DainBramage wrote: »

I was queuing at the ATM outside O'Neills pub in Dublin when someone tipped me on the shoulder and asked me for directions to rira nightclub in a heavy manc accent- none other than Ian Brown himself.
As a Stone Roses fan was pretty starstruck to say the least. Again had heard he was a bit of a knob but my mate and I chatted with him and his small entourage for about ten minutes and he was a cool guy.

other z-list encounters:
anne doyle in o'donoghues
barry mcguigan/ken doherty at dublin airport
served jack charlton in dunnes stores- (he bought t-shirts and 3-pack of underpants lol)
don wycherly
Marcel Desailly at Manchester Airport looking lost

He was sound as anything very chilled and took an active interest in what I was doing and my own story which was cool because I was kinda star struck but it just ended up as two lads in an empty bar shooting the **** about life and music for a while.

I've travelled in some circles shall we say that surround the music business (God I hate that phrase) and a couple of more sound individuals you couldn't wish to meet then Paul Weller and Richard Hawley. Gentlemen and down to earth as it gets

i met Bill Clinton when he was president, shook his hand and had a brief chat with him, seemed a really nice man.

also stayed in the same hotel as an international football team well known to us all and when we came back from the nightclub at 6am, we were met in the lobby by 3 or 4 of the most famous players, well steamed and heading off out again - they had another game 3 days later.

a mate of mine owns a nightclub and have done some work for him as a student and served a few of the irish "celebs" but didnt really pay much attention to them.

have had a few pints with Bernard Dunne (mutual friends) and have to say, he is a top bloke - well up for the craic, down to earth and a good laugh.

Graeme Souness sat beside me on a flight to a United game (he was covering it for Sky Sports) and he was really really sound - very surprisingly sound actually, seemed really open and willing to talk to people and actually was driving the conversation as opposed to most famous people who normally have no interest in talking to members of the public.

theres a few more, but nothing worth talking about really.