QotD: Brush with Celebrity - Dar Williams, Reggie Jackson

I met and had dinner with folk singer Dar Williams. New York radio station WFUV ran a contest where the winners got to see Dar Williams perform out on Long Island, and then go across the street for a special dinner at a Mexican restaurant. Dar was supposed to drop by and give us some signed CDs. Which she did, but then she said the food looked excellent and sat down right next to me to eat! So we had a pleasant conversation about New York, the harp player in the restaurant, music in general. Photographic evidence does exist - in the next WFUV program guide there was a picture of me and Dar. Unfortunately, I lost my copy in a move at some point. If any packrats have the program guides, my picture would be somewhere in the 1995 - 1998 range :)

I've had less personal brushes with bigger celebs: Reggie Jackson, Willie Randolph, Mickey Rivers, Chris Chambliss, Ron Guidry, Thurman Munson and other NY Yankees from that era used to come sign autographs in local businesses all the time when I was a kid. I said a few words to Don Henley when he autographed a copy of Heaven is Under Our Feet. I talked briefly with Dan Bern about music and lemonade at the Hudson River Revival one summer.

Oh, and back in grade school, Michael E. Knight (soap opera actor) was in our house shooting one of those Afterschool Specials, most likely High School Narc. I don't recall much, but he did give me some autographs to hand out to the girls in my class who were fans, and he shot some baskets in the backyard. (They were using our house because they heard we had a pool table in the basement. The spray-paint murals they did to jazz up the stone walls are still there. The crew also broke a water pipe, so in addition to whatever fee they paid we got some free new plumbing out of the deal).