My mother and sister had dinner at Pat Summitt's house. They have a picture with her.

John DeLancie (played "Q" on ST:TNG). Ran into him in bar in Regas, there was a con in town and he was trying to get away from con-goers. We actually had a 15-minute conversation about media and culture. Ironically, he thinks television is a pox on our culture, and said he tries never to watch it. I asked if he considered that strange, since he was making his primary living from it and he said, "Oh, not at all."

Penn Jillette. Oh, and ran into Ron Jeremy walking back to my car on Sunset Blvd about 2 am, about 4 other people were posing for pictures with him.

Hardly a stellar list. And, no, I didn't talk that long with Ron Jeremy, he actually just asked me if I would hold the camera and take a picture with his friends.

Gwen Stefani, Tom Wopat, Steve Forbes, Mike Gottfried (Pitt football coach and football analyst), Peyton Manning, Eli Manning, John Tate

Lee Remick, Keith Moon, Big John Tate, Woody Harrelson, John Tuturro, Courtney Love, Winton and Branford Marsalis, Milos Foreman, Billy Gibbons, Bela Fleck, numerous other actors and musicians plus a few sports figures.

So you weren't actually in a film with Ron Jeremy? Bragging rights there if you had been.

My list is short too and filled with sort of semi-famous (and a kinda sorta near miss with an infamous).

I met Dixie Lee Ray at the gaseous diffusion plant when she was head of the AEC about '73 or so. She was on a tour of the process building K-33 and she always brought her dog with her. Somebody always had to sit with the dog on her visits because the noise of the machinery hurt its ears. I wasn't the designated dog sitter though.

I met Andrea Conte and David Keith through my work with the Campbell County Children's center. Nice people. Ms. Conte was especially gracious.

I met both of the Claytor brothers, Robert and Graham when Graham was with Amtrak and Robert was president of Norfolk Southern. Both were instrumental in getting N&W's big steam back in service and they were responsible for helping TVRM keep No. 4501 in running order. They both loved to be at the throttle of 4501 until they got their big toys back on the road.

I danced with (and got a kiss from) Lady Chablis who was, to me anyway, the belle of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil just playing herself. She was in town doing a benefit for AIDS research not long after the movie was released.

I was walking back to my hotel from a company training session in Milwaukee in July, 1991, when I went through a crowd in front of the courthouse and a cruiser pulled up to the curb to unload a manacled Jeffrey Dahmer in orange coveralls.

John McCain the first and only time we met face to face. Just Kidding, Randy

Does Cas Walker count?

I sat in a conference room at the Chicago Tribune while my supervisor gave a demo of AOL to Rupert Murdoch. I swear that the man is the inspiration for C. Montgomery Burns.

The most famous people I've actually known personally are Alex Haley and Chet Atkins, who were both sweet, wonderful guys. and Tattoo Eddie Harris, who was neither sweet nor wonderful.

Through Alex, I met Oprah Winfrey (clogged to Rocky Top with her) and Sammy Davis Jr.'s widow Altovise.

In the course of work, I've met Dolly, Jim and Tammy Bakker (LOVED Tammy Faye) and criminals and politicians too numerous to mention, except for Al Gore, Bill Clinton and my personal favorite politico, Ned Ray McWherter (my rafting trip down the Pigeon River with him was maybe my all-time favorite reporting assignment).

Locally, there was Cas, of course. And there were probably others, but I'm having trouble dredging them up.

And duh. Pat Summitt, dadgummit!

Oh yeah, I had lunch with Lamar Alexander the first time he ran for governor - when he was walking across the state in his plaid shirt. He came into the cafeteria at LMU - nobody knew who he was - and had lunch with 4 or 5 of us faculty members.

He made a really good impression on me that day. Too bad it didn't stick.

And speaking of Senators, I met Fritz Hollings once. My best friend's mom worked for him and introduced me when I was in D.C. on a trip.

And I have this weird reocurring dream where I meet Al Gore and he's impressed with me. :)

I've been very lucky. Or had jobs or friends that made me lucky.

My list includes Reagan, Ford, Clinton, George McGovern, Fred Harris, Mo Udall, Dan Rather, Connie Chung, Sam Donaldson, Bob Schieffer, Charles Kuralt, Izzy Bleckman (Kuralt's photog), Howard Baker, Pat Summit, Peyton Manning, Keith Urban, Tim McGraw, Bela Fleck, Roy Acuff, Sarah Canon (Minnie Pearl on stage-off stage the incredibly charming, kind and intelligent Sarah Canon), Roy Clark, Buck Owens, more Hee-Haw folks (it was taped at the station where I worked), Alan Page, Carl Eller, Reggie White (who I deeply admired despite the fact he played for the Packers), Levar Burton, Alex Haley, David Keith, John Turturro. Hugh O'Brian--who was in full Wyatt Earp outfit. My Dad covered his visit and took me. He sat me on his horse and let me hold the Buntline Special. I could have died happy right then. Little Richard, who autographed a Black Heritage edition Bible was he was helping to sell. Lots of big city Mayors from when Victor was President of the US Conference of Mayors: Daley, Dinkins and the mesmerizing and "cut the bullshit and get to the point: Maynard Jackson. And a special shout-out to John Rzeznik of the Goo-Goo Dolls. I took my son to see a concert at WFP for his birthday--one of his first rock shows. He was a Sugar Ray freak, but Sugar Ray was too big or disinterested or whatever to do a meet and greet. The Goo Goo Dolls came out, insisted I be in the picture (I think he knew my kid would treasure it), went and brought in Ramsey's friends, who didn't have passes to get in that area, did a photo with all of us and then, from the stage, wished Ramsey a happy birthday. I will appreciate him forever for that.

..for leaving off the national politician who I knew the best: Hubert Humphrey. Mondale, too. I have still never seen a politician who could work a crowd like HHH at a Minnesota DFL party event.

And the only two autographs I have, framed and in my office...Henry Fonda and Albert Brooks. I was pretty much rendered speechless by the sight of Henry Fonda. With Brooks there was beer involved.

Mine are oldtimers: Richard Nixon (in the White House ... he played piano and sang for about 25 Young Republicans, shook our hands and fed us cookies), H.R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman (at Young Republican Leadership Conference), Howard Baker, Bill Brock, Nancy Kassebaum, Pat Schroeder, Shirley Chisholm, Eleanor Smeal, Patricia Ireland, Guy L. Smith Jr. (legendary editor), and Tex Ritter. -- s.

A friend of mine says that when people play Six Degrees of Separation she always claims me because of my years covering Bill Clinton, I know him, and he's met everybody in the world. And I confess that my seven years on the Clinton beat allowed me to meet a lot of folks -- and that was when he was governor of that backwater state.

So BC and HRC are my givens. Plus a zillion FOBs. But the most fun I had was 1987 when BC came thisclose to a presidential run, and I got to be buddies with E.J. Dionne, now of the Washington Post, but then of the NYTimes. So between Dionne and Clinton, I ended up meeting every political reporter and politician of any importance. Including and a Democratic Governor's meeting where all six of the announced/rumored presidential candidates were in attendance at MacKinanac Island -- Gore, Dukakis, Schroeder, Simon, Gephardt, and Jackson.

I once got to interview Helen Thomas because she came to give a speech to the local Society of Professional Journalists in Little Rock.

And I got to interview U.S. Supreme Court Harry Blackmon because he came to speak at the UALR Law School during my foray into law school and I was still at the news paper. He was an incredible gentleman.

About a decade later, my friend Kathryn's brother Clarke Hunter had solidified his role as the production designer for Billy Bob Thornton's movies and I got to go spend a day on set of one of the worst movies ever made, "Daddy and Them." But got to meet all the actors who were on set that day. In addition to Billy Bob they included Andy Griffith, Jamie Lee Curtis, Diane Ladd, Laura Dern, Ben Affleck, Kelly Preston, and John Prine. Everybody was very nice, and somewhere there's a picture of me with Ben Affleck's arm around my neck. I kept it in my classroom when I taught middle/high school. It was one way to keep 'em in line. They didn't care about John Prine, but I also had a picture of John Prine with me and Kathryn on either side of him.

I've also managed to meet a number of writers just by paying attention to the whens and wheres of local readings in Ark. and here in Knoxville -- Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carried; Sandra Cisneros, The House on Mango Street; Robert Haas, former U.S. Poet Laurette; Ted Koser, former U.S. Poet Laurette; Nikki Giovanni, many volumes of poetry; Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird and others; Robert Penn Warren, All the King's Men; Bernard Malamud, The Natural. The last two were when I was an undergraduate at UT and I actually had brief interviews with them. I was young and didn't know squat so really had no business doing an interview. I was naive with Warren and just too in awe of Malamud.

When Clinton did the Tonight Show in 88, I got to go and ended up meeting the cast of the Designing Women show. I especially remember Dixie Carter. She was very charming and down to earth.

As a child my grandmother made sure that I meet every candidate who came through Roane County. I can remember being 7 and shaking hands with Frank Clement. I met others, but for some reason that one stands out. She wanted me to be informed and aware of the world around me.

Enough rambling from me. Great memories.

Here are three people I would LIKE to meet: Katha Pollitt, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, and Barbara Kingsolver.

I have a first cousin who can arrange the third. Anybody out there able to help me with the others?

Forgot Al "I'm in charge here!" Haig. Ugh. Met him when he was grand marshal of one of the Gatlinburg parades.

Johnny Weissmuller

Was at grand opening of community pool when I was pretty young but I met him and he gave me autographed picture. He also swam a lap in our new pool.

Johnny Weissmuller, Woody Hayes, David Prowse, every NewMexico Politico with a "D" by their name, MaryEllen Withrow, Jack Hanna, John Glenn, Elvin Bishop and oh....Jackson Browne.

I would like to forget the time I met Ted Nuggent. WTF were we four sixteen year old girls doing in his bus??? ech....

a lot of conversation about listening to your children to hear what they are really interested in

Coretta Scott King, Hartsfield Crown Room, Adjacent to A-17, interesting conversation regarding equal opportunity and evaluation by character and ability, no mention or expectation of equal outcome or equal result

Hank Aaron, Cincinnati, Sheraton Gibson Hotel, coffee shop, August, 1973, absolute humility and complete gentleman, in full assault on the homerun record, had plenty of time to talk to fans, kids, and very nervous serving staff behind the counter, signed everything that could be signed

Morgan Freeman, Sardi's, West 44th Street, New York City, May, 2005, sat adjacent to our table in the back after his meeting was over, he was waiting on his car, chatted for 15 or 20 minutes about what projects he was working on, might actually prefer New York over Hollywood, the full stage over the big screen. Got jobbed on the best actor Oscar for Driving Miss Daisy, YessumMizDayzee

My niece stopped in Wendy's across from Knoxville airport one day after Jimmy Carter had left office. He was eating with his mother Lillian.

Between ages 3 and 6 I attended the nursery school on Ruth St. in Maryville behind the house of Flo Alexander. One day her son Lamar (he's 12 years older than me, so he was in high school) came and showed us the largest vinyl disc I had ever seen. We had 78's at home (33 1/3's were yet to come). This I believe was a disc containing a transcribed program received by the local radio station (WGAP?) where Lamar worked.

In 1981 on a trip to Montreal, we were changing planes in Boston. I passed by Tip O'Neill exiting the men's room.

Oh!
i have a pretty cool Jimmy Carter story.

I've never met him, but a good friend worked the reception desk at the Carter Center when it first opened. Turned out to be very stressful because her boss wouldn't send anybody to relieve her when she needed a bathroom break. It got worse and worse, and one day Donna was sitting there, bladder bursting, when Jimmy and Rosalynn walked in. They stopped to say hi to her and ask how she was doing. She burst into tears.

Jimmy wanted to know what was wrong and she said she needed to pee but couldn't leave until somebody came to watch the reception desk. He told her he'd do something about it, and a few minutes later, someone came hustling out to relieve her. Apparently Jimmy Carter is a very kind man.

Jimmy Carter...Richard Petty...John Hartford...Tim O'Brien (the musician, not the writer)...Jerry Douglas...Laurie Lewis...Wendell Berry...David Plowden (a photographer, famous in some circles)...Richard Steinheimer (another photographer, famous in smaller circles)...Carrie Newcomer...John McCutcheon...Garrison Keillor...Sylvia Kirby (a childhood neighbor who later became a minor Nashville sensation in the early 1980s as just "Sylvia")...Jean Redpath (Scottish folk singer)...I saw a 13-year-old Alison Krauss long before fame arrived, but can't specifically recall whether I actually talked to her...

Got to work closely with Michael, Paulie, and Johnny. Met Ty but was not impressed. My shots with Jenny McCarthy ended up on cutting room floor (but I am visible in the Knoxville show for a split second). That gives me a Bacon Number of 2. :)

I had a math professor at UT for whom a matrix algebra transformation - the Householder Transformation - was named. I guess he's famous among mathematicians.

My spouse says a more interesting thread would be "people of consequence" you have met - meaning people not necessarily famous but who are of, well, consequence.

(I think this thread is plenty interesting).

As an example he gives the first cousin I mentioned above, who has been President of Emory & Henry, chief of staff to Senator Charles Robb, and head of Virginia Public Radio. Guy also has a PhD in 20th century German history and testified at the trial of a Nazi war criminal sometime back.

He got all the brains in the family.

My closest brush with celebrity was seeing a friend's father on the Dick Cavett Show demonstrating the plexiglass he had developed.

Many of us know Ashley Capps, is he not a celebrity in his own right? At the very least he can provide us with 2 degress of separation with much of the music world.

I did meet Park Overall last year.

I've met and conversed at length with Harold Denton, the man in charge of cleaning up the Three Mile Island incident (and the inspiration for Bill Murray's character in the Pepsi Syndrome), Harold Black, the first black male undergraduate from the University of Georgia, the guy in charge of the Exxon Valdez cleanup, the holder of the NFL record for net punting yards in a game (69.2) Bobby Cifers (who was also Tennessee state track athlete of the century for the twentieth century) and former Army Historian John Jessup.

I also went to high school with Bill Bates and actually blocked him once when he bit on a fake and left himself exposed. That happened once. He learned quick.

Jimmy Carter & Millard Fuller - Habitat related. Garrison Keillor and cast of APHC - cruise. Howard Baker, Alex Haley, Knoxville. Joseph Heller reading Catch 22 and David Duke being a jerk - LSU in the 70's, Eric Johnson - loaned him my guitar and my car and baked vegan muffins for him once, back when he was family. Knitted wool socks for Peter Meyer - singer songwriter from MN - and got a thank you note! Arlo Guthrie when he was in Houston for Judo lessons with my friend's next door neighbor. So star-struck I absolutely embarrassed myself asking for too many autographs...

I had two of the three Stray Cats crash a party I threw during the fair. Slim Jim Phantom was truly dumber than a box of rocks, but he was a pretty good guy.

Harold Denton lives here and I've also gotten to talk with the gentleman. I've chatted with a few great musicians and probably a few sports stars too, including Lyle Alzado, and I tapped Nixon's shoulder when he was in the street in front of the Coliseum (~'68, I guess), but the best ones to mention are Jimmy Stewart and Roy Rogers, when I stepped up and shook hands with them following a political stop they were doing for Reagan in about '84.

My wife worked in OPM during the first Clinton term at a desk across from Linda Tripp. Said she was about as trustworthy as you can imagine (meaning: not at all). She's pretty sure Monica Lewinsky's internship paperwork crossed her desk at some point.

I've got a list of musicians and music industry types about a mile long. I once gave up my seat at a Dwight Yoakam show so that Earl Scruggs could have it. I've met Emmylou Harris a couple of times (and if you think she looks great, you should see her mother). I sat across from George & Nancy Jones at the Jason's Deli in Franklin, and was wholly intimidated. Had sushi next to Billy Bob Thornton, and my wife kept daring me to say something to him. Discretion, valor, etc. I said nothing to him. I've run spang into Steve Earle several times and he seems to recognize me. Marty Stuart is one cool cat. I would love to have an extended talk with him, as well as his ex-brothers-in-law Nick Lowe (completely accessible, easy going, funny as hell) and Rodney Crowell (ditto). I came face to face with Allison Moorer once and completely froze. I met Michael Stipe (REM) at a John Kerry fundraiser and grinned like an idiot when he shook my hand and introduced himself.

I've had s a couple of fairly long talks with a few NHL players too. Shea Weber, despite how he plays on the ice, is fairly taciturn. And Pekka Rinne is one of the nicest folks you'd want to meet... although he has hands like a pair of vise grips and shaking his hand, I was worried about breakage on my end. Stu "the Grim Reaper" Grimson is hard to read but loves to talk. And Terry Crisp, the 2nd voice of the Predators / former Broad Street Bully / Stanley Cup winning coach, is as huge a goofball in person that he is on TV.

Bill Clinton, Tom Barrett (Mayor of Milwaukee), Southern Culture on the Skids, Steven Wright. I was leaving the locker room at the Rush when I lived in Knoxville and Paulie Shore was walking in. Heyy buddyyy...

Of the famous "Laffer" curve came to UT Business School about 8 years ago, went to hear him speak. Since he didn't take questions, I went down later to engage him and challenge him on one of his blatantly false statements he used in his continued defense of his flawed theory.

Obviously, it was like wrestling with a pig. But I certainly got a feel for his overall personality.

like beanster, i'm not a celebrity hound. But yeah, HST. I was a kid in kansas city and one of the guys in my cub scout den was related to him, so we went to see him in Independence, MO. Handshakes, autographs, and some talking i don't recall.

a nice second or third degree: having lunch at Harry's Deli with a guitar-playing friend's guitar-playing friend who had gone down to Mississippi and hung out with Mississippi John Hurt.

Alrighty, I'll play.

When I was younger, I met Arlo Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Beverly Sills, all at different times. There were a number of "up and coming" artists that I met through the years, via my dad and his second wife, but have no idea if they became "famous". And, in art circles, my dad's second wife, Linda Nochlin, is very well known and highly admired.

TV/film stars, Mary Tyler Moore while skating at Rockefeller Center, we sat on a bench and chatted a little. I got stuck in a revolving door with Tony Randall. Also, when I was young, I got in George C Scott's way when I stumbled onto the set of The Hospital which was being filmed 2 blocks from where I lived. I also met a number of daytime soap stars back in the 1960's and 1970's -- some of whom were patients of my grandmothers.

I don't normally pay attention to someone's famous status and may have had some sort of interaction with a lot more famous people than I can remember.

Eleanor McAdoo Wiley, a niece of William Gibbs McAdoo, was a close friend from my twenties. She was not famous but her sister Catherine was well known. Nelle's portraits are displayed on many walls at UT and what I believe to be her last one, a portrait of my mother, graces my dining room. She died in 1977 at the age of one hundred and the mayor declared the day Eleanor McAdoo Wiley Day in Knoxville.

I have two short articles about her here on my website.

Eleanor McAdoo Wiley
The Hudson River School?

More on Sarah:

(link...)

26 years old and wins the Case of the Century, or one of them. Brown v Board of Edu was pretty important.

I didn't know her story either and that video is an excellent reminder of what happened. I believe the decision was based on a woman's right to privacy and now I worry about how that right is being trampled in many areas.

Art Buchwald, Ed Muskie, Al Gore, Molly Ivins, Al Franken, Joe Paterno, Jim Hightower, Phil Record, Molly Ivins, Scott Pelley, Ted Koppel, Henry Heimlich, William F. Buckley, Jerry Springer, Roxanne Qualls (former mayor of Cincinnati), Jean Cochran (NPR), Richard Quest (CNN).

Was alone in a reception room with John and my SO for about two minutes after he gave a gut-busting, hilarious monologue at the University Center, in the 1990s. (It took a while for the students to find it.)

Sean hosted Tuesday Night Fights on USA in the 1990s, and I talked with him before a televised fight at Harrah's in 1998. So sweet!

Stayed a couple of days at P. Egan's house a few years ago with my SO.

I guess it all depends on how you define celebrity, but here's a quick list of some of the famous folks I've had a chance to meet and or work with along the way (so far):

Alex Haley -- I worked with Mr. Haley for two years on a variety of projects. He was a friend and very much like my third grandfather.

Chet Atkins -- I got to emcee part of his final concert at the Tennessee Theater and also escort him to the unveiling of his Cradle of Country Music marker downtown.

Jimmy Carter -- got to meet and speak with him at a special meeting of student leaders when he visited my college campus.

Lamar Alexander - first met him when I was about 13 when he was governor. I stepped on his foot accidentally at a crowded reception. I believe he said he was grateful he didn't play piano with that foot.

Participation in student organizations such as Campus Democrats and Student Government at Memphis State afforded me an opportunity to meet a variety of guest speakers and politicians including: Al Gore, Jr., George McGovern, Lloyd Bentsen, the aforementioned Jimmy Carter and Jesse Jackson.

Jesse Jackson, Jr. -- met him on multiple occasions including when he delivered the eulogy at Alex Haley's funeral.

Bill Monroe -- one of the few people I've ever asked for an autograph.

Charlie Louvin -- got to speak for an extended time with Charlie about Knoxville radio days while backstage at the Chet Atkins concert. (Charlie was the opening act.)

John Schneider -- I actually met him walking down State Street in Knoxville. He had just finished performing in Oklahoma at the Tennessee Theater (which I had seen) and was wandering around downtown after the show. (I like this one just for the pure semi-randomness of it.)

Demon Kagure - a Japanese rock star and journalist. I was his guest on a Japanese documentary he hosted about the history of rock and roll. I will never forget an afternoon of walking around the Old City with him in his full kabuki-style make-up as we discussed the lineage of Celtic music, country music and rock and roll.

While the long-form version of the Demon Kagure story is a personal favorite, my dad has the all-time best story of a celebrity encounter: while working at the Knoxville News Sentinel, he was asked to help a visiting concert performer find a late night dinner after a show. And, that's how my dad ended up taking Liberace to Krystal.

Eddie Sutton, Univ Kentucky basketball coach was walking across the Henley Street bridge by himself, eating a Smoky Mountain Food Mart hotdog with a bag, I assume, of a few more. I did not have any interaction with him though, so does not qualify as a meeting, but was kind of a cool, uniquely Knoxville, scene. I wondered how he knew about their hot dogs. They were well known south of the river.

I got stuck in a revolving door with Tony Randall.

That had to hurt.

Forgot to mention Seth Lover, the inventor of the P.A.F. humbucking pickup, as made famous on Gibson guitars such as the Les Paul. I bought a Telefunken 7247 (IIRC) from him at a swap meet.

Ric Ocasek
Prince
Orrin Hatch
Erskine Bowles

Anne Rice. On her book tour for "Tale Of The Body Thief", I stood in line for my autographed copy. When it was my turn, I said, "Thank you for the Vampire Chronicles. I feel like you wrote them for me." Three years later, I stood in line again for her signing of "Memnoch The Devil" and said the same thing to her: "Thank you for the Vampire Chronicles. I feel like you wrote them for me." She said, "Yes, I know, Russ. That's what you keep telling me."

She remembered my name.

I almost ran over Ethel Kennedy's dog once, who had escaped from the accidentally open gate at Hickory Hill. I stopped, picked him up, placed him back inside the grounds, then drove off. No Kennedys were in sight.

The Kennedy story reminded me of a story from long ago. I had decided after an awful New Year's Eve 1987 (in Knoxville at Club Le Conte with a man I thought I was going to marry) that I was never going to go out again on New Year's Eve. So on NYE 1988 in Little Rock and single again, I turned down all invitations and went to bed at 10 p.m. Only my friend Dave, kept calling me from every party that he and our friend Guy went to, telling me what I was missing. I'd just gotten an answering machine, so I wasn't picking up and was just listening. About 11:30, there was a demand with both of them on the phone, "PG (my nickname -- my name is Pamela Gail), get yourself out of bed, get dressed and get over here. John Boy is here. John Kennedy Jr. Your going to regret it." This went one for longer than the other calls until finally, I picked up the phone and told both of them to leave me alone, I was trying to sleep, they were clearly drunk. No, the insisted, and they put a sober friend on the phone, who confirmed, that yes, JFK Jr. was there. Turns out he was roommates with a friend's brother at Browne and at come to Arkansas to have some peace and quiet.

Ric Ocasek
Prince
Orrin Hatch
Erskine Bowles

THAT was a helluva band! Especially when Orrin sang. Didn't they break up after Erskine spontaneously exploded at the drum kit?

One summer ('75 or '76) I spent in the Hamptons, we weren't far from the Eastman Estate. I had met some local kids that I would hang out with during the day, and one day a couple on a motorcycle drove by us. One of the kids said, "That's Paul and Linda McCartney" So, they took me to where they lived with the girls, at the time. It was NOT on the Eastman Estate, but a little dilapidated cottage across the street.

Yes, I knocked on the door. Linda McCartney answered, I saw two of the girls sitting in the kitchen and I saw Paul, sneaking out of the room. She was sweet as could be and said Paul didn't like to speak to fans while it was family time.

And, that's how my dad ended up taking Liberace to Krystal.

A friend saw Bob Dylan eating at the Cumberland Ave. Krystal after a show during the late '70s, and got his autograph on a fine Krystal napkin.

Dagnabbit!
Overlooked the nearest and dearest and the obviousest"

My fabulous son-in-law, Tim Schafer: (link...)

And John Bean

(link...)

# 1 = Hillary Clinton – danced with her in Knoxville at Hyatt in ‘92; # 2 = Carolyn Kennedy; best of the rest = Jeff Shaara – best selling author (his dad won Pulitzer for The Killer Angels); Arthur Miller in NY; Al Gore; Bill Clinton; John Edwards in ‘2004; Joe Biden in Memphis in ‘88 right after he quit the race; Fritz Hollings in DC in 1983 as he was running for president; Tipper Gore; David Keith; Don Williams – country music star; David Boise – Al Gore’s lawyer and the best lawyer in America; Ted Kennedy; Joe Kennedy (Bobby’s oldest boy and a former Congressman); Ned McWherter; Harold Ford, Jr.; James Carville; Steven Wright; Henry Cho (comic and classmate of mine at West Haven/Northwest/West); Big John Tate; Ace Miller; Jake Butcher

Mostly science fiction writers when they use to have sf conventions called Kubla Khans in Nashville.

Stephen King the horror writer.He was very nice.

Andre Norton, met her at a convention in Orlando Florida.She had ties to Tn. One of the writers from the golden age of SF.

John Douglas the former FBI Criminal Profiler at a seminar in Nashville. He discussed the Jon Benet Ramsey case among others.

That's about it.