AMAZING! RUDE! & SAID TO BE RUDE, BUT I FOUND HER TO BE NICE! This is REALLY long, but I HOPE interesting!
I attend Dragon Con every year and I collect autographs, so I've met A LOT of people (mostly cause I put up with those lines!)
Best:
Art Alexakis the lead singer from Everclear. Here's the story...so myself, brother, and two friends saw Everclear at the Hampton Beach Casino Ball Room in Hampton Beach, NH (Fastball was opening...remember them? This was 1996 or 1997) It's a GREAT place to see anyone perform, cause you're pretty much guaranteed to meet them at the end. The problem that night is that we had REALLY bad storms,...some said Tornado,...(dont know about that) but Hurricane in the very least..and the power kept going out mid-song, which forced Everclear to go out to their bus and grab their acoustic instruments and candles and play the rest of the show that way. Ended up being a real good time.
Because of the storm. No one stuck around to seek autographs except for us and one other small group who stood next to Everclear's bus. It's STILL pouring and we stood out there for at least an hour waiting. The band got on the bus but Art was no where to be seen....so we waited. FINALLY...here he comes....you've never seen a more apologetic person. He said "I'm soo sorry, I was taking my time and doing local interviews, but if I knew that anyone was crazy enough to wait out here I would of come out so much sooner!" So we jumped on the attack to compliment him and the concert. He thanked us,..but it wasn't what he wanted to talk about. He wanted to know OUR names, and what WE wanted to be...and he turned it completely around to be about us.
As we were parting, we discovered that the other group of kids had locked their keys in their car. They were stuck. So I called AAA and had to stick around for them to show up....because of the storm...AAA couldn't get to us for 3 hours!! 3 hours....waiting,...in the pouring rain......but guess what? Art waited too. Hung with us the whole time.
AAA finally came. AT THE TIME...you had to fill out the same information (address and what not) on two different forms (you dont have to do this anymore) and Art was with the other group at the car while I filled out forms....obviously I wanted to hang with him,..but I also felt weird crowding the guy,...when who slides next to me but Art and he grabs the 2nd form and starts looking at the form I have....what's your address? And he fills out the second one, when we get news from the AAA guy.....he doesn't have the right tools to get into the car and he can't come back until the next day. Great......... Art asks the group where they live. "Worcester" they respond (Worcester is an hour an 1/2 away from Hampton Beach where Everclear's hotel was for that night. "Ok" he said "Get in." Art invited the kids onto the tour bus and drove them the hour and 1/2 back to Worcester so they could go home so he could drive back and go to sleep. I mean,......you just don't get nicer than that. Seriously. True Story.
Other nicest:
Peter Jurasik, Brian Steele, Christopher Lloyd, James Tolkan, Carroll Spinney, and Glenn Shadix (R.I.P.) few people have an "I got *****-faced in the green room with Otho" stories!
Now for the Worst:
Margot Kidder (and I don't even know if I'm allowed to say that since we already know that she's insane) I work in film and I'm an actor. A lot of that desire to become what I am has been fueled by the films I saw as a kid. One of the biggest of those, and one of the first films I ever saw was "Superman." I was instantly in love with it. I was so excited to meet Margot Kidder at Dragon Con. I walked up to her, ecstatically shy, and selected a picture for her to sign. It was the picture of her and Chris flying together in the "Can you Read My Mind" sequence. A classic. My name was Kurt with a K, if she could please address it to me.....(she wasn't signing, but looking around the room) Without her attention, I told her how much her work meant to me and how it inspired me to follow in the trade. It was a pretty nice compliment.........no response. I had a DVD of my work that I wanted to share with her. She could have it for free. She said no but kept looking around the room. Then she called over a group of kids in costumes that she liked. She carried on with them for about 10 minutes while I stood there awkwardly, waiting for my autograph. I felt like an idiot. The guy with her didnt know what to say. I stood there long past the point when I should of given up and walked away. I felt like an idiot and I looked like one. Finally the costumed people left. I remained standing there thinking that I MIGHT have her attention again (if I ever had it) I didn't. she kept looking around....looking THROUGH ME, it was REALLY weird. Her eyes kept crossing my body but she never looked up. I was dumbfounded. After another couple of minutes you literally saw her snap out of it. She said "Oh,...did I sign your picture?" I said "No." She replied, "Oh,...What's your name?" I said "Kurt...with a K." She finally starts to sign my pictures. C-U-R-T....and slid it over to me......I said,..."Can you draw a line down the side of that C?" After a beat she asked "Why?" I said "Because my name's spelled with a K........(like I said)." I was already a little annoyed and let down. She said "Oh,...well let me fill you out a new one." I said "No it's fine,...just draw a line on this one" and she did. It's CLEARLY a C with a line on it. It will forever remind me of this really awkward meeting. Sad.
Next worst experience was
June Lockhart, from Lassie and a million other things. This is another personal story, which just made the experience unfortunate. My mom will kill me for publishing this online, but when my mother was little, she believed that things in the TV were real. In one episode of Lassie, Lassie was trapped and was going to die or what not or the other thing. Whatever it was, my mom was going to save him. She ran and got my grandfathers hammer when my grandfather saw her and stopped her arm mid-swing to smash open the television and let Lassie out.....it's been a long time story/joke in my house for a LONG time.
Even when I was growing up, I used to watch Lassie on Nickelodeon, along with Dennis the Menace and all those other black and white shows that Nick used to air. So I was excited to meet her myself.
Now! I DO give her some slack because let's face it, she's pretty old now. It was like $35 dollars or something for her autograph. I bought two of them. One for me and one for my mom. Mine just read, To Kurt, June Lockhart...and I asked her to sign something special on my moms. She was a little taken a back,.....like it was rude for me to request something special, but she said "what?" I said could you please write "Marcia, thanks for saving Lassie, June Lockhart. Almost offended she said "THAT'S TOO LONG!!" I counted it out on my hand Thanks (1) For (2) Saving (3) Lassie (4)....wow you're right....that IS long......(4 words) so she didn't do it. I just handed you $70 I THINK you can give me 4 words. Oh well.
Other worst...I've never asked for
Doug (Pinhead) Bradley's autograph, but I've been with two different individuals at two different conventions who did, and both times....he was kind of a ******.
FINALLY, in answer to the other question, who was nice to me that may have reportedly been a ***** to others.....
Linda Blair.
I'll be honest. I was worried. I've read a lot of horror stories from people who met Linda Blair. A lot of disappointment when meeting celebrities stems from the fact that we expect them to love us as much as we love them. And that isn't so. Nor do they "know" us the way that we "know" them. As far as they know, we're strangers who wish to do them harm. So I approached Linda with no expectations. That way. I couldn't be disappointed.
First of all. I think Linda Blair has ZERO interest in conventions. She gets her money and she has a box on her table to raise money for dogs, which is a charity she raises money for. That's what she cares about. Respect that. I walked up, but I gave her her space.
If you EVER meet her, don't be crazy, don't be stupid, don't ask for outlandish things....and be respectful. She'll be just as kind to you. She was very sweet, and talked to me for a few minutes. It was $25 for an autograph, and another $25 to get a picture with her. That pissed A LOT of people off. The extra $25 goes right into the charity jar.
I told her I didn't have an extra $25 but I wanted to give her SOMETHING for her charity and I stuck $5 in the jar. She was very happy and gave me a leaflet to let me know where my money was going and how it helps. She signed my picture, talked for another minute, wished me a happy thanksgiving and I was on my way!
I don't know what more I could have expected. It was genuinely nice to meet her.
