When I was living in LA, I saw a number of celebs, especially b/c they always come to music concerts.

At concerts, I have sat w/in 2 rows and about 3 seats to the left or right of:
Eddie Murphy (who was with a woman that was a replica of his ex-wife Nicole in general features)...and of course, Eddie was wearing a black turtleneck and black leather jacket - as hot as it was in that concert arena. He would turn around every once in a while to pose for the cameraphones positioned towards him and wave and give that big teeth smile and make that funny laugh. It was pretty amazing actually since I was only like a couple of rows away (and the person between us had not showed up so I actually had a completely unobstructed view of him up close).
Eddie was with:
Sugar Ray (he's as fine as on tv) and his wife and two daughters; and
The guy on that show with the two AA guys (one was Terrence Howard) and their dad was Phil from Fresh Prince and they owned a lawfirm
-- all three were sitting on the same row as if they came together.

I've talked for a few minutes to Soror JoMarie Payton Noble who DID NOT HESITATE TO SKEE WEE ME AND THROW UP THE PINKYFIRST WHEN SHE FOUND OUT I WAS A SOROR !!!! :) She was in the food line right in front of me at a concert. Supercool soror!


I've sat across from Spinderella in a restaurant, and the John Singleton was walking around dapping people up. What is most hilarious is that whenever I tell people the first (and only) thing that they always ask is "Was Tyra there"? (I saw him back when they were dating in the late '90s or so). LOL.

Also, hilarious - I've had the following walk right past me - Kenny Lattimore, and the first (and only) question that I'm ever asked is "Was Chante there"? LOL. Hilarious...and tragic for Kenny, I guess. But hey, he had some hits. I don't feel sorry for him.

I lived around the corner from Regina King so she'd be out jogging in the mornings.

I've also had the pleasure of meeting Soror Hazel O'Leary, who I consider a celeb in my own world (heck, she was the Sec of Energy wasn't she?)

Seen a few celebs in LAX. Brandy walked right past me into a bookstore when we were waiting for a redeye flight once.

Met Andre 2000 (or is it 3000? who knows - of course this was back when he was just Dre from Outkast) at Atlanta Hartsfield Airport on my flight to LA from Atlanta. He was wearing the coolest Negro Leagues leather jacket and had his head wrapped up. I was in the boarding line with him and he was really nice and even gave my little sister an autograph when I approached him again once he was seated. Of course, he was in first class - I wasn't but anyway. The business man sitting next to him was apparently completely oblivious of who he was. When I came back to ask for his autograph, the man had the blankest look on his face. He asked my sister's name and everything. He was very nice.

SC

The ones that come to mind:
Ellis Marsalis in elementary school
Jessie Jackson
Jagged Edge
Omarion
Yo Mama

Met a lot of people
 

My List:
1. Dr. Dorothy I. Height (met her several times, but just recently saw and spoke to her at a dinner. I told her she is the greatest woman ever and how much of an inspriation she is and she kissed me on the cheek! and that woman had on the baddest hat!)
2. Coretta Scott King (met her on several occasions as well. She was extremely nice. RIP)
3. Martin III (met him several times. We got to know each other when he was Pres. of S.C.L.C. He's a cool dude.)
4. Bernice King (Met her twice once when we were speaking at the same event.)
5. Dr. Joseph E. Lowery is like a grandad to me. He is the funniest reverend walkin the earth. He is extra cool!
6. Evelyn Gibson Lowery (she's a really great person and she handles bizness! The events she holds are always spectacular and she rides hard for women!)
7. Jessie Jackson (we were on a panel together or something like that)
8. Al Sharpton (met on several occasions, but most recently when he moderated a panel I was on)
9. Mayor Shirley Franklin (one word: BOSS! She's cool and she's direct and honest)
10. Andrew Young (he's cool and his wife is cooler! lol)
11. Cornell West
12. John Lewis
13. Charles Rangle
15. Charles Steele (current pres. S.C.L.C.)
16. Nelson Mandela (my moms was madd because she was runin around all day tryna meet him and I was in like KinderG. and he came by and shook all of our hands. I was like 4 and my mom was like you did not meet Nelson Mandela at school today and I was like un hunn. Lol.)
17. James Orange (RIP) "leader"
18. Lil Bow Wow (met on a flight from D.C. to Atl. He was a str8 up butthole! I was like boy im a middle school girl and youre not as tall as me and you got the nerve to not wanna take a pic and have an attitude! NO booboo!)
19. Alicia Keys (smaller and taller in person, but she's hella cool)
20. Scarface (that is one short rapper)
21. Killer Mike (really shoulda been the one named big boi)
22. Wangari Maathai (the 1st african woman to receive a Nobel Prize)
23. Sammie
24. Tyresee (Yeah, the pictures dont lie.)
25. Willie Nelson (ok so we were in the middle of a march and its hot as all get out and everyone is tryna get up front so they can be seen and I look to my right and its Willie Nelson! and he was marchin there like he was willie williams and nobody knew who he was. Hippie lookin dude, but he wasnt one of those "star" type people he was so random like look to your left joe schmoe look to your right Wille Nelson.)
26. Sheryll Lee Ralph (she has a big voice; it carries far. if that's what my drama summer school teacher meant by use your diaphram and project then I know I shoulda failed!)
27. Shirley Ceaser (saw her, but I didnt talk to her)
28. Roland S. Martin (funny dude. He was tryna be all up in our pics)
29. J-Nicks (radio personality from Atl)
30. Bev. Smith (she's cool and she was really nice when she interviewed me and she even remembered me like a year later!)
So I guess those are the important ones...

I thought I posted in this thread way back, anyway:

Entertainers:

Tommy Davidson
Sister Sledge (with rollers in their hair and no make-up):eek:
Tony Terry (went to high school with him and sang in the same choir) :)
Sugar Ray Leonard (grew up around the corner from him)
Skyy
Maya Angelou


Non-entertainers:

Coretta Scott King
Randall Robinson
Marion Barry
Soror Cynthia Horner

I have met Stoney Jackson, Ricky Smiley, Sheryl Underwood, Sommore, the cast and crew of the Civil War Movie, "Glory". Unfornately, I did not met Denzel or Tom, but Morgan Freeman, Cary Elwes, Andre Brougher, and the director Edward Zwick were soooo cool. They use to come to my Uncle's club every Sunday to chill during the filming in my home town.

OMG, I fogot Ray J, Nappy Roots, Doug Banks, Dee Dee, Tom Joyner, & Bootsy Collins! I did not realized that I have met so many famous people!

In my lifetime so far, I've met...

1. Tatiana Ali
2. Robert Guiallme (sp) b.k.a. Benson
3. Glynn Turman
4. Tim and Daphne Maxwell Reid
5. Suzanne Douglass
6. Ralph Tresvant
7. Jamie Foxx
8. Brandy
9. Ludacris (Spoke to him at a World Aids Day function)
10. Brian McKnight (spoke to him on the telephone)
11. Harrison Ford (spoke to him on the phone when he called my job)
12. Kelly Price
13. Brad Jordan a.k.a. Scarface
14. Carl Anthony Payne (at a New Edition concert a long time ago)
15. Ja Rule
16. Donnie Simpson (WPGC 95.5)
17. Big Tigger (WPGC 95.5)
18. Kelly Ripa
19. Charli Baltimore
20. Pat Southall-Lawrence (ex-wife of Martin Lawrence, but was married to him when I met her)

What a great thread!

I work in media so I've met quite a few and I'm just going to list the "highlights" off the top in no particular order except the first three:

Nelson Mandela
Winnie Mandela
Barack and Michelle Obama
Ice Cube (in the newsroom!)
Bill Clinton
Jesse Jackson
Brian Dennehy (in the newsroom)
Allen Payne (right after Jason's Lyric, when he was still fine)
Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown
Grant Hill (total sweetheart!)
Lennox Lewis
Alonzo Mourning
Michael Jordan
Dr. J
Maxine Waters
Chaka Khan
David Alan Grier (kind of a jerk)

I can't believe I'm following that last list....
 

I thought I posted here, too. These are the ones I can think of, but I bet there's more. I live in ATL after all.

I've met:

Ludacris - went to HS together, and I interned at Hot 97.5 while he was there. In the few times I've encountered him since, we always hug and play catch up.
Big Boi from Outkast - COOOOOL dude
E. Lynn Harris
Black Eyed Peas (pre-Fergie)
Saul Williams
A Tribe Called Quest - hugged Q-tip
Bill Cosby
MC Breed - I didn't even know who he was, but my Taco Bell coworkers were crunk
Sheryl Underwood

I've encountered:

Toni Braxton
Usher (filling up at a gas station)
Evander Holyfield
112
Andrew Young (awkward)
Mayor Shirley Franklin (just shopping at Barnes & Noble in East Point...cool)
Chuck D - at the DMV in College Park. I didn't recognize him until I found it unusual to see someone in CP wearing wood beads and a Celtics hat.
Jermaine Dupri and Da Brat together

Throughout my lifetime...I have met...

Donnie Simpson and his daughter...sitting in front of me @ a concert in the early 90's.

Clarence Avant - actually related to him - extended cousins through marriage

Missy Elliot - at a People's Expo in DC (want to say 1996 or 1997)

Chelsea Clinton - when her parents were considering sending her to my junior high school (Alice Deal) but she ended up going to Sidwell Friends (private school).

Robert Rubin - US Department of Treasury Secretary - met during 1996-1997 when interning in the Chief of Staff's Office.

George Stephanopoulos - met him while interning with the Department of Treasury and he had meetings with the chief of staff

CeCe Winans - she is very humble and down to earth; met at a concert @ my church

Tye Tribbett - met him at the Winter Retreat 2007; he is another person who is extremely down to earth and has not allowed his "stardom" to keep him away from the people.

Zakiyah Williams - she starred in Madea's Family Reunion the stage play...we worked together on a play that she did at my church in Richmond, VA.

Met a lot of authors, because that's the crowd I run in.

Gloria Naylor
Alice Walker
Leann Howe
Salman Rushdie
Octavia Butler
Nikki Giovanni
Sonya Sanchez

There are more; maybe later, I will remember.

Some Scholars

Henry Louis Gates
Patricia Hill Collins
Cornel West
Hazel Carby

These are the ones that most people have heard of.

Numerous celebrities, I can't really even remember. Though I did mention Hill Harper in that other thread.

Halle Berry
David Justice
Bruce Bruce

I lost my MIND when I met Dr. Cornel West. I had all of his books before the storm. I also met Tavis Smiley, BBD(years ago), Monica(she was really down to Earth), Immature, the guy who played Cochise in Cooley High(lOL). that was so funny. He started talking to us and asked me if I was OK. All I could say is "How was it to play Joe Jackson?"

I met Oprah when I was really young, maybe 9 or 10 year old. I was with my dad in some building in Chicago. She was walking down the hall in a gown, there was some type of Gala going on, and she came over to speak to us.

Nikki Giovanni back in 2004 (or 2005) when she visited my campus.

Barack and Michelle Obama at the Bud Billiken (sp?) parade in Chicago (2004) during his Senate campaign.

Marlon and Shawn Wayans back in Cleveland (Randall Park Mall) when I was in middle school.

Yolanda King, a year before she passed. :(

Jill Scott (not nice at all)
John Canada Terrell (Flash from Five Heartbeats)
James Brown (may he rest in peace)
Phyllis Hyman (may she rest in peace)
Christopher Williams
Leon (I love my part time job at the Theater)
Sean Levert (may he rest in peace)

I used to work for a radio station so I have met way more enteratiners and famous people than I can remember. But my most memorable encounter was way before I began working in radio...

I was in highschool, it was late 1996 I met Jay-Z . This was before Jay-Z was Jigga, Hova, and what ever other names he has called himself in the last 12 years. He had just come out with his first album Reasonable Doubt ( which in my opinion is one of his best albums) and he was doing a promotional tour. I was at a college recruitment event and they had a party/concert that night. my friend and I were wandering trying to find the bathroom. I heard voices coming from one of the rooms and with my nosey self I had to see who it was. I peaked my head in and much to my surprise it was Jay-Z and crew! I remember he had a great sense of humor, and he was very down to earth.I wanted an autograph and of course being 16 at the time I didn't have anything to write with so he took a napkin and wrote a small note. I was on a natural high for like a month!!!

:eek:WHAT?!?!

I know! That broke my heart LOL

broke my heart too at first.

Celebs have no obligation to be nice or welcoming 100% of the time. Just like noncelebs don't. :)

^I agree however when I talked to other people who met her they said the same thing. I can only speak on MY encounter with someone.

Adding to my earlier post,

Wow, I guess that this is telling that I don't think of him as a celebrity b/c I forgot to add:

Barack Obama - my constitutional law professor when I was in lawschool. Nice, genuine, down-to-earth man.

Wow, that's crazy. He's just Professor Obama to me. It never occurred to me to list him as a celebrity ... but, alas, I guess he is now.

SC

^^^ That's CRAZAY!!!!!

Huh? Me? (or another post) :)

E-nuff with the false modesty. We know you are in dude's Fave5 :cool: Go 'head and floss, girl. :)

Tony, how many times can I tell you that you're crazy. He probably has met so many people since I left his class that he wouldn't even remember me if I saw him today. Who knows.

It's not false modesty. I honestly didn't even think of him when I was thinking of celebrities. I guess I just think of him based on the way that I *knew* him - as my teacher. He was and is an honest and down to earth man whom the students loved. Even when I was in his class, there was a little bit of a disconnect for me between him and his job in Springfield as IL senator. Even then, I never thought of him as a senator. We just called him "professor." So you know that I can't hardly believe that he's now the dem. nominee for President...that's way more than state senator ...and I had not even taken that in. Don't get me wrong. I knew that he was one to contend with in Springfield but he never interjected that into teaching. We never heard about the bills that he was sponsoring or what he did when he left the campus. He never used the lawschool classroom as a pulpit for his political theories or work. Now that i think of it, he honestly never mentioned his "other position" as IL state senator. It was all about what he was there to do - teach us about equal protection (brown v. board, gender discrim, voting rights, the old concepts of separate but equal). Actually, now that i think of it, I think that that's kind of big of him b/c he honestly never talked about the great work that he was doing in Springfield. he was just prof. obama. so to that end, i never internalized the other stuff. i was trying to get a good grade.... :) and yes, his final was hard...and i did NOT appreciate it. :)

SC

WOW!!! I would have loved to have had Obama for my constitutional law prof, although I did have a great one in Professor Cheryl Harris. She's a sister, a critical race theorist (and possibly much more "radical" than Obama) and EVERYONE wanted to take her con law class.

Someone mentioned Donny Simpson. I don't know how many times I've met him over the years. When I was 16, I stood in a line for an hour in 90+ degree heat to get his autograph and a picture! He used to do these pool parties all over the city with WKYS. All I remember was those eyes. I used to love him!!

off the top of my head in no particular order:

Tracy and Melissa Gold
Tommy Davidson (nice guy)
Dwyane from Tony ToniTone
Democratic candidate Barack Obama
Maxine Waters (her sister is SGRho, she's a Delta)
Mayor Gavin Newsom (CUTE!! and tall too:))
former Mayor Diane Feinstein
former Mayor Willie Brown (Alpha)
former Mayor Joseph Alioto
District attorney Kamala Harris (Howard AKA)
Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi
other local politicians

there are more but I can't remember. I'm having a senior moment:D

I went to L.A. a couple of weeks ago and saw Queen "Latisha" as my Great-Aunt called her, in a Fat Burger.

We stayed at the Sheraton Universal the week of the BET Awards, so all kinds of celebs were there. I was too busy making sure my children were in arms reach of me, but I did get a glimpse of Nicole Ari Parker Kodjoe (sans Boris-I was trying to locate him though), B.B. King, Big Tigga (is he still relevant?) Jabbawokeez (the dance crew), and I got a chance to attend the BET Awards show. That was really a good time.

Had he been my professor, I doubt any learning would have occured in there. I would have been staring at him all class period!

I met Tasha Smith at Essence last weekend. She was down to earth. She was all over the place.