what's the closest you've come to fame?

Ha ha not a chance. Good question though.

i shook hands with the first man to drive a car on the moon

Really? what was that all about then? Who was he?

MTV called me about this band I play in, which is basically my brother and me recording songs on a 4 track. They asked us to send a press kit because they were looking to do a Real-World type show about a group whose band members are relatives. You know, like the Partridge Family, but real.

So, did anything come of it? how shit that they asked for a press kit. You should have gone round to their headquarters and torched it, at least that way you could have got on CNN.

pete conrad: i did a story on the astronauts convention in 1990

you mean Astronauts have conventions too? I think that's not bad because I'm sure there's a certain afinity that you get from a collective experience of being in space that you just don't get from, say, ex employees of "Tower records" getting together to get pissed. Was Buzz Aldrin there? what about the chap who landed on the moon but never left the craft? I love the honesty of conventions, the fact that you can affiliate yourself to a cause or belief without any semblence of shame. Did you get the interview?

buzz aldrin not there, tho they kept saying he was going to turn up!!

it was astronauts AND cosmonauts, and actually i think it was 1988, cz it was before the wall came down

i also met the dutch astronaut WUBBO OCKELS, who is as i have mentioned before on ilx — a silky bastard

also i have pissed in the stall next to sean connery

i did not peek

Well, we didn't even know why they wanted the press kit until later. We didn't even have a press kit, but we made up some bullshit and sent it to them. We wanted to see what would happen. A couple weeks later they called me a bunch of times. This was about two years ago, when I was 20 and my brother 15. Here's the conversation:

MTV: Charlie, we got your demo tape.

Me: Yeah.

MTV: Do you have anything that sounds a little bit... better?

Me (after long pause): No.

MTV: We see from your press kit that you have another brother and sister who play instruments but are not in the band. Are there any plans for them to join the band?

Me: Not really, no.

MTV: What about your parents? Are they involved in the business?

Me: Business?

MTV: You know, do they help out with the band?

Me: Well, they buy us equipment sometimes.

MTV: I see... well, we'll call you back.

Unbelievably, they actually did call back after that to ask even more questions! My brother and I thought this was hilarious. We were pretty damn sure we weren't what they were looking for, but we thought maybe we'd get a 5 second snippet on some behind the scenes preview of the show, like, "These are some of our finalists!" That's probably about as close to fame as I'll ever get.

I'm glad the White Stripes showed more initiative than you did Charlie.

I'm not, I want to hear Charlie rock. :-)

I appeared on a 1982 episode of Captain Kangaroo in which I glorified the US military-industrial complex via my dad's employment as a nuke sub captain. I wasn't aware of my role at the time, but I still loved it. ;-)

There exists somewhere a recording of me singing my immortal song "Syd and Sid" from 1990 or so. An homage to Messers Barrett and Vicious, I do not know where it is, nor will I ever be tempted to search for it.

Ned, you were on Captain Kangaroo? I am impressed.

In a musical perspective I once had my stupid noises played on the nation's radio network, the CBC. Actually, more than once...had quite a few different tracks played, and got a few hundred dollars in royalties for it. Fame, though? Nah. Probably more fame from my other writing job, on computer stuff. In fact, just appeared on cable TV talking about gadgets. Neat!

Actually, I realized after I posted it there are no mp3's on the site. The only evidence that he's going to be a rock star you'll find is photos of him taken in the rain. All rock stars have their pictures taken in the rain. E-mail me, tho, if you want mp3's, of course.

Ned, you were on Captain Kangaroo? I am impressed.

I was indeed -- it was fun, though a long day of filming! ;-)

Did you get to meet Mr. Green Jeans? I remember that my mom approved of Captain Kangaroo but not of Capt. Noah. Somehow or other she had come across information that Capt. Noah was actually not a very nice person.

Ah, I must clarify a bit -- I was not in the studio itself, it was a remote shoot as part of a running series about 'what kids like you!' do. And as I boldly said in the running narration, "My dad has an UNUSUAL job."

I knew someone who was in the film "Whatever Became of the Human Race." He was born with serious birth defects, but was more or less surgically rescued/reconstructed by Dr. C Everet Koop (xct sp?). However, he still had to deal with a lot of underlying medical problems. Anyway, that was a film about various social issues, made from a Fundamentalist (or perhaps more accurately, Reformed) Christian perspective. He got to talk about how despite his problems he was glad he hadn't been aborted, but by the time I met him he expressed the idea that maybe it would have been better if he had been. By that point he had developed a good deal of hostility toward relgion, as well. (He still had a lot of respect for Dr. Koop, who he said was quite a decent person.)

i think the biggest show my old group (prose and concepts) did was opening for pearl jam at the arena in seattle. biggest in terms of highest profile. biggest in terms of audience was a show at bumbershoot which is the big city festival. we had a (rather bad) album on loosegroove records and got dropped from the label after recording our second album (which was much better, but oh well). at least we got to keep the second record. other good opening slots we had: the pharcyde, i swear we opened for the roots once in portland, rass kass. actually the day we got let go from the label was one of the happiest days of my life! anyways thats the most fame i ever had the (dis?)pleasure of attaining.

oh yeah, an old friend of mine is buddies with maya rudolph so one time when she was visiting here, we all went out dancing. this was before she was on snl, i didn't even know she was into acting at the time. i just knew she was minnie riperton's daughter.

butterfly from digable planets went to my high school

chris cornell offered me a beer once. i declined. (what???)

I was once within 10 feet of the Pope. It was in1980 and he was at a park in Manchester, he went past me in his Papal vehicle. It was emorttalised in the Fall song "Papal visit". His appearance in the park that is, not my non meeting with him.

He looked squidgy.

my mum once refused to let lou reed sit next to her at the movies (star wars)

My 'greatest' claim to fame: my ex-wife once shagged a Womble.

I've never had a substantial conversation with anyone really famous (closest: John Cooper-Clarke, Captain Sensible or Jack Kirby, possibly), nor come close to fame myself. Being interviewed on local radio a couple of times about comics is a very great distance from fame. Short of taking a sledgehammer to a statue of Churchill, I confidently expect to remain obscure.

"This is the closest you'll ever get to fame, is getting this song written about you..." - song which didn't make the cut on our album.

I get accused of namedropping every time I answer a thread like this honestly. But yes. Quite a few people, actually. It's quite common to open the NME or other rag and scream because my sister/next door neighbour/ex boyfriend is in it.

posting on the same message board as kate st clair whoo!

I've had two songs played on student radio!

Yes! Yes! I just had an ex-boyfriend message to offer congrats on a favourable review in Nightshift. Thank you, god! I only ever wanted to be famous so the people who done me wrong could see my name in print/hear me on the radio and grovel...

Elvin Jones gave me a nickel that he found on the ground.

This one didn't happen to me but it's a legendary story here in Sydney. It was the late 80's and all the grungy industrial bands played at this horrible scummy pub called the Evening Star - the bands called it the Evil Star. Mostly they sounded like Skinny Puppy or Joy Division, or some combination of the two. Anyway, one night one of the regular bands was playing their gut churning industrial grind in the Evil Star, the audience numbered about 50 people as usual, everyone was drunk and wearing their leather jackets, and in walks... David Bowie. He sits down and listens to the entire set while chatting with friends. After the gig, one of the guys in the band rushes home, gets a copy of their last self-financed album, brings it back, and says, "Er, Mr Bowie, we'd like you to have a copy of this". David Bowie looks at him, smiles, says "Thanks!", DOES NOT TAKE THE RECORD, and turns back to talk to his friends.

That was the end of that. However, in a subsequent interview, Bowie mentioned a thriving industrial scene in Sydney which he enjoyed in between sessions recording the first Tin Machine album.

A band I'm about to support on tour recently supported Jonathan Richman.. that's gotta count?

Toya went to my high school.

Hey Kris - this is weird, because I know one of The Chesterf!elds, and I've played support to David Gedge...but I've never met Badly Drawn Boy.

I had a piss next to Dave Pirner of Soul Asylum

My sister used to own the 'Kids from Fame' alb.

I've done a Peel Session and Radiohead supported my band (long long ago). And last week I had a tune played on the Radio 1 breakfast show 3 times.

that was a bit me me me. sorry.

i printed a tshirt for my friend antony from isan and he wore it on stage at sonar the other week.

Somehow or other - through connections on the Posies mailing list - the band I'm a member of had our CD played consistently for a month in a bank in Seattle. Not bad for a Newport band.

I sing in the chorus with the Boston Symphony, which has allowed me to get to know several of the musicians in the orchestra and allowed me to meet some other famous folks (Joshua Bell, Christine Goerke, Florance Quivar, Rene Pape, Seiji Ozawa, Keith Lockhart, Bernard Haitink). Also, a very good friend of mine is the principal harpist for the Atlanta Symphony while another good friend is singing opera in LA. I've also sung solo stuff at tree-lighting ceremonies in Boston to crowds of around 100,000 and I've been on TV singing with the Boston Pops (including one small ensemble thing). There are also 4 CDs of choral music you can track down on Amazon.com that I sang on.

I was in a band with Charlie, who was in a different band with his brother which was almost on MTV. Does that count?

1. Opening for the Minutemen (my band was Braille Party, sort of a smart-guy's hardcore band, we got faster and more mathematical later)..early 80s, DC Space in Washington DC. I spent most of their set onstage trying (in vain) to keep their fucking huge set list from falling off the wall.

2. Opening for Dead Kennedys at Rock Against Reagan on the mall, 1984, I think (it's all drug-fuzzy and tempered by time!)

3. Getting a $400 check in the mail from ASCAP for a song of mine used in a German TV commercial, many years after the record in question was out of print.

4. Every review that's ever had my name in it, fame being quite ephemeral!

I pissed next to Richard Ashcroft and made a complete drunken fool of myself.

What band were you in Jez? cos I saw the Wedding Present many many times so I may well have seen you.

What was the Chesterfields chap's name, we'll see if it's the same one.

Chesterfields thread coming very soon.

i was at the NERD gig last monday and Kieran Hebden of Fridge/Fourtet etc was standing in front of me standing stock still in deep concentration (so as to not have fun). needless to say come the mosh at 'rock star' he gets a mysterious elbow in tha head...

then i i think i saw the streets on the train home, but I could so so easily have been wrong

and the girl i am currently trying to snare is also being romanced by one Roots Manuva. he is v. cheesy but it seems to be working gah!

A very drunk Kim Deal bummed cigarettes off me all night at a Guided by Voices gig.

Appeared on the CBS TV show "Kidsworld," a kind of precursor to "Nick News," in 1979. I narrated a segment about my school's computer lab. God, I wish I had a copy of this now. I actually called the production company a few years ago, and they told me they'd destroyed all the old master tapes.

I pissed next to Mat Maneri, NYC free jazz dude.

I was also in the Hollywood blockbuster Major Payne, starring Damon Wayans.

Im once installed electronics at PAULA ABDULS home and was surprised!

Er, by what, exactly?

she came to the door in a dress

Paula Abdul is a complete chickenhawk.

I have talked with some famous folks before, but I don't really consider that a brush with fame because it's nothing to do with me being famous. Though I was on the cover of a local paper when I was 5.

OK HEre is on; Im once smoked pot with Les Carpool

oh yeah i installed some cabinets at nate mcmillan's house (seattle sonics) he was a nice guy. and one of his friends came over and said as a greeting: "nathaniel three point shootin' muthafuckin' MAC-millan!"

I worked at a butcher shop in San Francisco where Danny Glover was a semi-regular customer. Hell of a nice guy.

(This thread has morphed into "brushes with fame" -- I realize that selling Danny Glover a veal kidney chop isn't close to being famous.)

oh yeah we got off track

there were loads of famous people milling about at bowlie - rather liked matt lucas and reece shearsmith buying milk together i have to say - but the sheer incongruity of jarvis cocker paddling whilst wearing a velvet suit is something i shall cherish forever

was buying shoes in manchester the other day and arthur lee was wandering about looking very rockstarish in schuh as lots of indie kids got very pants wettingly excited

best absolute claim to fame is my brother in law's grandad. not only was he part of kenneth branagh's theatre company so he was in the films "henry v" and "much ado about nothing", but he was bob's dad in "blackadder II" and best of all was the original man from delmonte. we kept trying to get him to say yeah during the wedding but he sadly never did. sadly his last role was in "dungeons and dragons" before he died which i think always smarts my brother in law a bit...

oh! and my friend ems is trying to find as many b list celebs to take photos of with her mr tetley novelty toy. so far she has mrs mcclusky from "grange hill", marlene and boycey from "only fools and horses", children's writer john birmingham and - er - the head of the library association....