Celebs both well known and obscure that you have met
- Thread starter otis
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[quote="mjmaherjr" post=397489][quote="austour" post=397483][quote="Beast of the East" post=397455]
When I was in Paris 2 years ago I texted mjm for some restaurant recommendations and he gave me a couple that Bourdain suggested to him. [/quote]
Do you really ask him or did he just volunteer the info?
When Mike heard I was going to be in Italy he sent over a few recommendations and we took him up on one in Venice, was a great choice as well.[/quote] Al Timon in Venice I might have given you. Love that place and the area if Venice. We hate tourist traps like you and Beast also. Personally I’d rather find that little family place on a side street than most big restaurants unless Michelin Star type stuff and honestly we’ve had ton of meals at those little local places I’d put up against most restaurants[/quote]
Yeah, it's on a great stretch with a ton of locals and very few tourists for sure. Was a short walk from our hotel as well.
Agree on the little places. In Florence I passed on your recommendation to have a special anniversary dinner, which was great mind you but for $400 was it really that much better than the $100 dinner in some place we stumbled into in an alley the next night? Well a little but maybe not 4xs. LOL
When I was in Paris 2 years ago I texted mjm for some restaurant recommendations and he gave me a couple that Bourdain suggested to him. [/quote]
Do you really ask him or did he just volunteer the info?
When Mike heard I was going to be in Italy he sent over a few recommendations and we took him up on one in Venice, was a great choice as well.[/quote] Al Timon in Venice I might have given you. Love that place and the area if Venice. We hate tourist traps like you and Beast also. Personally I’d rather find that little family place on a side street than most big restaurants unless Michelin Star type stuff and honestly we’ve had ton of meals at those little local places I’d put up against most restaurants[/quote]
Yeah, it's on a great stretch with a ton of locals and very few tourists for sure. Was a short walk from our hotel as well.
Agree on the little places. In Florence I passed on your recommendation to have a special anniversary dinner, which was great mind you but for $400 was it really that much better than the $100 dinner in some place we stumbled into in an alley the next night? Well a little but maybe not 4xs. LOL
Just last week in Alexandria VA saw James Carville at an outdoor restaurant. He was not with his wife Mary Maitlin. I told him I liked his appearances on the old Imus show, and repeated his cameo line from 30 Rock: "Cajun style"!. He laughed. Unmistakable NOLA accent.
So here’s my (thankfully for you) final list. These are the non-political/non movie shoot people. There must be at least 150 people in radio and TV I’ve worked with in one way or other. Some are courtroom encounters or stake-outs. Others are co-workers. A couple of highlights…Marc Ernay you hear every day on WINS. He said he loved my book, The Newsroom Confessions, so I’ll give him props. Mary Calvi and Darlene Rodriguez worked their way up from radio. Wayne Cabot and Paul Murnane are two greats I worked with at WINS. A Rich Lamb story: The two of us were assigned by our respective radio stations to speak to a former Waffen SS Nazi concentration camp leader who was about to be deported. He was directly responsible for the deaths of thousands of Jews. I expected some stern holocaust denier to greet us. Instead, here was this ancient looking man with a walker telling us “I’m an old man…please leave me alone”. I was rolling tape as he said it several times. Rich said he wouldn’t use it. I guess I felt sorry for him, so I didn’t use it either.
You may remember the movie, “The Killing Fields”. It was about the holocaust in Cambodia in the 70s. I worked stakeouts with Dith Pran. He was a photographer with the Times. The movie described his survival. I persuaded him into giving talks about his experiences, which he said was much worse than the movie. He was reluctant because he spoke with an accent. My in-laws were holocaust survivors and they kept the story alive by going to classrooms, etc. Sadly, Pran died a few years later from pancreatic cancer.
Legendary talk show pioneer Joe Franklin interviewed me about my book. He died before the show aired. Story of my life. He was a classic hoarder. His office and his basement near the Port Authority were piled to the ceiling…really piled…with memorabilia probably worth millions. He was still funny at the end, although I didn’t know it was the end at the time.
Bob Wolfe many know broadcast the biggest games going back to the 50s, including Larson’s perfect game, the NFL’s greatest game ever played (Giants, Colts) I mention this because he told me he was on a road trip when his wife decided to declutter their home in Nyack. All the memorabilia ended up on the curb. He was really cool about it. He was a gem.
I worked a bit with Howard Cosell when he was at WABC in the mid 60s. He was always complaining that management was screwing him out of his money. Years later, I was at an event and there was Cosell, sitting alone. No one went up to talk to him. Sad.
OK, Fox. I worked next to the Fox and Friends team for years. Ainsley Earhardt came later. Her father was head basketball coach at Wofford College in one of the Carolinas. She told me, after he was fired, he became a paper goods salesman. She said there was no shortage of toilet paper or paper towels in her house. Brian Kilmeade went to CW Post. His roommate was Steve Torre…a co-worker of mine at WINS. He’s now on Sirius radio. They were in each other’s wedding parties. Steve Doocy was a weather guy. WCBS tried to turn him into a newsman…but he was too goofy, so they let him go. He’s not too goofy for Fox. He’s as friendly and outgoing as you see on TV.
I was sitting next to Shepard Smith at a trial in Westchester involving Pamela Smart. There’s too much info, so I won’t go into it. I fell asleep during closing arguments. The judge told Smith to wake me, which he did. The defense lawyer said he knew he lost the case when he heard snoring in the audience.
I covered Mick Jagger’s copyright infringement trial in Federal Court. The plaintiff claimed Jagger stole “Just Another Night” from him. Jagger stood next to me and said, “My reputation is at stake with this asshole”. He won the case.
Darryl Strawberry was so friendly at one of his trials that he autographed copies of his indictment for fans. Lupica, Madden and a bunch of other reporters were there.
Denny McClain wasn’t as friendly at his trial for scamming tens of thousands of dollars via a phony phone card flim flam.
I loved Bill Kunstler. I spoke to him when he was defending members of a murderous, heroin dealing family in Rockland County. I asked how could he take on such a case. He said he needed the money “rather than live off the largess of my wife”. I mean, he defended Jack Ruby. He called me at WINS about the Larry Davis case. You may remember, Davis shot something like five cops during a raid on his apartment. Kunstler, who had a paranoid streak, told me the cops were drug dealers and they wanted to get rid of Davis before he blew the whistle. I thought, wow, I can’t use this. It’s too far-fetched. Well Kunstler used the argument before a jury in the Bronx…and wouldn’t you know, Davis was acquitted. He did get nabbed on a gun charge.
I’ll have more re: actors and athletes another time. I sense some eyes are glazing over.
You may remember the movie, “The Killing Fields”. It was about the holocaust in Cambodia in the 70s. I worked stakeouts with Dith Pran. He was a photographer with the Times. The movie described his survival. I persuaded him into giving talks about his experiences, which he said was much worse than the movie. He was reluctant because he spoke with an accent. My in-laws were holocaust survivors and they kept the story alive by going to classrooms, etc. Sadly, Pran died a few years later from pancreatic cancer.
Legendary talk show pioneer Joe Franklin interviewed me about my book. He died before the show aired. Story of my life. He was a classic hoarder. His office and his basement near the Port Authority were piled to the ceiling…really piled…with memorabilia probably worth millions. He was still funny at the end, although I didn’t know it was the end at the time.
Bob Wolfe many know broadcast the biggest games going back to the 50s, including Larson’s perfect game, the NFL’s greatest game ever played (Giants, Colts) I mention this because he told me he was on a road trip when his wife decided to declutter their home in Nyack. All the memorabilia ended up on the curb. He was really cool about it. He was a gem.
I worked a bit with Howard Cosell when he was at WABC in the mid 60s. He was always complaining that management was screwing him out of his money. Years later, I was at an event and there was Cosell, sitting alone. No one went up to talk to him. Sad.
OK, Fox. I worked next to the Fox and Friends team for years. Ainsley Earhardt came later. Her father was head basketball coach at Wofford College in one of the Carolinas. She told me, after he was fired, he became a paper goods salesman. She said there was no shortage of toilet paper or paper towels in her house. Brian Kilmeade went to CW Post. His roommate was Steve Torre…a co-worker of mine at WINS. He’s now on Sirius radio. They were in each other’s wedding parties. Steve Doocy was a weather guy. WCBS tried to turn him into a newsman…but he was too goofy, so they let him go. He’s not too goofy for Fox. He’s as friendly and outgoing as you see on TV.
I was sitting next to Shepard Smith at a trial in Westchester involving Pamela Smart. There’s too much info, so I won’t go into it. I fell asleep during closing arguments. The judge told Smith to wake me, which he did. The defense lawyer said he knew he lost the case when he heard snoring in the audience.
I covered Mick Jagger’s copyright infringement trial in Federal Court. The plaintiff claimed Jagger stole “Just Another Night” from him. Jagger stood next to me and said, “My reputation is at stake with this asshole”. He won the case.
Darryl Strawberry was so friendly at one of his trials that he autographed copies of his indictment for fans. Lupica, Madden and a bunch of other reporters were there.
Denny McClain wasn’t as friendly at his trial for scamming tens of thousands of dollars via a phony phone card flim flam.
I loved Bill Kunstler. I spoke to him when he was defending members of a murderous, heroin dealing family in Rockland County. I asked how could he take on such a case. He said he needed the money “rather than live off the largess of my wife”. I mean, he defended Jack Ruby. He called me at WINS about the Larry Davis case. You may remember, Davis shot something like five cops during a raid on his apartment. Kunstler, who had a paranoid streak, told me the cops were drug dealers and they wanted to get rid of Davis before he blew the whistle. I thought, wow, I can’t use this. It’s too far-fetched. Well Kunstler used the argument before a jury in the Bronx…and wouldn’t you know, Davis was acquitted. He did get nabbed on a gun charge.
I’ll have more re: actors and athletes another time. I sense some eyes are glazing over.
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JackofVirginia
Active member
Ed Burns sitting across from us holding his newborn baby at the Palm Springs Airport along with beautiful model wife. Didn't bother him ,just gave a wave.