Your Celebrity Stories

[MV/Liberace!]

All of us have had encounters with "celebrities" over the years, and some of those encounters have resulted in interesting stories to tell.  For instance, a few years back I spent some time with Elizabeth Dole.  She kept looking at my bulge.  I was 17.


What are your celebrity stories/encounters?  I think this has the potential to be a really interesting thread, and not just because I started it. 


Please, do tell.

[McPhallus]

All of us have had encounters with "celebrities" over the years, and some of those encounters have resulted in interesting stories to tell.  For instance, a few years back I spent some time with Elizabeth Dole.  She kept looking at my bulge.  I was 17.


What are your celebrity stories/encounters?  I think this has the potential to be a really interesting thread, and not just because I started it. 


Please, do tell.

And five years later we had the Bob Dole Viagra ads.  Coincidence?  I think not.

(I've no stories to share.  Sorry.)

[ChewMouse]

Mouse's Brushes With Fame:

1.  I dated a guy who rode in an elevator with Andy Warhol. They went a few floors and my friend said, "Are you Andy Warhol?" and Andy Warhol said, "Yes. Who are you?" and my friend said, "John" and the doors opened and Andy Warhol exited.

2.  My best friend dated a guy who partied with Meatloaf one time. I don't know any details except my best friend's boyfriend said Meatloaf was really really fat, which we all knew before that. Apparently a lot of drugs were involved.

3.  I went to a Monkees concert at Verizon Amphitheater in KC and I was wandering around backstage when a guy offered to buy me a beer and of course I said okay. He was talking in a fake British accent and had on a ridiculous shirt and I said, "Quit with the accent. You sound ridiculous." He said, "I'm Davy Jones. I'm from the UK" and I snorted beer right through my nose. We talked for awhile and then he had to go; later I was in the audience when the Monkees ran onstage and damn if it wasn't that crazy shirt guy, it was Davy Jones. I kept grabbing my friends and saying, "That's Davy Jones! That's Davy Jones!" and they said, "Duh!" but I was so mad at myself. I didn't even get an autograph. I thought the guy was from Missouri.

[Ben Shockley]

Not too exciting; just a close-up sighting:
I stood in line behind Marsha Warfield (of "Night Court" and later her own talk show) one night in a Von's Pavilion (high-end grocery store) on Santa Monica Blvd. in West Hollywood CA.   And by "behind," I mean we were the only people in the line.   She was wearing an "Empty Nest" studio crew jacket, and was with a younger taller light-skinned Black female that, with absolutely no evidence, I assumed to be her girlfriend.   I was buying vodka; I remember only the wine they had.   Despite recognizing her and generally liking her on-screen portrayals, I didn't speak or make any kind of recognition, because they, and especially Warfield, were giving off an unmistakable vibe of annoyed hostility.

[Eddie Coyle]

 
            Up close, I've seen a woman walk up to Peter Wolf(a very frail, small guy) in a Tower Records in Boston in 1999, where she asked "Mr Geils" for an autograph. He was nicer than I would have been.

              I was on a train(MBTA Red Line) with Al Kooper last winter. To a music nerd like me, that was like seeing royalty.

            Speaking of small...Sean Penn filmed scenes from "Mystic River" on my street in October,2002. My God, the guy was a midget. But from what I heard from others, pretty nice to people.

          In 1984, my mother was a waitress at a restaurant where she approached three tall African Americans and asked "who they played for?"...luckily(in this instance) they actually were athletes. Two of them became NBA All Stars, Dominique Wilkins and Doc Rivers.

[Camazotz Automat]

         Sean Penn filmed scenes from "Mystic River" on my street in October,2002. My God, the guy was a midget.

Ahahahahahahahaha.  Line of the week for me. Now THAT'S the Sean Penn I know from Fast Times At Ridgemont High.

There's so much of his work I enjoy, but especially when his character "has a  meltdown" and starts screaming. The Game and The Falcon and the Snowman come to mind immediately.

I think this will be a popular thread.

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[HorrorRetro]

When I had my medical transcription business, I had accounts for Harvard's medical facilities, St. Vincent's in Manhattan, and Emory University's health care system.  I sat down one day and opened my software and started a report from Emory.  It was an annual physical for Muhammad Ali.  At first, I thought it was just someone with the same name, but it quickly became apparent it was actually him.  Apparently, his primary care physician is at Emory, despite Ali living in a different state.

When I was a baby, President Johnson held me at some political function for Hubert Humphrey.  That photo was posted in newspapers, apparently.

Those are the incidents I can recall off the top of my head.  My daughter has had more.  She's been up on stage with Iggy Pop.  She was acquainted with quite a few famous comedians a few years back.  I know she has more experiences, but I'm all fuzzy headed on cold medicine right now. 

[Morgus]

I recognized Mr. T sitting in a strip club bar once.
I walked past him, but he had two bodyguards sitting next to him...
I also saw Paulie Shore once sitting by himself in a booth at the same strip club.

[Eddie Coyle]

Ahahahahahahahaha.  Line of the week for me. Now THAT'S the Sean Penn I know from Fast Times At Ridgemont High.

There's so much of his work I enjoy, but especially when his character "has a  meltdown" and starts screaming. The Game and The Falcon and the Snowman come to mind immediately.

         He'll always be "Mick O Brien" to me, smashing Viking and Tweety with an pillow case of RC cans in Bad Boys(the Scared Straight inspired, critically acclaimed film from '83, not the idiotic big budget buddy flick from '95)

[HorrorRetro]

         He'll always be "Mick O Brien" to me, smashing Viking and Tweety with an pillow case of RC cans in Bad Boys(the Scared Straight inspired, critically acclaimed film from '83, not the idiotic big budget buddy flick from '95)

Bad Boys is one of my favorite movies.  Both my younger sister and I love that movie.  I finally tracked down a copy of it a few weeks ago.

[ziznak]

         He'll always be "Mick O Brien" to me, smashing Viking and Tweety with an pillow case of RC cans in Bad Boys(the Scared Straight inspired, critically acclaimed film from '83, not the idiotic big budget buddy flick from '95)

my mom walked in the room, yelled at me and turned this movie off when I was watching it back when I was a kid.

ok it was last week.

I walked right by Danny Bonadouchey in 30th street station here in Philly a few times.  Pretty much the whole world champion Phillies walked right by me coming off of their bus at 30th street too... didn't know why they were taking the train though.  There were a few other somewhat famous people I had brushes with there but I can't recall anybody else right now.

[Eddie Coyle]

Bad Boys is one of my favorite movies.  Both my younger sister and I love that movie.  I finally tracked down a copy of it a few weeks ago.

Wonderfully bleak and realistic. Eric Gurry was hilarious as Horowitz and it's movie I must have watched 30 times as a kid, and never got tired of it.
              "That's Tweety, you assholes!"

[Sardondi]

In the mid 70's I was an 18-year-old working as a nursing assistant in a hospital. My job was varied, but very difficult at times, as you can imagine. Once I was having to prep an older patient for an extensive exam of his upper- and lower-GI tract. It meant we had to stay together, going back and forth from hospital bed to bathroom, for up to a couple of hours. It was so awkward and uncomfortable, but God bless those kind souls who understood that no one wanted to be there, and did the best they could to accept their lot and be pleasant. And I tried to do all I could to keep them comfortable and let them feel at ease. If they wanted to talk, I'd gladly try to engage, and it really helped pass the time...while other things were passing.

This particular day the patient was 70-ish man with mostly gray in his once-dark hair and thin mustache. He had been a big, athletic man, although he was ill now. Still he tried to make me feel at ease. He was a true gentleman, very considerate, even courtly. I finally figured out he was the famous champion archer, Howard Hill. Mr. Hill had won dozens of archery tournaments, but was most well known for having been Errol Flynn's double for the archery scenes in The Adventures of Robin Hood. So he got to talking about making that movie.

He told me that he indeed had made the iconic arrow-splits-the-arrow shot, (and had done so several other times at archery exhibitions he gave around the country), hitting his aiming point precisely. He mentioned something about the shafts of his regular arrows not splitting perfectly, so something was done to work around this, either in post-production or substituting a different shaft, I don't recall. That hardly made any difference to me, since he still had to put his arrow in a spot about one millimeter across. Just astounding accuracy.

Mr. Hill also told stories about life on the set of the movie. I've forgotten many details, but he did say it was pretty much a frat house atmosphere. He said it was professional while shooting was going on, but things got wild when the cameras were put away. I they they shot in and around Hollywood, so most folks were able to commute to work, I believe. So there wasn't a lot of opportunity for wild behavior. Except for the star.

Mr. Hill said Errol Flynn did mostly what he wanted even during the day, just so long as it didn't affect the shooting. And what Flynn wanted was to drink, do drugs and chase women, pretty much all the time. Details were skimpy, though. Mr. Hill was a man of very high character, and clearly disapproved of Flynn's lifestyle. He was not about to give a callow youth such as me any salacious details about Flynn's well-documented wild side.

But he did tell one story about a party at Flynn's house after Robin Hood wrapped. He said he and his wife, to whom I believe he was married for many years, came to the house expecting a regular dinner party. It was a usual party, although fairly raucous, with a lot of drinking. The Hills didn't drink, and after dinner were waiting until they could politely take their leave. But before they could go, couples started splitting up and pairing off with other people's spouses, for some of what Mr. Hill called "wife swapping". He said people started getting wilder, injecting  and snorting "some kind of white powder". Several women started taking their clothes off and running around absolutely naked. He said it was "like something out of Sodom and Gomorrah". He and his wife could hardly believe their eyes.

Flynn even came up to Hill and asked him why he wasn't joining into the fun. Hill said that he and his wife just didn't believe in behaving that way, and that they had had a wonderful time, but really must go. Hill wasn't trying to offend Flynn, and Flynn took no offense. But he didn't try to stop them. And there were no future invitations to any of Errol Flynn's parties. The whole incident still troubled Mr. Hill, as if he could hardly believe that people could behave, as he said, "like animals".

He was very fine man, and I enjoyed being with him that day. I never had occasion to see him after that. He died a couple of months later.

I also have some stories related to the Secret Service's interactions with Presidents Carter and Reagan. Later.

[Ben Shockley]

I don't know how I forgot this one, considering the radio-oriented nature of this forum.

On the night of, or about, Halloween 1997, I and a friend sought out Phil Hendrie, who was doing his show in a remote broadcast from the streets of West Hollywood, CA.   We found him on a side street north of Santa Monica Blvd., where he was surprisingly not surrounded by spectators.
We approached and watched him a few minutes as he finished performing a segment --this was back in the days when the show was much more character-driven --then we moved in closer while he was in a station break.   I don't remember the first words we and Hendrie exchanged, but we talked to him a couple of minutes, and he then told us to stick around and he'd put us on the air.
Hendrie launched back into the show, "talking to" "Dr. Jeff Dowder" who was supposedly there with Hendrie, instead of being "on the phone" like most guest characters are.    Hendrie stuck the mic in our faces, and as "Dr. Jeff," asked us our names and a few questions and I'm sure we came off sounding stiff, starstruck, and stupid.
I got an autographed KFI / Phil publicity pic, and this little story, out of the meeting.

[MV/Liberace!]

I also have some stories related to the Secret Service's interactions with Presidents Carter and Reagan. Later.

do tell.

[Juan]

In 1987 I was working for a television station in Macon, Georgia.  I was sent down to the Grand Opera House (one of those late 1800s palaces with wonderful acoustics) to shoot the rehearsal of Ray Charles' band - Ray would be performing that night on his 52nd birthday.  I think I was limited to two minutes shooting by the handlers.

I took a shot and asked for an interview.  The handler came back and said Ray would answer one question.  They brought Ray out, we shook hands, and I asked him how he kept going when so many musicians burn out in their 20s (I didn't know about 27 then).  Ray got a big smile on his face and talked about how lucky he was - that God had given him the talent to do something he loved, and that when those things combined, it was impossible to burn out.  A great answer.

Unlike some folks experience with Ray, mine was pleasant.

[Sardondi]

I said something about Presidents Carter and Reagan. I ought to make clear this is not my direct experience, but that of some Secret Service agents who formed part of their respective protection details. It's just anecdotes about their personalities which I found very interesting.

In the mid-80's I was a federal prosecutor. In addition to investigating and prosecuting federal crimes and working with agencies like the FBI, DEA, Secret Service,  etc. prosecutors were also involved when the president came to town. A presidential visit was a big deal and involved a lot of people. It became the duty of the federal law enforcement agencies in that district to provide whatever extra manpower or services the president's regular Secret Service protective detail needed. It was routine for a federal prosecutor from the district to be on site in case some legal emergency arose, such as arrests or searches, in which case affidavits and warrants would need drafting, and a lawyer would need to appear before a federal magistrate or judge. Some minor thing usually came up, such as a threat by a nut, so there was usually something for us to do behind the scenes.

When I was a young Assistant U.S. Attorney (or AUSA as we were known) it was my duty to be on site for a visit from President Reagan. He was scheduled to speak at a 4th of July event in our district. I met the entourage when it landed at the airport and rode to the event with some of the Secret Service detail.

A president traveled with a protective detail that was usually 25-50 agents. These guys (they were almost all men then) were the ones who pretty much lived with the president and his family, and got to know them intimately. The president was never, ever alone, with people at least posted outside whatever room he was in, and thta meant bathrooms. There was simply no privacy for a president. Everything in his life was known to the agents, even family and marital details. There has always been a code among Secret Service agents who protected the president, that nothing they ever saw or heard around the president would ever be divulged by them to anyone "outside the (federal law enforcement) family". To do their jobs properly the president had to have absolute trust in his Secret Service agents, and it was a point of pride with them that their lips were sealed. Over the years some private incidents have slipped out, but usually these were from personnel other than Secret Service who happened to witness something. That is how the rumors about such things as a vase being thrown in an angry row at the Clinton White House got out.

So while they kept quiet to everyone else, Secret Service agents occasionally told anecdotes about their charges to people "in the business". Now, Secret Service agents are regular people. Highly trained, highly skilled, highly disciplined people - well, we might have to strike the "disciplined" bit in light of some of the stories about agents and hookers. But they were raised as normal Americans, who like the same things everyone else likes, including being treated with a modicum of courtesy. They had their favorites among presidents, just as there were presidents they weren't big fans of, even some who were considered "jerks". And so while I traveled with several agents to President Reagan's speaking event, they told me some stories about him as well as Carter, his predecessor.

(I think this will need to be broken up into two installments. More later.)

[Sardondi]

....Continued

Okay, where were we? So the Secret Service agents and I began talking about who they had protected and what it was like. They said that Reagan was like your favorite uncle. He was genuine, warm and personable. They said he made an effort to learn their names and even details about their families. They said there was not an arrogant bone in his body, and that he was genuinely humble and unassuming. I talked to about a dozen agents that day and the next, and to a man they loved Reagan. He just made such an effort to put them at ease. They said the same about Mrs. Reagan, who was even better with names and family circumstances than President Reagan.

Then there was Carter. When I first asked what it was like to work for the two men, one said, "They're exactly like you think they would be." I wasn't so sure what that meant about Carter, since he seemed even more humble and self-effacing than Reagan. "An act," I was told. "Just politics. In person he's an asshole." The agents reminded me that President Carter had been a US Navy officer in the 40's and 50's. In those days naval officers still retained some remnants of absolute power onboard ship, where they were treated more like royalty than officers in the other services. They were used to immediate unquestioning obedience. Those were the days of the segregated Navy, when blacks worked in the most menial jobs and Filipinos were almost exclusively stewards and mess boys. As such Carter was used to treating his domestic staff as if they were nameless, faceless and invisible.

The agents thought that attitude spilled over into President Carter's years in the White House, where he was a micro-manager and something of a martinet who demanded prompt and perfect service as well as appearance. Neither the President nor Mr. Carter was anything other than remote and icy with the agents, and they never bothered to learn the names of most of the agents who protected and served them night and day. Nor was President Carter considerate of the agents or their needs, such as bathroom breaks and meals.

Even though being surrounded by agents 24-hours a day is awkward, most presidents tried to work with the Secret Service, understanding that they had a job to do and were just trying to do it. Usually some sort of working relationship was forged. Except with the Carters. President Carter made a game out of trying to make trouble for his protective detail, such as making them wait for no good reason, and then suddenly bursting out of his office, saying he wanted to be taken some place. As President Carter knew, this played havoc with the agents' plans and schedules. He seemed to really enjoy seeing them scramble to recover.

This attitude continued after he left the White House and returned to his home in Plains, GA, when he treated his somewhat reduced protective detail in the same way. The agents told me of one particular Sunday when Carter told his team as they got back from church that he thought he would go for a bike ride just as soon as he could change clothes. But almost as soon as they got back and just as agents were hurrying to get into bike-riding clothes, word from the house came to forget it, that the President had changed his mind. So the agents relaxed and got their suits back together to begin their Sunday afternoon security watch. But then all of a sudden, without warning, President Carter burst out of the house in jogging togs, and he took off running. But the President didn't stay on the road: he immediately started running across a plowed field (the Carters owned a lot of peanut farm land). There was only one agent in position to stay with him, and he was dressed in shirt, tie, suit and dress shoes. This agent grabbed a bicycle (which was a thin-tired touring bike) and took out across the field after Carter. I don't know if you've ever tried to ride that kind of bike over a plowed field but it's next to impossible. So there the lone agent was, barely keeping upright on the bike in his suit and Florsheims, as Carter stretched out his lead, laughing all the way at how he'd screwed with the agents. That was Carter.

They also told a story about Reagan which I think perfectly described the man. This had happened at Reagan's "Sky Ranch" in California which he visited as much as he could while in office. Now everything with the president works on a formal written schedule which is supposed to be coordinated with the Secret Service so they'll know what preparations to make. (That was one of the problems about Carter not sticking to it.) It gets as specific as the minute a motorcade is expected to leave, with precise drive time and precise arrival time. So the schedule was a big deal. One day at the California Ranch as the team was getting ready to take the President and Mrs. Reagan someplace, the word came from the house that the President was running a little behind and it would take a few minutes before he was ready. That was fine with the agents, and it was more explanation than they ever got from Carter, so they just stood by. As they were waiting, the cars were just a few feet outside of the Reagan's bedroom. One of the agents accidentally hit his siren and it made that deafening squelch noise. It had to have made the President and Mrs. Reagan jump out of their skins. The agents just froze in terror, afraid that they were about to get reamed out royally for screwing up like that. And then the bedroom window was thrown up, and President Reagan stuck his head out, looked at the agents and shouted, "I'm sorry! I'll be there in a second!"

How can you not love a man like that?

[ChewMouse]

Sardondi: Wow. Just wow.

I know there's more where this came from, so tell it! This is excellent reading! And I'm very disappointed in Jimmy Carter...I'm shocked but I believe it entirely.

[onan]

These kind of stories are always trouble for me. I have no reason to doubt a word Sardoni puts forth.

All I can say is: I only know one person that spent any time with Jimmy Carter. And he died last year. But his recounting made no reference to Carter being an ass. Rather he talked about how Carter seemed to take a sincere interest the issues they discussed.

When it comes to that level of politics though, they are all a class of animal most of us wouldn't truly recognize.

Interesting stuff Sardoni. Hate to read Carter was a dick.

[Ben Shockley]

Yet another thread made political.
No?
Sure looks that way.

[ChewMouse]

These kind of stories are always trouble for me. I have no reason to doubt a word Sardoni puts forth.

All I can say is: I only know one person that spent any time with Jimmy Carter. And he died last year. But his recounting made no reference to Carter being an ass. Rather he talked about how Carter seemed to take a sincere interest the issues they discussed.

When it comes to that level of politics though, they are all a class of animal most of us wouldn't truly recognize.

Interesting stuff Sardoni. Hate to read Carter was a dick.

Sardondi's stories don't tell of the political sides of the presidents he mentioned, they tell of the non-public behaviors that, in my opinion, speak very clearly to the type of people they truly were. Public figures wear a persona that they must drop at some times, and it stands to reason they'd be "themselves" when with family and away from cameras. Secret Service agents are in a unique position to be able to witness that change from public to private. What a show that must be, no matter who's in office.

Nor are the stories about politics. They're about real people who happen to be politicians.

[McPhallus]

Sardondi: Wow. Just wow.

I know there's more where this came from, so tell it! This is excellent reading! And I'm very disappointed in Jimmy Carter...I'm shocked but I believe it entirely.

Perhaps Ol' Jimmy spent too much time dancing with the snakes.

[onan]

When you talk political figures, you are talking politics.

I think the point to focus on, is that we all too often objectify people as for us or agin us. And many times those positions can be substantiated with proof. But it doesn't paint the whole picture.

I have met several politicians in my life from the local to vice presidential candidates. Anyone with a modicum of self awareness can get a read on most people after a few minutes. Maybe not their innermost secrets but how deferential one is can usually be spotted in a matter of seconds. Gore was strange... met him twice once at a fund raiser and again at an airport in Phoenix. Liddy Dole scary. Bob Dole salt of the earth. I could go on but it would be with state officials and all of this is worth about as much as my next burp.

[Sardondi]

...I know there's more where this came from, so tell it!...

Actually, no. Meh, there was a little bit that came out of the Clinton I White House, circa 93-94. The Clinton aides, or more correctly the First Lady's aides, seemed not to realize that they had become the establishment. They seemed to think they (the aides) were college kids from 1968, committed to fighting the power. These aides treated any authority figure - military, Secret Service - as the enemy, and were actually insulting to them. Hilary had a nasty attitude in general, and would even break vases and the like when she got into a screaming fight with the President over his, uh, "friends". There was a very short honeymoon in that administration, before Hilary and the Secret Service got down to the business of not being able to stand each other. Bill the agents kind of liked, in the same way you'd like a hound that would run all kinds of insane risks just to get with any houndette in season. But they never really told me any details.

[ChewMouse]

Actually, no.

Well for heaven's sake, don't stop with presidents. A federal prosecutor has got to have some good stuff to tell.

[The General]

Yet another thread made political.
No?
Sure looks that way.

Oh for Christ's sake.  It's just a few stories about some Presidents.  Calm down.

[Sardondi]

These kind of stories are always trouble for me. I have no reason to doubt a word Sardoni puts forth.

I only know one person that spent any time with Jimmy Carter. And he died last year. But his recounting made no reference to Carter being an ass. Rather he talked about how Carter seemed to take a sincere interest the issues they discussed.

When it comes to that level of politics though, they are all a class of animal most of us wouldn't truly recognize.

Interesting stuff Sardoni. Hate to read Carter was a dick.

I don't see a discrepancy at all. All these guys were saying is that was how he treated them. I do know they were absolutely above partisanship on or even off the job. They had views of course. But I don't know them. And don't think you would either. Two Secret Service agents i knew for years I learned were socialists after they retired. Their commitment to their jobs as the president's protection detail is so incredibly total, that they would never do anything which even appeared improper and that included partisanship off the job. (Things have obviously slipped in the last few years in the personal deportment area though.)

The point of their stories to me was that they felt Carter was a dick to them, and needlessly so. That doesn't mean anything other than that he's human. I know a lawyer who went to work for Carter at the Carter Center in the 90's and absolutely loved him. She also said he could be something of a dick with subordinates, but she loved him for his principles and his commitment to those principles. There's certainly no inconsistency necessary because of what you were told and what I was told.

Remember as well, "no man is a hero to his valet." Meaning that over-familiarity and close living can indeed breed contempt.

*edit*

Yet another thread made political.
No?
Sure looks that way.

Why Ben - I had no idea you were in my vest pocket almost 30 years ago, and a witness to what I did, said and heard. Hope you got enough to eat.

[Ben Shockley]

Lamenting this promising thread's quick degeneration, I remarked MERELY

Yet another thread made political.
No?
Sure looks that way.

Which apparently activated someone's ego-defense mechanism:

...Why Ben - I had no idea you were in my vest pocket almost 30 years ago, and a witness to what I did, said and heard. Hope you got enough to eat.

No, and what follows this was typed before you made it personal.   You sure seem mighty touchy about a quick observation.   But since you went there:
Big Man, you are more full of crap than an unslung chitlin.  I allege nothing about the specifics of your stories: no, obviously I wasn't there.   I just mean in your motivations.   I absolutely do not buy the "above the fray," haughtily superior, fake-ass gravitas you try to emit in here.


As I was about to say:
Sardondi's "absolutely non-partisan" tales:  lots to suspect there, and if I get an attack of energy and motivation, I'll take it over to a Political thread for the dissection ...excuse me, "impeachment"... it so richly warrants.
For now: I wonder if Sardondi ever thought to ask the supposedly Pollyanna-ishly trans-partisan secret service guy(s) on Carter's detail --in among all the stuff that I have a feeling was omitted about the relationship between Carter and his detail(s) over the years-- exactly what those guys did on a daily basis in small-town Georgia that made the "espionage corporate" look (the work dress alluded to by Sardondi) seem appropriate?   Do those guys try to be obtrusive?

I get it, that describing the poor guy trying to follow Carter through the plowed fields in a suit and Florsheims helps make Carter look like an insensitive dick.  But just imagine for a moment:  what if the SS guy wasn't needing to follow JUST a more-or-less acquiescent old man out for a jog.  What if he needed to chase a "perp" or engage in some combat against a terrorist team?   In that case, would the suit and Florsheims exhibit hitherto-unsuspected properties that made them an asset?  In other words, how is following an old guy out for a jog any more of an existential challenge than doing what those SS guys are supposed to do?    Or are they in possession of some highly-secret Manual For Assassins And Terrorists  that specifies a doctrine of only ever carrying out bad-guy actions on carpet, tile, or smooth pavement?
Although I also get it, that Sardondi might not be able to answer that, inasmuch as this has turned from "[Gabbers' Own] Celebrity Stories" into "Dubiously-Motivated Stories of X-Degrees of Separation from Celebrity."

[Eddie Coyle]

         And now for something completely apolitical...

         I should have mentioned this before, but another Dylan sideman I "encountered"(besides seeing Al Kooper on a subway train in Dec 2011) was in August 1993, when what constituted The Band played a free show on the Hatch Shell in Boston. I was working as a laborer for the state(Commie!..whoops : ) and we had to walk around with idiot sticks picking up trash before the show...there was a heavy set guy basically shooting the shit with roadies and then thanked us for picking up garbage. It was Rick Danko. He probably weighed nearly 3 bills and I honestly I didn't realize it was him until he started talking, I'd seen The Last Waltz enough to know his speaking voice. Amiable guy, and very laid back. It was less than an hour before going on stage and he was walking around like a spectator.