Friday OT #1 - Brushes With Infamy

[Angie]

Thank you so much to @ruxCYtable for this idea! What are some of your brushes with infamy? Not people famous for good things - how were you adjacent to horrible events or people?

I am almost positive I've mentioned it on here before, but I was hit on by Randy Weaver (of Ruby Ridge fame) when I was in high school and worked at a gas station in his small town. It was after all of the events, so everyone knew who he was - and I knew well enough not to take him up on his offer to drive around town in his super-expensive car purchased with government money.

What are yours?

 

[JP4CY]

Jared Leto dove off the stage at old Toad Holler in Des Moines and kicked me in the head doing it. 30STM was opening for Chevelle and I believe tickets were 8 bucks. Made sure I was OK. Actually talked with him after their set. Very normal, humble guy.
Yes, I was there to see Chevelle, not 30STM. It had to be one of 30STM's first gigs ever. No one knew who they were. Great show though.

 

[madguy30]

Have some connections to some who have worked in the 'biz' in Hollywood.

Never met but have strong indications that Rob Schieder and John Laroquette are awful.

 

[BCClone]

I had two events that I was lucky, "I missed the bus".

1. I had to take my elderly mom to a 50th anniversary party in Marion. We got on 380 on the way home and kept hearing about the storms coming through, I looked at my phone and see stuff in the middle of Iowa and figure if I jump on the backroads I can avoid it. I hadn't traveled that way in awhile, so I was going to take the routes we went when my sister was at UNI, go through parkersburg and Allison and such. Mom had an old map with Branstad as governor (it apparently was his first time around) and I took a bad turn and just kept on 20 the rest of the way. Missed the Parkerburg tornado or we would have been there as it hit.

2. I had been working 16-18 days (salary positon) M-F and 8 hours on saturday for about 5-6 weeks for this non-profit that I was on the management team of. Was able to keep wages down with me there that much and they could use the money. So as a reward they were going to fly me to get these helmets autographed for a sports memorabilia sale they were having. About four of them. Fly out on september 10 to manhatten and come back on the 12th or 13th. Would have been near the twin towers as they hit, a couple helmets didn't arrive on time so they didn't have me go.

 

[MeanDean]

Kind of a stretch. I hope I get the story mostly accurate.

When I was in college I worked 2 or 3 summers for a roofing and siding company in my home town. Later my youngest brother worked for the same company.

After I was through ISU and working full time and the youngest was working there - he worked with another fellow for a while. He even went on a couple day long errand trips to pick up building materials with that newer employee.

A few months later this co-worker was arrested for murder of a young woman in our hometown. And eventually convicted.

 

[cyclone101]

When I was like 13, I was at my sisters little league softball game and met a couple cute girls that were my age from the town the game was in (they were watching siblings or something too). Long story short, they wanted to add me on MSN messenger. Being perpetually way behind the times on those type of things, I didn't have that or a cell phone so I had to go home empty handed.

One of those girls was charged with 1st degree murder last year. Went from popular, well liked, good athlete, to running with the wrong crowd and in a world of trouble. Yikes haha.

 

[coolerifyoudid]

Before going to my first Sporting KC game, my friends and I stopped by one of the communication vans where another friend of ours was working. We chatted and then kept walking around the back of the stadium since we had a bunch of time to kill before the game and had never been to the stadium.

As we're walking on the sidewalk by the dock area, a car comes flying around the corner, veers in front of us and comes to a stop right in front of us, parking diagonally about two feet from where we were walking. Its was like a scene in a movie where a car pulls in front of someone and then a van pulls up next to the people and throws them in the back. I actually pulled my wife back because I thought she was going to get hit.

I was getting ready to give the driver a piece of my mind, when a camera crew came out and started filming the driver and his girlfriend exiting the car. It wound up being Sporting player and USMNT member Graham Zusi. He got out in rock-star fashion, never once acknowledging us.

We'll cheer for the team, but my wife won't use his name. He's forever known as '******* that almost ran me over'.

 

[Cyched]

When I was like 13, I was at my sisters little league softball game and met a couple cute girls that were my age from the town the game was in (they were watching siblings or something too). Long story short, they wanted to add me on MSN messenger. Being perpetually way behind the times on those type of things, I didn't have that or a cell phone so I had to go home empty handed.

One of those girls was charged with 1st degree murder last year. Went from popular, well liked, good athlete, to running with the wrong crowd and in a world of trouble. Yikes haha.

So, below the Vicky Mendoza line?

 

[cyclone101]

So, below the Vicky Mendoza line?

At the time, no. Now? Yes... way below.

 

[coolerifyoudid]

Jared Leto dove off the stage at old Toad Holler in Des Moines and kicked me in the head doing it. 30STM was opening for Chevelle and I believe tickets were 8 bucks. Made sure I was OK. Actually talked with him after their set. Very normal, humble guy.
Yes, I was there to see Chevelle, not 30STM. It had to be one of 30STM's first gigs ever. No one knew who they were. Great show though.

I saw 30STM when they opened up for Sevendust many years ago, and I had no idea who he was until several weeks later. He did the stage dive off a speaker then too. I escaped kick-free.

He was a stereotypical 'front-man' but after their set, he was milling with the crowd for the rest of the night. I just assumed he was trying to market his band. I agree, they put on a great show.

 

[SCyclone]

Years ago - when disco was all the thing - I got kicked out of the Faces club in Chicago with my uncle and his pal, Paul Lynde. Yeah, that Paul Lynde - of Hollywood Squares fame. He was a drunk, and not a happy one, either. He made a big scene at the club and we were escorted out the door.

Lynde's response to us: "**** them. There's plenty of places around here to get a drink." (We were on Rush Street, so he was correct.)

 

[throwittoblythe]

I wasn't nearly impacted by this, but I was involved...

I was in the drumline at ISU. For my first two years, there was a guy who rented a house that became the "drumline house" for parties. We're having a HUGE party one weekend after a football game. Two trumpet players are making out hardcore on the couch in the living room. Problem is, that's also the dance room. People aren't dancing because these two are sucking face on the couch. So, a few of us guys go in there and tell them to break it up, or go find a bedroom somewhere.

They stop, the guy gets up, and the girl proceeds to projectile vomit all over the couch. We saved a man's life that day.

 

[Clonefan32]

Kind of off topic but a funny story anyway.

In my prior job I represented juvenile delinquents. At the time I was living near a local college that hosted a track meet. I happened to notice that one of the teams there was Woodward Academy, and I knew a couple of my clients ran track. Walked up there with my wife and ran into one of my clients and started chatting with him. Explained to him I lived right down the street and made a point to even show him the exact house we lived in.

Left the conversation and my wife commented that he seemed like an awful nice kid and asked me what he was in trouble for. It took me a second but I remembered he was in trouble for being involved in a burglary. Needless to say my wife was not thrilled I had pointed out where we live to a burglar client...

 

[BCClone]

Remembered another, actually person related.

Was at a party, started talking to this girl and little later her very attractive friend came over. I was positive I knew who she was. Said her name was Cindy, yes Cindy Crawford. Asked if she was still married to Richard Gere and she said no with a slight laugh. Flirted back and forth, nothing happened, but never got a number for some odd reason but there seemed to be definitely some chemistry.

Woke up the next day and was eating lunch with a group of friends. Saw a group of women walking by outside and one friend says, there is Cindy. I asked Cindy who and the friend mentions the woman you were talking to last night. Let's just say it wasn't Cindy Crawford so she wasn't lying when she denied being married to Richard Gere. My friend Yukon Jack did not help me that night.

 

[Cybone]

I may have more, but here are the ones that come to mind:

One of my best friend’s ex husband was best friends with the Columbine shooters. They were at her house for Easter and Christmas before they went off the deep end. She never saw it coming. Her brother, another friend of mine, had several friends killed and he may have been specifically spared. She is a cop now.

The law firm I worked for represented the shooters’ families in the civil suit. We had a locked room with everything related to the suit. It has all been burned and destroyed now.

I vividly remember the morning after the Aurora theater shootings. The sunrise was red that morning. I had to drive by the theater to get to a job...the city was eerily still. The entire scene was surreal.

 

[Cyclones_R_GR8]

I saw a guy run a red light once.

 

[Dandy]

December 2008. Lived off campus in West Ames.

Partied on a Friday night at a buddy's house. Made it home late at night. Woke up Saturday and my phone had way more texts than usual. Most of them with the same message "What the hell did you do last night?" I'm very confused at this point. Look out my window and cops are everywhere. Get bundled up and walk outside. Crime Scene unit and a coroner truck.

Remember the Atiba Spellman murders? Happened right in our neighborhood.

If the timing was right, I could have went right past the guy who died outside naked in the cold. When went outside they were just getting to the point where they were going to uncover the body and move it. Coroner's team told us to back up and go inside.

 

[drlove]

the columbine day was so surreal living in Colorado. Sadly, I have much more vivid memories of that day than after Aurora. I do remember where I heard the news. From Bret Saunders on KBCO.

 

[Knownothing]

I have a very sad one. I was hanging with a female at the University of Iowa. Just met her with some of my friends. Got her phone number because she wanted to set me up with her friend. A couple weeks went by and I found out she was raped by Pierre Pearce. Very sad deal. She is and was such a great person. She went on to do well and get married and have some kids.

 

[Knownothing]

Ok. I have a more positive one. in 1995 I was in the Marines on Coronado Island, California right by San Diego. Amphibious Raid school. We drove my car up to the Hotel Del Cor0nado where all the rich girls were. I got back in my car a little bit tipsy later on in the day after going to MC P's bar across the street (Navy Seal bar basically, Good place). My car had a door ding. I didn't care it was a Saturn and a piece of crap car. The note on the door said, Hey I dinged your door, come to room 207, my name is Kevin . Forgot the number. When I got to the room. Kevin Costner opens the door and my Marine buddys and I are standing there in awe. He ask me if $1,000 was enough to cover the damage. I was like, Yeah since I don't plan on fixing it, you can ding my car as much as you want. He was just getting done filming Tin Cup or right in the middle of filming it. I can't remember which one. No camera phones or anything back then so I can't prove it. It happened though.