Thursday, August 23, 2007

Thursday Thirteen #26



Thirteen Things about Michael

Thirteen Famous People I have met.
1. Deborah "Debbie" Gibson - 1980's teen pop singer now does Broadway work - I was in her fan club and later did some photo work for her at a concert in Tampa.

2. Yakov Smirnov - Russian comedian popular in the 80's-90's, met him at a hotel I was working at in FLorida and again outside a comedy club in Orlando.

3. Amy Grant - Contemporary Christian/Pop Singer - I worked for a Christian Bookstore and we hosted several events with her in Atlanta.

4. President Jimmy Carter - My father was a delegate to the 1976 Democratic Convention. I was 5 years old, but I remember meeting him.

5. M.I.A. - MIA is a club/dance singer originally from Sri Lanka and she is dating my brother-in-law Wes (DJ Diplo). MIA has been on MTV and Jimmy Kimmel and just this week was featured on Comcast.net's home page.

6. Ken Block - the lead singer of Sister Hazel. While recording their second CD, Ken took time off to fly back to Orlando from LA and came to see my friend's band at a local gig in Orlando.

7. "The Nature Boy" Rick Flair - While working for a radio station in Orlando he came to an event we hosted to do an autograph session. (note: he is a shrimp. I am bigger than him)

8. S. Truett Cathy - the founder of Chick-fil-a. I honestly think about 80% of Atlanta has met him because they will all tell you this if you make them mad while working at a Chick-fil-a.

9. John Tesh - again due to the Christian Bookstore - he records praise and worship music now and he performed at our manager's conference.

10. Cal Ripkin, Jr. - he came into my Chick-fil-a back in December, about a week before he was announced for the Baseball Hall of Fame.

11. Matt Serletic - Matt was a year ahead of me in my high school and we played in the school band together. He went on to produce records for Collective Soul, Matchbox 20, Edwin McCain, Taylor Hicks, and Aerosmith and to become chairman of Virgin Records.

12. Chris Gardocki - Chris is another high school classmate (also one year ahead of me). He is a professional football player and won a SuperBowl Ring in 2005 as a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

13.Several other Christian bands and musicians, again through concerts and other promotions tied to work, including Jeremy Camp, Chris Tomlin, David Crowder, Newsboys, Rebecca St. James, Michael W. Smith, Steven Curtis Chapman, Jars of Clay, Smalltown Poets, Geoff Moore, Stacie Orrico, Derek Webb, Across the Sky, Joy Williams, Kristy Starling, Souljahz, TobyMac, Casting Crowns, Vince Gill, Third Day, Chris Rice, Mark Schultz, and Avalon.

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13 comments:

Miss Blogger said...

Cool! You've met a lot of famous people! And Amy Grant! :)

Happy TT!

Mine's up at http://yorokobee.akoni.info/

Thanks!

Unknown said...

dear hubby, what a cool post..I loved this and I have enjoyed meeting some of these people with you! This is fun!

Lazy Daisy said...

Wow, really impressive list. My sister works for United Airlines and is always telling me people she checked in.

Sparky Duck said...

Nice group of famous people. I think I have heard of all of them, well besides MIA but now I will have to seek her out

erin said...

Impressive! Amy Grant was on a flight with me and I saw her from a distance, but didn't want to go up to her and say anything. The only famous person I've met is Steven Curtis Chapman, and I love him, so that's enough for me! Great list! Mine is 13 words I love. Happy TT.

Frazzled Farm Wife said...

Wow...you're a pretty popular guy and must get around a little to meet all these fascinating people.

Karina said...

I used to love Michael W. Smith...should dig out some of his cd's!!

Great TT!!

retrodaddy said...

Well, we obviously have one famous person in common that we've met. And I have no clue where my picture of she and I could possibly be...

I met Ted DiBiase (yes, the 'Million Dollar Man' of WWF fame) at the WIOD-AM station in Fort Lauderdale in spring of '88. Ted was doing a promotional interview at the station, and a friend's father took us there. Ted came out to meet us during a break, and took a picture with me. He even busted out eight $100 bills for the picture. Classic.

I've informally met many well-known media members during my days doing stats at Florida Field and Y'AllTel Stadium. I also met Bonnie Bernstein at Durty Nelly's in G'ville after the '97 UF-UT game.

Rebecca said...

I admit, I'm clueless on most of them...

Oh well, Happy TT13! :P

Cindy Swanson said...

Great list! I've met several of those too, through my radio job. Enjoyed your list.

1UP RPG said...

I'm totally jealous that you met Ric Flair. Cool.

Nicholas said...

Meeting President Carter is impressive! I'm afraid. I haven't heard of any of the rest.

ChupieandJ'smama (Janeen) said...

I think Gardocki got his ring in 2006. Not that it matters, but as a Pittsburgh fan, I'm just saying... :)