People I Was Lucky Enough to Meet

During my life I had the opportunity to meet many famous people. I wanted to tell a little story about meeting them

Robert Fripp

I saw King Crimson play at Penn State. I was on a pillow front row center, may 10 feet from where Fripp was playing. I watched in amazement, likely tripping at the time. Next morning my friend Dave call to tell me that Frip was eating breakfast at the Holiday Inn.

So I borrowed Sam’s van and headed there. Frip was seated alone eating breakfast. I stood in front of him and he didn’t even look at me but he said “well, sit down.” So I did then he finally looked at me and asked if I wanted an English muffin, which I graciously accepted. I showed him the poster and said I was there in the front. He smiled and took the poster and said he would get the band members to sign it and I could pick it up that evening. I did and I treasured it, but my ex took it when we divorced.

Carl Sagan

I have always been an amateur astronomer. When I worked part time at Allegheny Observatory in the early 80s I met Carl Sagan, who was visiting the MAP instrument. He was a very cool guy. He even sent me a card wishing me well for my dog-star observatory!

Herbert Simon

In 1983 I won an award for AI research that was co-offered by Pitt and CMU. One of the prizes was dinner with Herb Simon. He was a nice guy. He asked me why I wrote it Fortran, and not LISP or one of the other popular AI languages.

I explained there were 2 reasons. First – I maintained the fortran compiler and wrote little assembler routines to have list capabilities. Second – I did not want John McCarthy (inventer of LISP) to get any credit! He laughed!

Marvin Minsky

I went to a computer convention in Boston in the early 90s. I was at an exhibit where two little robots were building a cabin with Lincoln Logs This older gentleman leaned over and knocked the cabin apart. The little bots seemed to shake their heads. Then they carefully disassembled it and started over. I realized this was Marvin Minsky.

I asked him what he thought the purpose of AI research was. He said it is not to understand how the human brain works. Rather it is to make machines more useful to humans. He was right! He then asked me what the earliest AI was? He smiled and said those automatic doors at grocery stores. They open when you need them to and close when not used.

Phill Klass (aka William Tenn)

My Microcomputer Information Support Center had just opened when funny little guy walked into my office and proclaimed that he had a problem I could not solve. Mainly which PC to get. So I helped him. He noticed a rack of sci-fi paperbacks on my bookshelf, specifically one by William Tenn. He then decaired, “Oh I know that guy, he is a real jerk!”

Well, I went on to explain how much I loved his short stories. Then I recognized a twinkle in his eye… this was William Tenn!

We became close friends until his death, discussing sci-fi in all of its forms. I even gave him some comic books to start his new collection. He and his wife Fruma (an editor) were wonderful people. Phil was an English Prof. at Penn State.

The Mysterious Guitar Player

Once I was in Washington, D.C., attending an NSA meeting. I got into an elevator with a man wearing a cowboy hat and carrying a guitar case. He was dressed so sharply that I assumed he must be a country musician.

Not recognizing him, I looked him in the eye and innocently asked,

"Are you famous?"

He burst out laughing and replied,

"People tell me so."

Then the elevator stopped, he got off, and I never saw him again. To this day, I have no idea who he was.

Mr T

I was at the Chicago O’Hare airport when I saw Mr T, just as I imagined. Walking down the concourse. Man is he big. Anyway, as I passed him I loudly said “Yo, Mr T!” and he high 5’d me. That was it. I pity the fellow who messes with him!

Mr Rogers

I lived in Pittsburgh near where Mr Rogers lived. So I was at Thrift Drug with my 2 sons, ages 3 and 6, and who came to stand in line behind us but Mr Rogers. He hardly even looked at me but immediately got down to speak with the boys on their level. I have always loved him!

Moe Howard

Paul Shannon, a Pittsburgh TV celebrity, would show 3 Stooges movies for kids. He had a show in Monroeville, which had Moe Howard as a guest. This was 69. I went to it as a kid who loved the Stooges and shook Moe’s hand. Really old and frail, but I am glad I met him.

Steve Jobs

Because of my position at Penn State I was asked to be an adviser to Steve Jobs new company NeXT. A short-lived but adventurous venture that died out as Linux on a PC became ever more powerful.

So I flew out to California a number of times and each time met Steve. Once I spilled a bit of white zinfandel on him and in response he ask me to sit at his dinner table. It was a gas. The others at the table wanted to talk computers but Steve and I just talked about rock and roll. I would have loved to get high with him.

My Dad asked why I didn’t ask for a job, and fact is I do not ever want to work for a perfectionist. I like my creative freedom.

Sharon Stone

I was at the Pittsburgh airport, in the little rail car that takes you to get your baggage. It was 1:00 am. Other than me there was Sharon Stone and two bodyguards. I did not say anything but once our eyes locked and she smiled. LOL