Re: Who's The Most Famous Person You've Ever Met?
The Eddie Vedder story is really kind of funny. When Pearl Jam was playing in New Orleans, they came to a nighclub I was managing at about 10:30 after the show. He was really nice then.
At about 1AM, he was drunk and very belligerent. He was getting very pushy with a friend of mine named Jimmy Gorman, and when I walked up and asked him if he would mind chilling out some, he yelled "F***, MOTHERF**** YOU!" He then started to draw back his fist. When he did that, I gave him a left hook as hard as I could, and he went straight to the floor. I remembered that he had come in with a pretty big crowd and started backing toward the wall. I saw some movement in my peripheral vision coming at me from the bar, and I shuffled to kick it, but my doorman hit the guy and knocked him out. It turned out to be Jack McDowell (White Sox Pitcher).
The doorman's girlfriend (a 5'3" petite blonde) ran up and started kicking Vedder in the head. I pulled her away and we dragged Vedder and McDowell outside to wait for the cops. They were both out for about 10-15 minutes.
About a week later, a friend of mine in Florida (St. Pete) saw Pearl Jam in concert and Vedder said that his black eye and bruises came from being jumped by a gang of rednecks in the French Quarter. The black eye came from me, and the bruises came from a very cute petite blonde stripper. HAHAHA A bit later, it was a rerun a bunch of times of MTV News.
Vedder tried suing us and the club, but when we went to court, the only thing that happened was my doorman (who had been to court countless times for assault) was banned from working in any establishment that served alchohol (funny thing was he hadn't had a drop to drink because he was working).
One of the bartenders named a drink after me, called the "Left Hook" : Four ounces of tequila and two ounces of tobasco sauce served unchilled at room temperature. Trust me, it stays with you for a while.
Here is an article about it that I'm not mentioned in (management was not implicated). It says that James Gorman was a waiter. He wasn't. Jimmy Gorman was a Pot Dealer whose father (Chickie Gorman) was a very well known agent of the DEA.
http://www.nytimes.com/1993/11/19/s...lved-in-new-orleans-scuffle.html?pagewanted=1
Contrary to the article, Jimmy never touched Vedder and what little fight there was all happened inside. If it weren't for Tony talking to the paper, he never would have been banned from working in bars.
Best-Mike
PS
I can't say 100% that Vedder didn't spit at Jimmy before I came in, but that wasn't when he got hit.