George Carlin . . . a comedy legend . . . left us yesterday. And . . . he loved to meet others.

Talking about signing autographs, he said, “I always do it. No matter what. Look, it’s 30 seconds out of my life. And now those people had a good experience. And the next time my name comes up, for the rest of their lives, they’ll say ‘Yeah, I met Carlin once. He was nice.’ I’d much rather that than a lifetime of ‘Yeah, I bought all that guy’s albums and then he wouldn’t even sign my hat. That guy was a jerk.’ Thirty seconds for a lifetime? I’ll do that every time.”

I met him two different times...the last time shown here in late 2004 at the Touhill Performing Arts Center in St. Louis. George gladly signed my photo from our previous encounter and posed for this photo (one of my favorite shots...George was looking extra cool that day with the shades and leather jacket). And then, while examinig my friend, Mark's, albums, uttered this infamous line in a way only he could do, "Just where the f*** do you get all these records in such pristine condition?"

It's Sunday evening and time to recap last week's two celeb encounters.

The jazz supergroup, Return to Forever, was in concert at the Fox Theater in St. Louis on Tuesday. The group, consisting of jazz legends Chick Corea, Al Di Meola, Stanley Clark, and Lenny White, made a quick exit to their tour bus following the show. Unfortunately, all the fans got was a wave. So, I decided to follow their bus to see where it stopped. After a long trek through downtown St. Louis, the bus pulled into the new Four Seasons hotel near the riverfront. As the bus came to a halt, all four members exited the bus at the same time, so it was going to be a challenge to get them all to stop. I did good, obtaining autographs from Corea, Di Meola, and Clarke, and these photos with Corea, top, and Di Meola.





Last night, I made a quick 15 minute trip to Murrayville, Illinois, to get an autograph and photo with country artist T.G. Sheppard. T.G. was the special guest for the city's 150th anniversary celebration. He had an extensive merchandise table and was gladly signing photos, CDs, and t-shirts for fans.

Det. Sgt. Arthur Dietrich from the TV series Barney Miller was in the house Friday night at the Alton Argosy Casino. Steve Landesberg was on hand for the first of two nights of stand-up comedy at the Casino.

After a tip from a guard outside, we learned that Landesberg was dining inside the facility. We found the restaurant and waited until he finished his meal. Just before he arrived at the front door of the restaurant, he stopped and gladly signed two 8 x 10 photos and took this photograph. One of the photographs was from comedian Jonathan Winters' 80th birthday celebration. It was a photo he hadn't seen and he took a few minutes to recall the event for us.