Our brushes with fame

"Remember my name -- fame! I'm gonna live forever, I'm gonna learn how to fly -- High!"
Err... hi. Sorry about that. We here at ROUTE 1 were just channeling our inner Irene Cara while contemplating this week's FRIDAY QUESTION:
"What is your closest brush with fame?"
KERI M. -- Meeting Olympic gold medalist Hayley Wickenheiser.
RICK T. -- Opening for Country Music Great, Gene Watson!
JOHN S. -- I had lunch with Vice President Biden.
STEVE M. -- Front page pic in Detroit News, mid-to-late '80s. Back to camera, wearing cool Levi jacket, holding hands in chain for Hands Across America. Remember that?
JIM S. -- A friend of mine named Merry got her husband and I (the three of us) into a pre-concert meet-and-greet with the members of Hootie & the Blowfish before their 2003 concert at the Dubuque County Fairgrounds. She sweet-talked the guard at the gate! I also was on a flight with Orville Redenbacher once, but he didn't share his popcorn.
MIKE D. -- In 1988, when our band opened for Limited Warranty, a Minneapolis group that had charted a Top 100 hit a couple of years earlier with "Victory Line." (But my first brush with fame was in 1971, when I got my name in the newspaper for writing a letter to -- and getting a response from -- the astronauts of Apollo 14.)
ERIK H. -- My brush with fame could be called "Bono" and "Bono Redux." My sister and I saw U2 in San Francisco in December 1984, during the third leg of the Irish band's "Unforgettable Fire" tour. We waited with a few other fans outside the venue doors and for once the wait was not in vain. Bono himself came out to greet fans. My sister kissed him on the cheek and we both got his autograph. Then, in November 2002, I helped cover a Dubuque stop on an AIDS-awareness tour conducted by Bono and Ashley Judd. That was strictly no business, with no autographs requested.