That hour would not come anytime soon! Turns out his plane landed in Pittsburgh due to thunderstorms
To boot I did not park in the economy lot since I figured I wouldn't be more than 1-2 hours! Big mistake there! To make matters worse, about 3 planes landed before his plane finally landed! It truly sucked having hopes raised up only to be crushed multiple times. His plane was about 2.5 hours late
When the witching hour finally came I see Russel Brand and he stops for a photo op! Things are looking good! I ask for mine and he's as nice as can be. After that he gets papped like mad. When I tried asking for the autograph he shot me down. While he's walking to his car I run to pay for my parking before it adds another $5 to my parking bill. Total was $20 which was $10 more than I would have paid if the plane was on time (and was a few minutes away from being $25).
To make matters worse turns out the person Brand took a photo op with was none other than actor Dane Cook
He was on the EXACT same flight as Russel Brand and none of us noticed! The FUCK! Could have had TWO photo ops! Guess all our eyes were just so focused on the prize. Do I have Cook to thank for stopping Brand? Very possibly. Despite a lot of shortcomings, namely spending more time at the airport than I desired to, paying more for parking than I planned to, not getting an autograph, and missing a good random in Dane Cook, I would say this was a successful trek cause the main objective was accomplished.
Russel Brand Photo Op
About a week later I planned to go to an event about 20 minutes from my house to virgilize the greatest modern day US politician, Ron Paul. Already had a photo op with him so this would be primarily an autograph mission. But then a flight for the Pet Shop Boys popped up! I always prefer to go for people I have no photo ops with over people I do have photo ops with, unless of course you're talking about mega A level names like Arnold, Stallone, or Ford in which case the autograph trumps most other photo ops. So here I chose to go to the airport.
At the airport was me, one grapher, and one pap. Me and the grapher wait for them and we see their vehicle pull up. They come out and we start by asking Neil Tennant he goes "one is plenty" and signs one each. I try asking for a photo op and he goes no photos. Next up is Chris Lowe who was a little nicer about signing as he signed two each but as he signs he lashes out on us "how did you know we were coming here, who told you we were here, how did you know". When I try for a photo op he hides his face. I ask him and I explain that I don't want to pap him that I want a photo of me and him. He goes "no thank you" as he walks away. The other grapher begs and pleads Neil for another autograph which he does. I quickly mooch on that begging as I get my other photo completed. I try to beg for photo ops a little more but to no avail.
When inside the other grapher went begging for more autos and does get a Chris but as he is begging and pleading Neil to complete his photo but I decide to intervene and say that it's over. I am all for begging and pleading but you also have to know when it's not going to happen.
I thought I could possibly get a side by side walking photo op when they got papped, but that was worthless. Neil covered his face and Chris put on a hoodie. So photo op wise this was a big bust
I rush back to the Ron Paul event but I missed the book signing. I tried him at a private reception he was doing but he only did photo ops there. There was another opportunity for Ron Paul but it wasn't for couple of hours later. At this point I decided to call it. Definitely not the best day for combo hunting, but I didn't walk away with nothing.
Pet Shop Boys autographs
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