March 21, 2012

Dogged journalist grills a guy who looks like Bono.

Makes a big deal out of it before it's figured out that they guy was not Bono.
Pavel “Bonodouble” Sfera showed up [at some big music event] in his Bono-impersonation garb. ”I went there as a spoof,” says Sfera....
[Jason Mattera, editor at large at Human Events] "started asking questions about why I had taken money out of Ireland and moved it to Holland for a lower tax base,” recalls Sfera....

Sfera says he was “waiting” for Mattera to figure out that he wasn’t really Bono. That moment didn’t come, and Sfera decided not to help his interlocutor. “I let him go,” says Sfera. “I didn’t think he was being legitimate and fair.”
Ha ha. Did I ever tell you that circa 1960, my father looked like Frank Sinatra? He'd get asked for his autograph, and he gave it. Frank Sinatra. My other story like that is that one time — in the 1970s — I was in a restaurant in NYC with my brother and his friend who just happened to resemble Bruce Springsteen. Some young woman rushed up and began hugging him and raving about how she loved all his songs. We didn't know what the hell was happening. I figured it out later, but the lady must believe, to this day, that she got close to Bruce.

What is wrong with people?! I'm never sure I recognize someone!

32 comments:

Patrick said...

That wasn't Frank? Damn.

edutcher said...

As to the reporter, he is one of those who presumes to tell us how to vote and what to think.

Patrick said...

The video is not that good, but it doesn't look like that great of an impersonation.

roesch/voltaire said...

This was suppose to be a ambush interview for Breitbart.com and right wing radio ( Hannity)picked up on it, and you know it did move the listeners I am sure.

ricpic said...

I once went up to Allen Ginsberg in Tompkins Square Park to tell him how much Howl meant to me. Yes, I was that young and stupid. He ignored me. The sonumbitch.

garage mahal said...

Breitbart was there.

coketown said...

The only famous people I've seen in public were the members of Ladytron. My friend urged me to ask for their autographs but I thought that was rude. Bothering people is rude. "Hi. We haven't been introduced, but will you all sign this album?" Rude.

garage mahal said...

The "Dogged Journalist" headline and subsequent soft landing was duly noted Althouse. Nice work.

Lem Vibe Bandit said...

Circa 1993, I saw Halle Berry at Le Bar Bat. Either nobody was recognising her or everybody was super cool not bothering her..

I approached her (of course) offered her a drink and asked her "weren't you on 21 Jump St?"

She smiled.. but she didn't correct me.

The ultimate would be to run into Johnny Depp and ask him the same thing.

Lem Vibe Bandit said...

btw

the mistaken Bono video is up elsewhere.

kimsch said...

Once years ago I was at the mall with my Dad and we were in the food court next to a Gloria Jean's Coffee Bean. There was man standing near us. Dad said to me, "isn't that Bill Kurtis?" I said, "No, it can't be Bill Kurtis." The man turned around, held his hand out and said, "Hi, I'm Bill Kurtis."

He is a very nice man.

The mall is in the northern Chicago suburbs, but I think this was when he was at CBS, after his first stint as a local WBBM anchor (he's anchoring the local WBBM news again now...)

cassandra lite said...

Once someone came up to me and said how great I was. I said she was mistaking me for someone else, but of course she wasn't. Finally I just said thanks and told her to beat it.

Sprezzatura said...

I am 99.9% sure that I saw Althouse in Stellenbosch about a year ago.

She never blogged about such a trip, so there is some doubt. But, the resemblance (inlc big hair) was undeniable.

Perhaps an unknown twin that was separated at birth?

Sprezzatura said...

OTOH, there weren't any wine boxes.

So, it probably wasn't her.

Carnifex said...

My mom and dad were in Hawaii for a vacation several years ago. There was a PGA event going on at the same time. Mom and dad came in from sightseeing one afternoon, when the desk clerk asked my dad "How are you enjoying your stay Mr. Trevino?" Lee Trevino was staying in the same hotel as they, and my dad is his doppleganger. They look like twins. They had no idea who Lee Trevino was at the time, neither follow golf.

Earlier in his life(as a teenager) my dad looked like Elvis, and that made him very popular with the ladies, and my mom.

I myself look like Chick Magee of Bob and Tom fame. That made me very popular with no one in particular.

My wife has been mistaken for Roseanne Barr, pre-Tom Arnold.

I was also mistaken for a not very famous heel from Ohio Valley Wrestling. That didn't do a lot for me either.

I was recognized once by a 2nd grade class mate when we bumped into each other once when I was about 35.(true story). He wanted to know how I was doing, since I hadn't seen him since second grade and all. I wanted to know how the HELL he recognized me after all that time.(my life can be depressing)

Patrick said...

I thought Johnny Depp did a good job on 21 Jump St. I liked the show.

kimsch said...

21 Jump Street is available on Netflix Instant. 80's hair. Blast from the past.

Patrick said...

I liked 21 Jump Street. I didn't like 80's hair.

Netflix has been getting a lot of TV shows lately.

MayBee said...

I've been asked before if I was so-and-so, but nobody ever just assumed I was.
What's odd is it's been a different person each time.
That is probably because I live in LA, and everyone is always looking for a sighting.

Wince said...

None of Bono's people were with him. Wrong smile, too.

Pavel Sfera, Bono impersonator.

On U2 and taxes, could tell you about getting "wheels in the air", but...

Nonimmigrant Visas

Unlike holders of green cards, holders of nonimmigrant visas may or may not have to report income and pay taxes to the United States Government. Holders of nonimmigrant visas only become tax residents if they spend at least 183 days of the current year within the United States. So, if you spend 200 days in the United States and are a holder of a nonimmigrant visa, you will probably be required to report your income to the IRS.

In addition, there is a weighted system that could also put you in the category of a tax resident even if you spent less than 183 days in the United States during the current year. If you have been in the United States for a total of at least 183 "weighted" days during the prior three years in the United States, then you are also a tax resident, unless you spent less than 30 days within the US during the current year.

Under the weighted system, all days in the current year count as one day, all days in the previous year count as 1/3 of a day, and all days in the year before that count as 1/6 of a day. Add it all up, and if it comes out to at least 183 days, you must report your income to the IRS. This rule does not apply to certain governmental employees and other professionals and students, however.

If neither of these rules puts you in the category of a tax resident and you have a tax home in a different county, you may avoid being classified as a tax resident and will not have to pay U.S. taxes. If the IRS determines that you do not have a tax home in another country, however, it may decide that you are attempting to conceal your income from the government and force you to pay taxes anyway.

If you are confused about your immigration and taxes, you should go through the IRS and navigate to IRS Form 519, U.S. Tax Guide for Aliens, which can answer many questions.

LoafingOaf said...

Oh, it was scrubbed from Breitbart.com, and Althouse makes sure not to mention that.

The right-wing blogosphere is pathetic.

“We went through a vetting process on this and appropriate questions were raised and appropriate answers were given,” Breitbart.com editor Joel Pollack assured us this afternoon by phone. “But the videographer then asked us to take it down, so we did.” But Pollak said he would “neither confirm nor deny” that mistaken identity was the reason for the scrubbing.

These are the folks who claim they're going to properly vet the president for America because the "lamestream" media never has....

Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...

On my one trip to New York in the 80's I saw Yoko Ono from a distance and walked past David Byrne on the sidewalk.

btw, I can't believe anyone would mistake that dude for Bono.

~Nina said...

Apparently, I'm a ringer for someone famous, to the point I've been followed by people, but I don't encourage it or use it in anyway. I also don't see the similarities at all, but I've been mistaken for this person for a long enough period of time and on two continents and half a dozen states, so there must be something to it.


At least now I know what I'd look like if I got Botox, and I'm glad I've never been tempted.

Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...

People frequently tell me I look like someone they know but it's never somebody famous.

I take that back. My wife thinks I resemble the guy that played Eugene Sledge in "The Pacific". So I got that going for me.

Paul Brinkley said...

Still doesn't beat a journalist grilling a Dogma protestor and not realizing it was Kevin Smith.

rcommal said...

Pathetic.

prairie wind said...

The rules:
1. If you are absolutely sure she is who you think she is, and you approach her...she is not who you thought she was.

2. If you are sort of wondering if it is that famous guy and you don't approach, when you tell the story later, it absolutely WAS the famous guy and you were so cool that you didn't bother him like some idiots do.

raf said...

I agree with the guy who, when asked why he did not speak to a celebrity he recognized, said something like,"I knew who he was and he knew who he was and beyond that, we had nothing to talk about."

jacksonjay said...

I once knew a guy who had a cousin who saw a celebrity ...!

bagoh20 said...

I smelled a celebrity once. They smelled of elderberries.

Beldar said...

I wasn't too sure I recognized "The Cars" lead singer Ric Ocasek at the Aspen airport a few years ago. But then Paulina Porizkova walked up and put her arms around him. Goofy dudes, even rock-star goofy dudes, fade quickly in my memory. Supermodels, less so.

Beldar said...

Oh oh oh ... and since John Edwards is back in the news, I can link the story of my Plaza Hotel elevator encounter with Cheryl Tiegs! (You have to read to the end to be reminded of the "Do you know me?" issues from the 2004 campaign. Apparently one or more call-girls claim better memories than Dick Cheney has.)