My brother is a musician so we get to know a lot of the folks in the Texas music world, some of whom are known nationally and internationally.
My dad was a honcho in a very large company and so we ended up meeting and sometimes becoming friends with various movers and shakers on Wall Street and in Washington D.C. as well as in South America and Europe.
I grew up partly in a town near New York City that had a lot of entertainers living in it as well as folks in the advertising world, so we knew folks such as The Marlboro Man (he did storm windows when he wasn’t doing commercials) and the original TV Mr. Clean, as well as the kids of various famous people.
I am also involved in theater and film here in my little hometown, and have known a number of folks who have gone on to LA and New York.
On the whole, however, I find it much more useful to be an unknown. Nobody tries to take your picture when you run out to Walgreen’s in the middle of the night for emergency toilet paper, and strangers don’t interrupt you when you are eating in restaurants.