Meeting musical idols

I met Rick Wakeman once. Small venue, there was almost a wedding-reception like line to shake his hand after the show. Seemed ok enough, was all right talking to folks, etc...

Sadly, he wasn't wearing a cape: http://www.huxrecords.com/rick_wakeman1.jpg

Haven't really met 'em, but I shook hands with HR (lead singer of the Bad Brains) and JJ Burnel (bass player for the Stranglers) at their respective concerts.

If I could meet any of 'em that are still alive today, I'd want to meet Joe Jackson, Sonny Rollins, and Howard Devoto (Buzzcocks, Magazine, Luxuria).

As a general rule, I've found jazz players to be warm, open, friendly and all about the music.

Rock players, not so much.

I saw Mike Batio at a clinic once. I wasn't really impressed with him. But I wouldn't expect much from a guy who has song titles like "Yngwie Can't Touch This."

I've had more productive conversations with the guy at the guitar shop. With guys like that, the local jazz and classical players, they seem to know a lot more than some of the big egos out there.

Yeah, the rock players often have a lot to say about everything but music.

I've met Robert Smith. Rode the roller coaster with him. He's very nice...and bubbly...just like his lyrics have always been for me. I danced on stage with Annie Lennox at Massey Hall. We never spoke, as she was singing Here Comes the Rain Again while we danced hand in hand skipping around the stage. It was fun. She was wearing an earphone microphone thingy...so we were able to do a sort of Ring Around the Rosie thing. I met Gene Loves Jezebel backstage. They were okay...not really all that interesting though...or maybe I was just in a funk at the time? Nina Hagen was extremely nice...not her stage persona...but you could tell she was trying to be her stage persona...funny. Boy George asked how he did...it was I think 1982 when I saw his band at this little dive in Toronto. It was before Do You Really Wanna Hurt Me...not a big crowd in this cubicle venue. He took off his shoes and put them right where I was standing against the stage. I was like, "Um...no!" He laughed, moved them and started dancing barefoot in the sludge. Afterwards, he was all, "Was I okay? Are you sure?" He was trying to come across as very unsure, but you could tell he was like, "I'm so great, right?" Culture Club was actually extremely cool at the time, if you could believe it...before the Do You Really Wanna Hurt Me stuff and the radio candy they were very raggae and hip. I spoke to David Bowie once, but only to exchange pleasantries. He did a surprise gig at a Toronto club to announce a tour...he was all leather clad and casual and sat on a stool on the stage and played a guitar and sang...it was cool. Unplugged before unplugged was a thing they did.

My ultimate "who would you like to meet" person would be Morten Harket, from A-ha, but I reckon that if I met him he would destroy all the dreams I have built in my head over all these years.

I met Brent Eccles, who was the drummer and manager for an Aussie band called The Angels. I was completely starstruck and made a real idiot of myself!

Not an idol, but...

Chatted with Phil Keaggy once. Really neat guy.

Kevin met Robert Smith and David Bowie?

I am so jealous.

Both are mentioned in my last novel.

I met Ziggy Marley. Actually had a meal with him and Steven. THAT was hysterically funny. Such a great time.
Zig's shy, but laughs easily, and warms up quickly. Steven, well, part of what had them rolling was I needed Zig to translate for me.
My humor had them wiping their eyes often. It was just cool how we accidentally fell together, hung out for an hour as if old friends, then gave quick hugs and went our own way.

Of course, when I got home...I was like a teenager...jumping up and down, yelling...wow...I haven't really changed much, eh?

I didn't get to meet him (I wouldn't have been able to say very much anyway), but Yuri Shefchuk from the Russian band DDT pointed at me and blew me a kiss from the stage once during a concert. And I was local crew for an Indigo Girls concert at my school back in 2000. Amy and Emily talked to us and made jokes about the locker room we'd revamped into a "dressing room" with tapestries and bean bags, saying it would be a great set for a lesbian porn flick. They were funny and very down to earth. And they let us hang out for their pre-show sound check, and Amy Ray sang Blood and Fire while we were all sitting on the floor watching. It was amazing.

*swoon* I heart Amy Ray.


I'd love to meet Reid Genauer from AOD and Strangefolk, and Michael Stipe from REM.

III said:

......... riding a roller coaster with Robert Smith ...........



That might be the coolest thing I've ever heard.

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Canada's Wonderland...circa 86ish. I found out he cut all his hair off before everybody else. (-;

There were many celebrities in attendance at the opening of the Bottom Line in New York City in 1973. It was dark. It was crowded. My wife and I were sitting in the first row near the stage, with just a narrow passage to get by. When Mick Jagger passed in front of us, my wife stuck out her foot and tripped him. Would you call that meeting an idol?
I once ran into Bruce Springsteen (and his entourage) at a Howard Johnson's on I-95 after a Dylan concert in 1975, a week before the Boss had his face on the cover of Time and Newsweek. We wound up paying our bills at the same time.
I had a long conversation with Peter Tork of the Monkees in the room he was renting at a friend's house in New York City.
I had coffee with the great anti-folk crusader Brenda Kahn at the legendary Cafe Edison at the Edison Hotel in 2000 or so. She was completely poignant. A few months ago we saw Brad Garrett of Everybody Loves Raymond eating there.
The list goes on....

In another thread, I mentioned people I have met. But someone I'd like to meet? Two that immediately come to mind are Phil Collins, and David Gilmour of Pink Floyd fame.

I'd cut off my left arm and make a lamp out of it to meet Leonard Cohen.

I've never met any celebrities ever.

The closest I've come to my music heroes is I caught a guitar pick thrown by Neal Schon and I was this close THIS CLOSE to the stage at a Blue Oyster Cult concert and I could make eye contact with Eric Bloom.

Oh, and I had an album signed by the current members of Foghat a few years ago, so I got to shake hands with the Tone Stevens, the original bassist and Roger Earl the original drummer. Lonesome Dave had died by then and Rod Price the guitarist was off doing something else at the time and has since passed on.

I don't think I'd want to meet my musical idols.

I'm fairly sure it'd just be an annoying experience for them-- I mean, what can you say that a thousand fans haven't said to them before? They probably just get sick of it.

I'll leave mine be.

Dakota Waters said:

I don't think I'd want to meet my musical idols.

I'm fairly sure it'd just be an annoying experience for them-- I mean, what can you say that a thousand fans haven't said to them before? They probably just get sick of it.

I'll leave mine be.

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A valid point. I think I would want to meet them under different circumstances than just a fanboy clamouring for an autograph; at a party, or other social venue where you could actually meet them and talk to them person-to-person. That would be awesome.

The first ones I met were the guys from Bon Jovi. I smoked pot on their tour bus with them. The keyboard player was hitting on me, but I didn't dig boys with curly hair.


I worked on an Amnesty International Tour in Atlanta in 1986. I got Bono's autograph - it's sitting right here beside me now, as a matter of fact. I also got to work with Peter Gabriel, The Edge, Corretta Scott King, Joan Baez and a few others on that show.


Uh.

One time when I was working in Vegas as a cocktail server I waited on a table (blackjack) of guys all day and that evening I told them they were going to miss a good concert outside if they didn't stop playing. They started laughing and one asked me who was playing. "38 Special," I answered.

"Pam. We are 38 Special," one said. And sure enough, they were.


There were others, mostly amusing to me, though. Not stories to tell crowds.

Oh, I forgot about Yngwie. I met him several times. Once me and my mom and sister and her husband were on his guest list at a show in Portland. It was so funny, the sound guy called me at my moms house to ask how many people were coming and my mom said she thought she was too old, nevermind ...she didn't want to go. So just about then, Yngwie started playing (he fired it up, as his sound man said...) and my mom could hear him playing through the phone and she said, "Oh hell! I'm going!"

And she did.

ChunkyC said:

A valid point. I think I would want to meet them under different circumstances than just a fanboy clamouring for an autograph; at a party, or other social venue where you could actually meet them and talk to them person-to-person. That would be awesome.

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Yeah, that would be pretty awesome...