Meeting celebs... share your stories...

I've been in concert production my whole adult life, so I've met a lot of celebrities, quite a few being personal heroes. When you're working, it's generally frowned upon to approach the artists unless you need to interact with them to do your job. I mixed a lot of monitors for bands, so that puts you kind of in the trenches together. You can quickly tell which artists are approachable and which aren't. I think I've told the story here before, but one of my most memorable moments was meeting Carlos Santana. I was doing sound at this benefit for deformed Chinese kids. It was at a yacht club in Greenwich, CT. Carlos and Robert Randolph were the entertainment. We had Carlos all set-up and sound checked, and he was just hanging out backstage, so I walked up and said "Thanks for all the great music", and he said "No, thank you, man!" and shook my hand. At that moment, up walks Paul Reed Smith with two new guitars. Carlos introduced me to Paul, and I took my leave.

Perhaps even more important to 8 y/o me was my first on-the-job celeb run-in. I was working as a stagehand, building the ring for a WWF match at the New Haven Coliseum (RIP). We broke for lunch and headed to catering. There were quite a few wrestlers already there, but at this point in my life, I really didn't know who too many of them were. The guy in front of me in the lunch line was a big guy, but wearing a sweater, slacks and loafers and carrying a briefcase, so I had him pegged as an exec rather than a wrestler. We sat down next to each other at the only available table. It wasn't until we sat down and I said hello, that I realized it was George "The Animal" Steel. We made some small talk, and I was just amazed at what an articulate, nice guy he was. Not a single turnbuckle on his plate either.
 
I've been in concert production my whole adult life, so I've met a lot of celebrities, quite a few being personal heroes. When you're working, it's generally frowned upon to approach the artists unless you need to interact with them to do your job. I mixed a lot of monitors for bands, so that puts you kind of in the trenches together. You can quickly tell which artists are approachable and which aren't. I think I've told the story here before, but one of my most memorable moments was meeting Carlos Santana. I was doing sound at this benefit for deformed Chinese kids. It was at a yacht club in Greenwich, CT. Carlos and Robert Randolph were the entertainment. We had Carlos all set-up and sound checked, and he was just hanging out backstage, so I walked up and said "Thanks for all the great music", and he said "No, thank you, man!" and shook my hand. At that moment, up walks Paul Reed Smith with two new guitars. Carlos introduced me to Paul, and I took my leave.

Perhaps even more important to 8 y/o me was my first on-the-job celeb run-in. I was working as a stagehand, building the ring for a WWF match at the New Haven Coliseum (RIP). We broke for lunch and headed to catering. There were quite a few wrestlers already there, but at this point in my life, I really didn't know who too many of them were. The guy in front of me in the lunch line was a big guy, but wearing a sweater, slacks and loafers and carrying a briefcase, so I had him pegged as an exec rather than a wrestler. We sat down next to each other at the only available table. It wasn't until we sat down and I said hello, that I realized it was George "The Animal" Steel. We made some small talk, and I was just amazed at what an articulate, nice guy he was. Not a single turnbuckle on his plate either.

George was awesome. That reminds me of the time I was dropping a friend off at the airport in Tampa. We pulled in behind a yellow Corvette with the license plate MACHO1. Out jumped the Macho Man in full Macho Man garb. It was awesome.
 
As predicted, I suddenly start remembering other people. I won't even go into them all.

Mary Ellen Weber (STS-70, STS-101) is a fellow skydiver. I jumped with her and her husband, Jerry, back before she joined NASA. I remember her studying between jumps during her PhD days. She is a quiet, super intelligent woman.
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Instead of posting short meetings with musicians, I'll focus on one big influence, local tenor saxophone player and song writer, Arnett Cobb (1918-1989).
Who, you ask? Cobb was an up and coming jazz man before spinal surgery and later, a bad car accident knocked him down for a while. He returned to fame starting in the mid-70's, which is when my dad and I met him. He played several gigs in town, including a downtown seafood restaurant. We would see him every opportunity. When I told him I was learning sax, he would always tell me something to help every time we met.

He spent the last 30 years of his life on crutches and I never heard him complain. I love that man.
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Rob Halford is literally a prince among men. Kind, thoughtful, articulate...the guy just lights up a room.

The real deal.

I met him at a party just before Christmas. A reception line had sort of spontaneously formed and I was at the end of it. He was about to split before I got to him and I was gonna just bail out but two work friends pushed me up to him. I was sorta half in the bag cuz I had drank a couple beers and hadn't eaten so I felt like a dope but he was really cool and gracious.

I had met Les Paul on several occasions. One of the sweetest guys you could ever meet.

I met Bruce Springsteen a long time ago. He was also really cool.

I had the opportunity to go to the Grammy's a long time ago when they were in New York. I saw Steve Vai in a crowd as we were all getting on a private chartered subway (believe it or not) to a party and I yelled to him: "Hey, Steve! I really like 'Frank'!" He looked a little confused at first and then realized what I was talking about. He smiled and yelled "Thanks! I'm glad somebody does!" That was pretty cool.
 
I met Skunk Baxter at MacWorld Expo in Boston in '92. He was at a booth with Scott Page (Pink Floyd touring sax player) hawking a CD of royalty-free music for presentations and the like. They jammed a bit, then when they stopped, the booth guy invited people into the booth to meet Scott and Skunk. No one moved, so I went over and started talking to Skunk about his guitar. He was really nice, and was pretty excited about talking about his guitar, which had a MIDI controller built in.

I also joined the Pittsburgh Steelers on the field of Schaefer Stadium for practice when they came to play the Patriots around 1975 or so. Long story.
 
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I have met a few celebrities working in the casinos.
Short list:
Lawrence Taylor.
Manute Bol
Brett Butler ( the ball player )
Jaromir Jager
Jerry Orbach
David Letterman ( shitty tipper)
Dice Clay
Orel Herchiser
Howie Mandel
Joe Thiesman
Michael Jordan.

The best was shaking hands with Willy Mays and Mickey Mantle .
Mays was a celebrity host at our casino.
Mantle was the celebrity host at The Claridge .
Both were in front of the Baccarat pit talking to the higher up suits.
I was going on break,walked passed them and stopped,said hello.Told them I was a big fan of both of them. Shook their hands and went on break.
 
I have met a few celebrities working in the casinos.
Short list:
Lawrence Taylor.
Manute Bol
Brett Butler ( the ball player )
Jaromir Jager
Jerry Orbach
David Letterman ( shitty tipper)
Dice Clay
Orel Herchiser
Howie Mandel
Joe Thiesman
Michael Jordan.

The best was shaking hands with Willy Mays and Mickey Mantle .
Mays was a celebrity host at our casino.
Mantle was the celebrity host at The Claridge .
Both were in front of the Baccarat pit talking to the higher up suits.
I was going on break,walked passed them and stopped,said hello.Told them I was a big fan of both of them. Shook their hands and went on break.

Theisman is a nice guy. He lived in Vienna (my home town) when he played for the Skins and you’d run into him everywhere. I can’t imagine the time he spent talking to fans and every time I saw him, he was talking to one.

I used to deliver Chinese food to Darrell Green all the time. I think his family ordered from the place I worked 2 or 3 times a week :grin:
 
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Haven't met many, but I did shake SRV's hand for an in-store promo for "In Step" the year before he died. What struck me was how short he was, and his handshake was like a vice grip. Double Trouble was with him. SRV and Reese Wynans were really cool and outgoing. Tommy Shannon was kinda quiet but OK, and Chris Layton was having none of it.

Many, many years ago, I was working in a cell phone store, and in strolls Carlton Fisk - Hall Of Fame catcher with the Red Sox and White Sox, and a fairly well-known, uh...oddball. He was looking for a replacement for his Motorola StarTac (THE phone of the moment) that he broke. I was all business with him, and when it came time to do the paperwork, I didn't even need to ask his name, and I think he was kinda cool with me that even though I knew damn well who he was, that I didn't do the typical fan thing, launch into baseball conversation, etc. He mostly talked about golf.
 
That reminded me of my encounter with Bob Dole. I was an IT consultant and a few of my clients were in DC. I left a client's site and was walking to the metro, when a black sedan pulled up and out of the back popped Bob Dole. This was the late 90s after he lost to Clinton and I guess he noticed me staring at him, so he walked over, shook my hand and said "Hi, I'm Bob Dole, nice to meet you."


That's fantastic! And I totally read that quote in both Dole's AND Norm MacDonald's voices :wink:
 
I've worked in venues for years, still do so I've met more people than I can remember. A few that stand out,

Emmylou Harris- You'd have a hard time finding a sweeter person.

B.B. King- Met him a couple of times. The last time he came out of the venue in a wheelchair after the show. He looked frail and exhausted but he met and signed for every single person who waited for him because he had too much respect for his fans to disappoint even one of them.

Buddy Guy- Met him in our hotel lobby at 3 am. Buddy was great, I was a babbling idiot.

Kathy Griffin- Very warm and nice. Very out of character. Asked about my night, asked for food recommendations.

Paul Molitor- My son's hero. Waited for him after a Brewers game. He was the last one out of the park. My son went up to him and told him he was his favorite and Molly sat there at midnight and talked to him for at least 10 minutes. He was everything my son thought he would be.

Chuck Berry- Wild ride down the interstate at 95 and a run through the airport carrying his Gibson.

A ton of others including classics Lillian Gish, Johnny Carson and Bob Hope.

I STILL have a crush on Emmylou; nice to know she was so sweet.

The BB and Molly stories were great.
 
Theisman is a nice guy. He lived in Vienna (my home town) when he played for the Skins and you’d run into him everywhere. I can’t imagine the time he spent talking to fans and every time I saw him, he was talking to one.

I used to deliver Chinese food to Darrell Green all the time. I think his family ordered from the place I worked 2 or 3 times a week :grin:
Thiesman was waiting for his wife.My game was dead. I look to the right and he is just standing there.
We start talking .Next we are breaking each others chops.

Funny,guy.
 
The best was shaking hands with Willy Mays and Mickey Mantle .
.



I got to spend some time with the Mick on a baseball instructional video. It was surreal sitting around talking like a bunch of baseball idiots with him as one of us. He was a great story teller for sure but was more interested in our stories, which is pretty cool. Gary Carter and Tom Seaver were there too so it was a pretty memorable week for a 22 year old.
 
I've "met" (using the term loosely here—usually an autograph and not much else) quite a few celebs and famous musicians.

Biggest awestruck moment (TIE) — Meeting Dizzy Gillespie or meeting Buzz Aldrin.

Strangest encounter (TIE) — My pupils dilated and (ahem) doors of perception blottered wide open, talking to Laurie Anderson after a show in '90. Alternately, being shoved around by Liam Neeson after being instructed to do so by Joel Coen while on the set of The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.

Most disappointing — Michael Hedges was a pompous toolbag. He could have just been having an off night.
 
I'm a HUGE boxing fan and for many years Evander Holyfield lived on my delivery route. he was ALWAYS a very nice man,and delivering to his house i met George Foreman,Vinny Paz and a several other boxers. Most were cool,some not so much but it was all good.

In the 1990's I played with Paul Peek( he was in Gene Vincent and the Blue Caps) in bars in the Atlanta area and whenever Jeff Beck was in town he'd get us backstage .Jeff was another very polite nic e guy,but if you tried to talk music he'd clam up and give stock answers. I met Pino Pallidino ( gret guy with HUGE hands) Jennifer Batten and Terry Bozzio when they were in his band.

Steve Morse briefly gave up music in the early 1990's and flew as a pilot for a regional airline ( ASA) in Atlanta. He lived one town over and I;d often see hin at the gas stations,supermarkets etc. I;d always say hi and introduce myself and I really thought it was the coolest thing when he'd wave and say" Hi Scott" when he saw me. He LOVED talking music and gear and carried picture albums with his guitars,amps and effects and would happily show them to anyone interested

My favorite meeting was in Munich a couple of years ago. My wife and i were walking to dinner in Marienplatz and I felt someone watching m e.i turned and met eye contact with a man and I nodded at him and he nodded back. I walked a few steps and told my wife that i was certain that was Joe Satriani, but what are the odds that I would randomly walk by him on a winter afternoon??? She told me to go talk to him,and I walked back and asked if he were indeed Satch and he said yes he was,and seemed genuinely surprised i recognized him.He was very personable and chatted with us and we got pics with him
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I STILL have a crush on Emmylou; nice to know she was so sweet.

The BB and Molly stories were great.
I know I've told this story before but I'll tell it again. I bumped into Emmylou outside a venue. We got into a conversation and wet stuff started falling from the sky. Emmylou says, It's starting to rain, and I say, Well I'll let you go. She says, I'm not trying to get rid you, we haven't finished talking. We should get on the bus where it's dry. I tried to finish up the conversation as fast as I could as I didn't want to impose.
 
"I survived Bo Diddley" (2006)

Not that he said a dozen words to me all night, but I had a GREAT time. But I'm getting ahead of myself. We were supposed to close. So I show up early and walk into the bar and Bo is seated onstage, playing. His daughter Terri, his keyboardist, sees my case and says "The bass player is here!" I say "Yes, I'll play bass if this gentleman will let me." Bo keeps playing. Now I look up onstage and there's a drum kit. Not my drummer's kit. The promoter dude asked for a bassist and a drummer so I got my side-band drummer, burned him a copy of Bo's best and the poor guy practices up, makes cheats, loads everything up and they've got someone else. Crap. I love benefits.

I load in, while Bo is playing to a few dozen people, futzing around with his guitar synthesizer thingy. I say to Terri "If you can give me keys it'd be great." Bo hears and turns around (he is seated facing the audience) and says "We don't do that 'key' s***." Haha, welcome to the big leagues, Brian Krashpad! I'm up there playing with Bo, before the show has started (his granddaughter or some such relative is playing drums, while we wait for the keyboards to arrive) and my drummer walks in. "So I guess I don't need to unload?" I try to apologize (not that it's anything I did) while playing. I don't see him for the rest of the night. Crap.

So the keyboards arrive and Terri finally finds a workable sound, and she is sweet as pie, telling me how it is tough to play behind Bo and all, and she's still not used to it! She also says "You're a brave man!" and I said something to the effect of that I was equal parts brave and stupid, but no way would I turn down this gig. Bo quits the stage and retires to the VIP room backstage. Not wanting to be presumptious I stay out front, I want to be out there when my wife arrives anyhow. My wife arrives, as does my lead singer from my side band, less than pleased about the $15 cover (which my wife also paid).

After a LONG wait (Bo does some sort of interview backstage in the VIP room), we finally are almost ready to go on. "Where's the guitar player?" everyone asks. I was only told they needed bass and drums. A guitarist from one of the other bands on the bill shows up, with an acoustic electric. Hmm. That bit actually turned out OK though. Bo immediately breaks a string before we start the first song. He has no backup guitar and not even any spare strings onstage. A relative is dispatched to go get his spare strings. A VERY long string change ensues.

Finally, iirc we open with "Hey, Bo Diddley." It goes over great, and is a song that my studies have actually prepared me for. For almost all of the rest of the night, I am making stuff up on the fly. In some cases between songs Bo will teach a riff to me and the guitarist on the spot, but almost never actually saying the key or notes. He will either play it and expect you to play it right back, or he will sing the melody ("Go: dum dum dum bah dum bah dum dum") and expect you to instantly translate it into music.

A little into the set we blow a fuse or something. I still have power and so does Bo for our stage amps, and the keys have power but the PA is down so no vox and no keys or guitar. Another longish delay. The volunteer tech crew (actually a DJ rather than a live sound man, who volunteered his PA) eventually gets it sussed and we plow ahead. Apparently we were onstage for a couple hours. In general I think it was very well received. I had a really GREAT time. Towards the end of the set this guy from the audience comes over and stood on my side of the stage yelling encouragement and praise (please, do not compare me to Jack Bruce, that's looney!). Which is not very common for a bassist playing highly repetitive simplistic basslines. Even so, I didn't care.

I played bass for Bo Diddley.

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My favorite meeting was in Munich a couple of years ago. My wife and i were walking to dinner in Marienplatz and I felt someone watching m e.i turned and met eye contact with a man and I nodded at him and he nodded back. I walked a few steps and told my wife that i was certain that was Joe Satriani, but what are the odds that I would randomly walk by him on a winter afternoon??? She told me to go talk to him,and I walked back and asked if he were indeed Satch and he said yes he was,and seemed genuinely surprised i recognized him.He was very personable and chatted with us and we got pics with him

Interesting. I was at a TE camp last year and a Satch camp was at the same time and same place (the last night concert was Satch/TE and Phil Collins together with TE on a vintage Tele...it was epic). But Joe never ate with the group. Phil and Paul Gilbert did as well as all the TE instructors. Tommy said that he had asked Joe why and he said that he would be "mobbed" if he did so he stay away. Not to say that he isn't a nice guy and maybe being in a neutral setting is what is needed sometimes for these superstars.

Another one of those silly sort of celeb things. I once had seats on the floor of a Golden State Warriors game when they weren't very good and I was in the business of being the technical expert in purchases of millions of dollars of semi conductor manufacturing equipment (so I got perks :grin:). During the shoot around a ball bounced into the seats and I grab it and caught the eye of one of the players on the Pistons, made a chest pass and he thanked me and proceeded to nail the 3 pointer. I jumped up and told all my buddies it was my first NBA assist. They all told me to sit the f* down but I don't care it still counts. The player was Allan Houston
 
I’ve dabbled in semi-pro rock journalism and have met/interviewed a number of semi-popular ‘00s indie types.

I once kinda hung out with Cynthia Plastercaster.

I’ve had weird-to-bland encounters with various rock-type celebrities.

I once accidentally made fun of Leonard Nimoy mostly to his face. I once passed up a chance to make fun of Lovie Smith to his face. I once purposefully made fun of Greg Kot to his face. I made the local paper for being shitty/edgycute to columnist Eric Zorn.

Buddy of mine is an autograph hound and has pressed me into helping him get shit signed. It’s degrading and I hate it.
 
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