Band lead singers you met? Friendly, not friendly? Impressions?

[lamradio]

Tweedy - Met him once after a show in Charleston, SC. Him and Michael were nice enough to greet fans in the rain after the show, although Jeff seemed kind of out of it and quiet.

 

Frank Black - Along with Jeff, he's one of my lifelong musical idle's. Met him at a solo acoustic show in LA. Very nice guy. I complemented him on a great set and he was genuinely appreciative.

[Oil Can Boyd]

I met Jonathan Richman years ago and he was very nice. I had seen him in Boston and then a few months later I moved to Ithaca NY and he was playing there. I went over to say hi and mentioned being from Boston and we had a nice conversation about Boston neighborhoods and places.

 

I ran into Alex Chilton on the streets of New York. We walked together for a while talking about New York and the pacific northwest. He seemed to want to talk about anything but music.

 

Kristin Hersh (Throwing Muses) and Tanya Donelly (Throwing Muses/Belly) are both really nice and approachable.

[Sir Stewart]

Tim Robbins: I just met Tim over the summer back in July about 5 minutes from where I live in a gorgeous petite venue with perfect sound. He signed my copy of Cradle Will Rock and we took a picture. Obviously he's very tall in person. Great show.

I don't think his role in Tapeheads counts enough to call him a lead singer.

[Lammycat]

Jonathan Richman -- More aloof than you would expect.

I've only skimmed this thread but this struck me as funny. I would actually expect him to be very aloof.

[Lammycat]

I've met several, but I don't do impressions.

cryp doesn't meet and tell.

 

I've met a few. My biggest gaffe was back-stage at a small theatre drunkenly mentioning to Jorma about his prominent brow. Eek.

[u2roolz]

i've met patterson hood so many times, it's really no big deal when i see him. he is gracious and kind. very very cool and nothing like that ryan adams story above. man, he sounds like a tool.

 

Doesn't sound like a tool to me. He invited u2roolz and his friend backstage, offered U2's friend an opening act slot, shared some weed and took them barhopping. He was in the midst of his adiction, so I'm not surprised he freaked when he couldn't find his stash. But dude...All the tired Horses got to open a show for him after this interaction.

 

Yeah. Crow is right. Ryan wasn't a tool. He was just scatterbrained. Some more tidbits of info popped into my head when I read these responses. Although, by sharing this first bit it may add some fuel to Vacant Horizon's ideas about the man.

 

Anyways, I keep forgetting that Ryan used my friend's cd to roll a joint on. LOL. My friend didn't really mind. I guess he thought that in this surreal fantasy come to life it was kind of cool. I mean, it was still in his hands after he finished signing autographs in the venue for about half an hour.

 

The last thing seemed to be the most telling, but curious in the moment. The band was nowhere to be found. I think Crow mixed up my story a bit. It was the band that went away from Ryan to find some places to drink at probably because he stayed behind to sign autographs. This is why he called Catherine Popper (his hot bassist who now is in Grace Potter's band) to see where they were. Anyways, he finds out that they're coming back and then his tour manager (on the 1st step of the tour bus) in a very paternal voice told Ryan to "come on Ryan. It's time to go in". Ryan looked sad, but did as he was told and then poof he was gone and we headed back to our car. Now it seems obvious to me that he was after some human connection after being out on the road for a bit. I don't know if he was getting along great with his band or if he wanted to meet new different people who would offer him some hanging out time.

[TemplePilot]

Scott Weiland - Massive douche as anticipated (Dean DeLeo was great though)

Scott Lucas (Local H) - Pretty quiet and always seems a little annoyed, but will always take a picture or sign an autograph, so can't really come down on em too hard.

Frank Turner - Basically the nicest guy ever.

[dagwave]

cryp doesn't meet and tell.

 

I've met a few. My biggest gaffe was back-stage at a small theatre drunkenly mentioning to Jorma about his prominent brow. Eek.

that was the laugh out loud i needed today!

[Moss]

I never really approach celebs at all, just don't really know what I would say. I sympathize with those people meeting Tweedy on camera in IATTBYH.

 

Biggest one for me was probably Stevie Ray Vaughan. He was walking through the old Stapleton airport in Denver with his band and from what I remember, carrying one of those big video cameras they had back in the 80's (still in the box). He was wearing all his voodoo chile finery. He got in line to get into the airport bar (can't remember why there was a line to get into the bar). I was about 17 and got his autograph. He was very cool, said, "sure man" asked me my name in kind of a laid back southern drawl and wrote "Marshal, Soul to Soul, Stevie Ray Vaughan". All I had on me at the time was the book I was reading at the time, Cider house rules, and I was so nervous I didn't find a blank page so his autograph is on one of those "praise for Cider house rules" pages or something. He was even shorter than I imagined, probably came up to me chest with his hat on.

 

David Lowery - Just a month or so ago, ran into him sitting in a booth selling and signing CD's. I had no idea he was there as there was nobody else around. He was also very friendly and signed my daughters CD. She was struggling with getting that irritating plastic stuff off and he showed her how to just open it up using that plastic strip like a hinge. Had that thing opened and signed in no time.

 

Saw Jason Isbell recently and he was signing someones guitar next to the stage and chatting. Seemed very friendly but as usual I didn't talk to him.

 

That's really it as far as singers.

[froggie]

Wait...I take that back. I've met Don Henley a couple of times. Once in a professional situation where he was a bit leery about my presence at his house and had his security check me out. The second time I saw him at Big Al's Bar B Que on Inwood Road in Dallas and we had a good chuckle over the first incident.

 

i'd love to meet him if he wont bash me over the heard with a marraca!

[lamradio]

 

Biggest one for me was probably Stevie Ray Vaughan. He was walking through the old Stapleton airport in Denver with his band and from what I remember, carrying one of those big video cameras they had back in the 80's (still in the box). He was wearing all his voodoo chile finery. He got in line to get into the airport bar (can't remember why there was a line to get into the bar). I was about 17 and got his autograph. He was very cool, said, "sure man" asked me my name in kind of a laid back southern drawl and wrote "Marshal, Soul to Soul, Stevie Ray Vaughan". All I had on me at the time was the book I was reading at the time, Cider house rules, and I was so nervous I didn't find a blank page so his autograph is on one of those "praise for Cider house rules" pages or something. He was even shorter than I imagined, probably came up to me chest with his hat on.

 

That's awesome.

[tinnitus photography]

some random ones:

 

robert pollard [gbv] - solid, midwest dude. loves to drink and have fun. what's not to like?

buzz osbourne [melvins] - funny as hell. sharp, sharp sense of wit. wasn't mean, though.

jon spencer - mentioned i went to college w/ him, his wife (christina martinez) laughed. very nice, well-mannered.

henry rollins - straightforward, as you'd expect

al cisneros [om, sleep] - soft spoken, thoughful, somewhat reserved

lou barlow [sebadoh, dinosaur] - over his petulant phase, by far. friendly, outgoing.

david lowery [cracker/camper van] - wasn't really interested in talking...david immergluck and j hickman were more sociable.

michael rother [neu!] - really engaging, open, friendly. disarmingly so.

steve albini - i didn't talk w/ him, just observed him running a poker table a few times @ ATP...all business, but not curt. willing to explain to the newbies what they might want to do. brutally harsh to one guy who brought an apple, a flower and a tennis ball to the table and wanted to get into the game.

 

hippie - "what do i need to play"

albini, while dealing - "money"

hippie - "what if i don't have any?"

albini, without missing a beat - "get a job"

[pmancini100]

jeff tweedy - met him once after a show in rochester. he signed my copy of 'adult head.' i was really nervous and stuff, and i told him how much his music changed my life and all that sappy stuff. he was about to respond, but then we took a picture (which is currently my vc profile picture) and the security guards made him leave.

 

john stirratt - really cool guy, met him at solid sound. gave him a copy of my bands record. he seemed genuinely interested even though everyone was hounding him for autographs and stuff.

 

rhett miller - met him at a ryan adams show in upstate NY. he was outside ryan's tour bus, saying "hey ryan! its me, rhett! let me in the bus!" to no avail. i went up to him and asked "are you really rhett miller?" he replied with a dejected "yeah..." really funny guy, he had a big conversation with us.

 

gary louris - he signed my copy of 'vagabonds' after the show at town hall, nyc. i asked him about this particular interview he did a while back, and he said "you know, sometimes you think you're the shit.. and sometimes you ARE shit." wise words.

 

 

 

theres a bunch of others... these are the ones that stick out the most for me. im also too lazy to try and remember all the details at the moment.

[tinnitus photography]

i talked w/ John after the Orpheum show last year..he and Pat came into bar we were at (Silvertone) after the show. very pleasant. I also talked w/ Jeff briefly this year when i ran into him and his sons @ the Moog exhibit at SSF. thanked him for inviting Rick Bishop last year as well as for getting two SSFs off the ground, and he was cordial.

[Sir Stewart]

jeff tweedy - ... he was about to respond, but then we took a picture and the security guards made him leave.

So this was backstage at your gig?

[pmancini100]

So this was backstage at your gig?

 

 

i wish. it was by some molson canadian bus. you can see it in my profile picture.

[jff]

 

does that dude live in ATL? what record store? criminal is supposedly closing.

 

I guess he lives in Atlanta still. I saw him get in a shiny BMW with a Georgia license plate when I was leaving. Always nice to see people making money off their music, especially when you know how long they've been putting in the work. I saw him at Criminal. We stopped by there after work the day we found out they were in trouble and spent about $100.

[PopTodd]

I've had email exchanges with a few other lead singers. Does that count at all?

Ian Gomm

Martin Newell

Jeff Lescher (Green)

[jff]

 

Mike D - also very quiet, humble and polite. He used to ride his orange banana seat bike and park it out front.

 

 

 

I met him and talked to him for a couple minutes once without even realizing who it was. A band I was in had played a CMJ show at The Cooler. After the show we were going to stay at a friend's apartment, and she knew MIke D. I don't know if he was at the show, or just passing by, but he stopped to talk to her (and by extension, us). I was bummed after I found out it was him, because that was the height of my Beastie Boys fandom. He seemed like just some normal random guy. If I hadn't been exhausted from driving all day and doing the typical rock show routine of drink/load/drink/play/drink/unload/drink all night I might have recognized him.

[PopTodd]

 

I met him and talked to him for a couple minutes once without even realizing who it was. A band I was in had played a CMJ show at The Cooler. After the show we were going to stay at a friend's apartment, and she knew MIke D. I don't know if he was at the show, or just passing by, but he stopped to talk to her (and by extension, us). I was bummed after I found out it was him, because that was the height of my Beastie Boys fandom. He seemed like just some normal random guy. If I hadn't been exhausted from driving all day and doing the typical rock show routine of drink/load/drink/play/drink/unload/drink all night I might have recognized him.

Probably had a much cooler conversation with him because you didn't recognize him.

[-seven]

 

I met him and talked to him for a couple minutes once without even realizing who it was. A band I was in had played a CMJ show at The Cooler. After the show we were going to stay at a friend's apartment, and she knew MIke D. I don't know if he was at the show, or just passing by, but he stopped to talk to her (and by extension, us). I was bummed after I found out it was him, because that was the height of my Beastie Boys fandom. He seemed like just some normal random guy. If I hadn't been exhausted from driving all day and doing the typical rock show routine of drink/load/drink/play/drink/unload/drink all night I might have recognized him.

 

Well, I'll confess that I didn't recognize him either for a long time. He came in to the cafe' numerous times before I realized it was him.

[-seven]

I also interrupted a conversation that David Bowie was having with a friend of mine at a farmers' market once. That's pretty embarrassing. He was completely unrecognizable.

[jff]

Probably had a much cooler conversation with him because you didn't recognize him.

 

I don't remember the specifics of our conversation, but this is definitely true.

[Sir Stewart]

I met Mike D once and came away from it with his line from Paul's Boutique in my head: "I'm so high that they call me Your Highness so if you don't know me then pardon my shyness."

[Vacant Horizon]

 

I guess he lives in Atlanta still. I saw him get in a shiny BMW with a Georgia license plate when I was leaving. Always nice to see people making money off their music, especially when you know how long they've been putting in the work. I saw him at Criminal. We stopped by there after work the day we found out they were in trouble and spent about $100.

 

cool. there's a contingent of famous folks around atlanta. if i think someone looks like 'someone' i always look twice. could really be that person. i know folks who've run into dylan and springsteen in atlanta. i saw luke wilson once. i know, cool :-)

 

sad about criminal. wonder how long decatur cd will hang in there.