Nicest / most personable musician you've met?

I was in line at the Century City movie theater here in LA, back in 1999 to see Spice World (hey, my friends and I were really really stoned) and I was wearing a shirt a friend had made which was a fake Mr. Rogers mug-shot... So, this little redhead guy in a baseball cap keeps looking at my shirt and he asks me, "what? Mr. Rogers was arrested for something?" ... I explained to him that my friend made the shirt and he goes "right on" ... He then sees that we're in line for Spice World and practically yells "You guys are seeing SPICE GIRLS?" and he starts laughing uncontrollably and says "I'm gonna watch Blade! You guys ought to ditch out and see it too" he then strolls off into the theater shaking his head .....

It was Axl Rose

 

The most personable musician I have encountered was Adrian Belew, although at the time I didn't know who he was. In the early 80s, Adrian was living in Urbana, IL, the town I live in. I was at a local park and noticed a volleyball game where they had an uneven number of people playing. I asked if I could join them. They obliged. A few days later our local newspaper had an article and photo of Adrian Belew. I then realized I had been playing volleyball with Adrian Belew without even realizing it.

 

Met and conversed with Mac Demarco and Hayden. Super laid-back dudes with zero attitude.

Love these guys

 

Glen Campbell.
About 12-15 years ago I was working a PGA event that he was booked as the entertainment. The dinner portion was running long, so most of us were just standing around back stage, waiting for the show to start. I found myself chating with Glen (who was wearing his guitar) and his drummer. Both his drummer & I were huge fans from way back, including his time with the "Wrecking Crew". We were throwing oldies that he had worked on at him, as he was trying to remember them. (At one point he said to me, "I think Louis Shelton did that one"). He was noodling around on his green Strat, just enjoying himself.
He couldn't have been more gracious.
It was a pleasure crossing paths with him in that context. So sad his current state.

 

Tony Levin. Talked to him at Levon's place. Very nice humble guy who has played with many many greats over the years.

 

That is AWESOME!

 

Vernon Reid was really nice. We talked for 10 minutes or so.

 

Ray Manzarek - RIP

 

Nice one! Which?

 

You overheard their only stateside reunion performance, ha.

 

I know it! I still can't believe it 22 years later!

 

Elvin Jones. A friend and I were huge fans and went to see him perform at a club. During the break, Elvin happened to walk past and we said hello and asked if we could buy him a drink. He said he already had a drink, but seemed to be happy to talk. We talked about his band, recent recordings with McCoy Tyner, the club scene, etc. He hung around for the whole break (about 20 minutes). It was amazing to me that such a great musician could be so personable and easy to talk to.

 

Chris Botti

 

Homer. For real.

 

Crass weren't crass?

 

In 1989, my girlfriend at the time worked for the City Of Los Angeles as a city council member's field rep. She was able to get great tickets to shows at the bigger LA venues. Jeff Beck and Stevie Ray Vaughan performed at the Long Beach Arena. We had floor seats, and Bonnie Raitt was sitting a few rows ahead of us. My girlfriend was well aware of my crush on Bonnie, and practically pushed me to go and say Hi! When the show as over I did, and Bonnie actually looked me over for a second (I was young wanna-be rock star) and I must have blushed because she giggled and said "Hey sweetheart"! I had a small piece of paper from my wallet, but dropped my pen along the way. She said "Just a sec, honey", but the guy she was with was getting all impatient and told her they gotta go, now! She said "Sorry sweetheart!" and they quickly left.
That was enough for me! I still kind of swoon (in a man way) when I think about that............

 

u got backstage during invisible touch tour?

 

I can tell you from personal experience that Robert has both a kind, complimentary side, and a nasty, raging alcoholic side.


Dan

 

Andy Powell from Wishbone Ash..

 

No. We accosted them at the Parker-Meridian where they were staying. Gabriel also in December '86 and again in '87. Used my cabbie skills to aid PG's camp get through traffic between NYC and Brendan-Byrne. Snuck into Brendan-Byrne and filmed the afternoon soundcheck. We got caught but the fellow from PGs entourage looked the other way once he realized it was the crazy cabbie and his friends. They jammed on White Shadow during soundcheck. That guy was super-cool, whoever he was!

 

Both of them were awesome with me.
Ginger even asked me "what kind of kit are you using?", awesome guy. Same with JB.

The biggest jerks I dealt with are Tony Williams, Shaggy, Ray Anthony (over the phone), the members of Leaders Of The New School sans Busta Rhymes, and Eric Benet who was a rude megadouche to everybody in the store whom I wanted to kill, at least beat into submission.

The only non-musician who came into the store who was a uber jerk was Hugh Rodam who was running for governor of Florida in the late 90's. He came in with his entourage with his nose in the air, one of his posse was carrying his bottle of Evian water. I asked him about his platform which got no response, he just walked by slowly with his nose in the air. Another customer asked him the same question and got a eye roll in return. The owner even tried to ask him a question about "taxes and small businesses" which got a mumble for a response. The guy who got the eye roll yelled out "hey Waldo, your polo pony is running away, you better catch it". Then he split with his crew. Jeb Bush won the election that year.

 

I definitely wanted to talk about his music with him but I wasn't sure if it was the right time or place; he was giving a lecture on early jazz history, and being at Harvard it was a scholarly presentation and attendance. I felt as though talking to him about his music was a bit out of place, as he didn't talk much about his own music himself.

 

How was Tony Williams a massive jerk? Curious...