What famous or semi-famous musicians have you met?

PS- the current members of NRPS.

 

Had a small conversation and a cigarette with Duff Mckagan.....really cool guy.

 

Have shared cognac with Aztec Two-Step a couple times.
Sat for a few minutes with Charlie Byrd and discussed how a tiple was strung.

 

Roger Daltrey
The Cult
E (Eels)
I'm going to meet KISS on 18 June (Meet & Greet package)

 

I briefly met Levon Helm back in '08. Kind of a long story, but I'll share.

I am good friends with several teachers and one of them, a middle school English teacher, teaches his kids how to properly write letters by having them write to their favorite celebrities/athletes. Many of the celebs send something back, even if it's from a publicist or something. My friend also writes a letter to demonstrate the process. She is a huge Levon fan and wrote to him that year. Levon wrote back personally and invited her and some of her students or friends to his show at the Tennessee Theatre in Knoxville, TN. She thought it'd just be a handful of tickets, so she only invited a few people. When she got to the box office, Levon had given her an entire row of seats AND backstage passes. Myself and many other people that she knew were fans got frantic last minute phone calls telling us to get to the theatre asap! I had nothing going on that evening, so I went. I would have canceled plans in order to see and possibly meet Levon!

The show was terrific. We line up to go backstage and Levon's douche of a manager gives us the rundown about how Levon wouldn't sign autographs, wouldn't shake hands, didn't want to hear your life story and really didn't have a lot of time for this. At this point, I was afraid that this would be one of those horror stories about meeting one of your idols that ends up being very disapointing. We finally get backstage and Levon comes out with a huge smile on his face and continues to go down the line of people making time to talk to every person, even moreso with the kids that she brought along, shook everyone's hand and took the time to sign anything anyone had for him. He was just a genuinely nice person and seemed to care about what you had to say. It was a great experience.

Levon kept in touch with my friend and set up a conference call to talk to her students on a school day. Many of those kids didn't know that they were talking to a legend, but still, such a cool move on his part. He also invited her to come to his Ramble at the Ryman in Nashville.

Levon Helm was an absolute class act.

 

Damn, just saw this...

My friends and I went up to Wolf after a small club show in Philly in the early 1970s. He stood off by himself while Hubert Sumlin and sax player/emcee Eddie Shaw made time with fans and Eddie tried to hit on several young women. One of my friends asked Eddie what was the difference between Wolf's band and Muddy Waters' outfit. Suddenly the Wolf straightens up and strides over. "Now listen!" he says and proceeds to explain that Muddy's crew are always drinking and doping "and rattin' and running around." His band, he says, as Hubert and some of others smirk in the background, "are gentle mens" with sharp suits and "don't do nothing that would upset the families."

Wolf failed to mention that when he appeared mid-way through the show, he had hopped up onstage and promptly stuck the wire mike down his pants and leered at the crowd.

 

Garry Peterson
Jim Kale
Micky Dolenz
David Jones
Peter Tork
Michael Nesmith
Mark Hudson
Joey Molland
Mike Gibbins
Les Paul
Johnny Copeland
Nick Massi
Gary DeCarlo
Donovan
Barry Whitwam
Frank Jekell
Floyd Marcus
Gerry Marsden
Klaus Voorman
Tony Sheridan
Laurence Juber
Steve Holly
Denny Laine

...and I think a few more I cannot recall right now.

 

I once spent an evening hanging out with John Pizzarelli. That is one funny guy. And I once met Billy Joel in a restaurant. An Italian restaurant. No I don't know if he ordered red, white, or rose.

 

Now that is a really cool story! I'm a teacher as well, you just gave me a great idea!

 

A night out with Tom Bailey, the singer in the Thompson Twins.

Paid for the taxi at the end of the evening. Nice bloke.

 

I hope you can get the same results!! It was a very special thing that Levon did. Really cool.

 

Brian Wilson

 

All the members of My Morning Jacket, a couple of times.
Jeff Tweedy
Sam Beam (twice)
All the members of Deer Tick. Some good party stories there.
Jenny Lewis

 

I was performer's services coordinator for Mariposa Folk Festival for a few years in the nineties.
My job was to make sure performers got from the airport or bus or whatever to their hotel and then to the performance sites.
Also worked a festival in Toronto in the late seventies.
Got to meet a lot of great musicians.
Pop Staples
Los Lobos
John Prine
Guy Clark
Steve Forbert
Alison Krauss
Peter Case
Roy Harper
Bruce Cockburn
Buddy Guy and Junior Wells
Stan Rogers
Also spent a few hours with Bela Fleck ( I watched him bungy jump !!)

 

Shawn Colvin
John Gorka
Cheryl Wheeler
Keb'Mo
Lyle Lovett
Graham Parker
Tim Finn
The Fixx (talked my way into the sound check and met the band)
Midnight Oil
Joe Jackson

 

I got to hang out with Sonny Blount a few times...

 

Jason Bonham
- Met him after a Jason Bonham Band show at an art museum in Dayton, OH when I was in high school in the late '90s. They were touring in support of In the Name of My Father: The Zep Set. He was very nice, signing autographs and telling stories about his dad.

The Fab Faux (Beatles tribute band comprised of Letterman/Conan alums and others)
- Hung out with them backstage at Bowery Ballroom in college when my girlfriend's mom was their manager. Will Lee is a nice guy.

Father John Misty
- Met him after a solo acoustic set at Maxwell's in Hoboken, NJ a couple years ago. He was workshopping new songs that would end up on his new record that's coming out next month.

Michael Gira
- Met him in passing before a Swans show in Brooklyn last summer. He had a big white cowboy hat on and stopped to shake my hand.

Matt Johnson (of Matt & Kim)
- Went to art school together. Hung out a bit and ran in the same social circle.

Jon Spencer
- Met him after a Blues Explosion set on the roof of the SPIN offices in New York a couple years ago. He signed an autograph for my wife, who wasn't able to make it.

Pete Yorn
- Bummed him a cigarette and had a chat outside The Bottom Line in New York, probably late '03.

Rye Coalition
- Saw these guys a lot in the early-mid '00s. Eventually became friendly with their drummer, Dave Leto. They're the subject of a new documentary called The Story of the Hard Luck Five. Definitely worth a watch if you have the chance.

 

Very cool! A friend of mine played for years with Hubert Sumlin as well as Pinetop and Jimmy Rogers. I'm always asking him for stories about them.

 

Paul McCartney - 1975 in London
Ringo Starr - 1975 in London
Joey Molland - 1990 Halifax - came out to my place for a bbq
Pete Best - Liverpool and Halifax another bbq
Denny Laine - Liverpool
Neil Innis - Liverpool
Stevie Van Zandt - Hamilton
Ian Hunter - London
Tom Cochran - Halifax
Dave Cousins - Toronto
Dave Lambert -Toronto

 

Little Richard- (my hand was shaking when I asked him for his autograph. Very nice man)

Ronnie James Dio- another nice guy RIP

Sophia Loren...ok, so she's not a famous musician, but our encounter tops any famous rock star I've met...or will ever meet.

 

Art Flatt, Lester's brother.

 

Yoko Ono
Southside Johnny
Laurie Anderson
Ray Davies
Patti Smith
Chick Corea
Donovan
Sean Lennon
Lou Reed
Cecilia Bartoli
Bryn Terfel
Tico Torres
Pat Boone

 

He was about as famous as someone could get in the UK in the mid 1950s to early 1960s (and beyond... though not a chart regular anymore.)

This fellow...



This is a favourite song of mine and I had in on a 78 at one time! Some here will know this from The Kingston Trio's somewhat more laid-back version. And serious Bealte fans would know about Lonnie Donegan being an influence on the young John Lennon etc... if you don't - then you certainly should read up on it.

I saw him play (and chat to and had a beer with his harmonica player - backstage) in 2001 (the following year, he passed away.) This was in Liverpool's world famous Cavern club... almost... it had moved over the road and original site became The Cavern Pub. My cousin booked/arranged gigs for Lonnie, he was a friend and agent to him - they had a fair bit to do with each other and I really should have tried to meet him years before as I loved his music anyway - I had a chance once, but wasn't at home to receive the phonecall.

It was in a bar, before the show, that I was introduced and when they'd finished playing, he spent oven an hour signing autographs, shaking hands and being really nice and sincere with everyone - something of a comedian to (not surprising, as he'd done the 'cabaret circuit' in the 1970s.) This was on a little stall that was set up and I was handing people CDs and helping him out, I couldn't believe it! Such a lovely man and the performance was unbelievable - he played and sung better than a lot of people half his age and he had just had his 70th birthday!! I was annoyed at myself for not even thinking to take a record for him to sign, but have a photo on the wall of us there - me grinning like crazy.

 

Arthur Lee
BB King
Dean Deleo from STP

 

Jen Chapin - Harry's daughter.