Not counting stage doors, I’ve had marvelous conversations with Alicia Keyes about music in Japan, and one of the best conversations of my life was talking with Rudolph Isley of the Isley Brothers about touring Europe with the Beatles .
In a non-performing, unexpected context.
Flavor Flav on a ferry back from Robben Island, clock round his neck and everything. I presume it wasn’t just a personal trip to see Nelson Mandela’s prison cell because there was a professional photographer and a couple other people accompanying him.
Didn’t see him while he was on the island because I was working away from the tourist areas.
The most famous people I’ve had conversations with aren’t all that famous, but within the musical world they hold a little more cachet.
On my 50th birthday, my bandmates me took me to this little club in Old Orchard Beach, ME, to see Denny Laine play. His band was doing a straight up rendition of The Beatles’ Rubber Soul album, and it was fantastic. Apparently, the owner of this club was a roadie of some sort for Wings back in the day, so he would get these kind of acts at this tiny little club quite frequently. They were usually not really advertised and you needed to know someone to really get in on the act. This club owner, after his previous roadie days, was a student of my bandmate when he was an assistant prof. – so that was our in.
I said hello to Denny and gave him a pat on the back, but he was already pretty oiled up and he went to hang with his regular crew. We did however get to sit down and have a few pints and listen to a few stories with Steve Holley, who I suppose you could call a journeyman drummer. He’s played with McCartney, Elton John, Joe Cocker, Ian Hunter, Chuck Berry, many others. That was pretty cool.
Could you elaborate? Provide as much detail as possible.
Wait, I’m not ready.
Ok, go.
mmm
I was wondering if anyone was going to ask. 
It was one of those outdoorsy venues, before she got insanely popular.
She did one of those walk around in the audience things with a cordless mic. We were all standing in loose groups. She sauntered between two groups and actually bumped into me, backside first. I reacted as a horndog would and grabbed her blue jean covered tush.
A body guard, or whatever they were, quickly intervened. Thankfully he didn’t inflict too much pain, but it was clear they were there to protect the act whenever they did that walk around thing.
She never even missed a beat in the song. “What made you say that?” was the song, I think.
She must work out.
Keith Urban stepped on my foot doing a similar thing, WAY before he got huge, looked down and said “Nice boots.” He was doing the walk around while doing a medley of Eagles hits.
Met “Peanut” Whalum (Kirk Whalum’s uncle and a jazz performer himself) at a bar in LoDo (downtown Denver), can’t remember which one. He really loves playing. The four or five of us there traded buying rounds for each other. Thank goodness for RTD!
I hope this isn’t something you’re proud of.
:rolleyes:
I had a beer with Willie Nelson.
I traded sets in the cable row with Hulk Hogan. I shook hands with the Senator from my state at the time. I was uke for a Mr. Lee, when he was one of the ten living ninth-degree black belts in the world.
Regards,
Shodan
I met Amy Ray of the Indigo Girls at Trackside Tavern. She came to see our band, and I’m hazy on the details why she did that, but I think she was a high school friend of our main dude.
I said “HELLO YOU ARE AMY RAY OF THE INDIGO GIRLS, IT IS NICE TO MEET YOU AMY RAY OF THE INDIGO GIRLS. I LIKE THE INDIGO GIRLS ALOT.”
Never anyone who was more than regionally famous, so I’m stealing this story from a friend:
One time my friend was in an ordinary rock club in Seattle standing in a group of people waiting to talk to the (popular-but-not-mega-famous) musicians who had just finished their set. Next to him is an unassuming, nebbishy guy with glasses waiting politely. The musicians eventually make their way to this fan, he starts talking and out comes this deep baritone voice… turns out it’s frigging Eddie Vedder. Moral: Celebs can blend right in when they want to.
I saw Pope John Paul II in 1994.
I had a conversation with Leonard Nimoy ( Spock) at Tulsa Beechcraft where he had stopped for fuel.
Moved stage equipment with Willy Nelson, talked many times with Reba and other performers.
Spent over an hour with Gregory “Pappy” Boyington
Okay, that’s interesting. Those three previous threads have 130 posts, 129 posts, and 130 posts. There’s apparently a clearly defined amount of discussion we will give to this topic.
Hmm, if we’re talking about seeing them, I guess I would have to count the few concerts I have attended. Bands like Yes, ZZ Top, The Fabulous Thunderbirds and the Rolling Stones. And individual performers like Elton John, Roger Waters and even Steven Wright. But they were all just up on stage.
My story doesn’t really count, as it was during a concert, but it was the absolute closest encounter with a celebrity I’ve ever had, so. Cyndi Lauper, performing in a local theatre venue, so only a few hundred, maybe a couple thousand, I dunno. 2002, I think. We were lucky enough to snag seats at second row, center. Somewhere in the middle of her show, Cyndi came down off the stage to do some audience interaction.
What I hadn’t noticed was that the person in front of me had gone off to visit the men’s room or get a beer or something. Cyndi knelt in the seat in front of me, still singing, less than an arm’s length away. She reached out a hand as if to touch my chest. Me being a lifelong clown, I pulled back and made a comic panic face. (Why, why, WHY did I do that?) Cyndi just made a big show of snapping her fingers, as if to say ‘He got away, darnit!’, then shook the hands of everyone around me, including my wife. I just sat there like a lump.
Still waiting for time machines to become a thing. I know where I’m going first: to kick my own arse for being so stupid!
Al Gore. I shook his hand and have a picture of myself with him.
I met and spoke with Penn & Teller. This wasn’t difficult because when touring they always met with their fans in the lobby after the show. I don’t know if they still do that.
Garry Kasparov (ex-World Chess Champion) knows my name - I’ve met him several times.
I had a short chat about chess with Steve Davies (ex-World Snooker Champion).
I was quite nerdy in my early 20s, at least I thought so. Nerdy, no fashion sense, head in books most of the time. Yet, I inexplicably found myself dating someone way, waaaay out of my league. At one point, she was invited to a party and accepted for both us. Yeah, it was like that. Anyway, at the party I met Chaka Khan. This was back in the 1980s when Chaka Khan was Ba-BAM Chaka Khan! I knew she was famous even though I didn’t know much about her music, but she had a presence at that party, and all that hair! She was friendly enough in that “it was nice meeting you even though I am going to forget you exist before you leave my sight” kind of way. It was fun to meet her anyway. 