Ok , here's a potentially new idea for a thread...

If you've met a famous bassist, share the experience.

I've met a few, but the coolest (both the experience AND the player) was Chuck Rainey.

I'm at winter NAMM around '95, checking out the amps at the Ampeg booth. It's about a half hour after the show started and the hall is pretty empty still. I notice that someone is standing next to me admiring the gear, look up... Chuck Freakin' Rainey! I extend my hand and say "Chuck Rainey! I have to shake the hand of my idol!" (doesn't it suck trying to think of something clever to say when you meet a celeb/your idol?). He couldn't have been cooler! He laughed, thanked me humbly, and went on to ask me if I played, talk about gear, etc. for a good 20 minutes. I'll never forget it. Truly inspiring to meet a guy of that stature with no attitude about him at all.

I've had 7 encounters and a near miss that fit this thread. In chronological order....

1) Way back in '79 my college's student union brought in Jeff Lorber Fusion. Danny Wilson was their bassist. He isn't what you'd call famous but at that time he was one of my 4 or 5 favorites. Listen to the "Water Sign" album and you'll understand.

2) In the early '90's I went to see The Clarke - Duke Project at the Fox in Detroit. I scored 2nd row seats. For much of the concert, the seats directly in front of us were empty. Stanley Clarke stood on the seats in front of us and totally freaked out on a solo. :bassist: More on this one later.

3) In '99 I was at the Southfield, Mi. Guitar Center wankin' away on a Warwick Thumb. This guy sits on the stool next to me and just totally goes off on a Conklin GT7. It was Fred Hammond. I quickly went back to playing scales.

4) In 2000, Stanley Clarke was selling off a ton of his gear. I bought what I believe is the bass he was playing in my Encounter #2. :cool: Got to speak with him on the phone for a bit. Cool guy. Funny as heck.

5 & 6) In the summer of 2002, I attended the Smooth Jazz Fest outside of Detroit. Fourplay is one of my favorite groups, ever. I met Gerald Veasley and Nathan East. Got both of them to sign my Hanewinckel. They were both impressed with the quality of the Hanewinckel. Harvey Mason kept telling Nathan not to sign it 'cause it wasn't a Yamaha Nathan East bass. Thankfully he was just kidding.

7) July 4th 2002 The Brothers Johnson (another of my all time favorite groups) played a festival in downtown Detroit. Being the dork that I can be sometimes, I lugged my 13 lb Alembic 5 string in it's 5 lb gig bag to the festival in 90 degree plus heat. Got to hang out in the tent afterward with George and Louis. Louis thumped my bass a little bit. Both he and George signed the back of it with a Sharpie. Sad to say their signatures have completely rubbed off. :bawl:

Near miss: Stanley Clarke played the Magic Bag in Ferndale (Detroit) last year. I contacted him and his agent after I bought my tickets. He remembered me from having bought the bass. When I talked to his manager on the phone, he said Stanley would be okay with meeting with me backstage after the concert. The site management was having no part of it. :spit: Seemed about 2 dozen people minimum had some special reason they were supposed to get backstage, so they let nobody back there. His manager did find me and he and I talked briefly. He was trying to arrange for me to speak with Stanley on the bus, but that didn't work out. Oh well.

That's about it. I gotta meet a coupla VW's to complete my experience....Verdine White & Victor Wooten.

Peace,

James

Summer 2000: I had been in e-mail correspondence with Paul Scott (writer for the now-defunct 'Bassist' magazine). I knew that he knew one of my all-time favourite bassists, Colin Hodgkinson. I sent Paul my details and said that I would like to contact Colin sometime, perhaps to interview him for TalkBass. A couple of days later, my phone rang: "Can I speak to David please. This is Colin Hodgkinson." I couldn't believe it! He seems a nice man and we spoke for about half an hour about his current projects, his '70s band Back Door and more. Of course, there's a whole range of questions that I forgot to ask at the time!

November 2002: Me and my brother went to the Musiclive (musical equipment show) event at the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham. Our primary reason for going was to see Michael Manring and Steve Lawson playing at the Bass Guitar Magazine stand. We got to watch two sets of amazing bass playing from less than 5ft away! Me and my brother both got our pictures taken with Steve and Michael. I'll have to scan them in sometime.

the only "famous" bass player i've ever met was Flea, it was a couple of years ago in NYC after a huge show and i was able to get backstage with my brother. he and John (Frusciante, guitar player for the RHCP) were extremely nice people. i only got to talk with them for a few minutes, mostly about sushi. i wish i had a camera.

I met John Patitucci a while back, at a Wayne Shorter gig. He was a very cool guy.



Regards


Mike

I had George Porter Jr (the Funky Meters, Gov,t Mule, etc.) call me up looking for a couple of Lovetone pedals. I'm not sure how he found out that I had some, or how to get a hold of me, but I thought that was kind of cool. I still didn't sell him my pedals though.

Not that he's a bass player or anything, but when I first met Trent Reznor I thought that was pretty darn cool. Now we're just friends and it's not that cool anymore. :D He's a terrible bass player, by the way. I mean, really bad.

:cool:
My most famous meeting.
Playing basketball In Ft. Ladadale in 1975.
I was talking to local dude, once subject came on music
he invited my to see him play that nite in club.
Went to club, was totaly blow away.
Cats name JACO.
His wife Tracey was waitress at club.
Meet him again later in Boston.

Wooten and his brothers played at my school a couple of times in the past few years. Nice guys.

Haven't met any famous bassists (or bass players, or whatever you wanna call em). Met Dave Pirner from Soul Asylum in a smoking lounge at the airport in St. Louis, though. Mustered the courage to say "Hi. I dig the new CD." as I was hurrying to stub out my butt and catch my connection several years ago.

Not that he's a bass player or anything, but when I first met Trent Reznor I thought that was pretty darn cool. Now we're just friends and it's not that cool anymore. :D He's a terrible bass player, by the way. I mean, really bad.

I gotta say, man. You suck. I'd die to meet Reznor cause I'm such a huge fan. I'm holding myself back from emailing you to ask if there's any way I could get to tell him what a huge deal his music is to me. Just not gonna let myself do it.

I gotta say, man. You suck. I'd die to meet Reznor cause I'm such a huge fan. I'm holding myself back from emailing you to ask if there's any way I could get to tell him what a huge deal his music is to me. Just not gonna let myself do it.

Good that you have some restraint. One of the things that seriously annoys Trent is people telling him stuff like that. The biggest thing is people trying to get him to listen to their music, so they can ride his coattails to fame ala Marylin Manson. Poor guy has developed a habit of excusing himself from conversations from people pretty quickly, because he's afraid that if he doesn't they will ask him for something. I feel sorry for him, in a way. He was a much happier camper before he was rich and famous. :bawl:

I can dig that, and everybody's got a right to their privacy and to just... not be bothered by their job all the time; which is why I'm not filling your inbox geeking out about you knowing him and making all these dumb requests.

I would like to find out who does all the design work for the albums that Nothing puts out. I'm going to school for graphic design right now, and a buddy of mine and myself are working on starting our own company. We'd like to work mostly with smaller labels that do music that we like, and we're putting together a list of labels to send portfolio packets and stuff to; but that's getting this thread way off-course with questions that I'd have to contact the label for, so I'll quit on that.

:hiding:

We now return you to your regularly scheduled thread.

well i met (i wouldnt say a good famous bassist, but he plays bass and he is semi famous) the bassist from disturbed.

I was at a local bands outdoor concert here and he pulls up in a limo and gets out, long story short i scared him away when i was yelling "i want money i want money!" man am i a money grubbing bastard or what? :D

Oh, I totally forgot when I met the band One Minute Silence. They're probably not famous or anything, but they blew away both Godsmack (who sucks anyway) and Sevendust (who I had really high hopes for) when they played here several years ago. We sat in the bar during Godsmack's set and made fun of them. :D

I was friends with the tech director for the Allman Bros back in the 70s and early 80s. I dropped in for a show in Springfield Mass, and walked up to the stage during afternoon setup to find him. Nobody stopped me, I just walked right onstage. A somewhat familiar looking character then asks me what kind of bass I am carrying. I start to answer, do a double take, and realize it's Jack Bruce. I got to hang out at the monitor board during his set, which featured Billy Cobham, Clem Clempsom, and Dave Sancious. Pretty sweet bonus for an ABB show...

I was at a dinner party with a few close friends, and found myself face to face with, then jamming the next night with, Skip Battin, bassist for the New Riders, Byrds, and Flying Burrito Bros. He played piano mostly, and was very patient with my lame bass playing.

Glen Moore from the band Oregon came over and talked to our group between shows one time for quite a while. This guy should be a lot more famous than he is, IMHO. Unbelievably cool guy, as well.

I was mixing a Tony Furtado show in our tiny, 100 seat local club, and Myron Dove (Santana, Steve Winwood) shows up as the bass player. Another really cool guy.

For some reason, I've met a lot more famous musicians who aren't bass players though.

I've met Victor Wooten four or five times at various shows, and at a bass clinic with Steve Bailey who I've also met.
I've met Bele Fleck and the rest of the Flecktones.
Also met Regi and Joseph Wooten and Roy.

I've met Death Angel a few times.

I've also met James Hetfield for a brief second at a Death Angel show.

I met Mike Gordon of Phish outside the Deercreek Amphitheatre in '98. Very cool guy, didn't talk much but very cool.

I met Vic Wooten, but it wasn't a concert or an appearance or anything - I was wandering around a guitar shop and heard some tasty slappin', stepped around the corner and there he was! Just in trying a couple basses out. This was maybe 5 years ago? I'm like "uhhh, do you know who you are?!?" We got to chatting and I told him that I played Show of Hands in the tat studio all the time while I was stabbin' people, and that they loved it. He asked if I'd give him a tattoo so I gave him my card, but he never called =0(. That was a cool meeting though. He was just in there with his people (manager, etc) chilling out. He signed the bass he played, for the shop owner or whatever, and then just rolled out.

Some friends and I got to talk to Cliff Burton over the fence at Pine Knob(now DTE Theater) when Mettalica were playin' with Ozzy, in Clarkston MI. We asked what beer he was drinkin'? "Becks light" he said.

A few months later he was killed in the bus crash. :(

Us same guys talked with Dave Mustaine and David Ellefson of Megadeth about "Peace Sells" for about 45 minutes outside of Peabody's in Cleveland. They smoked all of our weed. I did get an autographed pic from them.

I also know on a first name basis, Michael Davis from the MC5 & Destroy All Monsters. I can't tell you how many times we partied, did sing alongs or just talked about music together. Imagine having a sing along (me and Scott on guitars) of Rolling Stones songs with Scott Morgan(Rationals), Mike Davis(MC5), myself and my buddy Peter. Scott Morgan has one of the best voices.
I never appreciated those moments then, I sure do now.

I've shaken hands with Michael Manring and Jeff Berlin after clinics and Victor Wooten after a show, and I interviewed Billy Sheehan, Les Claypool and Doug Pinnick when I worked on a public TV music show with a friend of mine in the early 90s. I also met Dave Ellefson from Megadeth at a restaurant right around the corner from where I work (they were playing in town that night.) Those are the big names. I also met Greg Christian from Testament and interviewed Pat Badger from Extreme. And, perhaps most notably, I am friends with several killer bass players from right here on the board!

Victor Wooten was walking around my campus before a show all alone. I wanted to go up to him, but he was on a cell phone and I was all star struck so I chickened out. Damn shame too, I probably could have hung with him. He seemed a little lost.

I played with Christian McBride at Berklee! Guy is Killer!!!!!!! Dubba Killer!!!


met Mike Dirt (sp?) after a Flaming Lips show at the Academy in NYC in 95', smoked a bowl, hung out for a bit...... pretty cool guy. He said they named the band Green Day because they smoke.... :confused:


I know a guy who used to be a bouncer for WAR. :o :D

met Mike Dirt (sp?) after a Flaming Lips show at the Academy in NYC in 95', smoked a bowl, hung out for a bit...... pretty cool guy. He said they named the band Green Day because they smoke.... :confused:

They have a song called "Green Day" on the album 1,039 Smoothed Out Slappy Hours. Read the lyrics and you'll get it. :D Near as I can tell, by "Green Day", they mean a day where you just sit around and blaze up the green stuff.

When I went to Bass Day 2000 met several of my idols:
Billy Sheehan, Marcus Miller, Anthony Jackson, and Chuck Rainey.
After shaking hands with Mr Rainey I realized how he could play that 9 strings Warrior monster.
I also met Brian Bromberg in Argentina back in 1994, when he was doing some clinics for Peavey. A really cool guy.

Daryl Jones was extremely cool when I met him, took alot of extra time to talk to me about music

I spoke with Greg Rzab (Jimmy Page, Black Crowes) a bunch of times back when he was playing with Buddy Guy. He's a great guy and I am really happy to see him get more success playing with the bigtime cats

I have been fortunate enough to get some bass lessons with Richard Davis. He is a wonderful person and a great teacher. I learned a helluva lot from him in just a few lessons

I've talked to Vic Wooten a few times, met mike pope at NAMM, saw Dominque playing there as well. I've "walked by" Marcus Miller :p

Also I have met Anthony Wellington and all of Vic's bro's except Rudy. Regi is really cool. Ant mentioned me on his site as well, it's still up there under his diary's.

I also met Danny Bonaduce at our 4th of July parade here in Huntington Woods. He was the 'Grand Master" that year.

Great stories, guys!

I think the winner so far is...

DANNY BONADUCE!!!!

lol... I never imagined he would end up in this thread!

:D

I've been able to take lessons with Kim Stone (Rippingtons) when he's not on the road, and I've played all his basses.

I met Nick, the bassist from Coheed and Cambria and Bright Eyes' bassist too.

I think I also met the bassist for Darwin's Waiting Room but I dont remember. Their drummer lives down the street from one of my current band's singer and some of the guys came by our practices to check us out a few times. We once found a pic of a girl nude in her bedroom online that had one of their posters in the background and Ive seen their videos and ads on MTV so even though I think of them as local I guess they are pretty big. Either way, the band was very amused when we showed them that pic. :D

Peace
Nick

Back in the early '90s I was very lucky to hang out with Oteil Burbridge of Aquarium Rescue Unit for some of their New England shows (followed 'em around for a while). One of the shows was at Clark University (OK my memory is getting a little fuzzy for actual years) where I went (can't remember if I had already graduated at that point). I asked Oteil for a bass lesson, so we went up to the student lounge and he showed me some stuff. Very humble and amazingly nice guy. Finally, I realized we should probably get back downstairs as they were due to play - we walked in and the band was waiting for him - it was already time to start playing! Plus I was doing lights - the Clark Pub was in bad shape by that time, noone else was there to do it!

Around that time I also got to meet Dave Schools of Widespread Panic, Mark White of Spin Doctors, and Mike Gordon of Phish. Can you tell what kind of music I listened to in those days?!! I found those guys from the south to be incredibly gracious and to have an incredible talent for remembering names. Every time I saw them over the next couple of years they'd be like - "Harry!" I can't remember someone's name the next day! The craziest thing is that I was able to go backstage after a Govt Mule show in 2002 when Dave Schools was playing and he didn't remember my name necessarily but he remembered the band - "Jiggle the Handle, right?" This is 7-8 years after the last time I saw them!

I went to wootcamp...

You can't beat a good namedropping thread!

I've hung out with (my hero) John Entwistle three times. One was at the Channel in Boston when I was only 18 and too young to get into teh show. My buddy and i snuck into soundcheck and were in the middle of getting tossed out when JOhn saved us. He was very nice and alot more lucid than at other encounters (it was early in the day). He put his Status around my neck an dturne dthe volume up and it sounded like a friggin' jet landing on top of me. He was highly amused at my absolute panic.

Several years after that, we hung out in the upstairs room of the House of Blues in LA. He actually crashed a friend's bachelor party and the staff was getting ready to ask him to leave, so I saved him that time. We spent about 3 hours together and got very, very wrinkled.

I met Darryl Jones a couple of times and he was super nice. The first time he introduced me to Sting (another bass hero of mine) and the second time he hooked me up with an "All Access" pass for a Miles Davis show.

I was once at a comedy club where Danny Bonaduce was performing and during the Q&A section I asked him who his main influence on bass was. He later came over and introdced himself and said he loved my question (I was with a gaggle of floozies, though, so...)

I spoke to Chris Squire on the phone once.

There must be a lot more, but I can't think of any at the moment.

Paul Woseen - THe Screaming Jets Bassist....

My step father went to school with him and ive known him for about 10 years

there are also a few people i would like to meet and do the whole waynes world....IM NOT WORTHY...thing to...bassist or not....

Jimmy Page
Joe Satriani
Stu Hamm....for lots of reasons...one to just say...dude..i have one of your basses
George Bensen
Chick Corea
Bono
Bootsy
Frank Sinatra
Jerry Seinfeld
Norah Jones...again...for more reasons than one ;) :smug:
James Brown...cos im a sex machine man..lol...gotta love it
and diana krall

If i ever meet just one of those people ill be a very happy chappy!

Oh..and i also have 'Connections' to jimmy barnes

Speaking of Stu Hamm, I met him at a guitar store clinic in CT years ago (circa Kings of Sleep). To me the remarkable things were a) his hands (I remember them seeming small, kind of chubby, and dried out) and b) he seemed to appreciate my comment to him as I got his autograph after he'd autographed say 30-40 other folks' stuff. (I mentioned he made bass interesting to me again).

HooBass

One week ago, I walked into the Carvin store in Sunset Blvd in Los Angeles. I'm checking out hte basses when out from a small room comes no other than Bunny Brunel!

Now, I've met some well known musicians here and there, some even more famous than Bunny, but there was something about seeing BB in the Carvin store with a bunch of BB basses hanging on the walls and a life size cardboard cutout of the guy that made my mind melt down. I was starstruck. I stared. There might have been drooling involved, I don't remember. It was pathetic.

Bunny noticed this and turned to me and said "How are you?"

I said "I'm freaking out because you're here".

He smiled and led a guy holding a gigbag into a room in the back of the store.

I looked at the store guy, still rattled and asked why he was here. Store guy said he teaches there every saturday. Sure enough, there's a note saying that on the BB lifesize cutout.

I scheduled a lesson for today, but had to reschedule because I had to work today (guess where I'm typing this from?), but I've rescheduled to meet BB next week! :hyper:

On that same day, I went to see the Mike Stern Quartet, although it was more of a trio plus a sax guy as far as I'm concerned. Ironically, I didn't go because of Mike, although his chops are great, but because he had Dave Weckl (!) on drums and Richard Bona on bass! Seeing bona play is an amazing experience. He was playing his Fodera 5 and the things his right hand did would probably cripple another musician. It was literally a blur. In between lines, he'd interject melodic flurries of a Fender Rohodes like fashion. His playing has a very chordal element I related to immediately and his left hand double stops are very precise at very fast tempos. Truly amazing.

After the show, I tried to meet the guy. He was hanging outside the bar with friends from Cameroon (I guess) He was just shaking some guy's hand when I approached and I guess that he wasn't into talking to anyone else because I got a very distant vibe from him (FWIW, I was wearing the TB shirt, which is a great ice breaker when talking to bassists), so I just told him how much I liked his playing and left.

I got to meet Tye Zamora, and the rest of Alien Ant Farm after a show in Detroit. Tye was really cool and talked about his new Fender basses. I told him about this forum.

I was one of the first one hundred to buy tickets for the upcomming P.O.D./ Blindside show and will get a chance to meet the bands before the show. Traa Daniels is one of my favorite bassists. So, I can't wait to meet him.

As i have said here before, I grow up with Tom Barney and Marcus miller. Tom and I both moved from Brooklyn N.Y. to Queens N.Y. where we both met Marcus when he was a kid. I spoke with Tom Barney on the phone in refference to a fellow TB'r wanting to meet him at a Steeley Dan concert. He indeed said he would be happy to meet any fans of SD. The fellow TB'r never went through with the meeting. Tom and I spoke for about an hour and he told me of work he was turning down- Alicia Keyes, Mary J. Blige. Also his new endorsements besides ESP. Tom has alway's stayed grounded and humble for as long as I have known him (35 or 36 years).

I met the man who knew the guy who shook the hand of Andy Griffith...

Didn't think that would count...

Well....between my past as a kid going to shows and a clubbing musician, Vic's Bass Camp, and Bass at the Beach...


Just as a kid/musician:
Jeff Pilson (friends uncle)
Michael Anthony (friend detailed his car)
Dee Dee Ramone (worked for them at a club)
Flea (worked for them at a club)
Les Claypool (played many gigs with them, fished, etc)
Deon Estus (dated a friend of mine)

At Vic's Bass Camp Fall '03 as a Student:
Vic Wooten and all his brothers, etc
Steve Bailey
Chuck Rainey
Anthony Jackson
Adam Nitti
Anthony Wellington

At Bass At The Beach 2004 as a staff member:
Vic and Steve, of course...
Mike Pope
Oteil Burbridge
Felix Pastorius

I've got to say that Steve Bailey and Victor Wooten are 2 of the greatest guys around, regardless if they play bass phenominally! Actually....everyone involved with BATB and BNC were incredible people...

Aloha, Garey

At Vic's Bass Camp Fall '03 as a Student:
Vic Wooten and all his brothers, etc
Steve Bailey
Chuck Rainey
Anthony Jackson
Adam Nitti
Anthony Wellington


don't forget Roy vogt and John billings those cats were AWESOME :D

didn't really hang with them though...so I guess it doesn't count.

True....Roy Vogt and John Billings SMOKED!! No question...

Aloha, Garey

I loved that performance, especially billings, he seriously tore it up, like, wow wow wow. Funkiest bass playing I've seen in a long time.

At a Blink 182 show in my town a few years ago, Mark Hoppus came out during NFG's set, and was dressed as a guard, helping pull down surfers to send back around again. I got pulled out by Mark. It was a cool experiance. *Waits for flames to begin*

met 311 before a show of theirs 2 years back in worcester, cool dudes. SA didnt come out thoo, but i got to chat it up with pnut bout basses and all that :bassist:

Mike Watt, before and after a Firehose gig. He had twisted his knee the night before in Chicago (god knows how), so he sat down a lot. Talked about this and that. He told me to keep playing. Even sitting down with that old P Bass, he blew me away.

Bob Hurst, at a Branford Marsalis clinic.

Paul Grey, hanging out; not really realizing he was The Pig from Slipknot.

I've met Chuck Rainey a couple times.

When I went to school at South Plains College, they'd have a guest come in and do a clinic or something every now and then. Chuck came for one of those. He gave private lessons for about a day and a half at $15 for a half hour. I put up $30 and got an hour with him. And he did a free clinic. (It was free for the students. I'm sure the school paid him.) When my bass teacher first told me he was coming, I didn't know much about him. I knew he was a session musician. I'd seen his little articles in Bass Player at the time. But I went and listened to some of his work. Ever since, he's been one of my favorite bassists. That really opened my eyes. I love the way that cat plays.

I also met Dean Peer at a similar deal at the same school.

Second time with Chuck was in Dallas. I mixed monitors for Herbie Mann(?). Chuck was the bassist in the band. I talked with him for a few minutes after the show.

Met Kenny Aaronson(sp?) at another gig where I was running sound.

Bassist ..Hmmmm Well I have met 2 Bassists..The 1st one was Tom Hamilton back in 88 backstage on the "Permanent Vacation" Tour..Tom was Cool as hell..We hung and talked Gear basses Women you name it for almost and hour just like we knew each other for years...And I met and talked with Tony Lewis From " The OutField" he was really cool as well ..I also have hung out with Stevie Ray Vaughn and his bother when they were recording Family Style in Memphis at Ardent Studios..I just so happpened to be there mixing a DEMO with my old band.. We were told not to bother them but I was hangin in the lounge of the Studio and they came up to me so I thought hey I aint turning this down..LMAO
SUPER NICE GUYS COOL AS HELL.. I couldnt get a pic with them but when they left for the nite I coaxed the Engineer to let me in their studio and got pics of thier gear and guitars..hehe had to have sumthin ya know!!!!! The Sad part is Stevie Died 6 months later so I will cherish that memory forever... I also met (in passing) Randy Rhoads back in Feb of 82 he was coming out backstage and I just basically got to tell him Hi and Great show and he said "thank you very much I am glad you enjoyed it" Very Polite and quiet..He also passed away a month later :(

Met Bootsy at last year's summer NAMM. All I can say was that it truely was "an experience"! :D

I also had the great priveledge to meet John Paul Jones after a gig in Cincinatti several years ago when he was touring in support of Zooma. When I was a kid (pre Unledded, etc.) I never thought in a million years that I would ever see any member of Led Zeppelin perform, not to mention the projects and solo tours that have taken place in the last 10 years or so. Jonsey not only put on a KILLER show, but was amazingly open and friendly after the show...hanging out talking, taking photos, and signing autographs for about an hour after the show. Most hack bassists in hack bands don't ever come close to this, not to mention one of the greatest musicians in the greatest and most influencial rock band of all time!!! :D :hyper: It was a great experience, and I received similar reports from other fans from each and every other city he visited on that tour.

I've met Mike Watt a few times, great guy.

I met the man who knew the guy who shook the hand of Andy Griffith...

Didn't think that would count...


ooooh! oh! oh! oh!!!!! I've met Andy Griffith. :D

I was at the annual jam session that goes on after the Eau Claire jazzfest a few weeks ago. It's in a hotel bar, and lots of cats show up. I'd been there for about 30 minutes watching as the band's steady rotation consisted of mostly college students and a few professor's here and there. I rotate my way on stage for my turn(not playing bass).. just as we're about to start I look over and see Christian McBride picking up the DB... We played Chick's "La Fiesta" and it was fantastic. I don't even remember the other musicians I jammed with that night. Afterwards Christian said to me "Man, that was some tuba playing!"(emphasis on "some") and put his hand on my shoulder. Basically, I consider that the high point of my career. :p

I've met John Entwistle twice. The first time my old drummer (used to work for Shure Bros.) got us backstage passes to the Daltrey sings Townshend tour (Roger Daltrey's 50th b-day tour). Entwistle avoided the crowds in the cafe backstage, but I happened to walk out from the cafe to see him walking down the catwalk towards his limo. I caught him in time to talk to him for about 10 minutes. When I asked him how he played so fast, he did his Wayne and Garth imitation, then said he let his amp do the work, that his fingers barely needed to touch the strings.

The second time I went to see his other band (The John Entwistle Band), and they sold tickets to their soundcheck (for $15). I figured, what the heck...it turned out to be his birthday that day and they only did 2 songs in the soundcheck. He spent the rest of the time talking with fans, autographing stuff, and cutting his cake. I got a great shot of that, too!:D

Oh...and I've met our very own JT...Don't believe all the hype... :p He actually IS a nice guy!:D

I'm only going to list the cool ones. I've met one or two who were jerks, but they'll be omitted from the list.

These are in no particular order:

Mike Chapman (everybody in Nashville)
Dave Pomeroy (everybody else in Nashville)
Ed Friedland
Bob Babbit
Joe Osborne
Victor Wooten (and Bela Fleck)
Steve Bailey
George Furlanetto (yep, he's a builder and a player)
Trip Wamsley (The wife and I would go hear him in a Barnes and Noble! I miss having Trip around)

All of the above were very cool to talk with and very 'real'. I particularly enjoyed my visit time with Mike Chapman. Meeting Dave Pomeroy was a real hoot! Talking with Joe Osborne was like meeting anyone else on the street. Babbit was the same way. Neither of them seem to take their legend status too seriously.

brianb

I spoke with Greg Rzab (Jimmy Page, Black Crowes) a bunch of times back when he was playing with Buddy Guy. He's a great guy and I am really happy to see him get more success playing with the bigtime cats


Hey! I got to play this guy's early 60's White jazz bass the other day! :eek: wow....what a small world...It's up for sale at a local guitar shop, only $4k. And its a concentric pot version too...oh well.


Anyways, I *nearly* met Avishai Cohen...well I went to a clinic and show of his here at school this year. I also went to a clinic that Gary Willis taught...I got to speak with him for about 10 minutes. We talked about fretless and his tone was to DIE FOR!!! He inspired me to build ramps for my J-bass and my P-bass (still on the 'To Do' List).

Hey! I got to play this guy's early 60's White jazz bass the other day! :eek: wow....what a small world...It's up for sale at a local guitar shop, only $4k. And its a concentric pot version too...oh well.


How is that bass? It looks way cool and has a history!

ooooh! oh! oh! oh!!!!! I've met Andy Griffith. :D

I was at the annual jam session that goes on after the Eau Claire jazzfest a few weeks ago.

If you shook hands with Andy Griffith, then I must have met someone who knows you! I'm in WI! :D

I have met several.
I met Jeff Berlin at a clinic.
Steve Bailey twice at NAMM.
Tony Levin at one of his shows.
Doug Pinnick of King's X twice at two of their shows.
Nathan East at an instore appearance.
And Dave Holland at a clinic.

All of them were very nice.
:D

I've had a few chance encounters. I actually interveiwed Stanley Clarke in 1978 in NYC. I was working at a Publication house that was printing a weekly called Black NY Illustrated and they had an interveiw set up with Stanley at Nemperor Records on west 57th St.. The reporter calls in sick and the editor is having a melt down and he remembers I play. I did the interveiw and talked with Stanley for about 90 minutes. Was very cool. Also met Will Lee in Milwaukee and hung with him backstage at Summerfest. He also was very cool and easy to talk with. Victor Wooten and Steve Bailey did a clinic in Milwaukee a couple of years back and hung out afterwards for a while. Both cats were very cool.

How is that bass? It looks way cool and has a history!

It was pretty sweet, strung with flats. But the tone knobs seemed to be a little loose...

Here's the link (http://www.davesguitar.com/product/70249.JPG)

Matt Garrison, Patitucci, Willis, Bona (3 times), Wimbish, Cottle (Laurence), and of course Wooten - plus McLaughlin, Metheny, Holdsworth, Scofield etc

My two fave moments thus far have been when I went to a Wimbish clinic in 91 at the Bass centre in London, I got in early with another bassist who was a session guy - he and I chatted to Doug, the other bassist actually stringing up Doug's bass for him. I happen to be humming a tune off of Doug's last album - hee says "You like that tune?" - and I said yeah, later in the show he programmed the drums live for this mystery tune, then sudddenly asks "Where the guy who wanted to hear 'Nobody to Somebody?" - I raised my hand and he goes - you! Yeah this is for you...then he played the tune for me - in front of 250 people - I was pretty much speechless afterwards.

I interviewed Wooten in 2001 in Camden before a string of Flecktones dates in London and at a show a couple of days later I was hanging around with the guy from Sony UK before a show when Vic recognised me and we got talking - I had a couple fo questions for him so when I started saying I could play Classical Thump and other stuff he said 'Show me' - reached for his classic beat up Fodera and made me play a few things for him. I was a bit nervous to say the least but I pulled off what I knew at the time (I'm alot better now) but my only regret is that he had a whole week in London and I know I could have arranged a lesson with him but I didn't - I will get to the bass nautre thing one day - but that was cool.

Cheers

M

I have had a few brushes with greatness along the way. When I was a teenager I was in a punk band that opened for DOA. Playing pool with Joey ****head was cool. Although I realized very quickly that people on records were people too.

Over the years my musical horizons expanded and I went to Humber College in Toronto and studied jazz. My friend Chris Gartner ( www.tasamusic.com )was at the same school and called Alain Caron and asked him to do a clinic. I forget how we paid for it. Can't remember if we passed around a hat or if the school paid. It was during UZEB Between the Lines tour and we went to all the shows we could.

Recently I went to New York City for a short vacation with the purpose of seeing Marcus Miller. I went to the 55 Bar the night before Marcus and saw Mike Stern, I had Mike sign my We Want Miles CD as well as his new one. Took a couple of pics as well. Should have got my picture with him. The 55 just might be my favourite bar now.

Went to see Marcus the next night. Great show although I ate bad suschi before hand. Not good. So I missed some of the first set and couldn't stay for the second set. Kicking myself. But I asked Marcus to sign the We Want Miles CD. He seemed to get a kick out of seeing it.

Hope to see Marcus again and have him sign my MArcus Miller Signature bass with a reall Marcus sig. :D

mike dirnt at the pop disaster tour , cool guy we talked for about 5 minutes about if he preffers his P-bass over his old grabber .

I've also met the bassist from simple plan at the vans warped last year . I hate their music but my girlfriend wanted an autograph . I was listening to The ataris when suddenly all the band was standing front of me (except the shaved guy) , very cool guys.

Forgot to mention earlier that I spent about 20 minutes with Ruben Rodriguez about a month ago here in Milwaukee. He was playing with Brian Lynch and Conrad Herwig. He was very cool.
Later

Hung out with Karl Alverez from the Descendents and ALL a couple of time when we did a show together the plast couple of summers. All i have to say is Karl as well as the whole band rock and are super friendly. and i met DD Ramone after his band the Remains played at Coney Island High several years ago. My singer was able to piss him off another time which is a long story.

Too many to name, but here are my faves:

Seeing and hanging out with a 19 year old bassist for a new band playing in Atlanta for the first time. Great show, and I became a fan of his for life. A Stuart somebody. Oh yeah, Zender! Later on we became friends.
Hanging out with Nick Fyffe during Jamiroquai's last US tour.
Jamming with Bill Dickens.
Being friends with Adam Nitti, Jon Maron (Groove Collective), Za Williams (Arrested Developement), Preston Crump, Khari Simmons (India.Arie), Marq Jefferson (TLC, he plays on "Waterfalls" and he's also in my Motorcycle Club.)
Meeting Verdine White, Larry Graham, Vic Wooten, Bootsy, Aaron Mills (Cameo).
Having Raphael Sadiq come on stage in the middle of my gig and give me a high five.
Asking Adam Nitti for pointers, and having him respond with: "I've heard you play. You're fine." Lies, of course!!! :D
And talking with Doug Wimbish and playing some of his old Sugarhill basslines, and listening to him go, "Oh man, I'd forgotten about that one!!"

Hey woodchuck are you the same guy thats on the warwick catalogue?

i met Fieldy twice actually. the first time was after their very 1st show in the tampa area. it was at jannus landing in st. pete. it was cool, somebody asked him how it felt to be a rock star. he said, "i ain't no rock star, i'm just chillin' ". and the second time was at a miniature woodstock we have here in tampa every year called "livestock" it was about 6-7 years ago. he came walking through the crowd with a few of his friends. the funny thing is that nobody recognized him but me. so of course i was wearing my korn "scarecrow" shirt and him and his 2 friends were staring at me and my shirt as they got closer. they stopped to watch a band and then came a stupid "pick-up" line(you know what i mean) out of my mouth, "hey man, are you fieldy?" duh!! you know he's f*ckin fieldy. but anyway, he was really cool and shook my hand and talked with me for a little bit.

Ah! That reminds me…

Compère: Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Refreshment Room here at Bletchley. (applause) My name is Kenny Lust and I'm your compère for tonight. You know, once in a while it is my pleasure, and my privilege, to welcome here at the Refreshment Room, some of the truly great international artists of our time. (applause) And tonight we have one such artist. (grovelling) Ladies and gentlemen, someone whom I've always personally admired, perhaps more deeply, more strongly, more abjectly than ever before. (applause) A man, well more than a man, a god (applause), a great god, whose personality is so totally and utterly wonderful my feeble words of welcome sound wretchedly and pathetically inadequate. (by now on his knees) Someone whose boots I would gladly lick clean until holes wore through my tongue, a man who is so totally and utterly wonderful, that I would rather be sealed in a pit of my own filth, than dare tread on the same stage with him.Ladies and gentlemen, the incomparably superior human being, Harry Fink!

Voice Off: He can't come!

Compère: Never mind, he's not all he's cracked up to be. Ladies and gentlemen, we give you Ken Buddha and his inflatable knees…

:)

- Wil

Love seeing this thread still going - I mentioned my Wooten meeting already, but as for the rest of my musical run-ins, in case they count since they're non-bass:

Let's see -
-John Stabb, lead singer of Gov't Issue (I took him to Taco Bell for lunch =0) )
-Nils Lofgren (my old band went to a studio christmas party in MD)
-Matt Sorum with just a quick "hey, have a good'un" after a Cult show at HOB in Orlando. (I was a guest of a girl on the HOB crew and they didn't have anybody on external backstage security after the show, so I helped them out)
-Brief handshake with Sascha Konietzko of KMFDM
-I was a friend of, and then later gave a tattoo to, James, the drummer of Godhead (also went to their first CD party at Jason's house when I knew him [Jason's the lead singer] from the scene, before James joined the band)

Hey woodchuck are you the same guy thats on the warwick catalogue?

Hide the women and children!

First of all, Ive met Trent Reznor as well, I lived in New Orleans for a long time. ;) pretty decent guy all in all, ask him about it, we didnt talk music really, (I was bass-ing for Soul Ignition at the time) we just knocked a few back at a little known hole in the wall called the Crow-Bar, with Phil Anselmo (Pantera,Down,Superjoint Ritual), and Jimmy Bower (EyeHateGod,Down) and Pepper Keenan(C.O.C,Superjoint Ritual) But then we're all just neighborhood brats who more or less grew up knowing each other.
Most memorable for me though, would be Johnette Napolitano from Concrete Blonde. I first met her at a show we all did at the House of Blues in New Orleans. She is an amazing person and she's quite the artist as well. Next on my list would have to be Rudy Sarzo, who I was privelaged to spend like 30 minutes talking to after a Malmsteen show in Denver just last month. One cool cat that Rudy! And Ill bet that theres hardly one of us who doesnt have at least ONE record that dude has played on! Hahaha! :bassist:
--"Playing bass for Yngwie? Well it's kind of like playing tennis with a swarm of bees!"--Rudy Sarzo

....Being friends with Adam Nitti, Jon Maron (Groove Collective), Za Williams (Arrested Developement), Preston Crump, Khari Simmons (India.Arie), Marq Jefferson (TLC, he plays on "Waterfalls" and he's also in my Motorcycle Club.)
Meeting Verdine White, Larry Graham, Vic Wooten, Bootsy, Aaron Mills (Cameo).
Having Raphael Sadiq come on stage in the middle of my gig and give me a high five.
Asking Adam Nitti for pointers, and having him respond with: "I've heard you play. You're fine." Lies, of course!!! :D
And talking with Doug Wimbish and playing some of his old Sugarhill basslines, and listening to him go, "Oh man, I'd forgotten about that one!!"

Things to do today.......

1) Raid the kids' toy chest. Obtain whiffle ball bat
2) Call in "sick" at the office
3) Drive to Atlanta, stop off in Doraville
4) Wait in car for W...C.... to come home
5) Apply whiffle ball bat to his head and shoulders


Hey, what's a little jealousy among friends?


Peace,

James

Being friends with Jon Maron (Groove Collective. And talking with Doug Wimbish and playing some of his old Sugarhill basslines, and listening to him go, "Oh man, I'd forgotten about that one!!"

First off, I'm jealous of the Jon maron thing - I totally dig Groove Collective. The bassline and solo in "Out the door" from Dance of the Drunken Master are as groovy as it gets. Every bassist should listen to them! And second, I had a similar experience with Wimbish. Got a pic with him at NAMM and said "Sugarhill" instead of ''cheese". The look on his face in that pic is priceless - he was a bit surprised that I knew that was him. What a cool guy, too...

Last April 4th, I met Bela Fleck and the Flectones after a concert. I had them all sign my copy of the Live at the Quick DVD and got pictures with all of them and got to talk to them for a little bit. They are all pretty cool guys to hang around with. I got my picture taken with Victor Wooten as well and got to talk to him for a sec before the rest of the crowd was all over him. That night I also got to met John Maghini of M basses. John brought a fretless five for Vic to try out.

It was kinda sad and funny. Everyone in the Flecktones had a crowd around them asking for signatures and such but Futureman was for the most part all alone.


Next encounter. I met Tom Hamilton, the bassist for Aerosmith one a few occasions. I didn't meet him at a concert or anything, just in my home town. Tom has a house in my hometown and i have seen him walking around my mall with his wife twice and i saw him at a gas station once a few years ago. I'm not sure if he is still living in my town anymore since his house there burnt down a little while back. It's a shame that it happened. A big horse barn and Tom's house were set ablaze by some idiot who likes fire. :mad:

as a youngster out of high school, I landed a job at the local guitar hangout in santa Cruz, Ca. I met a lot of "famous musicians". The most memorable: Paul Jackson was hosting a rhythm seminar at the local jazz club; I scored a free pass..........man, that cat has the largest hands! his tele bass looked like a mandolin. Laid down some of the best grooves, i've ever heard. Being that my place of employment catered to the Doobie Bro's, I was able to meet Tyran Porter.......very cool. He's so soulful and melodic................he later produced an album I was playing on, free strings and advice; great experience. While living in So. Cal, I was working at a Chevy dealership as a tech, one of my customers, was Lee Sklar. Very down to earth, probably the nicest guy you'll ever meet. I told him of a fretless project I was building. Lee showed interest in my bass, even suggested I come up to the house and hang out..........photos included, unfortunately for me, He took on another busy tour schedule with PC. I didn't see him for quite some time, then out of the blue, he drops by the shop to show me his first proto type bass that Gibson had built for him. Yep, I was jazzed! :hyper:

H2

1. victor wooten- a few times, i appreciate him so much because he is that unbelievably good, but yet so HUMBLE! he is more than happy to share his knowledge with you too.

2. rocco prestia- one of my favorites, as him and paul jackson (who i was also fortunate enough to meet) are the funkiest non-slapping bass players on planet earth IMO. rocco was funny as hell. he always seems like he's havin' a good time, can't wait to see him at the end of this month (again).

3. les claypool- with all the monstrously technical bastards i listen to nowadays, les is still one of my all-time favorite bassists for his completely LEFT of LEFT field music. i went to a show about 4 HOURS EARLY (what a nerd), but it paid off because with all the crew flying in and out of the venue, suddenly i looked up to see les standing on the sidewalk, a few feet from me. yeah, needless to say, i jumped all over that one with my primus memorabilia! he was very nice, but we didn't talk long. i like collecting autographs of my favorite players, but read about most of the stuff i would want to ask them.

4. chuck rainey- that was one of the coolest encounters because he was so friendly. he got a kick out of this pic i had massively enlarged for his autograph. then i asked him about his solo works and where i could get them and he told me when they opened the doors of the venue, to locate him through this and that and ended up giving me one of his own copies he had on him! what an honor, little did i know, with the months of trying to special order that cd, it would be delivered to me (for free), by chuck rainey himself!

5. (the woulda',shoulda',coulda' encounter)
BOOTZILLA!!!! ARRRRRRRRRGGGG!!! okay, so i was at the EMP (experience music project) grand opening concerts in seattle to see beck and i see this big crew walking towards us all pimped out in their rockstar getups at the show. sho' 'nuff, its bootsy comin' at me, even rockin' some toned-down star glasses. granted he's just a human and all, i couldn't help it. LIKE A WANKER, I FROZE UP! my wife was crackin' up! somebody stopped him in front of me and they were talkin' and i was just standing there goin', "uuuuhhh...casper....but...uhhhh......what's the name of this town?.." yeah, wish that money to see beck was spent on a little ticket to see JAMES BROWN AND BOOTSY COLLINS, later that week, (chris farley voice; "SON OF A...")

In a public restroom I whizzed next to Gary Beers.

A quick glance over the partiton.

He was bigger.

I met stu ham a while back at G3 in norther cali, very cool guy

when we approched Billy Shenan, he acted like a total ass : ( he turned around right when he say us and walked into a trailer.

on the other hand, we hung out with Joe satriani for like 20 minutes before the show, he was totaly cool.

I have met many great players but Saturday night I met David Hood and I must admit I was speechless!

mile gordon and joey arkenstat at bonnaroo '03. gordon came over to the booth i was working at, looked at our stuff and moved along. i decided to follow him and, lo and behold, he leads me to arkenstat. i wiggled my way into their conversation...i just wanted to thank mike for doing "rising low". told him it made me proud to be a bass player. shook his hand and busted a groove back to work.

Paul Woseen - THe Screaming Jets Bassist....

My step father went to school with him and ive known him for about 10 years

Im very jealous.
I love Helping Hand.
I saw them play at the Prince Of Wales while it was still a decent spot for live music before it got all wankered up in the StKilda cafe culture. They absolutely rocked. Next to the Hoodoo Gurus they are one of the loudest ive seen.

lol...if you've heard of the Newcastle band Hound (long Gone) the bassist from them, Mick King Jr., he is/was my teacher/mentor, he also went to school with my parents

got to do a duet with stanley...

http://www.lordonly.net/Images/John/john&stan.jpg

too bad it wasn't plugged in heh. :hyper:

Man, I'm glad this thread is up. Today was amazing.

I Met, in order:

Michael Anthony
Nathan East
Billy Sheehan
Frank Gambale (ok, not a bassist, but who cares?)

I was gonna post details, but the thread would be kinda long... :rolleyes:

In 95 I met Geddy Lee in an elevator at the Ritz Hotel-I worked there. He was an ass and odd person. Neil was an ass too, very, very rude.

I met the bass player for Don Williams-Matt M. cool guy and great backing vocals.

When I was about 13, I was at a garage party in Alief(part of Houston)and met Kings X........way before they got famous! They were jamming with another band call Headfirst and it was a battle of the bands kinda thing.

I see both bearded guys from ZZ top at the grocery store from time to time here in Houston!

other people:All the guys from oasis, Curt Cobain and his nasty wife, James H and Lars.....after work one night we took Lars to a really nice strip club-he piss's all the girls off and he had no money! And a few others I cannot think of. A few actors and singers. Oh, yea, had hot coco with Mick Jagger-he really liked the room service guy so I left them alone! Really! Working at an upscale hotel had benifits!

I've met a few famous bassists, most recently I met Rob Trujillo(Metallica) in Dublin on the afternoon of the day of their big outdoor show here. I happened to be taking my lunchbreak and decided to go to this vegetarian restaurant nearby ( I'm not vegetarian but felt like a change from the usual that day) and he happened to be there in the queue. I just told him I was looking forward to the show and he said thanks, nothing big.

Does anyone remember Neil Murray from the old Whitesnake line up as well as Black Sabbath in 1989? (He also played alongside Nathan East at the Expo 92 concert backing the likes of Steve Vai, Satriani and Brian May). Anyway, he's currently playing bass in the Queen musical 'We Will Rock You' which has been taking London by storm in the last few years. I've seen it 5 times so far and got to meet Neil on a few occasions. He's a nice guy, quite soft spoken.
I met Megadeth bassist Dave Ellefson in Raleigh North Carolina at a Record Store signing along with Mr Mustaine and the rest of Megadeth.

Everyone knows Phil Lynott played bass in Thin Lizzy but in his solo outings he played guitar and had a guy called Jerone Rimson take up bass duties, whom I've met a few times. I've also gotten to know Brian Downey (Lizzy drummer) pretty well, and I also met Marco Mendoza (current Whitesnake,former Lizzy,Ted Nugent bassist).


Being from Dublin, I haven't yet met Adam Clayton from U2 but I did meet Larry Mullen Jr, their Drummer. He's not a bassist but what the hell, I thought I'd mention it.

I met the man who knew the guy who shook the hand of Andy Griffith...

Didn't think that would count...


A friend of mine actually went to Andy Griffith's house and played a game of pool with him about a year or two ago in North Carolina. I thought he was dead :D .


We're talking about Matlock right??????????? :confused:

In a public restroom I whizzed next to Gary Beers.

A quick glance over the partiton.

He was bigger.


:eyebrow:

:eyebrow:

Is right! WTH?!

I think the correct thing to do is ignore the post.

Ive heard that the proper way to deal with a fart is to pretend it never happened or you could just say excuse me but no one is supposed to respond to that.

Example 1:
Dude 1- ::FART!::
Dude 2- Wonderful weather we're having, isnt it?
Dude 1- Wonderful weather indeed.

Example 2:
Dude 1- ::FART!:: Excuse me.
Dude 2- Wonderful weather we're having isnt it?
Dude 1- Wonderful weather indeed.

Apparently example 1 is apropriate for situations in public or the home with guest, but example 2 is not. Example 2 is best not used unless you are home with the family and no one else.

If at all possible avoid public flatulence.

In other words, that post is a fart.

Peace
Nick

I still think it's a hilarious post though Golden Boy. But I gotta ask, who the hell is Gary Beers?????

I still think it's a hilarious post though Golden Boy. But I gotta ask, who the hell is Gary Beers?????

Wasn't he with INXS?

Wasn't he with INXS?

Yes, he was the bassist for INXS. His full,or stage name is Gary "Garry" Beers.

Funny story.

While seeing Opeth back in February, I was blown away by how absolutely awesome Martin Mendez is on bass.

After the Opeth set, then encore, we're walking out... and my friend who has never HEARD Opeth, or been to a metal show, was like "Yeah I was sitting over here leaning on a railing when some guy asked me what I thought of Devildriver and I said 'They're alright but I don't really like it that much' and he agreed. So ok, after the show he mentions "Yeah! I was talking to some guy before Opeth went on, then after they were on stage I was like 'HEY, I TALKED TO THAT GUY!'"

Yeah. My idiot friend met Martin Mendez, and never even knew it.

I could have slapped him. :bawl:

I met Victor Wooten.

He was playing with Mike Stern at the Georgetown Blues Alley two years ago I think. I shook his hand and talked with him for a minute or so. I hope (and there's probably a good chance) I will meet Marcus Miller when he comes to town on the 20th.

My Brother and I flew into London's Heathrow Airport to visit our Grandparents for X-mas. Gramps was there to pick us up. After we got through customs and went to the parking ramp, Gramps went to get the car and my brother went to the bathroom. There I was standing all by my lonesome, waiting, when I looked to my right and standing there with his Luggage waiting for his car was none other than Deep Purple's Roger Glover! I went over, introduced myself, and told him he was one of the reasons I picked up the bass. We chatted for a few minutes and I have to say, he was a very nice man and humbled, nay, greatfull for his position in life. Twas a excellent start to my Christmas holiday. My brother still regrets going to the bathroom then!

Lovely

And some others.....

I was fortunate to attend both winter and summer NAMM shows in '96 and '97.

Nice people,
I bought Dave Larue a beer and chatted with him in Nashville.
Same goes to Zakk Wylde, then he jumped up and jammed at an open mike night with Larry McCray-Great blues guy.
Mitch Mitchell, Jimmy Hendrix's drummer-salt of the earth.
Rob Halford-say what you want, I've met him twice. Beautiful Human and the greatest Voice in Metal.
Phil Chen-nice guy, great conversationalist.
Paul Gilbert-took time to chat in detail about a gig I saw him at in Detroit.

Not so nice,
Neil Schon, Tony Iommi, bassist for the Spin Doctors (forget his name), and a few others whom I should burn thier albums.

Lovely

Brian Bromberg and I have become email buddies as of late.

Bassists I have met:

Victor Wooten - great player and very graceful and humble human being
Richard Bona - a charming and funny man
John Pattituci - a monster on the upright and friendly (but extremely busy) guy

I e-mailed Bill Champlin a few times, and I was surprised to hear back from him on several occasions..............I asked him about his bassist's gear on the Son's reunion tour.............."I think it's SWR, and some sort of jazz bass".

He's so cool!

H2

Has anyone ever met Steve Harris.

Back in 1994 or so (when I was around 15 or 16), my local music store had this trade show. Among the people there doing a clinic and talking about Ampeg gear was Alphonso Johnson. My bass teacher introduced me to him. At the time I was still a wet-behind-the-ears kid (I'd only been taking lessons for a couple of weeks at the time) so I was a tad nervous. But Mr. Johnson turned out to be the absolute nicest most down-to-earth guy I've met. And during his clinic, I was one of 3 people he picked out of the audience to share the stage with him. I was so nervous since I wasn't confident of my skills at the time, but it was loads of fun anyway.

I used to see the John Pizzarelli Trio play at this local restaurant quite often and was friends with bassist Martin Pizzarelli for a while. We've lost touch, but he was darn cool. John Pizzarelli and Ray Kennedy (brother of bassist Tom Kennedy) were both also very very cool gentlemen.

In fact, every bass player I've ever met has been very cool. And response is usually very positive, "You play bass too? Awesome! You don't meet too many bass players. Everyone seems to play guitar."

I made a comment on Clayton Ingerson's blog (Clayton Ingerson is the bass player for Dysrhythmia) and he was kind enough to write me back. He seems like a congenial fellow and a bassist I would love to meet in person. I think his playing and his band are terrific.

I've also exchanged a few e-mails with Karen Horner- bassist for ReadySet who are a Dysrhythmia side project. She seems a nice lady.

Although he's not a bassist, I have exchanged a few e-mails with Burnt By The Sun's vocalist Mike Olender. He seems like a cool guy. He's quite intelligent and deeply into politics.

Has anyone ever met Steve Harris.

i met nicko and steve as they were going into the fox theater for the 7th son show in atlanta. amusingly enough they didnt' end up playing that night - bruce got stuck in new york, so they played the next night. both of them were very cool - steve seemed a bit distracted, and nicko was a total ham - very funny and pleasant to the crowd. dave and adrian stepped in quickly, smiled and waved but otherwise didn't hang too much. nicko and steve weren't exactly doing a meet and greet either, more of a "hey how are you guys, hope you dig the show" kind of thing.

I met Blackbird a while ago. I've heard him play at 2 shows, and we caught a movie together.

met bootsy collins.... i installed a satellite tv system in his house here in cincinnati. unbelievable studio in his basement!

oddly enough about a year later i found myself with a house gig with his personal sound tech as the sound guy every week.

that's my brush with greatness.

met bootsy collins.... i installed a satellite tv system in his house here in cincinnati. unbelievable studio in his basement!

oddly enough about a year later i found myself with a house gig with his personal sound tech as the sound guy every week.

that's my brush with greatness.

When Jelousy Attacks........

He May not be a bassist, but i installed a few phone points in greg jennings house, he's kosta tsu's bodyguard, very nice guy, rather large too, he has saom rather nice cars in his garage, 60's mustang, new v8 landcruiser, and a few bmw's and a beatle for his oldest daughter

The first bassists I meet was Vince Hornsby from Sevendust. It was their first US tour and they stopped in my town I was hanging outside of the club and he walked outside, we chatted and then I walked him to the nearest Subway. It was snowing and he wasn't used to it. Very cool guy rocks on stage

Met Fieldy of Korn, cool guy but to much image in his personality.

Jason Newsted is one of the biggest reasons I play bass, I meet him at this winters NAMM show and he seemed kind of pissed, grabbed a picture and a handshake thats about it.
Maybe he was pissed because directly across from him was a 30ft picture of Robert Truijo with his Fernandez bass and it said Robert T. METALLICA. hahaha that sucks

Um oh one really grooving super cool guy Raphael Saadiq, that guy was walking past me in a club and I said hey, he took the time to say hi and chat a little bit cool cool guy.

The last is my friend Marty Meisner of the Mayfield Four (RIP) I meet him not knowing he was in one of my favorite rock bands now he teaches bass at the music store I work at and he is good friend.

Thats all folks

I've got a new website running at www.planetbass.co.uk with interviews with some of the bass player's I've met. Some were done through email, but some were face to face, they were all really nice guys.
I still haven't managed to get Steve Harris yet though I did play bass in Bruce's solo band for a few years so I got to meet most of the rest of Maiden...
Cheers
Chris Dale
www.sacktrick.com/chrispaulodale

Let's see......

Chris Squire ( at the Rickenbacker booth at NAMM)
John Entwistle (walking around at NAMM)
Stanley Clarke (also at NAMM)
Mars Cowling-before Pat Travers Band show-a long time ago.
Jaco (blown out of his mind and TOTAL jerk-Playboy Jazz)
Greg Lake (In-store, Virgin Records-hollywood)
Billy Sheehan ( very cool guy--had a beer with him after a GTR show)
Gene Simmons (not impressed with him...real snide)
Roger Glover (Before DP Show-HOB-LA)
John McVie (nice guy, sat in front of me on a flight to Hawaii)
& a bunch of others & non-bassists I can't remember right now.

Slug

I met Peter of In-Flames last week at a show in Cincy!

One of the coolest moments of my life!

Has anyone ever met Steve Harris.


Yes. I met Steve Harris (and Iron Maiden) last year during their Dance of Death (the name kills me :eek: ) tour. He came across as a truly humble and thoughtful person. I asked him to sign my pickguard and he did, right before he took to the stage. I have also met Roger Glover, who was equally as nice and very down to earth.

Visited the London Guitar Show on Saturday with urb_munki. We got to meet:

Jonas Hellborg
Laurence Cottle
Jeff Berlin
Steve Lawson

Not bad for one day!

I met Alain Caron once after a free outdoor concert in Longueuil (my and Caron's hometown). He was pretty cool, but really busy. He signed of my records.

I also met Dave Holland after a concert in Montreal with his quintet a couple of months ago. Cool laid back guy. Also signed one of my records.

And I also met John Patitucci in Montreal after a show with Renee Rosnes a few years ago. He was super stoked about playing in this room with "great acoustics". He seemed surprised that I was interested in jazz at my age (must've been 14 or something back then), and he signed one of my records.

Recently I e-mailed Bill Batstone (Richie Furay) about his sound on a Mark Heard album back in the early 80's. He kindly answered my questions. The root of his sound was a DiMarzio ultra jazz pup on a '65 P bass, which was run thru a Countryman d.i; he asked me for my address, and one week later, I received an autographed cd and the DiMarzio pup he spoke about..........pretty cool guy!!!!!

H2

What, no Glenn Cornick encounters? I'll remedy that...

Sat with Glenn at a bar in Hollywood, early-80's, and we had a nice chat while consuming about 150 beers. I'm sure he told me some juicy stuff about Ian Anderson that I've since forgotten. Also jammed with (OT) Dwight Yoakam (pre-fame) during this period in history, then later borrowed his girlfriend for a few weeks. Fun stuff.

Non-bassist wise, I've shot pool and played ping-pong with Jeff Goldblum (throttled him in both, haven't seen him since) and shared a few Fosters with Mel Gibson. Had Kim Cattrall in my lap while sharing Thanksgiving dinner with her and her date Jerry Casale (of Devo). Alas, I was an entertainment writer here in Los Angeles, so I guess that stuff doesn't count.

Great thread, TBers!!

I went to Victor's Bass Nature Camp and obviously met Victor Wooten and Steve Bailey as well as Bela and Jeff Cofin from the Flecktones. I also met Felix Pastorius there. He's really good..... no wonder with genes like that :hmm:

I met Freebo. For those of you under the age of 40 or so, he played with Bonnie Raitt for quite some time earlier in her career and also with Maria Muldaur. I went to see Maria Muldaur at a small blues/jazz club (Chan's in Woonsocket, RI-great place, btw) a few years ago. She had just released a new blues album. Freebo was there playing a fretless J, an acoustic guitar and a bass tuba! I believe he also plays URB. He was pretty funny on stage, joking about the fact that he didn't get called by Bonnie when she finally "made it big." I met him after the show. A very cool, very funny, laid-back guy who's been in the biz for probably close to forty years.

I know he's not a bassist, but I also met Larry Coryell at the same club. Chan's is a Chinese restaurant that has great live jazz/blues acts. I was next to Larry in the buffet line before he played. I turned to him and said "You may want to stick around, I hear this Coryell guy can play." He laughed and responded "Don't believe a word of it. It's just hype." Mark Egan and Paul Wertico were playing with him. I didn't get to meet Mark though. They kicked a**!

Ok, maybe a handful of people here (besides the Icelanders on TalkBass hehe) have heard of the Icelandic fusion band Mezzoforte and their bassist Johann Asmundsson .
I went to a concert of a side project of his where he played very well. A few days later he came by the video store where I worked and he was buying a Coca Cola or something.
And I just stood there grinning like an idiot :)
Finally I uttered "it's very nice to meet the best bassist in Iceland", and thanked him for the great solo on "three views of a secret" he played at that concert I mentioned.
He was rather surprised, took his change and left in a hurry :p

I met Billy Sheehan last year when he toured Australia with Vai. Billy actually came up to me and my gf and said 'hi,' after the show. We mentioned how we were going to see them play the next night in another city and he said he'd put our name on the list for back stage. After the show, we go up to the security guard and say our names, and sure enough, Billy is good to his word. We spent the next few hours hanging out with Billy, Vai, Tony McAlpine and Virgil Donati! It was a great night and I got heaps of advice from Billy!
Then, January of this year, I travelled to the US for a holiday. While in San Francisco, I went to dinner at a place called Teatro Zinzanni (or sumething like that) Stu Hamm was the house bassist! I couldn't believe it, and the waiter heard my enthusiasm over seeing Stu 5 feet away from me and organised for me to meet him after the show. We sat around chatting for ages and he even let me play Mel, the red metallic Urge!!!!
I can't believe I met my 2 biggest influences within 6 months of eachother!

A few years ago I got to meet Geddy Lee at an autograph signing for "My Favorite Headache" on the day it came out. I literally had nothing to say.....I was speechless.
Robert Trujillo sold me a Suicidal Tendencies hat on his first tour w/ ST. Apparently the venue wouldn't let them sell ST merch in the venue(something about the word Suicidal) so they set up shop across the street. I really didn't know much about him at the time but I had a rude awakening a few years later when I saw Infectious Grooves live......WOW! He was a pretty nice guy.
Over the years I've also met Pantera, Slayer, Rob Zombie, Stone Sour, Kansas, Mike Portnoy, Will Lee, Vinnie Moore, Tony MaCalpine, & some of the members of Mercyful Fate.
Also just the other week I got to meet Eric Johnson....he was a really nice guy & put on a great show.

You met PORTNOY! I'm Not worthy! I heard he was a douche, but a God of drums. (I love his playing.)

I met the bassist from Into the Moat recently. I just read on our front page that he's having some medical problems. I hope things go alright for him.

I met Geddy Lee while he was staying at the Belleview Biltmore Hotel in Florida. The boys were in town on the Roll The Bones tour (which I attended - with Primus opening, wow!) and he must have stayed an extra few days to check out some Blue Jays spring training games.

I got a tip on which room he was in from Room Service. I was working a function as a waiter and left in the middle of the dinner to go get my Chronicles tape and have him sign it. I borrowed the Room Service guy's name tag and knocked on the door. He must have answered because he saw it was a guy with a hotel uniform on. He wasn't too happy that my visit had nothing to do with Room Service but just a guy who wanted an autograph. He told me it was bull$hit that I found his room. He still signed my tape and told me not to tell anyone else which room he was in. He was pretty generous considering I bothered him in his room. It's not like I just bumped into him and he refused to sign for me.

Jason Newsted - managed to get a meet and greet during the Metallica black album tour. Incredibly cool guy. It was right after he shaved his head and people WOULD NOT let up with the, "why did you shave your head?" questions. He signed EVERYTHING you put in front of him for anybody. Couldn't say the same for Kirk Hammett who walked around with a beer and acted all smug. Never saw James or Lars.

Over the years, I have had the pleasure of meeting:

Verdine White - Earth, Wind, and Fire
Fred Hammond - Radical for Christ
Hubert Eaves III - Erika Badu (atcually, he's a relative)
Terry Louis - The Time, Janet Jackson, et al

There are some lesser known regional/local bassists that are just as noteworthy talent-wise, but lack the name recognition, so I won't mention them here.

I once met Marcus Geard from The Slackers.

he's famous in my opinion. and friendly to talk to.

OK....SOMETIME BETWEEN 97-99,DON'T REMEMBER EXACTLY(ON PURPOSE) I MET LES CLAYPOOL AT THE LOCAL MUSIC STORE WHEN I WAS BUYING TICKET FOR THE SHOW THAT NIGHT.HE STANDING RIGHT BEHIND ME AS I WAS BUYING THE TKT,AT FIRST I COULD NOT BELIEVE IT,THEN I STARTED TALKING TO THEM(PRIMUS) AND GUESS WHAT....THEY WERE NOT SO FRIENDLY I EVEN ASK FOR I PIC TOGETHER AND LES WAS KIND OF LIKE BRUSHING ME OFF.WHAT A NICE WAY OF TREATING A FAN,(OF COURSE I'M NOT ANYMORE AFTER THAT) BUT ALSO AT THE SHOW THAT NIGHT HE WAS VERY ARROGANT AND TALKING TRASH TO THE FANS.

SOMETIME LATE 2000 OR VERY EARLY 2001
I WAS AT WORK(AIRLINE) AND I CHECKED IN THE MEMBERS OF QUIET RIOT AND THEY WERE JUST LIKE NORMAL PEOPLE NO ROCK STAR EGO,HOWEVER I DID NOT GET TO TALK TO MR. SARZO THEY SEEM TIRED SO I DID NOT BOTHER THEM ,HOWEVER THEY WERE NICE ENOUGH TO SIGN AUTOGRAPHS FOR ME.BY THE WAY I STILL TALK TO THE PILOT WHO BROGHT THEM IN DAYS BEFORE AND SAYS THEY WERE ACTUALLY VERY COOL WHEN HE TALK TO THEM,THEY EVEN TOOK PICS.

SUMMER 2001
I MET ONE OF MY FAVORITE BASS PLAYERS FROM SPANISH ROCK MUSIC....HAROLD HOPKINS(PUYA) AT A CONCERT WITH FEAR FACTORY.THERE WAS TWO OTHER BANDS THAT DAY AND I WAS JUST LOOKING AROUND TO SEE IF I KNEW ANYONE ON THE CROWD AND COURSE THE ONLY FACE I RECOGNIZED WAS HIS,SO I WENT AND INTRODUCED MY SELF HE WAS ACTUALLY REALLY COOL WE TALKED FOR JUST A BIT HE EVEN INTRODUCE ME TO THE GUY WHO WAS PLAYIND MINOR PERCUSSION ON THAT TOUR AND THE WERE ACTUALLY JOKING ABOUT THE SHIRT I WAS WEARING(in a nice way).

'84 or so. Musikmesse in Frankfurt. I'm walking with a couple friends of mine, when one stops to talk to a couple guys. We walk towards them thinking they're just some rocker friends of his. As I get close, I realize my friend is talking to Steve Harris! Almost crapped myself.
Now for the Embarrassing-dork part. I asked him to move his fingers really fast (like finger-plucking). He shoots me this confused Why-do-i-have-to-put-up-with-little-weiners-like-this look, but did it anyway. I almost plotzed.
Really cool guy.
He was kinda short, too.

i just got back from NYC where i went to John Patitucci's house and studied with him all day....to keep a long story short, it was awesome. and he is the nicest, coolest bass-playin' soul i've ever met...

I met Lemmy in at a Motorhead show in Texas. I walked backstage before the show.... no one stopped me, I just walked right in and Lemmy saw me and asked " Want a drink pal?.......wait , your a kid...aint gettin arrested tonight! :D " Then I asked him " Are you really god?" in a joking voice and he said " Goddamned right!" He signed my Ace OF Spades and called out my name during the show.

I know this is not a famous bassist encounter but in the late 80's Leo Fender was going through the isle at NAMM and stopped by to hear me play at the Tobias booth. I thought "I am here playing for the guy that invented this thing!" That was quite a treat for me.

BL

I also got to meet Doc Kaufmann (Leo's early partner) who was into his 80's at our meeting.

I See Tony Levin all the time...

considering he lives down the street from me
He's a cool bro

^that is really cool that you see Tony a bunch.


This last weekend I got to see quite a few great bassists (Jauqo, Al Caldwell, Theron Brison, JT...etc.), but who I was really blown away to have met was Bobby Vega. Man, that cat is wicked cool and super nice...you know he wrote part of the theme song for the first Sonic the Hedgehog and covered for Rocco when he was in the hospital!

Met Tony Levin at a meet n' greet at Long & McQuade a couple of years ago. Very humble guy and an entertaining speaker.

Almost literally bumped into Victor Wooten after a Bela Fleck and the Flecktones show at the Winnipeg Folk Festival. I was walking back to the parking lot and took a shortcut behind the (outdoor) stage. Victor and his brother were walking to their bus. Both very nice guys.

At a Hunters & Collectors show at Le Rendevous in Winnipeg I wandered over to the swag booth to pick up a t-shirt before H&C started their set.
John Archer and Jack Howard the trumpet player were working the booth. When I asked them why they were selling shirts, Archer said that was the only way they get to meet and talk to anybody when their on tour.

^that is really cool that you see Tony a bunch.


This last weekend I got to see quite a few great bassists (Jauqo, Al Caldwell, Theron Brison, JT...etc.), but who I was really blown away to have met was Bobby Vega. Man, that cat is wicked cool and super nice...you know he wrote part of the theme song for the first Sonic the Hedgehog and covered for Rocco when he was in the hospital!
I second the fact that Bobby is a monster bass player and extra cool guy. I met him at winter NAMM 2004, and he invited me to come see him play at a party that night. It turned out to be in a guy's living room, with all of about 20 people there! A really cool guy named Rueben Diaz, who teaches jazz guitar at Humboldt State was playing guitar, and Prairie Prince from the Tubes was playing drums. It was a great show, and a really cool experience. The only bad part was that Ray White from Zappa's band was supposed to play with them, but didn't show due to travel issues.

PS: When I told Bobby that he had the dream gig subbing for Rocco, his reply was "Oh yeah? YOU try it!"

I second the fact that Bobby is a monster bass player and extra cool guy. I met him at winter NAMM 2004, and he invited me to come see him play at a party that night. It turned out to be in a guy's living room, with all of about 20 people there! A really cool guy named Rueben Diaz, who teaches jazz guitar at Humboldt State was playing guitar, and Prairie Prince from the Tubes was playing drums. It was a great show, and a really cool experience. The only bad part was that Ray White from Zappa's band was supposed to play with them, but didn't show due to travel issues.

Yeah I totally had a blast chatting with him, he invited my girl and I to visit him in SF...

We spent a great deal of time talking about the Silcon Triode Amps that he designed in the mid-90's... He also invited me to check them out when I'm intown visiting my uncle and aunt in Menlo...


PS: When I told Bobby that he had the dream gig subbing for Rocco, his reply was "Oh yeah? YOU try it!"

OMG, that is nearly what he said to me... I told him about this 13 piece band that I used to work for (Jesus Presley, presently out of Portland, OR) and how TOP must have been a blast, he was like: "yeah I must have done a good enough job, cause Rocco got better 2 months earlier than expected" :eyebrow:
:D

...what a cool bassist, we need more like him in the music industry.

I've met plenty of people who are famous around the los angeles area for what they do... but if you talk on a wider range I had the privaledge of being able to talk to John Pattituci after his gig at Catlina's in Hollywood. Very nice guy.

I met Victor Wooten when I was 13 or 14. He was playing at the Georgetown Blues Alley in a quartet with Mike Stern, Dennis Chambers, and some saxophonist. The first thing that occured to me was his stature: very short. After the show, my dad convinced me to go shake his hand. His hand was extremely muscular. In addition, I got a "hey how are you doing." It was really cool, I was very fortunate to be at that show.

I met and shared a cuppla beers with Stefan Lessard when he was down under this year. He was a hella nice guy, and seemed a bit embarrassed when I told him how much I loved his playing.

Guess I was a bit of a fanboy :rolleyes:

The girl who made the meeting happen seemed really unfazed by it all:

"Stefan? yeah, he's cool. wanna come have a beer with us?"

"Ummm.....lemme think bout that!" :D

Not sure what we're considering "famous" here, but if you want to meet the big time virtuoso bass players it's really not all that hard. You can go to any bass day/convention/clinic kind of thing and they're usually nice people who will sit around and talk with you. I've met Michael Manring, Trip Wamsley, Mike Dimin, Norm Stockton. They may not be as famous as guys like Flea or Les Claypool, but who cares they're better players and easier to get to!

aww come on nobody wants to hear the nice guy stories! which of our bass god heroes are jerks?! inquiring minds want to know! hahah

Not sure what we're considering "famous" here, but if you want to meet the big time virtuoso bass players it's really not all that hard. You can go to any bass day/convention/clinic kind of thing and they're usually nice people who will sit around and talk with you. I've met Michael Manring, Trip Wamsley, Mike Dimin, Norm Stockton. They may not be as famous as guys like Flea or Les Claypool, but who cares they're better players and easier to get to!
Totally agreed! When I started this thread (over a year ago!!) I should have worded it a bit differently...

I've met Flea, he seemed bored and stand-offish, but when I met Chuck Rainey at NAMM he was totally cool and humble. Ditto Dave Pomeroy, who I've spoken to on three occasions now. The first time he spoke to me for over an hour, and I guess it made enough of an impression that he recognized me the next two times. And those two have played on a hundred times the albums that Flea's been on. I think studio guys just get noticed less often, so they still appreciate it when they do. :)

aww come on nobody wants to hear the nice guy stories! which of our bass god heroes are jerks?! inquiring minds want to know! hahah
in my previous post if you read it.........i would say Les Claypool was a jerk that day to me at the music store and to the fans the night of the show..... :rollno:

Not a famous bassist, but a bass story...
I working a club at the Jersey shore (inna '70s) and the owner asked if I'd back up an act coming in. I said sure, and got to play several sets with Chuck Berry. He's wacked, but it was a lot of fun.

Last week I went to a heritage festival in Northern to see The doors (of the 21st century) and Vanilla fudge play. First I'd like to say that both these bands made a great performance.

Anyways, later that night at the motel I go out for a walk to get some fresh air and I see this guy who looks familiar in the parking lot. I get closer and it turns out to be none other then Tim Bogert of vanilla fudge. Their tour bus was parked next to the motel and they were leaving in half an hour for Montreal. I "shot the ****" with him a bit. Really nice guy and great player.

I met John Campbell from Lamb of God Monday night. Very personable and easy to talk to.

I met Doug Pinnick (and actually all of King's X) after their show at the Sawmill/Green Room in Seaside, NJ. Very nice guys. I asked Doug about their cool album art - he said the "Ear Candy" cover by the great Alton Kelley cost a fortune. Ty Tabor (guitarist) told me he was responsible for all the different tunings (guitar players, hmmph!). Anyway, I kick myself for not asking them about the whole "King's X" "christian" thing. I never thought of their music as anything but questioning organized religion, not proclaiming it. :confused:

I also met the bassist for P.O.D. in an awkward moment outside the Electric Factory in Philly after seeing them open for Primus' Antipop tour. I went to the side entrance to meet Les and have him sign my mint condition copy of Bass Player magazine with him on the cover, but when I get there the members of POD were hanging out talking to folks - not like they're huge now, but this was right before they hit "big." Their bassist was a nice guy and I noticed he played with his fingers on stage, BUT I HAD NOTHING TO SAY TO HIM. Talk about awkward silence. I eventually showed him the Bass Player issue I was carrying and asked him to sign it. So he signs the back where Victor Wooten is (ADA ad) and he signs, what I thought was his autograph. I didn't get to meet Les because my driver wanted to get home (the nitrous tanks had run dry ;) ). So I looked at the autograph later only to see he wrote "pod bassist."

Whatever hahaha!

I also met the late Gov't Mule bassist Allen Woody several times - got an autographed set list from him when they played the TLA in Philly. Seemed like a nice guy, though didn't say much.

http://www.buddycase.com/cash/12.jpg
I met David Roe in Nashville a while back... lots of stories and gig-wealth he gained while playing with the man in black.

ive met [not all bassists]:
john entwistle=cool and very nice.
aerosmith-suprisingly down to earth
ronnie lane-nice . he was ina wheel chair and i had some stuff for him to sign. i thought better of it but he insisted.
ian mclagan-super cool and ronnies band mate.
rick price-georgia satellites- my hero, my friend and the best i've ever heard
rick richards-see rick price
mike nesmith-wow that was just really cool
pete townshend- J E R K
little steven- i was beyond nervous but he talked with me and my friend for like an hour befor he went on.
lee rocker= super cool and great bassist. never balks at autographing stuff.
nils lofgren-truly one of the best
robbie krieger- drunk but nice
dave edmunds-seriously cool
joe walsh-super cool
todd rundgren- odd but cool
bo diddley- hung out with him for about 2 hrs in his hotel room. a friend of mine is very close to him so....i can die happy. i have a great story about him if anyone wants me to tell. it will make you laugh out loud. he is the best and i was honored to have had the oppotunity to meet with him.

Had the pleasure of meeting:

John Patitucci: After a Chick Corea Elektric Band gig (1990), super nice guy!

Jimmy Johnson: Saw him MANY times playing at this little venue in Venice CA called The Comeback Inn with guitarist Wayne Johnson, saw him a couple times with Holdsworth too and more recently with Oz Noy at the Baked Potato in N Hollywood. After the last set, I went up and thanked Jimmy for making a nearly 2000 mile plane flight VERY worthwhile, he laughed and said, Man, you're crazy", to which I replied, No, I'm on vacation." :D

At NEARFEST: Had Tony Levin sign my festival program (he and the CGT just played and were on a tight schedule. At NF 2003, had most of the Anglagard band (from Sweden) in stitches when I asked them to autograph the base of a plastic and very realistic looking Great Horned Owl.

had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Rick Duff...owns a club in the gaslamp district (S.D.). He's currently on tour with the Chuck Negron Project. Simply a phenomenal bassist.

The only pro bassist I've met is Duck Dunn of the Blues Brothers . . . but he did sign my pickguard! :cool:

I've also had encounters with Jack Cassidy, but I never formally met him (shook his hand, etc.).

Ray Brown
Steve Swallow
Eddie Gomez
Richard Davis
Dave Holland
Jaco Pastorius
Jeff Berlin
and maybe more... I'll try to think...

I almost met John Pattitucci... we played on the same record (I did all the electric bass, he played upright on one track), but we weren't in the studio at the same time. Apparently, he was a great guy, though.

I met Billy Gould (Faith No More bassist) the day before a FNM gig in '97. It was on the Skytrain (Vancouver's above ground rapid transit). I had just read an interview with him and Roddy Bottum (keyboardist) in Keyboard Magazine and it had mentioned that they had 3 singers over the years.

I know of Mike Patton and Chuck, but I had only heard a rumour as to the original first singer. I figured that Billy would be getting off in one stop, as it would be the stop for the venue they were playing at. I'm a fanatic FNM fan, so he was/is a big influence on me. I have about 30 seconds to say anything to him and the first thing that pops in my head is the desire to confirm/deny the rumour, so I asked him...

"Is it true that Courtenay Love used to be your singer?"

To which he replied "Yup"

I then blurted out "What were you thinking?"

He laughed and said "We were kids man, we didn't know"

And then got up and disembarked. I could have asked him anything, including showing him the tattoo on the back of my right calf, which is the flamedrop graphic from the cover of their "Real Thing" album, but no, I asked that dumb question. He seemed like a nice guy though.

In Chronological order:
Stu Hamm- At a clinic. Seemed like he wanted to get out of there.
Doug Wimbish-Someone asked him what model Trace Elliott he used, and he said "I don't know, whatever they send me!"
Victor Wooten-I'm not even a die-hard fan, but couln't pass it up. Very humble.
Alex Webster -Handshake like a vice-grip!
Christian McBride -Way cool. Told me to learn every bassline Paul Chambers ever recorded. My boss tried to hit on him so I hung out with his drummer Terreon Gulley.
Louis Johnson-When I worked at GC. Rumor has it he heard me playing after we met, and he told a salesman "that guy's pretty good" but I don't believe it.
Larry Graham -Twice! I even talked to him about bass-synth pedals. The guy who pioneered bass through effects, and I'm talking to him about effects!
Melvin Gibbs-Very dignified and polite.
Tony Grey -Gave me his email and we corresponded for a while.
Honorable Mention for interviewing Stanley Clarke on the phone for my dad's newspaper.

Ive met Wooten at a GC clinic, I got him to sign an empty package of Daddarios( I wonder how much that will go for on ebay...)


I talked to him for about 10 minutes, Cause the clinic was basically over and he was walking around. Hes a real nice guy, But compared to me (6'3'') Hes short as hell! But the coolest thing is, I took one of his straps!!! He had used it to play on a Red P bass special, And he left it, So I was tlaking to one of the GC guys (my friend as well) and he asked if I wanted it, He said he didnt dig brown and he gave it to me. I wouldnt of cared if it had the homosexual flag colors on it (no offense to anyone who is gay on here), I would of rocked it, Just for the sake of knowing Mr Wooten used it.

I've met several but the most memorable was Doug Wimbish in 2003. My sister bought me Living Colour tickets for my college graduation. If anyone asks who my favorite band is, in a instant, I'll tell them Living Colour.

Anyway, I bring my bass with me hoping to get it signed. The show was over and my sister and I are just standing there talking about the show. I told her it would be awesome if Doug could sign some stuff for me. One of the stage hands was packing stuff up so I told my sister to talk to him (girls have a better chance of getting stuff signed). So, she hands him a bunch of CDs and other stuff and asked if Doug could sign them. He took it all back stage and and got the whole band to sign everything.

So, when it comes back my sister asks "Hey, my bother brought his bass. Is there anyway you can take it back and have Doug sign it?".. The stage hand leaves and comes back. He says "Meet me by the gate in 15 minutes". So I run to my car, get my bass, and we sit there any way. We see the stage hand come out and someone following him. It was dark and couldnt see who it was. When they got closer, I noticed it was Doug Wimbish (if you couldnt tell, is a HUGE inspiration for me). I handed him my bass, he signed it and said "You treat her good and she'll treat you good (my bass that is)" and handed it back to me.

It was a great night for me.

http://www.bobbykokinos.com/modsigned.jpg

That's a very cool story, Bobby!

I envy you. Huge Living Colour fan here. All he did was sign a flier for me.

I've had 7 encounters and a near miss that fit this thread. In chronological order....

That's about it. I gotta meet a coupla VW's to complete my experience....Verdine White & Victor Wooten.




You know, I'm from Detroit, I actually met Verdine White in Detroit.......Met him along with Phillip Bailey at Fishbones in Greektown. Cool thing was, they gave us free front row tickets to the concert that night where Tina Marie and Larry Graham also performed.....He even gave me backstage passes to chill with him afterwards.........He's a cool guy.

http://www.bobbykokinos.com/modsigned.jpg

No offense, but I am not the slightest bit interest in Living Color, but that story rocks. Good on Doug Wimbish for doing that for you, great story.

A fairly amusing little story:

I was advertising a piece of studio gear for sale in Loot. I got a call from a guy called Nick who was fairly chatty and quite polite whereas I was kind of in the middle of something and not paying too much attention to the conversation. Anyway, he asked what instrument I played, "bass - oh, me too" and then what type of music "funk - cool, that's what I play".

Anyway, he came over to my place a couple of days later to check out the piece of equipment. He was very chatty and asked me a lot about what I was up to musically. After about 15 minutes, we headed out to find an ATM so he could get some money. It then occurred to me "duh, I'm being rude - ask the guy what he does".

So then I asked him "So what are you up to these days musically? Are you playing with anyone?", to which he replied,
"well, I've just left Jamiroquai".

I thought "bloody hell - wait I thought Stuart Zender left ages ago.... hang on... Nick... Nick... Fyffe".

Anyway, we went for a cup of coffee afterwards and had a good chat. He was a nice guy. I should have asked him to have a mini bass jam but I didn't think of that.

Another time, I was at a friend's birthday party and at the bar, I turned to my left and saw I was standing next to Jack Bruce. I didn't have the guts to introduce myself though. He seemed tired, drunk and slightly grumpy, so maybe it was best I didn't.

Recently I met Marcus Miller - but it was after a bass clinic he did here in London. He was a really cool guy, very engaging, friendly and polite.

There have been a couple of encounters with non-bass players who some people might have heard of. I didn't know who they were at the time - seems to be a recurring theme of mine!

I was in a rehearsal studio many years ago in one of the first bands I was in. We'd take breaks every now and then and go check out all the other bands in the studio to see if there was anyone good.

We heard one lot who sounded superb, so we popped our heads in and introduced ourselves to a roomful of Rastafarians. The clean-cut singer took a break from the song they were doing and shook all our hands and was very friendly and polite.

Later, his son came through to our studio to listen to us work through some stuff. He loved it so much he asked us to come to Jamaica! Anyway, it turned out that the guy was none other than reggae legend Ken Boothe (whose big hit was Everything I Own).

Another time, I went on the tour bus with my friend (a session guitarist) to Glastonbury with the band he was playing with. Before the bus left, this guy introduced himself "Hi, I'm Matt" and shook my hand. He wasn't part o