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Famous bassist encounters...

#181
In the 80s there was a reasonably big Scottish band called Hue & Cry who had a couple of good hits. The bass player, James Finnegan, left and began teaching and I got some lessons from him when i was 15.

Got to play his Warwick Thumb 5 string a few times.

A couple of years ago I went to see the Chilis. The doors had just opened so we went in and stood next to a curtain. the curtain moved and out came this short guy wearing a kilt and holding a cup of tea - it was Flea - I don't think he realised that people were coming in and dived back behind the curtain. Didn't get a chance to speak to him because it happened so quickly but its the closest I am likely to get to him.
 
#183
I have met many: Vic, Rocco, Steve Bailey, Ray Brown (RIP), Tony Levin, Avishai Cohen, Darryl Jones, and many others . . .

All of them were very nice, but three of them were especially snooty:

Meshell, Christian McBride, and Anthony Jackson. Although I love all of their playing, it was less than rewarding to meet them and/or greet them. . . Very snooty. :hmm:
 
#185
Being a musician/tech/computer guy in NYC about 10 years ago, I met and worked with lots of famous people. The coolest bassists I met were Ron Carter, who seemed excited when me and my friend, who were both in out early 20's, were picking his brain about the Miles days. He said that people our age usually ask him about Tribe Called Quest. He was very nice and invited us to his show that night. The other guy who was really nice was Jason Newstead from Metallica. He seemed genuinely interested in my bass playing/gear etc and we chatted for about 45 minutes until my buddies were rushing me because we had somewhere to be. He was humble and very kind-really into the music and not on a rock star trip at all.
 
#189
My father and my grandfather were coincidentally at the same hotel as Sly & Robbie in Stockholm once.

Sly and Robbie just strolled casually in wearing leather jackets, leather shirts, leather caps.. you name it.

My father also met Lemmy and his girlfriend in Oslo.
 
#191
j-raj said:
I talked to Trip Wamsley and Jim Fielder at NAMM last week...
Click to expand...
here's a pic of Trip at our booth:
TripAtNAMMSS06.gif
 
#192
Got to meet Victor Wooten after a Flectones show in Portland OR. last month. Great show, Chris Thile (Nickel Creek) opened for them and then played several songs with them..it was pretty incredible.
Of course I'm a total geek and had my "Me and my bass guitar" book ready for Vic to sign.. and had my wife standing by with a camera! I am not ashamed!!

It was after 1:00am when Vic stepped outside the Crystal Ballroom, even after playing a long set and the unseasonable heat, Vic was very approachable and gracious.

Ken
 
#195
When I was a 13 yr old (early 80's) in Pinellas Park Fla, I would stop in this music shop to scan the basses. I bought my first one there (a hondo II!), but there was sometimes this guy w/ a blonde Rickenbacker noodling and playing w/ the radio... he was very friendly and answered questions. And yeah, he had some sweet chops... years later when his instructional vids came out, I recognized Beaver Felton as the guy at the music store!
 
#196
I've been fortunate to meet a few -

Tony Levin a few times at Crimson shows & solo. Tony is as nice a guy as he is an exemplary musician.

John Entwistle at NAMM in Chicago in '87 maybe? Saw him at the show and he came to the Limelght where my band was playing that night. He was pretty quiet, but very gracious.

Chris Squire I met at a party in Laurel Canyon, then he came to see us play at the Roxy the nest day and came backstage afterward...that was a real thrill.

Willie Weeks joined my band for dinner in Nashvile a few years back - he mentioned that he'd been playing a lot of upright and was interested in EUBs. We wound up out in the parking lot of the restaurant and I pulled out my Clevenger out of the van and set it up for him to check out. Super nice guy.

When I was very young and just starting out playing bar gigs, Geezer Butler came into the place we playing and sat in on a blues tune...that would be around '75.
 
#197
A year before I found my Danelectro Long Horn bass, I talked between sets to Jesse Collin Young at a club here in Concord California, when he was the leader of the Youngbloods and still playing bass. His Long Horn had the lipstick pickups removed and in their place were two DeArmond surface mounts, which surprised me a little. He was pretty cool then, the ego wasn't far behind. This was probably '68.
This last weekend, was the memorial show for Terry Dolan, who passed away this last January. Terry was the leader of Terry and the Pirates, which included John Cipolina and Greg Douglas. Greg and John were part of Terry and the Pirates from about '69 thru about '89 when John Cipolina died. John was from Quicksilver Messinger Service.
So...Greg Douglas was the first guitarist in the band I'm in, back in '66 - '73. (Greg wrote 'Jungle Love' which he recorded with Steve Miller.) Greg was mostly a center pin in this memorial show, and at the rehearsal for the show was Mario Cipolina on bass from 'Huey Lewis & The News, Bill Laymon, bass player from 'New Riders of the Purple Sage', Les Lizama with 'Link Wray's' band, Evan Palmerston Bass from the 'Elvin Bishop Band'. There were 50 or 60 heavy hitters there in Studio D in Sausalito, Ca for this rehearsal and what an old home night. I'm sure there will be video up on YouTube shortly. The show was 5/13/12 at Slim's Club in San Francisco.
 
#198
Here's mine.

Right before I got married my sister asked who my favorite bassists were. I said Les, Vic, Flea, JPJ, etc, etc...

The night before I got married I got a phone call from a number I didn't recognize. When I answered it was Anthony Wellington saying that he got an email from my sister about him and Vic being invited to my wedding. Well, needless to say Anthony and Vic couldn't make it, so he called me and then passed the phone to Vic. I was dumbfounded. Wow!:eek:

About a year later, after my last deployment I had the opportunity to see the Victor Wooten Band in Chapel Hill, NC. I showed up early and ended up getting to meet Vic! I asked if he remembered the phone call and he did, then about half way through his set he played the song "I Saw God" and dedicated it to me. I couldn't believe it again. :eek::eek::eek:

Absolute, stand up person!
 
#199
I got to meet James Morrison (jazz trumpet player more or less famous for playing as high as possible for as long as possible) and his bassist, Phil Stack, at a jazz festival a couple of years ago. Phil (a founding member of Thirsty Merc too) was an incredible upright player and a really nice guy. Very polite and easy to talk to. He waved at me in the crowd too. James Morrison, not so much. He was very standoffish. Also, while I'm on the subject of jazz trumpet players I got to meet Ross Irwin from the Cat Empire at the same festival. I'm not really into the Cat Empire but he was really friendly. A lot of people were asking him for photos (he was more or less the star of the festival) and he was really cool about it. I hope I didn't derail the thread by talking about trumpet players too much, haha.
 
#200
My brother and I walked into this hole in the wall bar to have a couple of beers before the Iron Maiden concert. There were only 2 other guys in there besides us and the bartender. It was Steve Harris and Nicko McBrain. They were watching a World Cup game on tv. I waited until there was a commercial then I went and talked to them. They were both very nice. Somewhere packed away in a box, I have a bar napkin signed by them.
 
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