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Famous bassist encounters...

#161
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 of the band so I thought he was a fellow nobody like me. We spent most of the journey up there talking about music - then backstage I found out he was guesting on one of the songs in the show.

Then I found out he was Matt Hayles of Aqualung. That name sounded familiar so I rang one of my friends who had more current taste in music than I do and she flipped. Turned out it was one of her favourite bands. Anyway, he was a very nice guy. We chatted for most of the way back too.

So far, I haven't had any negative encounters. But don't you guys think that big name musicians are just the same as normal people - sometimes you're feeling sociable and friendly and then sometimes you act like a complete wankstain - occasionally for no good reason.
 
#162
DGbass70 said:
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:
Click to expand...

Dude, don't dig on Les so much. He might have been an arrogant jerk, but that's the persona you kind of sign up for if you like his music. His personality is pretty much dark, eccentric, and arrogant and his music reflects that. Who else would write songs about gas sniffing kids, big brown beavers, and bastards.


The only time I kinda met a famous person was when I was too young to know what was happening. When I was 2 my mom happened to get a seat next to Gene Simmons on a flight to Chicago and I happened to be with her. From what I heard of that experience, Gene was very quiet and wore a lot of black.:D
 
#163
I've only had two. One was last year, on 4/13/05, in Murphresburro, TN, at a MMW show. The show was sick, and we knew a few people there, so we stuck around 20 or 30 minutes and talked about the show. Once we finally got outside and to our car, most of the lot had cleared. So we start pulling out and driving forward, and then slam on the break to stop from running over a guy, who we realized was Chris Wood. Had his bass in a gig bag on his back. We said sorry, and told him is was a sick show, then went on our way.

The other was just a few weeks ago, at Corner Music in Nashville, TN. I was sitting in there fooling around, and in walks Jack Lawrence from the Racontours and the Greenhournes. He had those thick glasses, and the flannel shirt tucked it. He's kind of a dorky looking dude, but I gotta admit, the girl he was with was hot. He took one look at the wall, then looked over at me. I just gave him a nod. Then he just left. Not much explination I can figure out.
 
#165
I got to spend a week out in the woods with Victor Wooten, Steve Bailey, Chuck Rainey, and the rest of the Bass/Nature camp crew. It was pretty sweet. Anthony Wellington was really cool. Great guy, and a great bass 'coach'. The thing about it was, after about 5 minutes hanging with these guys, you almost forget that they're celebrities. All of them are just so personable. It's really cool, I mean, I got to just chat about food, gear, philosophy with some of the people I just dreamt about shaking hands with. An incredible experience that I wish every bass player in the world could have. If nobody believes me, I do have pics.

Peace
Drake
 
#169
I met Rocco Prestia when TOP played Jazz Alley last year. He's a cool guy, but surprisingly short. My friend who I was at the concert with took a whiz right next to the lead singer!

I also met Victor when he played Jazz Alley with Mike Stern in December, but I didn't really get a chance to talk to him because of the other 200 people in the club the immediately surrounded him.
 
#173
meeting mike dimin was really cool. i had no idea that i lived near a professional, and i loved playign his signature mtd 5er, even though i wasnt reeeeally playing it, just sort of messing around. i met him at a local store, started talking gear then he took em up to his lesson roo and rpetty much gave a me a free hour lesson on chordal approaches and transcribing jazz standards, really cool stuff.

i also stood next to oteil burbridge ata concert for abotu 15 minute swithout realizing who it was. i was surprised, thoguht he woudl be much bigger, probabaly onyl around 5'8. i was watchign the openign act adn then when they were done he just walked up to the stage and started tunign his (new at the time) signature fodera 6 string. i was so pissed that i didnt shake his hand! damnit!
 
#179
My first post! Seemed like a good time to report my one and only encounter with a famous bass player. Please forgive the length.

In May of 1977, when I was a student at the University of GA, a buddy and I were at a bar in Athens. It was closing time and they were running everybody out. On the way out, my friend literally ran into this little bearded guy. They both made their apologies and it turns out this guy is Leon Wilkerson (Skynyrd was playing a concert in town the next night and several of the band members were at the bar that night). We got to talking and he said to come over to their hotel and hang.

We got to the hotel, went to the desk and said "What room is Leon in"? Of course, they wouldn't tell us, so we headed out to the parking lot to leave. There we saw a couple of roadies we had seen at the bar. We asked them what room Leon was in and they told us.

So we headed up to his room, which was on the third floor. We're walking down the hall, when we see this furtive figure, who turns out to be Leon, wheeling a luggage carrier out onto the fire escape. He gives us a "shsssssh" sign and motions to us to come on, like we're old buddies. So we walk out onto the third floor fire escape. He says, "See that green MG down there"? "Yeah." "Watch this"! And he proceeds to drop the luggage carrier on top of the MG, shattering the windshield and making a huge racket.

He immediately runs back to his room, with us in tow. We just sit there for a little while chatting, like nothing happened. Within a couple of minutes, a roadie walks in, sees my buddy and me, and says "Who are ya'll"? "We're, uh, friends of Leon." He said "Ya'll probably ought to get the hell out of here." So we did.

The next afternoon, we were telling some friends about our adventure. They didn't believe us, so we called Leon's room at the hotel. He answered and assured our friends that indeed it had occurred just as we had described it. He also asked if we knew who the MG belonged to, that he wanted to pay for the repairs.

I had grown up hearing about bands trashing hotel rooms, etc. and then got to witness it first hand. Any way, Leon was a really nice guy, if a little crazy.
 
#180
During a Rippington's concert, Kim Stone came off the stage and high fived me. It was an early evening outdoor concert and I suddenly became aware that Kim and Russ were watching me really grooving on their music. I looked up and they both laughed; then during the final song Kim jumped off the stage and played his way up to and high fived me.

I keep hoping that gave me some kind of mojo transfer. ;)

David
 

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