Famous people attend your gig

[pnchad]

Got a bunch - used to backup a bunch of traveling 'stars' as the rhythm/horn sections - traveled some with them too - paid great and treated first class

But, 2 celebs I remember were Madonna about 25 yrs ago in a late night club on South Beach - the place went gonzo - very interesting goings on in that place

On another night (we started at midnight and played until about 5 on & off) David Lee Roth shows up, wants to sit in but he's sooooo drunk after 2 mins we chased him off.

I also played a mob club many yrs ago in Fort Lauderdale where Mickey Mantle, Roger Marris, George Steinbrenner, Reggie Jackson bunch of Yankees plus comedians like Frank Gorshen, etc. I guess the owners had connections. It was a tiny bar off an Italian restaurant so it figures. Interesting place.

 

[CGremlin]

Back in '85, during my laughable attempt at college in Florida, I played in a jazz group with some of the other students there. One night, our saxophonist tells us that Ira Sullivan is a family friend and will be there to see us at the gig. No pressure, right? Anyway, after the gig we all went back to the sax player's place and hung out and jammed with Ira for a couple of hours. Awesome guy and amazing musician, and it's surprising how much you can learn in such a short time.

A few months later, after I went back home to Virginia, our pianist calls me all excited that Sting and Jaco were in the audience at their show in Melbourne that night. *So* sorry I missed that.

 

[chazolson]

I can't claim this one as my own, but a friend who plays the Stick was playing in an L.A. jazz club and Cloris Leachman showed up. Immediately my friend, from the stage, yells "Hey Nurse Diesel!"

And she immediately grabs the mike and does a medley of Christmas tunes with him in that voice. Hilarious.

 

[Stealth Fighter]

I was playing in Kinston, North Carolina back in the seventies. One night a guy comes up and ask the keyboard player if he could sit in on drums. After he left I asked the keys who the guy was. It was Melvin Parker of James Brown fame. That dude could beat some skins.

 

[Munjibunga]

Crazy Aunt Karen, Kris Jenner's sister. That's all I got.

 

[Ritchie_Darling]

I was in jamming away in the ABW booth at NAMM in January and looked up to see Skunk Baxter watching me... EEK!

 

[Dave R]

Many years ago, was hired to play a Christmas dance at the Osmond's (Donny and Marie's family) studio.

Marie spoke to me. She said "Excuse me."

 

[drakson]

While playing in a club in St. Louis, Mo, in the early 70's Chuck Berry came in twice over a couple of weeks. He always had a hot blond with him and was driving a Cadillac with paisley seat covers and had 2 long horns almost the length of the entire front hood on his car. He basically sat in the corner and was pretty quiet.

 

[mrufino1]

I was told Roger Waters was at a gig in a small restaurant in Manhattan, but I didn't see him. It was still my early days in that band so I had my head buried in charts.

TM Stevens was at a cinco de Mayo gig I was doing, but left before I could meet him. The person I was playing with is not very good (He'll confirm that) but is a good entertainer. I don't think TM was too blown away by our version of "Get Down Tonight...

I played a birthday party for someone who is apparently quite wealthy as it was at a local (expensive) wedding place (if you watched the sopranos that place was AJ's girlfriend Devon's house on the show). His wife had hired us, an oldies group (the skyliners?) and air supply to play the party. Air supply were fantastic, and their band were very cool guys. However, the wife also surprised him by having Bernie Williams there. He played a few songs with us (he is a good guitarist). However, he said he was having fun and asked if he could play the next set with us, but only if our guitarist would also play so they could play together. He also spent a lot of time hanging with all of the musicians. He was very nice. I'm not a baseball fan, but it was fun to meet him. Funny thing though? The two guys from Air Supply were very psyched to meet him and were like little kids when they did.

There's been some others too. I don't like to bother people or gush, so I usually just say hello if I can.

 

[heynorm]

Comedian, Skip Stephenson, who hosted NBC's "Real People" was back in Omaha to attend his H.S. reunion in the late 80's. He sand maybe a half dozen tunes with us and really was not too shabby! Somewhere I've got an old cassette of that night.
When my nephew was playing bass with Relient K one night on Jay Leno's "Tonight" show there was an extra guy playing guitar. Turned out it was "Biff" from the "Back to the Future" movies, who is a fan of the band and got to sit in with them.

 

[Altitude]

There we were, in the third set of a lightly attended bar gig. Group of old dudes walks in, all dressed in exactly the same garish red suits. I felt like I should recognize them. I didn't, but I have since come to know that they were the Delfonics, a Philly-based soul quartet of some repute. They had played a gig in another part of Denver earlier that night.

Our band played a jammy, extended version of Fly Like an Eagle, with a modal jazz tune in the middle. The Delfonics want to sit in. Our singer graciously invites them up. At this point I still don't know who these guys are, but they sure look important and I'm pretty excited to see what they do with Fly Like an Eagle.

They did pretty much nothing. None of them knew the words, and they just coated the music with all this high-pitched crooning on random syllables. For ten minutes. They danced a bit too. We wrap up the tune and thank them.

We go on, and play a couple more tunes, and eventually get to our last song, which was supposed to be this version of Soul Vibration that morphs into Mr. Pink and eventually turns into Hang Up Your Hangups. When it worked it was cool. The Delfonics are still around the club, and when we start playing it, they walk back onto the stage without an invitation.

A Delfonic asks if he can play the keys. Our guy steps aside. They assume their dance positions and, as our "Soul Vibration" really begins to vibrate, they try to turn it into...a ballad.

This keyboardist dude is standing right in front of me. He turns around, looks at the drummer and me, and asks us to pull the tempo down to about 68 beats per minute because they want to "work on a ballad". Sure. We back it off a little and stay there for a while. More of the same crooning, no discernible words, from the Delfonics. "Ooh Baby," "You're the One," and stuff like that is the best we got. Eventually our bandleader cues us to move into the "Hang Up Your Hangups" section of our tune, which is a raunchy Headhunters thing that definitely will screw up a ballad. The Delfonics get mad at us. They all turn around, do that "keep it down" hand gesture, and again tell me that they need to "work on their ballad." At our gig.

We go on for another four or five minutes. These dudes will not get off the stage. The sax player, guitarist, and I wrap the song, put down our instruments, and go get a beer. Our drummer keeps playing. The Delfonics continued their "rehearsal" for another three or four minutes. Then they all stop at once, walk off the stage, chat for a moment with someone in the room, and then they leave.

I'm not sure this tale is as funny in the telling as it was in the living, but the morals of the story are as follows:

• Asking for two sit-ins is a balls out move, especially in the same set. Nobody do that.
• Unless your name is Stevie Wonder, when you sit in with a band, you are playing with them. They don't become your backup band, and you definitely don't get to try out new material with them during their gig.
• Beware of the Delfonics.