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Have you ever met or seen a famous musician in public?

#2
Years ago I was a cab driver at an airport. I had the pleasure of meeting and speaking with a few celebrities during that time, as well as driving them to their destinations. Most just wanted to be treated as regular people and get where they were going. Like everyone else, they weren't at their best during trips involving air travel, lost luggage, delays, etc.; so I did my best to be polite, not make them feel like they were on display, and give them swift and safe service. Most really appreciated it.
 
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#3
Felken said:
Have you ever met or seen a famous musician outside of meet and greets or concert-related meetups? I'm talking like spotting them at the restaurant or crossing them on the street.

I, once again, have nothing to contribute to this thread.

Tell us your story! :D
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Dozens of times. Usually I don't intrude on their off time. Occasionally I'll say "Excuse me, are you xXxX? I just wanted to tell you I'm a fan of your work. Thanks for entertaining me. Hope you have a great day." And then I walk away.

A few times I've been in a position to give them directions, open a door for them while they were carrying something, etc. They pretty much always said "thanks", I said "no problem".

Once I sat and talked to a guy for half an hour while he was waiting for a co-worker of mine to get out of a meeting. I thought he was a local player. Turns out he was a nationally famous country musician I'd never heard of. Nice guy. Real polite. Good sense of humor.
 
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#5
The odd thing about human nature is that once somebody becomes famous they almost cease to be acknowledged as being people. Suddenly the guy you knew in high school who got a scholarship and parlayed it into a sports career isn't as easy to relate to and hang with as the rest of your old pals are. They
're either pressed for time or have outgrown you. The quicker success comes, the stronger the gap. Some people handle fame and fortune with ease and finesse while others can't handle all of the pressure that comes with it. There is no sorrier sight than a has been who should be a "still is". Did you ever see one of them? It really is like a country song incarnate. I can only imagine one thing worse than being a gregarious person who craves the spotlight and never quite gets there, and that's a private, modest person being thrust into the spotlight. Life in a fishbowl.
 
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#6
I lived in Tucson for a long time and met lots of famous people over the years. Many western movies have been filmed in the area and the actors stay in town during the filming. Additionally, my stepfather was a chef and he got to know several pro baseball players. Through him I met and played golf with some of them during spring training.

As for musicians, my guitar instructor was a great jazz guitarist who knew many of the big name players. Through him I met some of his friends when they were in town. I met Johnny Smith, a great jazz player and song writer of "Walk Don't Run". I also met Tommy Tedesco, one of the studio musicians known as the Wrecking Crew. Also met jazz guitarist Barney Kessel. Each of them were friendly and down to earth to talk to.

Now I live in Ohio and never get to meet any celebs.

Thump on,

One_Dude
 
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#7
I work for a well known manufacturing company and we have a lot of media spend, and we retain a lot of talent of whom I've met. We have in house studios though the recording is outsourced. We get more athletes and personalities than musicians/artists. I've done some pretty interesting work on the talent side.

In no way do any of my posts ever reflect the views of my employer. Nor do I endorse any other than He.
 
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#9
jamro217 said:
Years ago I was a cab driver at an airport. I had the pleasure of meeting and speaking with a few celebrities during that time, as well as driving them to their destinations. Most just wanted to be treated as regular people and get where they were going. Like everyone else, they weren't at their best during trips involving air travel, lost luggage, delays, etc.; so I did my best to be polite, not make them feel like they were on display, and give them swift and safe service. Most really appreciated it.
Click to expand...

Same here. Drove a cab and picked up a few notable cats. Steve Miller, John McEuen, Mike Gordon, Dave Grohl, and a few others. Didn't ask them for autographs and all that stuff.
 
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#12
I saw The Struts at the 9:30 Club in DC about a year and a half ago, Dave Grohl was watching from the side balcony with friends (clearly enjoying himself). After the show, my daughter (and many others) was hoping to meet the band by the tour bus. When I decided that we had waited long enough, we started walking to the car. There was some activity suddenly around the bus. Dave had come out of the lower level of the club and was having a smoke by the stairs. My daughter suggested I go say hi. I didn't want to bug him, but she said "if the roles were reversed what would you be telling me to do?" So in an effort to set an example, I screwed up my nerve and went over, said "hi" and "thanks for all the great music" or some kind of crap, shook hands and he said "thanks man" as he was heading back into the club.

By the way, The Struts are now the opening act for the Foo Fighters on their current tour.
 
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#15
I'm not much of a fan, but a few years ago I saw Sammy Hagar walking across the street in the middle of the day, all by himself, about 25 feet away from me. I knew he was in town to discuss a business deal, so I knew it was him. I just stood there and watched him cross the street. I thought to myself "huh, there's Sammy Hagar......how 'bout that." He looked exactly the way he looked when he was on stage with Van Halen. I could have said "hey Sammy" but I didn't seem interested enough.

I would be much more interested in talking about when I met the members of YES, but that was backstage after a YES concert and the OP said to not count those types of meetings in this thread. :thumbsup:
 
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#16
I’ve met plenty. It was the first famous musician I met that really seems to have stuck with me. My dad did some work for Alan Jackson. As Jackson was leaving in his convertible, he stopped, I was introduced, he said hello (or something like that...I was 7 or 8 at the time so I can’t remember), then he drove away in a sweet, sweet ride. Totally shaped how I view famous people from that point forward. They are just people.
 
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#17
A couple years ago I decided to go for the $50 upgrade to first class on a short flight from SFO to SEA because my back was tweaked. As I filed back to my seat there was a guy with a stylish haircut and a lot of rings putting a fancy wide-brimmed hat into the storage bin above the seat in front of mine. About halfway through the flight a kid (~ 15 yrs old?) dashes into the 1st class cabin and starts gushing to this guy..."I loooooove your music... I've seen you 10 times..." before he is summarily shooed out by the flight attendant. The mystery man pulled that hat down pretty low getting out of the cabin and kept his head down through the terminal.

I had to use The Google to figure out I had been sitting behind Macklemore.

Apparently I got old. Age snuck up on me when I wasn't looking. If that kid hadn't tipped me off I'd have never been the wiser.
 
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#18
Spent a long week one night in Pasadena with a new friend in his studio (I drove down from Vegas to trade a bottle of Crown for an old 4x10 cab of his). Hit the sack after too much vodka about 4 in the morning. Somewhere about 10 he woke me saying we had errands to run around town. Still very drunk. One stop he said was at the house of a friend of his. Said his name was James Wilsey. "You know, the guitarist on 'Wicked Game'."

I'm drunk, I'm miserable, still have 4 hours to drive home when we're done with this crap, yeah right, that's really the guy on the song. We get to a small unassuming home. Some crazy looking guy with no shirt on lets us in. Bubba and the alleged "James" have a great time. "James" shows me a guitar allegedly on the song. nice, looks sweet, great to meet you, Hey Bubba, I got to get back home.

So I get home and look up this character. Face palm time. I was really in the home of James Wilsey, with James, and THE guitar (allegedly).

Nice guy.
 
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#19
... Met Benard Allison at a gig once and must say that he's the nicest friendliest guy on the planet. I wish that everyone was just like him. Always a smile and he was there with you on level ground. Met Nils Lofgren too on the streets of Berlin. Said hey with a smile.
 
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#20
I played blackjack with some of Kansas in Vegas once about 45 years ago. I wasn't really old enough to be at the table so I was keeping very low key.

I also met Chuck Norris at a McDonald's in Hollywood (short, VERY nice guy), and had Mohammed Ali try to pick up my girlfriend at the Vegas airport!

Oh yeah, and Regis Philbin in the lobby of the Hollywood Roosevelt about 50+ years ago (I was 9). I had no clue who he was, but my Grandmother went gaga - he totally blew her off, so I've never liked him since ; )
 
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