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name dropping thread.

#41
jonathan_matos5 said:
ever play with, or open for someone famous? tell your story.


when i was in high school my school's jazz band got to open for Maynard Ferguson. it was part of the prize of winning. :cool:

i also got to attend a master class taught by wynton marsallis :cool:

sorry i wasn't a bassist at the time so my famous people play the trumpet.



whats your story?
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Weird, My high school jazz band opened for Maynard one time too. Coincidentally I was also a trumpet player in my former life and I got him to sign the bell of my coronet. I should probably sell that thing to finance some fretless GAS.
 
#43
My band opened for Mountain, met Leslie West. Played a gig where Alice Cooper was the featured celebrity host in Scottsdale, Az. Gary Busey was there as well as the bearded guy from CC construction company on "Home Improvement". Saw Ray Charles at the Las Vegas airport waiting for a plane (he didn't see me though). Met Lars Ulrich from Metallica (he acted like an arse, just like you would expect). Talked to Mark Slaughter (he was cool, laid back). That's about it for me.
 
#44
I play at John Elway's club in Denver on the weekends... he comes in every so often, and on rare occasions will have several of his buddies stick around late to have us play long. (Of course, they stuff the kitty to make it worth our while. :cool:)

A lot of interesting people come through there... lots of athletes. Kinda interesting.
 
#45
We opened for Robbie Krieger some 10 years ago at the Wetlands. His organ player played the bass lines with his B3 foot pedals through a full SVT. Some sound. Robbie was way better than I expected too...

Oh and Abe Vigoda eats at my chinese place sometimes
Vigoda.jpg
I
 
#46
I forgot; I saw Verdine White in the airport once. He is kind of hard to miss, seemed like a nice guy. My high school acting class had Buddy Ebsen come and teach a class. (the original Uncle Jed from the real Beverly Hillbillys)
A buddy of mine was able to hang with Return To Forever when they played in Portland a few weeks ago. My buddy's producer is friends with the guys in the band.
 
#47
I auditioned for DORO PESCH back in the early 90's. She was real cool and her producer who was also there and a nice guy worked with KISS. I didn't get the gig though :hmm:

My friend is drummer Mike Mangini. I have been backstage at many gigs he has done in Boston and met many musicians he has played with such as Vai, Stu Hamm, Extreme.

I also backed up Johnny Winter in the early 80's on a miss matched bill. Got booed off the stage which was great. One month later we headlined the same venue (The Paridise, Boston, MA) and got a standing o. Go Figure?
 
#49
BassScum said:
My band opened for Mountain, met Leslie West.
Click to expand...

Memories of mixing FOH for them a couple of years back...they had just re-hired their normal drummer (he gets fired and re-hired on a regular basis...and rightfully so, he stinks). Leslie turned around at the beginning of Mississippi Queen and yelled, "So can you play the $%^# song right for once or not?!?!?"

Ouch!

-Mark

PS-I normally respect the road code and don't share dirty secrets I happen to see, but since this one happened in front of a packed grandstand with vocal mics very live...
 
#50
True story:

I once sat 3 rows behind Jay Leno on a flight from Chicago to LA. He was in the last row of 1st class and I was in the 2nd or 3rd row of coach. (he was very friendly with people on the plane, btw)

Once we landed in LA, he and his traveling buddy (looked like an agent or personal assitant) were hurrying from the gate in an obvious race to get to where ever they were going. A person stopped Jay and offerred him a book, which looked like a yoga book or something with pictures of stretching. He tried to avoid taking it, but finally said "thank you" - to be polite - then grabbed the book and proceeded to catch up to his buddy.

The guy who handed him the book then said "and we are accepting donations to Hare Krishna [something or other]".

Just then, Jay turns around, hands the book back to this kid and says "I would like to donate this book. I think you'll really like it." He then turned around and disappeared into the airport.

I don't know how funny that sounds as I write it, but it was hysterical to see/hear in person. His timing was great. I was like - "Wow, I was the only person who got to hear that joke."

Sadly, that was my only brush with famous people.
 
#54
As a matter of fact, I have!

Warmed up the following:

Goo Goo Dolls
Danzig
Charged! GBH
TSOL
Richie Havens
Mighty Mighty Bosstones
Quiet Riot

Met the following:

John Entwhistle
Allan Holdsworth
GE Smith
Gene Simmons
Dick Dale
Billy Sheehan
Adrian Belew
Doug Wimbish
 
#55
Met Jimmy Page and Robert Plant - worked in a Hotel where they stayed - I had to put the elevator on manual and pick them up and drop them off. Standing in an elevator with two Legends - they were so cool - laid back and amused by their Celebrity. No entourage or Security - just walked out into the public like the common folk : )

When I was a kid I worked at what used to be the Music Hall in Boston. Got to watch Aerosmith and Earth Wind and Fire do their pre show Sound Checks - two separate shows of course.

Saw Jaco at a small club in Cambridge Mass called Johnathan Swifts - stood about 4 feet from him during the whole show. Place was full of Musicians - most from Berkely College of Music. My Friend, who later became my Brother in Law, was a student there at the time - we were with a bunch of his crew. Brandford Marsalis was one of his Classmates.
 
#57
Lemoore-on said:
I smoked a cigarete with Jose Faliciano(sp?) and his aid at Noritta airport in Japan. In one of those glass wall smoking rooms.

I've been smoke free for 12 weeks now:hyper:
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Hey- congrats! As a former smoker, I can attest that it is a tough go. But if you have made it 12 weeks, you pretty much have it beat. Don't give up! The best thing I have ever done for my life was giving up the coffin nails!
 
#59
My 80s band opened for a few bands - Iggy Popp, Ian Hunter/ Mick Ronson Band, Godfathers, The Blasters and a few more.

It seemed like we were the houseband for the Central Tav in Seattle in the late 80s, so we played with a lot of up&comings: Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Screaming Trees, Posies, YFF, Fastbacks, MotherLoveBone, Walkabouts. Played all the Seattle and NW I-5 clubs.

I worked in a record warehouse for a local chain. Worked with Mark Lannegan, Dylan Carlson, Joe Preston and a bunch of other ne'er-do-wells. Nirvana held the record release party for Nevermind at our main store.

Went to school with Niki Sixx, he didn't play when I knew him, but we hung in the same circles. Also El Duce and the Dr Scum of the Mentors
Duff McKeagan played drums in my brother's punk band. Also drummed for the Fastbacks for a while.
Mike McCready went to school with my little sister.

Got to open for Louie Bellson in High School Jazz Band in Reno!

'nuff. Shameless -- making myself sick! good times tho!! w00t
 
#60
Not musicians, but a couple of years ago I was at a lecture given by Alan Plater - a screenwriter, who has worked with a LOT of famous actors. He opened his talk by saying:

"I'm going to be dropping a lot of names in the next hour. It makes sense to start at the top, so `I said to the queen...`"

He did go on to talk about a LOT of famous people he worked with, and he's a GREAT writer.

I've also been lucky enough to be in presentations given by Thomas Dolby (not as interesting as I hoped, given how great a musician he is), George Lucas (who is as short, and out of touch as the Simpsons sugguest), and Ed Catmull (boss of Pixar).

We recently opened for a band who opened for Rush, Kiss and Heavy Metal Kids. Judas Priest opened for them! Unfortunatly you probably don't know who they are.
 

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