Six Degrees of Separation

My aunt married into the family of Civil War Maj. General James H. Wilson who captured Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy.



His grandson was Jim Thompson who "almost single-handedly saved Thailand’s now-booming silk industry from extinction" and was eventually eaten by cannibals.

His great grandson was Leonard Wood, commander of the Rough Riders during the Spanish–American War, Military Governor of Cuba, and Governor General of the Philippines.

 

I'm casual friends with Sid Pryce, guitar tech to the stars (McCartney, Pink Floyd, AC/DC, Fleetwood Mac, etc). Anytime he comes through Austin on a tour, we go out for dinner and drinks.

 

Met a woman at a community group meeting back in the early 90's. My wife and I became good friends. Turns out she's sister to a world famous movie star. We became friends with the family so we've met the star and hung out many times over the past 25 years. Also met many other movie stars based on this connection. We're not really friends per se but on friendly terms.

 

I met Tina Weymouth's cousin in Europe. He was 20 at the time and I was 21. We looked nearly identical, so I gave him my Ohio driver's license to use as a fake ID when he got home to wherever he lived. I didn't need a drivers license for a while, and it was going to expire before I needed to drive again. So, I helped Tina Weymouth's cousin do some underage drinking. He was vaguely aware that she was a bass player for some band.

That and almost getting backed over by Liberace's limousine while living in New York are as close to fame as I ever got. And probably ever will get. No chance of me ever getting burned by that white hot flame of fame.

 

Before I was married a buddy and I went to see Glen Cornick's* band "Wild Turkey" because we knew one of his guitarist's (Mick Dyche) from when he played in local bands.

We were invited back to the dressing room and I ended up buying an SG Special from Mick. We had to go back to my house to get the cash and as the band were travelling in Glen's car they all came back for coffee and biscuits and Glen played my 62P through a full stack at about 2AM.

A few years later my wife and I were on holiday in Cornwall where we always made a point of seeing whoever was playing locally. It was supposed to be Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel but they backed out because "Come Up And See Me" was shooting up the charts and Mr Harley thought that it was too far to travel. Wild turkey were the band that got the gig instead.

My wife and I were unaware of this and went into a pub down the road to have a drink before going to to the venue. As we walked in the members of Wild Turkey recognised me and insisted that we join them for a drink and put us on their guest list.

*formally with Jethro Tull.

 

My wife's yoga instructor is Alanis Morrisette's mom.

 

My grandfather’s uncle was Chalk Beeson, sheriff of Dodge City and leader of the world famous Dodge City Cowboy Band. The band performed for President Grover Cleveland at the White House. Beeson conducted the band with a six-shooter for a baton and threatened to “shoot any SOB who plays a sour note!”

My uncle was a Major General, USAF, assigned to NASA during the space race by Dwight D. Eisenhower, and was Werner von Braun’s boss at the rocket propulsion center at Huntsville, AL. Von Braun’s former boss was Adolf Hitler.

 

My grandmother was Billy Gibbons’s personal assistant up to the release of (I believe) Afterburner

 

Richard Lloyd (Television's guitarist) was my landlord for 10 years.

 

I have a friend at work with the last name of Townsend. She's mentioned her cousin Pete a few times...

 

I used to work with Steve Harley's brother, Kevin (surname Nice, as in the French city).

I was also at college with the son of Denis Goldberg who was one of the Rivonia defendants alongside Nelson Mandela.

 

My ex-wife dated Tupac Shakur in high school.

 

Six degrees of separation from my ex is not enough. That is all.

 

It’s frustrating I can’t read off my list without jeopardizing my job, but it reads like a who’s who of some of the most respected living bassists and musicians in the world. That’s more an accident of geography than anything else, though.

Many folks I know had either went to school with or been in direct contact with Mike Tyson and his camp back in his glory days. The town I live in was more or less a shrine to his success until he went to prison, then many of the signs and plaques came down (we still got an honorable mention in the NES game Mike Tyson’s Punch Out, though!).

My great x3 grandfather was a witness to General Lee’s surrender at Appomattox as a soldier for the confederacy.

 

My grandfather (on mom's side) played saxophone in Desi Arnaz's band for the entire run of the the "I Love Lucy" show, both in New York and Los Angeles. He died years ago, so I love watching the shows when they're in the cabana so I can see him again.

Edit: He's on the far right, middle row.

 

I got on a plane bound for Tampa and sat next to the Danny Gatton Band. They were really nice guys and offered us tickets and backstage passes for their show at the fairgrounds. Unfortunately we were ticketed through to Ft. Myers.....Shoulda took them up on it....woulda been a great show.

Not like long after that, Danny took his own life. He was an amazing guitarist, truly the Master of the Telecaster. Very sad.

 

I work with a former tour manager of various touring big names. That's pretty tenuous.