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What's your 'almost famous' story?

#81
DirtDog said:
Rockets in a twin otter? Gotta hear more about that!
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I'm an avionics tech and the company I worked for bought a derelict Twin Otter that had been sitting in Guatemala for years... it had once served to tour the Pope around Central America in the 80s and still had the Pope's crest on the engine nacelles... I started taking out the interior and started finding a ton of weird wiring that looked factory and had the same wire marking scheme, but I had no clue what it was for, nor did anyone else, some of these guys having worked on Twin Otters for decades... I looked up the history on the plane being totally confused about what all this wiring was and it turns out this plane was one of two Proof of Concept militarized DHC-6-300Ms that DeHavilland made but no one ever bought... It had rockets, a search light, search radar, extra audio panels and a 50 cal mounted in the door... All long gone by the time the Pope was riding around in it but I'm not going to let that get in the way of my one claim to fame!

*After overhauling that plane one of the knobs from it did find it's way onto the SVT I had at the time... figured since it had been in the presence of the Pope and all...
 
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#83
Not me, but I have friends who were in really good heavy rock bands in the 1980s, got picked up by record labels, recorded their first albums which are now cult classics, then for reason of changes in A&R people or record company bankruptcies or amalgamation got dropped before the records were released or just suffered from lousy or no promotion.

Scramblers



Copyright



Art Bergmann

 
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#85
In the mid 90s I auditioned for and played in a Central NY rock band who's original drummer was previously the drummer for a Seattle based band called Reverend (Rick Basha). He moved back to Central New York and was one of the original members in this band (Mr. Slate). By the time I ended up playing in the band they were a self-proclaimed "damaged band" and told me they weren't sure how much longer they were going to be around, that same drummer ended up quitting within the year I started. The band put out an ad for a new Drummer and ended up hiring someone whom had a bit more fame and had just moved back from California (Gary Holland). Drummer on Great Whites first album, worked with Don Dokken, Ozzy and played with Blue Cheer. Unfortunately the band broke up a few months after that but not after hearing some phenomenal Road stories from a genuinely good human being.

After that I had moved from the Syracuse area up to Watertown and played in a classic and modern rock band called Shagnasty for a couple of years, when I left the band and moved back to Western New York the band changed genre to a modern country band and ended up opening for Reba McEntire the next year and all had the chance to meet her and get pictures.
 
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#88
Can't say I was ever "almost famous," but over the years I did get to play full one-off gigs with famous people -- as a freshman (I think) at UF, played a pick-up gig with pioneering rock 'n' roller Bo Diddley, for a Rotary Club luncheon out in the woods near Alachua; played a trio set with guitar great Larry Coryell in downtown Tampa; and, at Florida Southern College in Lakeland, played the memorial concert for late jazz trumpet (cornet) great Nat Adderley, with a bunch of NYC-based former sidemen. That's all I got! Of course, my experience pales in comparison to some friends and former bandmates who have done full tours and/or high-profile concerts with some legit famous jazz, fusion, and pop/rock stars. I've played in local bands that have opened for national acts, but that's another story.
 
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#89
Paulabass said:
^^ I can so relate.
I had a great original band. Great management, a fan base....This band was going to go places.
RCA records (long defunkt) wanted some demos, and gave us a huge block in a great studio.
So WHAT do we do? Change directions completely, and record a bunch of songs about extraterrestial landscapes, and hobbits, and other prog poopiee. Prog was getting huge, and we were listening to Yes, PFM, tangerine dream etc. They spent a fortune on a good producer, engineers etc.
The record company hated it so much they had us removed from their offices.
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I love this story.
 
#90
My old band of mine recorded an album with an engineer who used to play guitar in Taylor Dane’s band.

Also, I was in a killer band that should of been huge (honest!) but our incredibly talented singer/guitarist got really messed up on dope and ended up in jail for a while. Happy ending for him though - he got off drugs and is now married and living in the UK.
 
#92
toomanyslurpees said:
I'm an avionics tech and the company I worked for bought a derelict Twin Otter that had been sitting in Guatemala for years... it had once served to tour the Pope around Central America in the 80s and still had the Pope's crest on the engine nacelles... I started taking out the interior and started finding a ton of weird wiring that looked factory and had the same wire marking scheme, but I had no clue what it was for, nor did anyone else, some of these guys having worked on Twin Otters for decades... I looked up the history on the plane being totally confused about what all this wiring was and it turns out this plane was one of two Proof of Concept militarized DHC-6-300Ms that DeHavilland made but no one over bought... It had rockets, a search light, search radar, extra audio panels and a 50 cal mounted in the door... All long gone by the time the Pope was riding around in it but I'm not going to let that get in the way of my one claim to fame!

*After overhauling that plane one of the knobs from it did find it's way onto the SVT I had at the time... figured since it had been in the presence of the Pope and all...
Click to expand...

Weird, but cool!

Nice score on the knobs for your SVT.
 
#93
I almost had a toast that looked like Jesus riding a triceratops, and I assume I would've been famous over it. Alas, when it came out, it just looked like toast. Maybe next time.

Ant Illington said:
I will likely never be famous outside of a very small segment of the gay porn world.
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I seriously tell my friends all the time I want to start doing one of those solo webcam shows where I play up that I'm a "bear" and get a bunch of gay fans to pay to see the shows and buy me stuff off my Amazon wishlist, and none of my friends will be able to call me out on it if they ever see me on there, because that would be letting everyone know they were browsing that kind of content. hahaha I think I could pull it off. Could be a good living. LoL
 
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#94
2F/2F said:
I used to frequent a coffee shop. I would get iced tea, sit at one of the sidewalk tables, smoke cigs, and pick an acoustic guitar to pass the time. There was an employee in the coffee shop, and one day she asked me to play guitar in the new band she was forming. It was just her on guitar/vox and a drummer at the time. She wanted a second guitarist, or maybe to just be a standalone singer while someone else played guitar; I'm not sure exactly.

I was kind of non-commital about it. I wasn't necessarily trying to be in a band, and I had this crazy girlfriend at the time who was pretty much a big distraction and energy suck, so it was hard to devote myself to much else seriously.

I did go to a few of their early gigs as a two-piece. I learned the songs that way, and at the coffee shop, I casually played examples of her songs to show that I had picked them up. She, being less of a formally trained musician than I was, was kind of blown away that someone could learn her songs just by watching a gig, with no instrument in hand. At that point, if I had shown the slightest bit of additional initiative or proactivity, I think the gig would have been mine, easily. But I didn't bother acting too interested...and she never hounded me about it (not something she would do, given her personality). As she played more and more gigs as a two piece, I believe she started to think that the band would be fine that way.

I swear it was not two months later, but the band was picked up and was all over the local big "alternative" radio station here in L.A. Everyone who listened to K-ROQ knew them. (FWIW, I was not a K-ROQ listener; I listened to oldies radio.) They didn't stay in the mainstream too long, but they retained popularity on independent stations after their initial 15 minutes of semi-mainstream fame. I think they toured, put out an album or two, made a music video or two. They remained a two piece until they disbanded.

I still drop her a line on Facebook every few years just to say hey. From what I understand, she's gone through a whole lot of major crap since those coffee shop days. It's quite sad to me, having known her and really liked her before all that band stuff. But, I'm glad she's still alive and making music. She was a really sweet person in her own bitter, sarcastic way (something I greatly appreciate).

I'm not sure I actually wish I had joined...but that was pretty close to stumbling into being a "pro" at a relatively young age. Who knows where it would have led.
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Giant Drag?
 
#99
LBS-bass said:
Nope! And I'll apologize for my little jab at Ant, while I'm at it. I shouldn't have said what I said. Sorry, @Ant Illington!
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I accept your apology since I see that each of our avatars feature both a Musicman AND an unsightly clip-on tuner. #metoo

Also, I realize that you might have been slightly more irked by me since I can handle a 5-string and you apparently can handle only a 4. ;);) Maybe you use others but I can't see your full arsenal since your profile is locked. To be fair, I was slightly more irked because I had previously read your same teasing story in another thread.
 

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