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Your Brush with Greatness?

#41
Ok, here's my story... a long one, but you asked. :)

Back in the early 80's, my best friend Sharon called and said "hey, my friend Michelle is bartender at the lounge in the Sheraton [where all the bands stayed when they played the local arena] and she just called to say that David Lee Roth and Eddie Van Halen are having drinks there right now! Wanna go???" I was unemployed at the time so I said "OK, what the heck".

We get down there and the Van Halen buses are being unloaded by the crew. I ran into a buddy who used to be a roadie with the hot local band, DC Star... he was now working with Van Halen, that was cool. I saw Alex Van Halen and shook his hand and said Hi; he was friendly enough but obviously wanting to get upstairs so I didn't keep him. We caught up with Michelle in the lounge and she said "they left about 10 minutes ago, but there's a band at the hairdressers' convention, maybe they went in there?" So we headed that way.

Just as we get to the ballroom, who should we see but Eddie Van Halen and a friend? Eddie's eyes *seemed* to be reddish (don't wanna start no ugly rumors ;)), and he was holding what *seemed* to an alcoholic drink, and *seemed* to be staggering just a bit (tired from the long bus ride, I'm sure). He walked up to Sharon and said "Hey babe, howwwww's it going??" Sharon blushed and said, "ohhh, hi Eddie!" Eddie said (still looking at Sharon, who was very cute) "Hey, we've got the whole 5th floor rented, wanna come up and party?" Sharon looked over at me, and without looking my way, Eddie immediately said "He can't come!" I just smiled and said "Go up and have a good time, I'll get Michelle to drive me home", and reassured her that it was cool... not that she was seriously thinking of giving up her brush with greatness for me. :) Please note that all of this was OK, she wasn't my steady girlfriend and I know she would've done the same for me if a female celeb hit me up.

So, I got a ride home from Michelle, and the next day heard interesting stories from Sharon. She really wanted David Lee Roth, but Dave of course had plenty of other chicks giving him attention. Eddie was married to Valerie back then, but according to Sharon he didn't want sex from her... and I believe her, she definitely would've told me if she slept with him. He was just lonely, and a bit jealous of Dave. In fact he said to Sharon, "I bet you want Dave, all the pretty girls want Dave. Sharon didn't have the heart to tell him that was true.

So there you have it: my "I got ignored by greatness" story. :rolleyes: :p

P.S. Nobody specified Bass greatness!
 
#42
The Tony Levin thread reminded me that Tony bought a SansAmp pedal from me on eBay (no, I'm not jivin')

Also, Billy Sheehan wrote me twice because I was a finalist in the BP mag/Billy Sheehan BIT Scholarship competition.

Oh, and I met Hermeto Pascoal a bunch of times.
 
#44
Well, I have lessons with Steve Lawson every month. I guess he's a famous bassist, altough he doesn't seem like it cause he's completely down to earth.

I went to college with Nick Fyffe of Jamiroquai, but haven't seen him since he 'made it big'.

Non bass players:
The guitarist in my band, BlackSeafire, Chris Tsangarides, is a record producer who's recorded hundreds of albums for the likes of Thin Lizzy, Black Sabbath, Bruce Dickinson and loads of others. He was famous in his day and was even on The Cook Report! :eek:

I'm not very good at meeting famous people. I feel like a proper tit if I make a big deal of it.
 
#47
Originally posted by Bo Bradley
Ive been really blessed over the years to meet a great number of my heros.
JACO
CHUCK RAINEY
JERRY JEMMOTT
ANTHONY JACKSON
MATT GARRISON
VICTOR WOOTEN
STEVE BAILEY
JEFF BERLIN
GARY WILLIS
ALAIN CARON
MARCO MENDOZA
STEVE HARRIS
EDGAR MEYER
JOHN PATITUCCI
ADAM NITTI
BRYAN BROMBERG
BILLY DICKENS
MIKE POPE
Click to expand...

I think we have a winner!!

Peace,

James
 
#48
Not exactly famous, but:

Kip Winger
Chip Z'Nuff (whom I now call a friend)
Kyle Kyle (Bang Tango)
Darrin DeLatte (Lillian Axe)
Lonnie Vencent (BulletBoys)
Pat Francis (Tora Tora)
Marc Simon (Wildside)
Tim Skold (Shotgun Messiah, KMFDM, Marilyn Manson)
Jerry Dixon (Warrant)

What can I say? I was smack-dab in the middle of what some call the "Hair Metal" movement, and frequented a club (Thirsty Whale, River Grove IL) where a bunch of those acts played. Of the above, I'll go ahead and say the first three are great bassists. The others are certainly *good*, but I wouldn't rush to put 'em in the Jaco column.

Near miss: When I moved to Guam in '94, the people that picked me up at the airport saw Stanley Clarke get off my plane and greet his driver. I thought I was getting my leg pulled until I saw that weekend's paper, and sho' 'nuff... Stanley was playing the island. If only I knew, I'm sure I coulda snuck into first class for a minute or two...
 
#50
Okay

Vic Wooten
Lonnie Plaxico - who told me to forget anything he does and listen to Vic Wooten.
Muzz Skillings - He was at the same Flecktones show.
Brian Bromberg - He was just hanging out at Manny's Music.
Milt Hinton - Nothing but class.
Oteil - got to hang with him a couple times.
Steve Swallow - grabbed his autograph at a Scofield show.
George Porter - Saw a solo show in N'awlins.
Whoever plays for Danilo Perez on tour - The guy is a beast!
Christian McBride

My wife used to work for a rather large jazz booking agency so through her I got to meet:

Chick Corea, Kenny Garrett, Pat Metheny, John Scofield, Charlie Hunter, Larry Coryell, Danilo Perez and a few others. Once I was walking into her office to pick her up and there's this guy sitting there reading a magazine. I didn't realize until later that it was Bill Bruford. Another time I show up and she's on the phone talking to somebody named "Charlie". When she hung up she told me it was Charlie Haden. She once got a call from Tony Levin that started out with him saying "You probably don't know who I am but...." She knew alright. :)
 
#51
Originally posted by HeavyDuty


Haven't thought of that place in a while! It was a regular hangout for me in the early '80s. I wonder if it's still there - I don't do the local scene anymore.
Click to expand...

Nope. Sadly, it was torn down in 1996 and replaced with an Amoco/McDonald's. The good news is that Gene & Jude's, the hot dog stand next door, still does brisk business (and still makes the best dogs in town).
 
#52
Jason Newsted in his EchoBrain tour. Very nice man...damn, he remembered me JUST from my first name on a letter from a year ago. Mind like a steel trap.

Never met up with Geddy Lee, but glad to see he and I share tastes in beer...so if I send over a Spaten Optimator, he won't be offended!
 
#54
The Velocity Girl bunch were always pretty cool when I'd hang around after shows. Although Sarah usually ran off somewhere pretty quickly and she was the one I was, uh, infatuated with :). She did sign my t-shirt once and was tolerant of my babbling on . . .
 
#57
Hmmm, let's see...

Victor Wooten after a Fleck Tones show. I took my 10 yr old son. Vic was a true gentleman and I was a borderline babbling 40 yr old idiot I was so excited.

Michael Manring at two SWR clinics...a very nice, peaceful guy and a pleasure to talk to.

Jeff Berlin at a Dean clinic. We talked some about bass and about our mutual experience with children surviving Lymphoma (though different types). Gruff New Yorkian exteriour hides a gentle guy underneath.

Jack Cassady at a Epiphone clinic. Sam Ash underpromoted the one that I went to and something like 20 people were there. So few in attendance at the beginning so Jack came out, sat down next to me and said "Hi, I'm Jack" I was never a big Airplane/Tuna fan so he was like just another guy to me. I asked him for suggestions on how to jump start my playing after a long lay off and he just offered a sales pitch for Fur Peace Ranch...that kind of turned me off. Otherwise, he was quite pleasant.

Mike Lutz (Brownsville Station and much later Ted Nugent). I was at Al Nalli Music in Ann Arbor, MI in the late '70s and Mike came in to say hi. He was covered in paint as he said that he was painting his parent's house. He picked up a bass and started doing some slap stuff. I didn't know what to say so I just kind of looked at him...he said "Hi" and we talked for a little while. He was the first famous musician that I ever met.

Jim Scholten (Sawyer Brown) I took bass lessons from Jim when I was 15. He was just a local guy at the time playing in rock and country bands. He tried to get me to give country a try, but I wasn't interested. A warm friendly guy. He probably had more influence on my style than I can imagine from a timing, feel and groove standpoint. Plus, his mom was my music teacher in elementary school.

Jaquo III-X I met him at a Chicago area TBL gathering a few years ago at Lakland I was coming out of bass hibernation after a decade off and the stuff that he can do blew my mind. I mentioned how amazing his playing was and he modestly said that he was working pretty hard...it sure didn't look like it.

Gary Hoey...not a bassist per se but he played bass on his own albums. Again I met him at a Fender clinic. Nice down to earth fellow...very friendly and helpful. Gave me a good hearty nudge to get back in a band to improve my playing.

Dan Lakin The man behind Lakland Basses. Very nice and patient with me considering the fact that I hadn't played much in the past 10 years. A great host.

A surprisingly long list considering the fact that I don't get out much ; - )
 

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