Metamatic Forums Socialising The Green Room Rubbing shoulders with musical giants (non gig related)

It would appear some of us on here have been fortunate to have met the great man pre or post gig , but which musical colossi have you met in a day to day situation ?
3 for me
1) As a teenager I would regular go to Probe Records ,Liverpool I was served on several occasions by androgenous hi energy chart topper and Big Brother celebrity Pete Burns ( the legendary Deaf School was one of my purchases from him )
2) I've seen the "white chart topping Luther Van Dross" , Rick Astley in his parents' garden centre in Newton -Le -Willows (About 12 miles from the great futuristic metropolis Chorley)
3)Over here a musician mate of mine is into early 7o's prog rock and often has original Jethro Tull drummer Clive Bunker come over and they do a few gigs as a "Stars in their Eyes " type Jethro Anyway I've had dinner with the aforementioned percussionist a few times
(This friend of mine actually got to play with Ian Anderson a few years ago Not that I'm particularly envious But for him it was the same as if John had phoned me up and said "Ivan lad , Louis has gone and pulled a sickie , can thee play the Yahama for me this evening")

I live in a part of Sydney that's populated by TV production companies (they all want to be close to the TV studios or, rather, former studios).

So I often see TV personalities in the local cafes and restaurants. I generally just ignore them. Some seem very quite in public although there was one who was as loud as she was on TV.

I don't often see musicians though. Years ago I saw one in town shopping. He was wearing a loud suit and that was the first thing I noticed. I didn't admire his music so I didn't bother saying hello.

When I was in college I worked in a major record store in the heart of the city, and a lot of traveling artists came by -- mostly classical musicians and singers. Some of them were absolutely delightful (Bevery Sills, for instance) and others were jerks. One day, however, I noticed a man and woman with two small children, looking through the cassettes of kids' music. I was in awe because even though he wasn't in stage gear I recognized one of my first rock icons, so I whispered to all of my coworkers, "Oh my God, it's Alice Cooper!" Of course they didn't believe me. He and his wife were so pleasant and reasonable, and absolutely marvelous with the kids. After they made their purchases and left, the cashier came over and made fun of me, saying, "That wasn't Alice Cooper. The name on his American Express Card was --" Vincent Furnier? "Um, yeah. How did you know that?" Because that's Alice Cooper's real name, you moron!

Around the same time one of my best friends was dating a nightclub dj who worked at a used record store and was in a band that got to open for Depeche Mode. He asked me to teach him German but then he went out to Boston to record his first LP and broke up with my friend, so we stopped running in the same circles. When he started rewriting history, Al Jourgenson of Ministry denied that he had ever intended to make a new wave electropop record, but don't believe him, because he was PROUD of that first LP at the time!

Great stories Lele! Alice Cooper was my first gig, so he will forever hold a place in my heart and he still puts on a great show.
Adored "Work For Love/With Sympathy", my favourite Ministry album, still give it a spin on occasion.

Its to be expected. They're just like us, after all. Some can't cope, some get bitter because they didn't met their expectations, etc.

Personally, I'm glad I'm not famous. I don't think I could stand it.


Kids' music, huh? School's out for the summer ...
So what's the significance of learning German?
I'm sure they all are.

Nice one! But the kids were pre-school-age then. One was still in a pram.
I brought some mixtapes over one afternoon and they included a lot of German stuff on them. I was a huge DAF fan at the time, and Al was just starting to discover harder electronics. Someone in the used record store had teased him for mispronouncing the name of the band "die Partei" so he wanted to save himself further embarrassment. Those merciless Teutonic beats eventually changed Ministry's musical direction, but the way Al tells his history now, that was his intended sound all along.

During the period 87-90 I was living in Bicester, north of Oxford. Used to pick up milk, paper and local groceries etc from the local 24/7 store.
This same store was quite often frequented by Twiggy, and on more than one occasion she would be with (or not) Ringo Starr and Barbara Bach.
I met them in the shop on several occasions, but there was no starry-ness about it. Just a very ordinary couple in an every day situation. Didn't really seem appropriate to say anything...

A better story maybe would be one of the three occasions I've met Bill Oddie. He's a 'celebrity birder' of course, and I share the same passion. First time our paths crossed was at Cley Marshes in the north Norfolk coast. I was just coming out of a hide with my young daughter and he asked the 'anything about' question. We chatted briefly and I told him of three Spoonbills we'd just seen flying in.
An hour or so later, Bill came over to us while we were sitting at the Lifeboat Station having a cup of tea, and thanked us for the Spoonbills, saying how much he enjoyed seeing them. He kindly signed by birding note-book and gave my daughter a feather he'd picked up on his walk.

As everyone says, he's a genuinely nice bloke. But, as I've just read the thread title, he's not exactly a musical giant... :rolleyes:

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As everyone says, he's a genuinely nice bloke. But, as I've just read the thread title, he's not exactly a musical giant... :rolleyes: [/QB][/QUOTE]


Au contraire Monsieur Song !!
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=pXq8rELhUkw

Will we be sharing a bottle of Chianti/ a few Peronis in Genoa btw or are you off to Durham ?

Cool! As I type this, Springwatch is on. Wildlife is wonderful.

And as I understand, Bill wrote all the Goodies songs...

Sadly neither, my wife is ill and my wallet is also not well at the moment