Meeting Famous Musicians and Musical Heroes

[Hayden]

Neil Peart & Feist are the only artists I've talked to. Not too shabby though.
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[RoundTheBend]

I have had two cool experiences while living in L.A.

1) I went to Flea's Silverlake Music Conservatory. I didn't bass directly under him, but he and John Fruciante and a friend of theirs played that Charlie Brown song "Christmas Time" (is here?) at a recital. Flea had his daughter play something on the bass too, but I forgot what it was. My mom was there and Flea was dressed up in a santa suit and his pillow was falling out of his "stomach" and my mom kept on telling him to fix it. She didn't know it was Flea... that was kinda funny. She kept on telling him and he kept stuffing it back. Afterwards I shook his hand and talked to him a bit. When he found out I was studying bass there, he said that he was going to do a workshop for all the bassists there... shortly thereafter my father was hospitalized out of state, so I missed that awesome opportunity.

2) Foo Fighters posted on their website that they wanted fans to come be in a music video. I was 19 at the time and was like, what the heck, I don't really have anything better to do. So I told the Mexican restaurant I worked at to shove it that day, and drove about an hour outside of L.A. to this bridge. We threw stuff over the bridge, got to see the house/car blow up. And then... they asked me to double for Nate Mendel!!! I am a bassist, short and fat, and have similar hair. So it was pretty cool for me at the time. It was kinda weird to wear his same clothes. All the .0000000001 second shots from behind or above the bridge in this video are all of fans- they selected 4 out of the 12 or whatever. Those that were selected got to hang out on set for 3 days instead of one, so I didn't only have lunch with the Foo 1 time, but 3.

I can't remember if it was before or after this that when One by One came out I went to the release party at Virgin Records on Sunset Blvd. with my bro - who is a classical musician. He left to protect his ears, but they played the whole album from start to finish and then afterwards I got to stand in line to get my copy of the album signed.

So there you have it. I think it would've been really cool to meet Mills, or anyone from R.E.M. My sister served Michael Stipe in the 90s. She was ecstatic.

In all reality these people are just people like you and me. But for whatever reason we think these things matter. Not sure why, but it is true. I guess we want to associate ourselves with someone who is famous because the opportunity is rare or maybe it is because we somehow think it would change our lives or something. It's no wonder John Lennon said he felt he was more popular than Jesus. And if you understood what he was trying to say, he was right.

[stretchy]

I met Ray Manzarek of The Doors just last month or so, when he was playing at a blues club with Roy Rogers. He is a client of my father's and a really nice guy. He signed all my Doors records. From what I've heard in his work, what my dad has told me about him, and(most recently) meeting him, I have a lot of respect for him not just as a musician but as a person. He's been with the same woman since before the Doors even formed. Morrison was always envious of that.

Also, he says that the Doors movie with Val Kilmer is largely inaccurate and completely misrepresents who Jim was and what the band was about.

That was my first and currently only time meeting a Rock-and-Roll Hall of Famer, but I've also met Brian Wilson's sound manager, for what that's worth.

My uncle is close friends with Kirk Hammet of Metallica, as well as Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains, but I've never actually met either of them. And my dad had encounters with so many music heroes. His stories repeatedly amaze me.

[GARY]

[RoundTheBend]

Oh ya... almost forgot.

I went to ZIT... Zappa Institute of Technology. Frank Zappa's sound engineer for a decade or so taught the class- Mark Coy. He was a pretty cool guy. I learned a lot about sound, instruments, and recording from him. Not that he was super famous or anything, but he was kinda a musical hero of mine.

[GARY]

[RoundTheBend]

[GARY]

[videoheadcleaner]

My wife snubbed Jason Mraz for pushing in front of her at a gig.

He slid in before her and she just looked at him in disgust, thinking who was that guy, thinking he was so important. His baseball cap hid his face and it wasn't only until the gig started that she realised who he was. It was a Jason Mraz gig and she felt bad for accusing him of pushing in.

[RoundTheBend]