conversations with famous people.

[oakland]

My friend had a weird Al Jourgensen experience. As told to me, it went like this: when he lived in Chicago, he and his wife were looking to get a cat. They saw an ad in the paper for free kittens, and called up to make an appointment to come check the litter out. When they got to the address it was this warehouse in a shitty area of town. They knock on the door and this woman opens it. She's all hell looking, gaunt and whatnot. Anyway, they go in and the places is a pig sty, with trash and stuff everywhere -- and cats running around the place like they own it. And there, among the mess, was Al Jourgensen. Apparently it was his house.

[kirbypuckett]

AHH! I forgot the best one!!!!

I saw Justin Sanfe of Anti-Flag at sex shop buying lube once!!!!

[lokithelion]

I met Aaron Danger at the Fest and he was handing out PO!!!>BTMI! shirts and was all, "You want one?" and I was like, "Sure" and he was like, "Cool, I'll get one" and then he never gave me a shirt. Later I ran into him in the hall while I was drunk...I think we talked.

I also met Steve Wozniak...Dude is like a freakin' Care Bear.

I hope one of those shirts is in my box of OP! stuff coming. ...

[brentoage]

Rod Stewart came into the record store I worked at (same one as DMX). I was working in the basement which was Videos, Books and Magazines, all told the basement was about 70% porn. So after a little while Rod and a small entourage come up to my cash with a few "erotic" books and magazines. It should be noted at this point, the store is 4 levels and has a fulltime security staff. So, as I'm ringing him out, and trying not to burst into laughter, I'm "accidentally" not removing any of the alarm sensors. So just as Rod is back on the main floor, about to make his exit a few minutes later, the Alarm sounds. Not only does this alert everyone in the store of Rod's presence, but also our security at the front door, who take out all of his items from the bag one-by-one to remove the alarm sensors.

Perhaps my finest hour at that store.

unreal! what store was this at?

[lokithelion]

Almost all of my conversations are post interview, but the single greatest moment with a famousish person for me was when I interviewed Josh from the Smoking Popes and I asked about how he developed his singing style, from snotty on early stuff to crooning, and he described recording "Lets Here It For Love" from Get Fired and then sang the song the snotty way and then sang the song crooning for me. In the back of their van. Josh sang. TO ME. I think I peed a little when that happend.

Also Jeff from MLIW is one of the most down to earth, amazing people to ever interview. Knows his shit, loves what he does and never half asses it.

[swank]

Rod Stewart came into the record store I worked at (same one as DMX). I was working in the basement which was Videos, Books and Magazines, all told the basement was about 70% porn. So after a little while Rod and a small entourage come up to my cash with a few "erotic" books and magazines. It should be noted at this point, the store is 4 levels and has a fulltime security staff. So, as I'm ringing him out, and trying not to burst into laughter, I'm "accidentally" not removing any of the alarm sensors. So just as Rod is back on the main floor, about to make his exit a few minutes later, the Alarm sounds. Not only does this alert everyone in the store of Rod's presence, but also our security at the front door, who take out all of his items from the bag one-by-one to remove the alarm sensors.

Perhaps my finest hour at that store.

unreal! what store was this at?

This was at the Tower Records that used to be on the corner of Queen and Yonge. It closed in 2002 or something I believe.

[brentoage]

unreal! what store was this at?

This was at the Tower Records that used to be on the corner of Queen and Yonge. It closed in 2002 or something I believe.

right on. i remember that store. it's the outdoor equipment/sports store now, i think.

[skumbucket]

i think my favourite was jord from propaghandi. the dude has major head problems, like he put earplugs in walking past the outer wall of the room where another band was playing, then putting on those huge-ass headphones/sound mufflers or whatever they are when he's playing. but he was brilliant to talk to, we spent most of our time talking about politics. i would never have thought a dude from that band would be so accomodating and participatory. oh, and i also asked him about "left and leaving" by the weakerthans, since john samson played with them and g7 put it out. he said, "you can like something without LIKING it. you know what i mean?" hilarious.

jim cherry was an interesting one. i interviewed him for the paper i was working with when zero down toured canada and the interview was done ahead of time over the phone. he was not enthusiastic, clearly a depressed guy. mostly talked about how all the songs on the cd were true: how broke and in debt he was, how the world was shit, how none of his bands ever worked out for him. then at the show i brought him by a copy of the article. it was after they played, he was standing behind his merch table looking sad as hell that nobody was buying anything. i handed him a copy of the paper, open to the article. he just said thanks and read it. afterwards he said thanks again, put it under the table, and then just kind of looked away, so i gathered that was the end of the conversation. not terribly surprising how he ended up, i guess.

john samson was amazing, and not just because he's one of my biggest musical heroes. i interviewed him around the same time, right after "left and leaving" came out. we talked so long i ran out of tape on my recorder, but we just kept going. i asked him what he thought of "today's empires, tomorrow's ashes" and he said he hadn't listened to it, that he "grew out of that." but super-friendly, we talked a lot about winnipeg and prairie life in general. i geeked out and asked him to sign my digipak of "l&l" and he wrote the wrong date down. he also put me on the guest list, since it was an 19+ and i was 18. the bastards at the club wouldn't let me in because it was at capacity though...but still. what a guy.

[scottheisel]

I was at Game 7 of the Cubs/Marlins series back in '03 (the infamous "Bartman" series that we blew horribly) for work; at the time, I was working for the most popular morning show in the city where I went to college as the "stunt guy" -- the person who went out and recorded themselves doing stupid shit to play back the following day. The show's DJs got tickets to game 7 and rented a limo to head out there (3+ hours), and their producer came up with the idea of me going along (sans ticket) and hanging out in the crowd outside, interviewing drunk people to get funny stuff for the next morning's show, which I did.

So after the game, I'm walking down Clark back to the limo, and as I pass the Metro, who is standing there but Billy freakin' Corgan (who had sang "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" earlier at the Cubs game). I thought about stopping and asking if I could take a picture with him, but then I realized I really didn't give a fuck about that dude whatsoever.

So then, as I continued down Clark, who do I find myself walking next to but TOM FREAKIN' MORELLO. Now that was pretty wacky. So I turned to him and said "I hate to be 'that guy,' but would you mind taking a picture with me?" He was incredibly gracious and pleasant (of course, his mom was with him, so he kinda had to be), and we chatted briefly about just how awesome the Rhyme & Reason Tour would've been a few years back. I thought about being like, "Dude, Audioslave: What the fuck?" but I didn't want to punk him out in front of his mom.

[oakland]

I was at a show in NYC once and this dude, sitting along, kept staring at me. When I'd look up at him he'd kind of look away, then stare back at me. It was creepy because I felt like I knew him but wasn't sure. It was CMJ so there's plenty of famous people around that you sort of recognize. Anyway, this went on all night. When I got home I realized it was Damon Albarn of (then) Blur and Gorillaz fame. I don't know if he's gay or what, but I'm not really that hot so... Well come to think of it I was pretty hot in 1996.

[danalive]

Chris Staples (former lead singer of Twothirtyeight) came to an after party at my house after a show. How do you deal with a dude who made one of your favorite records (Regulate The Chemicals) drinking your beer and looking through your records?

ahhhhhhh chris staples! twothirtyeight was incredible!

i've met band people and thats cool, but when i was a kid me and my dad were in LA to see the braves play the dodgers in a series. anyway, we were staying at the same hotel as the braves. we are huge braves fans by the way. one morning we come down for breakfast in the lobby and who is sitting there? bobby cox and leo mazone. we went up to them to say hi and they asked us to join them for breakfast. i was so excited and i had to have been like 9. but i bragged to all my friends at school about that forever.

fucking tomahawk chop.

[boizee]

When I was flying back to Boise from my hometown of Minneapolis after Christmas, I was sitting on the luggage carousel waiting for my crap when a very gorgeous little blond came up and smiled.

Lo and behold, it was Kelly Carlson (of Nip/Tuck fame).

Imagine my shock that any person of any celebrity status would be in the Boise airport. So, I introduced myself and wound up talking for about 15 minutes. Extremely nice person, and a knockout, might I add. She grew up in the TC suburbs too, so we talked all about that.

I got a hug when I got my stuff, and of course as soon as I told my roomate, he asked if I got her number. Uhhh, no.

[controlthebleeding]

I met WESLEY WILLIS at one of his club shows around 98'. He was the nicest musician I had ever met. Seriously, he was sincere when he told you "THanks for coming to my ROCK SHOW!". ANyone who's ever met him would probably agree.

Anyway, we talked a bit about what he liked about AUSTIN, and after about 5 minutes he said, 'I LIKE YOU" and proceeded to "headbutt me", which i found a bit strange, but this was the first time i met him, so i was kinda weirded out, but i didn't want to be rude. so after a minute or two (seriously it was that long) he stopped, and thanked me again for coming to his show and got up (not without some help from me) and said he was going to the restroom to take a shit (in those words exactly), and then left.

After a few shows, i realized that his "headbutt" was his form of greeting or goodbye. So i would do it everytime i saw him from then on. I was so bummed when he passed away.

And i met Elvis Costello briefly, but i was sick and he was on his way out. I did get a pic with him since he was one of my music idols growing up.

[swank]

I met WESLEY WILLIS at one of his club shows around 98'. He was the nicest musician I had ever met. Seriously, he was sincere when he told you "THanks for coming to my ROCK SHOW!". ANyone who's ever met him would probably agree.

Anyway, we talked a bit about what he liked about AUSTIN, and after about 5 minutes he said, 'I LIKE YOU" and proceeded to "headbutt me", which i found a bit strange, but this was the first time i met him, so i was kinda weirded out, but i didn't want to be rude. so after a minute or two (seriously it was that long) he stopped, and thanked me again for coming to his show and got up (not without some help from me) and said he was going to the restroom to take a shit (in those words exactly), and then left.

After a few shows, i realized that his "headbutt" was his form of greeting or goodbye. So i would do it everytime i saw him from then on. I was so bummed when he passed away.

And i met Elvis Costello briefly, but i was sick and he was on his way out. I did get a pic with him since he was one of my music idols growing up.

I too, have experienced the "headbutt". Its kind of weird and seems to go on forever, but at the same time it's magical. My experience was, he grabbed the back of my head (gently) and said "Say rock!" to which I said "rock!" and then he pulled my head towards his, lightly butting heads. Then "Say roll!" to which I said "Roll!" and the same. This repeated about 5 or 6 times. Then we were done! It was great.

ps. my favorite quote from that night: "Your going to like this next song, like chicken...on my dick."

[vivsavage]

A couple come to mind for me:

I met John Popper from Blues Traveler at the airport. This was when he was still fat, and he was a super nice guy. I was next to him in the security line and started up some small talk about his shows at Red Rocks. We went our separate ways, then he saw me again while I was waiting for my plane and he sat next to me and talked for a while. I didn't know much about him but was really impressed.

Believe it or not, another celebrity I was impressed with was Billy Ray Cyrus. Back during the Achy Breaky Heart days, I was vacationing for Thanksgiving with my family in Florida and my brother and I saw a tour bus with "BRC" on the side. We were joking about that being Billy Ray Cyrus, and then saw him later in the day. We said hi as he was walking by and he stopped and talked to us for about 5 minutes about what we were doing for Thanksgiving, where we were from, etc. He was actually a really cool guy.

Finally, the biggest celebrity I had crossed paths with was Michael Jackson. I was probably 8 or 9 (insert joke here) and was at Disney Land with my family. We were in one of the gift shops and security guards came in and were clearing everyone out. They let my family and one other family stay, and then all of a sudden about 5 more guards came walking in. Right after them "the king of pop" himself waltzed in. We got a picture about 2 feet from him.

[scottheisel]

I too, have experienced the "headbutt". Its kind of weird and seems to go on forever, but at the same time it's magical. My experience was, he grabbed the back of my head (gently) and said "Say rock!" to which I said "rock!" and then he pulled my head towards his, lightly butting heads. Then "Say roll!" to which I said "Roll!" and the same. This repeated about 5 or 6 times. Then we were done! It was great.

This is identical to my first time meeting Wesley, too. What a dude:

Me with Wesley in 2001.

[controlthebleeding]

Ok, the next guy might not be a musician, but i got to talking with him about his new movie at the time. So i felt a bit more comfortable asking him to pose with us for a pic. So ladies and gentlemen, (drum roll please) everyone's favorite regular :

[vivsavage]

Ok, the next guy might not be a musician, but i got to talking with him about his new movie at the time. So i felt a bit more comfortable asking him to pose with us for a pic. So ladies and gentlemen, (drum roll please) everyone's favorite regular :

He looks like he just staggered out of Cheers

[devilstrombone]

Ok, the next guy might not be a musician, but i got to talking with him about his new movie at the time. So i felt a bit more comfortable asking him to pose with us for a pic. So ladies and gentlemen, (drum roll please) everyone's favorite regular :

He looks like he just staggered out of Cheers

He got a little too much cheer on his shirt.

[controlthebleeding]

Everyone makes the remarks about how his shirt is all tattered and spotted. But these are the funniest remarks i've heard in a while..lol

[controlthebleeding]

This is identical to my first time meeting Wesley, too. What a dude:

Me with Wesley in 2001.

Come to think of it, That's a better story than mine. he just head-butted me like 30 times, stopped, and once more for the road. He was just happy that i bought one of his ROCK N ROLL CD'S that he was selling himself and was able to autograph it. I don't even think i asked him for a autograph. he just signed it...way to be proactive right. Instead of hanging out backstage. The fucker was selling his own merchandise.

[counterfiction]

seriously, who HASN'T been headbutted by Wesley Willis? that dude was awesome.

[martyk36]

Long Live WW. I never got to meet him, but because of him I will always know to rock and roll mcdonalds, amongst other things.

[flatlinemole]

i've never met anyone famous. but a guy from work has sat beside angus young on an airplane.

he was in toronto recording some stuff a few years ago.

[sugardandy]

Axel Rose - wandering through the Pike Place Market at 8 am, with multi-color cornrows and super low-buttoned shirt + big ol' cross necklace.

Me: Are you...Axel Rose?

Axel Rose: No......YES.

*sign autograph.