conversations with famous people.

[kyle]

i wish i met anyone at the fest. I didnt get to go and im still bummed

You should be, everyone I know had a blast!

[eroc]

back in the day when coheed was just an opening act for breaking pangaea, my friend and i used to talk to josh. had a lot of funny convos with that guy. he was fucked up alot...he gave me the nick name eroc (e-rock) because he was gonna guest list us for a future show. too bad i had to take sats that day or some shit.

also used to talk to fred from brody/bp/tbs/tcf quite a bit. one of the nicest guys you could ever meet. he told me and my friend how he loved when they'd come to wilkes barre and know we would always be at the show.

[dante3000]

i met dante at fest, he doesn't even remember.

Oh, I remember! We asked you about an interview and you were all like, "FOR SURE!" and then when it came time to pony up you were no where to be found! And then my sound guy was like, "he kinda looks like Brendan Kelly" and then I ate some Taco Bell.

The Fest, man.

[j4m35]

OMG THE FEST OMG

[kyle]

i met dante at fest, he doesn't even remember.

Oh, I remember! We asked you about an interview and you were all like, "FOR SURE!" and then when it came time to pony up you were no where to be found! And then my sound guy was like, "he kinda looks like Brendan Kelly" and then I ate some Taco Bell.

The Fest, man.

Taco Bell? WTF? I was starting to think they only have pizza in Gainesville...

[monk0nuggets]

I haven't really met anyone famous before. The closest to that was when Thursday was recording in Fredonia, and I ran into them at the local super market at 1 in the morning. They were at the self check out right next to me and Steve said hello to me. I didn't want to make a big deal about it, but I'm totally sure they could tell that I am a huge fan. It was a weird experience.

[Guest falloutcollapse]

I haven't really met anyone famous before. The closest to that was when Thursday was recording in Fredonia, and I ran into them at the local super market at 1 in the morning. They were at the self check out right next to me and Steve said hello to me. I didn't want to make a big deal about it, but I'm totally sure they could tell that I am a huge fan. It was a weird experience.

I would pee my pants if I was grocery shopping and my favorite band was checking out next to me.

[aarondanger]

I met ian mckaye a few months back @ an evens show and was totally rendered speechless.

he is quite intimdating, but tottally tottally nice guy. aaron almost peed himself.

this is true

[jhulud]

I would pee my pants if I was grocery shopping and my favorite band was checking out next to me.

So did you pee your pants here then?

[Guest falloutcollapse]

Not a grocery store, but I was very very close. That is the most legit smile I've ever flashed.

[counterfiction]

can we rename this the name-drop thread?

i cheat mostly because I promoted shows for a long time so I pretty much met everyone that I ran shows for.

but a few stand out.

standing side stage at a big outdoor fest I got a tap on my shoulder and i turn around to see Pink who asks me if I have a light. I didn't yet I was smoking so she grabbed the cigg out of my mouth and lit hers with it.

met the dudes from My Chemical Romance a few years back. they're boring as fuck.

while I was working at a CD store in Nashville Jason Schwartzman (Rushmore) was in town playing with Phantom Planet. he walked into the store, looked up and then looked at me only to say, "Death Cab For Cutie, nice" and then walked out.

Linkin Park used to come into my store all the time when they were just starting out to put up fliers. Nice dudes.

met Aaron Neville walking into a Subway one time. dude is even fuglier in person than he is on television.

Took Unearth to a hockey game and got kicked out after 20 minutes when they almost got in a fight with a bunch of frat kids. Went back to their bus and bonged beers until 3am.

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?

Chris Carraba used to sleep on my floor when he came to Nashville before he was huge. Talk about a short dude. That was back when he was super nice. Then my buddy nailed the girl he wrote "Swiss Army Romance" about. HIGH FIVE!

In my younger days I went to see Stavesacre, Ghoti Hook, and Philmore play and ended up at an I-Hop with the guys from Stavesacre. Mark Solomon sat next to me and I didn't say a word for two straight hours I was so afraid of him.

Getting drunk with bands has always been my favorite pasttime though. Drinking and smoking up with the guys from Pop Unknown and realizing they were the third best thing to ever seeing Mineral, drinking PBR with Matt Pryor and trying not to ask him about the get up kids, getting WASTED with Murder By Death and getting banned from a club in my own hometown that i promoted at, watching the Evergreen Terrace guys rip through two cases of beer in 45 minutes, vodka with beer chasers with Behemoth, and smoking pot with Modern Life Is War after they played a house show here. GOOD TIMES!

MY CLOSER:

A few years back when The Smashing Pumpkins did their "farewell" tour I happened upon some backstage passes which included the after party. So I went to the party and did the nerdy thing which was to get all of their autographs. Billy is a gigantic man but incredibly nice and humble. Jimmy and James had nothing to say between their drinks, but I did get to talk to Melissa Auf Der Mar for about half an hour. I commented on her pink Abercrombie shirt on which she had just drawn a huge anarchy symbol on in marker. We ended up talking and having a few drinks but unfortunately nothing more. I wish it ended differently. Either way I think I had a boner for 6 months. Still have the signed backstage pass . . . . . . .

oops, I think I dropped a few things. my bad.

[biggiesized]

I have met a lot of bands and members of bands. My 2 weirdest conversations I had were:

Nate Mendel - Met him after a Fire Theft show and all I talked about was his "session" work on Juno's "A Future Lived In Past Tense". He told me Juno broke up like the week before and that bummed me out.

Michael Stipe - Talked to him in Wax Trax in Denver while shopping for cd's. This was the "Monster" tour. Peter Buck and Mike Mills(who I saw outside the door) went to Imi Jimi(boutique across the street). Talked with Michael about Courtney Love and how much he liked Huggy Bear.

He is 5'9" at the most.

The funnest.....

Having drinks with Spike from MFATGG. It was their first tour and my band opened for them on 2 days notice.Sat and talked about shitty karaoke songs.Invited me to go to karaoke after the show at the bar next door.I had to decline because I had to work a 12 hour shift the next day(basically 3 hours from when I left the bar).

Going for beers and pool with Joe King from the Queers.He was in town recording the Queers/Nobody's split "Queers For A Day, Nobody's For Life".Got to watch them record some as well. But watching Joe and Disease give each other shit for 4 hours straight was fucking hilarious.My ribs hurt.

There were tons more....but those are what stuck out.

[mediocore]

Having drinks with Spike from MFATGG. It was their first tour and my band opened for them on 2 days notice.Sat and talked about shitty karaoke songs.Invited me to go to karaoke after the show at the bar next door.I had to decline because I had to work a 12 hour shift the next day(basically 3 hours from when I left the bar).

What's the name of your band? Breakdance Vietnam?

[biggiesized]

Having drinks with Spike from MFATGG. It was their first tour and my band opened for them on 2 days notice.Sat and talked about shitty karaoke songs.Invited me to go to karaoke after the show at the bar next door.I had to decline because I had to work a 12 hour shift the next day(basically 3 hours from when I left the bar).

What's the name of your band? Breakdance Vietnam?

It was The Zipperheads. This all took place in Colorado Springs.

[frostbrewliner]

at this resturaunt i used to work at a few semi-famous people came through. i seated dusty baker and his family, this was right after he signed a deal with the cubs, it was pretty cool and he was a super nice dude/good tipper, i think i still have his autograph. jason lee came in as well, i mentioned something about his skateboard career and he seemed pretty surprised that someone would mention that over his acting career, seemed like a nice guy. meeting famous people is a trip.

[frostbrewliner]

oh, i also talked to justin sane at warped tour when i was like 15, it was a big deal for me back then.

[flood]

i bought the singer from the suicide machines frogurt at some rest stop in arizona randomly.i think thats about as surreal as it gets.

[counterfiction]

wait, i can top ALL of those things i posted earlier. i forgot about this "gem". by the way, it's 100% legit as crazy as it sounds.

so i was working with this management company and my boss took us out to this karaoke bar in Nashville to see one of his acts do a quick set. Well, the act was Jon Brennan (from the first season of The Real World, the country guy) so I was hanging out with him which was weird. Then I look to my left and who is sitting right next to me? Why Hank Williams Jr. of course. WTF? Just when I didn't think it could get any weirder they announce that there's a birthday in the crowd. Who's birthday? Why Tommy Lasorda of course! TOMMY FUCKING LASORDA! So he gets up on stage and they sing him happy birthday and then he proceeds to do the most god awful version of "I've Got Friends in Low Places" that I have ever heard.

Talk about surreal!

[mediocore]

I sat two rows in front of Bobcat Goldthwait at the Police/Foo Fighters show this past summer. Really nice guy... very talkative to anyone who came up to him, offered them food, etc.

[swank]

A few short ones that spring to mind while reading this thread...

Joey Cape - Met him at warped one year before MFATGG played. I talked to him for about 5 minutes and gracefully made an exit. But then after a couple steps, I remembered the fact that Bad Astronaut exist (only their first record was out at this point) and I turn around and blurt out "Dude! I love Bad Astronaut!" to he stares blankly back and says "...cool",then I turn back around and I walk away saying "Why the fuck did I just say that?"

Harrison Ford - was at an After-Hours bar. He was in a full suit and had a girl on each arm. He was walking one way and I was walking the opposite so as I passed I said something to the effect of "eh! Harrison Ford!" and held my hand out, to which he replied "mmmuuahhssnmmaahuhsnsmrrruhh". It's then I realized he wasn't the pimp I thought he was. The two girls were helping him walk.

DMX - He came into a record store I worked at smelling strongly of weed. He bought 2 of his own CDs, asking if we had a 3rd one (we didn't) and payed $40 and let me keep the change.

Thom Yorke - Flyering for a show I was putting on with about 3 friends of mine down Yonge street. At one point we started running, I don't remember why, and ran right past the rather unmistakable looking Thom Yorke. Sort of like a full-body double take, I stop running and turn around. I didn't really have alot to say, so I just said "Hey, Thom Yorke. Hows it going, man?" with a smile and handed him a flyer. It's not like he'd have shown up to the show, but it just seemed like the thing to do. He seemed just soooo put off to have to even talk to any of us. I think he said something like "oh, your doing a show. great." and kept walking, not making eye contact with any of us. Kinda prickish.

Lars Fredriksen gave me a free Rancid shirt and a bunch of stickers when I was 14. He was officially the coolest guy ever, at that point.

I'm sure I'll remember more after I post this, and there's a bunch more I've met, but these are the celebrity encounters that are atypical in some way.

ooohh!! I JUST remembered, heres the closer....

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.

[Guest baseball]

Taco Bell? WTF? I was starting to think they only have pizza in Gainesville...

All I ate in Gainesville was Mellow Mushroom jerk chicken pizza. 5 times. My stomach started to feel like hell near the end of that trip. Yet, I eagerly look forward to a repeat next Fest.

Oh and Subway.

[Guest baseball]

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.

That, is fucking hilarious.

[kirbypuckett]

One time I ate Chinese food with Scott Heisel. We talked about Dan Yemin.

oh yeah, well this one time i had fucked up nachos with scott, and we talked about how damn near retarded our waitress was.

One time I went record shopping with both Amsterdamned and Scott Heisel. BAM!

Edit: Actually I've done this a ton of times.

[benchwarmer]

oh, I remember something weird, i was getting burritos at my favorite place in boston, like I did every week, and Brand New was sitting at the table next to me. I remember Jesse was super sulky and sitting in the corner by himself, but everyone else was really nice. It was right before their tour with hot rod circuit, and before they were huge.

[ericheartsu]

one time aaron and i were eating dinner with latterman at a mexican food restaurant after the show in san antonio. We were having a nice time, when a street punk band goes and sits down on the other side of the place. We didn't know who it was, but we had our guesses. Right before we left, aaron asked them who they were, and they said they were the river city rebels. so we left. as soon latterman pulled out of the parking lot they got a flat tire. So aaron called his brother who then told all of his friends "River city rebels gave latterman a flat tire".

In tampa again with aaron, he saw who he thought was shawn stern, but it was larry livermore (who founded lookout), and asked him for a dollar only to get the most disgusted look i've ever seen some one give.

Dillinger four stayed at my parents house, and 4 of the nicest dudes i've ever met.

i'm going to be meeting al jourgensen in april. that will be fun.