Brush with fame

[mullyman]

The other thread with the AC/DC pics got me wondering who you guys have met. If you have any pics, stories, let's hear them.

In the mid 90's I met Valerie Bertinelli on a Van Halen fans mailing list. I talked with her quite a bit but never really believed 100% that it was her. Over a period of about 2 years I slowly grew to believe it. In 1998 when Van Halen came to Japan I got hooked up with "All Access" passes for me and 3 of my friends for the entire Tokyo leg of the tour.

Being a fan of Van Halen since jr. high school, the early 80's, meeting Edward Van Halen was going to be an event for me. I mean, c'mon, he's the entire reason I started playing guitar for God's sake. Anyway, a few weeks before this was to take place it really hit me that I was going to be meeting Edward Van Halen. I started thinking about what I wanted to say to him. One thing for sure, I didn't want to be the fan geek that says something ignorant like "I really love your music". I just wanted to be cool with him. Anyway, the day comes, I show up at the Budokan and meet their tour manager outside. He takes us in the back door and around to the backstage area. We were standing just below the stage, actually near the steps leading up to the stage, and he said "Stay here and let me go get your passes." So he heads off. Well, we're standing there waiting around and the curtain opens and Eddie walks in. He was about 20-30 feet away from me. My first thought when he walked in was "Damn, he's small". Well, one of my friends that was with me had come over from the States for this. He had also gone to Australia while they were there and had the same All Access thing going on so he had already met everyone. Matter of fact, he actually babysat Wolfgang one night when Ed and Val went out around Sydney, but that's another story. Anyway, my buddy walks over to Ed and starts talking and then he points over to me. Now, remember, he's a little guy, like 5' 8" and 150lbs soaking wet. I'm 6'1 and was probably around 240 at the time. So my friend points to me and Ed runs over, jumps up on me, wraps his arms around my neck, his legs around my waist and kissed me on the cheek. He jumps off of me, steps back and says "That's from the old lady". I was speechless. Edward Van Halen, my guitar God for more than 20 years, knew who I was *AND* he had just jumped on me and kissed me. I put my hand out to shake his hand and the first words out of my mouth were "I really love your music".

Needless to say, after an experience like that, the shows were mildly interesting at best. How could a concert top what had just happened to me? But, we had all access and guest tickets for 4 shows so we basically had the run of the place. We could go anywhere we wanted except for up on stage.

There are a weeks worth of stories from that trip and it would take up 50 pages to get them all out. Let me just say that we spent most of our time hanging around Mike Anthony's bass tech, Kevin Dugan. He was so cool. After the shows we'd go out drinking with him and other crew members. It was surreal.

Anyway, in the event that anyone thinks I'm talking a load of crap...

Me and some guy backstage at the Budokan.

Sorry, I pulled the total geek face with this one.....how couldn't I though?

Yeah, there's a historical piece of kit right there.

Gary Cherone. One of the coolest people I've ever had the pleasure of meeting.

So there ya go. Part of my Van Halen story.
MULLY

 

[Mor Paul]

Cool story. I hope to meet some famous guitarist one day, and just talk for a bit.

 

[NonsenseTele]

This sounds spetacular at least

 

[Patrick]

one question: how come you have the same shirt in all of the photos but different pants? :icon_scratch:

 

[Death by Uberschall]

Got to meet these guys!!  :headbang1:

 

[mullyman]

Man, I was looking at those thinking "Who the fk is that?" then I noticed, that's Geoff Tate there, right? Queensryche, nice oldschool stuff there, man.
MULLY

 

[Death by Uberschall]

Man, I was looking at those thinking "Who the fk is that?" then I noticed, that's Geoff Tate there, right? Queensryche, nice oldschool stuff there, man.
MULLY

Yes, Queensryche. I figured my t-shirt would give it away.  :laughing7: BTW, they all signed that t-shirt for me.

Saw them perform Operation Mindcrime live at the House of Blues in New Orleans. Great show, they even had the original woman who played the part of Sister Mary on stage. Great show and a great band.

 

[m4rk0]

Fantastic! I love both VH and QR!

I guess I forgot to share my experience 2 weeks ago, meeting God! I will post some pictures later.

 

[stormbringer]

I've been fortunate enough to run into quite a few people over the many years...

Met Heart in 1979 at the Seattle Coloseum for their New Years concert. Later (in 1988), Roger Fisher of Heart was an instructor of mine for I believe my copyrighting class. Same year I met Head East at a local club called Natasha's.

In 1982 I met and hung out with Three Dog Night and their opening act - Rail (who had just won the first MTV Basement Tapes contest and ironically are from Seattle). Later, again while at school in the late 80's, Rick Knotts (the guitarist for Rail) would become my Program Director.

Ran into Akira Takasaki (guitarist for Loudness) on Waikiki Beach in 1986, that was interesting. I hung out with a huge Hawaii local band - Sacred Rite - from about 1985-87 and met Ozzy and Jake, Bruce, Adrian, Steve, and Dave from Iron Maiden (in fact, went to Dave's wedding in Kailua - albeit I was lost in the myriad of people), and Ronnie James Dio and Vivian Campbell. All but Vivian were at Mark Kaleiwahea of Sacred Rites house - Vivian at the Hot Axe guitar store for a personal seminar.

While in school at the Art Institute (for the very first Music and Video Business Program), I got to meet Jerry Cantrell, Stone Gossard, Layne Stayley, and Chris Cornell. They would occasionally come and check out what the program was doing and use our studio facilities (upon receiving our console, we all me Steve Miller, who donated it).

Hung out with Al DiMeola after his show at Parkers in 1987. I was sitting less that 10 feet from him during the show, absolutely amazing stuff... His solo version of Mediteranean Sundance was outstanding!

Hung with Queensryche on their Empire tour when they played Seattle on New Years Eve in 1991 as Tom Hall (their Engineer on their first few albums) was also an instructor of mine in school and we ran into him there and hung out.

In 1995 we all saw the reunited UFO play at the Ballard Firehouse (awesome show BTW) and after the show got the opportunity to hang out with all the guys. Being a huge soccer fan, hanging out with Pete Way was most awesome!

Went to Triad Studios for the release of Soundgardens "Down on the Upside" hosted by Matt Pinfield on the Album Network on May 13, 1996. From the web - "The world premiere of the new album was broadcast via satellite to all radio stations across the United States and Canada on 13 May, a day before the record came out officially. It was a 90-minute show, hosted by Matt Pinfield and produced by Album Network, featuring new tracks and all four band members answering questions from both studio audience members and callers. For those of you who missed it, it was quite entertaining.".

In 1997 I again was at the Ballard Firehouse to see Dio and afterwards bought him a drink and hung out for a while with him. Man is he short...

My friend Roland and I met Joe Satriani during intermission of a show about 1997 at the Moore Theater in Seattle (ticket thanks to Cathy Faulkner - awesome program director for KISW at the time). It was cool as it was one of the first live streaming shows on the internet.

Got Peter Frampton to stop his show so my friend could get his soccer ball autographed in 1998 at the Pier in Seattle, LOL...

Hung with Michael Schenker in 1999 after his show at the Ballard Firehouse.

I hung out with Queensryche as they did a live interview with Cathy Faulkner supporting their Q2K disc.

In 2000, again at the Ballard Firehouse, I saw Robin Trower and got to meet him after the show. Awesome, he is one of my all time favorites. Saw him 2 weeks later at The Joint in the Hard Rock in Vegas. Again hung out with him after the show...

Not a musician, but ran into Charlize Theron on the beach in Navarre, Florida. Other than the small entourage she had around her, it was real cool. Sat and BS'd for about 45 minutes...

Met Robin Trower again after his 2007 show at the House of Blues in New Orleans.

Met Alice In Chains and Velvet Revolver at the Mobile Bayfest in 2007. That was cool!

Most recently got passes for a meet and greet for Queensryche last year in Pensacola, Florida. After the show (in which we had unobstructed seats in the front row) we met with the band and I mentioned to Michael Wilton that I was from Washington State (see pic), he was into that and invited us to hang out with them after the M & G at a place called the Warehouse. We headed up there and hung out for a bit (had yet another Jagerbomb), but the music was dance music, so we weren't sure they'd come there. About the time we were going to head out, in they came... We snaked in line with them through the crowd up to a private area that was reserved for them. Bought them a round of vodka's and then when a giant bottle of Grey Goose showed up, no one could figure out how to get the bottle open, so my friend opened it and we proceeded to help them finish the bottle. All in all we hung out for a good hour or hour and a half. It was great fun!

I've run into Lita Ford a couple of times in Destin, Florida, but only long enough to tell her that I've always enjoyed her work all the way back to the Runaways.

Me and Michael Wilton... Rock On!

 

[baskruit]

I once litterally bumped into Jan Akkerman in a music store in Rotterdam. We sort of exchanged smiles and looks of understanding (Me like: Hey, I know you. He like: I bet you know me) and moved on.

 

[Pyrodan]

Haha well compared to your stories mine sound fairly ordinary  :laughing11:

Met Janick Gers at a Deep Purple concert. We talked about the new album and I found out he is actually left handed but plays right handed  :icon_tongue: He says the new album is "something very special" so we'll have to see!  :icon_thumright:

I also met Nicko Mcbrain at a guitar show (strange considering he's a drummer  :icon_scratch I was looking for somewhere to sit and have a drink so I stopped at a costa. There was only one table left but it had no chairs on it. I saw a spare one and went over to ask the guy if it was being used....So I tap him on the shoulder and Ol' Nicko turns around! I just stood there gobsmacked until he asked me to sit down. So we sat for about half an hour talking about the band and such. He is without a doubt the funniest and nicest guy I've ever met (Well so was Janick  :icon_tongue

Gary Moore also lives around my local area and I always bump into him. One time I sat next to him at the cinema when we went to see avatar!  :toothy10: He's a nice enough bloke if you catch him on a good day (and that's very rare) but I seem to have been lucky as he's always happy to chat  :toothy12:

Well boys and girls that's my story  :laughing11: Hope to meet the rest of Iron Maiden when I get my backstage passes  :headbang1:

 

[Dan025]

http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=2757.0

http://a491.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/81/l_76459228169abff5395039c39f719eea.jpg

this was one of my buddies i was stationed with in japan about 2-3 years ago.

not positive it was him but after pictures the guys lady friend sees my buddies fender t-shirts and says "eric has the same shirt!"

as for me no famous musicians (well not famous in america) but a couple actors/tv stars. Deniro doesn't live far. Armond Asante is local, clooney shot a movie here, my mom and here friends stalked him one day, my friends mom(being a friend of my mom as well) walked right into him coming out of a bathroom and fell on the ground. a guy that played construction worker in a die hard movie lived just up the road forgot his last name, we just called him bill the actor. OCC of american chopper fame is just up the road, i met pauly before the first special that eventually led to a tv series, he was an ass then too. i now know cody and vinny as they opened a custom motorcycle shop less than a mile from OCC.  oh and mathew broderick was passing through and stopped in a local bar and was served by a friend of mine, he even signed a paper plate that is hanging on the wall to prove it.

but i'm not sure if actors count in this conversation so untill one of my friends gets famous or a big act come through(not likely unless they start doing concerts at the fairgrounds again) i'll just have to look at your pictures and be jealous

 

[mullyman]

http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=2757.0

http://a491.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/81/l_76459228169abff5395039c39f719eea.jpg

this was one of my buddies i was stationed with in japan about 2-3 years ago.

not positive it was him but after pictures the guys lady friend sees my buddies fender t-shirts and says "eric has the same shirt!"

as for me no famous musicians (well not famous in america) but a couple actors/tv stars. Deniro doesn't live far. Armond Asante is local, clooney shot a movie here, my mom and here friends stalked him one day, my friends mom(being a friend of my mom as well) walked right into him coming out of a bathroom and fell on the ground. a guy that played construction worker in a die hard movie lived just up the road forgot his last name, we just called him bill the actor. OCC of american chopper fame is just up the road, i met pauly before the first special that eventually led to a tv series, he was an ass then too. i now know cody and vinny as they opened a custom motorcycle shop less than a mile from OCC.  oh and mathew broderick was passing through and stopped in a local bar and was served by a friend of mine, he even signed a paper plate that is hanging on the wall to prove it.

but i'm not sure if actors count in this conversation so untill one of my friends gets famous or a big act come through(not likely unless they start doing concerts at the fairgrounds again) i'll just have to look at your pictures and be jealous

Nah, man, actors count. Musicians would be more fitting for the forum but a brush with fame is a brush with fame.

Clooney and I went to the same college.....different years though. He grew up not far from where I did. I saw his dad and his aunt Rosemary a few times. His dad and older brother were  local news anchors and his aunt, of course, was a world famous jazz singer waaaay back when. My grandma worked in the record department at a department store  back in the day and I saw them there.
MULLY
Clooney is a stud and a half! Plus he's a Bengals fan so he's cool in my book!

 

[m4rk0]

http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=2757.0

http://a491.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/81/l_76459228169abff5395039c39f719eea.jpg

this was one of my buddies i was stationed with in japan about 2-3 years ago.

not positive it was him but after pictures the guys lady friend sees my buddies fender t-shirts and says "eric has the same shirt!"

as for me no famous musicians (well not famous in america) but a couple actors/tv stars. Deniro doesn't live far. Armond Asante is local, clooney shot a movie here, my mom and here friends stalked him one day, my friends mom(being a friend of my mom as well) walked right into him coming out of a bathroom and fell on the ground. a guy that played construction worker in a die hard movie lived just up the road forgot his last name, we just called him bill the actor. OCC of american chopper fame is just up the road, i met pauly before the first special that eventually led to a tv series, he was an ass then too. i now know cody and vinny as they opened a custom motorcycle shop less than a mile from OCC.  oh and mathew broderick was passing through and stopped in a local bar and was served by a friend of mine, he even signed a paper plate that is hanging on the wall to prove it.

but i'm not sure if actors count in this conversation so untill one of my friends gets famous or a big act come through(not likely unless they start doing concerts at the fairgrounds again) i'll just have to look at your pictures and be jealous

Nah, man, actors count. Musicians would be more fitting for the forum but a brush with fame is a brush with fame.

Clooney and I went to the same college.....different years though. He grew up not far from where I did. I saw his dad and his aunt Rosemary a few times. His dad and older brother were  local news anchors and his aunt, of course, was a world famous jazz singer waaaay back when. My grandma worked in the record department at a department store  back in the day and I saw them there.
MULLY
Clooney is a stud and a half! Plus he's a Bengals fan so he's cool in my book!

so ehm Mully, didn't you actually "do" a future celebrity?? or am I thinking of someone else ???

 

[m4rk0]

when I lived in Ireland (for 7 years) I lived directly underneath one of them most successful irish artists, named Enya. she was a bit weird.. it got even weirder when her floor heating system started to leek into my apartment..
I met lots of artists back then... I got almost run over by Bono in his Mercedes once.. sat next to Sinead o'Connor in the pub (why are they serving beer to that little bald boy next to me?). I bumped into the irish simon cowell in the gas station (forgot his name). Joe Elliot used to walk his dog in front of my apartment every day.. and there are a bunch more examples I can't think of right now.

 

[jimh]

I bumped into the irish simon cowell in the gas station (forgot his name).

Not Louie Walsh??

 

[m4rk0]

I bumped into the irish simon cowell in the gas station (forgot his name).

Not Louie Walsh??

yes, that is the one... I actually saw him multiple times at the local gas station (dalkey) he must have lived close to me.

 

[mullyman]

so ehm Mully, didn't you actually "do" a future celebrity?? or am I thinking of someone else ???

Well, I grew up with Carmen Electra. She was a student at my mom's dance school. We hung out quite a bit but, I have to be honest, I never hit it.
MULLY

Here ya go, Carmen Electra at 16 years old. Yeah, a young MULLY too.

 

[NonsenseTele]

You really should have tryed harder mully... you know it!

 

[m4rk0]

so ehm Mully, didn't you actually "do" a future celebrity?? or am I thinking of someone else ???

Well, I grew up with Carmen Electra. She was a student at my mom's dance school. We hung out quite a bit but, I have to be honest, I never hit it.
MULLY

Here ya go, Carmen Electra at 16 years old. Yeah, a young MULLY too.

yes, that is the one I was thinking off! and I agree with Nando.. why didn't you put some more effort into it ?????  :icon_biggrin: