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Met Paul McCartney at club called Speakeasy in London, late Sixties.
Late at night, out he comes from the dining area apparently to run to the Men's room. My band and I waited and on his way back to his seat, I walked right up to him.....realize, I am a musician and huge, huge Beatles fan. So it's a major moment for me.
"Uh...excuse me Paul, we're from the States, and we're going to be recording over here and we're huge fans could we ask a couple of questions?"
Huge smile, leans back against a wall and say "Great sure, yeah what part of the States?" and on it went. He was just super nice.
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As time went on and we began recording on Abbey Road, we ended up meeting the rest of them, and to a person they were as down to earth as you could imagine. You had groups like Pink Floyd walking around the studio like they were hot stuff, while all 4 Beatles would walk down the hall and nod to you as you went by.
Wow...just wow...this thread has taken off with such incredible life!
Another contribution from me: I never met Huell Howser, but I had the intention of meeting Huell at some point. He was a local legend in Southern California and traveled all over California (as well as to Las Vegas and Moscow) showcasing the eccentric, positive, little known things that made the state unique. He produced his own shows, which aired predominantly on KCET in Los Angeles, but also throughout the whole state from Sacramento to San Diego. He was also quite the character, and unfortunately he passed away in January 2013. I created a thread dedicated in his honor that is now a STICKY (!!!) on the California forum.
And I still contend that Cheryl Burke, per my original post, the very original post on this thread, was a huge a-hole. A friend I have in the Bay Area who is in the dance world has also heard, and told me, that the Burke family is quite...dysfunctional.
The below is based on interactions of at least a few minutes each all in 2013:
Best:
Flo Rida
Robin Thicke
John Leguizamo
Sugar Ray Leonard
Adam Lambert
Wilmer Valderrama
Melanie Griffith
Shaq
The end
My friend was in the outskirts of Cancun at a very small humble rotisserie chicken place. This was outside the touristy areas and where mostly locals eat.
She saw Robin Thicke eating there with a friend and was totally shocked. She walked up to him to tell him she was a fan and said he was very nice and humble.
Its great to hear stories of artists who are nice and do not take themselves seriously.
OK so another night our band is in Speakeasy Club again, and this time a tall black guy with an Afro walks in. Dark in the club, local London band playing. Band stops, guy with Afro walks up to the little stage, starts talking to one of the guitarists. Guitarist hands his guitar to the stranger, guy with Afro turns back to audience then starts getting wild feedback effects out the guitar, and jams by himself ...loudly...for about 3 minutes. He stops, puts the guitar down, and turns around and EVERYONE starts cheering. "Thank you very much " he says into the mike, and hops off the little stage.
"OMG, it's Jimi Hendrix" said our bass player.
And indeed it was.
I followed him as he made a beeline to the exit door.
"Excuse me Jimi? Could I ask you a question?"
Hendrix stops and turns around....."Yeah man...?"
"How do you keep your guitar in tune when you are doing all that wild stuff on stage, all the bends and jumping around, etc?"
"Oh man, you just have to tune while you play, man, just tune while you play" he said smiling.
"Wow, thanks Jimi" I said.
"Sure, good night!"
And he opened the door and was off into the night.
Country music artists tend to be some of the nicest, most down-to-earth folks out there. Way back mid 80s, I worked in a music store (remember those?), and we had a lot of in store appearances with bands. A couple that come to mind, the Judds came in, they were only supposed to be there for an hour, but the line stretched out the door and around the building. They stayed until every single person in line got through, well over 3 hours, and they didn't rush anyone by, everyone got to chat, take pictures, get hugs. Wynonna, at the time, was maybe 18 or 19. Randy Travis was also as nice as could be. Just as personable and kind and warm.
Alice Cooper was also funny and really engaging. Two young skate punks who waited to see him came up with their skateboards. One says, "Mr Cooper, would you sign my skateboard please?", to which he replied, "Call me Alice! Of course I will!", and then chatted with them for a while, he wanted to know where they had heard his music.
Walter Payton was a regular customer at this same store, there was a reason he was called "Sweetness", and he lived up to it, especially with young kids. He would regularly pull pranks on customers, getting behind the cash register as if he worked at the store, and telling people that he needed the money.
LL Cool J was funny, engaging, and yes, cool. I had a bit of a crush, so I totally got tongue-tied, and did the bobble head instead of talking to him. Good thing, because I would have said something really stupid if I could have said anything at all.
Kenny Rogers, as much as I said about country musicians being nice, did not fit that bill.
John Mellencamp has a well deserved reputation for being a jerk.
Country music artists tend to be some of the nicest, most down-to-earth folks out there. Way back mid 80s, I worked in a music store (remember those?), and we had a lot of in store appearances with bands. A couple that come to mind, the Judds came in, they were only supposed to be there for an hour, but the line stretched out the door and around the building. They stayed until every single person in line got through, well over 3 hours, and they didn't rush anyone by, everyone got to chat, take pictures, get hugs. Wynonna, at the time, was maybe 18 or 19. Randy Travis was also as nice as could be. Just as personable and kind and warm.
Alice Cooper was also funny and really engaging. Two young skate punks who waited to see him came up with their skateboards. One says, "Mr Cooper, would you sign my skateboard please?", to which he replied, "Call me Alice! Of course I will!", and then chatted with them for a while, he wanted to know where they had heard his music.
Walter Payton was a regular customer at this same store, there was a reason he was called "Sweetness", and he lived up to it, especially with young kids. He would regularly pull pranks on customers, getting behind the cash register as if he worked at the store, and telling people that he needed the money.
LL Cool J was funny, engaging, and yes, cool. I had a bit of a crush, so I totally got tongue-tied, and did the bobble head instead of talking to him. Good thing, because I would have said something really stupid if I could have said anything at all.
Kenny Rogers, as much as I said about country musicians being nice, did not fit that bill.
John Mellencamp has a well deserved reputation for being a jerk.
I worked in country and you are so right. I can't remember names (I don't follow country though I worked in country radio)but the country acts I met were all great. Most appreciate their fans.
I never met Walter Payton but my dad did and he said what you did. He loved to play jokes but just an all around guy.
I used to work for someone who golfed with Alice Cooper and said he was wonderful.
About a month ago I Saw Scarlett Johansson on the beach on 2 separate days. The second day I nodded, smiled and said hello, she just barely gave me a nod back. No smile, no hello. I can understand someone not wanting to talk to strangers on a lonely beach with no one else around I guess. Especially when you are a celebrity. Also, she was looking pretty pregnant, so no telling what those hormones are doing.
Two weeks ago I saw Jimmy Fallon double dating with Tommy Mottola at dinner. Before Jimmy got there, Tommy and his wife (or girlfriend?) were sitting there. What drew my eyes to his table was that it was odd seeing someone wearing a baseball cap in a nice restaurant. Almost as if he wanted people staring at him. I knew I recognized him but couldn't figure it out at first. Then Jimmy and his wife came in at sat down. Jimmy caught my eye and he gave me a big smile. This is the kind of place where you leave the celebrities alone, but someone actually asked Jimmy to take a selfie with him, and he said "lets do it". That must have shocked the manager, and I'm not sure that person will be getting reservations again any time soon, but I thought it was really nice of Jimmy to do that when he is out to dinner.
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