Have you ever met one of your guitar player idols on the street or in a bar or where ever, away from thier performing, musical, venue, etc element?
How did it happen? Where they nice to you or did they want to protect thier privacy? A friend of mine is a heavy electrical contractor and was down in Cancun some years back walking the beach on a day off, and ran into Eric Clapton sitting on a lounge chair drinkin a colada, soakin up sun. He stopped and said hello to Eric, and had a conversation that didn't even touch on the music end of things except for the initial respects. Very cool guy and showed no signs of stardom, my friend said about Eric. They talked about cars, the ladies on the beach, and regular chit chat.

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Life is like a sh*t sandwich. The more bread you have, the less sh*t you have to eat.

In '73 while in the military, I was traveling on orders from KCMO back out to California. I had to switch planes in Denver but the Braniff flight I was supposed to hook up with ended up getting cancelled. The droid at the ticket counter said it would be a six-hour layover. So there I was -- trudging through Stapleton Airport in a desperate search for a way to kill six friggin' hours. I got a crappy Les Paul Custom in a case with me that I was hand-carrying and after a while the airport lounge started looking pretty good. There was a fellow with shoulder-length blond hair walking on the concourse ahead of me, obviously with the same idea. When he reached the double doors to the lounge he turned around and said, grinning, "Whaddya got there, general -- a machine gun?". I said no, it's a Gibson guitar. I took a table and ordered up a Jack Daniels while the guy I'd just met grabbed a stool at the bar and started a non-stop parade of Wild Turkey shooters. After a couple drinks he came over to my table and asked to see my guitar. It was my month-old LP Custom in cherry sunburst and he seemed to know his way around a fretboard. He said his name was "Joseph" and a few licks later I ordered us a round and we started talking. He asked about what I did in the Air Force then told me he'd just finished recording an album. I thought that was pretty kewl and I asked him when it would be released. He wasn't sure but he told me it would be before year's end. We spent about 2½ hours drinking and carrying on in the lounge until I heard a page on the airport PA announcing "Mr. Walsh, white courtesy phone please". Only then did it hit me.

......And "Barnstorm" remains one of my favorite albums to this very day.

Arjay

Wow both of those stories are amazing I would have died if I met either one of them lol

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Guitars: Hamer Daytona, 1995 MIJ Fender Tele, Squier Bullet Strat, Dixon Se, Fender Acoustic

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I was working at an audio Rental facility building Protools rigs in road cases. Usually skipped lunch. One day decided to get away from the soldering bench and went for a slice of pizza. On the way back I walked right past Steve Harris of Iron Maiden. I was in complete denial that it was actually him because i didn't think he'd actually be wheeling his suitcase on 52nd street and 11th ave. We exchanged glances, him looking at me like "what are you staring at bloke" me perplexed trying to figure out if it was actually him. When i got back to work I told the guy at the front desk and his response was "yeah he was just here picking up his bag, you haven't noticed him walking past you for the past week? They're mixing Rock In Rio up the street and he comes here to listen to the mixes so he doesn't hold up the mix."

Boy what a shame.

Many years ago, mid to late 70's, I was playing on a cruise ship out of Florida and I'd get up early every morning for coffee and walk out on the main deck and see this guy playing an acoustic...and very well.

On the third morning, I approached him and asked him if he preferred the acoustic over electric guitars and he told me that he usually did play electric. Then I asked him if he had any records out. That's when he told me that he did and asked if I've ever heard of a band called 'Wings'.

It turned out to be Denny Laine on a vacation from McCartney's band. Very
nice guy and down to earth. He never mentioned the Moody Blues, so I didn't either. It was really nice to hear him play every morning and chat a little bit.

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

Working at the college in the Tech Services dept I did get to meet alot of celebs briefly when they came to town to play, Ricky Skaggs, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Quiet Riot, Poison, Starship, the Tubes, etc. But most of those were pretty short "hello's" and not very memorable.

One exception was REO, they rented spotlights from our school on two seperate occasions and I was able to go to the seperate shows and run a light. They were very personable and down to earth, but generally our conversations with them were pretty short and not too special.

But my one celeb moment I'll never forget. It's spring of 1986 and I was in Nashville working for College Satellite Network (now defunct I think). The whole purpose of all the shows was for performers to get 20 min slots before reps of colleges and get booked on the college circuit. Big theater in the Opryland Hotel was the nightly gig, with the last two nights in the Grand Ole Opry itself. Performers on the bill at that time that I remember were Henry Lee Summer, the Rainmakers, 1964-the Beatles, etc. Comedians and musical acts included. Our job was to run video for the big screens in the theater, and the vid feed was mixed in an onsite facility that was recorded for review later by anyone interested.

So it was work from 4 pm-midnight everyday, setting up cameras, sound feeds, cables etc. Lots of work but a lot of fun, and a great opportunity.

Here we are with the last two nights coming up, we've dismantled everything from the Opryland and are setting up in the Grand Ole Opry. Whether you're a fan of country music or not it's still a national institution. So it's late afternoon and I'm carrying a big roll of cable over my shoulder rushing somewhere, round a corner, and plow right into this guy. I apologize and when he turns to look I realize I'm face to face with Roy Clark....pickin and grinnin Roy Clark.

I didn't know what to expect since I'd just nearly bowled him over in the hallway. But he had a small smile, looked at my KISS shirt and said "I take it you aren't a big fan of my music...?" And after that we just shook hands and talked for about 1/2 hour. He was very laid back and even though I didn't buy many of his records I knew lots about him and his music from the endless episodes of HEE HAW my folks watched every Sat night.

Sadly, no camer with me and it never dawned on me to ask for an autograph. After the first few mins I'd forgotten I was even talking to a celeb he was so down to earth. A pretty cool moment in time.

Here in the Nashville area you meet many celebs over the years.
meeting Dickey Betts was a thrill...Johnny Cash,way cool...several others,including Michael McDonald of the Doobies.
My favorite encounter was back around 1971 and I went into a nice bar in the Vanderbilt University area for a couple of beers after work.
The place was empty in the early afternoon and there was a cool looking guy sitting at a table and he said "pull up a chair",so I did.
We talked for a pretty good while about who knows what,I didn't know who the guy was but he was friendly,pretty soon one of the waitresses came by and sat down on her break I guess...and it was apparent I was cramping her style ,so I told him to take it easy and sat at another table for the next round.He never told me his name.
It was Marty Robbins,and as far as I'm concerned,he was a bonafide star...and a cool guy.
That's the kind of people I like to meet.

I have only met my favs before and after gigs. I did however hang out w/ Chuck Garric (Bass for Alice Cooper) for a while. He was staying at the hotel where I worked.

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Live guitars: 2009 LTD Truckster, 1989 Strat Plus, 2001 Am Standard Strat, 1996 MIJ Jaguar, 2007 Gibson Explorer 76 reissue, 1999 Ibanez RG7621, LTD MH-301, LTD FM400, 1999 Jackson Kelly, Mystery Les Paul, Hamer Chaparel, Fender FM 62SCE A/E Mandolin

Was he wearing the "big iron on his hip"?

I too am a Marty Robbins fan. Also Marty Stuart.

Arjay

no I would have gone the other direction!!
It was cool to talk to the guy who I heard singing those songs on the radio,even when I was a kid.
He seemed really down to earth.

Funny... here in arizona... the big iron on the hip is quite accepted and normal...

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In Reference to Blues Legend RL Burnside:
After a heart attack in 2001, Burnside's doctor advised him to stop drinking; Burnside did, but he reported that change left him unable to play.

Couple months back I was sitting at a bar in Nashville with a few of my friends, we had gone up to 3rd and Lindsley to see some band, because my buddy Rounder knew Dave Northup, and he had invited us up to come check out his new band, and in walks Troy Luccketta, from Tesla.

It took us all a few minutes to figure out who he was, but he sat down at a table right next to us, and we were all "I know that face, who is he?" and we finally figured it out, so we offered him a drink, and he came over and sat down to talk to us for 30-45 minutes, it was pretty cool. Down to earth guy, just walking to clubs listening to some of the local music.

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Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet - Maj. Gen. James Mattis, USMC

retroverbial, thank you for you service.
here in dallas, i saw dave mustaine outside his bus talking to someone with one of those laminated passes hanging around his neck. i walked up, stuck out my hand and said i liked the latest cd alot. he reluctantly shook my hand and quickly threw back my hand at me like i had a disease or something. maybe he was having a bad day, i don't know. i spent the entire night up front with my middle finger pointing at him. he really looked like he wanted to kill me but all i wanted to do was shake his hand.
on the other side...... darrell and vinnie paul abbott of pantera and damage plan were , and still are the coolest dudes i've ever met. at their club i approached them and told em how much i liked the new cd. being awestruck i shook their hands and walked away. i watched other fans walk over, sit down and have a drink with them. they seemed to never forget what it was like to be just a fan.

Sometime in the mid 1990s I took a military hop from England to Germany, and the entire USO touring cast happened to be on the same plane. My seat was right next to country singer Gary Morris, who had recently finished his run as Jean Valjean in the Broadway production of Les Misérables. We chatted most of the way--mostly about theatre, which is a great love of mine. He was very smart and friendly, and it was an interesting conversation.

Okay, I realize this wasn't exactly a guitar-hero story. Oh well...

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I really like all them "Aster" guitars. You know, like the Stratoc, Telec and Jazzm.

Damn 3-level gomer.

Drop and gimme twenty!



Arjay