famous musicians you've met thread

i had to put mine down before i completely forgot them all.... (getting old, have already forgotten more than i remember)
 
thought i'd share.
you share yours too
 
ok, a quick assessment:

Famous Musicians i played or jammed with:
 
*Met, drank rum and cokes and jammed with Jaco Pastorius (rip) in a club at Deerfield beach, florida (north lauderdale). 
i guess we spent a good half hour sitting at the bar talking, and he was telling me all about the album he was about to release, 
his second solo album, called "Word of Mouth". 
a truly awesome experience for me.
 

*i jammed with who is now the lead singer for Lynrd Skynrd, the youngest of the van zandt's, johnny,
in my mother's living room when i was in high school. johnny was a couple of years younger than me...
LOL
i'd met johnny at crossroads (Ponte Vedra Beach, florida) surfing, and we started talking about music..
i think, maybe he was 15 at the time....
and he brought his paul and marshall over, and we jammed.
this was about 2-3 years before he created the Austin Nichols band,
which he later had to change the name because of copyright infringements....

*met and jammed with artemus Pyle and leon wilkerson (Lynrd Skynrd) at a club in Neptune Beach Fl, called 'La Vidas'

*i did a top 40 gig, playing with the original members of "The Diamonds", 50's/60's vocal quartet, did a week backing those guys up....
 
 

guys i've actually played FOR or in front of(heheh)

-Met the entire Greg Allman Band (including Govt. Mule's guitarist/singer Warren Haynes), and did an opening set for them at THE BREAKERS, panama city beach fla.
they were very complementary, watched about last 3rd of our set before they went on.

-Met half of def leppard and played a set of rock covers for them. rick allen, rick allen's brother, joe elliot and pete willis.
they were touring opening for scorpions and ted nugent, their first american tour. they were diggin' it.
i even got a job offer out of it. doh.
 
-met all of 38 special, and played for the two guitarists who watched our whole set.

-met molly hatchet's girlfriends ( ) but none of molly hatchet.
LOL...... played all night for them. they were party freaks.

-met all of Nazareth (1980) and played an entire set of cover tunes for them in the middle of the afternoon, neptune beach florida. that was fun.
they were a killer crowd of 4 that day. they were on roller skates, of all things.
high at the beach, on roller skates, hangin with a local hard rock band in a crappy bar. LOL
 

other musicians i only met:
 
*Met Allan Holdsworth, at the double door Inn, charlotte NC..... he signed autographs, and after almost everyone else split,
he went to the bar to have a pint....and sat next to me at the bar, and had a beer, so i introduced myself, and shook his hand,
and cracked some jokes, and we never even talked about music.
he has giant hands
 
*met Billy Squire, on his very first tour. shook his hand, backstage, talked about his rig a little bit. he was friendly.

*met Alice Cooper , back on the Flush the Fashion tour when he was doing that song 'clones'...
he was dirty.
i mean, physically dirty. he was in the hallway backstage, between acts, and had his large albino snake draped around his shoulders,
and two beautiful women in skimpy outfits on each
arm, getting ready to go back out on stage.
he seemed coked out of his mind, and i got to shake his hand. it was as limp as a noodle. and that grossed me out.
 
*met STEVE MARRIOT (RIP).
he was way cool. he was a musical idol of mine. i always wanted to be able to sing like him. it didn't work out. LOL

*used to play in a band with Chris Sorenson - he's now the co-owner of FireHouse Subs (based out of florida) so i guess he's famous now.

*met James Honeyman Scott (RIP).

*met Neil Geraldo (before he hooked up with pat benetar, when he was touring with rick derringer)

*met eddie van halen, at a music store meet and greet, in '82.
he signed a picture for me.

*Met the guitarist from Mother's finest, Moses MO

*Met Elton John's drummer Nigel Olsson, at The Switch, in raliegh.

*met Buddy Guy, in his own club in chicago-- Legends....
i showed up around dinner time, long before the live acts started... and there he was, at the bar, having a beer.
i asked 'can i join you', and he said of course, yes, so we talked about the cubs game that was showing on the monitor....
really nice guy.

*met the drummer from king's X, Jerry Gaskill
met him after a gig in charlotte NC
he was really nice as well.

*met one of my alltime favorite musicians, Rod Morgenstein, a couple of years back, here in salt lake city,
doing a dregs show, he stood out in the hallway afterwards and answered everybody's questions without blinking.
super nice guy, and one of the most incredible drummers.

Phil Lynott -  Thin Lizzy (and the then line up of Thin Lizzy pre Whiskey in the Jar) At the Asylum night club the band turned up with their gear but no road crew they asked for volunteers to the hump their gear up three flights of stairs, we got the gig for free.  After we broke them down and loaded the van then had a little chat and a drink or six with the band.
 
Rick Wakeman - Nice chat post gig at The Cliffs in Southend.
 
Liam Howlett and Keith Flint (minus the metal work) at a music store called Music Connections I was playing around on a JP8000 he and Keith came over to have a listen and a chat which was quite enlightening.
 
Probably some others as like Karyn when you do FOH you meet all sorts who did or just faded away.
 
 

Wookiee
Phil Lynott -  Thin Lizzy (and the then line up of Thin Lizzy pre Whiskey in the Jar) At the Asylum night club the band turned up with their gear but no road crew they asked for volunteers to the hump their gear up three flights of stairs, we got the gig for free.  After we broke them down and loaded the van then had a little chat and a drink or six with the band.
 
Rick Wakeman - Nice chat post gig at The Cliffs in Southend.
 
Liam Howlett and Keith Flint (minus the metal work) at a music store called Music Connections I was playing around on a JP8000 he and Keith came over to have a listen and a chat which was quite enlightening.
 
Probably some others as like Karyn when you do FOH you meet all sorts who did or just faded away.

 
 lynott,
that's somebody i would have loved to have met.
 
i've heard that rick can be quite the comedian......

Felix Pappalardi
Leslie West
<-------- Will Lee
Stood on stage (after concert) with Derek and The Dominoes
Played in a band for two weeks with Burleigh Drummond of Ambrosia (before he was in Ambrosia, does that count?)
Talked to Robert Plant Zeps first US Tour. Pasadena Rose Palace.
Was in a band with Chas Sandford before he went on to become a big time producer.
 

I  bumped into Billy Gibbons once. Literally. He said "excuse me", like a proper Texan.

George Harrison, my aunt was his housekeeper/nanny for a few years in the late 70's/early 80's. Got to go to his castle near Henley-On-Thames.

Also Bert Jansch a couple of years before he died. I bumped into him and his late wife on Broadway the day before he was due to play in Brooklyn (which I had tickets for). Nice guy. After the gig I got to talk to him again and asked him something that had been preying on my mind: whether or not he minded that I'd basically flooded the guitar tab sites with my transcriptions of his guitar pieces. There's a copyright issue there I guess. Not surprisingly, he said he didn't mind at all. Fantastic guy, was gutted when he died. As an aside - a few minutes after I'd talked to him on Broadway the day before, an out of control SUV mounted the sidewalk right where we'd been standing and took a couple of people on the hood through the window of a bank. Was something of a conversation opener at the gig the next night.

dmbaer
This probably won't impress anyone here, but I've had Nicholas McGegan, an internationally renowned conductor and the musical director of the Baroque Philharmonia Orchestra, over to my house for dinner on several occasions.

As impressive as anyone else listed. Certainly more impressive than old dirty bastard :)

Richard Perry (producer)
Mick Jagger (he bumped into me at a late night recording session in L.A. and was with Jerry Hall).
UFO (met them backstage with we opened for them at Long Beach Sports Areana).
Boomtown Rats (opened for them in Seattle).
Kenny Logins - almost when on tour with him.
Jimmy Messina - played drums on his "One More Mile" album.
The Baby's (toured with them)
Crocus (played with them in Amsterdam)
Silvester Stallone (played on his unreleased country single)
Gida Stallone (Silvestor's ex wife that I produced a single for)
Vinnie Casano ((Vinnie Vincent) ex lead guitarist for Kiss played on our 2nd album).
Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers)
Paul Stanley (Kiss guitarist played bass on our second album)
David Foster (producers/writer played keys on a song we did)
Sheena Easton (when she gave me a gold album for writing "Prisoner" on her "Morning Train" album)
Peter Noone (Herman's Hermits) in Montecito, CA at Barry De Vorzon's house.
Barry De Vorzon (singer/songwriter/producer/composer that I recorded with.
Sue Saad & The Next (my group in 1979 on Planet Records)
Delaney Bramlett (Delayney & Bonnie) recorded at my studio in L.A..
Ray Charles (at his studio in L.A. when I auditioned for his world tour but didn't make it)
Sissy Spacek (at a break in making "Carrie" when she asked me to come to the cast party).
Pointer Sisters (at Richard Perry's studio in L.A.)
Robert Fleishman
Joe Cocker
Alan Pasqua
Chas Sandford
Michael Boddicker
Mark Leonard
Charles Ferris (chief engineer at Capital Records)
Jerry Goldsmith
Mary Allen
Jim Andron
Daniel Protheroe
Tony Riparetti
there's more...

Bapu
I met Dave.... does he count?

 
By that I mean, he's a drummer. Does he count (beyond 4)?

As mentioned plenty of times before...
 
Got to play in a band with Craig Goldy (of Guiffria and Dio fame) for six weeks at the end of which we opened for Blue Oyster Cult (billed as Soft White Underbelly) so I got to meet a couple of them.  Craig was about two years older than me and lived a couple of blocks away.
 
Shared a table with the mom of the lead singer for the Knack who came over and sat/talked with us during their break.
 
Used to hang out with Eddie Van Halen at a very well known club in West Hollywood when his wife was off in New York filming One Day At A Time (I was going out with one of the waitresses who became a well-known porn star a couple of years later - but that's another story!).  Could have met David Lee Roth when he visited the club, but I was with Eddie and they avoided each other - lol.
 
Met Doug Engle of Iron Butterfly (who wrote In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida) because his son (also named Doug) was in a band with me and we had gone to both Junior High and High School together in the same grade.
 
Those were some of the highlights.  I was never one of those who chased around after people for pictures and autographs (one of the main reasons I even got to hang out with Eddie and, later, Joe Montana).
 
Maybe not known as a musician, but I got to sit and chat with Robert Moog too.
 
I'm sure there's been others but, as you get older, the first thing to go is... Um, well, I forgot! 

batsbrew

Karyn
When you work FOH and other engineer posts you get to meet and work with all sorts....  I've met, worked with, socialised with or chatted to everyone from Bad Manners, The Selector and UK Subs,  through The Levellers and The Stranglers to Motorhead (just Lemmy), Girlschool, Blaze Bailey and Doro Pesh (sp), and plenty others I don't remember.

that's an awesome list!
 
karyn, which band was your favorite to work for?

Thinking about it, they're not on the list...   Jimmy Black (RIP), the original drummer with the Mothers.  I've told this one here before, but to recap, he played one of our local venues with The Farrell and Black Band on the Saturday night.  I was FOH, stage hand, stage manager, well...  everything except the promoter really.  They enjoyed the gig so much, and they had the day off on Sunday, so they stayed over and played again on Sunday night..
Word had got around and there were more people there on Sunday than on Saturday....  and it was full on Saturday.
 
Jimmy was a genuine nice guy.

Yes,  or part.
 
I still won't repeat what he had to say about Frank Zappa...

I got headbutted by the legendary Wesley WWillis