That Time I had Pizza with Steve Vai

Killcrop

Killcrop

Active member
I was sitting having coffee this morning thinking about all the awesome shows I saw back in the day. In the mid 90s I saw Steve Vai at St Andrews Hall in Detroit. Great iconic smallish venue. The show was amazing. Mike Keneally was on the bill. They played the attitude song perfectly synchronized. It was something to see. Good lord Mike is talented.

Anyway, I told my buddy, hey why don't we just wait outside by the bus and see if we can meet Steve. After about 10 minutes one of the roadies said, hey if you are waiting for the band, they are having pizza around the corner at Nikis. So of course we stroll onto Nikis pizza. There are nobody in the restaurant but the band. So we sat down about 4 tables away. We ordered a couple beers and discussed how to approach the band without being a pest.

Before we got a chance Mike Keneally came and sat down at our table. He was the sweetest and most friendly guy ever. After chatting for a few minutes, he called Steve over. There were TVs in the restaurant playing the movie "10". Steve walked over to the table, pointed at the TV and said, "Bo Derek's Tits"! We all had a good laugh. He sat down and we had a great chat with him and Mike. They were the nicest guys. We basically talked about Bo Derek and Steve's amps. He was playing a Bogner Ecstasy and an Egnater on that tour. I have owned at least one Bogner ever since that show. Fun times!

1740680850474.png
 
Killcrop said:
I was sitting having coffee this morning thinking about all the awesome shows I saw back in the day. In the mid 90s I saw Steve Vai at St Andrews Hall in Detroit. Great iconic smallish venue. The show was amazing. Mike Keneally was on the bill. They played the attitude song perfectly synchronized. It was something to see. Good lord Mike is talented.

Anyway, I told my buddy, hey why don't we just wait outside by the bus and see if we can meet Steve. After about 10 minutes one of the roadies said, hey if you are waiting for the band, they are having pizza around the corner at Nikis. So of course we stroll onto Nikis pizza. There are nobody in the restaurant but the band. So we sat down about 4 tables away. We ordered a couple beers and discussed how to approach the band without being a pest.

Before we got a chance Mike Keneally came and sat down at our table. He was the sweetest and most friendly guy ever. After chatting for a few minutes, he called Steve over. There were TVs in the restaurant playing the movie "10". Steve walked over to the table, pointed at the TV and said, "Bo Derek's Tits"! We all had a good laugh. He sat down and we had a great chat with him and Mike. They were the nicest guys. We basically talked about Bo Derek and Steve's amps. He was playing a Bogner Ecstasy and an Egnater on that tour. I have owned at least one Bogner ever since that show. Fun times!

View attachment 391052
Click to expand...
Did you catch Yngwie on the Rising Force tour at St Andrews in 1985? He started a fight in a bar afterwards at the Hotel St Regis.
 
I was a cook in my younger days and one night Jeff Watson and Brad Gillis came into the Bombay Bicycle Club where I worked as the solo cook at that hour. So I cooked a meal for Jeff Watson and Brad Gillis. I’m going to add that to my resume. :ROFLMAO:
 
I also had a nice experience with Steve Vai. Turns out a girl that use to work for me is his cousin. She got me back stage passes. Got to chat with him for a few minutes. He was really nice and genuinely wanted to chat. Can't say enough good things about Steve Vai.
 
Cool story in a neutral setting That’s the best.

I met Steve twice. Once in Sherman Oaks at a Carvin store signing. I fanboyed out on that one. Then on that tour you saw him He was very nice and unassuming
 
My girlfriend is friends with the Vai family and used to tell me no one had longer fingers than Vai.
After getting that out of the Vai we had a long talk about what happens after death that we continued after the show.
Also was the last Vai tour my pal Thomas was still the tech.

IMG_2368.jpeg

IMG_2360.jpeg
 
It's crazy, the only famous musician story I have is when I was in Hawaii and Tupac Shakur ki d of shoulder checked me as he was walking into the Hard Rock Cafe. I didn't see who it was that bumped me and then realized by my friend's face that it was someone famous.

Nobody noticed him and so I quietly asked the lady at reservations it was him and she confirmed. So I did what any 20-something into music would do. I went and stood by his rental car like a stalker by myself, way out in the parking lot, lol.

By the time people started noticing, the Honolulu Police blocked off the area and escorted him out and I was standing by his car. He walked up to me looking paranoid (i think I was wearing a hair metal band shirt of some kind) and I asked him to sign my parking pass. He was a really nice guy and took the time for photos with other people. It was a shame, within a year he was killed.
 
SpiderWars said:
I was a cook in my younger days and one night Jeff Watson and Brad Gillis came into the Bombay Bicycle Club where I worked as the solo cook at that hour. So I cooked a meal for Jeff Watson and Brad Gillis. I’m going to add that to my resume. :ROFLMAO:
Click to expand...
In the early 90s when Brad and Kelly were doing the 3 piece version with Gary Moon, I saw them at a small bar in Dayton. After the show, and for some reason a few of us ended up behind the bar and Brad walked out and talked to all of us for at least 45 minutes. He absolutely is one of the nicest people you could meet.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top