Your coolest rockstar/musician encounter

[Cornfordcrunch]

Just curious if anyone has any cool stories to share about one on one or likewise hang time with any of your guitar heroes or otherwise nationally successful musicians.

Here's a few of mine.

In 2005 my band opened for Whitesnake at Summerfest in Milwaukee Wi. We were the 8pm band before their 10 pm slot. Our slot got bumped ahead an hour to allow their crew more time for changeover. Half way through our show I turned around to switch guitars and Doug Aldrich, Reb Beach and Tommy Aldridge were standing 10 feet away next to our monitor guy watching us. A little intimidating! We finished up our set and Reb approached ME to talk shop! Stating we were the best cover band he's ever seen and he loved our guitar tones. (Im sure this was small talk, but VERY cool nonetheless) We talked alot about specific production things on the Winger records etc..and his stint with Dokken. Shortly after, Doug came over and we wound up hanging in their trailer until just minutes before their show time. I also got to spend a considerable amount of time before our show with Maddy(Dougs tech) who used to tech for John Petrucci. He walked me through Doug's rig and fired it up so I could hear the stage tone. Monstrous to say the least! Got to hang with everyone except Coverdale. He didnt come off the bus...kind of a bummer...but standing in a trailer with just your band members and Doug and Reb and Tommy Aldridge was pretty cool....but this next one was even cooler....

In fall of 2006 Toto came through Potowatomi Casino in Milwaukee. Ive always been a HUGE Luke fan and this is a great upclose venue to see a show at. A friend got us tickets in advance...what he didnt tell us was that he also got us pre-show passes. We went back to meet the band in a typical meet and greet fashion...the "how ya doin" "can I get a picture" thing...after everyone left the singer in my band and I started grilling Luke on obscure album cuts from old Toto records and sessions that he'd done in the past. This really got him going..so much that their manager was like "Luke, you need to get onstage...like NOW....so Luke hands us 4 after show passes....We go out and watch the show,,,amazing!
Afterwards we go back and its Toto and me, my singer, his wife and another friend of mine hanging out rapping...

Luke and I are off on the other side of the room and started the gear head jabber. I asked about a hum I was having in my rig and what he thought I could try....he says" Im not a techie" you should talk to Bob my tech....He takes me over to the door that leads to the stage from the dressing room and starts yelling "BOB where you at"? and up walks Bob. It was fucking Bob Bradshaw...I never put it together until he walked through the door that on occasion Bradshaw still goes out with Luke to tech...So Steve Lukather and Bob Bradshaw are talking me through the many avenues of ground loops...I actually thought to myself...how many guitar players in the world would sell their grandmother for this oppurtunity....Crazy...

Then Luke says, were gonna bail but you guys should come back to the hotel and hang with us..its the last night of the tour so were having a little party in the hotel bar...so we go....it's the 4 of us, Toto and about 5 other people. Lukather starts buying drinks and snacks for us...so now Im snacking with Lukather while he's showing me the people's names in his cell phone....I tried to get him to call up Paul Mcartney but he wouldnt...he would have called Landau...but I stopped him
he shared stories of sessions with everyone you can think of...the gear list he's got is pretty incredible...a Les Paul as a gift from George Harrison...and at this time he led me to believe that Dave would be back with VH....hmmmm.

The last one was last year. A good friend of mine is a pilot for Jet Blue. He's a Christian and former rock/metal guitar player. Over the last 6 years or so he has gotten to be very tight with the Stryper guys...especially Oz and Michael....love em or hate em, they chose nearly perfect notes in their harmony leads and Ive always been a big fan of their stuff. He kept telling us that they had seen my bands DVD and wanted to fly out and see us...blah blah blah...
Anyway, last summer my friend calls me up for a barbecue....says bring a guitar and an amp...So, I did. I get to his house and out of the garage walks Oz asking if I needed help with my gear...Id met him before on the reunion tour and got to hang out, but this was still strange...we take my gear down to where we'll be jamming and their sits the Jackson with silver paint and Bullet graphic from Against the Law..and the Wayne Oz fox model...let me just say...those guitars are set up so well they practically play themselves..anyway, we started to Jam...I wanted to dissect some of the harmony leads so we could play them together with me playing Michaels parts...we got through a bunch of stuff off Soldiers under Command...I was like a kid with a big shit eating grin on my face...what an absolute blast...

sorry for being long winded!
Brent

 

[sandman]

i hung out and talked with Dimebag for awhile one night...cool guy, down to earth...
met zakk wylde...way back in the Ozzy No More Tears days....he was drunk..imagine that ha ha...but cool

 

[J.B.]

Very cool stories Brent! Doug Aldrich is one guy I'd love to meet. I guess you got to hear the Camerons then? Unless he was using something else.

I meet Vito Brata once.

 

[Strat+Marshall]

I met zakk a few years ago... meh...

Steve Morse is a really cool guy, thanked me for having him sign my guitar. Saw George Lynch a few times in public but I didn't want to bug him.

I hope I get to meet Yngwie one day. I'd love to meet Jeff Beck too but I don't see that happening.

 

[Cornfordcrunch]

Very cool stories Brent! Doug Aldrich is one guy I'd love to meet. I guess you got to hear the Camerons then? Unless he was using something else.

I meet Vito Brata once.

Im not sure what I heard because he was still using the Martin Golub modded head too... so Im not sure if what I heard was that or the Camerons...and by the time they started the show Coverdale wanted the backstage cleared so we had to go out front... so it was tough to tell what was coming from the cabs VS what the FOH guy was giving us in the mains.Dougs tone was great either way.

 

[guitarslinger]

Brian Setzer was signing some autographs with my pen. This girl was like, "Brian! Remember me?!?".

He goes, "No!"

Then, I was like, "Hey, dude. I need that pen back when you're done."

He said, "Oh, okay.

 

[Cornfordcrunch]

I met zakk a few years ago... meh...

Steve Morse is a really cool guy, thanked me for having him sign my guitar. Saw George Lynch a few times in public but I didn't want to bug him.

I hope I get to meet Yngwie one day. I'd love to meet Jeff Beck too but I don't see that happening.[/quote

I met Lynch at a clinic last winter or possibly the one before..he was playing a Yamaha Acoustic through a mid scooped DSL full stack with a Keeley DS1 .....yeah....... when asked if he would just play an electric instead for the rest of the clinic he replied..."If you'll pony up more money than Yamaha is paying me to do this, I'll play anything you want" He was actually pretty damned funny...although an acoustic in the Marshall with a bunch of square wave dirt was pretty painful to digest..Mr Scary just didnt have the same impact

 

[gibson5413]

I was with my family eating at Legal Seafood downtown Boston back in the late 80s (I was in my senior year in high school, 1988-1989). I kept noticing people running over towards another part of the restaurant. My twin brother and I got up to see what the fuss was. Sammy Hagar, Michael Anthony, Alex Van Halen and Eddie Van Halen eating and signing autographs. Very cordial even though they were eating.

Used to live in Weston, MA back in the mid and late 80s. Worked as a cashier at a small grocery store in downtown Weston. I was checking customers out when I noticed a really tall and skinny guy got in my line. He turned around and I noticed it was Tom Scholz of Boston fame. I knew he lived near my home but was really excited to see him. I was always a fan of his! Asked for his autograph. A couple of co-workers notcied and asked for his autograph too. After he left they had the gall to ask me "Who was that?". Pissed me off!!

 

[bill]

Years ago while in Jacksonville Florida was at the first Allman Bros concert before they we a big hit. We used to go see those guys for a $1 at a local school on Saturday night. My girl friend at the time used to date Dickey Bettes one of the guitar players. Years later I went to see them with the Dead and they were all big stars, who would have ever thought that could happen? Fast forward to when my Wife met the producer of Greg's solo album and we went to see the show, got back stage and met the band etc.
More recently met Ty Tabor and my Wife was doing the news letter for the band. Loaned Ty my old Fender lap steel for a while and almost traded even up for a Strat. Also made Ty a preamp for his rig out of an old Lab-5 amp.
Met John Fogerty at a show and got his autograph.
Hung out with the guys from Los Straightjackets and ran the product sales table for them at a local gig they did. Those guys do great surf retro stuff.
Met Jr Brown and got his autograph.
Hung out with Phil Keggey and have pictures of him with one our my guitars. He is one of the best Christian guitarists in the world.
The Wife met and partied with Bowie back in the day, She also saw T-Rex and Humble Pie.
Last but no least saw Hendrix in concert in 69 while in Jacksonville, amazing live performance. There is more but its too early and I need coffee badly.

 

[MrDan666]

In 2005 i got to hang out with Doug Aldrich, Rudy Sarzo and all the other guys in Dio all night til early hours of the morning. Doug had jumped in on the tour to cover for Craig Goldy, and Doug had been given something stupid like 3-4 days to learn the set.. only got to bring 2 guitars and a pedalboard also.. they didnt have time to ship his amps out. This was the show they recorded and released as the Holy Diver Live DVD.

Anyways.. Doug hooked me and my dad up with passes before the show, so we spent the whole show in the front row watchin Doug tear it up and eventually after the show we went to see Doug backstage. It was just me, Doug and my dad sat in this tiny little dressing room talking about the show, the gear, the sound and everything else. So about 15minutes later, a camera man comes in to the room and wants to do an interview with Doug quickly for the dvd bonus features. So the guy gets the camera rolling and Doug does the interview while we'r sat there with him. I actually found that interview on the dvd when it came out, and they edited it so you couldnt see me sat next to him or anyone else there, just Doug.

So the manager of the London Astoria comes in the dressing room and says to Wendy Dio that the band and everyone have to clear out of the venue, because it turns into an all-night club after 11:30pm. A gay club to be precise So the band all get their stuff to leave, and there wasnt any catering sorted for the gig so Wendy arranged for everyone to go to a real nice Indian Restaurant. We got talking with Simon Wright and he tells us whats happening, so Doug said to me, my dad and a couple other friends we were welcome to come and have some food and hang out.

It was only about a 10minute walk from the venue, so we walked and the band went there in the car. When we got there, we had our own table and everything with bottles of wine and food. Doug and Rudy Sarzo came and sat at our table with us, and pretty much sat there with us from midnight until about 3:30am drinking and talkin with us. Coolest most down to earth guys you could ever meet, and It was cool meeting Rudy for the first time too!

They eventually had to leave to go to their hotels as it was nearly 4am, so i asked Doug if its cool if i could get my copy of the Dio - Killing The Dragon CD signed and he was cool and signed it for me. He took me over to meet Ronnie and get the CD signed too, and Ronnie shook my hand and spoke with me for a minute. Was unreal meeting Ronnie, because i grew up listening to Dio and hes one of my favorite singers of all time. So after that we all left, and from 4:30am until 7am.. me and my dad sat in the train station waiting for the first train of the day so we could get home Was worth it though, my best night ever!

 

[Cornfordcrunch]

Brent,

I was there that night, physically. It was a long day that started at 11AM. I saw Whitesnake on the same grounds the year before I think, it was quite comical because it was during Festa Italiana, bocci ball and Louie Prima in one corner, Whitesnake in the other

That Summerfest show was a blast...and it almost didnt happen for me...my daughter was born two days before it..a pretty good week I thought!

 

[Cornfordcrunch]

In 2005 i got to hang out with Doug Aldrich, Rudy Sarzo and all the other guys in Dio all night til early hours of the morning. Doug had jumped in on the tour to cover for Craig Goldy, and Doug had been given something stupid like 3-4 days to learn the set.. only got to bring 2 guitars and a pedalboard also.. they didnt have time to ship his amps out. This was the show they recorded and released as the Holy Diver Live DVD.

Anyways.. Doug hooked me and my dad up with passes before the show, so we spent the whole show in the front row watchin Doug tear it up and eventually after the show we went to see Doug backstage. It was just me, Doug and my dad sat in this tiny little dressing room talking about the show, the gear, the sound and everything else. So about 15minutes later, a camera man comes in to the room and wants to do an interview with Doug quickly for the dvd bonus features. So the guy gets the camera rolling and Doug does the interview while we'r sat there with him. I actually found that interview on the dvd when it came out, and they edited it so you couldnt see me sat next to him or anyone else there, just Doug.

So the manager of the London Astoria comes in the dressing room and says to Wendy Dio that the band and everyone have to clear out of the venue, because it turns into an all-night club after 11:30pm. A gay club to be precise So the band all get their stuff to leave, and there wasnt any catering sorted for the gig so Wendy arranged for everyone to go to a real nice Indian Restaurant. We got talking with Simon Wright and he tells us whats happening, so Doug said to me, my dad and a couple other friends we were welcome to come and have some food and hang out.

It was only about a 10minute walk from the venue, so we walked and the band went there in the car. When we got there, we had our own table and everything with bottles of wine and food. Doug and Rudy Sarzo came and sat at our table with us, and pretty much sat there with us from midnight until about 3:30am drinking and talkin with us. Coolest most down to earth guys you could ever meet, and It was cool meeting Rudy for the first time too!

They eventually had to leave to go to their hotels as it was nearly 4am, so i asked Doug if its cool if i could get my copy of the Dio - Killing The Dragon CD signed and he was cool and signed it for me. He took me over to meet Ronnie and get the CD signed too, and Ronnie shook my hand and spoke with me for a minute. Was unreal meeting Ronnie, because i grew up listening to Dio and hes one of my favorite singers of all time. So after that we all left, and from 4:30am until 7am.. me and my dad sat in the train station waiting for the first train of the day so we could get home Was worth it though, my best night ever!

Dude that is AWESOME. I think Simon Wright was in a band called Rhino Bucket years ago...we did a show with them and afterwards a very intoxicated Simon was outside the club bashing his head into a telephone pole...interesting fella.

 

[Jakem]

In 2005 i got to hang out with Doug Aldrich, Rudy Sarzo and all the other guys in Dio all night til early hours of the morning. Doug had jumped in on the tour to cover for Craig Goldy, and Doug had been given something stupid like 3-4 days to learn the set.. only got to bring 2 guitars and a pedalboard also.. they didnt have time to ship his amps out. This was the show they recorded and released as the Holy Diver Live DVD.

Anyways.. Doug hooked me and my dad up with passes before the show, so we spent the whole show in the front row watchin Doug tear it up and eventually after the show we went to see Doug backstage. It was just me, Doug and my dad sat in this tiny little dressing room talking about the show, the gear, the sound and everything else. So about 15minutes later, a camera man comes in to the room and wants to do an interview with Doug quickly for the dvd bonus features. So the guy gets the camera rolling and Doug does the interview while we'r sat there with him. I actually found that interview on the dvd when it came out, and they edited it so you couldnt see me sat next to him or anyone else there, just Doug.

So the manager of the London Astoria comes in the dressing room and says to Wendy Dio that the band and everyone have to clear out of the venue, because it turns into an all-night club after 11:30pm. A gay club to be precise So the band all get their stuff to leave, and there wasnt any catering sorted for the gig so Wendy arranged for everyone to go to a real nice Indian Restaurant. We got talking with Simon Wright and he tells us whats happening, so Doug said to me, my dad and a couple other friends we were welcome to come and have some food and hang out.

It was only about a 10minute walk from the venue, so we walked and the band went there in the car. When we got there, we had our own table and everything with bottles of wine and food. Doug and Rudy Sarzo came and sat at our table with us, and pretty much sat there with us from midnight until about 3:30am drinking and talkin with us. Coolest most down to earth guys you could ever meet, and It was cool meeting Rudy for the first time too!

They eventually had to leave to go to their hotels as it was nearly 4am, so i asked Doug if its cool if i could get my copy of the Dio - Killing The Dragon CD signed and he was cool and signed it for me. He took me over to meet Ronnie and get the CD signed too, and Ronnie shook my hand and spoke with me for a minute. Was unreal meeting Ronnie, because i grew up listening to Dio and hes one of my favorite singers of all time. So after that we all left, and from 4:30am until 7am.. me and my dad sat in the train station waiting for the first train of the day so we could get home Was worth it though, my best night ever!

Now that's a killer story, Dan!!!

 

[Jakem]

Just curious if anyone has any cool stories to share about one on one or likewise hang time with any of your guitar heroes or otherwise nationally successful musicians.

Here's a few of mine.

In 2005 my band opened for Whitesnake at Summerfest in Milwaukee Wi. We were the 8pm band before their 10 pm slot. Our slot got bumped ahead an hour to allow their crew more time for changeover. Half way through our show I turned around to switch guitars and Doug Aldrich, Reb Beach and Tommy Aldridge were standing 10 feet away next to our monitor guy watching us. A little intimidating! We finished up our set and Reb approached ME to talk shop! Stating we were the best cover band he's ever seen and he loved our guitar tones. (Im sure this was small talk, but VERY cool nonetheless) We talked alot about specific production things on the Winger records etc..and his stint with Dokken. Shortly after, Doug came over and we wound up hanging in their trailer until just minutes before their show time. I also got to spend a considerable amount of time before our show with Maddy(Dougs tech) who used to tech for John Petrucci. He walked me through Doug's rig and fired it up so I could hear the stage tone. Monstrous to say the least! Got to hang with everyone except Coverdale. He didnt come off the bus...kind of a bummer...but standing in a trailer with just your band members and Doug and Reb and Tommy Aldridge was pretty cool....but this next one was even cooler....

In fall of 2006 Toto came through Potowatomi Casino in Milwaukee. Ive always been a HUGE Luke fan and this is a great upclose venue to see a show at. A friend got us tickets in advance...what he didnt tell us was that he also got us pre-show passes. We went back to meet the band in a typical meet and greet fashion...the "how ya doin" "can I get a picture" thing...after everyone left the singer in my band and I started grilling Luke on obscure album cuts from old Toto records and sessions that he'd done in the past. This really got him going..so much that their manager was like "Luke, you need to get onstage...like NOW....so Luke hands us 4 after show passes....We go out and watch the show,,,amazing!
Afterwards we go back and its Toto and me, my singer, his wife and another friend of mine hanging out rapping...

Luke and I are off on the other side of the room and started the gear head jabber. I asked about a hum I was having in my rig and what he thought I could try....he says" Im not a techie" you should talk to Bob my tech....He takes me over to the door that leads to the stage from the dressing room and starts yelling "BOB where you at"? and up walks Bob. It was fucking Bob Bradshaw...I never put it together until he walked through the door that on occasion Bradshaw still goes out with Luke to tech...So Steve Lukather and Bob Bradshaw are talking me through the many avenues of ground loops...I actually thought to myself...how many guitar players in the world would sell their grandmother for this oppurtunity....Crazy...

Then Luke says, were gonna bail but you guys should come back to the hotel and hang with us..its the last night of the tour so were having a little party in the hotel bar...so we go....it's the 4 of us, Toto and about 5 other people. Lukather starts buying drinks and snacks for us...so now Im snacking with Lukather while he's showing me the people's names in his cell phone....I tried to get him to call up Paul Mcartney but he wouldnt...he would have called Landau...but I stopped him
he shared stories of sessions with everyone you can think of...the gear list he's got is pretty incredible...a Les Paul as a gift from George Harrison...and at this time he led me to believe that Dave would be back with VH....hmmmm.

The last one was last year. A good friend of mine is a pilot for Jet Blue. He's a Christian and former rock/metal guitar player. Over the last 6 years or so he has gotten to be very tight with the Stryper guys...especially Oz and Michael....love em or hate em, they chose nearly perfect notes in their harmony leads and Ive always been a big fan of their stuff. He kept telling us that they had seen my bands DVD and wanted to fly out and see us...blah blah blah...
Anyway, last summer my friend calls me up for a barbecue....says bring a guitar and an amp...So, I did. I get to his house and out of the garage walks Oz asking if I needed help with my gear...Id met him before on the reunion tour and got to hang out, but this was still strange...we take my gear down to where we'll be jamming and their sits the Jackson with silver paint and Bullet graphic from Against the Law..and the Wayne Oz fox model...let me just say...those guitars are set up so well they practically play themselves..anyway, we started to Jam...I wanted to dissect some of the harmony leads so we could play them together with me playing Michaels parts...we got through a bunch of stuff off Soldiers under Command...I was like a kid with a big shit eating grin on my face...what an absolute blast...

sorry for being long winded!
Brent

Whoah! Amazing stories, Brent!

 

[J.B.]

In 2005 i got to hang out with Doug Aldrich, Rudy Sarzo and all the other guys in Dio all night til early hours of the morning. Doug had jumped in on the tour to cover for Craig Goldy, and Doug had been given something stupid like 3-4 days to learn the set.. only got to bring 2 guitars and a pedalboard also.. they didnt have time to ship his amps out. This was the show they recorded and released as the Holy Diver Live DVD.

Anyways.. Doug hooked me and my dad up with passes before the show, so we spent the whole show in the front row watchin Doug tear it up and eventually after the show we went to see Doug backstage. It was just me, Doug and my dad sat in this tiny little dressing room talking about the show, the gear, the sound and everything else. So about 15minutes later, a camera man comes in to the room and wants to do an interview with Doug quickly for the dvd bonus features. So the guy gets the camera rolling and Doug does the interview while we'r sat there with him. I actually found that interview on the dvd when it came out, and they edited it so you couldnt see me sat next to him or anyone else there, just Doug.

So the manager of the London Astoria comes in the dressing room and says to Wendy Dio that the band and everyone have to clear out of the venue, because it turns into an all-night club after 11:30pm. A gay club to be precise So the band all get their stuff to leave, and there wasnt any catering sorted for the gig so Wendy arranged for everyone to go to a real nice Indian Restaurant. We got talking with Simon Wright and he tells us whats happening, so Doug said to me, my dad and a couple other friends we were welcome to come and have some food and hang out.

It was only about a 10minute walk from the venue, so we walked and the band went there in the car. When we got there, we had our own table and everything with bottles of wine and food. Doug and Rudy Sarzo came and sat at our table with us, and pretty much sat there with us from midnight until about 3:30am drinking and talkin with us. Coolest most down to earth guys you could ever meet, and It was cool meeting Rudy for the first time too!

They eventually had to leave to go to their hotels as it was nearly 4am, so i asked Doug if its cool if i could get my copy of the Dio - Killing The Dragon CD signed and he was cool and signed it for me. He took me over to meet Ronnie and get the CD signed too, and Ronnie shook my hand and spoke with me for a minute. Was unreal meeting Ronnie, because i grew up listening to Dio and hes one of my favorite singers of all time. So after that we all left, and from 4:30am until 7am.. me and my dad sat in the train station waiting for the first train of the day so we could get home Was worth it though, my best night ever!

Dude that is AWESOME. I think Simon Wright was in a band called Rhino Bucket years ago...we did a show with them and afterwards a very intoxicated Simon was outside the club bashing his head into a telephone pole...interesting fella.

That show wasn't in Appleton was it? We did a show with Rhinobucket back in the day too. I remeber there was a couple other local bands.

 

[MrDan666]

Dude that is AWESOME. I think Simon Wright was in a band called Rhino Bucket years ago...we did a show with them and afterwards a very intoxicated Simon was outside the club bashing his head into a telephone pole...interesting fella.

Yeah i think you're right, Simon is one awesome drummer and a real nice guy too!!!

Cool stories from ya too man, Luke seems like such a cool person

 

[Cornfordcrunch]

In 2005 i got to hang out with Doug Aldrich, Rudy Sarzo and all the other guys in Dio all night til early hours of the morning. Doug had jumped in on the tour to cover for Craig Goldy, and Doug had been given something stupid like 3-4 days to learn the set.. only got to bring 2 guitars and a pedalboard also.. they didnt have time to ship his amps out. This was the show they recorded and released as the Holy Diver Live DVD.

Anyways.. Doug hooked me and my dad up with passes before the show, so we spent the whole show in the front row watchin Doug tear it up and eventually after the show we went to see Doug backstage. It was just me, Doug and my dad sat in this tiny little dressing room talking about the show, the gear, the sound and everything else. So about 15minutes later, a camera man comes in to the room and wants to do an interview with Doug quickly for the dvd bonus features. So the guy gets the camera rolling and Doug does the interview while we'r sat there with him. I actually found that interview on the dvd when it came out, and they edited it so you couldnt see me sat next to him or anyone else there, just Doug.

So the manager of the London Astoria comes in the dressing room and says to Wendy Dio that the band and everyone have to clear out of the venue, because it turns into an all-night club after 11:30pm. A gay club to be precise So the band all get their stuff to leave, and there wasnt any catering sorted for the gig so Wendy arranged for everyone to go to a real nice Indian Restaurant. We got talking with Simon Wright and he tells us whats happening, so Doug said to me, my dad and a couple other friends we were welcome to come and have some food and hang out.

It was only about a 10minute walk from the venue, so we walked and the band went there in the car. When we got there, we had our own table and everything with bottles of wine and food. Doug and Rudy Sarzo came and sat at our table with us, and pretty much sat there with us from midnight until about 3:30am drinking and talkin with us. Coolest most down to earth guys you could ever meet, and It was cool meeting Rudy for the first time too!

They eventually had to leave to go to their hotels as it was nearly 4am, so i asked Doug if its cool if i could get my copy of the Dio - Killing The Dragon CD signed and he was cool and signed it for me. He took me over to meet Ronnie and get the CD signed too, and Ronnie shook my hand and spoke with me for a minute. Was unreal meeting Ronnie, because i grew up listening to Dio and hes one of my favorite singers of all time. So after that we all left, and from 4:30am until 7am.. me and my dad sat in the train station waiting for the first train of the day so we could get home Was worth it though, my best night ever!

Dude that is AWESOME. I think Simon Wright was in a band called Rhino Bucket years ago...we did a show with them and afterwards a very intoxicated Simon was outside the club bashing his head into a telephone pole...interesting fella.

That show wasn't in Appleton was it? We did a show with Rhinobucket back in the day too. I remeber there was a couple other local bands.

No..it was in Rapids at a place called Peaches.

 

[J.B.]

No..it was in Rapids at a place called Peaches.

Ah ok. I thought we might have done another gig together we didn't know about.

 

[Cornfordcrunch]

Dude that is AWESOME. I think Simon Wright was in a band called Rhino Bucket years ago...we did a show with them and afterwards a very intoxicated Simon was outside the club bashing his head into a telephone pole...interesting fella.

Yeah i think you're right, Simon is one awesome drummer and a real nice guy too!!!

Cool stories from ya too man, Luke seems like such a cool person

Luke is really cool..gave us his home email and actually replies to them...strangely, no matter what time you send him something he replies within minutes...he must have an email robot...

 

[* velcro-fly *]

I hung out with Kage in New York

I was Jack Johnsons first guitar teacher and have known him since he was in diapers....

I've hooked up with for numerous shows, but the best was standing on stage for two hours for Ben Harpers set at Columbia Meadows, about ten feet from Mark Ford and geeking out on Fords guitars and Harpers Weissenborns with Harpers guitar tech, drinking Heinekens and tripping out on the fact that a kid I've known his whole life just got done playing a set for 20,000 people who were singing along with every song. Surreal. Mark Ford was freaking awesome - it was also my first experience with a Roccaforte wound up to concert volume, sounded insane.