Unexpected run-ins with music people

I saw CC Adcock at the Mastodon show in Lafayette in 2004.

Shot pool in a dive bar with some of the guys in REM after a show.

Met Mickey Hart and Bob Weir after a Dead show back in 90's. Very nice guys.

Saw Michael Jackson at a surprise in-store guerrilla autograph session at Tower Records in Washington D.C. Got him to autograph one of his CDs

Met Thurston Moore from Sonic Youth in a bar. He's a dick.

Same goes for Perry Ferrell

Saw Charlie Watts in a restaurant when the Stones were in town.

Sat in first class on a flight from Burbank to Dallas with Smokey Robinson.

I think I've told this story before but here goes...

When I was living in Tallahassee, a friend of mine (Mark) and I went to the FSU course to play a round of golf one afternoon. It was just us two so we got paired up with another twosome. One of them was a business-looking guy and the other was a younger guy with earrings in both ears and a Zildjian cap (the cymbal maker). The latter introduced himself as Scott.

On about the 3rd hole, Mark strikes up a conversation with the younger one. He says, "You in a band?"

"Yeah"

"You a drummer?"

"Yeah"

"Cool, I used to be a drummer too in a garage band back in Oregon."

This goes on for a little while, Mark asking questions and talking about his former band and getting one-word responses from the other guy. Finally he says, "So what's the name of your band?"

"Creed"

Was waiting on my luggage at a carousel at the airport in Minneapolis. Large crowd standing around. I see drum cases coming down the conveyor and on them they read....Tony Bennett Show. I turn to my right and I'm standing next to Mr. Bennett.

Introduced myself and he was the epitome of class. Autographed my boarding pass for me.

I had to kick Bruce Springsteen's arse one time, because he thought he was my boss.
Believed his own hype.

A group of us from Louisiana took a bus to Washington and New York as tourists when we were young, about 19/20 or so. we went to a NY night club one night and saw Jimi Hendricks when he was alive. He talked to us, was very nice. We went to Nashville in a small group to see it. That afternoon at the motel pool was the Allman Brothers. We talked to them,drank a 6-pack, they were nice.

Was in school with a guy from Germany who finished at Berkely school of music and came down south for graduate school because he was a fan of blues guitar. He started playing with some older guys from north Mississippi, and convinced me to go hang with him at their local joint.

That led to a lot of time, early in the afternoon to early in the morning, hanging at R.L. Burnside's joint with R. L. and Junior Kimbrough and the guys that played with them back then. They were both incredibly nice men. I was not a stellar student at the time.

A few years later, I was involved in organizing a blues festival for a couple of years. Rubbed shoulders with a ton of musicians.

One of my favorite memories, and saddest, was when Levon Helm and James Cotton played Amazing Grace together on harp at a graveside service.

Is that a Run-in? I thought at least some cussin' had to be involved, to qualify as a run-in.

Too many to list off, but the first was the funniest and most memorable.

Dad took Mom, me and my sister along with him on a business trip in Atlanta in the spring of 1981. I was 12 at the time, my sister 7. We were having dinner one evening with one of his biz associates at a really, really nice restaurant, I think it was called the Brass Key, and I noticed Rick Neilson (in a baseball cap and knit sweater of course) and Robin Zander from Cheap Trick eating with some music biz suits at an adjacent table. My Dad asked me at one point why I was staring at the table near us and I told him, "Dad, that's Rick and Robin from Cheap Trick, it's really them!" My Dad's business associate, a regular at the restaurant, flagged the maitre D and whispered something to him, he went to the Rick and Robin's table and whispered something to them, and Rick stood up and flagged me over to the table, saying "bring your little sister too!" Rick pulled up a chair next to him for me, and Robin put my eight-year old sister on his lap (ha!) and we hung out at their table for about 10 minutes. The suits at the table ignored us and kept talking music biz, and I think Rick and Robin were actually pleased to have a couple kids at the table distracting them from the suits' conversation. I don't remember much about what we talked about but I remember asking him where was Bun E., and he said back at the hotel. I remember telling Rick about how much I absolutely loved his checkerboard Hamer explorer on the back cover of "Dream Police," and he joked about me having to tell my Dad to get me a guitar one day. Little did either of us know ... He also signed an autograph to me that I kept in a CT album sleeve for decades. Robin and my little sister literally broke bread together - he put the bread rolls basket in her lap and they proceeded to tear the breads in half and share them. I found out later in life they both had young kids at that time who they were away from a lot due to touring, so their warm welcome and interaction made complete sense. When you miss your kids, I guess any kids you come across will do. Either way, absolutely class acts. Still among my favorite bands of all time.