Will everyone on the internet go, “Pft! Are you kidding? Is that it? Your story?” Yes? Congratulations. Post it here.

December 19, 2011 8:08 PM

Dull rock and roll anecdotes
posted by rollick (434 comments total)

Ooh! I met Noel Gallagher when I was seventeen at a party. He had three beers in one hand. Three cans, sitting in the palm of his hand. I said, "I can't believe you have three beers in one hand. Also, your band is amazing." He said, "Wait, how do you know who I am? You're an American."

I said "..."
posted by sweetkid at 8:11 PM on December 19, 2011 [2 favorites]

Clint Mansell walked into me once.

True story.
posted by pompomtom at 8:11 PM on December 19, 2011 [3 favorites]

I tripped over David Bowie once-in my flat in Berlin, ca. 1978.
posted by pjern at 8:15 PM on December 19, 2011 [7 favorites]

I played golf with Bruce Hornsby.

True story.
posted by mcstayinskool at 8:16 PM on December 19, 2011 [2 favorites]

One time The Zutons asked me where to go to pick up birds but I'm gay so I had no idea.
posted by yellowbinder at 8:16 PM on December 19, 2011 [2 favorites]

I saw Seal at the Phoenix airport. He was walking down the hallway.
posted by deborah at 8:17 PM on December 19, 2011 [2 favorites]

I saw Rod Stewart in the Atlanta airport, around the year 1979 or so. He was standing with about three young women, all rather pretty. It was late at night, and the terminal area we were in was almost empty. I passed them at some distance: I looked at them and they looked at me. I know they were thinking "he knows who we are".

Aside from "Maggie", I actively disliked Rod Stewart, so I just kept on my way.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 8:18 PM on December 19, 2011 [2 favorites]

I raced cars with Edwin McCain.
posted by LordSludge at 8:18 PM on December 19, 2011

One if the guys from Buffalo Tom explained what a Navy Cut cigarette is to me.
posted by Ad hominem at 8:21 PM on December 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

Also Randy Bachman fostered my cat for a few months and his wife renamed her.
posted by yellowbinder at 8:21 PM on December 19, 2011 [2 favorites]

Barry Manilow sang at one of my cousin's weddings once. Apparently we are related to him. I asked my mother, "Why didn't I know that?" She said, "We don't really like to talk about it."
posted by kittenmarlowe at 8:22 PM on December 19, 2011 [68 favorites]

I held Pete Townsend up from falling down drunk. I think I broke Keith Godchaux hand. I lent Rory Gallagher my earplugs. I spilled beer all over Ian Anderson.

Yeah. Worked at a nightclub.
posted by sfts2 at 8:23 PM on December 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

kittenmarlowe - Your mom was quite smart.
posted by sfts2 at 8:24 PM on December 19, 2011

I was at college and we had a visiting junior art professor from Leeds who knew the guys from Cud. Her name was Emma, and I meant to ask her if she's the Emma from their song "Magic Alex," but I forgot.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 8:24 PM on December 19, 2011

In the Toronto Eaton Centre, I once saw Moe Berg from Pursuit of Happiness in a pet store looking at dogs.

At the Loblaw's at the corner, I stood in line behind Bruce Cockburn, who was buying an issue of the National Post.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 8:26 PM on December 19, 2011

Ian MacKaye once yelled at my s/o for leaving her coat in their dressing room.

Of course, everyone has a Ian MacKaye-yelling-at-me-for-something story.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 8:26 PM on December 19, 2011 [5 favorites]

I was at a guy's house having a meeting (he was managing a driver we were trying to sign) and we had to wrap things up because he had 'the band' coming over for his daughter's 5th birthday - some mates of his he went to school with had a band, apparently. The doorbell rang as we were walking towards the front door. It was 'the band'.

It was UB40. Standing on the doorstep. Coming to play at his daughter's 5th birthday.
posted by Brockles at 8:26 PM on December 19, 2011 [2 favorites]

I saw Dave Pirner from Soul Asylum at the Pearl Paint on Canal Street, right after they hit it big. He was wearing a hoodie and buying art supplies. He saw that i recognized him and made did a little panicked shake of his head to indicate that I should please not make a fuss. So I didn't.
posted by 1adam12 at 8:26 PM on December 19, 2011

was using a urinal at this club one night... it was one of those long "sink" type ones... in walks the night's special guest and one of our mutual friends and we're just there... peeing. i was too starstruck and slightly terrified of peeing on him.

man. i love that place. the club, i mean, not the bathroom in particular.
posted by raihan_ at 8:27 PM on December 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

I was working in a supermarket in Double Bay and spotted Suzi Quatro in a pair of leather jeans. I asked her where she'd got them from, they'd look good on my girlfriend. She said she'd bought them in America. I wandered off to stack some more shelves. I later saw her talking to a man and they were both looking at me. The feller gave me a dirty look.
posted by unliteral at 8:29 PM on December 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

I played a lot of backgammon with Stephen Malkmus. He generally beat me.
posted by procrastination at 8:29 PM on December 19, 2011 [2 favorites]

I was introduced to Bill Berry at the 40 Watt in Athens GA in 1991. I was underage, he was drunk, he bought me a beer. Rolling Rock.
posted by ericost at 8:30 PM on December 19, 2011 [2 favorites]

I saw Justine Fleischmann in Waitrose.
posted by randomination at 8:31 PM on December 19, 2011

Rolling Rock.

Duh.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 8:32 PM on December 19, 2011

I was at my local health food market when KD Lang and several other women ran in, bought some burritos from the refrigerator section, ran back out again, giggling the whole time.
posted by troublesome at 8:32 PM on December 19, 2011 [11 favorites]

Alain Jourgensen let me go into the bathroom ahead of him at a house party in Austin once.

Also, Yoko Ono asked my mother to push the "4" button in an elevator in Chicago. Then Yoko handed my mom a fortune from a cookie and my mother quoted Billy Corrigan at her.
posted by crush-onastick at 8:32 PM on December 19, 2011 [5 favorites]

OH, another one. D-ream (one hit wonders in the UK - Things Can Only Get Better'? That one?) were playing at my university dance thingy above the bar. We used to do a Indie night and they were playing before us. They were a bit shit, and making people leave, so when they stopped for their 'encore' we just shut their feed off and started our set.
posted by Brockles at 8:33 PM on December 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

I made a sandwich for Amy Ray from the Indigo Girls. She came into the deli where I was working and asked for... something vegetarian, I don't recall what. I do remember her asking if we had avocado; we did.
posted by bmarkey at 8:36 PM on December 19, 2011

Not my story, but a girl I worked with was in Las Vegas once, and she and her friend saw Rod Stewart walk by. They called after him, and he turned around and yelled -

"I'm BARRY MANILOW!!!"
posted by Curious Artificer at 8:37 PM on December 19, 2011 [14 favorites]

> In the Toronto Eaton Centre, I once saw Moe Berg from Pursuit of Happiness in a pet store looking at dogs.


Moe Berg once politely asked my wife and I to vacate a table at a pub on Bloor Street (The Tap) where he was DJing because it was reserved for his parents. When we took seats at the bar he sent us a couple of complimentary pints.
posted by The Card Cheat at 8:39 PM on December 19, 2011 [3 favorites]

My father was very proud of his frathouse story when he and his frat brothers made Little Eva cry during a performance.
posted by mykescipark at 8:39 PM on December 19, 2011

ricochet biscuit,

Did Bruce Cockburn have his rocket launcher with him?

Brockles,

D:Ream's Brian Cox went on to a career as a physicist, BBC science presenter, and Internet celebrity.
posted by lukemeister at 8:39 PM on December 19, 2011

When we took seats at the bar he sent us a couple of complimentary pints.

That's awesome, but then so is every TPOH record.
posted by mintcake! at 8:41 PM on December 19, 2011

When my daughter was about 18 months old I used to wash her hair with Dr. Bronners soap and it was short and would sort of stand straight up and we used to say she looked like Laurie Anderson. Then I was at the gym at the W in westwood and Laurie Anderson was there. I didnt have a thing to say to her.
posted by shothotbot at 8:41 PM on December 19, 2011 [4 favorites]

I sold Elliott Smith coffee and oj. I house sat for Lori Barbero. I made t-shirts for a Calvin Johnson band and he has been to my house.
posted by rainperimeter at 8:43 PM on December 19, 2011

I was in the Barnes and Noble near Washington Square park when I saw this scruffy looking dude in the history section.

"There's another poser trying to look like Ric Ocasek," I thought to myself.

Back then ('86 I think) there were thousands of these (slightly) older guys with dyed black hair and shiny leather jackets wandering around the village, so I didn't think much of it. In fact all this posing seemed kind of weird, because I didn't think too much of the Cars, their music, or Ric Ocasek (except to bemoan his good fortune in hooking up with Supermodel Paulina).

I caught up with my buddies, and as we headed back outside they all started whispering feverishly - "Did you see Rick Ocasek in there?"
posted by arkham_inmate_0801 at 8:43 PM on December 19, 2011

Funny how so many people end up peeing next to someone well known. You'd think that celebrities were actually human or something.
posted by Curious Artificer at 8:46 PM on December 19, 2011 [2 favorites]

Clint Mansell walked into me once.

I walked into him at a Revolting Cocks after party, and spilt his pint.
posted by inpHilltr8r at 8:47 PM on December 19, 2011

My mom drive DEVO to a gig.

I have like a thousand of these, BTW, each more mundane then the next!
posted by The Whelk at 8:47 PM on December 19, 2011 [3 favorites]

*drove
posted by The Whelk at 8:47 PM on December 19, 2011

John Medeski handed me a beer at a party once.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 8:47 PM on December 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

I took a 200-level lit class at university, and my teacher for the course was Karl Precoda, who was a graduate English student there at the time.

A firm I was working for was working on Ted Waitt's house, and since I had a truck, I had to go up and remove the washer and dryer and take them someplace else to be donated.
posted by LionIndex at 8:48 PM on December 19, 2011

Walked into the Woodlands Market in Kentfield, Ca with my head down. Literally walked into some guy standing there looking at produce. It was Phil Lesh. I said, "Sorry Mr. Lesh and I really appreciate the good times you created for me and my friends." He said, "Apology accepted and thanks for listening."

3 months later went to see Weir and Wasserman at the Marin County JCC. After the backyard show, when most of the others had packed up and left, I gathered my blanket and the two unopened beers and walked toward my car. Bob Weir was standing outside a classroom that was doubling as his dressing room smoking a cigarette. I said, "Hey Bob, great show." He nodded, took a deep drag on his cig and said, "Thanks." I then asked if he would trade me a cigarette for one of my beers. He said, "Sure". It was an even swap of a Marlboro Light for a Miller High Life. Bobby lit my cigarette, I thanked him and walked to my car. My wife asked why I didn't hang out. Duh. We both only had one cig and one beer left. Time to get more.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 8:49 PM on December 19, 2011 [3 favorites]

After a concert by a band I'm close with, I was invited to a private after party at an exclusive bar that was built on the roof of a less-exclusive bar. It was nice: swimming pool, gorgeous view of the San Diego skyline, excellent cocktails at no charge (record company shenanigans, presumably)... too many cocktails, actually, as the night went on.

After a while, the front man from the band drifted over to me and said, "Dude, I heard someone say Carrie Fischer is here." We exchanged a meaningful stare. We were huge, huge Star Wars fans when young. "Princess fucking Leia, dude." We observed the surrounding groups of people more carefully. And there she was, not far away, laughing with a group of friends.

Him: "Holy shit, dude. Should we say hi?"
Me: "We should absolutely not say hi."
Him: "I could... oohhh, dude... I could play her theme!"

I am less extroverted than him and would have advised against it, but the rest of the band was now egging him on, and, again, many cocktails had been consumed. He uncased his instrument, tuned quietly, and then approached while we stood some distance away and tried to watch casually, our hearts in our throats.

We saw him lean over her to say something we couldn't hear, then we went down to a knee and began playing her theme... somewhat hamming it up with puppydog eyes, but playing it beautifully nonetheless. Immediately, one of her male friends said, "What is this?" Her group seemed understandably protective of her. But she said, "No, it's okay... this is my theme," and listened to the whole thing with a slight smile. Then she gave him a hug and he returned. We sauntered to a farther part of the rooftop, then danced around and quiet-whooped with excitement.

In retrospect, she probably ought to've told him to fuck right off, sir. That was before either of us knew much about the real Carrie Fischer, and that she hasn't particularly enjoyed being chained to Princess Leia... but she handled it with grace and good humor. I'm thankful for the excellent memory and story.

They're not a rock band, though, so this might be a complete derail.
posted by gilrain at 8:52 PM on December 19, 2011 [18 favorites]

I waited in line behind Michael Stipe at a drug store in Athens, GA. He paid for his things, and then left.

My wife dropped her keys from the balcony at a Morphine concert. While we were down on the main floor after the show looking for them, Mark Sandman came down the stairs, stopped, looked at us, smiled halfway, waved, and then walked out.
posted by 40 Watt at 8:53 PM on December 19, 2011 [3 favorites]

It was UB40. Standing on the doorstep. Coming to play at his daughter's 5th birthday.

I dunno, Brockles, this is perilously close to being an exciting rock and roll anecdote.


My aunt is the dental hygienist in the practice of the dentist who looks after kd lang's teeth. They are perfect: she has never had a cavity.

I shared an elevator ride with Annie Lennox and some of her entourage.

I was entering a building once at a music festival, struggling to get my bass, my banjo and my luggage all through the front door. The guy behind me said, "Here, let me get that for you," and held the door. I turned to thank him and found it was Murray McLauchlan.

My ex was going to school in Minneapolis and in a crowded movie theatre once shared an armrest with Gordon Gano.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 8:54 PM on December 19, 2011

I was driving a delivery truck through Tucson, Arizona and had to stop for a red light. When I looked over at the bus that stopped next to me, I saw Merle Haggard looking out the window at me. I waved. He tipped his hat. The light went green and I pulled away.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 8:54 PM on December 19, 2011 [2 favorites]

On the pre-tour tour before the big Downward Spiral tour, I saw NIN and a just-released Marilyn Manson at a (poorly-prepared) club in Dallas. During NIN, I fell out of the pit and retreated off to one side. I stood in front of Marilyn Manson (band + man). They were all drinking water and wearing earplugs.

I don't even remember exactly how the story played out, but when I was a wee non-driving thing my mother took me to see Love and Rockets with Jane's Addiction at a little theater in Dallas. Later, she told me she met Perry Farrell in the ladies' room, and he was very nice (and washed his hands).
posted by Lyn Never at 8:55 PM on December 19, 2011

I was standing at the end of the security line at MSP airport this past summer and Craig Finn lined up behind me. He saw that I recognized him and started fiddling with his cell phone.
posted by substars at 8:56 PM on December 19, 2011 [3 favorites]

I played golf with Bruce Hornsby.

What kind of range did he have?
posted by Celsius1414 at 9:05 PM on December 19, 2011 [22 favorites]

I once got to go backstage to meet the Captain. And Tennille.

It was scary. I hid behind my dad.
posted by ook at 9:08 PM on December 19, 2011 [7 favorites]

Max Roach came up to use the urinal next to mine. I got nervous and had to "pretend" I was peeing.
posted by bonobothegreat at 9:09 PM on December 19, 2011 [8 favorites]

Several years ago, my friend and I were in the front row in Vegas for a Barenaked Ladies concert. I caught Kevin Hearn staring absentmindedly in my direction, so I mouthed "I love you" and gave him a huge wink, causing him to start and look down at his keyboard.

1 1/2 hours later, Kevin and his cousin were seated right next to me and my friend at a 24-hour restaurant. Which was not awkward at all.

PS - I'd also like to go on record that my father, a young elevator operator at the time, once operated the elevator at the St. Francis in San Francisco for a very drunk Rat Pack.
posted by luminarias at 9:11 PM on December 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

I saw Suzi Quatro and her entourage at the Copenhagen airport.

I saw (and talked to) Elvis Costello in the UBC Anthropology Museum in Vancouver, Canada. After 20 minutes of going "that guy looks just like Elvis Costello - nah, couldn't be - but really!". He acted like he wanted to be left alone but graciously let me snap a quick photo.
posted by matildaben at 9:11 PM on December 19, 2011

Oh, also my father-in-law sat next to Frank Black on a plane. And my friend's father sat next to Dolly Parton and had a wonderful conversation, without knowing who she was beforehand (he's British).

This is just the definition of unfair.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 9:11 PM on December 19, 2011 [2 favorites]

I once paid actual money to see a The Cure show and regretted it and considered writing somebody a letter but didn't. And that is my story of my intimate night with Robert Smith.
posted by tumid dahlia at 9:12 PM on December 19, 2011 [2 favorites]

I showed Glen Danzig where the styrofoam cups for hot beverages were located.
posted by Kloryne at 9:12 PM on December 19, 2011 [6 favorites]

While taking a smoke break, I saw MCA rolling down Greenwich Street on his long skateboard.
posted by swift at 9:14 PM on December 19, 2011

I met the guys from Public Enemy when a friend was in the Black Eyed Peas back up band (they were opening) and had invited me back stage. Public Enemy guys: gracious and welcoming. Black Eyed Peas guys: obnoxious twats.
posted by Belle O'Cosity at 9:14 PM on December 19, 2011 [11 favorites]

Vanilla Ice got a tattoo the next chair over from me. (He liked mine.)
posted by restless_nomad at 9:17 PM on December 19, 2011 [5 favorites]

Friend of mine sat next to Cheryl Crow on a very long flight to Spain, in which it transpired that neither my friend nor the flight attendants knew whom she was. This was very upsetting to Ms. Crow.

I ran into Maria Muldaur (literally) on the stairs at one of the early Bammies. I was volunteering to serve drinks in exchange for getting to see the show.

Hung out with Hootie and the Blowfish before a show once. The second nicest rock stars you'll ever meet. The nicest is undoubtably Glen Philips.
posted by zomg at 9:18 PM on December 19, 2011 [4 favorites]

I know a guy who was trying to drive out of the parking lot of the Basement, a local club with a windy, cramped exit. He was blocked by a man on foot with horn rimmed glasses, sideburns, the usual Nashville music nerd look. He rolled down the window and yelled, "Hey Ben Folds, get the fuck out of the way!". The man on foot turned around, and it was Ben Folds.

I've run into Ben Folds a few times. Most people I know have a boring Ben Folds story. I get the impression that he's kind of absent-minded.
posted by Toothless Willy at 9:19 PM on December 19, 2011 [7 favorites]

I got really high with Sean Lennon in between sets at the Met Cafe in Providence, RI when our band was opening for Cibo Matto. He commented that he had the same boom box as I was using to tape our bands' shows; we both appreciated it as a good sturdy boom box with surprisingly excellent recording quality.
posted by not_on_display at 9:22 PM on December 19, 2011 [6 favorites]

My dad claims he once put up the Smothers Brothers at his parents house in the early sixties, either before or after a gig in Gaslight Square. Verdict? Nice guys.
posted by gc at 9:24 PM on December 19, 2011 [2 favorites]

I sat in Al Jourgenson's girlfriend's living room, with the two of them. She did all the talking. Later I shared malt liquor with a Fuckemos roadie.
posted by swift at 9:25 PM on December 19, 2011

When I was 15 and working at the ice cream shop in the food court of the city's newest mall, security shut the food court down so that a group of teen singers could eat fast food in peace. I guess they were there for the Big Lakefront Music Festival happening that week.

My co-workers were squealing so much that the manager put me up front, because he realized that I wasn't a fan of the group. One member came over and ordered three scoops of butter pecan in a waffle cone. I served him, he paid and then walked away.

One girl yanked me into the back, not understanding why I treated him like any other customer. "Do you know who that was?" she cried (no, really, she was crying). "DO YOU KNOW WHO THAT WAAASSS!!????" "No," I replied. "Who was he?"

It was Bobby Brown.
posted by droplet at 9:25 PM on December 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

I once worked back stage moving stuff around for an outdoor show at some farm that had about 5.000 people there. I was asked to go into Charlie Daniel's trailer/dressing room and get the amp he was warming up with. I knocked and entered. I told him I was there for the amp. He was talking to a few people and just nodded. Oh crap. His cowboy hat was on the amp. "Excuse me, Mr. Daniels? What should I do with your hat?" "Keep it," he said in his southern drawl. "Really?" I mumbled in my NY slang. "Naw, don't be a dumb shit; give it to me." I did, grabbed the amp and left.

At the same show, the drummer for Marshall Tucker asked me to help set up his kit. I was to get a crate numbered 36. He said to be real careful wheeling it up and not to turn it on its side. I brought it up. He opened it slowly and it was a portable bar! We did a shot of tequila then I left to help someone else.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 9:26 PM on December 19, 2011 [2 favorites]

Spoon's Britt Daniel came to see my husband's rockabilly band play. He also said this about them. It's a boring story because, um, I didn't talk to him, and because my husband is the bass player, not the main guy that Daniel praises.
posted by Toothless Willy at 9:27 PM on December 19, 2011

I was best friends with Billy Ray Cyrus' son, Trace, and road 4-wheelers with Billy on his land a few times.
posted by zephyr_words at 9:29 PM on December 19, 2011 [2 favorites]

Another one:

Some years back, I once walked past Noel Gallagher in front of the Oxfam thrift shop on Hampstead High Street.

He was scowling.

I've got a ton of 'em, living in NYC, so I won't tell any more. It'd hardly be fair.
posted by droplet at 9:29 PM on December 19, 2011

owen pallet once drove me back home from a mountain goats show.
posted by PinkMoose at 9:30 PM on December 19, 2011 [2 favorites]

zephyr, tell me everything about trace cyrus.
posted by PinkMoose at 9:31 PM on December 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

I invited Tim Reynolds to come play at a benefit concert at my high school, and he showed up and played a mind-blowing set. The crowd was mostly comprised of students and I think we charged 5 bucks or so.
posted by itstheclamsname at 9:32 PM on December 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

I went on a backyard campout with Eric Harvey of Spoon. I was drunk, demanded his guitar, and proceeded to play it badly.
posted by swift at 9:33 PM on December 19, 2011 [2 favorites]

Erik Rutan (Hate Eternal) hit on my wife-to-be at a show.

I went to NAMM one year, tripped one of the douchebags in Orgy, and shook Danny Carey's hand at a signing booth. And followed Adam Jones around for an hour without working up the balls to introduce myself.
posted by Existential Dread at 9:34 PM on December 19, 2011

Three Fridays ago I was walking to the train station after work when I saw a group of guys standing outside it. They all had big hair, lensless glasses and horrible flouro leopard skin pants. My first though was Wankers! And my second thought was that actually, they looked like being a wanker was, I dunno, their job? They seemed kind of professional about it. Also they had LMFAO tshirts which I'd heard was a band so I assumed they were hardcore fans or promoters or something. So I went home and googled LMFAO, decided I would like to sex Redfoo* and realised I had just missed my opportunity when I walked past him & the other ones half an hour earlier.

*I know this is shameful but the pants area wants what the pants area wants.
posted by Wantok at 9:34 PM on December 19, 2011 [8 favorites]

I was a couple of seats behind Little Richard on a Southwest flight to Nashville from Midway a couple of years ago. He was wearing an all-red suit and a red fedora and sunglasses and looked pretty damn resplendent. He talked to the flight attendant and had a hoarse voice.
posted by blucevalo at 9:36 PM on December 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

In 2003 I caught The Fall live at some crappy little club in Houston. There was an open courtyard behind the bar/stage area where you could go outside and sit at tables. The band members happened to be out back drinking and chatting with fans while the opening act was playing. Mark E. Smith would peek out occasionally from a dingy waiting room further back. I chanced to almost run straight into him when we were both going through the same doorway out into the courtyard. It was a bit of an odd mirror encounter, because we are about the same height and build and both had on white button down dress shirts and brown slacks (I didn't change after work). But I'm about 20 years his junior and generally have a healthy glow compared to his pallor. I said "hi Mark" kind of meekly and he just stared at me curiously for a moment then hurried back to the band's private room.
posted by Burhanistan at 9:36 PM on December 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

I DJd at a party where The Crystal Method were performing in the mid-90s (this was back when they were still on the City of Angels label) and they mimed their entire show to a DAT and were just awful in every other way. To this day, I can't abide by their tunes.
posted by beaucoupkevin at 9:38 PM on December 19, 2011

I bought a beer for Evan Dando once.
posted by cerulgalactus at 9:42 PM on December 19, 2011 [2 favorites]

Oh, and one time Boyd Rice stared at me for practically his entire set.
posted by Burhanistan at 9:43 PM on December 19, 2011 [2 favorites]

In 2006, I worked near Music Row and wanted to make a run to the bank during my lunch break. I cut through some parking lots, walking as quickly as I could, head down, worried about the time or whatever. I sensed some weird body language from a group of guys nearby, so I looked up -- it was Dierks Bentley and some friends, staring at me with apprehension, ready to protect Dierks from me. I had been charging them like a frowning, autograph-seeking rhino. I veered away, embarrassed.
posted by Toothless Willy at 9:45 PM on December 19, 2011

Rivers Cuomo was walking out of Guitar Center while I was walking in. When I realized who I had just seen, I ran back out to find him, but he was gone.
posted by grog at 9:45 PM on December 19, 2011

Willie Nelson used to park his tour bus in front of my apartment. Later I was an extra on a Western movie set he owned. People called it Willieville.
posted by swift at 9:45 PM on December 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

Well, we were both kids so the details aren't going to get much more dull than this, hah. Back then Trace and I both liked Power Rangers quite a bit. I had moved to TN from MD and he thought that was cool because he was a Redskins fan. I think he liked them just because of the Native American connection and we were both too young to consider the image racist. He had one hell of a mullet with a rat tail. LEGO was another favorite. We liked running around the acres and acres of land by our houses building forts, riding go-karts, and doing all sorts of stuff like that.

I moved away to Florida and we lost touch. I hadn't even thought to look up what he was doing until a few years after Miley became very popular (I babysat her a few times...she must have been 3 or 4?). I was very surprised at the full shirt of tattoos. I thought it was cool both of us got so involved in music though. At the time we did little more than listen to it.
posted by zephyr_words at 9:46 PM on December 19, 2011 [3 favorites]

Last week Matt Beninger came into the record shop where I worked. I discreetly said, "Your name is Matt, right?" He smiled knowingly and said "No." I Googled him and in one of the pictures he was wearing the same shirt.
posted by You Should See the Other Guy at 9:47 PM on December 19, 2011 [3 favorites]

I was in a Thai restaurant when Tracy Chapman came in to pick up her order of Thai food to go. The friend I was there with leaned over to look out the window to see if her double-parked car was a fast car.

I stood in line behind most of REM waiting to go see the band X. We chatted briefly about another band playing in a bar we were standing in front of.
posted by gingerbeer at 9:48 PM on December 19, 2011

My dad did the lights for the Carlos Santana Blues Band at his younger sister's high school prom.

I saw Amanda Palmer and Ben Folds at Cafe Coco in Nashville one morning. They were talking and drinking coffee. I didn't bother them.
posted by WidgetAlley at 9:49 PM on December 19, 2011

Aargh. Berninger.
posted by You Should See the Other Guy at 9:49 PM on December 19, 2011

I once ate fried chicken with Macy Gray at an after party at the Hollywood Athletic Club. I crashed her party, helped myself to some food and took a seat by myself on a large velvet couch. A few moments later Macy Gray arrives with her entire entourage. They get their own food and then sit around me on the couch where we ate our fried chicken in awkward silence.
posted by cazoo at 9:52 PM on December 19, 2011 [3 favorites]

Mark E Smith hugged me.

Dave Gedge of the Wedding Present has never forgiven me.

I can see Margo from the Cowboy Junkies house from here.

I shared a lift with Paul Young.

I saw Kevin Rowland asleep in a deckchair.

My wife's ex-best friend went out with the bass player from Barenaked Ladies.

My wife sat next to Chris Martin at a movie once.

My drummer's kids take riding lessons from the daughter of Metallica's recording engineer.

I sold my Vox Continental to a krautrock pioneer.

My Korg CX-3 used to be owned by Blue Rodeo.

I could go on and on.
posted by unSane at 9:52 PM on December 19, 2011

Oh, yeah. And Natalie Merchant totally ogled me in 1984.
posted by unSane at 9:53 PM on December 19, 2011

When I was seven, a guy who really looked like Kenny Rogers (at least to my seven year old eyes) was a parent at a swim meet I was in. I asked him point blank if he was Kenny Rogers and he said "Yes!". It took me a few years to realize that it was just some random dude with a white beard who probably got that a lot.
posted by Burhanistan at 9:54 PM on December 19, 2011 [13 favorites]

My mother-in-law was behind Ric Ocasek at a grocery-store checkout once.
posted by swift at 9:56 PM on December 19, 2011

Okay, Burhanistan wins.
posted by Curious Artificer at 9:56 PM on December 19, 2011 [2 favorites]

When I was 16, I asked Stuart Adamson how he made his guitar sound like a bagpipe and he told me.
posted by unSane at 9:57 PM on December 19, 2011

Zephyr, I would watch a short film of that
posted by PinkMoose at 9:58 PM on December 19, 2011

I once passed Tommy Iommi on the escalator at Water Tower Place in Chicago. The only reason I recognized him was because he was on the cover of an issue of Guitar Player that was was in my bathroom for, like, six months.
posted by Hey Dean Yeager! at 9:59 PM on December 19, 2011

Alison Krauss, to my teenaged dismay, repeatedly complimented my appearance and said she wanted to take me on a date. I laughed nervously, because... joke, right? It was a little awkward.
posted by gilrain at 9:59 PM on December 19, 2011 [2 favorites]

My wife has a personalized B-52's guitar pick that Fred Schneider threw at her.
posted by swift at 10:02 PM on December 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

My friend's wife was propositioned by Bob Dylan in an obnoxious manner.

Sloan invited me and some friends to go swimming in the lake with them but we decided to go and have a beer instead.
posted by unSane at 10:02 PM on December 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

Ivor Cutler gave my wife a sticker which said "To remove this sticker, take it off".
posted by unSane at 10:03 PM on December 19, 2011 [15 favorites]

I've had several incidents that would fit in this thread, all of which are boring and I'll not trouble you with them.
posted by tomswift at 10:04 PM on December 19, 2011

I went to a party and Justine Fleischman was one of a few people dancing. I wanted to dance with her (or near her) but I just stood there and didn't do anything.
posted by stinkycheese at 10:04 PM on December 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

I picked my sister up from Jimmie Dale Gilmore's house once. His living room was tastefully decorated and orderly.
posted by swift at 10:08 PM on December 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

Yeah, I met Dr. Martin Luther King in 1962 in Memphis, Tennessee. I'm walkin' down the street, mindin' my own business, just walkin' along, feelin' good. I walk around a corner. A man walk up, hit me in my chest, right? I fall on the ground, right? And I look up, and it's Dr. Martin Luther King! I said, 'Dr. King!' He said, 'Oops, I thought you was somebody else.'
posted by bessel functions seem unnecessarily complicated at 10:12 PM on December 19, 2011

I stood next to Ringo Starr at a Lee Mavers gig. He's really short.
posted by unSane at 10:12 PM on December 19, 2011

I personally thanked Jon Spencer for rescheduling his 1995 tour. He was scheduled to play Oklahoma City but the bombing disrupted his tour schedule. I could tell from his reaction that his schedule was determined by his tour manager, but he said "Your welcome" anyway.

It's an interaction I will always remember.
posted by Quonab at 10:14 PM on December 19, 2011

I saw Elvin Bishop at a Baskin Robbins.
posted by Cocodrillo at 10:15 PM on December 19, 2011

John Medeski handed me a beer at a party once.

John Medeski plays on my 2nd record!

Billy Martin, too!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 10:16 PM on December 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

I iced a cupcake once for Adam Levine. I didn't know who he was at the time. After he bought it and left, my coworkers told me.
posted by Lutoslawski at 10:17 PM on December 19, 2011

I once favorited one of Samm Bennett's comments on MetaFilter.
posted by not_on_display at 10:18 PM on December 19, 2011 [9 favorites]

I thanked Courtney Love for a good show and she appreciatively thanked me for attending.
posted by swift at 10:19 PM on December 19, 2011

Dave Matthews kids used to play soccer at the same facility as my son was playing at. So I'm standing there watching my son. And right over there, is Dave Matthews watching his kids. Mundane!
posted by Windopaene at 10:20 PM on December 19, 2011

When I was 15 I met Stompin' Tom Connors in the hoverport in Dover, England. He was having stew and a Tuborg for lunch. He signed my passport 'Keep It Canadian'.
posted by jimmythefish at 10:23 PM on December 19, 2011 [2 favorites]

I was once behind Kenny Loggins in the check-out line at a Wal-Mart in Oroville, California.
posted by MattMangels at 10:24 PM on December 19, 2011 [2 favorites]

I ran into Frank Black at a Kinkos in Chatsworth, CA. I was too starstruck to speak to him. My friend got an autograph.
posted by eyeballkid at 10:27 PM on December 19, 2011

I sold Tracy Chapman fresh pasta a few times.
posted by rtha at 10:27 PM on December 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

Around the release of "Extra Width", Jon Spencer and Co. were opening for The Muffs and The Goo Goo Dolls at The Opera House. I was supposed to interview The Muffs so I got there early and went backstage. I saw a long-haired guy sitting down, approached him, and asked if he knew where The Muffs were.

He puffed himself out and bellowed, "HEY MAN! I'M IN THE BLUES EXPLOSION!"

It was Russell Simmins.
posted by stinkycheese at 10:28 PM on December 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

I shook hands with Tiny Tim.
I sat with Frank Miller and Gerald Butler and watched the filming of "300" (Miller's a bit of a jerk, Butler is a pretty nice guy!)
I delivered a tray of liquor to Ralph Abernathy during the 1968 Republican Convention in Miami at his hotel (I was tipped 25 cents)
I saw John Wayne at the same convention.
I was bailed out of a Chicago precinct station by a friend of Mayor Daily's.
I participated in a protest against the Iraq war with some guy named Obama.
I went to Zack Snyder's birthday party.
I married a woman who hung out with the Kennedys at Martha's Vineyard.
I helped conceive the producer of the next Superman movie.
posted by tomswift at 10:29 PM on December 19, 2011 [5 favorites]

Lowest of the Low had breakfast at the Perkins I worked at in 2004. I asked the guy paying if they were Lowest of the Low and he said they were and he asked if I had been to their show last night and I said no and he seemed to not be happy about that and then they all piled into a shitty van.

I waved and smiled to the Handsome Family as they crossed the street to the venue for their gig. The Handsome Lady smiled and waved back. The Handsome Man not so much.

Doc Walker and I and 82 other people shared a coach flight from Winnipeg to Toronto. I was sitting next to some teenage German girls who were afraid to fly and desperately clutched stuffed animals. Doc Walker had Eastbound & Down on the seatback TV and got all snickery when a topless lady came on. I almost got lost in the airport and nearly missed my flight to Sault Ste. Marie.

Bruce Cockburn was having breakfast in the Fairmont Gold Lounge my wife and I were having breakfast in the morning after our wedding. I frantically scrawled THATS BRUCE COCKBURN!! on a napkin. She didn't know who Bruce Cockburn was. The eggs benedict was pretty damn good.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 10:29 PM on December 19, 2011 [3 favorites]

I once handed Simon Le Bon a candy bar in a store (there was a long line, it was just out of reach from where he was, and he asked nicely).
posted by dantsea at 10:32 PM on December 19, 2011 [4 favorites]

Alvy, those stories are amazing.
posted by PinkMoose at 10:34 PM on December 19, 2011

My family and I saw Huey Lewis in Tokyo airport in 1985. My brother got his autograph.
posted by rory at 10:36 PM on December 19, 2011

Late one winter Saturday night I was drinking in the Capital Hotel in Whitehorse, Yukon when the Bare Naked Ladies came in for beers after a gig elsewhere in town. I didn't speak to them and they didn't speak to me.
posted by islander at 10:37 PM on December 19, 2011

Oh, and B.B. King gave me a guitar pick once.
posted by islander at 10:40 PM on December 19, 2011

I walked past Paul Williams on my way to coach on a plane. He looked good, nothing like current-day Axl Rose at all.

My favorite not-dull rockstar story is of course miss lynnster's.
posted by infinitewindow at 10:42 PM on December 19, 2011

Can I do these for movies??

One time I sold a very famous actor from a certain sci-fi trilogy nearly $100 worth of pornography.
posted by PostIronyIsNotaMyth at 10:43 PM on December 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

Alvy, those stories are amazing.

Dammit! I knew name-dropping Perkins would make things too interesting!
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 10:44 PM on December 19, 2011 [2 favorites]

Kim Deal once asked me if I had any pot. I did not.
posted by vverse23 at 10:47 PM on December 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

i just love mid list country, it was mostly doc waker
posted by PinkMoose at 10:52 PM on December 19, 2011

Stephin Merritt gave me a paper cup of water.
posted by yellowbinder at 10:57 PM on December 19, 2011

About four or five years ago, I got off the bus on the way to work, and saw this short bald guy leashing a huge white dog to a sign outside an Au Bon Pain. As I walked past, I realized it was the lead singer from Disturbed. I kept walking.

My nephew took guitar lessons from Slim Bryant.

And not music-related, Jason Lee watched the last episode of Seinfeld in my apartment. I wasn't home.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 10:57 PM on December 19, 2011 [2 favorites]

Ran into Ice T in the middle of the Amsterdam Red Light district once when I was with my flatmates drinking away their misery at Ajax losing the Champions League final om penalties. We said "hey it's Ice T". He said "hey how you're doing" and we went on. It rained and I was slightly drunk.

Seeing Snoop Dog bike around Amsterdam is really too common to be interesting.
posted by MartinWisse at 10:58 PM on December 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

And not music-related, Jason Lee watched the last episode of Seinfeld in my apartment. I wasn't home.

Oh, I disagree. One word: Stillwater.
posted by jimmythefish at 10:59 PM on December 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

I made veggie tempura for Madonna once. I put 2 extra tiger prawns in the fryer, then hid them in my apron until I could eat them in secret. I had no idea that the woman was Madonna, and I did not care that I put dead animals in the vegetarian fryer.

I made miso soup for Eminem. I also had no idea it was him, and I did not change my gloves after I touched my hair. He left no tip.

I set up a photo-shoot for Amy Winehouse. She was terribly bored and went to the toilet. She came out of the toilet less bored and more irritated. I had sprayed every flat surface in the bathroom with WD-40 the night before to get the coke-heads to leave the bar. She left behind a smear of yellowish cocaine and WD-40 paste.

These are all popular pop starts, that is the only reason I know who they are. When I was working behind the bar my standard answer to "Do you know who I am?" was "Are you a Mexican astronaut?". I manged to piss off a bunch of famous North Londoners that way.

Then one day I met Neri Vela, the only Mexican astronaut, and I did not recognize him.
posted by Ayn Rand and God at 11:01 PM on December 19, 2011 [49 favorites]

I peed with one of the guys from ZZ Top. Well, not synchronized or anything. Just in the same bathroom at the same time.
posted by kirkaracha at 11:06 PM on December 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

I met Emerson, Lake, and Palmer backstage on two occasions during one of their 1990s tours. (Well, you said "dull." I was excited, though. But apparently not enough to say or do anything original.)
posted by Crabby Appleton at 11:11 PM on December 19, 2011

I lived with Becky from rosanne for two years. We ruined each others lives for a while.
posted by jivadravya at 11:14 PM on December 19, 2011 [2 favorites]

Abandoned by our mutual acquaintance, I stood with Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson as they discussed household items. Eventually, they wandered off.
posted by prinado at 11:14 PM on December 19, 2011 [6 favorites]

Remembered another dull one:
My girlfriend fainted from heat exhaustion and I carried her over my shoulder through the packed as sardines floor at the 9:30 club to the hallway. The guitarist from the Plain White T's came up and said, "hey, are you guys ok?" Me: Yeah, everything is OK, she's just a bit woozy. Him: Cool man, have a good night. Feel better miss.
posted by zephyr_words at 11:16 PM on December 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

I served coffee to three of the four original members of Kiss - everyone but Gene Simmons - at the Starbucks next door to the Four Seasons hotel in Toronto. They sat on the patio, talking quietly, and when they were finished their beverages, they left.
posted by gompa at 11:25 PM on December 19, 2011

I saw Ryan Gosling in a Sephora in the Eaton Centre. I like to think he was thinking something like this.
posted by hepta at 11:33 PM on December 19, 2011 [2 favorites]

Prince once challenged me to a game of basketball. He won but was nice enough to cook pancakes for me afterwards.

or wait ..
posted by mannequito at 11:44 PM on December 19, 2011 [4 favorites]

I saw David Bowie walking with his daughter (?) in Ginza once. I said "Hey David!" and he looked at me and said "Hey." He then continued walking.
posted by jet_manifesto at 11:44 PM on December 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

I waited on Jimmy Vaughn. I saw Hulk Hogan in vegas. I was there when restless_nomad was gettin her tattoo with Vanilla Ice... I got nothin.
posted by jopreacher at 11:45 PM on December 19, 2011

I hate that I don't even have boring stories of me with famous people of any type. But I'm going out with a guy who worked with a guy who studied with Enrico Fermi.
posted by b33j at 11:55 PM on December 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

I once took an order of Harry and David pears for Bea Arthur. The Maverick ones, that aren't as pretty so they cost less.

Don't even try to tell me Bea Arthur is not rock and roll.
posted by darksasami at 11:55 PM on December 19, 2011 [3 favorites]

I lived with Becky from rosanne for two years. We ruined each others lives for a while.

Hmmm... This is bordering on interesting. If it was Lecy Goranson circa 1992-1997, you are definitely in the wrong thread.

Sarah Chalke? As you were.
posted by Sys Rq at 11:56 PM on December 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

I answered a friend's phone in his dorm room. A guy with a British accent asked to speak to Brian. I handed Brian the phone. It was Keith Richards, calling to confirm the time of a phone interview for an upcoming radio show about Muddy Waters that Brian was producing.

Mike Watt had a beer and a shot with me after a show.

I once got really drunk backstage and made Juliana Hatfield uncomfortable with my boorish behavior. I still wince, thinking back on that.

Jonathan Richman once called a cab for my drunk friend Marty, who had yelled conpletely uncalled-for profanities at him and then passed out on the table. Richman was very gracious about accepting our stammered apologies and seemed concerned for Marty's mental health, which, as it turns out, was mighty perceptive of him.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 12:15 AM on December 20, 2011 [4 favorites]

I asked Billy Bragg what dinosaur he would like to be if he was a dinosaur. He said he would rather be a giant wallaby, like in the painting of St. Francis of Assisi and the Giant Wallaby. (I'm still not sure which painting exactly that is.)
posted by Karlos the Jackal at 12:24 AM on December 20, 2011 [5 favorites]

I saw David Bowie and wife stride into Peasant in the E. Village, NYC. During the course of her dinner, she broke a glass.

I spoke with Dicky Bett's wife backstage with the Dicky staring a me a good part of the time. The entire ABB was there and Mr Betts was talking real estate, drinking a beer and watching me chatting to his wife. I was asking about Duane. A couple of years later he beat her up (you could see it coming) and went to jail.

In the East Village (again) I passed Ani Difranco on the street - quite diminutive when not on stage and saw David Byrne peering with his long neck and huge eyes into a restaurant.

In Gramercy Park, I walked passed Kevin Bacon and remarked, "Makin' Bacon." It was about 11PM. I heard his heels skid as he braked. I kept on walking with no degrees of separation.

But, come to think of it, in NYC you see a lot of musicians and actors.

I saw Lou Reed twice. Once he was walking a tiny dog along the Hudson River. Another time, just outside the Village Vanguard with his wife Laurie Anderson, after one of Bill Frisell's sets.

Bill's drummer Kenny invited me/wife to dinner once.

Saw the Cars "Rick Ocasek" and sat in a tiny breakfast cafe reading the Times next to his model wife Paulina Porizkova. Saw Suzanne Sarandon there too.

Okay, boring myself.

Actually, same place, met the actor who played Seinfeld's dad. He was visiting his daughter who lived in the neighborhood and (he told me) had cancer.

I will stop now because this could go on awhile and it really is DULL.

Oh, God. Can't stop. Never thought of that place 19th and 3rd Ave was such a star magnet, but I saw ....
posted by noaccident at 12:29 AM on December 20, 2011

I sat behind Chester Bennington from Linkin Park in my student union bar.
posted by alby at 12:39 AM on December 20, 2011

I took a train from Kalamazoo to Chicago and ended sitting next to a woman who had played flute on a couple tracks with Poi Dog Pondering. She told me about the first time she tried coke. The leader of the band offered her some, but she was vaguely nervous about not looking like a complete noob in front of the band. Nerves took hold and she exhaled instead of inhaled. The lead singer was not impressed.

I'm pretty sure I was about fifteen or sixteen, and some random flautist was telling me her drug fail story on an Amtrak train. I miss Amtrak.
posted by Ghidorah at 12:44 AM on December 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

I watched The Rutles with Billy McKenzie.
posted by the cuban at 12:49 AM on December 20, 2011 [3 favorites]

My friend's dad met Jimi Hendrix on the street once. Hendrix told him to fuck off.
posted by slimepuppy at 12:57 AM on December 20, 2011 [2 favorites]

I have never (to my knowledge) interacted with any sort of rock and roll type.

That's gotta win, right? There's nothing more tedious than the guy who goes out of his way to tell you he doesn't own a TV....
posted by madajb at 1:09 AM on December 20, 2011

An acquaintance was seated next to Dave Lombardo on a flight, and turned down free backstage passes because she didn't know who Slayer was.
posted by vanar sena at 1:09 AM on December 20, 2011

I saw Bjork reading a magazine in a bookstore in Tokyo. I went up to her and asked, foolishly, "Are you Bjork?" She replied, a little too readily, "No."
posted by brappi at 1:16 AM on December 20, 2011 [3 favorites]

Met Martin Gore (Depeche Mode) as wife's best friend's husband was his long-lost cousin. He gave us front-row seats, but we got a speeding ticket and missed virtually the whole show. Said something utterly inane at the after-party.
posted by idb at 1:19 AM on December 20, 2011

I was at the front of the stage snogging my brand new first true love at a Paul Kelly concert when I was 16.... at the Tivoli . Apparently he changed the lyrics of one song to "People who pash on stage are retards". The guffaws from our friends had to be explained later.

So proud.
posted by taff at 1:25 AM on December 20, 2011

Embarrassing, not really music: while drinking at an izakaya* in Yurakucho, I looked up to see the guy from Burn Notice, walking down the street with his minders for his promotional junket. I blurted out, "you're the Burn Notice guy!" He nodded and did slight hand wave. He seemed embarrassed enough to cover for the both of us.

said izakaya is around the block from the sight of the Save Loquacious fund meetup, where much fun was had, and Mefites were meet. I met flapjax there, as well as woodblock, Mexican, armage and others, and there was nothing boring about it.
posted by Ghidorah at 1:28 AM on December 20, 2011

Bert Jansch's son lost a guitar I loaned him.
posted by the cuban at 1:35 AM on December 20, 2011

(He's a rock star to me...) Once my parents gave Mr. Rogers a drive to the airport in San Antonio, Texas. I was an infant at the time and he sat next to me in my carseat. I slept the whole time but there is a picture of him standing next to my mom who was holding me and I was awake.
posted by Mizu at 1:38 AM on December 20, 2011 [4 favorites]

I drove Adam Carroll and his dad to his gig at the Whiskey A Go Go in L.A. After the gig I drove them home.
posted by Xoebe at 1:48 AM on December 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

I was biking to school on St. Anthony Main in Minneapolis and almost had a collision with Brian Setzer. He had just darted into the street from behind a line of parked cars. I skidded to a halt and he put his arms up, fearing he was about to be hit. I stopped just in time, then looked up and realized who he was. "Hi, Mr. Setzer!" I said. "Hey!" he said. I then continued biking.
posted by Demogorgon at 2:07 AM on December 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

I met The Damned in a chip shop, before my first ever gig, which was seeing The Damned.

James Dean Bradfield (Manic Street Preachers) dived on me and dislocated my thumb, back during the Richie-was-still-alive years.

Sporty Spice bumped into me in the street and appeared to be in something of a huff.
posted by dowcrag at 2:08 AM on December 20, 2011

I once waved at Badly Drawn Boy at a festival. He was standing at the side of the stage watching Doves.

He waved back.
posted by minifigs at 2:15 AM on December 20, 2011

In the 70s, my father-in-law worked security at a smallish arena in our hometown. It was the kind of backwater venue that's not usually on the itinerary for top tier acts, so whenever a Big Name came through, the security guys would bring their wives and girlfriends backstage for a Brush With Greatness.

My in-laws have lots of anecdotes from those days, but for some reason the one that gets repeated with the greatest frequency is this:

In 1979, my mother-in-law told Charlie Daniels that a seam on his jacket was torn, and he didn't even care!
posted by amyms at 2:16 AM on December 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

... and a friend from university was a huge HUGE Who fan. They lived in Wales and his dad had gone fishing for years with his mate Roger. The Dad wasn't sure what Roger did. As a fishing mate, it didn't matter what he did.

Eventually the Dad invited my friend to come out fishing for the day with him and his friend Roger. Daltrey.
posted by dowcrag at 2:16 AM on December 20, 2011 [8 favorites]

Billy Gibbons gave me a piece of gum. When my friend asked him if he's in ZZ Top, he said "I sure am, pretty lady!"

I went to the high school where the story that inspired the Pearl Jam song 'Jeremy' took place. I went there while the song was currently popular, and a friend of mine claimed he saw a car pull up in front of the school and out popped Eddie Vedder, there to snap some quick photos. I'm pretty sure my friend was lying.

Layne Staley once called me a fucking asshole because I was being a fucking asshole. I regret nothing about that incident.

Peter Buck was in line behind me at Whole Foods. I was buying juice, and the cashier told me that their credit card system was offline and I'd have to use cash. I didn't have any cash and Buck paid for my juice. He was obviously very nice.

I have a bunch of anecdotes that start to veer into exciting territory, so I won't be sharing them. They're actually mostly mundane but include stories about tastes in pornography and lots and lots of drugs, which probably put them over the line.
posted by item at 2:27 AM on December 20, 2011 [3 favorites]

In about 1966 some friends asked me if I wanted to go to a record store in Harvard Square to meet the Moody Blues. I thought they were talking about the Blues Magoos, so I didn't go.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 2:50 AM on December 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

I shit you not, I'm friends with someone whose brother married Kevin Bacon's sister. Everybody who reads this comment is now within six degrees of Kevin Bacon. I shit you not.
posted by twoleftfeet at 2:55 AM on December 20, 2011 [8 favorites]

I sat behind Meatloaf and his female companion in the Odeon cinema, Nottingham for a screening of Raising Arizona. He was playing the nearby Monsters of Rock festival that weekend.
posted by squealy at 2:58 AM on December 20, 2011

I bummed a cigarette off of Dee Dee Ramone. He smoked Vantages.

I shook hands with Loudon Wainwright. He was wearing one of those old-man hats.

I smoked a joint with most of the Goo Goo Dolls, in their van.

I watched Mark Sandman cut out lines with a friend's Victoria Secret credit card.

Dick Dale sat at my kitchen table.
posted by valkane at 3:11 AM on December 20, 2011

I was at a Raveonettes concert in 2005 and Sharin Foo winked at me and smiled because I was the only member of the audience who knew the words to their cover of "My Boyfriend's Back." I was instantly and completely in love. The drugs helped.

A couple of years after that, Jay-Z and Beyoncé, along with their entourage, stopped to watch a football game in the tiny Irish pub I frequented. This was in a small airport town and it was the only place to see the game they wanted to see (this is in Iceland, BTW). They were the only customers there, apart from me and my friends getting pissed on a Tuesday. Jay-Z pissed next to me and asked how I was doing. I said I was doing alright and washed my hands.
posted by Zero Gravitas at 3:11 AM on December 20, 2011

I was in Henry's Market in Cambridgeport, because it was a store that would sell beer to underage kids like me, and Geoff Muldaur came in. I said "Hi Geoff." He said - and I am not making this up - "Hi."
posted by Kirth Gerson at 3:14 AM on December 20, 2011

I stood next to my dad once when he signed and handed Charlie Rich his check for the gig he had just played. He said thanks and then he and the people he was with, left. I have no idea why Charlie Rich was taking the check personally. I was eight. That was one of Dad's responsibilities for the university for a while, but this was the only occasion where I was present.

My ex-wife knew about half of all the prominent Toronto-based musicians around 1988-1991, including having dated a much older member of a very famous foursome while she was in high school and then dated another guy who had previously been Lita Ford's live-in boyfriend for a number of years. But, you know, these people were ex-boyfriends of my then-wife, so I really wasn't thrilled with having much to do with them.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 3:15 AM on December 20, 2011

Guy Pearce gave me $10 when the owner of the guitar shop we were in couldn't give me change from my $20 bill. He was looking at vintage guitars, I was buying a brand new strap. (The strap cost $10.)
posted by awfurby at 3:17 AM on December 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

My dad met Elvis. That is all.
posted by jet_manifesto at 3:40 AM on December 20, 2011

I was waiting to be picked up by dad from an Oasis concert. My dad was late. Liam Gallagher walks out the venue, ignores a group of girls hoping to get his autograph, gets into a car. Drives off. My dad pulls up just after him. I hope the girls think I'm famous. I was 15.
posted by choppyes at 3:41 AM on December 20, 2011 [2 favorites]

Oh, yeah, I forgot:

A guy I used to work with let Nik Turner and Spaceseed stay at his house when they came through Pittsburgh in '04.

When Kowloon Walled City played here last November, a good friend of mine was the single, solitary paying audience member. I didn't go because I was sick.

And jimmythefish? I never saw "Almost Famous".
posted by Mister Moofoo at 3:43 AM on December 20, 2011

At one point in undergrad, I realized I'd forgotten my bag in one of the rehearsal spaces in my uni's theater building. The room had a piano in one corner, which my friend Ryan would play when he was bored. That day, someone was playing the piano. I threw the door open and said, rather louder than necessary: "Hey, Ryan!" ... Definitely not Ryan. Definitely Duncan Sheik. I don't think heard me over the piano, which is probably for the better.
posted by Alterscape at 3:48 AM on December 20, 2011

A kind of strange guy asked if the seat next to me at a picnic table was free at a birthday party/concert in a suburb of Seattle. I said sure. We exchanged pleasantries. He later got up to play a couple songs and he introduced himself as Calvin Johnson. He seemed nice, but a little odd.

I was at a Godspeed You Black Emperor concert. The sound guys were playing really loud beck songs after the opener. A couple of roadies came out, set down giant pieces of plywood with tons of guitar peddles. They started twiddling with them and making some weird noises. Those noises gradually got louder, and the Beck music abruptly cut off. That's how the sound guys, the rest of the audience, and I learned what Godspeed You Black Emperor look like.

I hung out outside a waterfront Bjork concert with some friends trying to hear a little of the concert that was too expensive for us to get in. A couple more friends had gotten tickets and we met up with them afterword. One of them introduced someone from their hometown that I hadn't met before. "This is Phil." We shook hands and said it was nice to meet one another and then went our separate ways. It was Phil Elvrum, known also as The Microphones or Mt. Eerie. I had met him once before; at a concert a year earlier. He was sitting at a table full of his handpainted record sleeves. He looked like the guy that sells records during concerts. I asked where the bathroom was, and he gave a goofy grin and pointed with his thumb. That concert ended (sorry, this gets interesting) with him suspended upside down from the ceiling playing a ukulele while the audience stood around singing along to a song he made up just then.

I attended the American Legion Boys' State conference in Montana in high school. One of the main organizers said he used to be in a band called Dr. Hook. I hadn't heard of it, and I don't think anyone else had. Later, someone brought a llama into the auditorium.
posted by msbrauer at 4:10 AM on December 20, 2011 [2 favorites]

I said "hi" to Tiffany once, in a Tower Records...in the hopeful way out-of-their-league boys do with pretty girls. (I didn't realize who she was at the time, just thought she was cute.) She looked at me with a "you've got to be kidding" face and that was that.

It's also a bit creepy in that if this was 1987, she was 16 and I was 20, I definitely wasn't looking to date high-schoolers. Maybe that fast-paced rock-and-roll lifestyle made her look older? I hope so.
posted by maxwelton at 4:19 AM on December 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

I got oxygen at an o2 bar in Las Vegas next to the guys from Flogging Molly. They were trying to hit on the salesgirl. She had no idea who they were.
posted by zleetle at 4:22 AM on December 20, 2011

After a concert, I invited Ladysmith Black Mambazo to come over to the co-op where I would be baking bread into the early morning. They seemed interested but didn't show up.
posted by itstheclamsname at 4:27 AM on December 20, 2011 [2 favorites]

I watched a bisexual ex-girlfriend of mine hook up with Tegan from Tegan and Sara at a show after-party in Boston when I was 20ish.

It was really awkward; while it sounds like all fun and games (she said that the only way that she could was if I could watch, so I sat in the corner while they got busy...wasn't a requirement, but at the time, I thought she was the coolest), it's actually really awkward to not be involved and especially so when you had to hold in "OH MY GOD I LOVE YOUR MUSIC" the whole time.

I also bartended and shucked oysters for Big and Rich (and their band) for four hours before they played a music festival in 2009. To say I got them shit-hammered would be an understatement, and their performance was denounced as lousy by the local media, to which I thought "hey, I had a hand in that!"
posted by Rodrigo Lamaitre at 4:28 AM on December 20, 2011 [3 favorites]

I went to a (smoky) party in Cambridge MA when I was about 21 (1995 or so) and was confused by the guy who was sitting in the corner not really talking to anyone for 3 or 4 hours. After we left my cousin told me it was Rivers Cuomo.
posted by miss tea at 4:38 AM on December 20, 2011

Brian Eno walked through my office once, and stopped by my desk where he noticed I had an Oblique Strategies deck beside my keyboard. He didn't say anything, though, and I didn't realise who he was until he'd walked away and was getting into the lift.
posted by Hogshead at 4:43 AM on December 20, 2011 [5 favorites]

I once gave Greg Ginn's drummer a chicken wing.

A friend of mine gave a copy of one of my zines to Melissa Auf der Maur. She said, "Oh, I love zines!"
posted by Fuzzy Monster at 4:45 AM on December 20, 2011 [2 favorites]

At a backstage party once with Yes (and John Martyn), I asked Jon Anderson if I could take his picture and he said no, it would hurt his head.

Speaking of Yes, once while a friend and I were interviewing Rick Wakeman, Donovan walked around in the background playing croquet. Then Rick Wakeman threw me in the motel’s swimming pool. (Oh wait, that part wasn't so boring.)

on preview: They seemed interested but didn't show up.

That reminds me of something really dull; I went over to somebody's house after a Beach Boys concert to hear Mike Love talk about transcendental meditation. And he never showed up.
posted by LeLiLo at 4:47 AM on December 20, 2011

I sold my last house to Jack Soul just before he died.
posted by unSane at 4:50 AM on December 20, 2011

The Sugarcubes played in Chicago one night and me and my then girlfriend bumped into them at some club. The guy singer for the band started hitting on my gf so I decided to hit on Bjork. I have a problem being able to speak to beautiful women that I don't know, so nothing but garbled, muted sounds escaped my lips. She wasn't having any of it. *sigh*
It turns out, the guy singer really only told the gf that leave-in contacts weren't legal in Iceland. Or something like that.

Another dull rock n roll story:
Al Jourgenson once bartended at a bar that I frequented. The people in the Crash Palace were Rick (the owner), Al, my gf at the time (yep, the same one) and me. Rick had to go score some weed and told Al to serve us. His parting words were, "don't give them any shit for free!" Needless to say, Al gave us our drinks for free. He tried hitting on the gf when I went to the bathroom, but he's a disgusting human being so she wasn't having anything to do with him.
As a bonus, his then wife once yelled at my then gf at a Kinko's. The gf didn't make Al's wife's copies just the right way, so she went off on the gf. True story.

Yet another dull rock n roll story:
I was at a Soundgarden (Louder Than Love tour) in-store appearance in the Detroit area. I don't really do the autograph thing, so I just hung out in the used records area and smoked cigarettes. Kim Thayall tapped me on the shoulder and bummed a smoke from me. We ended up hanging out for quite a while, smoking, looking at records and chatting. Really nice guy.
posted by NoMich at 4:51 AM on December 20, 2011 [2 favorites]

about 10 years ago, i'm at a lesser-known 4-star restaurant in new orleans. smoking is not permitted in the dining area, but was allowed in the entry/side hall. between dinner & dessert the other woman in the party & i excused ourselves to go to the loo & have a smoke.

i'm standing in the hallway smoking while she used the facilities, and i spot a short-ish guy in jeans & black leather jacket standing in the hall outside the entrance to the kitchen. totally not dress code, so he stuck out like a sore thumb. when i looked at him, he sort of looked very uncomfortable & looked down at the floor. 'is he here to rob the place?' i wondered. 'could he possibly be the delivery boy?' the other woman, having finished her business, came back & we went back into the dining room to finish our dinner.

the next day, the other woman's date said, 'so! you saw bruce springsteen last night!'

i guess i did. and i thought he was there to rob the place.
posted by msconduct at 4:56 AM on December 20, 2011 [2 favorites]

It's funny how this thread is way better than the tumblr that prompted it.

Also, I think the rules for it should be a) only encounters with famous musicians (not other celebrities), b) only first-person accounts, and c) only by people who aren't themselves involved in the music business or otherwise hobnob with celebrities. And, finally, d) the anecdotes must be mundane but, preferentially, possibly might not have been.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 4:58 AM on December 20, 2011 [2 favorites]

I went to high school with Tim Nordwind of OK Go. I was a couple years older then him and we didn't really hang out much although he was in the school musical with my twin brother.
posted by 40 Watt at 4:59 AM on December 20, 2011

I once saw Will Oldham eat a burrito at La Parilla in Lawrence, KS. He was wearing purple flip-flops.
posted by HerArchitectLover at 5:00 AM on December 20, 2011

My aunt once held the door for Paul McCartney, and was also once in a lift with the (now grown up) child stars of Mary Poppins. She was the only other English person around, so they were pleased to meet her and got chatting.

I once played bass for Ruthie Henshall. I was at her house before the concert. We ate Chinese food and I felt a bit star-struck by all the West End people around. She's really nice.
posted by ZsigE at 5:01 AM on December 20, 2011

I showed various members of Primal Scream how to neatly do lines off the counter without a rollup. They were suitably impressed and shortly extremely high.

I went to breakfast for 3 drunken hours with Shaun Ryder and Bez and had no idea who they were even after it had been explained to me twice. They were wasted enough to find it amusing.

I was seated next to an extremely charming older British gentleman at a boozy dinner party one evening and realized about 2 hours in that it was, in fact, Mick Jagger.
posted by elizardbits at 5:02 AM on December 20, 2011 [5 favorites]

I had an argument with Jeff Tweedy about what one his songs was called, while he was onstage. He also mocked my pronunciation of the word "film".

I scared (or more probably annoyed) Stuart Braithwaite (of Mogwai) into moving to the other side of the Brixton Academy during a Super Furry Animals gig.

I saw Bobby Gillespie (Primal Scream) in a pub in Camden. Like us, he was probably waiting for the Spiritualized gig across the road.

Richman was very gracious about accepting our stammered apologies

I know a bar owner who booked Richman to play, said he was a very very nice and pleasant guy.

I went to breakfast for 3 drunken hours with Shaun Ryder and Bez and had no idea who they were even after it had been explained to me twice.

I know a guy who was Bez's long-lost cousin from New Zealand. He went to meet him in Manchester. They played scrabble.
posted by Infinite Jest at 5:07 AM on December 20, 2011 [2 favorites]

then there was the time i got locked into the courtyard of preservation hall with the edge & his entourage. i was on the phone at the time talking with my mother, who was showing some definite signs of dementia, which is why i was out in the courtyard in the first place. a group of about 8 people blew by me & the iron gate locked behind them. 'oh my god, mom, they just locked me outside with this really famous guy AND I DON'T KNOW WHICH ONE HE IS!' my mom heard 'locked outside' and said, 'don't you have a spare key?'

i told her i did & i'd go look for it now. by the end of the evening i'd not only figured out which one the edge was, but i shook his hand, thanked him for coming, & told him i was a big fan. i don't think he knew i was lying.
posted by msconduct at 5:09 AM on December 20, 2011

I'm not sure this counts but I bumped into Dennis Rodman at a Flaming Lips concert back in the nineties. He was wearing six-inch heals that made him about seven foot tall.
posted by Sailormom at 5:12 AM on December 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

Breaking my own suggested rules, a few months ago my mom told me how she reconnected with a high-school friend on Facebook who now lives in LA or something and has long been married to some guy in a jazz band, I'd probably not heard of them, "Yellowjackets", she said. I said, oh, that was my favorite band for several years around 87-89. She didn't seem impressed with the coincidence, which was disappointing.

Reminds of the time that I learned that two sort-of-friends of mine, both among the closest friends of my best friend, were going to have a baby...from a post to MetaFilter (well, specifically from a subsequent comment from the poster). I didn't even know my acquaintance was a member. My best friend, who was also my roommate at the time, mentioned the pregnancy to me two days later when I saw him and I said, yeah, I know, I read it on MetaFilter. Then, for the next few weeks, when I was around our mutual friends and the happy couple came up in conversation, I'd say that I learned about the pregnancy on the Internet. And, dammit, absolutely no one thought this was as weird and amazing as I did.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 5:17 AM on December 20, 2011 [3 favorites]

My wife got physical therapy at the same place as Steven Tyler and he apparently had a similar appointment schedule. They spent a lot of time on neighboring treadmills. One time she was grunting at the pain in her knee and Tyler turned to her and said "This sucks, huh?"
posted by Mayor Curley at 5:19 AM on December 20, 2011 [3 favorites]

Re: that. Yeah, I know the baby was due in only a couple of weeks. No one tells me anything. It was pure coincidence that D decided to mention it to me just a few days after the MeFi post.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 5:21 AM on December 20, 2011

I was browsing guitars in the Sam Ash store in Hempstead, NY when a call came out over the loudspeaker for the members of Blue Oyster Cult to come to the back room. This was before they had any big hits so I had no idea who they were. I watched them walk to the back room. They looked exactly the way you'd expect rock stars to look in 1974.
posted by tommasz at 5:21 AM on December 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

It's funny how this thread is way better than the tumblr that prompted it.

I dunno, I think half of ours are far too intriguing. I admire their dedication to the cause:

Goldfrapp Found Out I Didn't Like Them: Me and a friend were backstage at a Goldfrapp gig in Sheffield. Alison Goldfrapp came into the room and my friend told her I didn’t like the band. She looked at me funny.
posted by rory at 5:24 AM on December 20, 2011

In the early 90s some friends and I were driving downtown and listening to college radio while the DJ was interviewing one of the members of the Meat Puppets. The conversation was noisy and the guy said that he was across the street from the club they were going to play. We happened to be about a block away and heading in that direction and sure enough enough, I see one of the Kirkwoods at an open payphone outside a pizza shop, hunched over and cupping the mouthpiece to protect it from traffic noise.
posted by ardgedee at 5:25 AM on December 20, 2011 [2 favorites]

The Counting Crows were opening for Cracker at the local club. This was just before they played SNL in 92/93. After their set, Adam Duritz came up beside me to order a beer. He looked at me and asked if there was any "green" in this town. I said yes. We smoked a bowl in the bathroom.
posted by kuanes at 5:32 AM on December 20, 2011

Several years ago some friends and I were hanging out at a hotel bar in New Orleans. One of us commented that the fat old guy with the messy hair at the end of the bar looked like a bad Rod Stewart impersonator.

Then the bartender told us it was Rod Stewart.
posted by key lime guy at 5:39 AM on December 20, 2011

I ate Indonesian food once with Dean & Britta. Ben Kweller's wife refers to me as "[mutual friend]'s well-dressed friend". I've spent the night at Adam Green's parents' place.
posted by knile at 5:48 AM on December 20, 2011

I once knocked out Charlie Daniels from his own Charity Poker Tournament, he bet into me after I had flopped the nuts.
posted by HappyHippo at 5:49 AM on December 20, 2011

I gave some clove cigarettes to several members of the Squirrel Nut Zippers.
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 5:49 AM on December 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

I once had a friend who lived across the road from Captain Sensible.
posted by carter at 5:55 AM on December 20, 2011 [2 favorites]

One of our neighbors knocked on our door to invite us to a party he'd be throwing that weekend: Mariah Carey was a personal friend of his, and she was going to be there. We thanked him for the invitation, but in the end we couldn't make it and conveyed our regrets. The neighbor publicly berated me in our condo lobby the next Monday ("Maybe you didn't understand me. Did you UNDERSTAND who was going to be there?") and has not spoken to us since.

Apparently we dissed Mariah Carey without ever meeting her.
posted by Westringia F. at 5:56 AM on December 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

I was temping in a design studio in Camden Town during the late 90s. They spotted Noel Gallagher having a fry-up in the cafe across the world and sent the office junior down with an Oasis CD to sign. He did so, but dedicated it specifically to the office junior, which annoyed the art director as it was his CD.

Around the same time I was at an open-mic near Charing Cross Road. Apparantly Jarvis Cocker came in to the cafe and looked into the back room where we were to see what was going on, but he didn't come in to the room and I didn't see him, I just heard about it.

Brian Eno asked me for a cigarette and I gave one to him.

When I went to see Magma in 2000, Paul McCartney and a group of friends were occupying a table in the bar beforehand. I didn't notice whether Heather Mills was there, but if he took her to a Magma gig, it might explain why the marriage didn't work out. I told my girlfriend about it later and she was cross at me not only for taking her to a Magma gig, but also for not pointing out Paul McCartney.

I was in a music shop once, where Al "The Pub Landlord" Murray was buying drums, or talking about buying some drums, anyway.

The Edge was further along the same row as me at a concert I went to a couple of years ago. He wears that hat, even in the main auditorium of The Barbican arts centre, which just makes me assume he's gone bald.

I took the drummer out of R.E.M. to my local fish and chip shop. He really liked it. No, not that drummer out of R.E.M., a different one.
posted by Grangousier at 6:00 AM on December 20, 2011

across the world

Across the road. Their eyesight wasn't that good.
posted by Grangousier at 6:01 AM on December 20, 2011 [2 favorites]

My dad partied with Louis Armstrong. True story.
posted by davebush at 6:05 AM on December 20, 2011

I'm pretty sure I saw Billy Boyd at a Radiohead concert in Berlin in 2008. It might not have been him though.
posted by omnikron at 6:06 AM on December 20, 2011

Am I just out of touch? I've never even heard of most of the people namechecked in this thread!

My mundane celeb story: I played football with Alex James of Blur.
posted by salmacis at 6:12 AM on December 20, 2011

When Spirit of the West was recording Labour Day, I broke Hugh McMillan's keyboard by dropping a speaker on it. He left it at the studio for me to repair, but neglected to leave the power cord so I could check my work... and I'd buggered up something else during the repair, and had to keep it another day so I could fix it again. Cost him two nights of studio time. I was not in good odour with them after that.
posted by Mary Ellen Carter at 6:14 AM on December 20, 2011

some fairly major artist or group played at my high school graduating class party. it was, like, a national name (as of the 90s anyway), but it was somebody i disliked intensely enough to not go--but not intensely enough to remember who it was.

true story! i swear.
posted by fetamelter at 6:20 AM on December 20, 2011

The day I met my long-time downstairs neighbor Tim Wright I was sawing wood by hand in my dining room. He knocked on my door and handed in an electric saw.
posted by rakish_yet_centered at 6:28 AM on December 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

but not intensely enough to remember who it was.

Was it Dream Theater? Just a wild guess.
posted by swift at 6:29 AM on December 20, 2011

My mother saw Prince buying DVDs in the Minneapolis airport once.
posted by marginaliana at 6:33 AM on December 20, 2011

I saw Emmylou Harris and most of the Nash Ramblers checking out of a hotel. It looked like they had some sort of problem with their accommodations so I left them alone to get it sorted out.
posted by marxchivist at 6:34 AM on December 20, 2011

I cannot go a year without seeing J Mascis. Not performing, just wandering around.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 6:36 AM on December 20, 2011

Was it Dream Theater? Just a wild guess.

hahahahaha, no, but great guess. i would've remembered THAT.

no, it wasn't an act where you'd go "THEM?" (e.g. Dream Theater) or "NO WAY!" (e.g. Paul McCartney) or "THIS I GOTTA SEE" (e.g. Vanilla Ice). it was an act where you'd go "...oh." like Wilson Phillips, except it wasn't them--they had that redhead, i would've gone if it was them.
posted by fetamelter at 6:36 AM on December 20, 2011

i once saw jonathan demme in a office lobby in maine during a film festival. the only movie i knew he directed at the time that i had seen was the talking head's stop making sense. so i told him a dull story about seeing it in a theater and being annoyed when some drunk and rowdy people sat behind us. it worked out okay, i told him, because they actually just cheered and smoked pot and whatnot at the right times.
posted by lester at 6:38 AM on December 20, 2011

My auntie was staying with us, she had some guy from the bay city rollers staying overnight.

He stole my mums purse and ran away in the morning.
posted by sgt.serenity at 6:38 AM on December 20, 2011

Beck stole my wife's beer when we were in college. He was at the school for a show, came into her dorm, saw her and her friend sitting on a commons room couch and watching TV with beers in hand, found the beer in the fridge in the adjacent room, took one, and winked at them as he walked out. She still gets apopleptic when asked to recount this (very, very dull) story.
posted by cheapskatebay at 6:41 AM on December 20, 2011 [2 favorites]

Once, while I was working at the Northern California Renaissance Faire, I heard Weird Al was there that day. I didn't notice him, though.
posted by moss at 6:42 AM on December 20, 2011

I played pool with Lemmy.

I also had wild sex with PJ Harvey.

One of these was actually just a dream. You probably can't guess which one.
posted by Decani at 6:48 AM on December 20, 2011

A couple of years ago I saw Nick Cave in his speedos on the beach at Hove. He went in for a paddle, but not for long, which was funny because it was August and not all that cold.
posted by HandfulOfDust at 6:49 AM on December 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

I talked to Thom Yorke at a party in Athens, GA in the early 90s. It was after Radiohead's show at the 40 Watt. Don't remember what we were talking about, just that he kept running his fingers through his hair, said it had just been cut & felt weird to him. Tanya Donnelly practically dragged him away from me & stayed by his side the rest of the evening.
posted by lurkElongtime at 6:49 AM on December 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

Joey Ramone used to habitually accidentally sit on my lap in dive bars back in the 80's.

Jimmy Fallon helped us move an old couch out of the bar late one night.

That lead singer guy from matchbox 20 was really nice to me one night after he saw me get into a thing with one of my bartenders.

I hung out in the corner banguette of Nell's with Nell and Prince one night. Nell told us that he thought my friend was exceedingly beautiful. He wouldn't speak to anyone directly but Nell, and then she would tell the rest of the group what he said. We went there with Nile Rogers, because the Micheal Jackson post Grammy party was lame because Run DMC won everything that night.

Lady Gaga used to work at one of my bars. We called her Stef.

Aretha Franklin had the same standing appointment just before mine every week at a doctors office on the upper west side.

Chaka Kahn sat across the aisle from me on a flight to LA.

I walked in on the Dandy Warhols getting drunk at the bar at 10 am in the morning. It was for a photo shoot.

We used to serve Elliott Smith beer and watch him sit and write.

Fishbone used to sleep on the floor of my apt. in brooklyn when they had gigs in NYC. All of them. There were Fishbones everywhere. They were friends with my roommate.

I physically bumped into Calvin Klein in the basement of the after hours place Save the Robots back in the very late eighties. He was there with Run from RunDMC, who was very nice.

Dave Navarro used to try and be incognito in a giant fur coat and giant sunglasses in the bar while waiting for his "friend" across the street.
posted by newpotato at 6:49 AM on December 20, 2011 [2 favorites]

Carter Beauford, of the Dave Matthews Band (I know, ugh), was a family friend in the 1980s and babysat me as a youngster for extra cash. He worked with my parents at a tuxedo shop.

Don't think they've seen him since the band got big, though.
posted by downing street memo at 6:52 AM on December 20, 2011

We used to serve Elliott Smith beer and watch him sit and write.

This is not a dull anecdote!
posted by sweetkid at 6:52 AM on December 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

On the way home from our honeymoon in Japan this year, we shared first class with the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Flea and Kiedis were pacing around, throwing sidelong glances at us. I felt that since we were in first class and youngish-looking they were wondering who we were (we're nobody, for the record). The other passengers were chatting them up and asking for autographs and it seemed like it drove the RHCP crazy that we, staunch non-fans, were ignoring them.
posted by univac at 6:53 AM on December 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

I saw Elliott Smith perform at Jabberjaw in LA in about 1996 for a crowd of about 25. He was so quiet he was getting overpowered by the Dig Dug.
posted by univac at 6:54 AM on December 20, 2011 [2 favorites]

Flea and Kiedis were pacing around, throwing sidelong glances at us.

i would wager money that everybody, EVERYbody, reading this anecdote imagines them shirtless on the plane.
posted by fetamelter at 6:56 AM on December 20, 2011 [11 favorites]

I was a delivery driver at a restaurant where Iggy Pop was dining in about 1997 or 1998. As he was leaving the restaurant he paused a couple feet away from me. I thought, this is my chance. I have to say something to him. But it has to be something that's not obsequious - I have to address him as my equal, since we're both human beings, neither of us better than the other. I am not starstruck. I noticed his red velvet pants as he began to walk away. I blurted, "bitchin' pants!" He and his date stopped, turned, looked at me, said nothing, then turned and continued walking away.
posted by univac at 6:57 AM on December 20, 2011 [2 favorites]

fetamelter: No, but Flea was definitely wearing mom jeans.
posted by univac at 6:58 AM on December 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

I delivered groceries to Marilyn Manson at a house in Laurel Canyon in about 1997 or 1998. They were kind, and one of them was proudly showing off his paintings adorning the walls.
posted by univac at 6:59 AM on December 20, 2011

An old boss of mine has a story about how her dad (American, but an uber-nerd computer scientist) sat next to Jay-Z on a plane in the early 2000's, and didn't know who he was. They apparently had a great conversation, in the course of which her dad asked Jay-Z what he did for a living.

I think even Jay-Z - with a reputation for being super-humble and unassuming - was a little surprised by that.
posted by downing street memo at 7:00 AM on December 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

I delivered groceries to the dude from Third Eye Blind. Or maybe it was some other band like that. Kind of hard to tell sometimes, you know?
posted by univac at 7:00 AM on December 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

I used to deliver cigarettes and other light grocery items to Fiona Apple, and some guy named Paul would always pay.
posted by univac at 7:01 AM on December 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

I chatted about college basketball with Mac McCaughan back when he used to work at Schoolkids Records in Chapel Hill. He'd be perched on a stool behind the counter watching college basketball games on a tiny black and white TV. You went in, browsed around, went to the counter with your purchase and talked about whatever basketball game was on while he rang up your purchase. Then you left, because it was obvious the man had a basketball game to watch.

Actually, it wasn't that hard to run into either Mac or Laura at their various part-time jobs in town back in the late 80's - early 90's: Schoolkids, Pepper's Pizza, Kinko's, etc.
posted by research monkey at 7:03 AM on December 20, 2011 [2 favorites]

On New Year's Eve about ten years ago I got invited to Tina Marie's house in Pasadena. I didn't know her personally, but a friend of a friend had done a website for her friend, or something. She was a generous host, offering some jambalaya or something to us, which I didn't eat, being vegan at the time.

The best part was the painting of Rick James as Conan the Barbarian hanging in a stairwell. I have a photograph of it.
posted by univac at 7:03 AM on December 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

Robert Plant was in front of me in line at a late-night convenience store once. He bought an Aero Chunky bar and some Zig-Zags.
posted by ZaphodB at 7:08 AM on December 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

please oh please post that photo.
posted by elizardbits at 7:08 AM on December 20, 2011 [3 favorites]

Before the Offspring went mainstream, they played in a little basement in my hometown. This was in about 1991 or 1992, maybe. Not sure. They were playing hackey sack on the sidewalk outside the venue. They shouted out to me, inviting me to play. I declined, of course. One of them muttered, "must have had a bad experience with a hackey sack."
posted by univac at 7:10 AM on December 20, 2011

Univac, was it this Paul?
posted by Mister Moofoo at 7:12 AM on December 20, 2011

I ran into Joey Ramone at House of Guitars in Rochester, New York circa 1995 - I'm glad I did the fanboy thing and thanked him for all the great tunes instead of trying to play it cool.

One time while sitting at a red light on Santa Monica Boulevard I glanced over at a corner gas station, and saw a guy leaning over the engine of a beautiful hot rod, tinkering with the engine. When he turned around I saw it was Brian Setzer.

My brother was in a band with Reeves Gabrels.

I once hung out backstage at the Roxy with Christian Nesmith (son of Mike Nesmith.)

I did some graphics work for Dee Snyder's movie. He was around the shop for a few weeks and one day he walked past the out-of-the-way room where I was working, backed up, stuck his head in the door and said, "Hi, I'm Dee! What do you do in here?" He was genuinely curious and a really nice guy.
posted by usonian at 7:16 AM on December 20, 2011

Oh man, I have quite a few, but let's see:

When I was young, I talked my way backstage for the second Lollapalooza tour (or was it the third?), much to the anger of the older alterna-skanks, and I eavesdropped on Al Jourgenson trying to impress this group of people. He accidentally stepped on my foot and apologized profusely.

I didn't mean to see Chris Isaak shirtless--he was changing into one of his spangly outfits for an encore--but I did. I was embarrassed.

But the best one didn't even happen to me; my best friend, way way back in the early 90s in Athens, scared Robyn Hitchcock. Apparently, Mr. Hitchcock was using a pay phone, my friend was waiting to use it after him, and when he recognized who was using it first, starting babbling to the point where Hitchcock hung up and shuffled away, giving my friend side-eyes.
posted by Kitteh at 7:21 AM on December 20, 2011

Dave Grohl stepped on my foot at a Positive Force show. He said "excuse me."
posted by JoanArkham at 7:23 AM on December 20, 2011

Mister Moofoo: yes.
posted by univac at 7:31 AM on December 20, 2011

I met Kip Winger circa 1998 at the community YMCA radio station, where me and a friend had a show before a metal show. The host of the metal show got Winger in to do an interview. Before he got there he called to ask directions, and I remember he sounded a little annoyed. Probably because he had to get directions from a 14 year old kid to a radio station in a YMCA.
posted by gc at 7:31 AM on December 20, 2011

> everyone has a Ian MacKaye-yelling-at-me-for-something story

Ian MacKaye once walked into a room where I was eating some pizza with friends.
"That smells quite... pungent," he said.
"Would you like a piece?" I offered.
"No, thank you," he politely replied.
posted by The corpse in the library at 7:33 AM on December 20, 2011 [2 favorites]

Also one time I leapt out from behind a giant papier-mache ant in the back room of some nightclub to pounce on my then-boss and steal the enormous blunt he was smoking. I scared the bejeezus out of the dude he was smoking it with, who turned out to be Perry Farrell. He watched me very carefully for further signs of insanity for the entire time we smoked the enormous blunt, which I found extremely ironic.
posted by elizardbits at 7:35 AM on December 20, 2011 [5 favorites]

Oh, I went to Michelle Shocked's wedding, because she married a family friend. There were Mexican paper flowers and I had marzipan for the first time. They got divorced later on.
posted by darksasami at 7:35 AM on December 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

I went river tubing with the bassist for the Bravery at my cousin's wedding. True story.
posted by psoas at 7:39 AM on December 20, 2011

I saw Monkee Micky Dolenz at an obscure antiquities museum in Turkey.

Daryl Hall (the tall blond one from Hall & Oates) made eyes at me for a long time at a backstage party circa 1984. I was a 16 year old boy at the time. (Now, I'm a middle-aged boy.)
posted by rough at 7:42 AM on December 20, 2011

I bought MC Frontalot's shirt from MC Frontalot once. I didn't know what to say to him without sounding like an idiot, so I just asked him for one medium MC Frontalot shirt. I gave him the money, and he gave me the shirt.

I've hung out with the the bass player from Dredg (Drew) after multiple shows. The first time, he offered me and my friends a beer, since the club stocked the backstage area for them.

In the non-music world, I got to meet the cast of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia when my wife won VIP tickets to their The Nightman Cometh show in Seattle. My wife recalls asking Rob (Mac) about his Karate moves, and I recall having a short conversation with him about his cat eyes. In the one picture we have of us with Charlie and the Waitress, my eyes are closed because the waitress said something at that exact moment that made me laugh. It kinda sucks, because they are my favorite characters from the show. Kaitlin (Sweet Dee) was also incredibly tiny, like anorexic tiny.
posted by mysterpigg at 7:42 AM on December 20, 2011

Metafilter: Don't even try to tell us Bea Arthur is not rock and roll.
posted by Billiken at 7:46 AM on December 20, 2011 [3 favorites]

Oooh, ooh, I thought of another one.

My brother opened for the Village People. The Village People came up afterward and said they dug my brother's band, and that there was some food backstage, and to help themselves. My brother's band, being poor just-out-of-college kids, went back and started helping themselves to a free meal... and got run off by the VP's manager.
posted by WidgetAlley at 7:47 AM on December 20, 2011

I told Alanis that my sister was a big fan at a signing gig once. I didn't get a signature.
posted by NiteMayr at 7:47 AM on December 20, 2011

My college roommate Marty is some sort of cousin to the guitar player in the Saw Doctors. The week after we graduated from college, they came to New York for three shows, and we tagged along. They were very friendly and relaxed about Cousin and Cousin's Random Buddy sleeping on their hotel room floors and such, as long as we stood at the front of the stage and kept empties for collecting where they might step on them. One night we went out to a small bar called Siobhan's where they kicked everyone else out at closing time. I had had too many beers, so I wobbled up to Leo and told him I thought they were great. He didn't even look up -- maybe he flnched a little -- so I wobbled back to Marty, quite satisfied with my brush with fame.

Since that was the weekend that Ireland played Italy in the 1994 World Cup, we even tagged along to a local Irish bar/restaurnt and sponged free brunch. The weekend also featured the OJ Simpson chase on TV, and it really was all a blur.
posted by wenestvedt at 7:51 AM on December 20, 2011

I see famous people in airport lounges. Michael J. Fox. Bill Murray. Chevy Chase. No one bugs them, it would seem weird to do so.
posted by stp123 at 7:51 AM on December 20, 2011

(I think that the fact that I don't recognize a lot of the names in this thread makes these stories even more unimpressive, adding some kind of negative power to their dullness. I am loving this thread.)
posted by wenestvedt at 7:53 AM on December 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

This isn't a "rock" anecdote, but meh

I travelled a bit for work and often stayed in decent low-end hotels (courtyard marriots, the like) on one trip to Eugene, Oregon I stayed in the Marriot in Springfield (right next door to Eugene) and slept across the hall from Ernest Borgnine.

The thing is that I never actually spoke to the man himself due to my embarrassment over how I know it was him for sure; one morning at breakfast my friends and I were sitting and chatting when this larger older gent sat to my left and had a quiet breakfast with his friend, rubbing elbows with me.

I didn't get a good look at him at first and when he got up to see his friend out of the door the staff all started reacting to him; like "hey is that the guy" kind of reacting.

So I start cracking wise about him (I could only see his back at this point) "Oh maybe it's Ernest Borgnine, Oh wait he's dead" at which point Ernest Borgnine turned around from waving to his friend and walked passed me and my friends.

I wanted to fall through the floor.

My friend who was staying on the same floor spoke to Mr. Borgnine and said how charming he was to speak with. Very much alive too.
posted by NiteMayr at 7:56 AM on December 20, 2011

I once nearly ran down Phil Collins on a pony. I was on the pony, not Phil.
posted by Ness at 7:57 AM on December 20, 2011 [2 favorites]

I once nearly ran down Phil Collins on a pony. I was on the pony, not Phil.

Must try harder.
posted by hardcode at 7:59 AM on December 20, 2011 [4 favorites]

I beg any mefite with even the smallest amount of artistic ability to draw this scene of pony carnage immediately.
posted by elizardbits at 8:01 AM on December 20, 2011 [3 favorites]

I gave Lige Curry a ride from a gig to one of our mutual friend's houses. He and my (bass playing) husband talked about the state of the educational system in LA and how important it was for children to be excited about learning.
posted by bizzyb at 8:02 AM on December 20, 2011

I was shopping in a baby clothing store in New Hope and Rod Stewart came in to shop. I wouldn't have noticed him except that the woman he was with was ...stunning... and I wondered what kind of guy can get a woman like that.
posted by MtDewd at 8:08 AM on December 20, 2011

The internet company I worked for was the Barenaked Ladies' ISP (thanks to the fact that our president was friends with them). Sometimes they would have problems with their internet access and we would fix it for them. We were also David Cronenberg's ISP, but he never came in.

Also, Billy Idol once drooled on me at a record signing (get off my lawn).

I also once told Dan Duran (a fairly well-known radio personality in Toronto at the time) at a party that he had a great voice and should be on the radio.

Oh, and Andy Summers of The Police nearly knocked me over with a door. He apologized politely.
posted by biscotti at 8:09 AM on December 20, 2011

Ooh, another more recent one. Michael Stipe left his hat at my restaurant. He called and left a number to call back (using a different first name). I called him back from my cell phone and left a message. Then he called me back on my cell phone, so I had his number in my cell phone for a little bit.
It was one of those cheapie $4 knit hats and I could never figure out why he went through such effort to get it back.
posted by newpotato at 8:12 AM on December 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

We were also David Cronenberg's ISP, but he never came in.

OF COURSE he didn't. his modem is wired into his spine at the base of his neck, powered by his brainwaves. it only fails when he drinks himself into unconsciousness.
posted by fetamelter at 8:12 AM on December 20, 2011 [4 favorites]

psoas: "I went river tubing with the bassist for the Bravery at my cousin's wedding. True story."

I met the frontman for The Bravery's mom. She was very nice.

Also, not rock & roll, but: When the elevator arrived, John Leguizamo got off with his bike. He said, "Hi." When I got to the party, Doug Liman asked if I wanted to hit his concrete counter top with a hammer (he was moving out). I declined. I got very drunk on the roof, and Matt Damon was chatting up some young lass. I didn't talk to him.
posted by that's candlepin at 8:13 AM on December 20, 2011

Just submitted:

When Jeff Buckley came to Memphis to record (not long before he went for a swim in the Wolf River and drowned), he and his band played a gig at a local bar. It was Ash Wednesday, and so I went to the gig wearing all black with a black cross on my forehead. When I went to take a leak, his guitarist came into the bathroom and looked at me and asked, "Is it Ash Wednesday?"

"Yes," I said.

posted by Halloween Jack at 8:14 AM on December 20, 2011

The actor who played Alpa Chino in Tropic Thunder lived my apartment building in North Hollywood. One night he stopped by so his girlfriend could use our bathroom. Turns out his friends left with his keys accidentally. He really wanted us to buy the DVD of Tropic Thunder when it came out in a couple weeks.

True Story.
posted by sideshow at 8:14 AM on December 20, 2011

Thurston Moore once honked and waved at me from his Volvo. I think it was because I was wearing this shirt.
posted by degoao at 8:14 AM on December 20, 2011 [2 favorites]

I showed Axl how to operate the MicroMoog synth in high school. We just knew him as Bill at the time.
posted by Stig at 8:14 AM on December 20, 2011 [2 favorites]

I was at a Rocket From The Crypt show at the Empty Bottle in Chicago in the mid 90s. I went to the bathroom to pee and saw Peter Buck at the urinal next to me.

"Oh my god!" I exclaimed. "You're Peter Buck!"

"Yep." he said.

"Uhhh..." I said. "You're really cool!"

He zipped his pants. "Yep," he said.

I finished peeing, returned to the bar, and told the two girls I was with what happened.

"How big was his dick?" they asked.

I hadn't looked.
posted by vibrotronica at 8:17 AM on December 20, 2011

One Halloween I dressed up as a proctologist and gave Neil Young a pamphlet on hemorrhoids. Then I asked if he knew what a healthy anus looks like. He chuckled and I walked away. The End.
posted by Mrs.Spiffy at 8:19 AM on December 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

I met Chuck Berry at at airline ticket counter in Vegas in the mid-90's. We were coincidentally flying back to St. Louis. He was carrying a guitar (if I remember correctly) and also very nice.

Browsing the aisles of a Blockbuster in Des Peres, MO in the late 90's I ran into Lars Fredericksen from Rancid. My GF and I had just gotten baked and I really didn't believe what I was seeing. But two aisles over (I don't know what section he was looking at) was a short dude with liberty spikes and throat tattoos. After going back and forth as to whether I should approach him (my GF was good about prodding me to do so) I went up and asked if he was Lars from Rancid right as they were checking out. He was, and was totally cool about it. We talked for a minute, him complimenting me on my totally sweet Dropkick Murphys shirt. Apparently his wife grew up in the area. Also, he was surprisingly short. And fat (but not surprisingly so).
posted by friendlyjuan at 8:22 AM on December 20, 2011

All I reall got is standing next to Beatle Bob at a Son Volt show. He hip-checked me a few times.
posted by Occula at 8:23 AM on December 20, 2011 [2 favorites]

During a Suicide show, Alan Vega ground his crotch into my husband's head while rubbing his scalp (my husband has very curly hair). My husband has also walked by Flea and Anthony Kiedis in New York, and my parents have seen Anderson Cooper there. Kim Gordon beat up my husband's video camera once. Speaking of, Sonic Youth has thanked him publicly for saving records of show sets (he followed them across the country one tour). Michael Dahlquist of Silkworm played bar chess once next to me, then turned to me and asked what I wanted to hear them play. I told him "Eff" and five minutes later when they start they open with it. Later in his online tour diary he notes our city has "an army of beautiful women."
posted by ifjuly at 8:28 AM on December 20, 2011 [2 favorites]

I walking into Carlos Santana while window shopping in Kansas City. We both apologized. I had no idea who he was until I walked into a store and people were freaking out over having seen him.
posted by terrierhead at 8:32 AM on December 20, 2011

I worked in telephone customer service at a place that sold out of production china and crystal and stuff (just occurred to me that could sound like drugs, I'm talking about dishes) and people could put themselves on a list to get a call if a certain piece came in so they could buy it. Well one day I was making those calls and on my list of people to call up popped the name Sally Jessy Raphael. I called to tell her the spoon or whatever she wanted was in stock, but she wasn't home. I left a message.
posted by ND¢ at 8:37 AM on December 20, 2011 [3 favorites]

Apparently I took YMCA little kid swim class with Sean Lennon until he had to stop coming because no one would leave his dad alone.
posted by true at 8:46 AM on December 20, 2011

Kurt Cobain failed to return videos he'd borrowed from the store where I worked. I tried to call him to ask for them back, but he'd given us the wrong phone number.
posted by The corpse in the library at 8:47 AM on December 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

Oh oh oh, I thought of another. Silver RavenWolf called in to Dell tech support once and got me. She had a marked New Jersey accent.

And I delivered flowers to Michael Jordan's wife once. Well, to his security guard actually, but they were for his wife. (Not from him, or anyone I recognized.)
posted by restless_nomad at 8:49 AM on December 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

My ex-husband cleaned Rod Stewart's private plane while it was on a layover. He brought home the perfectly good plastic food containers they were throwing out. I packed my lunches in Rod Stewart's discarded Tupperware for a couple of years.
posted by Mary Ellen Carter at 8:52 AM on December 20, 2011 [11 favorites]

Trent Reznor totally checked out my ass at a show. Like, STARING. I was 17 at the time.

My dad's ex bassist dated Chrissie Hynde in the 70s. Apparently everyone called her "Smelly Chrissie" due to her lack of...well, hygiene.

I have loads more from Cleveland/Akron area music people, because my dad's a musician, but most of them are even more boring. For example, once I ran into dad's friend, the blues great Robert Jr. Lockwood, at the local thrift store. He was buying suits.
posted by bitter-girl.com at 8:55 AM on December 20, 2011

Oh! my other all-time favorite! My studiomate met Peter Murphy when she was quite young, and called him "Mr. Murphy" very politely in conversation to which he replied, loudly and nastily: "It's PETER!!!" (you have to hear her do the voice for it to be extra funny)

But PETER was also friends of a friend and brought a prezzie to a friend of mine post brain-tumor surgery, so maybe he was just having a bad day.

Also, James Brown once hit on my studiomate in a hotel lobby in LA, for what it's worth.
posted by bitter-girl.com at 8:58 AM on December 20, 2011

Kurt Cobain failed to return videos he'd borrowed from the store where I worked. I tried to call him to ask for them back, but he'd given us the wrong phone number.

I thought that story was going to a much more tragic place. But then I guess it wouldn't be dull anymore.
posted by kmz at 9:00 AM on December 20, 2011

I took the drummer out of R.E.M. to my local fish and chip shop. He really liked it. No, not that drummer out of R.E.M., a different one.

I went to college with that guy.

My boyfriend in the 90s frequented the same sushi place that Joey Ramone did.
posted by mneekadon at 9:00 AM on December 20, 2011

I live in Des Moines, which is where Bob Nastanovich now lives. He used to run a trivia night at a bar on Sundays. My friends (one of whom is a two-time Jeopardy champion) would usually win these trivia contests.
One night, we won but just barely beat out this team of new guys who named their team Ectoslavia. We found out the next day they were members of Silversun Pickups.
posted by cottoncandybeard at 9:05 AM on December 20, 2011

Several years ago some friends and I were hanging out at a hotel bar in New Orleans. One of us commented that the fat old guy with the messy hair at the end of the bar looked like a bad Rod Stewart impersonator.

Then the bartender told us it was Rod Stewart.

That Rod Stewart lookalike was fairly well-known in and around New Orleans. I haven't seen him in the past few years but he was around awhile before Katrina and then for several months afterwards.

Which leads to my dull non-rock and roll anecdote. Some friends were visiting from Shreveport at Jazz Fest 2006. They stopped for dinner on the way down, and when they arrived the woman said, "You'll never guess what we saw at the Chili's in Gonzales: Rod Stewart eating ribs! He's gained weight." But she was convinced it was really Rod Stewart, and kept repeating, "Rod Stewart! At the Chili's! In Gonzales!"
posted by CheeseLouise at 9:11 AM on December 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

D:Ream's Brian Cox went on to a career as a physicist, BBC science presenter, and Internet celebrity.

Odd. He was a bit of a cock at the time. He'd asked for a separate dressing room with seven mirrors in it for himself. At a Student Union bar. In Hatfield (which is a Polytechnic, or at least was at the time). Cock.

I dunno, Brockles, this is perilously close to being an exciting rock and roll anecdote.

Probably if we'd been sharper. As it was, the Team Manager and I walked out the door, said "Alright?" to the bunch of guys that had showed up and walked out to our car. We were halfway across the drive when the words "band" and the faces we'd noticed looking fairly familiar that we almost simultaneously went "FUCK ME that was only UB40! Playing at his kid's birthday party. Su-fucking-real".

I am disappointed to say it took me about 10 minutes in the car before I realised: "DAMMIT, when he opened the door we should have asked him if he had a rat in his kitchen!". I'm still upset I missed that mega joke opportunity.
posted by Brockles at 9:12 AM on December 20, 2011

Many of these anecdotes are getting to interesting, so.

I used to deliver cigarettes and other light grocery items to Fiona Apple

A college friend used to run the first/biggest Fiona Apple fansite in the mid-nineties. I had no idea who she was.

Not interacted much with rock stars myself; obscure socialist politicians yes, professional sf writers, yes (sometimes they overlap), but not rock stars.
posted by MartinWisse at 9:15 AM on December 20, 2011

I have met every single member of Aerosmith individually and on separate occasions - none of them having anything to so with their career in music.

Joe Perry and his family lived down the street from us in the early 80's. This was back in their drug doing days and they were known to be "a little weird." Still, we loved going to their house on Halloween because they would always give full size candy bars and M&M's.

Brad Whitford once showed up at my summer camp as a kid because he was good friends with my cabin counselor (who himself was a drummer in a little known local Boston band.)

Tom Hamilton and I have a mutual friend and have met on a few occasions, exchanged pleasantries, etc... nothing special.

Joey Kramer and I used to work out at the same gym. I've moved since, however.

Last but not least, Steven Tyler and I once nodded at each other while both taking a piss in adjacent urinals at a local movie theatre. I'm still mortified.
posted by Rewind at 9:21 AM on December 20, 2011

Our friend went to visit her brother, who made reference to "his friend Bob, who used to be in a band..." --> some questioning later:

"WAIT, YOU'RE GYM BUDDIES WITH BOB FUCKING MOULD?!?!?!"
posted by bitter-girl.com at 9:27 AM on December 20, 2011 [4 favorites]

One summer I was at Newport train station, waiting with a friend until her train arrived. To my left, James Dean Bradfield of The Manic Street Preachers was sat cross-legged on the platform drinking a coffee.
posted by Lucien Dark at 9:29 AM on December 20, 2011

I shook hands with Afroman after I saw him open for They Might Be Giants. I swear I got a contact high.
posted by Faint of Butt at 9:29 AM on December 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

Cedric Bixler-Zavala once game me a MArs Volta poster from the trunk of a car. I don't know whose car it was.
posted by cmoj at 9:34 AM on December 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

My friend's grandma lives a few houses down from Wayne Coyne. When we visited, we scoped out his house and imagined her grandma's house glowing from Jack White's fiberoptic Jesus.
posted by quiet coyote at 9:36 AM on December 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

The singer/guitarist from the Vandals borrowed a pen from me to sign a fan's autograph, and looked annoyed when I asked for it back.

I stood behind Rebecca Gates in line at Aron's before a going to a show at the Jabberjaw (R.I.P.) and she was...really kind of hostile, even though I did nothing. No fawning, no "Hey! You're ____ !", I was just standing in line to buy a record.

Later, at the same show, ducking out before the night's headliner (Ben Lee with aforementioned and weirdly hostile Ms. Gates) I saw Eric Erlandson (who is really tall) standing with-slash-over Drew Barrymore (who is, no joke, a microperson, tiny, the size of a third-grader).

Some friends of mine are (were?) in Evangelista, so I've had the pleasure of hanging out with Carla Bozulich a few times. She's very nice. I mailed her an ex-roommates grippy iPhone cover because she dropped hers about half-a-dozen times while we were hanging out.

I took a Polaroid of, and got a book recommendation from, Mike Patton for a book store I worked at. He was very nice about it.

Deliberately weirded out Michael Stipe at the same bookstore.

A friend of mine and I offered Thurston Moore a hit of weed before one of his shows. He politely declined.

Fanboy freaked-out on William Winant in a record store, who was really cool about. (In my defense, it was during my Xenakis heavy-listening period.)

Recommended a record to Stephen Malkmus at another job, and watched a Superbowl with him and a group of mutual friends a few years later, which is not to mention all the times I've seen him buying burritos.

Used to be in a band with Kyp Malone, which isn't all that boring, but is here for the sake of completeness given that I've hung out with TV on The Radio and done the YouTube party thing with them.

Other boring non-rock celebrity stories available upon request.
posted by Minus215Cee at 9:40 AM on December 20, 2011

I saw a toilet that Elliot Smith once vomited in. Because he had the flu.

A friend of mine was in jazz band with Chris Funk of the Decemberists. On hearing that he's kind of famous now, her reaction was 'Oh, does he still play alto sax?'

So, there was this one time in college where I was in a Stop & Shop kind of late at night, but not too late, with a friend of mine, and we saw someone who looked like Thurston Moore. And then we decided he was a secret agent, or at least he should be. Because that way, if anyone thought they recognized him later, they could be like 'yeah, no, it's just that I look like Thurston Moore'. And then the person who recognized them could be like 'Who's Thurston Moore?'. And the Secret Agent could be like 'you know, of Sonic Youth'. And the person who thought they recognized them would never figure out that it was because they'd stolen state secrets at that fancy dinner party.

We thought we were brilliant, so we went back to the dorms to tell our story, and then we found out that we had probably actually seen Thurston Moore. He lived right up the road a bit.
posted by dinty_moore at 9:42 AM on December 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

That is in fact quite brilliant and I hope Thurston Moore is inspired to take up a life of international crime.
posted by elizardbits at 9:45 AM on December 20, 2011 [2 favorites]

Oh, I also saw Prince at a Janelle Monae/Of Montreal concert once. It was by far not the most unexpected thing I saw at that concert. But it did make the experience just that much better.

We didn't interact in any way.
posted by dinty_moore at 9:50 AM on December 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

Last week, a characteristically sleeveless Aaron Neville was walking in to the Westin Pasadena as I was waiting for my car. My suitcase was near his intended path, so I preemptively moved it. He grunted in acknowledgement.
posted by Haruspex at 9:55 AM on December 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

Ooh, here's a veeerrrrrry mundane story:
A guy I work with once ate in the same sushi restaurant as the original drummer for Skeletonwitch.

And another one:
I once saw the guys from the Afghan Whigs eating breakfast at a diner in Chicago. They seemed to enjoy their fried eggs. I walked past them, but I was in kind of a hurry to get to work. This is when I worked a swing shift, so this was in the mid-afternoon hour. It was a great shift 'cause nothing really got going until midnight. I imagine most of the scenesters my age have kids by now, so if they do go out, it's more 6:00. Something more reasonable.
posted by NoMich at 10:01 AM on December 20, 2011 [2 favorites]

I once decorated a birthday cake with one of Slapshot's bass players.
posted by The corpse in the library at 10:03 AM on December 20, 2011 [2 favorites]

[D:Ream's Brian Cox] asked for a separate dressing room with seven mirrors in it for himself.

It was probably for an experiment. Involving light. I expect he had lasers.
posted by Grangousier at 10:04 AM on December 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

Dave Gedge of the Wedding Present has never forgiven me.

well, you can't leave it at that.
posted by jeudi at 10:04 AM on December 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

One morning I dropped by a Dunkin Donuts in Somerville to have an early breakfast, and sat down at the counter kitty-corner from Lyle Mays. I didn't bother him and he didn't acknowledge me. I probably had a chocolate honey glaze, since that's what I always order, and I don't remember what he was having. Maybe a bran muffin. Bran muffins were inexplicably a big thing at the time.
posted by ardgedee at 10:16 AM on December 20, 2011

My ex-wife's Aunt lives in San Francisco near Grace Slick. She sometimes sees Grace take out her garbage to the curb.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 10:26 AM on December 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

My sister had to meet with Paul and Linda McCartney regarding a cookbook Linda had authored. It was a business meeting, with everyone low-key and serious.

Afterward, she called me on the phone, and screamed for something like 15 minutes. After jumping up and down on her hotel bed repeatedly. She had seen the Beatles live in the 60s and 40 years later had still not recovered.
posted by kinnakeet at 10:26 AM on December 20, 2011 [8 favorites]

(I should be clearer: we decorated a cake together. I did not use Slapshot's bassist as a cake topper.)
posted by The corpse in the library at 10:32 AM on December 20, 2011 [4 favorites]

One Christmas week in around 1967 my Dad and I passed Ed Sullivan, who was standing in front of what became his eponymous theater, waiting for a cab, alone.

Dad wished him a Merry Christmas; Sullivan made eye contact, smiled broadly, and shook his hand, then smiled at me.

He seemed very nice and looked smaller but better in person than on TV. Not a rock star, but does he count?
posted by kinnakeet at 10:34 AM on December 20, 2011

I spotted John Wesley Harding in the lobby of this small venue (he just opened for Warren Zevon). I went over to him and asked him for an autograph. Sure he said. And then I asked him if he happened to have a pen...

He didn't.
posted by foxhat10 at 10:35 AM on December 20, 2011

I met a strange lady. She made me nervous. She took me in and gave me breakfast.
posted by not_on_display at 10:41 AM on December 20, 2011 [9 favorites]

vverse23: "Kim Deal once asked me if I had any pot. I did not."

I would have fainted.
posted by Bonzai at 10:51 AM on December 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

I spotted Bruce Cockburn at a collector's VHS store in Toronto about fifteen years ago. I tried to eavesdrop on the conversation he was having with the proprietor because, no matter how rude it might be, I couldn't miss a chance to find out what kind of films Bruce might want to own. I started to sidle over to an aisle opposite the counter, then quailed at the last minute and scurried away. Bruce never even knew I was there.

About the same time, Six Finger Satellite came to Montreal while I was out of town (they were touring Paranormalized), and one of my roommates struck up a conversation with them after the show and invited them to crash at our place. Apparently they all had a great time getting high and talking about obscure Boston bands until late, my roommates knowing the whole while how mad I was going to be when they told me (this being like, my favourite band at the time.)

So I come home a few days later and find out all this from two gloating assholes. They even tell me that John "The Juan" MacLean himself slept in my bed. And guess what?

He left this really weird stain on my pillow, and I was so upset I washed it at once.

(To be fair they also left us cool tshirts, so I got over it.)
posted by Chichibio at 10:52 AM on December 20, 2011 [3 favorites]

That's like the third or fourth Bruce Cockburn story to come up. That guy must get out a lot.

Also, I'd be totally excited to see Cockburn somewhere, and I'm not even Canadian.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 10:55 AM on December 20, 2011

I drove a van to Chicago with Linda Perry's ex-girlfriend.

I think Dave Matthews called my mom once.
posted by gingerbeer at 11:18 AM on December 20, 2011

As a teenager, I had the same guitar teacher as Eric Johnson, but later.

I saw Eric Johnson trying out a guitar amplifier inside a convention center after most of the attendees had left. It is the only time I've ever been nervous around a well-known person, and Eric Johnson is probably the least well-known of the well-known people I have seen. But he was the first.

He sat on the amplifier. I think it was a Fender.
posted by swift at 11:32 AM on December 20, 2011

I've done some work on the Osborne Family's Exchange / BEZ server.
posted by mrzarquon at 11:34 AM on December 20, 2011 [2 favorites]

The Rod Stewart stories remind of the part in The Rutles where Ron Nasty is quoted as saying they are bigger than God, but in fact the journalist was slightly deaf, and Nasty had actually said they were bigger than Rod, who would not be famous for another 8 years.
posted by swift at 11:41 AM on December 20, 2011

Okay, not music-related, but I reading these, I can't help but think of this:

Cheese balls are one of my all-time favorite foods. I always seem to meet the most interesting people when I'm around them, too. In fact, cheese balls bring to mind the time I met Bob Barker.

posted by Kalthare at 11:41 AM on December 20, 2011

I once spent a post-conference cocktail hour being all flirty with Jane Siberry.

She sent me an email the next day over some irrelevant detail, and I responded, but I spelled her last name wrong.

Thus ended our red-hot love affair.
posted by Capt. Renault at 12:50 PM on December 20, 2011

I saw Hanson bopping along to U2 a few feet away from me at a U2 concert in Dallas.

Fastball used to crash at a friend's mom's house.
posted by kmz at 12:50 PM on December 20, 2011

Oh hey, a name dropping thread: I've met: Paul Oakenfold, BT, Sandra Collins, Christopher Lawrence, John '00' Fleming, Josh Wink, Pete Tong, Tiesto, James Holden, Ferry Corsten, Crystal Method, DJ Dan, Felix Da housecat, Timo Maas, John B, Dieselboy, Icey, DJ Funk, Grandmaster Flash, Max Graham, Markus Schulz, Deadmau5, Eric Prydz, and a bunch more mid list DJs and electronica acts that probably nobody has heard of..
posted by empath at 12:53 PM on December 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

Oh! I forgot! The first gig I ever did, the PA was provided by Kajagoogoo (pre-Limahl, pre-fame, obviously, and I think they were called Art Nouveau at the time).
posted by Grangousier at 1:02 PM on December 20, 2011

I met Jello Biafra and had my picture taken with him (and my then-bf). He launched into some tirade about "the wankers" at SXSW.

I went to a lot of shows when I lived in Austin around 1999-2000 and saw the Meat Puppets several times. Flirted with then-guitarist Kyle Ellison and was offered some of their pot back stage (didn't accept, because I don't smoke).

I've been head-butted by Wesley Willis in two different cities (Austin and Chicago).
posted by misskaz at 1:10 PM on December 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

I engraved a thank you plaque for Leonard Nimoy once. He spoke at graduation that year at the small college I can't remember the name of.

A friend of mine enrolled in the Duke Rice Diet Weight Loss Whateveryoucallit a few years ago. Clarence Clemmons was in the same program with her. One night he asked her to come hear him play at some small club in Durham. She said no because it was raining.
posted by yoga at 1:16 PM on December 20, 2011

George Clinton and I took the same Alaska Airlines flight from PDX to LAX. He sat in Business Class.
posted by vespabelle at 1:21 PM on December 20, 2011

I went to the MCA in Chicago with some friends of mine. Apparently Phillip Glass walked behind me. I didn't turn around fast enough to see.
posted by WASP-12b at 1:29 PM on December 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

> Oh hey, a name dropping thread:

No, no. You have to tell a little story about a banal interaction.
posted by Burhanistan at 1:31 PM on December 20, 2011 [6 favorites]

Okay. I told Oakenfold that I really liked the last Tiesto song he played, and he said: "Yeah, I hate that song, but I play it because Tiesto is a close personal friend of mine."

Sandra Collins chased me out of the vip bathroom during her gig. She banged on the door as soon as I walked in and closed it behind me and I yelled out "I'M TRYING TO DO DRUGS IN HERE, PEOPLE" (I was actually just peeing)... she was really angry at me when i came out...

I called my friend to bring over pot for Timo Maas at an after party at 5 am, and my friend didn't believe me. Halfway on the way to the party, Timo Maas said he had to go home. I think my friend still thinks I was fucking with him.

Tiesto's agent yelled at me for playing too many anthems when I opened for him.

Pete Tong is a really down to earth guy that chit chatted for a while back stage and was surprised anybody in the US knew who he was.

I was really drunk when I met James Holden and the first thing I said to him was "Don't worry, I don't think anybody really noticed you trainwrecking."

Most of the others were just me saying "Oh hey, great set" or "I'm a big fan", or getting a signature.
posted by empath at 1:43 PM on December 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

The first time I visited NYC I went to Teany. Moby was there. He did an interview with some guy while we had afternoon tea. We got up and left around the same time and my friend held the door for him. The entryway is kinda cramped and it was raining.

I told that story to a friend from Fairfield, IA and she told me hers, about walking down the main street in Fairfield behind Moby. He was making fun of the name of a pizza place there. It's called Bread Deaux Pizza.

My ex worked at the co-op in Athens, so blah blah Michael Stipe sandwiches.

My other ex went to a dance party in college where Michael Stipe showed up, and also ate Thai food with Catie Curtis.

Once I went to the same drag king show as Amy Ray.

I had a friend who dated the bass player from the Butchies for a while. She was cute and nice, but she didn't really talk. At all.

I have one former friend who smoked a cigarette with Dar Williams, and another one who, at a totally different place and time, took her out for a glass of wine and asked her advice about where to live in Manhattan.

A dear friend of mine used to live in the same apartment building in Bushwick as Stephin Merritt.
posted by clavicle at 1:47 PM on December 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

I was shopping in the frozen food aisle and looked up to see Steven Perry browsing the "gluten free" section. I said nothing. But I'm sure my eyes spoke volumes.
posted by agatha_magatha at 2:03 PM on December 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

I once made a poster sized copy for Donovan of what seemed like a diagram of the Donovan family issues. Apparently they were having some problems with time management.

Also I was at a show that Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon were at, back when I went to Hampshire. I attempted to look cool. I'm pretty sure they didn't notice.
posted by grapesaresour at 2:05 PM on December 20, 2011

My best friend in high school got pubic lice or scabies or something because Isaac Brock apparently had them and crashed on her dorm couch after a show (no sexytimes).
posted by ifjuly at 2:07 PM on December 20, 2011

I played pinball with Jimmy Page.
I told Kim Gordon that Thurston Moore was in the men's room at the movie theater and would be right out.
I was on a machine in the weightroom at the Y next to Garland Jeffreys.

I have more. Many more.
posted by AJaffe at 2:13 PM on December 20, 2011

One more: I got coffee with Eugene Chadbourne.
posted by AJaffe at 2:16 PM on December 20, 2011

If anyone remembers Two Nice Girls (of "I Spent My Last $10.00 (on Birth Control and Beer" fame, and also a great mashup of Sweet Jane and Love and Affection), then I want you to know that I ran into them at a bar after a show, we hung out, and Gretchen Phillips and I got high and had a stick fight.
posted by rtha at 2:23 PM on December 20, 2011

I was getting dinner at the fancy burger place up the street a few months ago. Sheryl Crow was at the next table reading Green Eggs and Ham. Catastropher said she had a kid with her...but I saw no kid.
posted by zoetrope at 2:49 PM on December 20, 2011

I shared a university office with Matthew Bannister from Sneaky Feelings for about two years. He made me read Our Band Could Be Your Life. I lent him Slacker, on DVD. He returned it.
posted by Sonny Jim at 2:57 PM on December 20, 2011

I beat the drummer from Smashmouth at miniature golf, refused to make Weird Al Yankovich a sandwich, and was on the same airplane as Chris Isaak. Not all at the same time.
posted by Kafkaesque at 2:58 PM on December 20, 2011

I helped the guitarist from Rollins Band move house this summer. And he helped me a few weeks later when I moved.
posted by knile at 2:58 PM on December 20, 2011

Metafilter: blah blah Michael Stipe sandwiches.
posted by yellowbinder at 2:59 PM on December 20, 2011 [5 favorites]

I ate Bob Geldof's Chinese takeaway (without his permission) once. This was like two years before he was Feeding the World.
posted by Prince Lazy I at 3:35 PM on December 20, 2011

I just remembered a good one. My boyfriend was working in a cafe in Edinburgh (Bean Scene?) that Dylan Moran used to frequent. One day he was sitting in the corner drinking a coffee when Bono and The Edge came in. Bono said hello to Dylan and Dylan replied, "Fuck off". My boyfriend has also had a fight with Nick Cave about organic orange juice, which he won. Nick Cave was sulky about losing but later asked him to an party in his hotel room which my boyfriend didn't go to or even tell me about 'til like a week later.
posted by Wantok at 3:48 PM on December 20, 2011 [8 favorites]

I was once in a bachelor party with Bill Brasky. He ate the entire cake, before we could tell him there was a stripper in it.
posted by growabrain at 3:56 PM on December 20, 2011 [2 favorites]

Once I was called for jury duty in New York, and in the big cattle-call room I heard my name called for a panel, along with John Cale. Huh -- he's Welsh, but maybe he's become a U.S. citizen? How cool would it be to be on a jury with him? Then he turned out to be an elderly man named John Kao.

In one apartment I had in the East Village in the '90s, my roommates and I had put this shiny, semi-holographic silver wallpaper on one wall, and our next-door neighbor, a rock photographer, wanted to shoot Iggy Pop in front of it. I took the day off work to let them into our place, but Iggy never showed up.
posted by lisa g at 4:16 PM on December 20, 2011

Mr. Corpse used to work in a coffee shop in the East Village. One of the regulars was this guy named Phil.

It was only after Mr. Corpse saw Phil's photo in the paper that he realized the man he chatted with for a few minutes every morning was Philip Glass.
posted by The corpse in the library at 4:33 PM on December 20, 2011 [2 favorites]

I took a zeppelin flight while in San Francisco. One of the fellow passengers was a member of Dread Zeppelin
posted by alikins at 4:35 PM on December 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

Once I was walking through Central Park with a friend (yes, near Strawberry Fields) and we passed an older woman with a college-aged man. My friend said, "I think that was Yoko Ono." "Yes, it was." I replied. Later, we texted the friends we were on our way to meet this news, but the messages didn't go through because we were on the subway.
posted by pixiecrinkle at 4:45 PM on December 20, 2011

Jason Varitek came into the deli where I worked in the winter of 2005. I had no idea who this large man was and why he gave me such a huge tip. Then Roger Miller from Mission of Burma came in, and I fangirlled to an extent that would have freaked out Mel from Flight of the Conchords. True story.
posted by pxe2000 at 5:24 PM on December 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

In '00 I was backstage at the Warped Tour stumbling around looking for the members of NOFX to sign my shirt. I turned the corner and bumped into a guy who I thought was Fat Mike. I thrust out a permanent marker and said 'hey, are you Fat Mike?'

The guy looked me up and down. He said, 'No, I'm not Fat Mike, I'm... (the lead singer of the Mighty Mighty Bosstones Dicky Barrett) I'm FAT DICK.'
posted by infinitefloatingbrains at 5:25 PM on December 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

I saw Thurston Moore in my orthodontist's waiting room. I overheard him discussing appointments.

I mistook J Mascis for a homeless guy on two separate occasions.

I walked up a staircase with Lou Reed.
posted by dayintoday at 5:28 PM on December 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

Pat DiNizio gave me a beer at the Living Room in Providence after a Smithereens gig in 1988. I was 17.

I helped Queen Ida walk up a muddy hill.
posted by otters walk among us at 5:39 PM on December 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

I once made Harry Connick Jr. wait to use a payphone at a restaurant on Canal Street in New Orleans.

I met David Lowery at a laundromat in San Diego in 1990-ish.
posted by msali at 5:40 PM on December 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

I got drunk with Yo La Tengo after a show in Rio.
posted by msali at 5:43 PM on December 20, 2011

I remember standing in line before a Spearhead concert about 5 years back. There was a guy busking with a djembe in a doorway next to the venue. Another guy came out of the alley with an acoustic guitar and asked if he could join in, and started playing/singing Spearhead tracks ... several people in the line-up laughed cynically - "That's almost as cheesy as wearing the band's t-shirt to their concert!"

Then one of the bouncers stuck his head out the door and yelled "Hey, Mr. Franti, they want you upstairs for sound check!" Yep, it was him. He dropped a twenty in the busker's hat and ran back into the alley.

Later at that same show, in the middle of an extended jam, he reached into the crowd and took the joint I was offering, took a few puffs, and was nice to make sure it got back to me.
posted by mannequito at 5:45 PM on December 20, 2011

not my story, but : my friend Ken was at a charity dinner of some kind, and the seating was long tables with highback chairs. as he's eating his dinner, he becomes increasingly annoyed at the person sitting directlt behind him, as they keep rocking their chair back slightly, causing the top to thunk against his. he puts up with this rather good-naturedly for a while, but eventually enough is enough so he gets up and walks around to gently ask if they could be more considerate but unfortunately he didn't get a chance to as the first words out of Ken's mouth as he saw the perpetrator were "My God, you're David Bowie!"

to which David Bowie replied (with the same shocked tone) "My God, I am!".

(Ken, mortified, sat back down without another word. Bowie approached him about five minutes later and asked if Ken had needed something a moment ago. Ken was not able to muster the courage to mention it. Bowie continued rocking and knocking his highback chair, too.)
posted by radiosilents at 5:49 PM on December 20, 2011 [7 favorites]

I forgot (no wonder) that I also got wasted once with Lez Zeppelin after a show at the Aladdin in Portland. They lamented to me that they are *not* a cover band, because you don't consider an orchestra that plays Beethoven to be a cover band.
posted by Lutoslawski at 6:23 PM on December 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

My wife's best friend's friend's roommate dated Prince at some point in the early '90s. My wife's best friend was at the apartment once when Prince came by to pick up the roommate. Apparently he showed up and did not speak a word to anyone, including his date, and left with her within a minute.
posted by Karlos the Jackal at 7:36 PM on December 20, 2011

Although I did successfully acquire Larry Mullen Jr's autograph on a setlist one magic night in 2005, I believe my ace in the hole here is the time some friends and I played quarters with Tom Wopat's brother.

You're welcome.

NO WAIT. Okay. I work at the newspaper in Springfield, IL. When state sen. Obama was running for congress, he and other candidates were interviewed by our editorial board for endorsement purposes. looking out the lunchroom windows at the patio, I saw him sitting out there alone, relaxing for a minute.

I considered going out there to express my pro-gay views, but I was at work and all, and I thought I might as well let him have his minute of peace and quiet. Regretted it ever since.

You might recall he was running against Jeri Seven-of-Nine Ryan's ex-husband.
posted by Occula at 7:44 PM on December 20, 2011

I was seeing a friend off at the airport and we spotted "Weird Al" Yankovic getting off a flight across the aisle.

Later, as I was descending the escalator from the departure lounge, I thought I'd turn to see if I could catch another glimpse of him. He was right behind me, wearing a black Rolling Stones tounge t-shirt and carrying an acoustic guitar case (this was in the early 90s, so he was also still rocking the short-curls-with-mustache-and-big-glasses look).

I immediately became too nervous/self-conscious to talk to him (I was about 15 at the time), even though his "Greatest Hits" was my first pop record and I was a pretty huge fan until, well, puberty. (I still like him, just saying...)
posted by whitesocksflipflops at 7:48 PM on December 20, 2011

I ate at the same table as Daniel Belanger and didn't talk to him because I was neverous about my French even though I was probably the only Quebecois speaking Albertan within 150km.
posted by furtive at 8:30 PM on December 20, 2011

Of course, everyone has a Ian MacKaye-yelling-at-me-for-something story.

Indeed. Once I was driving to a friend's house in Mount Pleasant and absentmindedly started busting a left into the exit of a one-way street. Some people on the sidewalk started gesticulating and yelling "You can't go that way!" and I was like "What's their problem?"

Then a guy in a pork-pie hat stuck his head out the driver's side window of the car behind me and yelled "You're GOING the *WRONG WAY!*" -- enunciating very clearly in a voice that is unmistakable if you've heard, say, Fugazi's "Birthday Pony".
posted by whitesocksflipflops at 8:58 PM on December 20, 2011 [4 favorites]

All I reall got is standing next to Beatle Bob at a Son Volt show. He hip-checked me a few times.
posted by Occula

When I was in high school, selling calendars at a kiosks in the mall, my manager came up and warned me about Beatle Bob and how he stole Beatles calendars a bunch. I'd met him a billion times at shows but what made it really hilarious was the sketch my manager gave me with arrows pointing to his Beatle-esque hair.
posted by saul wright at 9:16 PM on December 20, 2011 [3 favorites]

I'm glad that my impression of Pete Tong as a nice person is left intact.

I have really bad face recognition so I could see celebrities every day but I would not know it.
posted by winna at 10:11 PM on December 20, 2011

I recently played Fruit Ninja with James Iha.

He wouldn't tell me the secret to how he used to dye his hair like that =(
posted by Hello, I'm David McGahan at 1:33 AM on December 21, 2011

I was seeing a friend off at the airport and we spotted "Weird Al" Yankovic getting off a flight across the aisle.

Did you catch the Frank Drebin speech?
posted by mannequito at 2:01 AM on December 21, 2011 [1 favorite]

I met Frank Zappa at the Hollywood premier of the classic film 'Quigley Down Under' - my mom's cousin was a producer of the movie. I also met the film's star Tom Selleck and Jay Leno at the event, but they're not rock stars, though I'm a little surprised that Sellick never made a record in the 80's. It just seems like something he would've done.

Anyway, I told Zappa I liked his music, which was partially true as I'd heard 'Don't Eat the Yellow Snow' on the Dr. Demento radio show. He commented to me that he was surprised I knew who he was (I was about 12 or 13 at the time) so I told him where I knew him from. He gave me a funny look.

I wish I still had the autographs I got that day. I doubt too many people have Leno, Selleck, and Zappa's signatures all on one piece of paper. Leno signed his name with a drawing of his chin.
posted by item at 6:07 AM on December 21, 2011

Here's another one, I suppose. I recently found out that a guy I was friends with in high school moved to New York, became pretty big in the music journalism scene there and dated Amanda Palmer. Now Amanda Palmer is married to Neil Gaiman, and my friend died in 2006, apparently from an accidental overdose of cold medicine. So it goes?
posted by Faint of Butt at 7:09 AM on December 21, 2011

I sat David Byrne twice in one day at SFO. Once eating lunch and reading a newspaper, and then sitting waiting for his flight and on his laptop.
posted by Chrysostom at 7:39 AM on December 21, 2011

One time I went with some friends to get a burrito at a local burrito place, and one of them said "oh, guh, it's Colin Meloy", and I looked over at where they were looking and it was in fact Colin Meloy, and he was eating a burrito as well.
posted by cortex at 7:39 AM on December 21, 2011 [1 favorite]

I also have a David Byrne story that probably qualifies as boring, because I never actually saw him. In the fall of '95, I'd just moved to New York, and my roommates and I decided to get a cat. I picked out a kitten from a great stray-cat rescue agency, which said the adoption would be complete only after they'd visited our apartment to ensure it was cat-friendly.

So the cat-rescue people come over with our future kitten (then called Priscilla, soon to be renamed Edie). They determined our place was safe enough for a roaming kitty and let her out of the carrier. Yea! As they were leaving, one of them casually remarked, "Hey, before we brought your cat here, we dropped off a different cat with David Byrne. He saw your kitty as well, and he said, 'I'd like that one too!' But we told him that your cat was spoken for."

So, if not for my intervention, Edie could have had a lush life being petted by David Byrne and Brian Eno and Cindy Sherman and who knows who else, being brushed daily by enthusiastic personal assistants, eating organic food from bowls made of rainforest-friendly Brazilian wood. Instead she ended up with a bunch of twentysomething boho nobodies. We treated her well, but we often played her some of his music to let her know what she was missing.

(As I was typing this, it occurred to me that one of my follow-up cats after Edie is named Martina, after Tina Weymouth -- I hadn't made the Talking Heads connection between the two of them until now.)
posted by lisa g at 7:45 AM on December 21, 2011 [6 favorites]

I used to work in a tea shop in St. Paul, MN in college. A lady came in and asked for a type of tea that would soothe the throat for her friend Amanda, who was in town to play a gig. A Desden Dolls gig!

A few weekends ago I went with the local junior roller derby league to coach one of their games in WI. Neil Gaiman, his son, and his assistant Lorraine were at the bout too. Mr. Gaiman took a few photos of the kids with his phone, and I like to think that my butt is in the background of some of them. I later got a picture with him and my heart was beating so fast the whole time! All I could say was "thank you, thank you".
posted by stompadour at 8:17 AM on December 21, 2011

"Anyway, I told Zappa I liked his music, which was partially true as I'd heard 'Don't Eat the Yellow Snow' on the Dr. Demento radio show. He commented to me that he was surprised I knew who he was (I was about 12 or 13 at the time) so I told him where I knew him from. He gave me a funny look. "

You did better than me. When I was about 14 (1979, or so), my aunt met Zappa in a bar here in Albuquerque (I like to think that's when the events of "Jazz Discharge Party Hats" occurred, though I'm pretty hopeful sure my aunt wasn't one "of the girls from the college"). Anyway, she was all excited about it and showed me the bar napkin she'd asked him to autograph, and I didn't know who he was.

It wasn't until years later that I remembered this and actually felt embarrassed about it. (At the time, I was a teenager and figured if I didn't know who he was, he couldn't be important.) Funny thing, if this hadn't happened and you'd asked me today, I'd say that my aunt wouldn't know who the hell Zappa was. I wonder if she still has that autograph. I hope so.

Okay, this is the kind of story everyone has, probably, but in the small town I grew up in, Portales, New Mexico, I went to high school with Ned Sublette's younger sister—he's a bit more than ten years older than me. I hugely admire Ned Sublette, he's extremely cool and he does something that I would have thought impossible: he manages to simultaneously represent and transcend the redneck culture we grew up within and become someone far more interesting both because and in spite of it. I, in contrast, just entirely disavow it and have never had (even as a kid) anything whatsoever to do with it. He's the kind of person you meet in Austin and that Central Texas somehow weirdly manages to produce—how he came from West Texas/Eastern New Mexico, I don't really understand. Because it's very much not like that.

I'd like to think that Portales is proud of Sublette, but I figure they largely have no idea who he is. And of those who do, most of them probably are very unhappy with this song, that Willie famous covered a few years ago.

You know, I ought to do a post on Sublette, actually. Huh. Hadn't thought of that before now.

"So, if not for my intervention, Edie could have had a lush life being petted by David Byrne and Brian Eno and Cindy Sherman and who knows who else, being brushed daily by enthusiastic personal assistants, eating organic food from bowls made of rainforest-friendly Brazilian wood. Instead she ended up with a bunch of twentysomething boho nobodies. We treated her well, but we often played her some of his music to let her know what she was missing."

Awww. If this had happened to me and my cat, I would have actually felt a little guilty about this, like I'd screwed up my cat's life. I mean, I didn't even have the heart to change my cat's name from what they named her at the shelter—it's like, you know, that's already been her name. And it's a stupid name. She probably resents me for it—she thought she was going to get rid of that awful thing and I, unlike everyone else who adopts a shelter cat, kept the name they gave her.

Hmm, that might explain the vomit.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 8:20 AM on December 21, 2011 [1 favorite]

If we're doing any famous-to-me person then when I accidentally ran into Tim Kreider at the People's Library all I could do was like point and make noises.
posted by The Whelk at 8:23 AM on December 21, 2011

My two stories. Strap yourselves in.

1) I rode the train from NYC to Boston with Body Count next to me and Ice-T behind me. They said I was "alright".

2) In a bar, I told James Murphy that his band sucked, but they put on a pretty decent last show.
posted by tip120 at 10:38 AM on December 21, 2011

I once met a cat whose mother once belonged to Mikhail Baryshnikov.
posted by The corpse in the library at 11:19 AM on December 21, 2011 [3 favorites]

"I once met a cat whose mother once belonged to Mikhail Baryshnikov."

My mom's friend's boyfriend was some sort of promoter or administrator or whatever the hell in the city they lived in when Baryshnikov performed there in the mid-80s. He had to make all the personal arrangements and Baryshnikov expected to be provided a female, er, "companion".

This guy, despite his professional experience, was a bit stymied by this, it's not something he had that much experience with, if any. And, interestingly, his girlfriend, my mom's close (and much younger) friend, had expressed her admiration and strong attraction for Baryshnikov to her boyfriend. Well, being the unusually open-minded couple they were for that time and place, he asked her if she was interested in playing this intimate role. She was, by the way, very attractive (something I was very aware of, as I was twenty at the time).

After several days of consideration, she decided against it. I think her boyfriend told Baryshnikov's people that he just couldn't arrange anything, or something. Or maybe I wasn't told the entire story.

But my little sister was ten and had been taking ballet lessons for several years...despite her bone disease, surgeries, and general difficulty with it. So, it was arranged that immediately after the concert, she'd go backstage for a meeting with Baryshnikov. She told him that "his dancing made her cry", they hugged, and this whole event is one of my sister's cherished memories.

Of course she didn't, and still doesn't, know the other stuff. And, really, in that context, even at the time, I think I was a little skeeved-out by all of it in combination.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 11:36 AM on December 21, 2011

I once watched a movie that had Flea in it.
posted by cmoj at 11:59 AM on December 21, 2011

I literally ran into Stella McCarthy at Camden Market.

I saw Eddie Money drinking all by himself in a really cheesy lounge my friends and I used to frequent.

We used to own a bakery and made a ton of stuff for the Foo Fighters when they came to town. Taylor Hawkins asked for bran muffins.

*I'd also like to hear the really good celebrity stories, for what that's worth*
posted by Atom12 at 12:41 PM on December 21, 2011

Forgot this one. Nirvana was on their Bleach tour and nobody really knew what the band looked like -- the cover of the album was all hair. So I'm standing in the crowd, waiting for the band to go on and this short, dirty-looking guy is hacking up a storm next to me. Then he gets up on stage. It was Kurt Cobain.
posted by Atom12 at 1:05 PM on December 21, 2011

I talked to Thom Yorke at a party in Athens, GA in the early 90s. It was after Radiohead's show at the 40 Watt. Don't remember what we were talking about, just that he kept running his fingers through his hair, said it had just been cut & felt weird to him. Tanya Donnelly practically dragged him away from me & stayed by his side the rest of the evening.

Kristin Hersh and I recently had a short exchange on Twitter. She told me that she finds English tuppence pieces "Dickensian."
posted by Sonny Jim at 1:10 PM on December 21, 2011

I was at New York's Mercury Lounge waiting for the main act to come on and a guy tapped me on the shoulder to get by and said "Hey, I hear this guy's pretty good." Then he went to the stage. It was Stan Ridgway and it was his show...
posted by AJaffe at 2:47 PM on December 21, 2011 [3 favorites]

One time I was walking down the street and passed a jewelery store with garbage bags over all the windows. There was a small crowd outside and people were all like OMG BRITNEY AND JUSTIN ARE IN THERE!!!11 but it was raining so I kept walking.
posted by yellowbinder at 4:08 PM on December 21, 2011

I volunteered at a low-key fundraising dinner for Hospitality House, a shelter in Northern California. My job was to make sure people didn't take too much butter since we had a limited supply--the intent was to replicate what a bread line/soup kitchen might be like, I believe, rather than to give donors a particularly awesome meal. A kooky older gentleman engaged me in a very long discussion about whether the pats of butter were salted or not (I had no idea, not having tasted any since we were running low.) If it wasn't salted, he said, there was no point.

Later, someone got my attention and pointed toward the same guy, who was now sitting at a table. "There's Utah Phillips!" she said. (He was one of the founders of the shelter.)
posted by needs more cowbell at 4:31 PM on December 21, 2011 [2 favorites]

I took a cab with Lily Allen before she was famous. She and her half-sister asked me if I wanted to go out for a drink with them but I said I was busy.
posted by unSane at 4:35 PM on December 21, 2011

Oh, yeah, and they had just met Justin Timberlake and were completely agog.
posted by unSane at 4:37 PM on December 21, 2011

I hung out with The Digital Underground. I gave a ride to Brian from Local H to his hotel before the show. I got Josh Homme from QOTSA to do a radio promo for my college radio station.
posted by XhaustedProphet at 7:19 PM on December 21, 2011 [1 favorite]

Beyonce & Jay-Z have a business office a couple of blocks south of Times Square and I work in that building. One night a few moths ago, I stepped outside the lobby for a smoke break and saw a secret service type of guy in a suit with the earpiece eyeing me up and down warily.

I pretended not to notice and played with my phone when I notice an equally imposing guy in a black suit with the high tech CIA earpiece things in front of a tinted out parked SUV.

So being the Sherlock Holmes I was, I figured the dude in the lobby vestibule and the guy 25 feet away at the curb are part of someone's VIP security detail.

All of a sudden the SUV guy puts his finger to his ear like an anchorman getting some late breaking news and then says loudly "Psssssst!" to the his lobby peer and hold out his palm flatly in front of his chest and with his other hand begins to use the index and middle finger to walk the length of his flat palm. ala the let your fingers do the walking yellow pages commercial from the 70's .

Seconds later here come the power couple strolling to their car and I just noticed how curvy Beyonce was and how tall, lanky and skinny Jay-Z was considering how big his head looks like on the TV box.

In the end I was just struck by how much $$$ this security detail must cost, the wireless earpieces and on top of it all they were probably were packing heat....and the way they let each other know that it is GO TIME is the pssst+finger walk top secret undecipherable hackproof signal.
posted by stavx at 7:32 PM on December 21, 2011 [4 favorites]

Recently Captain Sensible ignored me after a show and talked to my friend.

Once, in the 90's, a (different) friend and I drove Dave Blood of the Dead Milkmen to the library.

I met a guy who told me his mother once threw a fish at Michael Stipe on stage. That part of the story is interesting, but my part is not. I was just hanging out in a bar.

I think those are the best boring ones. On a non-musician note, I was once walking down Bloor Street in Toronto and I saw Dave Foley. He was talking to some guy. I did not say anything.
posted by Because at 10:43 PM on December 21, 2011

My favorite art professor, who would soon die of pancreatic cancer, took me and a few other students to meet his friend Laurie Anderson after a concert. Watching her film Home of the Brave several years earlier had blown my mind to such an extent that I would have freely given her measurable credit for my aspirations to be a creative person. I'd read interviews with her in art publications going back many years.

As she chatted with us, I recognized she was weaving the same stories I had read into our conversation, reciting them as fresh observations. At the time, I felt terribly let down.
posted by itstheclamsname at 6:31 PM on December 22, 2011

Matthew Good called me an asshole once. That's like Wayne Gretzky complimenting your slapshot.
posted by Zozo at 8:43 PM on December 22, 2011 [5 favorites]

My wife and I were in the Berkeley Square in Berkeley, CA in 1983 or so. We might have been there to see The Waitresses. Eddie Money sat down at a table in front of us. Our friend said "There's Eddie Money". My wife asked "Who's Eddie Money?" really loudly, and he whipped his head around.
posted by lukemeister at 9:33 PM on December 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

lukemeister, I've got a similar story. Waiting for a friend to clear customs at Narita airport, my wife got really excited and told me to turn around, because Wentz was right there. I had absolutely no idea who or what Wentz was, so I turned around and looked. I asked where, and she said, it's Wentz, right there! This went on for a couple of minutes, with my wife growing more and more agitated.

Later that night, at home, while watching TV, my wife jumped up and pointed her finger at the TV. There was the half-Japanese celebrity/singer/tarento that had been standing roughly ten feet from us, alternately laughing and wincing at my complete ignorance of his fame.

Still not sure why he's famous.
posted by Ghidorah at 9:54 PM on December 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

In the early 90's Steven Tyler looked through the shop window where I worked and stuck his tongue at me. In the late 90's I waited on Billy Corgan a bunch of times.
posted by marimeko at 9:59 AM on January 1

I ran into Dokken at an extremely disappointing bondage party. He looked bored and uncomfortable.
posted by KathrynT at 11:24 AM on January 1 [1 favorite]

I was an usher for the New York staging of Stomp for a year. While I was there, I ended up seating Yoko and Sean Ono -- and then Sean had to slip out to the rest room during the show and smiled at all of ushers hanging out in the lobby. On another occasion I apparently seated Bruce Springsteen's entire family. I was in a rush to get back to the usher line the day I seated Bruce, so I totally didn't notice him amid the crowd of people I was showing to their seat. (Although, now that I think about it, the woman I handed the programs to had red hair, so it may have been Patti Scialfa.)

Also, my father's friends used to run a night club in my home town when I was little; one afternoon when I was about four, Dad and I went to visit for a bit during the day, when that night's guest, Arlo Guthrie, was warming up for his act. He saw four-year-old me wandering around and stated serenading me with the theme to "Sesame Street". I, however, remember none of this.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:38 AM on January 1

Oh -- and my mother had the same piano teacher as Peter Tork.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:42 AM on January 1

Tim O'Reagan of the Jayhawks lives on my block. His dog doesn't like my dog very much. I see other Jayhawks around south Minneapolis with great frequency.

I saw Paul Westerberg at the Turf Club in St. Paul. He was standing with his sister, a prominent local DJ, and looking very miserable.

I also talked to Slim Dunlap at the Turf Club, on a different night. I wanted to know about his stint in the Replacements, but all he wanted to talk about was how tragic the life of Carl Perkins was.

Elvis Costello was once spotted in the galleries of an art museum where I worked. As word spread, the entire staff slowly started filtering up there to see him. The gallery guards were not amused.
posted by COBRA! at 12:07 PM on January 1

I was recently reminded that Janis Joplin babysat my uncle or cousin or someone.
posted by cmoj at 1:03 PM on January 1 [1 favorite]

In the early 90's Steven Tyler looked through the shop window where I worked and stuck his tongue at me.

This is awesome.
posted by stinkycheese at 5:40 PM on January 1

I saw David Duchovny talking on his cellphone once. I was in a restaurant and he was walking by outside.
posted by insectosaurus at 6:49 PM on January 1

One Thanksgiving in the early 90s, in the days before Google maps and cellphones, my roommate were wondering around Manhattan trying to find a record store. I have a rather strict "don't bother celebrities" policy, but the closest person on the street who could give us directions was Mike D from the Beastie Boys, and we knew for damned sure he's probably have the information we needed. He looked terrified when we first approached, but that all went away when my roommate said something to the effect of "Yes, yes, Mike D., we know who you are just tell us how to get to the closest Tower Records."
He was very helpful.
posted by Dr. Zira at 7:17 PM on January 1 [3 favorites]

After hearing a composition of mine (a tape piece), and finding out that one of the materials used in making it was a dildo, Helmut Lachenmann told me that it was no longer necessary to shock the bourgeoisie.
posted by idiopath at 8:48 PM on January 1

Helmut Lachenmann told me that it was no longer necessary to shock the bourgeoisie.

Just the monkey?
posted by flapjax at midnite at 9:18 PM on January 1

Walter Mondale once called me "honey."
posted by The corpse in the library at 9:19 PM on January 1 [1 favorite]

Walter Mondale... he was the bass player for the Tubes, right?
posted by flapjax at midnite at 9:25 PM on January 1

My mother called me up at 4am Rome time all a-flutter and chittery. She and my sisters had gone to the Mansion on Turtle Creek to celebrate Mom's 50th birthday. In saunter an obvious famous entourage of African-American dudes, who upon finding out it's Mom's birthday, serenade her with Happy Birthday.

My sisters were resolute in not telling my mom who it was until they left the restaurant "because you'll freak out Mom. Just chill." So once they had told her, she unleashed the pent up slightly tipsy freak out on me, her eldest sleeping an ocean away.

"So your sisters told me that it was 50 Cent and Jay-Z, and I was like 'Who?' and then they told me that Jay-Z is Beyonce's boyfriend and I was like, How cool! Beyonce's boyfriend and his friend just sang me happy birthday. Isn't that just so cool?"

Props to 50 Cent and Jay-Z for a bit of birthday cheer to someone who had no clue who they were, but I was really non-plussed to be woken up at the time.
posted by romakimmy at 7:49 AM on January 2

I've seen Björk naked. Conversely, Björk has seen ME naked.

She was leaving my neighborhood-which-was-also-her-neighborhood pool's showers as I was entering. I first recognized her by her tattoo. It was all I could do not to scream "OMIG-D YOU'RE BJORK!" - but I really didn't want to be that obnoxious American who ruined her day. While naked.
posted by sonika at 4:08 PM on January 2 [5 favorites]

An ex of mine dated Marty Willson-Piper from The Church for a while, so we were both at a BBQ at her place. I didn't have much to say to him - he seemed to be a bit of a douche & spoke mostly about himself, so I got bored & wandered off to get another sausage.

Another time, we hung out with a different member of the band in Melbourne & ate pizza. I forget which one he was, but it wasn't Steve Kilbey. This one was much nicer, although he mostly talked about The Church, who I didn't mind as a band but never really paid much attention to, so the conversation was pretty one-sided.

For a while, I lived above Simon & Bronwyn Bonney from Crime & the City Solution. Their kids discovered that my digital TV set top box had a game on it, and played it for a while before getting tired of it because it was a crap game that some bored software engineer must have thrown together on a slow afternoon at the set top box factory.
posted by UbuRoivas at 4:26 PM on January 2

I went to see Nine Inch Nails live back in 2005. They were playing in a college auditorium, but it was old Trent and young back-up band. Trent said it was one of the oddest venue he had ever played in, and I was also surprised to see NIN play in the area where basketball would usually be played.

Anyway, on my way to put my jacket in a locker, I saw an aftershow pass. Just sitting on the floor. WOOT! So I picked it up, and was stoked about hanging out with Trent or someone famous after the show. But instead of telling anyone "hey, I have a pass," I just sat with a college paper journalist who was going to interview the opener, and some friends of the opening band. Since they were expected, I didn't actually get escorted back. So I didn't actually talk to anyone, and I've probably lost the sticker in various moves since then. But for a while, I was pretty excited about the potential to meet Trent.
posted by filthy light thief at 6:16 PM on January 2

In the mid-90s my wife won tickets from WFUV to see a Dar Williams concert way out on Long Island. Part of the prize was dinner at a Mexican restaurant across the street afterwards, and Dar was supposed to swing by and drop off some autographed CDs.

So we (about a dozen people who won tickets) are having our "dinner" at about 10:30 after the show in the otherwise empty restaurant and Dar drops in as advertised then decides the food looks excellent and sat down right next to us to eat. We had a pleasant conversation about New York (we both grew up in Westchester county), the harp player in the restaurant, music in general. The food was good too. There is photographic evidence in one of WFUV's program guides, but I lost my copy in a move and they never got back to me about sending along a copy of the picture even though I still give them money.

Her cello player also sat down to dinner and even though she had her own band with a recognizable name I can't remember it exactly.
posted by mikepop at 11:26 AM on January 3 [1 favorite]

In the early 90's, I met Chubby Checker at the roller rink/arcade/rec center in my hometown. I don't know why he was there - I was there for my friend's birthday party. It was the last birthday party of hers I attended because she moved away later that summer.
posted by youngergirl44 at 5:10 PM on January 3

I once shared an apartment with Amanda from the Beatmasters. Only she was never there. But I did see the lovely female editor of MUSIC WEEK stark naked on the stairs once. Or did I dream that?
posted by unSane at 8:15 PM on January 3

I shared a dorm kitchen with Dar Williams for a semester.
posted by gingerbeer at 8:56 PM on January 3 [2 favorites]

Slept with a girl who had slept with someone Ani DiFranco had slept with. (That one kills with the babydykes.)
posted by restless_nomad at 9:44 PM on January 3 [3 favorites]

The Jimmy Cliff band stayed at a motel I worked at. The drummer called the desk five times to order a cab, to get to the concert that night.. I'm reasonably sure he was stoned out of his mind.

*There was some excitement later, but I wasn't there
posted by annsunny at 11:16 PM on January 3

The Jimmy Cliff band stayed at a motel I worked at. The drummer called the desk five times to order a cab, to get to the concert that night.. I'm reasonably sure he was stoned out of his mind.

^♫
because the higher they come
the oftener they call
one and all
^♫
posted by flapjax at midnite at 3:20 AM on January 4 [2 favorites]

Heatmiser came to a post show party at my house and Elliott Smith asked me out, I was only 19 and really drunk so nothing came of it.

I saw Coolio driving in a convertible in downtown Las Vegas just a few months ago, he's hard to miss with the bald/braid thing.

My husband saw Don King in the Las Vegas airport buying cigars, he was covered in little American flags.

I waited on Ice-T while I lived in Flint, he was a jerk.

Alien Sex Fiend tried to dine and dash on me, also in Flint. I chased down their manager who apologized and paid their bill.
posted by yodelingisfun at 12:14 PM on January 4

Cheetah Chrome hit me up for change.
Johnny Thunders called me an asshole.
I saw Dee Snider parallel parking.
posted by AJaffe at 8:49 PM on January 6