Who from the music industry have you met personally during your lifetime? I'm happy to hear stories, even tenuous links to famous artists.

My first real encounter was with someone who always holds a special place in my heart, Syd Barrett. I first met him in Hospital while visiting a friend who had driven herself to excess. Then, a few more brief encounters throughout the 80's, having lived very close to his mother's house. This is almost tenuous, as we only spoke once for about five minutes and that conversation didn't make much sense at all.

My next two were pretty close together, I worked in a studio doing remastering in the early 90s and we had a contract with Trojan records. While working on their back catalogue, Eddy Grant came in wanting to hear a preview of a few artists. He was really fun to work with, and back then he even had a very good understanding of DSP technology and how it was transforming music.

Clapton also came in a couple of times to hear how we were progressing with his early work too, I only managed to sit with him once for half an hour. Rather than talk about how we were removing hiss from tape, he wanted to talk about why my Strat had a blocked trem.

 

I've worked with many including The Wombles. The real ones, not the later tribute Wombles.

 

The really young naive me thought they were common for years. "The Wombles from Wimbledon, common are we" rather than " The Wombles from Wimbledon Common are we"

 

I played in a band, and we opened for Confederate Railroad, super nice guys

 

Oh, and Doc Watson is my cousin

 

During my lifetime? Okay, that narrows it down a bit.

I have too many stories, so it's easier if you choose who you want a story on. Better if they are dead though.

Spoiler: Some artists

Wishbone Ash
Martin Barre
Labi Siffre
Roy Ayers
Ronny Jordan
Ronnie Scott
Roland Orzabel
Guru Josh
Alison Limerick
Amy Winehouse
Donovan
Stephan Grappelli
Andy Shepherd
Courtney Pine
Sly & Robbie
Eek-A-Mouse
Yellow Man
Jah Shakka
Mayte
Mavis Staples
Morris Hayes
John Blackwell
Carmen Elektra
Billy Cobham
Billy Bragg
The Jordanaires
Lenny Kravitz
Edwin Starr
Maddy Prior
Humphrey Littleton
David Knights
Desmond Dekker
Gino Washington
Omar
Mark Moore
Andy Gangadeen
Simon Richmond
Jamie Odell
Joel Edwards
Tony Dowding
Tony Bramwell
Tony Hall
Mike Berry
Ray Hendriksen
Andy Hendriksen
David Soul
Helen Shapiro
Simon Green
Phil Chill
Paul Oxley
Mike Edwards/Pramada
Steve Winwood
Hank Marvin
Julian Marshall
Malcolm Toft
Hugh Cornwell
Clem Curtis
Kate Bush

That just took ages so I'm stopping for a bit.

 

Last edited: Mar 28, 2021

I've met plenty of famous musicians but the most memorable run ins I've had were LTJ Bukem, King Britt and Dick Dale.

I met Bukem at a bar called Soma in Boulder some time in the early 2ks. Some friends and I went to see him play a show in Boulder Theater and got there early so we walked across the street to have some drinks before the show. He happened to be at the bar and had a chance to chat with him before the show. Super humble guy.

King Britt was a bit different. In the late 90's there was a white label remix by Jay Denes of Maxwell's "Fortunate" which at the time I was desperate to find. By chance, I heard it on a mix by King Britt who was a regular on the Ovum Recordings forum. So I reached out to him to see if he knew where I could score a copy, not expecting a response, but he replied back almost immediately and he asked me for my contact info. A week later I received a phone call from one of the heads at Columbia Records who was kind enough to not only send me a copy, but also several unreleased promos. King even followed up just to make sure I got everything. I was floored by the gesture and it was the first time I became acutely aware of how accessible seemingly inaccessible people were through the power of the internet.

Dick Dale was probably the most famous of all the musicians I've met. In the early 90's I used to work at gym in Orlando that was right next to a bar called The Junkyard. Every now and then I'd pop in after work to grab a beer or and listen to some local bands play live music. So one night I walk in and Dick Dale is setting up, and I couldn't believe it because the bar was half empty but he put on an amazing show for like 30 people. After the show, I got the chance to talk with him quite a bit about music and he told me if I was ever in California to stop by his ranch and then gave me his number. A few months after that, on a whim, I called the number just to see if it was actually his and sure as fuck he picked up the phone. We talked about music, philosophy and life for about an hour and that was it. Definitely surreal.

 

Last edited: Mar 28, 2021

Before I got caught up in cocaine & X - straight for 20 years now - I worked at Electric Lady Studios. Lee Foster just turned manager.. I babysat Rick Ocaseks kids. He was there for 2 months straight producing an O.A.R. album that was never released... I about swallowed my tongue when I met Eddie Kramer. He was there a few times, always remastering some newly found Jimi recording. Jimi’s relatives always needed more money. Robert Randolph was a sweetheart, not well known yet but his chops were beautiful. I copied some of De’Angelo’s Zip disks full of samples exported from an ASR10. He was there on and off for a few months. Nas, saw him but didn’t bother. Rappers were always dicks... Regina Spector. Didn’t bother helping that session.... The thing that was cooler than hanging with Eddie Kramer in my mind was just living in NYC in the east village. You could bump into anyone from a FoodNetwork star chef or even Woody Allan... This was all shortly after 9/11. The world hasn’t changed completely yet. But you could sense something was going to be different after those towers fell... All in all I’m glad I got into trouble with drugs, because had I stayed there and worked my way up I’d probably be a bigge asshole than what I am already. I’m thankful for being healthy. Living back home in the Midwest & thankful my keyboard skills got me on a handful of national act tours.... there I bragged & it felt good.

 

I spilled a drink on Kylie Minogue. Like the whole thing. She was soaked. I got her so wet. I'm not the slightest bit sorry.

 

She shouldn't have been standing under your glass, but it's probably impossible for her not to.

 

Lol was pre or post “Can’t get you outta my head”

 

Maybe halfway through the track.

 

She is tiny.

It was around 1992. We were at a club and I was chatting to her then boyfriend Michael Hutchence, who I'd known since the early 80's when we played the same venues.

 

I'm always walking around this east village area and still no stories. Why did you avoid Regina?