HObbnobin' w/tha Starz

[Galactus]

Gil "Buck Rogers" Gerard?

[Kensterberg]

Mr. T.

It had to be Mr. T ... he was so awesome in 1983.

[Galactus]

Gen. Douglas McArthur? That would be amazing.

[Galactus]

Is Mr. T from Arkansas?

[Kensterberg]

ded said:

Is Mr. T from Arkansas?

I don't think so ... I think he's from D.C.

But he was really awesome in 1983, and he seems like the kind of guy you'd just bump into in the mall. And I figure he gave ThoRny some style suggestions.

You don't have to be from Arkansas to be hanging out in a mall in Little Rock, do you?

;D

[phil]

Damn ! I hope it's Levon Helm ... !!

[rockysigman]

Mr. T is from the south side of Chicago.

[Kensterberg]

rockysigman said:

Mr. T is from the south side of Chicago.

That's the baddest part of town.

[Thorngrub]

& I pity the fool who runs into him there.

Nope, nopers, no, uh-uh, and not. Those were all fine guesses.

But the real answer tops em all:


STEVIE RAY VAUGHN

[Kensterberg]

OK, that was not the answer I was expecting, ThoRnmeister!

I figured it was gonna be either Bill or Hillary ... but I had no idea that it would be SRV.

Say anything to him?

[Thorngrub]

I don't know what it is, but I seem to attract famous people, or they're attracted to me, I've either met, hung with, or am friends with, over 20 of em. The Top 3 are probably:

1. Bob Dylan. Yeah, we hung. '99. In private, w/his bodyguard & my pal Steve.
2. Brian Eno. I gave him my 2nd self-published book of poems dedicated to him.
3. Adrian Belew. His gf (now wife Martha) let me in backstage after I handed out flyers.

There I met up w/the bandmember from The Bears, and then who walks over in an Armani suit no less, than Reeves Gabrels (guitarist for The Atom Said, Tin Machine)

Then there's spotting Stevie Ray at the mall. . . in the Music store, no less (that was just a sighting).

I've hung out with John Shirley on numerous occasions, practically consider him a pal by now.
Hung with Nils Frykdahl of Sleepytime Gorilla Museum and faun fables... (also his gf Dawn 'the faun' McCarthy), and just several weeks ago I sat down w/Will Oldham! and chatted it up, that was totally cool, sisy was there too.

My old friend & roommate from college, Patrick Stettner, although not famous yet, has already directed 2 major motion pictures:
1/The Business Of Strangers (w/Stockard Channing) &
2/The Night Listener (w/Robin Williams, just released on dvd),
so he might very well be on his way. Those are really good movies, from what I hear, and I'm a bastard for not having seen them yet. (This will be rectified soon)

Then there's:

Danny Carey. Hung w/him while he filmed Killing Joke live, when Pigmy Love Circus came into town.

Drank & Partied with:
The Gin Blossoms. After a free show here a few years back, met up w/them coincidentally at this bar & partied it up. Nice guys.
Deadsy. Had drinks w/a couple of those guys at the same venue I met Danny Carey in. (DV8, now defunct)

Friends with:
Franz Wright. Pulitzer Prizer winning poet, son of James Wright.
Franz was my poetry teacher at Emerson, and we got to be very close friends outside of class. Those were wild times, & I consider him the finest poet alive today, bar none.

Although I was not friends with him, I knew Bill Knott (for he taught poetry @ Emerson as well). He has quite the cult following in Europe, and he kicked me out of one of his classes, saying I was a "psychological terrorist", lol. He arranged to teach me "one on one", after class. It was only because I kept questioning these "rules" he was trying to teach. Guess it pissed him off.

Also met Kitaro once, got backstage and exchanged greetings. (My brother and he hugged, it was awesome.)

My old friend Reed Foehl is not really famous, but he is the lead singer and songwriter for a pretty popular hippie jam band, Acoustic Junction. Although they got their start in Boston, they ended up moving to & becoming known as a Boulder, Colorado band. They've recorded with some of the greats, David Crosby for one, and are a really fine jam band.

One of the finer moments of my brushes w/fame was when I walked up to Johnny Indovina at a show here, and introduced myself. He was incredibly genial and a warm human being. Human Drama is one of my favorite bands, and getting to meet & chat it up w/Johnny was definitely one of the highlights of my hobbnobin' w/tha Starz.


Well that's it for now. When I think of some more, I'll report back here.

[Thorngrub]

kenholzman said:

OK, that was not the answer I was expecting, ThoRnmeister!

I figured it was gonna be either Bill or Hillary ... but I had no idea that it would be SRV.

Say anything to him?

Naw, I just spotted him walkin by in his big ol' bandolero hat.

Oh yeah, I saw Gallagher once - - in front of me at the LIttle Rock airport, and I kid you not: He was checking in his BIG PLASTIC HAMMER as the only piece of luggage !

Swear to god we stood there and watched as the lady behind the counter tagged it, and set it on the conveyor belt. We stood there stunned as it was merrily conveyed away behind the rubber flaps.

[Ayinger]

First I thought there'd be no topping Thorny with the amt. of celeb's he's hung with and then he goes and tops himself with the Gallagher comment....gawd: THE hammer! Fuckin' priceless.

I too had brushings with Belew in a brewpub here in Laffytown....chatted some with Buckwheat Zydeco too in the same joint last year.

I came THIIIISSSSS close to having the chance to give a couple members of Pearl Jam a lift in my car once when they were staying at a hotel I worked at. Fuckin' supervisor at the time said he needed me around and let some other peon have the honor. Tho' I did earlier drive a couple of their stage techs down to the "villiage" so they could do some nosing around town. I had a Bob Mould tape playing in the car and one guy turned around to the other and asked if ever had to work for Mould and then called him a repressed homosexual asshole.

[Fuzznuts]

thorny said:

1. Bob Dylan. Yeah, we hung. '99. In private, w/his bodyguard & my pal Steve.

You're my new hero.

[strat-0]

I don't think anyone will be able to top Thorny's list, especially with the Jester on there. Whoa!

I don't have much to put forth in the name-dropping-fest, but here's a few.

Let's see... The harmonica player for War sat in with the Mojos at a club after they played at City Stages here once. Don't even remember his name, though. That was fun - Low Rider was one of our regular tunes.

Once, the Mojos played a private party at an apartment complex and this chick frontman sat in with us. She was in this band that made a splash a few years ago - they wore face paint and stuff, I think, but I can't even remember the band's name to save my life, let alone hers, so that doesn't count.

I really enjoyed getting to meet and party with Chuck Negron of Three Dog Night and his band after their show at a convention in New Orleans a few years ago. We actually spent more time talking to his guitar player, though. I wouldn't say we were best friends or anything. I also got onstage and sang with Brian Howe of Bad Company last year. He was their later front man who wrote some hits such as, "If You Needed Somebody" and, "(Feels Like) I'm Walking on Holy Water." You don't associate those tunes with Bad Co because they didn't sound like Bad Co any more. Yeah, I would have enjoyed getting up there with Paul Rogers more, but then, he wouldn't have likely been playing that show, eh?

Gee, I saw Rogers in Tampa while seated next to our very own wayward wanna-be star, Wholi, of the Wholigans, after hearing them the night before. That was fun - it's almost as if I met Roger Daltrey... Almost. But, hey, the Wholigans have carved out their niche and done very well.

I met Tennessee Ernie Ford while he was working in a hardware store in Texas when I was just a little pea picker. I guess he was hauling 16 tons and owed his soul to the company store.

But hell, in the long and short of it, I'm published and somewhat known in my own industry. Just a small niche, you know, but it's mine. I don't expect to be a platinum record seller anytime soon. ...I absolve thee... I absolve thee.