It's 8:30 in the morning, and I'm woken up by a text message. I ignore it and go back to sleep. An hour later, I wake up to check it.
The text is from my friend who works with me at a vegetarian restaurant in a quiet suburb of LA. "Jenny Lewis is sitting at table 11!!!!!" it reads. Jenny Lewis? THE Jenny Lewis? I call my work as I scramble to throw on some clothes, while thinking to myself "What Would Jenny Lewis Wear?" One of the girls picks up who is also a HUGE Rilo Kiley fan. "Oh yeah! She was totally in here! And she was so cute and nice. She had the best smile EVER. Oh, but she left a while ago. You missed it. Bummer." I still hop into my car and bolt over there curious to see what a commotion little Jenny caused. Don't get me wrong: we've had mena suvari, muhammed ali, and a few boys from Weezer come in so it's not like we drop what we're doing and stare, but it's still kind of cool. As it turns out, my friend didn't lose it. There was no camera flash going off, no scrambling to find a pen and ask for an autograph; a few waiters didn't even know who she was. My friend just talked about her favorite album, what a big fan she is, and about Jenny's upcoming solo album. Jenny seemed flattered, not to mention rather satified with the delicious dish she ordered.
Have you ever come face to face with your favorite band or musician? What did you do? Did you say everything you've ever wanted to say to them?
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I'm glad they held it together.
Once, when I ran into Nick Harmer from Death Cab outside a venue (for another band's show, BTW) I talked to him about the upcoming new album, their already sold out show to happen in a month or so and told him he had a really nice coat. A REALLY NICE COAT. What an idiot.
But when I met Chris Funk from the Decemberists I was cool. My friend and I ended up drinking with him and Colin Meloy's girl friend Carson Ellis. They were almost like normal people except sillier (him) and more body odor (her).
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Ha! Jenny Lewis is great and sounds like y'all were cool about it. My very limited conversations with people I like are short and sweet.
Actually -- geek alert -- the most relaxed conversation I ever had with an artist was with Rob Thomas after a Matchbox 20 show during the "after party." Soul Asylum opened (who I really came to see) and were long gone. I think they were pissed about how big Matchbox was at the time. Rob was a nice guy to me, the whole band was cool, and I'll never say anything bad about him, no matter what he puts out.
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i bet that's one text you hadn't slept through.
Aaron Weiss from mewithoutYou a couple weeks ago. We played pinball and i told him how much i appreciated his music and honesty in his music. (that's why pinkerton is better. brutal honesty in the lyrics) But yeah i got two hugs and a picture. Good times were had by all.
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I'm one of those who is not very comfortable meeting my musical idols, preferring to keep them at arms-length. I don't know why that is. Jenny is one that I would be willing to make an exception for, however (insert lustful joke here)....
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Twice, when I was in high school I met Michael Stipe after a show in San Antonio, during R.E.M.'s Green tour. It was one of the most life changing moments in my life. He wouldn't sign any autogrpahs but he shook all of our hands.
I remember going home and writing a letter to our local newspaper. It got printed the very next week. He inspired me and continues to do so, today. Stipe and R.E.M.
I met Tori Amos many moons later in New Orleans. I was walking to my job at Tower Records. When I passed someone who looked like Tori Amos doing a photo shoot in front of The Magic Bus, a used vinyl shop that I would later work for. I ran to my bosses office begged to borrow his camera. Went back and asked Tori if I could take her picture. Just before I could snap it, she says. "Would you like to take a picture with me?"
HELL YA, i said or something like that.
It was such a cool pic that I still have.
Tori was very spacey but extremely sweet and nice.
Cool post!
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When I was 15 I saw The Clash (minus Mick Jones) and got to meet Joe strummer--well, the whole band, but he sat and talked with my friend and me--that was the highlight of my 15th year! Since then I've met Bill Wyman and Jonathan Richman--but Joe Strummer was my greatest memory regarding meeting musicians.
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I crossed the street to a shirtless Flea and John Frusciante of the Chili Peppers out on a jog/walk in Boston a couple years ago. Their tattoos were a giveaway. Friends of mine were a bit luckier and more devoted, they stood outside their hotel and got all their autographs. I just stopped them in the street, told them their previous night's show was awesome and noticed how short they are!
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All of these stories are pretty cool and makes one realize really that famous people are still just people. Unless they're douchebags, in which case, they're not people, they're douchebags. Seems like everyone has had some pretty cool experiences thus far. I too, feel like I've been lucky with people I've met. Although, the most recent instance was when I was commissioned by some insider people to Protest the Hero to go find drugs for From First to Last - they took them and didn't really reward me for it. A simple thanks would have been sufficient, hell, an autograph or two too. But no, it was all business and then I still had to pay to see them. I was a little miffed. Never the less, my most favourite times were helping some of the guys from In Flames and Children of Bodom find a place to eat when I went to Gigantour. Um, oh, Danko Jones although an egotistical jerk on stage, was super nice and a really funny guy (by far the best stage personae in music I think). The girls from Lineonrelease were also really nice and fun to hang out with and Canadian flamenco superstar Jesse Cook too - probably the nicest guy I've met in show biz. There are a few others, but these are the people that stand out when I first think about it.
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dermahrk: That's a really interesting perspective. I met my idol a few years ago and we continued talking. Looking back on the situation in retrospect, I think I would have rather kept him at arm's length than on a level with me. It got too weird and I was almost disappointed that this guy I looked up to was so...normal and far from flawless.
Eightchbee: the musician I afore-mentioned was the biggest douche I've ever met. What a bummer.
~Roxy
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I was really into Flogging Molly during my high school years, and I met a few of those guys. Nice really, they'll sign anything for you. I got Nick from Islands to sign my CD after their show a while back, that was cool.
Then there's this. I'm part of my college radio station. Freshman year, Ben Folds performed at school and we got him to do an interview. He did the interview with our news director, actually. A few of us stayed in the business office, talking to his manager. His manager was using one of our computers to watch a bid on eBay for some baseball cards. Eventually, I was three feet from Ben Folds. He was really concerned about the cards as well. He's kind of a dick.