I Had A Brush With Greatness

[journeybear]

... or so I was told. A cruise ship came into port a couple weeks ago, and I learned this was partly a bluegrass cruise. Among the performers were David Grisman, Steep Canyon Rangers (without Steve Martin), and Carolina Chocolate Drops. My day job is at a coffee kiosk right near the harbor, and businesses in this area are very dependent on cruise ships and the number and type of passengers they bring to town, so any information about anything out of the ordinary regarding these ships spreads through this little community pretty quickly. Naturally, hearing Dawg was this close was pretty exciting. Of course, he probably didn't disembark, or if he did, he didn't pass by me. If he had, I guess I would have let him check out my 1917 plain A pumpkin, if he promised to be careful with it.

But that's not what inspired me to post here. I had a gig that night with the seasonal Cajun-country-bluegrass band, starting at 6:00 PM, and the boat was in port later than usual, until 8:00. That means passengers had until 7:00 to board, so it would be possible for them to catch our first set. Naturally, the ones I met and invited decided to pass, the timing being a bit tight. But I heard from my band mates the following week that Rhonda Vincent had come to our gig. Imagine that - her listening to me play. I hope I was playing OK! I don't know if they were pulling my leg, as I think I'd recognize her even without being all dressed up, especially since the venue is really small. Also, she wasn't on the lineup. But still, I have to imagine ... what if?

[lorrainehornig]

That was a cool story! I have never had a close encounter of the musical kind, so you're lucky to had this experience.

[Gary Ivory]

What a great "What if . . ." Story!
Thanks for sharing.

[Leadbelly]

Would it have made Ya nervous if you saw her in the crowd?

[journeybear]

Thanks! Anyone else have a close encounter of the famous kind? I've had a few others, with some real rock stars, but I thought it best to keep things mando-specific. I did meet someone here who said Tim O'Brien visits them occasionally. I'd love to get invited over for a pickin' party whenever he comes to town. Whew!

And I don't know how I would have reacted if I had seen her. I'd like to think I would have kept my cool, maybe given her a little nod when our eyes linked. Then again, I might have gotten flustered, hit my worst flub ever, but then had a good chuckle about it. I'll never know.

[F-2 Dave]

I saw Rhonda Vincent at a bluegrass festival once. She was out in the crowd, visiting with a couple of others. About 15 feet away and I really wanted to say hello and visit for a few minutes, but suddenly I was in the seventh grade all over again. I just couldn't do it. I did however get to meet and visit with Bill Monroe back in the seventies. He wanted to talk about his dogs, so that's what we did.

[AlanN]

I once helped Graig Nettles find some socks in a K-Mart.

[Randi Gormley]

The ITM pro community is so small, I've had a chance to meet, occasionally play with and stand in awe over some of the big names in it because my group hosts concerts and if I'm working the door or the CD table, I occasionally get to chat with them. I don't think I've ever played and then found out that someone huge was in the audience, though. Good on you!

[montana]

Someday I hope to make it to the Keys. I bet it's nice and warm there. Playing for the ski crowd here.

[Traveling Tracks]

A few for ya.....

- I was in high school.....went to a concert by Govt Mule at The Stone Pony in Asbury Park, NJ.....was outside the venue hanging out afterwards and the bassist Allen Woody asked me to hold his beer while he got out a handful of pills from his pocket...gave the beer back and he downed the handful of pills in one gulp.....I don't think they were tylenol. He was also the bassist for The Allman Brothers....he later died of an overdose I think (not that night, a few years later)

- I was attending the Further Festival and kind of "snuck" backstage and ended up meeting Bob Weir and Mickey Hart of The Grateful Dead...surrounded by a cloud of smoke.

- A friend and I saw this amazingly intimate little performance by The Punch Brothers (you may have heard of them) at Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Shop in Philly......the fun part was all the guys took a break to eat ice cream cones and they made Thile entertain us all by doing a solo...which was "If I Should Wander Back Tonight" which later appeared on "Sleep with One Eye Open".......after this amazing experience....we went over to a music store on Broad Street....Vintage Instruments......we went downstairs into the mandolin room and I was playing an old Gibson F4......I heard this guy tearing it up on an old D-28 in the guitar room.....like really tearing it up and then I heard someone say "Here, Critter...try this one" I proceeded to put down the F4 as to not embarrass myself in front of my favorite band.

-again, in high school, I attended The Clifford Ball in upstate NY (mulit-day Phish festival)....besides performing as an extremely untalented harmonica duo "The Scandalous Vandals".....we were treated to a little visit from Phish's bassist who rode up to our campsite to say hello in a golf cart

-few years ago, was in NYC to see Diana Krall at Radio City Music Hall....prior to the concert was sitting at an outdoor bar having a drink and her husband Elvis Costello happens by and I heard on the news that day it was actually his birthday, so I said Happy Birthday

-not me, but when I was studying orchestra recording in Aspen.....my roommate was busking downtown on saxophone and Bill Clinton threw a five in his case

-took an elevator ride with Lera Lynn (up and coming musician)

probably many more but can't remember all at this moment

OK...one more......again, I'm studying in Aspen.....concert time....I'm in the control room recording the concert with my team and while they were waiting to go on Mark O'Connor and Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg are hanging with us in the control room backstage and they just start tearing it up jamming with a fiddle/violin duo...also got to record Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar and Mike Marshall that summer.

[Traveling Tracks]

oh, and totally NOT mando-related..but was doing my recording internship at a very prominent studio in NYC and had the most awkward celebrity experience of standing at a urinal right next to rapper Busta Rhymes. Yeah, awkward...not much conversation!

[Bluetickhound]

I met Peyton (and a young Eli) Manning at a Cracker Barrel in Knoxvegas Peyton's junior year at UT....

[JEStanek]

Several artists have had a chance to meet me. I'm pretty reclusive with those famous players. Rarely do I let them get too close.

Jamie

[allenhopkins]

Opened for David Bromberg a few years ago -- short set, only five songs -- and deliberately did two of them* on Autoharp because I was pretty sure Bromberg wouldn't be playing one, and the audience wouldn't see the contrast between his skill level and mine.

*When First Unto This Country and Norwegian Wood (instrumental).

[JeffD]

Several artists have had a chance to meet me. I'm pretty reclusive with those famous players. Rarely do I let them get too close.

Yea me either.

[samlyman]

1) I jammed with a pre-teen Chris Thile at Wintergrass once upon a time (in front of Greg Boyd's booth in Tacoma).

2) Got to be Abbie Hoffman's guide in Boise, Idaho in the 1980s when he was on a college speaking tour. (He downed a large bottle of NyQuil before going on stage - he had a cold).

3) Arrived an hour early to a John McCuen gig in Missoula in 1994 and got to hang out and chat with John while he set up his gear. Nice guy, very down to Earth.

4) Jammed with Bill Monroe at Wintergrass in Tacoma in the 1990s and learned Southern Flavor from Big Mon himself!

5) Most important and cherished - My mom was a country music singer and song-writer in the 1960s and opened for many of the leading performers of the time. I got to hang out back stage and entertain many of these folks!

[foldedpath]

My only close brush with mandolin greatness was a several days-long workshop with Tim O'Brien. It was a big group, so not a whole lot of brushing going on, but it was fun. This was several years ago, and I didn't realize at the time that the young lady with the great mandolin skills, sitting in the row behind me at the workshop was Sarah Jarosz. So that would be a close brush in retrospect.

I've met John Doyle (Irish guitar) at another workshop, and commiserated with him for the bad food when we were both standing in line at the cafeteria. Most other encounters have involved me hanging out and around my S.O.'s fiddle workshops and private lessons. We've had Randal Bays at our home for private lessons and a house concert, and I met Kevin Burke when she booked a private lesson with him. We've had Dave MacIsaac out for dinner when he was in town for a workshop, and he came back to our house afterwards for drinks and discussion of my guitar collection while the fiddler group hung out in the kitchen.

A few weeks ago I was at one of my S.O.'s Scottish/Cape Breton workshops led by pipers like Fred Morrison and fiddlers like Andrea Beaton and Troy MacGillivray. I stayed overnight for the group session, and it was fun playing with them... although my "playing" could be better described as "hanging on for dear life".

None of those names will mean anything if you're not hanging out in Irish/Scottish/Cape Breton music circles, but they're the equivalent of Bluegrass stars in this genre. Like Randi said, it's a small, close-knit genre, and probably easier to meet some of your musical heroes.

[Dave Hicks]

I've taken Augusta workshops with Rich delGrosso, Steve James, Andra Faye and Seth Rosen, if that counts.

D.H.

[rfloyd]

Whenever I'm hangin' with Paul, Ringo, Mick, Keith, and all my other friends, one of us invariably mentions that name-dropping is so uncool....

[jefflester]

-took an elevator ride with Lera Lynn (up and coming musician)

When I went to the Toronto Film Festival one year I rode in the elevator with Sydney Pollack 3 different times. He must have been staying at the same hotel.

[Popeye39]

I once helped Graig Nettles find some socks in a K-Mart.

Winner! I got a couple, but nothing even close to this level.

[Stephen Perry]

Whenever I'm hangin' with Paul, Ringo, Mick, Keith, and all my other friends, one of us invariably mentions that name-dropping is so uncool....

It is kind of a temptation, but also seems a bit odd to me. Doing what I do, in mandolin and fiddle worlds, I've ended up with the instruments of quite a few rather well-known folks in my hands, and have otherwise run across a goodly number of once or presently well known folks. I tend to like to hear about what they are doing now, be it producing recordings, or getting deep into the bass fishing community. Past accomplishments tend to get pretty old to the accomplisher!

[Charles E.]

Journybear, I had a brush at a place called "Mangrove Mamas" on Little Torch Key in the 80's. I was at the bar drinking a beer and when I looked to my left, John Herald (from the Greenbriar Boys) was sitting next to me. I said " your John Herald" and he replied "how the hell do you know that?" I told him I was a big fan of the band and Ralph Rinzler. We talked for a good bit about music and life in the Keys, A really nice guy.

[Rex Hart]

Paul McCartney stopped at a gas station here in Lebanon,Mo in 2009 when driving Route 66 across country. That was only a block from my daughter's house.

I saw Richard Benjamin in Chicago at Marshall Fields in 1976.

I saw the local news anchor at a Hobby Lobby wearing sweats....

And of course, all kinds of Bluegrass pickers........

[Timmando]

Going to bluegrass festivals I meet all kinds of bluegrass "stars" at their cd table with all the other fans. I don't think much about that anymore. I did have a different kind of encounter with Little Roy Lewis one time. I pulled into a gas station off the hiway years ago and there was a big bus there getting diesel. Around the bus comes a little guy, dressed in bib overalls with greasy hands and pants, looking and walking frazzled (as only Little Roy can do). He was trying to fix an oil leak somewhere on that bus, but was still friendly when I yelled out "Hello Roy!"...he smiled, waved and kept on workin on that leak.