Fran, I spent a couple hours with Brenda Lee a few years ago. For some reason she was in the motel where I was working, alone. Very nice person, but seemed really lonely.
DNJ, surely you can set your sights a little higher than ME! But thanks. Look forward to meeting you in January on your trip to the South.
I've met about everybody I want to, but I regret never seeing Elvis live.
Don

[This message has been edited by DonM (edited 08-22-2007).]

Ian lucky you!! Oscar has been my idol going back to 1968 when I first heard him play. I would love to meet him. I did however meet on a regular basis the late James Williams ( jazz pianist) He regularly played in the Boston area. Probably the most memorable meeting was in NY's Village. He was playing at a placed called the Knickerbocker. My wife and I are were 2 of the 6 people in the joint , late one evening. When James took a break we had a nice long conversation discussing whether becoming a great pianist was hard work or talent. James said it was 99% hard work.

I also met Dianne Reeves when she was working with James at the old Starlight Roof room atop the old Howard Johnsons in Boston. Now that was some night, that girl can sing.

I've also met and talked with one of the lesser known jazz pianists Dave McKenna who was a regular at the Copley Plaza Hotel in Boston. The last time I saw him there, our group was one of 20 people in the lounge where he was playing. That night he seemed more interested in listening to the Red Sox game on his walkman.

And last but not least while in college I tended bar in a restaurant near a place called the Warwick Musical Theater. Liberace played there every summer and came to the restaurant late in the evening after every performance. He was very friendly with the owner, so friendly that when she asked him to redocorate her home he spent $50,000 of his own money to hire contractors and decorators to complete the project. I might add he had them complete it in 5 days. On day 6 he was leaving for another city and wanted to see the finished product.

John Lennon!

Chas...how FUNNY! Thanks, I think!

I met many jazz giants in California, but I was too young and green to even know what I was seeing and hearing. Ray Brown had just been divorced from Ella and he used to take me to places like Schelly's ManHole (sp)?. I saw Coltrane, Monk, Chet Baker, Anita O'Day, Charlie Parker, Bill Evans and many more. I played backing tracks for Oscar Brown Jr, B.J. Thomas, Linda Rohnstat, Jerry Lee and many more. I had coffee several times with one of the original Fifth Dimension ladies (and her young child) at a hotel I worked. Steve Warner and (uck) Toby Kieth are regulars at the Merrick Inn. Laurie Morgan frequently visited a hotel I worked in 1990 right after Kieth died. Lou Rawls used to stay at the Campbell hous when I worked there when he came into town to shop for show horses for his daughters. We visited often. The Who stayed three nights at another hotel before and after a Rupp Arena concert. John Entwhistle (sp) sat in on about 6 sets during the two days. J.D. Crowe is a good personal friend, as are several members of the old group Exile. There is a crazy genius piano player here who kept asking where Oscar was staying on a concert visit in the 80's (before his stroke). When I went to the concert at the Singletary Arts center, there was Bruce sitting on the edge of the stage talking to him. Turns out, Bruce toured with Peterson in the 70's as a piano tuner...those big Bosendorfs (sp?) he played at the time. Had a chance to join them for about 5 minutes.

There are many more. The jerk was David Lee Roth. Over the years, I noticed an inverse relationship between talent and courtesy. The most talented folks are the nicest. My curent favorite is Victor Wooten. He comes through Lexington at the Kentucky Theatre once a year or so, and talks to anyone who wants to visit. Of course, my sentimental favorites are Bootsey Collins and George Clinton, and a brief, crazy meeting with James Brown in the 60's.

Life's been good! I just didn't know how fortunate I was to meet so many jazz giants until years later. They just looked like old introverted loners. How sad!


Ah the memories!

Russ

[This message has been edited by captain Russ (edited 08-22-2007).]

Neat topic Rikki!
Being in a resort area where a variety of entertainers come I have met, even worked for quite a few.
Marvin Hamlish - Great guy and a genius IMO
The Amazing Kreskin - Not a musician but a great entertainer.
Victor Borge - The Best of the Best. And as funny off stage as on.
Roger Williams - A gentleman's gentleman.
Steve Allen - Great on stage. A whack job off stage. RIP
Among those I never met but wanted to:
George Jones
Ray Charles

Eddie

I hope you can handle me

just wanted to add that there is a female counterpart to Tony Bennett! she is the same age (80), is ageless in appearance, she sings better than ever, and she was also, like Tony, an international star who was famous in her early 20's, too. I got to see her at the Litchfield Ct. Jazz Festival last summer and she (and her band)were better than any jazz singer i have heard since Ella and Sarah. there is nobody today even close..the Dianas.. Krall and Reeves included. care to guess her name?

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Miami Mo

hint..she has never been known as a jazz singer, but of late has been playing jazz festivals. she has been a sex kitten, an actress, recording star, international cabaret star, and Tv series character..

I'm probably wrong but you couldn't go wrong with Cleo Laine.

chas

Have met quite a few of my heros, played with a few of them, jammed with many more, but my life will never be complete because I never met Ella...

She got me started... playing Rogers and Hart, Gershwin, Cole Porter, etc. Songbook LPs in the late 50's when I was just three or four. I will never tire of her music and voice.