I may have posted about this on the old board, but I was on TV during a spot about the Pemberton Music Festival that aired on MuchMusic once or twice (Going Coastal) and on both MuchMusic and MuchMoreMusic a handful of times (those 60 second news updates between shows). The short version: Interviewer: How was Jay-Z? Creelmania: [Bleep]ING AWESOME!!!! HOVA! HOVA! HOVA! (While waving my shirt over my head) The longer version that only got played once or twice then continued on: Interviewer: How was NERD? Creelmania: I DIDN'T SEE THEM I WAS CHECKING OUT WINTERSLEEP ON THE OTHER STAGE!! WOOOOHHHH!!! Interviewer: (Laughing) Try and use your inside voice. Creelmania: (Hunched over and whispering into the microphone) I didn't see them, I was checking out Wintersleep on the other stage. I then wandered off, chanting Hova, and waving my shirt over my head. I may sound like a drunken jackass, and you'd be right. Add that to the fact that Jay-Z had just kicked fucking ass up on that stage and you could say I was just a little excited.
Ha, I never really thought about it before, but I've been in 3 episodes of a show that comes on nation wide, and I've been an extra in a few commercials. Not because I want to be an actor or am talented or anything, I just know people who do that sort of work. My aunt grew up next to Billy Corgan, and my brother scored an awesome signed box set of the Pumpkins' music for Christmas one year. Pretty jealous. Umm, one of my old bosses' dad used to own the Milwaukee Bucks. I think that's about the entirety of my super cool list of achievements.
Not me be someone my mother knows My mothers friend was friends with the daughter of probably one of the most notorious serial killers ever Richard "The Iceman" Kuklinski. He has a murder count by his own admission of over 200 people, two of which include mob bosses, in which he shot, stabbed, poisoned, and fed alive to rats to name a few. He lived about two towns over from where my parents live now and my moms friend said he was probably the nicest person you would ever meet always friendly and giving...you know except for the fact that he killed people without discretion or concern.
I occasionally saw Yo Yo Ma attend musical performances at my high school; his daughter was in the grade below mine. Really nice girl, actually.
Before he became famous, I met Mark Slaughter at a party in Vegas. He'd just auditioned for Vinnie Vincent and was pretty confident about his chances of getting the gig as a vocalist (he got the job.) We ended up playing together for a few hours (He's actually a pretty damn good guitarist.) Ironically his drummer, Dana Strum, ended up working with a childhood friend of mine from Idaho a few years later in LA.
Better than anything I have: My best friends uncle, Thom Robb, is the National Director of the KKK. One funny story I have is My friends dad got a family picture from his brother as they were kids, but with my friend's dad's face cut out. So My friends dad sent back the picture with his brothers face cut out, and a little black kids face inserted in instead. Thom wasn't happy.
I attended a taping of Saturday Night Live and was shown during one of the commercial breaks when they pan the audience. Lame, but that's my only claim to fame.
I played golf with Dennis Farina once. And by played golf, I carried his bag. I sold Lance Briggs 3 60" TV's in an hour. I introduced Ben Gordan to Milkman's music (the mashup guy). I sold Jimmy Buffet his first iPhone I helped Snoop Doggs assistant unlock Snoop's Computer (they "forgot" the password) The best was when Al Roker came into the store. Everyone was kind of asking who he was, and what he was doing in the store. So while I was helping all 4'10" of him, he asked how much a $100 pair of headphones would be with his employee discount. Realizing that Apple's corporate friends discounts are rather small (around 5-8% most of the time), I kind of chuckled...because I thought he was making a joke. He was dead serious. So I did the math, and told him that he's saving about $5 on the tax. But before I rang him up, I asked him for a proof of employment, such as an ID card. He was startled, as if I didn't know who the fuck he was. Fucking prick...you make millions of dollars to tell us half the fucking weather, and you still ask for a $5 discount? Hope that hit your giant ass and ego you little bitch.
- My grandfather is good friends with Mr. Rogers and when we were younger we apparently got to go onto the set and sit in his lap. I remember none of this, and I am glad. - During Andre Miller's (NBA) final season at Utah, he played in the Maui Invitational while we were there on vacation. Apparently he and some of his teammates thought my older sisters were attractive, because for several days they hung out with us, allowing my younger brother and I to tag along. Real cool guys; there's a picture somewhere of me sitting next to Miller on the beach. A lot of them used our boggie boards while I got star-struck talking basketball to their coach. One night we even went crab hunting with them. I vividly remember the center on their team describing Miller as "kind of a different dude," a "superstar," and "a bit of a loner." For all you NBA fans, you see how truthful their description was, even back then. - I once lived next door to a San Antonio Spurs player (Monty Williams) when I was younger, and I rod the bus with Benoit Benjamin's weird, possibly gay son. - My sister's been in a few gossip magazines. - I recently created a sarcastic basketball-related website that got mentioned in the local paper (PM me if you are a fan of the Spurs, or Pitt). I also used to write NBA articles that got published in a few places. Other than that, personally, I've done pretty much jack shit. Six degrees is the best I've got.
She's done the baby nurseries for a decent number of well-known singers/celebrities. It was kind of cool seeing her on vacation, getting text messages from them.
I'll probably regret telling you guys this because I'm sure my PM inbox will blow up, but my cousin went to high school with Allen Barbre. EDIT: I almost forgot, when Rick Helling was in grade school, my dad ran him over with his pick up.
I was lucky enough to meet a fair number of music business types while I was in the industry. The absolute best, by far, was jamming with Eric Clapton in the green room before one of his shows. It was only for a couple of minutes, but he let me play one of his guitars, and it was ERIC MOTHERFUCKING CLAPTON. I totally sucked, but I didn't care. I got to play golf with Rush in Whistler the day after one of their Vancouver gigs. Seeing as they are my all-time favourite band ever, that was very cool. I got instant street-cred when I walked into a strip club with a couple of friends, only to have Bif Naked invite us over to her table, as she remembered me from when we were on tour with Lilith Fair together. (I was IT manager, she was a performer). I also got to meet David Bowie, Bonnie Raitt, and worked with Bryan Adams for a year. The work paid for shit, but it did have its perks.
Well according to my family I am 3rd cousins with Gwyneth Paltrow. No idea why they are proud of that. About a month or two ago Flava Flav came to my work (at wal mart). He was just shopping but it created a huge ruckus in the store. I was on lunch and I passed him on my way into the store (i.e. he was walking out with his stuff, I was rushing to clock back in). I didn't put the clock necklace thing together till after people told me. A cousin of mine was an educational adviser to Mitt Romney My Uncle is married to the sister(I think?) of the guy who was the inspiration for rainman. I am not 100% sure of the relationship. But he lived at the families house where they hosted the wedding.
I met a bunch of the crab fishermen who were on Deadliest Catch a few seasons ago while I was in Dutch Harbor, Alaska. Those guys were drunk every single time I saw them. Figures. Oh, and discovery channel was filming on my ship while we were patrolling in the bering sea, too. So I may or may not be on Deadliest catch myself for all of three seconds next season.
Alright, I really didn't want to post this, but I went to high school with Taylor Swift. I was in the same grade as her, in some of her classes, she moved away when she went into 9th grade. I don't like her music, at all. In fact, I won't say I hate it, but I tell people to turn it off when it comes on. I won't get into details of this. Also, she was pretty weird in high school. Kind of distanced.
One of my ex-boyfriends was a violinist in a symphony. He became burned out and a little jaded with classical music, so he moved to Nashville and, through a really great connection, began playing fiddle and mandolin for country artists. While we were dating he filled in for Amy Grant's fiddle player and went to her house to go over some pieces. He said she was one of the most beautiful older women he's seen in person. Also, he met Jessica Simpson in the studio while she was writing stuff for her last CD. We broke up due to distance, but after a year in Nashville he finally got his big "break" he was after. He plays with a moderately-successful female artist. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32OAMq9I ... re=related Now I get to hear fun stories from the tour and about random country artists like Pat Green, Carrie Underwood and Sugarland. It's weird seeing him on TV, but it's really exciting because I knew him when he was really frustrated and just scraping by trying to get a gig like this. I'm like a retro-groupie.