When I was a teenager I met the band Saxon in 1986 after their show in Chicago. The show had a low turnout of only young guys which made Biff a bit pissy after the great show they put on, but the rest of the band were really great guys and very talkative. The next year I was working for a record store and met Alice Cooper and his guitarist at the time Kane Roberts at a WEA promo event for Raise Your Fist and Yell. Alice was genuinely the friendliest guy you could imagine. I just kept thinking wow, he's been at the top, he was friends with the greatest legendary rockers of all time as well as being one himself. At that moment I decided that if anyone else I meet gets an ego or attitude screw them, because even a great like Alice Cooper is just a good, down to earth guy. Next I met David Coverdale at a promotional event for the Whitesnake album. He had a good sense of humor and even gave me a copy of the new album and signed it for me. About 6 months after that I went to the Whitesnake show and met the rest of his touring band after. I spent quite a bit of time talking with Rudy Sarzo and Tommy Aldrich about (my favorite guitarist) Randy Rhoads and their Ozzy tour with him and a little about Quiet Riot, too. All were absolutely great people.
I had been a guitar player for years by this time and was trying to get a metal/punk band together and become a rock star. In 1988 a friend introduced me to G.G.Allin who just moved to Chicago and was putting a band together. I never joined his band, but we did get along well and hung out a bunch of times. He liked my playing and his roomate, who was a promoter, gave me some playing tips and encouragement. I was an extra in a few movies and met Brian Dennehy and James Marshall on Gladiator.
I have gone to literally dozens and dozens of sci-fi and Doctor Who conventions and gotten many autographs, including in 1983 a very cherished Tom Baker signature and went from that line to get my just as cherished Patrick Troughton autograph, among others. Pat was surprised at the turnout for his autograph because his shows had never aired in the US at that time, and I pointed out that The Three Doctors was, and then explained fan videotape trading to him. He was so nice that he stopped and took a (sadly long lost) photo with me before I moved on to the next autograph line. I usually don't consider meeting somebody in an autograph line as actually meeting unless we get talking (like with Pat) though.
I am friends with quite a few people who were both running video rooms and security at the Chicago Visions sci-fi conventions. At the 1992 event I met Colin Baker in the elevator and then Robert Llewellyn at the bar for a bit. I had been drinking a self supplied fifth of Fire Water cinnamon schnapps when Craig Charles showed up. I offered some to Craig and as it got close to his mouth he said " holy ****, it singed my nose hairs... hard pass". After that my friends and I ended up getting rip-roaring drunk and hanging out with Craig Charles on both Friday and Saturday nights. I did get Craig's autograph on my self-made Red Dwarf jacket, but unfortunately missed getting Robert's. At the Visions 1993 I was at a room party and hanging out with Danny John-Jules and also got his autograph on the jacket.
In the late 80's and throughout the 90's I was meeting and getting friendly with most metal and punk musicians in Chicago then and knew or met just about everybody in the city at one point or another. I can't even remember everybody I met at that time. Terry 'Tez' Bones was a friend and drinking buddy for years while he was living there. I met Charlie Harper one night when Terry and Charlie were doing a 2 man UK Subs acoustic set at a bar. I met Terry's friend Karl Morris, former guitarist from The Exploited. I used to see Jeremy Piven and John Cusack at a few punk bars pretty often, but I never wanted to bother them while they were trying to relax with friends.
In 1998 I was the Rockstock Festival near to Chicago and met Monster Magnet, who were on just before Brian May. I hadn't heard their music before then and was blown away. I bumped into the band eating in one of the huckster tents and once it was empty of other people I went over and told them I was "sorry to interrupt your meal, but that was a fantastic show and I'm going out tomorrow to buy all your albums" and left the tent. My buddy was a little miffed that he didn't see them and walked out, but we went from the Festival's end that night to Guitar Center to get Brian May's Autograph. He mentioned to Brian what a great set it was the night before and Brian stopped us to talk, so we stayed (to the annoyance of the security) for a good half hour. I did go to Tower Records a few months later with a bunch of friends for autographs from Black Sabbath a few months later, and although Ozzy was very head-down getting through the signing, the rest of the band were quite talkative. Unfortunately, security only let us stay about 5 minutes and pushed us all out. I think that was the last time I met anybody in the internationally famous category.
