Ever been REALLY disappointed by one of your music heroes?

[CrowBear Schmitt]

Gatemouth Brown asked me to pay 10 $ to take his picture
once he knew it was for a french muzic mag, he let me slide

[Mark Treepaz]

Back in the late 70's, I did a two week eastern European tour as a trumpet player along with Loretta Swit (a.k.a. Hot Lips Hoolihan from the TV series M*A*S*H). I had the opportunity to sit and spend some one-on-one time with her at length over a couple of drinks in the lounge of the Hotel Victoria in Warsaw. She was pretty down to earth. There was times that she would become irritated and surly when she would often be pulled along by the various PR people dragging her around. But in her defense and seeing it first hand, I could see how after a while, that stuff will get under anyone's skin.

Through the years, I've been lucky to have had the opportunity to meet and spend some quality chat time (well beyond the token handshake and "Nice to meet you")with the likes of Liza Minelli, Henry Mancini, Maynard Ferguson, Chris Botti, Johnny Mathis, Kathy Mattea, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Mark O'Conner, Jimmie Davis, Box Car Willie, Ray Benson, and even Roy Rogers, to name just a few out. ALL were always very congenial and open to conversation.

Some that come to mind that I couldn't care less if I ever crossed paths with them again are David Crosby, Tanya Tucker and Buddy Rich. Rude and just plain nasty.

[Ron Whitfield]

At The Troubadour, 1975ish, and it's Gregg Allman doing a Doug Weston payback run*. Tuesday's show was great (with The Section opening/backing, and was the evening he met Cher), so we're totally ready for this and now it's showtime. Gregg strolls out on stage with his accoustic, props himself on the stool at center stage, hits a big chord, throws his long hair back and keeps on going backwards til he ends up on his head, with guitar, blond hair, and blue jeans all over the stage. End of show.
*Doug had a good habit of eyeing unknown talent and offering to book them, no pay, in exchange for a week of gigs at no pay when they were stars.

Another '75 disappointment; got the scoop on getting seats for Pink Floyd, THE hot ticket at the moment. Got 3rd row center, 1st night (5 night stand) at the Sports Arena, and they were NOT in the mood.
Major comedown after the '72 Hollywood gig, where after 2 hrs.+ of classic Floyd, they took a break before returning for the 'encore', which was the entire DSotM LP before it was released.

[Jim Eaton]

I went to see Chuck Berry at "The Country Club" in Reseda, Ca in the early 80's. A friend was the house photograper and got me a "comped" vip pass for the show. When I go home that night, my wife looked at me and ask "how was the show?"
The best answer I could give her was "well, I only got my foot stepped on once" LOL
JE:-)>

[Mark Treepaz]

Gregg strolls out on stage with his accoustic, props himself on the stool at center stage, hits a big chord, throws his long hair back and keeps on going backwards til he ends up on his head, with guitar, blond hair, and blue jeans all over the stage.

Ron, I had a similar experience at a gig several years ago down at the Seven Springs Resort in Champion, PA. I was hired as fill-in trumpet player with a band out of Chicago who was playing a music festival in the Convention Center at the resort. We were scheduled for an afternoon show and an evening show, several other bands playing in between. The afternoon show went off fine. However, in between our shows, the drummer and the bass player took to heavy drinking mixed with some, er, let's just say unperscribed medication. I knew right off the bat that this wasn't going to be good. Anyway, we go up for our second show, and just as the bandleader counts off the first tune, there was a huge crash and we all turn around to see the drummer had fallen backward off of his seat, both legs sticking straight up in the air, floor tom rolling down one side of the stage, cymbals and stands going every which way, and his snare drum rolling down the other side of the stage! The drummer himself had by then fallen off of the back of the stage, about a five foot drop! Needless to say, it was a disaster!

Several years after that, the same drummer was found murdered. It was an apparent drug deal gone bad. (Now, there's a surprise!)

[Clyde Mattocks]

Mark, That drummer guy stole that from us!! When I
worked for Alice Creech, part of the act was for her to say, "I'm really proud of my band. Unlike what you may hear about musicians, these boys don't drink or do drugs." At that moment, the drummer pitches backwards, taking cymbal stands with him. We all rush over and help him back up. The audience reaction was always interesting. Some of them got it, while others looked puzzled.

[Glen Derksen]

I was digging around in the archives and I found this topic. My major disappointments in just a few of my musical heros is as follows:

Elvis Presley - allowing his manager, Tom Parker to have him cast in all those lame 1960's movies, and him singing all those lame movie songs.

kd Lang - Abandoning her energetic cow-punk style.

Albert Lee - Abandoning his Telecaster for that Ernie Ball signature guitar. I think Albert lost much of his sound when he did that.

Ricky Nelson - For not purchasing a newer plane!

Vince Gill - Not a disappointment per se, but one would think that a guitarist of his caliber would crank out an instrumental album or two.

[Bob Hoffnar]

In the late 80's I was walking through midtown NYC past a fancy hotel service entrance and I saw about 7 or 8 little old ladies standing around with 8 by 10's of Frank Sinatra. I waited around and in a few minutes a limo pulls up and out come a couple body guards with Frank in between them wearing sunglasses and a burgundy running suit. The little old ladies were yelling "Frankie we love you" and Sinatra just gave them nasty looks and had his guys shove them out of the way. It seemed kinda pathetic at the time.

[Glen Derksen]

Rod Stewart used to be one of the worlds biggest egomaniacs, and I think he would probably be the first to admit it. He woke up one day and realized what he had become, and now he's a very nice person.

[Jason Odd]

I usually say something like " All 60s-70s artists who embraced the 1980s compressed sound, dead drum sound and poodle hair, and still employ both as part of their act."

But, not today..

On a side note, this whole thing about "stars" out on the street and before and after shows.

One, nt a big fan of the whole "star" concept, in most cases they just got lucky once and got to build a carer on it, which is nice. In some cases they really are superior song writers, pickers, etc., if so, well that's nice too.

I don't really care for the meet and greet, I generally consider it the corny and creepy side of fandom, and the entertainment industry.

The most extreme sort of attitude kind of follows the Homer Simpson thinking, eg:
"Hey, I taped some of your songs from the radio, and y'all can't stop and sign this scrap of paper"

They're just people, one might be bustin' to find a toilet, and not in the mood to hang.. or tired, in some cases they might just simply be a jerk, one who writes or sings cool stuff, but also a jerk.

I have seen some truly shambolic gigs, totally horrendous and thought they were frustrating, but kind of fun too.

Just one note though, Rusty Adams, aka Ko Ko The Clown, followed the tradition of the country clown, but had a rather overtly racist aspect to his act.
In particular the terrible Italian immigrant impersonation, which dragged more than a few Webb Pierce live and "Webb Pierce Show" albums into serious dead spots.

[David Pinkston]

When I was a kid and an assistant engineer at Capricorn Records in Macon Ga, John Hughey came in to play on a Katy Moffatt record. He had previously done other records there before I started like Dicky Betts' Highway Call. I told him I was a steel player in addition to engineering. He was wonderful.

Years later I moved to Hendersonville and lo and behold John lived down the street from me on Indian Lake Rd. He had his garage door open and was playing and before I knew it my truck pulled in his driveway. I introduced myself and told him about working with him. He even pretended to remember me and was so gracious.

John Hughey will always be my hero...

[Jason Odd]

I actually work with a cat who pretty much helped shape alternative music in my country, and who's records we were playing quite a bit until he came in to work with us.

I find it strange, but cool as well. Seeing him as an actual person, I generally don't bug him about his music, but stories come out while we're chatting. It's cool.

I think it's awesome seeing pickers out and about, and if you make a connection it's great.
Like any job, some people can be hard to work with.
I still nto entirely comfortable with approaching musicians after gigs, in what other industry do you stick around to talk about a person's career other they've clocked off?

[Brint Hannay]

Albert Lee - Abandoning his Telecaster for that Ernie Ball signature guitar. I think Albert lost much of his sound when he did that.

Glen, I'm with you 100% on that!

Vince Gill - Not a disappointment per se, but one would think that a guitarist of his caliber would crank out an instrumental album or two.

Amen! Steve Wariner and Brad Paisley have done it!

One I'd add: Ricky Skaggs, for abandoning Tele-and-steel country for Bluegrass. I know Bluegrass fans may disagree, and he's very good at that, of course, but this is something I'M disappointed by!

[David Pinkston]

Skaggs was just returning to his roots.

What an incredibly nice man. His wife Sharon is very gracious as well.

[Clinton Erb]

I went to see Merle Haggard a few years ago.

Walked onstage, played for a hour, his band played him off, he left the building, got and his tourbus, and bailed.

Can't blame him though, Merle has obviously been having some health problems of late.

[Ben Elder]

A near unconditional idolization of thirty-five years duration came crashing down at this year's NAMM Show when a musician friend of mine and his wife recounted how a major musical icon went out of their [grammatically improper plural possessive used to disguise the offender's -- or offenders' -- gender(s)] way to be mean, hateful and abrasive. Had to do with a headliner throwing one's weight around to humiliate an opening act. No names, but you wouldn't believe me if you could beat it out of me.

[Clinton Erb]

A near unconditional idolization of thirty-five years duration came crashing down at this year's NAMM Show when a musician friend of mine and his wife recounted how a major musical icon went out of their [grammatically improper plural possessive used to disguise the offender's -- or offenders' -- gender(s)] way to be mean, hateful and abrasive. Had to do with a headliner throwing one's weight around to humiliate an opening act. No names, but you wouldn't believe me if you could beat it out of me.

So now I gotta ask, who was it?

Seriously, cause that's not cool that anyone performing at NAMM would even consider doing that.

[Jim Cohen]

Anyway, if it's something they did in public to humiliate the opening act, then they don't deserve (nor could they possibly expect) anonymity . So why protect him/her?

[Brint Hannay]

Skaggs was just returning to his roots.

What an incredibly nice man. His wife Sharon is very gracious as well.

I know it's his roots. Just not my cup of tea.

[Mark Treepaz]

A near unconditional idolization of thirty-five years duration came crashing down at this year's NAMM Show when a musician friend of mine and his wife recounted how a major musical icon went out of their [grammatically improper plural possessive used to disguise the offender's -- or offenders' -- gender(s)] way to be mean, hateful and abrasive. Had to do with a headliner throwing one's weight around to humiliate an opening act. No names, but you wouldn't believe me if you could beat it out of me.

Ben, if you're not going to give the name of the offender, then what is the point of the post?

[Ed Iarusso]

I was in a band that in the early 90's opened for Waylon Jennings (I was never a fan of his music) at the Warner thearter in Torrington CT. He had Fred Newell playing steel for him at the time. Fred was very personable, nice guy. However... Waylons bus was outside the back stage entrance for some time. He didn't get off the bus until right before it was time for him to go on. There was a small group of people that apparently had a meet a greet arranged. Well, Jennings just walks in with the promoter or whoever he was and blew past everyone and out onto the stage leaving a number of his fans disapointed. Soon as his set was over right out the back door onto the bus See ya! Real nice!! What a jerk. During his set he actually forgot the lyrics to a couple of songs and actually had to stop and restart one of them. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy! I'm not one to seek out autographs or photos with "stars" it just seems kinda smarmy to me. I've done opening acts for many headliners, Travis Tritt, the Dirt Band, George Jones to name a few and they all couldn't have been nicer. Cept for WJ
Ed

[Marc Stone]

I used to work on the production crew at House of Blues here in New Orleans and had fairly regular access to all of the shows. One night I was on my way up the artist entrance stairs to say hi to a friend of mine and there on the landing near the stage was Sonny Rollins. I stopped and said hello, probably obviously star struck, and he smiled, asked me my name, thanked me for coming to the show. i mentioned having seen him at Carnegie Hall in the early 90s with Bobby Broome in the band and he said something like, "oh, you must be a guitar player, nice to meet another musician." I couldn't help but laugh. the show was as warm and beautiful as he was personally, a great experience. My friend who was working backstage hospitality told me that when he went Sonny's dressing room to ask if he or his wife needed anything, Sonny no but thank you for taking care of the band and slipped him a $50.

[Glen Derksen]

Brint, I agree about Ricky Skaggs. Ricky and his family are wonderful people, and Ricky is good at his Bluegrass stuff, but I prefer his electric guitar and steel.