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If you could resurrect five people from all of history, who would you pick? Jesus - I'm sure there's a shitload of money to be made in this comeback James Madison - could probably tell us a thing or two about our Constitution Bill Hicks - the world needs him now at least as much as ever Aristotle - I think he, more than about anyone, would appreciate a look at how far we've come John Bonham - in hopes he'll want to get the band back together
What's the most useless course you took in college? I took International Law, and the take-home essay part of the final exam was ten pages on "does international law have an independent effect on state behavior?" I had to say no.
What's the worst movie you've ever seen? A Boy And His Dog. It's a bit of an obscure choice (and from the 70s) so perhaps some explanation is in order. In a nutshell: It's a post-apocalyptic tale taking place after nuclear WW4. Don Johnson (in his first film role) is a surface-dwelling orphaned teen who makes an alliance with a telepathic dog. Don Johnson helps the dog find food (the dog lost his food-detecting abilities in becoming telepathic) and the dog, in return, helps Don Johnson sniff out females. There are these monsters called screamers - you occasionally hear moans from characters unseen on the screen freaking out the characters. At some point, Don Johnson winds up in an underground society - something along the lines of what the 700 Club bunker would look like - who wants him to contribute to their gene pool before killing him. We found this on VHS for $3 at a truck stop in Ohio back on that 01 Radiohead road trip. I do enjoy taking the occasional adventure in bad cinema, but this one takes the cake.
What is your favorite set you've ever seen at Bonnaroo? Radiohead
Favorite philosopher? Probably Socrates.
On a scale of 1-10, how stoked are you to be the BMOTM? At this point in this onslaught of questions, I'm down to around pi.
What are your thoughts on Michael Moore? He's made some good points at times, but I like him more in theory than in practice, I guess... there were times in my younger days I'd have rooted him on gung-ho, but nowadays he just seems like yet another fevered ego tainting our collective unconscious.
If you had to marry an Inforooster, whom would it be? On the one hand, Bek, I'd never forget your birthday... on the other, I do believe Sassbox is most suitably positioned to be a sugar mama...
Who do you crush on in non-musical areas? I'll try and restrict this to five Tina Fey French news anchor Melissa Theuriau (she graces my desktop) The aforementioned Stephanie Miller Sarah Silverman What the hell... let's put Michelle Obama on there too
Who is your daddy and what does he do? Dad is a manager of the local newspaper who teaches Sunday school and enjoys playing board games in his spare time. He's kind of an uptight workaholic control freak. The man claims that it's been 32 years since last time he got drunk and hasn't nommed any corn since I was two years old. (My brother & I intend to rectify that during the trip.) He's going to be one hell of a dirty old man someday. I can't wait to see it.
What questions surprised you most? The sheer volume of them astounded me more than any particular question...
Any advice for future BMOTMs? Don't fuck with Bek - she fucks back.
What are the best shows you've seen on the farm? The worst?
I already kinda answered the best part. Kanye definitely wins worst - from what I saw, I don't think punctuality could've saved that.
If I've gotta pick my favorite set every year of attending: 03: Neil Young (he was one of my main reasons for attending my first) 04: David Byrne 05: Mars Volta 06: Radiohead 07: Flaming Lips 08: Sigur Ros 09: NIN
I thought you were going to set me up by first asking the gender-reversed "who would you do?" question... that's what I was referring to back there when I said there was one question I'd been threatened with.
I thought you were going to set me up by first asking the gender-reversed "who would you do?" question... that's what I was referring to back there when I said there was one question I'd been threatened with.
Idunno... Russ Feingold?
Fine fine, if you were magically turned into a female for one day, and one day only, who would you do?
we'll take the long-winded egotistical self indulgent version, please.
^ Just to remind y'all that this was specifically asked for... because I am sure there's a few mentions that will receive a "that's not famous/that's not a meet" response.
I have no organization other than a list I wrote with probably fifty names on it. I'll start with the earliest encounter I can think of and ramble my way through to the end... roughly chronologically, I hope.
High School/1990s Around my 16th birthday (summer 96) I went to a Superdrag / Nada Surf show in Milwaukee. Opening for them (and I'm not actually counting as famous by any means) was this band called the Meices, who we had seen a few months prior on the side stage at the radio station's Memorial Day concert. We said hi to them as they were unloading their van in the lot and they recruited us to help them carry their gear on/off stage. They took us backstage for the rest of the show. Got to watch from backstage and meet the guys in the other bands. With the exception of Superdrag frontman John Davis, who threw a show-stopping hissy fit and shoved Matt out of his way as he stomped backstage.
Warped Tour 97 was also a good day for sixteen-year old me. Met Aaron & Tavis from Reel Big Fish and Bosstones singer Dicky Barrett wandering around. Got Dicky's autograph on a dollar bill - he augmented the one to say "M(ONE)Y sucks!" and signed his name. One more encounter that day worth noting... A couple of my friends told me they saw this heavily-pierced guy wearing a weezer shirt (the shirt with my =w= kid avatar) they insisted I talk to because "you know, because you both love weezer so much." I did run into him later that day and struck up a mildly awkward conversation on the band with him... in the bathroom. A few minutes later I was fighting my way into the crowd and he was taking the stage to sing with his band the Suicide Machines. I had no idea.
This picture's from Memorial Day 97, my junior year of high school. I made the rounds at the record-signing tent at the Milwaukee radio station's music fest. For whatever reason, I had let my friends talk me into shaving my head the night before. Made a good canvas. Scrawling on that noggin were Sponge, Jimmy Pop & Lupus from Bloodhound Gang, and Moby - that's his little self-portrait above by my ear there. I also got to touch Iggy Pop that night. He's leathery.
I ran into Moby a couple times later, too. Had a talk with him after a show in 98 - mostly about Chinese Democracy, which he had been rumored to be producing at the time - and got a picture taken. Got him to sign that picture freshman year of college, been trying to figure out where the hell it went so I could scan it for this post.
Similarly at record store/post-show signings: Henry Rollins (got an autographed copy of one of his books at a spoken word show) Less Than Jake (at least the ones who hadn't bailed by our turn in line) Spacehog (got the autographs, didn't see them play - they were up against Smashing Pumpkins on the main stage) The Space Monkeys (part of me doubts anyone here's heard of them) Goldfinger, with a lengthier explanation: It was winter in Wisconsin, so they let hangers-on onto their bus for post-show interaction. One of them hooked me up with their manager's number to get me & some friends into their next show free.
I mentioned earlier in the thread that Grandpa had the Tommy Thompson connection. I'd maybe met him as a young kid, but definitely did at his fourth inauguration in 1999. Went to that with my grandparents and uncle, and Grandpa's son the aide got us into his office for about five minutes of visiting before his receiving line began. Also met current Wisconsin governor Jim Doyle - the prick - who was being sworn in as attorney general that day. Also met my then-representative James Sensenbrenner when he came to speak at a high school assembly. I am also currently a member of a Facebook group called "Jim Sensenbrenner is a Fat Asshole" for what it's worth...
I met the Easter Bunny in spring of 99. (Too lazy to actually dig it out and scan the actual photo...) Now, this is not necessarily a difficult feat - for a child. When you're 18 and the posted age limit is 12, you have to get creative. Long story short: I was dared to fake being retarded in order to get a picture on the Easter Bunny's lap, and I was successful - my reward was that my friends all chipped in to pay for the picture. I went to pet the bunny between his ears, only to find a ventilation fan hidden back there... nearly blew my cover. I bring up this Easter Bunny because: 1. you asked for self-indulgent 2. that's the picture that went on the band's t-shirts 3. it segues nicely into my next story
Shortly before going to college, I went out of my way to go spend some time in Chicago with a friend I'd help run away from home the previous year. It was a few weeks after I'd dyed my hair blue, and I was wearing my "pet the fuzzy bunny" shirt. I talked my friend into trying (let's call it Hoffman's elixir) that night. So we were up all night enjoying that and had the radio on Q101 all night. The overnight DJs were some guy (he's not important) and Jenna Jameson. For whatever reason, my friend was hellbent on getting them to play "Holiday in Cambodia" and gave them a call. At some point in his rambling, he mentioned his friend with blue hair sitting in the Easter Bunny's lap... the phone was handed to me, and I got to semi-coherently tell Jenna Jameson my Easter Bunny story and got a laugh. They came back from commercial and the guy said something along the lines of "this one's for the couple of guys who are really hitting the sauce tonight..." before playing "California Uber Alles"
I went to high school with and hung out in the same circles as Kristen Randall, who went on to play keyboards with Abigail Williams & Winds of Plague and was somewhere named "Hottest Chick in Metal" one of these recent years. It's kinda weird seeing one of your high school friends flashing the internet ten years later.
Remember when George Wallace made an anti-integration stand, blocking two African-American students from entering the state university? One of them was James Hood. He spoke at my dorm fall of 99 - between that and living with the King family for a while, it was quite the captivating speech.
That about brings it to the turn of the century...
Just to keep tabs: Former WI Gov/HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson Current WI Gov. Jim Doyle Rep. James Sensenbrenner James Hood Henry Rollins Moby Dicky Barrett (Bosstones) Members of Nada Surf, Superdrag, Reel Big Fish, Less Than Jake, Sponge, Bloodhound Gang, Spacehog, Space Monkeys, Goldfinger, the Suicide Machines singer whose name I'm too lazy to Google Kristen Randall Jenna Jameson?
I figure I'll also do the early half of the Uh-Ohs before bed.
Badger basketballers Mike Kelley & Andy Kowske were among the downstairs neighbors in my first apartment in Y2K. They made it to the Final Four that year. When we first moved in above them (mid-year sublet), they gave us a (glass corn-nomming device) as a housewarming gift. They said they had no use for it during their season, and claimed that Ron Dayne had used it the day he broke the NCAA rushing record. We called it The Heisman... it sadly (predictably?) broke on our watch
Around the time the Green Album came out in spring 2001, weezer did a meet & greet dubbed "the cheeser with weezer" at the Mars Cheese Castle in Kenosha. Rivers looked almost in pain having to deal with so many fans. It was kinda awkward - he wasn't too talkative; you could tell he wanted to get it over with as soon as possible. Pat & Brian were friendly. Mikey, the bassist for that one album only, was probably all coked up or something... could tell he was on another frequency from the rest of the band.
When I did my internship with UW student government in fall 2001, my intern advisor was Prof. Charles Franklin. If I'm lucky, one of my fellow wonky political junkies out there will recognize that name as one of the minds behind the excellent www.pollster.com/
I worked for some domestic terrorists, the Armstrong brothers Karl & Dwight, in 01-02 at a dearly-missed sandwich shop in Madison. In 1970, they and two others blew up a UW building that was doing army mathematics research. They thought they'd timed it so that the building was empty, but took the life of a grad student who was working through the night. The brothers turned themselves in the next day, another was caught on the lam, and the fourth is in hiding (and was a Unabomber suspect for a while) to this day. They did their time and got into the restaurant business. For further information on that, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sterling_Hall_bombing for the curious...
I met Minneapolis mayor R.T. Rybak in the summer of 2002. The U.S. Conference of Mayors was meeting in Madison... and Madison being Madison, of course there was a big protest. He looked a little too well-dressed and official to be on my side of the protest lines, so I had to go talk to him and find out what was going on... I had him to myself to discuss Madison in general & the conference, and when he had to go I couldn't resist asking the guy if he had any parting words of advice. That's how "The couch potato is the enemy of the state" came to be one of my answers for the best advice question. Rev. Al Sharpton was in Madison during that conference too. He gave a speech outside city hall the day it started, and I got a quick hello and a handshake before he moved on to his next event.
I've tracked down Matt Sharp, former weezer bassist (on Blue & Pinkerton) and Rentals frontman, after a handful of his solo shows. Once, in Chicago, I suggested he play in Wisconsin sometime. He said "Who the hell wants to play in Wisconsin?" I made sure to remind him of that remark a year or two later... in Eau Claire.
I met the late, great Wesley Willis after a show in spring 2003. I wanted to ask for one of his notorious headbutts (he had a fist-sized goose egg in the middle of his forehead) but he just was not looking so good. He had actually stopped mid-show to have his assistant help him use the bathroom. With that in mind, I settled for a handshake. He died three or four months later
That band Jet? Those Australian AC/DC wannabes? Somewhere in spring 03, the Budweiser guy gave my boss a pair of tickets to their show. They hadn't yet been in an iPod ad or anything so they were playing the 150-capacity shithole. I didn't know who they were, saw "Australian garage rock" in The Onion's write-up, and called my Aussie friend Kate. She hadn't heard of them either, but it was free so we went. We - the two of us and 3-4 other Aussie expats - sat and drank with them til bartime. Not so hot on their music, but they got me drunk so they're cool with me.
Kate & I went to an Eels show (I have discussed my love earlier) and stalked frontman E afterward. We were the last two in line, I had my copy of Electro-Shock Blues in hand awaiting my turn for a handshake/autograph. But I let Kate go first. I should probably note that Kate is a deliciously caustic person, but that can be a double-edged sword. As soon as Kate starts saying something, E (who, much as I love him, is kind of a 8==D in his own right) interrupted her and said "What are you, British?" Aussies do not take kindly to such an accusation - especially ones who can be described as "caustic." To her credit, she didn't blow up right away - she just said that she was Australian. And E just gave her more nuts... his retort was "tie me kangaroo down, sport" (a reference to a nutsy Aussie folk song) which just sent her over the edge. She shouted "Bite me!" at E - my jaw dropped at such blasphemy - and stormed off towards my car. I completely forgot about any signature, exchanged a handshake and a few quick words of appreciation and had to take off after her. It was extremely awkward at the time, but I love that moment in hindsight.
One night (summer 04, I believe) while out on the town with some friends, we met Jake Busey - son of Gary Busey. He claimed he was researching campuses in preparation for producing a reality show - a quick look at his imdb page suggests this venture never came to be. He sat with us and we shot the nuts about our college experiences for an hour or so. He also scores points for hooking me up with booze.
I went to a Dennis Kucinich rally in 04. I liked the speech, but I was near the back. There was some d-bag in a carrot costume who wouldn't STFU about being vegetarian to all who'd listen. I got a hi & handshake after the rally. He got my vote in that primary. But I'll be damned if he isn't built like an elf.
I might be saving the best for last here: Jeff Tweedy, fall (October?) 04 after a show. Stalked him with an ex after they played the Orpheum in Madison, which is kind of a small venue for them to play. I knew the place's rear entrance was in an adjacent parking ramp, so we went there and found others already waiting. He came out about five minutes later to greet the dozen or so of us waiting. The man definitely seemed more engaged and appreciative when approached than most of the musicians I've encountered.
Recap Mike Kelly/Andy Kowske, Final Four b-ballers weezer Pollster's Charles Franklin Karl & Dwight Armstrong, the mad bombers Minneapolis mayor R.T. Rybak Rev. Al Sharpton Matt Sharp Wesley Willis Jet Mark Oliver Everett aka E Jake Busey Rep. Dennis Kucinich Jeff Tweedy
The next installment is the best, I promise. I think what I'll do with that is just release a name every six minutes and you can follow along realtime... wouldn't that be awesome?
The next installment is the best, I promise. I think what I'll do with that is just release a name every six minutes and you can follow along realtime... wouldn't that be awesome?
Is this gonna end with you meeting Caleb Followill and Dave Matthews?
The next installment is the best, I promise. I think what I'll do with that is just release a name every six minutes and you can follow along realtime... wouldn't that be awesome?
Is this gonna end with you meeting Caleb Followill and Dave Matthews?
No... that encounter would probably end in an actual "ever been arrested?" story.
Uh-Ohs Part Deux A few more after-show meet/greets to get out of the way before proceeding: Mike Doughty David Lowery & Johnny Hickman from Cracker (we all wound up having a pre-show smoke outside the venue) The Rentals (yes, Matt Sharp again - with their new lineup; the new girls were impressed with the old record store flat from 1995 I'd brought to that show) Sean Nelson from Harvey Danger/Long Winters (after a HD show, snagged a signed setlist)
Butch Vig (album producer - Nevermind, anyone? - and Garbage drummer) came into my store once upon a time. He had a rather intoxicated redhead with him - not Shirley Manson - for whom he purchased tampons.
Rep. Tammy Baldwin (Madison's Congresswoman, only openly lesbian member of Congress, you might have seen her in Fahreneheit 9/11) came in too. She was somehow surprised that the streets were completely dead during a Packer game. I'd previously run into her randomly in a parking ramp on my way to class and wished her luck.
I also once had as a customer George Wendt aka NORM. He was in town playing Merlin in a play, and stopped in to buy a Red Bull. The bastid had an earpiece phone on and was talking the entire time, though.
There is the questionably famous Dick Enrico, CEO of the 2nd Wind exercise equipment chain of stores. As such, at least around these parts, it is not unusual to see his mug in an advertisement above a urinal. This was the case when I went to the Minnesota State Fair in 06, which I was attending to visit some old friends and see the Flaming Lips. We hit the bathroom (with Dick Enrico smiling at us while we peed) on our way over to the concert area... and saw Dick Enrico heading to the bathroom. We gave him a holler. One guy in my group asked "How's it feel to see yourself while you're taking a piss?" He said "It feels great!" and walked into the bathroom laughing heartily. Yeah, he's probably not famous... but I love that story.
I should hope most of you are familiar with Dan Savage, the Savage Love advice columnist. He gave a speech at UW back in 07 - mostly sex Q&A like the column - with a book signing meet & greet afterwards. Got a signature on his SkippingTowards Gomorrah: The Seven Deadly Sins and the Pursuit of Happiness in America (recommended reading, btw) I'ma plug his column for the unfamiliar: www.thestranger.com/seattle/SavageLove?archives=all
Another speaker that came to UW was Double Dare/Food Network host Marc Summers. He talked about working his way up from being a stand-up into a TV host while dealing with his OCD. (There was some weirdness about Jews being discriminated against in Hollywood too - maybe because it was sponsored by Hillel?) After the speech - he refused to do any meeting & greeting involving handshakes - he instead went around taking questions from the audience. Most of the questions were about DD or food, and I got to ask the penultimate (put that on my list of favorite English words, too) question. So he was doing the same audience introductory schtick with everyone - asking name, hometown & major before getting to the question. Having heard all the questions about TV & dating a comedienne at the time myself, I decided to ask if he had any advice for up-and-comers or any favorite jokes he'd like to share. His advice was "keep at it, don't get discouraged" or something along those lines, but he skirted the joke question. The audience kinda groaned at the cop-out, and he said he had time for one more question. The guy who got the last question asked him if he could close out the evening with his rendition of The Aristocrats. Marc turned a bit red in the face and wouldn't do Aristocrats, but that last question did get one of his old stand-up jokes out of him. I don't specifically remember what the joke was, but I do recall it being kinda lame.
My ex had a gig opening for Emo Phillips at the Madison comedy club back in 07 too. My parents came out for that, and he talked to us all a couple minutes... he's as weird as you'd imagine.
Random celebrity encounter at Summerfest - an 11-day event with about a dozen stages along Milwaukee's lakefront every June/July. The main stage (the one that's not general admission) is an amphitheater which hosts a different headline show each night. I was at the amphitheater with a friend to see NIN that night. Our tickets were back in row 30 or 40something. I noticed security had temporarily slacked and there were unfilled seats near the stage, so we sneaked up into the third row. We were on the end of that third row, and after a few songs I noticed some people between us and the aisle - I nudged my friend, who didn't seem as certain the guy (accompanied by a smoking hot blonde) was who I thought he was. It was in the third row of a NIN show, so I had but a small window of time to act on the opportunity. Between songs, I stepped up to him knowing I had just mere seconds before the noise would drown things out again. I simply said "If you are who I think you are, I just want to say that I'm a fan, thank you, and I would love to shake your hand." And Lewis Black said "I am, and no, thank you" and NIN was going into their next song as we shook hands.
I hate to just trot out another professor who'd be big in small circles, but another one is worth noting. My Intro to Islam professor (whom I had fall 06 semester,) Kevin Barrett, is/was a rockstar in the 9/11 Truth movement. He made some inflammatory statements that got some state officials riled up; probably didn't help that during the semester he brought in another 9/11 Truther rockstar (Dr. Fetzer) to give a presentation on their side of the story. His antics, of course, led to a bit of controversy and the ensuing media circus. Those first few weeks, you couldn't get to class without having to dodge cameramen. The BBC was doing a documentary about him, classmates were appearing on O'Reilly Factor, all that jazz. He was actually one of my favorite professors through college. You can't argue with a professor that uses a Talking Heads song as class material, can you?
I volunteered with my friends' Forward Music Festival (in its second year) last September. It was a logistical clusterfuck going on at about eight different venues in downtown Madison. I was a "runner" delivering green room food, band payments, shopping errands, what have you. In the course of all that, I met Atlas Sound, some of the guys from BLK JKS and showed the ropes to Iran, a side project of Kyp from TVOTR. Fun times.
YACHT played that festival too. I wish I would have known at the time that Claire was one of my fellow weezer boardies - I didn't learn that until about a month later. Had one of my Rebel Weezer Alliance members all up in my face & didn't even know it. She hasn't stopped by that board in years.
I learned her identity from another one of my weezer crew - Dent May, who got signed to Animal Collective's label after they saw him down in Mississippi while recording MPP. He was on tour opening for Fiery Furnaces - Fri 13th of last October - and got my boy Phil (also one of us weezer board nerds) and I in for free. We did a lot of drinking & nomming after his set. Apparently, Fiery Furnaces aren't okay with corn nomming in their green room. We had to use the stairwell. We'd just finished some nomming and went up to grab more beers. I got temporarily separated while I was in the bathroom - I opened the door to find not Dent & the group in the green room, but Eleanor from FF. She asked if I worked there or something, and I reiterated that I was Dent's guest. She didn't look too happy. Asked if I knew my way out. I said "I think so..." and opened a door to an enclosed office. I didn't exactly make the best impression there.
I got to meet the aforementioned crush, radio hostess Stephanie Miller, when she was doing an appearance with another talk radio host/syndicated columnist Bill Press. Got to meet them both, technically, but that night was all about Stephanie - both for myself and the majority of the audience. The line was long, but I got to hug her and say "Thank you, Mama, I love you" and that was all that I needed. Just scoured that station's site hoping I'd turn up in the photo gallery, but no luck... Going to share a gratuitous picture of her from that night anyway.
Mike Doughty David Lowery & Johnny Hickman, Cracker The Rentals Sean Nelson, Harvey Danger/Long Winters Butch Vig Rep. Tammy Baldwin George Wendt aka Norm Dick Enrico Dan Savage Marc Summers Emo Phillips Lewis Black Prof. Kevin Barrett, conspiracy theorist Atlas Sound, Iran, members of BLK JKS Claire from YACHT? Dent May Eleanor, Fiery Furnaces Stephanie Miller & Bill Press
I'll finish this after I run some errands. I swear, I'm close to done... it's pretty much just Campaign 2008 and one last big-name musician I'm saving for last.
That was pretty much all business. His flight had been running late so he got to the venue (a multi-level carpeted room in the lower level of the Madison arts center) about 20-30min before his set. He was quite insistent that the entire room, which had been in use all day up until then, be cleared before his set with all chairs removed. Then he wanted 5-10 minutes alone in there all by himself before we let people back inside. The chair removal was a good call - made for a nice, intimate show with everyone sitting up close on the floor. It was one of the few sets I caught in its entirety that whole weekend, and arguably the best.
I hope this'll finally be the last part of the "Met anyone famous?" response.
The campaign trail has already come up, so we won't run around in circles unless I'm asked again. To recap: Two years ago, I volunteered with the campaign of New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson in Dubuque, Iowa and various parts of New Hampshire.
At one point, our Dubuque office received a visit from John Nichols, Madison journalist & The Nation correspondent.
Campaigning in those states gets pretty heavy duty, so volunteers even getting a little face time is still a big deal. Only encountered him once when I was in Iowa, but he was remembering me by the end of New Hampshire. I staffed a couple of his appearances and attended his post-debate part at state HQ. This picture was taken in a hangar at the Dubuque airport the day before the caucuses. For what it's worth, I think he looked better with the beard:
Before my flight out of Logan, I was waiting with my New Hampshire friend to catch his bus home. An older gentleman in a suit joined us near the bus stop, and my friend recognized him - Vermont's Congressman Peter Welch. My friend went up and introduced himself as a former constituent (he had previously lived in VT a while) and we all shot the breeze on New England and Democratic Party matters until their bus came.
I got off my plane back in Wisconsin to find the voicemail confirming my internship at Sen. Feingold's office my final semester. Met him a few other times, since I volunteer on the campaign end of things when he needs me these days. This was my official intern portrait.
On primary day 2008, I went out of my way to attend a McCain event out near Milwaukee. I was near the back of the crowd, but to make things easier for the media he & Cindy came to do Q&A not too far away. I got a handshake, thanked him for his service, and wished him luck in the primary (he sealed up the nomination that day.) He's got about the weakest handshake I've ever encountered.
We've finally made it to my last story. It was Halloween 2007; the Foo Fighters had played an acoustic set (with, I'd like to add, Petra Haden) opening for Bob Dylan. After leaving the show and parting ways with my friend, I stopped somewhere on State Street (a mile-long pedestrian thoroughfare between the state capital & heart of UW campus) for some cheap eats. I was walking out with my food, and ten feet to my right and heading my way were Dave Grohl & Taylor Hawkins. I save this for last, because it made me the most starstruck out of any of these encounters. I blew it from the start. My jaw dropped and I said something stupid I immediately regretted, something along the lines of "Holy shit, you're Dave Grohl" as I introduced myself. He laughed and asked me "Are you tripping?" Gave me a moment to (somewhat) regain my composure. I believe they'd been bar-hopping while Dylan played - Dave asked how the show was. I would have offered to buy them a shot right then and there, but between that night's beer and the cheap eats in my hand I was broke. I didn't want to inconvenience them too much longer, so I made sure to express my appreciation for The Colour And the Shape and get a parting handshake before letting them go on their way.
If I had to pick anyone I've mentioned to re-meet, it would definitely be Dave Grohl.
I'm finally done answering this question now, but it seems like there's nothing left to be answered...
Somewhere out there, there's a photo of our Inforoo Lolla meet-up in which I'm definitely double-fisting it... you don't happen to have that, do you?
I found the answer to that digging through my Facebook photos earlier today, and it's definitely yes - found these in one of Bama's photo albums. I suppose I'm not technically double-fisting it in the photos, but I definitely have two cups stacked up... looks like it was getting to be about refill time.
What's your favorite Wilco song? Which is your favorite album of theirs?
I find it pretty hard to argue with Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.
My gut reaction to song is "Monday." Kinda reminds me of finally getting my shit back together in 04... as well as all those hazy Mondays freshman year of college.
so I'm not going to answer that one just yet.
