Best Heavy Metal Band of all time. (Do people still listen to metal?)
I lived in Gettysburg, PA in the late 1980s and my friend Jeff comes busting in on a guitar lesson/music jam, almost too excited to talk. Jack Blades....Night Ranger Tour Bus....Baltimore Street by Farnsworth House....eating dinner....let's GO! So we hop into the car and park out front by the restaurant and wait for him. Finally, we see him exit the restaurant with a small entourage and who we quickly learned was his wife and small child. We're running down the sidewalk hollering "Jack Blades!" and waving pieces of paper and pens. He ushers the wife and kid onto the bus, and all but two HUGE bodyguards onto the bus, but he stands by the bus door and greets us "hey fellas, what's up?"
We tell him we heard he's in town, but didn't want to disturb his meal and decided to wait by the bus to meet him. He thanks us for NOT interrupting his meal with his wife and kid and asks how long we've been waiting by the bus. We tell him "about an hour" and he seems kinda surprised. We chat a little about music, our favorite Night Ranger tunes, and ask for his autograph. He smiles and says "of course...you have something you want signed?" Jeff does, but I left with him in a hurry and all I have is the small notebook in my glovebox that I use to track oil mileage and filter change intervals...but a whole lot of empty pages. :cool:
When it's my turn, Mr. Blades notices my spandex pants and 80's-style cut-up shirt that I still had on from music lesson/band jam and comments that "Brad Gillis would love those pants. Wanna sell 'em?" I laugh and say "sure, but I'm going commando underneath, so you might have to drop me off at my car (as I point up the block)." He starts laughing really hard and finally says "that's okay, you keep 'em. But I'm gonna tell Brad to get a pair just like 'em." All I could say was "ummm....okay", but feeling somewhat relieved I wasn't going to have to drive home naked. And that was it. He thanked us for being fans, hopped on the bus and drove off.
My buddy Jeff and I lost touch over the years. 30 years later, we cross paths again and re-connect. His first words to me after 30 years aren't "OMG, how you been?" or "So nice to see you" or anything like that. Nope, the 1st words he says to me after 30 years..."Remember when Jack Blades wanted to buy your spandex pants?!" The memories all came flooding back, we started laughing our arses off, and we're still in touch.
This is the reason rock'n'roll will NEVER die. At its core, it's not about entertaining the masses, it's about shared experiences and common connections. The shows are just excuses to make those things happen!
Cool story MDTerps! Closest I've gotten to meeting a rock star was Jack Blades of Night Ranger and Damn Yankees.As an aside, one of the reasons I like the Dio-led Sabbath is that after a concert in 1981 we actually met Ronnie James Dio and Black Sabbath. It was December and a stop on the Mob Rules tour here in Salisbury. We had camped out to get front row seats ($8.50).
After the concert we waited in an adjacent parking lot and watched the back door of the venue through which the band had to emerge to get to their limo. We waited 45 mins and they came out, bundled up against the cold. We jumped out of the car and ran across the verge as the band hustled to the limo. Ronnie Dio saw us and I heard him say to the others "Hold up, we have some fans" We walked up and asked the band to autograph our albums which they did. Ronnie Dio looked at us and said "I saw you guys in the front row, it looked like you really enjoyed the show" We assured him it was great and he asked if we camped out to get the tickets, We told him we did and he replied "we're honored you would do that, I hope you feel you got your money's worth tonight" I said it was well worth the money and time and Dio said if we weren't happy he's refund our money right there. He then asked "What do you do when you're not going to rock concerts?" and I told him we were students at University of Maryland. "Great! Get your degree. Regardless of what you do after that, no one can ever take that degree from you" We were awestruck that this band made time for 5 fans on a cold, windy night after a 2-hour show.
We spent 10-15 minutes talking to what was one of the most iconic rock bands ever, and they, especially Ronnie James Dio, could not have been more gracious. Dio was genuinely interested, and was very well-spoken and articulate. Years later I learned that Dio had a long history of spending a lot of time with the fans. Ronnie Dio is hall of fame in my book.
I lived in Gettysburg, PA in the late 1980s and my friend Jeff comes busting in on a guitar lesson/music jam, almost too excited to talk. Jack Blades....Night Ranger Tour Bus....Baltimore Street by Farnsworth House....eating dinner....let's GO! So we hop into the car and park out front by the restaurant and wait for him. Finally, we see him exit the restaurant with a small entourage and who we quickly learned was his wife and small child. We're running down the sidewalk hollering "Jack Blades!" and waving pieces of paper and pens. He ushers the wife and kid onto the bus, and all but two HUGE bodyguards onto the bus, but he stands by the bus door and greets us "hey fellas, what's up?"
We tell him we heard he's in town, but didn't want to disturb his meal and decided to wait by the bus to meet him. He thanks us for NOT interrupting his meal with his wife and kid and asks how long we've been waiting by the bus. We tell him "about an hour" and he seems kinda surprised. We chat a little about music, our favorite Night Ranger tunes, and ask for his autograph. He smiles and says "of course...you have something you want signed?" Jeff does, but I left with him in a hurry and all I have is the small notebook in my glovebox that I use to track oil mileage and filter change intervals...but a whole lot of empty pages. :cool:
When it's my turn, Mr. Blades notices my spandex pants and 80's-style cut-up shirt that I still had on from music lesson/band jam and comments that "Brad Gillis would love those pants. Wanna sell 'em?" I laugh and say "sure, but I'm going commando underneath, so you might have to drop me off at my car (as I point up the block)." He starts laughing really hard and finally says "that's okay, you keep 'em. But I'm gonna tell Brad to get a pair just like 'em." All I could say was "ummm....okay", but feeling somewhat relieved I wasn't going to have to drive home naked. And that was it. He thanked us for being fans, hopped on the bus and drove off.
My buddy Jeff and I lost touch over the years. 30 years later, we cross paths again and re-connect. His first words to me after 30 years aren't "OMG, how you been?" or "So nice to see you" or anything like that. Nope, the 1st words he says to me after 30 years..."Remember when Jack Blades wanted to buy your spandex pants?!" The memories all came flooding back, we started laughing our arses off, and we're still in touch.
This is the reason rock'n'roll will NEVER die. At its core, it's not about entertaining the masses, it's about shared experiences and common connections. The shows are just excuses to make those things happen!