by TristAndShoutt » Sat Nov 17, 2018 9:13 pm
I saw Bruce Springsteen on Broadway recently and got to see him out by the stage door- I left early and got a really good spot in the front while my mom stayed in to hear the rest of "Born to Run!"
Anyways, he was really nice- certainly in a bit of a rush, but I imagine that doing the show tires him out and he wants to go home & relax so I don't blame him for not lingering and stopping to converse with everybody. I think he pretty much took the time to sign everybody's things, including a playbill and Greatest Hits CD that I had. When he was getting at my stuff I told him that the show was incredible, and he said "Thank you, young man," which really warmed my heart, especially as a musician and a big fan of his music. Whadda sweet guy he is
Other than that, though, Broadway cast members are usually really nice- my mom and I always wait by the doors after shows to meet them, get pics, signatures, etc. and of course there are some who just wave goodbye and leave, but I don't blame them because not everybody is comfortable with doing that stuff. Other than that though, all of the actors I've met have always been so sweet and they clearly love meeting and talking with fans so much.
About a year ago my mom and I met Senator Cory Booker, who spoke at some Democratic event here in Minnesota. He was a really cool dude, signed two programs and got a picture with us. Not that I'm guessing many people give a crap about political figures here, but it was nonetheless a solid experience.
Another great experience I had was with this really great but fairly obscure singer-songwriter named Chris Trapper who was opening for a concert of Colin Hay (the lead singer of Men at Work) and was just out selling his CDs in the lobby, signing them and doing pics if people wanted. He was extremely nice- I asked him about his favorite album of his, and he said it was difficult to answer but he highlighted two ones that he had just released. I really wanted to get a couple of CDs because I liked the music he had played in the concert, but my mom didn't have any cash and he didn't take cards so I wasn't able to. My mom suggested getting him to sign a bar napkin instead, so I went and got a napkin and told him that my mom didn't have any cash. Chris then cut me off before I could mention the napkin and told me "Aw hey, that's alright. You can just have the CDs and pay me at the next concert you go to." How selfless of him! He signed both CDs, and I even got a couple of pictures with him as well before I went in to see Colin. I haven't been to any other concerts of his yet, but if I ever do (which there's a solid chance that I will), I'm definitely paying him that money that I owe him. He deserves it.
I guess that's about all I can think of. I've met a few other musicians as well (and gotten sigs from some of them) and they were all extremely nice, but they're mostly local musicians from Minnesota that nobody would probably know about. Adam Levy, the lead singer of a great Indie rock band from Minneapolis called The Honeydogs, played at some political fundraising events- one for my mom's State Senate campaign and another for the DFL at my high school, both of which I played at alongside him- and he was really nice both times. I had found a Honeydogs CD at my local Goodwill store, and brought it to the first event for him to sign. He signed the inside of the CD sleeve with a really nice personalized message ("Tristan, Good luck to you in your musical pursuits. Love & light!") which was really great of him. There was also The Cat's Pajamas- if you know them, then it's probably because you saw them on an episode of America's Got Talent. They're an a cappella vocal group, and a really damn good one at that! They performed at a concert for my grandma's chorus that she's in, and they were out selling CDs. The performance blew me away- I guess it's nothing that special now that I look back, but I was a really young preteen at the time and had seen nothing like it so it was really quite impactful for me at that time- so my mom let me get a CD from them. When I was there, the bass guy (named Skinner, I think) asked me which one I wanted. I hesitated and "ummm"'d because I wasn't sure, and after like 8 seconds he just grabbed a random album and said something along the lines of "Here, how about this one? Latest album, best-seller, whaddaya say?" So I said ok, and he jokingly whispered out loud to a woman in line something like "None o' that's true, I just made it up to get him to choose quicker." It was a bit off-putting at the time and even sort of now, but he clearly was saying in a way that I could hear and I think it was totally facetious. And it was funny anyways so it's cool. All 5 of the members signed the album, and it was one of my first experiences with something like that. But I think that's about everything. I'll be sure to post about any other experiences that I have in the future!
I saw Bruce Springsteen on Broadway recently and got to see him out by the stage door- I left early and got a really good spot in the front while my mom stayed in to hear the rest of "Born to Run!" :D Anyways, he was really nice- certainly in a bit of a rush, but I imagine that doing the show tires him out and he wants to go home & relax so I don't blame him for not lingering and stopping to converse with everybody. I think he pretty much took the time to sign everybody's things, including a playbill and Greatest Hits CD that I had. When he was getting at my stuff I told him that the show was incredible, and he said "Thank you, young man," which really warmed my heart, especially as a musician and a big fan of his music. Whadda sweet guy he is :)
Other than that, though, Broadway cast members are usually really nice- my mom and I always wait by the doors after shows to meet them, get pics, signatures, etc. and of course there are some who just wave goodbye and leave, but I don't blame them because not everybody is comfortable with doing that stuff. Other than that though, all of the actors I've met have always been so sweet and they clearly love meeting and talking with fans so much.
About a year ago my mom and I met Senator Cory Booker, who spoke at some Democratic event here in Minnesota. He was a really cool dude, signed two programs and got a picture with us. Not that I'm guessing many people give a crap about political figures here, but it was nonetheless a solid experience.
Another great experience I had was with this really great but fairly obscure singer-songwriter named Chris Trapper who was opening for a concert of Colin Hay (the lead singer of Men at Work) and was just out selling his CDs in the lobby, signing them and doing pics if people wanted. He was extremely nice- I asked him about his favorite album of his, and he said it was difficult to answer but he highlighted two ones that he had just released. I really wanted to get a couple of CDs because I liked the music he had played in the concert, but my mom didn't have any cash and he didn't take cards so I wasn't able to. My mom suggested getting him to sign a bar napkin instead, so I went and got a napkin and told him that my mom didn't have any cash. Chris then cut me off before I could mention the napkin and told me "Aw hey, that's alright. You can just have the CDs and pay me at the next concert you go to." How selfless of him! He signed both CDs, and I even got a couple of pictures with him as well before I went in to see Colin. I haven't been to any other concerts of his yet, but if I ever do (which there's a solid chance that I will), I'm definitely paying him that money that I owe him. He deserves it.
I guess that's about all I can think of. I've met a few other musicians as well (and gotten sigs from some of them) and they were all extremely nice, but they're mostly local musicians from Minnesota that nobody would probably know about. Adam Levy, the lead singer of a great Indie rock band from Minneapolis called The Honeydogs, played at some political fundraising events- one for my mom's State Senate campaign and another for the DFL at my high school, both of which I played at alongside him- and he was really nice both times. I had found a Honeydogs CD at my local Goodwill store, and brought it to the first event for him to sign. He signed the inside of the CD sleeve with a really nice personalized message ("Tristan, Good luck to you in your musical pursuits. Love & light!") which was really great of him. There was also The Cat's Pajamas- if you know them, then it's probably because you saw them on an episode of America's Got Talent. They're an a cappella vocal group, and a really damn good one at that! They performed at a concert for my grandma's chorus that she's in, and they were out selling CDs. The performance blew me away- I guess it's nothing that special now that I look back, but I was a really young preteen at the time and had seen nothing like it so it was really quite impactful for me at that time- so my mom let me get a CD from them. When I was there, the bass guy (named Skinner, I think) asked me which one I wanted. I hesitated and "ummm"'d because I wasn't sure, and after like 8 seconds he just grabbed a random album and said something along the lines of "Here, how about this one? Latest album, best-seller, whaddaya say?" So I said ok, and he jokingly whispered out loud to a woman in line something like "None o' that's true, I just made it up to get him to choose quicker." It was a bit off-putting at the time and even sort of now, but he clearly was saying in a way that I could hear and I think it was totally facetious. And it was funny anyways so it's cool. All 5 of the members signed the album, and it was one of my first experiences with something like that. But I think that's about everything. I'll be sure to post about any other experiences that I have in the future! :D
