Oh yeah, I met Nirvana after their second show ever in Chicago.

Some friends of mine had seen a previous show and had invited them to stay over at their house next time they (Nirvana) were in town. My friends had a real nice (if somewhat creepily decorated) house in Ravenswood, near the hospital.

I don't know if this really qualifies as a "brush with fame", because this happened before Nirvana became big rock superstars. They were just 3 kids in a punk band from Seattle, WA of all places, on tour a long way from home. It was before Dave Grohl joined the band, when their drummer was Chad Channing.

Anyway, I was relaxing at home with my then-gf when our friend Carol called on the phone. She asked us what we were doing tonight, then invited us over for a drink or two. We lived like 5 minutes away and the invite was nothing unusual. We hung out at Mike & Carol's place all the time. I was a bit tired from work, but we both said "OK" and headed out.

So we get to Carol's place, go down into the basement (the usual "hangout area") and there are these 3 young strangers sitting there drinking beers. Carol introduced us to "Kris","Chad" and "Kurt". I brought out a bag of pot, rolled a joint, and we all sat down and smoked, drank some beers and chatted a little. It was the usual kind of conversation: "How long have you been on tour? You ever been to Chicago before? How do you like it? Where are you going next?"

Mike and Carol's place was decorated in a kinda gothy way with a lot of weird photos/art objects, ornate furniture, taxidermy etc. I remember Kurt remarking that their house was really great and that Mike and Carol had a lot of style and were "way ahead of their time". Carol in particular found that to be really funny. She laughed in a kinda shy way and said, "No, we're really not ahead of our time, not at all!" The alcohol and THC was starting to take effect on me at that point and I was already really really tired from having moved furniture around all day. So I excused myself, went upstairs and lay down on the couch for a nap. I was awoken a few hours later by my gf, saying "Get up, it's time to go. It's 2AM." So I got up and went home to sleep. That's it. That's my "I hung out and partied with Nirvana" story.

I used to think about that evening often in the following years. I wondered, if I'd known then that 2 out of the 3 guys I was talking to were destined to become world famous in a couple short years, or that one of them was eventually going to end his life by putting a shotgun to his head, what would I have said or done differently? At any rate, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have just gone upstairs and passed out.

C'est la vie.

Christopher J. McGarvey wrote:Over 3 years ago I posted this:

Angry_Dragon wrote:Richard Belzer, not Ric Ocasek story

Angry_Dragon wrote:Sebastian Bach spittle story

in this thread

from this same thread:

Mr. Chimp wrote:Fifteen years ago I took a piss next to Dennis Farina at Ravinia at a Harry Connick Jr. concert.

That was neat.

Does anyone remember the TV show Crime Story?

That was a neat show.

Also! From the depths of memory I remember this tale!


A old friend of mine used to work for a fairly established Chicago Gaelic rock band. Of occasion I would hang out, see post flyers, see a show, party with this band.

I recall one evening, early 90's, being backstage at the China Club.

WTF. China Club.

Anyway. It had been a full blown Saturday, full of ale & mary jane & marching powder. We piled into the cars and loaded stuff in. Soundcheck happens. We're backstage, hanging out, freely imbibing. The hours fly past. The music is pounding, lights are flashing, minds wrecked.

At one point somebody walks up to to a band member and says "oh he's here." I'm away from the direct contact at this point, shooting the shit with some folks, when I realize that the recently arrived person's round of introductions had made it over to our side of the room, and I turn around, and directly behind me, who is there? Who possibly could I see.......











...that's right....












.....m-f-in' Gary Busey.





He, shall we say, was certainly at least on the same level as this crowd of folks who were wired up on goofballs, and he pressed palm in a pretty good "Nice ta meetcha" sincere/not sincere manner, and exchanged friendly manic banter with the room.



He hung around for awhile, then the band went on stage and played, and afterwards he thanked them very genuinely, and suggested that they keep in touch.





And like that,

pfffuhhh

he was gone.

Colonel Panic wrote:Oh yeah, I met Nirvana after their second show ever in Chicago.

Some friends of mine had seen a previous show and had invited them to stay over at their house next time they (Nirvana) were in town. My friends had a real nice (if somewhat creepily decorated) house in Ravenswood, near the hospital.

I don't know if this really qualifies as a "brush with fame", because this happened before Nirvana became big rock superstars. They were just 3 kids in a punk band from Seattle, WA of all places, on tour a long way from home. It was before Dave Grohl joined the band, when their drummer was Chad Channing.

Anyway, I was relaxing at home with my then-gf when our friend Carol called on the phone. She asked us what we were doing tonight, then invited us over for a drink or two. We lived like 5 minutes away and the invite was nothing unusual. We hung out at Mike & Carol's place all the time. I was a bit tired from work, but we both said "OK" and headed out.

So we get to Carol's place, go down into the basement (the usual "hangout area") and there are these 3 young strangers sitting there drinking beers. Carol introduced us to "Kris","Chad" and "Kurt". I brought out a bag of pot, rolled a joint, and we all sat down and smoked, drank some beers and chatted a little. It was the usual kind of conversation: "How long have you been on tour? You ever been to Chicago before? How do you like it? Where are you going next?"

Mike and Carol's place was decorated in a kinda gothy way with a lot of weird photos/art objects, ornate furniture, taxidermy etc. I remember Kurt remarking that their house was really great and that Mike and Carol had a lot of style and were "way ahead of their time". Carol in particular found that to be really funny. She laughed in a kinda shy way and said, "No, we're really not ahead of our time, not at all!" The alcohol and THC was starting to take effect on me at that point and I was already really really tired from having moved furniture around all day. So I excused myself, went upstairs and lay down on the couch for a nap. I was awoken a few hours later by my gf, saying "Get up, it's time to go. It's 2AM." So I got up and went home to sleep. That's it. That's my "I hung out and partied with Nirvana" story.

I used to think about that evening often in the following years. I wondered, if I'd known then that 2 out of the 3 guys I was talking to were destined to become world famous in a couple short years, or that one of them was eventually going to end his life by putting a shotgun to his head, what would I have said or done differently? At any rate, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have just gone upstairs and passed out.

C'est la vie.

yeah, I remember Carol's: taxidermy pretty much everywhere, cool artwork, etc.

That house burned down. So sad.

Colonel Panic wrote:That house burned down. So sad.

Really?? Fuck. It was a beautiful house too.

When I was a boyscout, we marched on the field at old Comiskey. I was the flag-bearer for our troop. One of the Sox came out on the field and shook my hand afterwards. I have no idea which.

Sat next to Dave Attel(sp) at the Raw Bar last year and had random bar conversation. He ended up being a pretty nice guy.

When I was 15 or 16 I came up to the city to see the Foo Fighters at the Metro right when they'd gotten together. We were standing about a block away getting high and someone said Hey, here comes Dave Grohl." Up he walks and joins our circle. Really short guy. I remember him asking how we were and then he just hung out for 5 minutes. Then we walked with him over to the Metro.

I've shaken hands with Jerry Springer more times than I care to admit.

In fourth grade, I made a fool of myself in front Bozo while playing "the other game" on his show.

Dennis DeYoung has bought me pizza on more than one occasion.

I'm in a moped gang with half of Flosstradomus. We ride out with the Cool Kids often.

I got Tommy Stinson to sign my Bash & Pop cd. He spun me round to write it on my back and got my wife's name wrong. He had his own marker pen.

Mark Hansen wrote:

Colonel Panic wrote:That house burned down. So sad.

Really?? Fuck. It was a beautiful house too.

Yeah, Mike put a *lot* of work into that place. And she had a hell of a lot of cool stuff in there. Remember the stuffed 2-headed calf mounted over the kitchen table? The taxidermied cats and all the little woodland critters? All that stuff is now gone.

I last saw Carol about 6 months ago. She informed me the house burned down. I seem to remember she said it happened a couple years ago now. I imagine the burning fur smell must have been horrible.

Did you ever go to any of Mike & Carol's anniversary bashes? They were married on April 1st and they'd have a huge party every year to celebrate. Come to think of it, I first met Gigi LaFrance at their place.

Edit: Sorry, wrong thread.

I once saw Tim "The Tool Man Taylor" Allen walking around Dinytown in a party of four people. I was nearly blinded by his star power.