2 weeks and the Grateful Dead

Fuck. Its been over two weeks since I wrote last. Im sorry and I will try to do better...

Its Superbowl Sunday. I am listening to the Grateful Dead and trying to decide if I want to watch the game or not. I probably will watch just for the commercials, football doesnt really hold any interest for me unless its the Bears or Colts.

The music has me a bit nostalgic for the days I worked security backstage at a large local concert venue. That was a great job most of the time. I worked a Grateful Dead concert, it was an experience. Most of the people were quite cool. Mellow and stoned and calm. Then there was the chick who thought she was drowning because she fell in a ditch and landed on her back in about 2 feet of water. She was laying there flailing around and hollering about drowning and a fellow security guy walked onto the bridge and yelled down at her "Stand up, dumbass!". She got to her feet and realized she was in very little water so of course she started taking a bath. We laughed hard that day.

Other memories:
Melissa Etheridge once sang to me. Well, at me anyway. It was during a sound check and I was on a break so I went down to the front row and just sat and listened as she sang. She is so sexy and has such an amazing voice.

I was at a John Fogerty show and he began to sing "Have you ever seen the rain?" and I swear to Jeebus the moment he started to sing it started pouring down rain.

Toby Keith is the biggest douchebag in the universe. Both times I met him I thought so. First time he kept 80 fans waiting for a backstage meet-n-greet because he was getting high with the coach of the IU basketball team, a friend of his from Oklahoma. They shoved 80 people through a line to get pictures taken with him in just under 7 minutes so they could start the show on time. Second time he was just a general douchebag, acting like a prima donna and pitching a fit because the wrong type of ice was available.

I held the leash of and walked around with Sheryl Crow's dog for about an hour once. She forgot she had an interview to do for an Australian television crew and was walking her dog. They needed to go live and she didnt have time to walk him back to her trailer so I volunteered to take him and watch him. She was very nice to me and thanked me later. I like her

I once stood backstage right before the start of a Lynyrd Skynyrd show and didnt know I was standing in the little hallway that led to the stage. I heard a noise behind me and looked up to find the whole band heading for the stage. Billy Powell walked up and asked me if they were going the right way and I said I had no idea. They all laughed and a roadie walked up and told them to hang out for a second and then they could start the show. Johnny Van Zant shot me a high five as he walked out to sing "Sweet Home Alabama" and I almost cried because there were so many feels going around inside me. Powell was dead a few months later of a heart attack. It was sad.

Willie Nelson called me "Brother" and gave me a guitar pick.

Vince Neil asked me if I knew where he could get a cow. I had no idea what to say to that and pointed him to the venue managers office. About an hour or so later a farmer and another guy walked backstage with a large cow. There was a group of us security people backstage and no one wanted to go around the back to see what was going on. We wound up doing Rock-Paper-Scissors to see who had to go and I lost. I walked around the bus to find Neil dressed as a farmer doing a photo shoot for an album. I must admit I was a bit disappointed to see thats all that was going on.

KC of KC and the Sunshine band wanted his picture taken with me. I said sure and somewhere there is a picture of me and KC.

David Crosby once said hello to me and talked to me for a few minutes. He was very cool, we talked about sailing and the song "Southern Cross" and the fact that he remembers nothing of performing at Woodstock because he was so nervous. He said he was sot of mad at not remembering it. I suggested he watch the movie and see if it brings back anything. No idea if he ever did.

David Gilmour once handed me his black Stratocaster and asked me to look after it for a few minutes for him. The start of the Pink Floyd show that evening was delayed for a few minutes while he went and took a "healthy shit" as he called it when he came back. He said to me "Dont worry, mate! Washed me hands good." and took his guitar back. They went out and performed a great show.

Speaking of Pink Floyd, Roger Waters and I once discussed Mini Coopers and the fact that I could wear two of them as shoes if I had a pair. He was very amused by the mental image and thanked me. That night was unquestionably the best concert I have ever seen. Waters and his band performed the entire Wall album and the sound was amazing

I have somewhere a picture of me with two of the members of Umphrey's McGee. That was a great show and they played my favorite song.

I once cut the hair of the lead singer from the band System of a Down. Serj Tankian said he wanted a mohawk like the one I was wearing for Ozzfest. I told him I could give him one if he could find some clippers. I was joking but he sent someone for clippers and I cut his hair. It was funny

Snoop Dogg high fived me and thanked me for being cool. I kept a few people from bothering him and his group of friends as they shot baskets and he was thankful.

I talked to Steven Tyler once. He asked me if I had seen any movies lately and I had seen one with his daughter in it. Jersey Girl was the movie and I told him I had quite the crush on Liv. He said he liked the movie and told me he would pass my feelings along and we laughed.

I have a drum head signed by all the members of the country band Flynnville Station.

It was really cool seeing the backstage area and working there. I enjoyed it a lot. I liked seeing the areas that not everyone can see and meeting people.