Chattanooga Pulse

Written by Chuck Crowder
Wednesday, 17 December 2008 18:58
I have this uncanny knack of being at the right place at the right time. And as a result, I’ve had the privilege of meeting a lot of famous people. Some were the simple, “Hi, how ya doin’?” But some meetings have a story behind them. So, in the spirit of The Pulse’s annual Top Ten issue, here are some of my most memorable celebrity encounters.

1) Captain & Tennille (backstage, Memorial Auditorium, Chattanooga, 1978)
At the time one of the hottest couples in show business, Captain & Tennille were my very first famous encounter. They were riding high off of a few top 40 hits (”Love Will Keep Us Together”) and a variety series on ABC. When my brother and I had our picture taken with them, Toni Tennille was wearing a Battle of the Network Stars T-shirt. Classic.
2) Dennis Hopper (backstage, CMT Music Awards, Nashville, 2006)
My cousin and I saw him wandering around taking pictures of stuff. I was completely star struck. We finally got up the nerve to speak with him. Then he asked to photograph us. Said he wanted to show his wife at home some of the nice people he’d met in Nashville. That might be the strangest celebrity encounter I’ve ever had.
3) Nancy Wilson (private party, Red Iguana Lounge, Nashville, 2006)
She’s the beautiful siren from Heart. I, a grown up whose teenage crush was immediately rekindled the minute I laid eyes on her. After a few minutes of me babbling on about God knows what, she thanked me as if I was retarded or something, glanced around and took off. I’m pretty sure she was going to find security.
4) Roy Acuff (backstage, Grand Ole Opry, Nashville, 1990)
The hustle and bustle backstage at the Grand Ole Opry makes it easy to find yourself at the open dressing room door of one of country music’s most iconic artists. Roy invited us in to sit around with some other lucky visitors and hear stories about everything from the Opry’s heyday to what he was doing earlier that day. I’ll never forget him sipping whiskey from a coffee cup and pointing to a few of the framed photographs that covered all four walls.
5) Pete Best (phone interview and in person at Rhythm & Brews, Chattanooga, 2008)
It’s one thing to meet John, Paul, George or Ringo. But it’s another thing altogether to speak with the guy who was fired from the Beatles right before they made it big. Despite the suicidal tendencies one might expect, however, Pete Best was one of the most gracious and interesting people I’ve ever met. He also shed a unique perspective on his former band mates that only someone who’s been in his shoes could provide.
6) Ben Fong Torres (dinner at Tin Angel, Nashville, 1991)
As a writer and music lover, nothing was more thrilling than meeting Ben Fong Torres. An original editor with Rolling Stone, he’s credited with helping start the careers of contemporaries like Cameron Crowe. While in town researching a book he was writing about Gram Parsons, he made time to have dinner my cousin and me. Hearing stories about Hunter S. Thompson and what he’d discovered about Gram made for an incredibly insightful evening.
7) Jonathan Richman (Huntsville, Alabama, 2003)
Not too many rock influences deserve the same high level of respect as Jonathan Richman. From his brilliant band The Modern Lovers to a solo career that eventually landed him on the silver screen in There’s Something About Mary, Richman has paved the way for many “out there” artists. So when he heard me speaking with his drummer about how bitter Robyn Hitchcock was when we met, Richman went off on me about why people like Robyn (and he) are a little chapped when it comes to the fame and fortune acquired by those they’ve influenced. Settle down, man…
Alan Hunter (backstage, Volunteer Jam, Nashville, 1984)
When “Video Killed The Radio Star”, five new rock stars emerged-MTV’s original VJ’s, including one Alan Hunter. Speaking with him about whether Martha Quinn was really cool or not at the height of MTV’s mystique was a real treat for a 17-year-old who’d done exactly what the promos said-tuned in and (literally) ripped the knob off.
9) Paula Poundstone (Michelangelo’s, Chattanooga, 1989)
Having free tickets to see a comedian at the Tivoli is great, unless you are sitting alone in a loge box when the floor seats are about half full. While waiting for my “plus one” to arrive, the show not only started, but I became part of it. When Paula saw me sitting there alone, that’s all she needed to heckle me for the next couple of minutes to the audience’s laughter. However, she didn’t reciprocate the love when I approached her later that night at Michelangelo’s. What a bitch.
10) Dave EdmundS & Brian Setzer (Pickle Barrel, Chattanooga, 1993)
When the Stray Cats were in town recording their 1994 LP Choo-Choo Hot Fish (named for a now-defunct local eatery), someone told me that they had been taking breaks at the Pickle Barrel each night around midnight. What I didn’t know was that one of my Brit-pop idols Dave Edmunds was the producer. So when I turned to introduce myself to Brian Setzer, Edmunds was standing right next to him. I freaked out. He admitted to me that he never thought anyone in Chattanooga would know who the hell he was. Just goes to show how widespread fame can be.

And that’s it-the ten most interesting. I wish I had more room to tell you about some other brushes with fame, like offering Chrissie Hynde a beer, lying to Graham Parker about seeing Nick Lowe play at Rhythm & Brews, asking Mike Mills of R.E.M. when the next Drivin n’ Cryin record was coming out, literally bumping into Lily Tomlin on the street in Miami, pissing next to Drew Carey at Wolfgang Puck’s, watching Southern Culture in the Skids with Bobcat Goldthwait or telling Jeff Daniels that I liked him in (of all the movies I could have mentioned) Terms of Endearment. But there’s always next year.