In the rock star universe, the Brits are allright

The giant orb is supposed to represent a pinball. Pete is about to make it e-Bay-worthy.

I was watching TMZ (sorry) and they showed footage of Pete Townshend arriving at LAX this week and getting slammed by a dozen or more fans who wanted autographs.

He was a real sport, chatting with them and signing everything and sacrificing his own time doing it and being very friendly about it. At one point, one of his "handlers" kindly reprimanded the crowd and said something like, "Give him some space." And Pete, one of the greatest rock stars ever, tells the guy to chill: "These guys pay our wages."

I've said it before: As a rule (with rare exceptions) the Brits are uncommonly polite to fans and the media, especially the older ones, who could be excused for being impatient or curt but who seem to (a) respect the business enough to know fame can vanish overnight and (b) appreciate that the fans and the media are all part of their success. I've had the chance to do phone interviews with more people than I can remember. But I do recall that some of the friendlest people I've ever talked to were old-school British rock stars:

David Bowie: Usually when you talk to a guy of his stature, you get a call from a handler who then spends five minutes or more patching you through to the rock star. Five minutes before I was expecting a call from one of Bowie's lackeys, the phone rang and Bowie was on the other end. He said: "I hope you don't mind me calling early." Um, I'll get over it. I said, "I won't take up much of your time." He said: "I'm sitting in my hotel room, eating almonds with nothing to do. Take all the time you want." I almost cried.

Robert Plant: He was coming to town for a show at the Uptown, a show I knew I couldn't attend. After a friendly 25-minute phoner about two weeks before that show, he said: "Come back stage before the show and say hello. I'll give my assistant your name and she'll set it up." I knew I couldn't make it, but I said I would, figuring it would never happen anyway. When I got back from vacation two days after his show, I had a voice mail waiting, from his assistant, telling me what to do and whom to ask for to get back stage and say hello.

Ian Anderson: He is voraciously opinionaed about everything: politics, economics, sociology. The last thing he wanted to talk about was music. My second interview with him broke the 40-minute barrier. I stopped recording and taking notes and just listened. I ended up having to diplomatically cut him off so I could do another phoner. But he was interesting, informed and entertaining.

Ray Davies: Nothing spectacular or memorable about this except that Ray Davies agreed to do a phoner. He was a bit intimidating, but polite.

Roger Daltrey: I've interviewed him twice. Once before some British Youth Symphony show at Ameristar Casino; the other as a promo for some cable-TV show he was in or hosting. For the first one, he called my home. But he called an hour early (six-hour time difference) and woke me up, and I admitted to him that he had. Eighteen months later, I interviewed  him from work. During the perfunctory greetings, he said: "Aren't you the guy I woke up?" I blushed.

Yoko Ono: I know, but she married one. And she gave my younger daughter a story to tell. I was interviewing her on the phone from my home in advance of one of the Lennon lithograph exihibits at Crown Center. Five minutes into the interview, my daughter, who was about 3 at the time, started screaming for me from the other room. I ignored her. Yoko didn't. She said something like: "Your child needs your attention." I took that to mean the interview was over. She said, "I can wait while you attend to your child." And she did.

Stewart Copeland: I know, but his band is British. I interviewed him twice. First, to talk about the Hall of Fame induction, the second to plug his Police documentary. During that one, kind of off-the-record, we talked about two things we have in common: losing a sibling and having a CIA agent for a father. He was very open about both and very emotional about his late brother. (But he also told me there was no way in hell the Police would ever get back together for any kind of tour.) He is a super-decent guy.

| Timothy Finn, The Star

Comments

[Penny]

Those are great stories. In my experience feeding them, I have to agree the brits were usually very polite and friendly. Sting, Ray Davies, to name a couple. But my favorite brit, who was amazingly the friendliest and most polite and charming was Billy Idol. He will remain in my memory as one of the nicest.

[Casey]

So why are American rock stars so much more inclined to want their privacy? Do you think American rock stars would act differently towards the media in other countries?

[Penny]

Tim may have a good answer for that question, as for me, I had some very good interactions with Americans, too. Just all depends on who they are. Good ones for me were people you would suspect, like James Taylor, Bonnie Raitt, and Neil Young.

[Penny]

Oh yeah, Neil is Canadian. But Canadians are usually very friendly.

[kevink]

I had Dierks Bentley (not the caliber of those you're discussing, clearly) call me 30 minutes before an interview and ask if I was ready to go. I told him I was, because after weeks of scheduling, you don't release a musician once you've got them on the phone. I said I was just trying to finish listening to his latest record at the time (which I was). He said he'd let me do that, then promised to call right back. I was shocked, and frankly thought I was S.O.L. He called back promptly at the originally scheduled time and couldn't have been nicer. Turns out he had plans to go muddin' in his jeep and wanted to get an early start.

[Tim Finn]

The Canadians are typically friendly, too. Watch/listen to hockey players talk to the media: no posing, no mach-preening.

I'm not saying American stars can't be friendly or mannered. James Hetfield of Metallica was one of the nicest guys I've ever talked to. (So was Lars, his drummer, but: He's German.) Kid Rock was a good guy, too.
The country stars are usually punctual and polite too: But they are coached to be like that by their labels. They have huge deals like "Fan Fair," where they spend a weekend mingling with the riff-raff.
The bands/artists that tend to be late, delinquent, missing-in-action or disrespectful are usually the young American bands who seem to take it for granted, so they call late on a cell-phone that's about to die and they're drunk or hungover and they pass the cell phone around the van and laugh. Or, like the lead singer for Third Eye Bind, who put the phone down a couple of times to play with his dog. Or Jewel, who was in absentia twice in two days (a waste of two hours). Brian Wilson did not call either (he gets some slack), another waste of two hours. Lou Reed was the worst. A nightmare. One of the nicest people ever, though, was Sam Phillips -- that one. I wrote a preview of a PBS documentary on him. Talked to him for about an hour. It felt like he really appreciated the attention, like he'd been feeling neglected as he got older. He asked me to send a copy of the story. I did. He sent back a hand-written thank-you note, inviting me to stop by if I was ever in Tennessee. The letter was in a backpack (with a copy of the cassette with the interview on it) that was stolen out of my car. Somebody wanted all the CDs in it, I guess. I assume everthing else went in the trash.

[Nate]

Sorry about the off-topic post...but does anyone know why they cancelled Buzz Under the Stars? Any word on whether or not the Black Keys (or the others) will reschedule?

[Tim Finn]

That's ominous, considering the recent change in the morning show. I'll ask around. When I was asking people at the station about the Dick Dale blowout, one of the comments I got was: They wouldn't change a format when they are still sponsoring a big show in a few weeks.

[Tim Finn]

Jason is saying it's "scheduling problems," which seems weird. Ticketmaster shows them having a show July 27 and a show Aug. 1. Those shows are three days before and two days after the date they were supposed to be here, July 30.

[Nate]

That's very bizarre. I'm really hoping they're not changing the format of the station. I can't take anymore easy listening, country, or "mix" crap.

[Glow]

Major bummer on the Gnarls Barkley cancellation.

[Charley.]

I waited outside Rob Halford's bus when he was in the band Two, for about an hour and he walked past me twice without stopping and signing something however John 5 (who was in that band at the time) gave me part of the neck of the guitar he broke and also bought me a beer... even though I was 19.

Later I promoted a show with The Business and despite their rough appearances though guys were great. Micky Fitz was especially gracious and those guys took pics and signed everything anybody had for them.

As far as the attitudes or whatever I've noticed that younger and newer bands or bands that got big real quickly are the ones who show them the most. They got it quicker and don't realize how hard it can be to come by sometimes. Also I think Americanwise many artists are great when you catch them at the venue or the performance. They'll sign and do whatever because they're at work. However if you catch them later while they're trying to eat or maybe while they're trying to sneak in a phone call home between interviews you might get some attitude. Kind of like if one of your clients calls you at 9pm after you worked late and wants a new draft of your proposal for example.

[Lars]

Lars Oil-Rig is Danish, not German

[Tim Finn]

I'm not talking about interrupting a dinner. I'm talking about phone interviews that have been set weeks in advance, with reminders pitched back and forth. BTW: Sean Lennon was eating at Teller's in Lawrence right before a Cibo Matto show at the Bottleneck. I couldn't resist. I interrupted and said hello. Nice kid.
PSS: My bad on Lars. He sure reminds me of my German friends.

[Charley.]

I know you were talking about media interviews. You mentioned fans and a couple of other posters mentioned interacting with artists so I was just talking about some of the things I've witnessed which include an artist getting testy with fans after a soundcheck when they were knocking on the windows of the van while he was on the phone and another artist who got mad while trying to eat dinner.

For the record I saw Anthony Gomes signing autographs and taking pics with fans while waiting for his pizza to cook while at Papa Keno's so there are obviously exceptions to any rule.