Rock stars are
like everyone
I have no aspirations of ever becoming a rock star.
It’s just something that has no appeal to me, even
though every time I’m going somewhere and get a
really good parking place and even if I’m alone
in my car, I alout loud, “Rock star parking.”
On Friday night, I had the opportunity to sit down with
REO Speedwagon’s lead man Kevin Cronin.
I’ve met my share of people from the music world,
and Cronin seems as nice a person as any of ‘em.
When I was younger I used to sneak in to concerts all
the time.
My older cousin Jennifer and her friend Nettie used to
take me to concerts at the old Salt Palace in Salt Lake
City (I was pretty young).
It is still a mystery to me how Nettie figured this out,
but she had an old bent bread knife, and there was one
door in the Salt Palace that Nettie could pop the lock
with this knife, and we’d sneak in and see a free
show.
Then, when I was in high school, on the summer nights
when my friends and I had nothing to do, we’d drive
up to the former Wolf Mountain (it’s now The Canyons)
for a nice outdoor concert.
We knew of a gap in the fence, so we’d pretend we
were going for a hike, and then — when we thought
security wasn’t watching — we’d make
a run for it.
As long as we could get into the crowd before the guys
on horses got to us, we were home free.
We did get caught once; it was for a Bonnie Raitt concert
(for free music you can’t be picky), and since we
were under 18, the guy just followed us down to our car
and told us not to come back. The next Saturday, we were
chased again, but got in just fine.
So I’ve been to my share of concerts, and usually
enjoy the experience.
When I worked as a production assistant for MTV during
the Sundance Film Festival, I was able to meet some of
music’s finest.
After an interview at the MTV house, Cyndi Lauper was
leaving
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and asked me for a bottled
water. She said something about thealtitude, and not having
bottled water where she was staying.
So I grabbed her a case of Evian from the garage, gave it
to a member of her entourage, she looked at me, threw her
arm up in the air and said, “Ahhh, you’re sweet.”
I smiled and fantasized about how much fun it would be to
party with her.
Then Sammy Haggar was up there, and one day our crew followed
him around to several bars in Park City, while he promoted
his new tequilla mix, and was looking for the best margarita
in town.
That night, he performed at Harry O’s, having spent
the afternoon in bars. When he entered the stage with a
beer in one hand and a bottle of tequilla in the other,
it looked like the makings for an embarassing night.
But when he put his drinks down and picked up his guitar,
he gave one hell of a show.
(Speaking of Sammy Haggar, he will be at The Joint in Las
Vegas Saturday night, and Bob Dylan will be playing Sunday
night at The Joint as well. That’s a good weekend
for music.)
Courtney Love was also in town for the premiere of a film
she was in. We got to the premiere two hours early in order
to get a good spot in the press line. Ms. Love made her
entrance, wearing a blue crocheted baby bonnet. My producer
got scared because a few days previous to this, Love had
a run in with Joan Rivers at the Golden Globe Awards, so
she handed me the mircophone and said, “You do it.”
Sweating and shaking, I managed to mutter the most generic
question imaginable: “How does it feel to have a film
premiere at Sundance?”
The guys from Saliva and Fuel weren’t that interesting.
So sitting down with Cronin was a rush, but I did have an
urge to say, “You do realize that you’re no
Courtney Love.”
In person, Cronin was a nice guy, and he doesn’t look
and act as goofy as he did on the stage.
And the banana joke during the concert, could that have
been more timely? This thing will never end.
So rock stars are people, just like everyone else.
Pete Sorenson is the Accent editor of the Journal. He is
always open to complaints, criticism and critique. He can
be reached at 865-8443 or at sorensonpeter@hotmail.com. |
