If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance that you’ve been following our series of blog posts from The Sheepdog’s Sam Corbett, who started sending me dispatches after winning the Rolling Stones cover contest.  If you’ve ever wanted to be inside the mind of a band as they hit their success, this is the blog for you (dig back for older entries).  Sam has been telling us about everything from being on Jimmy Fallon to having their van break down in strange places.  The Sheepdogs have been touring like maniacs, criss-crossing the globe, so today, Sam talks about some of the people he has met along the way.

Brought to you by Planet S Magazine and Craig Silliphant --- heeeeeeeerrrreee’s Sammy!

Sometimes people ask me, “of the ‘celebrities’ that we’ve ever met, which one is your favourite?”   I always give the same answer: Ben Mulroney.  Man, that guy is a class act, and a first rate talent that can...ahh, I’m just kidding.  I’ve never actually met Ben Mulroney, unless you count yelling obscenities at him from a moving van.  But we have met some famous people over the last year, and for simplicity and brevity’s sake, I’ll try to break them down into a couple helpful categories.

Classic Rock Icons Who Can Still Bring It

We’ve been lucky enough to meet some of our all time heroes, and I’ve been really struck by how well some of these guys have taken care of themselves.  I’m talking about guys who are in their sixties who are remarkably physically fit, they are energetic performers, and they can still sing as well as they did in their twenties.  Notable entries in this category include; Paul Rodgers [from Free], who we were lucky enough to perform with onstage; John Fogerty, who we opened for in Australia; and Graham Nash [from bands like Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young] --- more on him in a minute.  It’s actually pretty inspiring for us, to see that these guys are able to have such long and productive careers, having obviously avoided certain clichéd rock n’ roll pitfalls.  Speaking of which, let’s move on to…

Classic Rock Icons Who…Well… Don’t Bring It As Well Anymore…

Fortunately, this is just a one-man category right now: David Crosby everyone!  Look, I love Crosby’s music, and I understand that he’s been through a lot, but let’s just say he seems a little confused most of the time. We met Crosby and Nash at the Rolling Stone office, and our meeting had a couple interesting points.  First, even though it was our only real connection, we didn’t want to bring up the fact that we were from the same city as Joni Mitchell, mostly because they both fell deeply in love with her, at the same time no less.  But once he heard we were from Saskatoon, Nash brought it up.

Nash: You know, that’s where Joni’s from?

Ewan: Yeah, she’s…pretty much the best.

Nash: (looking off, wistfully) No shit.

Crosby later summed it up by saying that falling in love with Joni was like falling into a cement mixer.  Later, after we left, Ryan realized he had left his sunglasses there. When he called our contact at the RS office, he had these words for Ryan:

“Well, I have some good news, and some bad news for you.  And they’re both the same thing: Graham Nash took your sunglasses.”

Random Awkward Encounters

At Coachella last weekend, I happened to wander by skateboarding legend Tony Hawk in the backstage area. I’m proud to share with you the enlightening exchange I had with him:

Me: Hey, do you know where the bathroom is around here?

Tony Hawk: Yeah, right over there on the left, man.

Me: Cool, thanks.

Pretty cool, hey? Actually, now that I think about it, ten months prior, I had essentially the same conversation with Dan Auerbach [The Black Keys], but the roles were reversed.

Well, right now I’ve just about hit the word count I like this blog to be at, but I have more stories to tell. So I think I’ll maybe break this one up, and come back next week with part two (this is an especially good idea seeing as it apparently takes me about a month and a half to come up with a decent idea for this blog).  So stay tuned for exciting categories such as Guys Who Are Surprisingly Nice, and I’ll reveal my all-time favourite celebrity encounter.