On a lighter note...music anecdotes...

Some Anecdotes taken from ANECDOTAGE.COM
Facts not checked, but we all know that the WWW is careful with it's facts - yes??

The Eagles: Like Hell
Shortly after the Eagles split up in 1981, Glenn Frey was asked when the band might be expected to reunite. "When hell freezes over," he tartly replied.

Sure enough, the band reunited in 1994 and began performing again. The name of their reunion tour? Hell Freezes Over!

Sch-h-hnabel
Artur Schnabel was once amused to find an elderly woman in the front row sleeping right through one of his concerts. When she abruptly woke as the final ovation rang through the auditorium, Schnabel leaned over to apologize: "It was the applause, madame," he whispered. "I played as softly as I could."
Schnabel, Artur (1882-1951) Austrian pianist, noted for his interpretation of Beethoven

Exit Sandman
In May 2003, US interrogators in Baghdad revealed that they were using heavy metal songs to break Iraqi captives. Subjecting prisoners to long sessions of "culturally offensive" music, they explained, encouraged them to talk.

Among the interrogators' favourite tracks? The Drowning Pool's "Bodies" ("Let the bodies hit the floor, Let the bodies hit the floor, Let the bodies hit the flooooooor!") and Metallica's "Enter Sandman". ("Sleep with one eye open, gripping your pillow tight!")...

Though interrogators also used the "Sesame Street" theme song and a selection of songs from Barney (the purple dinosaur), heavy metal was the preferred alternative. "These people haven't heard heavy metal before," US Army Sergeant Mark Hadsell explained. "They can't take it."

Diva's Playground
In a bid to improve her image as a self-centered diva one year, Diana Ross held a concert in New York's Central Park to raise money for a children's playground. In addition to $50,000 for security and $64,000 for airline tickets, the self-centered diva spent $12,000 on limousines and $47,000 on catering. The "charity event" wound up $500,000 in the red.

Ross reluctantly ponied up $250,000 of her own money to cover part of the shortfall.
Ross, Diane Ernestine ["Diana"] (1944- ) American Motown musician, actress, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee (as a member of the Supremes, 1988)

Mother and Child
Paul Simon was once asked by a journalist about his "profound" song "Mother and Child Reunion". Simon's inspiration? A chicken and egg dish of the same name seen on the menu in a Chinese restaurant in New York!
Simon, Paul (1941- ) American musician

Cymbalism
Sir Malcolm Sargent was once asked what one had to know in order to play the cymbals. "Nothing," he replied, "just when."
Sargent, Sir Malcolm (1895-1967) British conductor and organist, chief conductor at the London Promenade Concerts (1957-67)

King Alfonso: Tone-Deaf
King Alfonso XIII of Spain was so tone-deaf that he literally could not distinguish one song from another. Indeed, Alfonso once employed a so-called "anthem man" whose sole responsibility was to notify the king whenever the Spanish national anthem was being played, so that he could rise as protocol demanded.
Alfonso XIII, (1886-1941) Spanish monarch, King of Spain (1886–1931)

Lead Zeppelin?
One day the Who's late drummer Keith Moon told Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and the other members of a rival group that they'd "go over like a lead zeppelin." In a mockingly ironic move, they promptly adopted the term (Led Zeppelin) as the name of their band.

[According to some versions of this story, Moon used the words "lead balloon." According to the BBC, Led Zeppelin nearly named themselves... The Whoopee Cushion.]

Dizzy Osbourne
One day in 1991, Ozzy Osbourne arrived at a record store for an in-store promotion. The promotion went well (and according to plan). Unfortunately for Ozzy, however, the store was promoting Guns 'n' Roses.
Osbourne, Ozzy (1948- ) British musician, former Black Sabbath frontman

Celine Dion: Celine Dion Jokes
There is no shortage of jokes about Celine Dion's music. One day in 2002, for example, Conan O'Brien announced that, according to a Celine Dion fan site (celinedion.org), the singer's new CD-ROM could cause a user's computer to crash. "And if not," Conan added, "it could cause your computer to lose all respect for you."

Even Celine Dion occasionally made Celine Dion jokes. In April 2002, for example, she herself confessed that her 14-month-old baby, Rene-Charles, bawled whenever she broke into song!
Dion, Celine (1968- ) Canadian singer

Sugar Ray
"I've got the only job in the world," Sugar Ray's Mark McGrath once declared, "where every day I show up to work and there are three cases of beer and they encourage me to drink them."

Naturally, McGrath regularly made sure the band got drunk. "I don't want to hurt anybody's feelings," he explained. "I've got a little bit of class."
McGrath, Mark Sayers (1968- ) American musician, Sugar Ray frontman

Rock Journalism
Frank Zappa was not always delighted by his coverage in the music press. "I still think it's one of the smartest things I ever said," he once remarked: "'Rock journalism is people who can't write interviewing people who can't talk in order to provide articles for people who can't read.'"
Zappa, Frank (1940-1993) American musician

Stage Dive
While performing at a concert in the summer of 1997, Iggy Pop jumped off the stage into the arms of his adoring fans. Unfortunately, his adoring fans parted like the red sea - and Pop landed on the ground, dislocated his shoulder, and had to cancel the rest of his tour.
Pop, Iggy [born James Jewel Osterberg] (1947- ) American musician

Bonohead
Though notoriously absentminded U2 frontman Bono Vox usually lost nothing more important than keys, money, socks, and underwear, he occasionally lost more significant articles. Shortly before entering the studio to record October in 1981, for example, Bono lost the lyrics to all of the album's songs.

The lost lyrics - which were stolen during a gig along with Bono's visa, some band photos, and other documents - were returned 24 years later, after they were found in the attic of a woman's home.
Bono Vox [born Paul Hewson], (1960- ) Irish musician, U2 frontman

Bad Review
Prince was no great fan of Michael Jackson's later work. "Michael Jackson's album was only called 'Bad,'" he once remarked, "because there wasn't enough room on the sleeve for 'Pathetic.'"
Jackson, Michael Joseph [King of Pop] (1958- ) American musician

Vanilla Ice: Singular Absurdity
In the early '90s, Robert Van Winkle {aka Vanilla Ice} was accused of stealing the unmistakable bass riff from the 1982 Queen/Bowie collaboration "Under Pressure" to anchor his hit song "Ice Ice Baby" (the lead single from his 1990 debut To the Extreme).

While the Ice man admitted that Bowie and Queen had not been credited, he had a convenient explanation: the riffs were not the same, he said, because he had added a single note.
Ice, Vanilla [born Robert Van Winkle] (1968- )

Neil Young: The Blob
"It's a wonder I wasn't dead after that show," Neil Young once confessed of the Band's 1976 farewell concert. "The things we did — Jesus Christ. The abuse [the backstage area was knee-deep cocaine], staying up 48 hours before the show... And I was still up when I got to 'The Last Waltz.'"

Martin Scorsese, who was shooting a documentary (The Last Waltz), was amused to observe that, in preliminary footage, a large blob of cocaine was clearly visible in Neil Young's nose. Though Scorsese and the Band's Robbie Robertson wanted the blob (which Young's manager, Elliot Roberts, likened to "a white M&M") left alone for added authenticity, Roberts demanded that it be removed. The blob was duly airbrushed by the best rotoscope technology which money could buy - at a cost of several thousand dollars. "It was," Robertson later moaned, "the most expensive cocaine I ever bought!"

(Ironically, the blob is still faintly visible in the film.)
Young, Neil (1945- ) Canadian musician

Cyndi Lauper: Good Luck?
"My grandmother says it's good luck but I think it's disgusting!"
-- Cyndi Lauper, after a bird pooped in her mouth during a radio concert
Lauper, Cyndi (1953- ) American musician

Queen Victoria: Name That Tune
"Listening to a military band at Windsor, Queen Victoria heard a tune she very much liked but could not identify. An equerry was dispatched to the bandmaster to ascertain its title.

"He spent some little time rehearsing the tone of voice in which to inform Her Majesty that the tune which had captivated her was 'Come Where the Booze Is Cheaper.'"
Victoria, (1819-1901) British monarch, Queen of Great Britain and Ireland (1837–1901), empress of India (1876–1901)

World Wide Webber?

Andrew Lloyd Webber once ordered his chauffeur never to play the radio while driving. Why? The composer feared lawsuits charging him with musical plagiarism.
[Lloyd Webber also frequently ordered that music be turned off in restaurants.]
Lloyd Webber, Sir Andrew (1948- ) British composer

Curried Hash?
The Rocky Horror Picture Show's Tim Curry once issued a CD entitled 'The Best of Tim Curry'. "They couldn't call it 'Greatest Hits,'" Curry later explained.

Why not? "Because there weren't any!"
Curry, Tim (1946- ) British actor and musician

Satisfaction?
One day in 1970, Mick Jagger made a remarkable assertion: "I'd rather be dead," he declared, "than singing 'Satisfaction' when I'm 45."
Jagger, Mick (1943- ) English musician

Retarded Development
While chopping and smashing a giant watermelon on stage during a concert one evening, Alice Cooper was handed a crutch. After mashing the melon with the crutch for a while, he threw the entire disgusting mess into the audience followed by a mass of feathers.

Cooper wondered why no one had tried to avoid being hit. Only later did he learn that the first five rows were filled with severely disabled fans.
Cooper, Alice [born Vincent Furnier] (1948- ) American musician and actor

Rod Stewart: Maggie Who?
Rod Stewart once revealed that his hit song "Maggie May" had been inspired by "one of the first if not the first woman I ever loved." Maggie May, however, was not her real name. It had been used for lyrical reasons - and because, as Stewart explained, "I forget what her name was."
Stewart, Rod (1945- ) British musician

Iggy Pop
Iggy Pop was once asked why he had recently vomited on several members of his audience. "I was ill..." he exclaimed, "and when I realized that I was going to vomit, I thought I may as well do it with some style."
Pop, Iggy [born James Jewel Osterberg] (1947- ) American musician

Yokoaaaooo
Joan Rivers was no great fan of Yoko Ono. "Her voice," rivers once remarked, "sounded like an eagle being goosed."
Ono, Yoko (1933- ) Japanese artist and musician, former wife of John Lennon



Have a fabulous week!
Ally
xxx