Here's a chance to shamelessly name-drop.

What AM artists have you actually met, or at least seen up close? Not counting concerts--I'm talking about seeing them taking their kids to the park or ordering fish in a restaurant or checking out of a hotel. Doing normal stuff.

Me?

Ornette Coleman
Shawn Colvin (running a marathon!)
Bo Diddley
Paul Simon
Social Distortion
Stevie Ray Vaughan
ZZ Top (together and separately, multiple times, which happens when you live in Houston)

A buddy of mine once saw Laurie Anderson and Lou Reed having a screaming argument in a small park in Greenwich Village...I think that beats all of mine.

Just before "Do You Really Want To Hurt Me" was released back in '82, Boy George and Jon Moss came into the restaurant I worked at, dressed in those colourful things they wore at the time. I was the only staff-member who had any idea who they were. I guessed George would have trout (I was right) and I accidentally burned Jon Moss's burger - which he ate all of.

I've met Spider Stacey from The Pogues a couple of times.

A friend of mine was once in Hamburg and he went to an address to get a ticket for a Nick Cave concert, and Nick Cave was the only person in the house. He was talking to himself.

My housemate was once told to "F*** off!" by John Lennon

I shared a subway car with Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon and their daughter Coco and some of Coco's friends. They were returning from seeing the Lion King.

I don't know if all these artists are on the acclaimed list, but here goes:

-Tim Wheeler from Ash
-Barley Scotch from Hayseed Dixie
-Sasha Bell from The Essex Green
-Brody Dalle from The Distillers
-Øystein Greni from BigBang

I was in New York a little while ago, and during a jaunt through Central Park I saw Steve Lukather from Toto totally patronizing a hotdog vendor. "You call this a ballpark frank?!" he yells. "Do you have any idea who I am??" and then proceeded to kick the condiment stand over. The funniest part, however, was when this group of Asian tourists starting singing the lyric "... hold the line... love isn't always on time, whoa whoa whoa..." over and over. My friend and I nearly pissed ourselves laughing!

Joseph Arthur
Ed Harcourt
Jarvis Cocker

I forgot to mention :
Joseph Arthur : a few words at the end of a Ed Harcourt gig.
Ed Harcourt : a few words at the end of a Erik Truffaz gig.
Jarvis Cocker : a few words at the end of a Richard Hawley gig.

I could have talked to many artists seen during other artists gigs but I'm too shy...

The vendor should have had something witty to come back with about Toto. What kind of New Yorker is he?

I hate when mid-level rockers are like that and it turns me off to ever wanting to hear their music again. I guess I'm not too big on superstars acting like jerks either.

In the summer of 1992 I shared a plane ride from Seattle to London with Nirvana. Also, Ben Shepherd, the bassist for Soundgarden, used to come in the video store I worked at during college all the time.

Frank Black walked in through the front door of the club he was playing and watched his opening act for awhile. The place was fairly empty, and anyone could've walked over to him and talked to him. I didn't, but he walked within a foot of me. Oh, and I once slept with Dido. OK, that didn't happen.

My Girlfriend and I met Win butler and His wife while on a raod trip through Montreal. I am a huge fan of arcade fire. I had a copy of funeral in my car, and asked him to sign it. Really nice guy, smart too.

I was at the local festival 2½ years ago listening to Desorden Publico from Venezuela, when I suddenly realised that the hairy guy standing right next to me with eyes closed, totaly absorbed in the music, was Devendra Banhart who'd performed a few hours previously. Dunno if that counts -- you might arguably say he was there on business :-)

At a Dylan concert in Göteborg (Gothenburg, Sweden) in 1992, Bob, for reasons unknowable, decided to leave the show on foot walking straight through the crowd with a towel over his head and a bunch of worried security guys trailing him. I was sitting on the grass, checking the pocket tape recorder on which I'd attempted to bootleg the show, and he nearly tripped over me (OK, slightly exaggerating there, but he was close). But that hardly counts either - after all we paid to get in and see him.