I have to agree with you about the flash photography point, and to some extent the other points. However, I can see why people would want a signed CD, or pick, maybe even a photo (a sack load of CD's may be a bit too much!!). As long as it all done in moderation, an entertainer (after all this is what he is when he performs live) would normally expect this and oblige happily if he/she comes out to greet his/her fans. That's part of being an entertainer, I guess.
The majority people who turn up to Robben's gigs are ardent fans, and for some of these a small item for memorabilia adds to their whole experience, and inspiration. We have to respect everyone is not the same and that some things we find a little odd, are perfectly normal to others, and visa versa. All in all, if Robben (and other entertainers), aren't plagued and annoyed by these simple requests, then everyone is a winner. By the sound of these posts I think it is a case of getting to read the situation, and know whether to ask for a photo etc, and maybe leave it for another time.
Lastly, Robben may get fed up hearing about the type of people who ask for all sorts of items, photo's etc, which they then subsequently sell on ebay for a profit! It is these people who may be doing the damage, and ruining it for others.
I wonder if Robben would have asked Mike Bloomfield or BB King for a snap with himself after a show, in his early days?
All the best,
DD
P.S Blob, you make me die _________________ Music is the universal language; speak it with emotion, listen with a passion.
Robbens a great musician, but that doesn't mean he's a perfect person. We tend to idolize people with great skill in one area, and project all sorts of other great qualities on them ... its human nature to do this ... but it is a VERY irrational quirk of the human psyche. He's a great musician, and probably a good person, but we all have moods, good days, bad days, etc.
Joined: 08 Aug 2003 Posts: 943 Location: Terra Firma, Ether Sea
Posted: Fri Oct 21, 2005 11:56 am Post subject:
johan wrote:
No this is kinda funny. Just read a post from a Swedish Guitar Forum. Came up a post today by a guy who's in LA @ GIT. yesterday Mike Landau and Robben played together at a clinc (oh boy do I want to hear that). Anyway, after the clinic he went up to Landau and Ford for a chat like everyone else. Landau stopped for a chat. Talked alot. Very down to earth guy apparently.
Next stop was Robben. They asked for a quick photo and Robbens reply with a pi$$ed off tone..."NO FLASH!!!". This was NOT during the gig.
What's the problem????
I, too, was at that show, literally five feet from Robben as I packed up pedals and cables when, quite by coincidence, I happened to look over at him at that exact moment, squatting at the edge of the stage in front of a crowd of about 25 students, to overhear that very conversation.
Knowing how Robben is about flash photography, my 'bodygaurd' instinct when hearing him make a comment like that, is to immediately observe the situation to make sure Robben is not having a problem with which he might need help.
My assessment was that he asked those words as a question: "No Flash [...agreed]?"
And, with a smile.
My impression was that he was serious, but he was being in no way negative or out of line. He was merely, and pleasantly, stating his conditions of assent.
Robben doesn't like flash, ESPECIALLY during his performances.
No ground-breaking news there.
MOST artists don't.
If you don't know him, you may not know this.
If you DO know him... he's just reminding you.
It is important to him. For whatever reasons (they don't need to be identified &/or explained)... it is important to him.
That's his right and it should be respected.
It's not his obligation to permit his picture being taken at all.
You want his photo but he tells you, "No Flash"... then you should be glad, and appreciate, that he's even granted your request at all and then use a camera that doesn't require use of a flash.
Cameras with such capabilities are very common and relatively inexpensive these days.
As most of the fans who have met him will tell you, he is almost always very accessable, approachable, and respectful of his audience. He does ocassionally have an off-day, as does each and every one of us HUMANS. But there is almost always a reason, whether or not we know it, behind why he is appearing to be disagreeable.
A story:
We were in Switzerland a year or two ago and I was selling merchandise (yes, another one of the many varieties of hats I have to ocassionally wear ) from my work station at the edge of the stage.
After I sold out of merch, I went to tearing down and packing the equipment on stage, leaving Robben at the doorway to the dressing room backstage, autographing CDs that the fans had bought from me. He was there for quite a long time chatting cheerfully with a crowd of fans. After awhile I noticed that the crowd had cleared and Robben was gone.
Then, after a few more minutes, a man came up to me complaing "What's Robben's problem? Where's he at? I thought you said he'd sign my CDs if I bought them!"
"Of course he will," I replied with a smile, "just let me tell him you're out here."
I went to the dressing room and told Robben there was someone out side who wanted an autograph.
"Oh, I thought I got everyone." he laughed, "Tell them I'll be right there."
I told the fan Robben would be right out and went back to tearing down Dewayne's bass rig. A minute later Robben approached me recapping my sharpie and saying, with a disgusted look as he handed it back to me, "No, I'm done. No more autographs!"
I was quite surprised at his unusual vehemence and asked with surprise, "So your done signing things?"
Robben turned and looked at the man who'd complained to me earlier and said to me, "He wants me to sign that whole box full of things and I told him before 'No more'!"
He then said to the man, "I've already signed a bunch of your things and I'm done. You have enough autographs for tonight!"
He then quickly retreated back to the dressing room.
The fan then promptly scurried over to me with, indeed, a large box full of vinyl records, CDs, DVDs, magazines, and video tapes and proceeded to start arguing, "What's his problem!?! Why is he being so rude to me?? I don't deserve his attitude! I'm only a fan and I want him to autograph all my things! Get him back out here! You told me when I asked, that he'd autograph my things if I bought a CD!!!".
It was only then that I realized this guy had been working at Robben for awhile, bringing on his bout of uncommon curtness.
Obviously, the man's viewpoint of the whole situation was quite a bit different than that of Robben's and mine. And his unrelenting, demanding attitude soon had me in as bad a mood as he'd put Robben.
I must say I was quite happy to see him leave as they cleared the venue after the show.
If you had a 'bad' experience, please don't judge the ocean by the raindrop, and do appreciate that it was most likely a highly uncommon incident and that there may be invisible factors involved, of which you are unaware. _________________ B C-ing U!
( }:-Daved
"This boy's diseased with rhythm!" -Bing Crosby (Road To Rio, '49)
Last edited by Daved on Fri Oct 21, 2005 4:19 pm; edited 5 times in total
Joined: 29 Jan 2004 Posts: 1504 Location: Methuen, MA
Posted: Sun Oct 23, 2005 11:22 am Post subject:
Hey Daved!
Any comments on my earlier post about Robben's apparent disinterest in this website/forum? And, I also recall that, about a year ago, we got a heads up that Robben will be popping in here from time to time, and I've yet to see it happen. Does he really hate computers that much?! _________________ Soul on Eleven
Posted: Sun Oct 23, 2005 11:54 am Post subject: cyberspace
Hi Johnny , sorry to stoppin'by , but just leave Robben where he belongs : outter space ..........
I mean there is no point we could benefit from. Strings, picks, chinese bulbs Vs Eastern Europe, tonkers vs celestion, shoes, .........................all has been discussed yet. I don't see any alternative , may be some old secret tai-chi gesture Robben was given by some hidden Great master of Shao Lin while touring in south asia May be the ultimate killing blues riff Robben was given by Jimi Hendrix while touring in New Zealand 2 years ago ( by the way Jimi's not dead , exhausted by the pressure he choosed to fake his own death and now is living in the deep forests of new zealand).
So here we are a bunch of loosers whinning after Roby like a motherless lamb. uh uh , god bless the almighty Daved " FireWall" .
Let's keep it simple , really , do you wanna get a Q & A #34 from Robben:
Hi Robben Angelo over there , when do you come in Patagonia?
Hi Robben when you think over the flat fifth of the super diminished scale that you are playing a dorian sharp nine have you ever consider the way of stopping the washing machine ?
Hi, if you don't use stomp boxes how do you know the way of choosing bateries ?
Hi Robben , Mike over there , i've 2 fender twins a zen oD, A TC DDelay, An Elite guitar, but at this point i don't sound like you , can you telle me bla bla bla......?
Hello Robben , can you give me your adress, your Visa number. Thanks.Sven?
I saw Robben yesterday and Music Player Live in NYC. I took a few pictures of him and he didn't mind, He actually spoke to me after the session and signed an autograph for me. Robben is a great guy!
But I do have to mention that during the session, there was a guy in the front row recording with his digital camera. He was holding it down low, like he was trying to hide the fact that he was doing it. And here's the good part, about fifteen minutes into the session, Robben said to him directly in a nice way, "Can you please stop that? Just put it away" He waved his hands to the side and said "It's wearing me down..."
The guy put it down and I could tell he felt like two cents because now everyone in the session was looking at him. He was singled out for doing that.
I really understood where Robben was coming from. He was very open talking about his life, gigs, and other artists that he worked with over the years and here is some guy recording his every word and move. Now because of this guy in the front row, he has to watch what he says. If somebody did that to you, wouldn't you feel uptight? I certainly would.
Horray for Robben telling this guy to turn it off.
Another thing, I just have to say this, remember when you went to concerts and everybody held up lighters during songs. That was really cool, but smoking laws nowadays squashed all that. Nowadys that light is from all those people holding camera phones over their heads. Whatever happend to people respecting the "no Cameras, no Recorders" rule? _________________ JT
Joined: 29 Jan 2004 Posts: 1504 Location: Methuen, MA
Posted: Sun Oct 23, 2005 5:30 pm Post subject:
Good points there, Blobby, and I agree- it's better this way.
And, if Jimi is really laying low in New Zealand, then perhaps you and I need to make a road trip together. Let's stop first in Amsterdam for a day, or a month... _________________ Soul on Eleven
Joined: 29 Jan 2004 Posts: 1504 Location: Methuen, MA
Posted: Sun Oct 23, 2005 5:40 pm Post subject:
Buzzy wrote:
Another thing, I just have to say this, remember when you went to concerts and everybody held up lighters during songs. That was really cool, but smoking laws nowadays squashed all that. Nowadys that light is from all those people holding camera phones over their heads.
I had the misfortune of going to a U2 show a few weeks ago, and Bono actually had most of the audience holding up their cell phones during a song to light up the place. Not only did my cell phone stay in my pocket (I hate them anyway), but I couldn't seem to get myself out of my seat to join the frenzied people thinking they were a part of something spectacular.
Don't mean to insult any U2 fans, but that band does nothing for my musical interests. JMHO. _________________ Soul on Eleven
Joined: 19 Sep 2003 Posts: 646 Location: City of Trees, USA
Posted: Sun Oct 23, 2005 8:13 pm Post subject:
Whew. Just got back from a trip up into the mountains. Sorry I've been missing all of the fun here.
Just like each of us fans, every musician is different. Over years of Robben Ford concerts, clinics, and a few other opportunities to say "hello," I've formed the impression that Robben is very quiet and introspective. He's also not real big on talking about his own music, but is easy to get into conversation with when you talk about other people's music. He's really not into the fan-pose photo thing at all, and as far as I'm concerned, that's cool.
There are other performers who seem to love the fan-pose thing. Check out bluegrass great Rhonda Vincent's web site. You can probably count on one hand all of the people in the world who haven't posed with her. The other 7 billion have pictures she proudly includes in her photo pages.
Most of the time the opportunity to really talk to a great musician is a matter of pure chance. I still have fond memories of the night many years ago I went to Catalina's in L.A. to hear jazz pianist and vocalist Eliana Elias. I went alone, and decided to sit at the bar in the back. I plopped up on a stool and found myself sitting next to Elias' husband Randy Brecker. I extended my hand and said "hello," and knew just enough about her music and his music to not sound too much like an idiot, and as a result he spent her entire 90-minute set whispering the most amazing musical analysis of her performance into my ear. When she'd finished and left the stage I stood up, shook his hand again, and said thanks and good-bye, whereupon he hung on to my hand and said, "no, you can't leave until you come backstage with me and meet her and say hello." So I had the perfect introduction and a great short chat with Elias as well. In another time at another venue, it may well have been that neither would have had time for me, but the stars just lined up that night. And it's just one example of many such encounters I've had. But they've always pretty much been by chance. You can't "make" an evening like that.
JohnnyZ: My older daughter went to hear U2 recently. Even she (at her young, impressionable age -- 26) thought the cell-phone thing was too schmaltzy. Maybe there's some way we can figure out how to rig the fire sprinklers so that lit-up cell phone screens will trigger them!
In the meantime I'm wondering if "Devlin" is a nom de plomp for one of our regulars here, checking in "in cog neeto." 'Fes up. Bluelobster? (Nah. Must be someone else. I just LOVED Bluelobster's "sample questions" for Robben. How DO you replace those batteries?) _________________ - BlueRunner
I have met Robben several times after a gig . Never had a problem with him !
I 'm a type of guy who is polite to everyone...so i think Robben noticed that also.
Once during a outdoor gig in the town called Groningen in the Netherlands,
i've yelled his name while he's walking towards the dressing room . Robben looks back over his shoulders and walked 30 meters back just so that he can meet us . After another gig at "De Lantaarn '' in a small village called Hellendoorn (Netherlands) . He walked alone outside ..maybe wanted some fresh air . I approached him and he's just being himself . Talked a bit about his Baker guitar. No big deal to him !
A tip: When you want to meet an artist ...try to talk about music and not to be greedy for pictures and souvenirs! I've also talked to Steve Lukather , Carl Verheyen , Hiram Bullock , Mike Stern ,John Scofield and Dave Fiuczynski and more...BIG-TIME guitarplayers !!! They ´re all the same cool dudes ! No problem with the stars ...i dislikes dumb-beerdrinking fans who are drunk before the show starts.
Someone out there agree with me ???
I had the misfortune of going to a U2 show a few weeks ago, ...
Don't mean to insult any U2 fans, but that band does nothing for my musical interests. JMHO.
Hey JohnnyZ,
I totally agree with you. I saw U2 a couple of years ago. The concert was obnoxiously loud, even for a sports stadium, my ears hurt, and the fans were mostly a bunch of drunken idiots. I mean peeing in the parking lot against cars like dogs. OMG, that was the last time I ever went to a U2 concert. Sorry Bono and Edge. _________________ JT
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) from my work station at the edge of the stage.
May be the ultimate killing blues riff Robben was given by Jimi Hendrix while touring in New Zealand 2 years ago ( by the way Jimi's not dead , exhausted by the pressure he choosed to fake his own death and now is living in the deep forests of new zealand).
Whew. Just got back from a trip up into the mountains. Sorry I've been missing all of the fun here.