Anecdote # 909

Drummer Humor.
in the 80's krimson there was an american woman who took a fancy to robert.
so much so that when he returned home to england following one of our tours
she was there in his house waiting to greet him!
"your slippers and your pipe, master fripp?..."
she had broken into his house and had been living there several days.
after the authorities evicted her and and then deported her from the country
poor robert spent a small fortune erecting a wall around his property.

similarly in the 80's there was a young man (I'll call him J.J.) who eagerly followed the band from place to place. he insisted he was supposed to be in king crimson.
the first time I saw j.j. was in pittsburgh a few hours before our sound check. he was standing across the street waiting for the light to change. he was wearing his best john melon cougarcamp outfit, blue jeans and matching blue jean jacket (or perhaps he'd seen an early denims photo.) I had just nipped out of the hotel to get my favorite candy bar (then called forever more now called milky way midnight) at a nearby convenient store. the light changed. I crossed the street, but he stayed put. as I walked past him he suddenly blurted out, "I knew you'd be here!". what?
he then launched into a strange diatribe, "in keeping with the vicissitudes of the music industry and the inner mosaic relationship between fan and artist I must inquire...blah blah blah."
sheesh, all I wanted was a candy bar.

leaving the back stage door of various shows I would often spot j.j. who would always talk to me about being in king crimson. his being in king crimson.
once he wrote to my management about king crimson's upcoming tour of europe. he inquired: "since I'll be joining the band on tour will I need to apply for a passport or will my driver's license suffice?"

one night after a show bill bruford and I walked out of the building together.
there was a coterie of fans waiting behind a chain link fence. sure enough, there was j.j. earnestly pleading his case: "I need to play with you. I'm supposed to be in the band. I need to play with you for six minutes!" he keeping insisting, "I'm supposed to play with you for
six minutes."
this piqued bill's interest.
he stopped in front of j.j.
bill asked,
"do they have to be consecutive?"

brummp chee!