The Day I Met Ric Ocasek:

I'd say this was about 1996 or so, I was shopping for Mac stuff at Microcenter in Cambridge, MA, when I noticed the stitching on the pockets of the leather jacket on the guy in front of me. It was Ric Ocasek's trademark triangle-shaped design. I looked up and realized that it was in fact Ric. I froze, too dazed to know what to do, so I patiently waited for him to finish his discussion with the Microcenter employee, then engaged him in conversation. Of course, I didn't know what to say, I remember telling him that I thought Time Bomb (from Beatitude) was one of his finest works, but curiously left out my Berklee education, songwriting, and everything else that mattered to me.

The Day I Met Greg Hawkes:

Greg came to Berklee College of Music in 1990 when I was a freshman, so of course I attended the lecture. After it was over, I rushed up to meet him. I brought with me a copy of Niagara Falls for him to sign. His new baby had just been born, so I wanted to give him a congratulations present. I went to the Berklee Campus Shop, where they usually have baby-sized Berklee T-Shirts, but they were out, so I bought him a regular sized Berklee T-shirt (he'll grow into it). He signed my copy of Niagara Falls 'To Eric, From Your Pal, Greg Hawkes', which you can see here.

UPDATE- In 2005, my band The Cautions played at the The Cars Tribute CD Release party in Boston, and GREG HAWKES was in attendance!! Getting to perfrom in front of Greg was one of the greatest thrills of my musical career.. on top of that, he generously performed 'Just What I Needed' on synth that night!

The Day I Met Elliot Easton:

I was in my hometown of Seekonk, Massachusetts home from college for the weekend, about 1990, and I was on my way to the train station to go back to Boston. I stopped into the local music store for some guitar strings, and inside was a big crowd and a live music performance. It was Elliot Easton, playing in-store as part of a promotion for a Marshall processor his name was attached to. I immediately sent my mom, who was driving me to the train, home to fetch a camera and an Elliot Easton album for him to sign(thanks mom!). In retrospect, it would have been better to have him sign Change No Change, which I think is a fantastic record, but my mom only brought back a live bootleg...The Cars Live in the 21st Century, to which he remarked "Oh, yeaaah... I remember this".