michaelisajerk

You know her as Andrea Jackson from “The Daily Buzz”, but I remember her as Andrea Cochran from the local news.

In San Diego, she was one of those traffic reporters. I’d hear her on my favorite alternative station, The Flash. And I would tune in to the local news and see her. Man, I loved that sassy voice, and she was gorgeous to boot.

One day I was hanging out in Pacific Beach, and I saw her there with her boyfriend. (Which might be her husband now. This was almost a decade ago.) I talked to her for a few moments, and she was so nice. Everything you saw on TV was exactly who she was.

So good to know she made it. But it’s a bit sad that, like myself, she found work and a life outside of San Diego. That town lost a great personality for TV and radio.

Good actress, too.

He was totally not in the mood for fans when I saw him. I got one autograph from him, and he didn’t speak a word. He jus signed and went on the bus.

An entourage talk to the rest of the band. (He was in The Seahorses at the time.) And where they got to meet the band, John just wanted to leave.

And he accentuated the fact by throwing his underpants at the dashboard for all to see.

I just walked in the record store, and there he was!

I was so shocked, I froze. For minutes, even. I watched him buy a record, or two. My friend was a clerk, and was also into DK. He rang him up, which would have been the thrill of anyone’s life. Jello bought something, and then left, walking past me as I was in awe.

We made eye contact, and he nodded.

The thing was, when my friend rang him up, I guess he tried to ask Jello how to bag his stuff… or somethingorother… and Jello didn’t hear him. So he went around with a gleeful claim to fame that “Jello Biafra ignored me!!”

For the rest of the day, I saw my friend wearing a sign saying “Ignored by Jello Biafra”.

I just couldn’t believe the dude was in my favorite record store.

This guy was so drunk, the conversation was not even worth remembering. I heard he passed out in the back after we left.

How far these guys have come since the club days is amazing. I couldn’t believe it when I saw “Meant to Live” on MTV. And at the time it was in the top ten! (That’s how out of the loop I am with the charts.)

I supported them big time because of their beliefs. At one point, a friend of mine was close to managing them and suggested to them to tone down the faith based image. Switchfoot wanted to stay true to their faith, and eventually were signed to the majors!

They’ve come a long way since “Chem 6A”. At first I thought they were a cheeky pop band with good hooks, but wouldn’t make it any further than, say, Lucy’s Fur Coat. But over the years they have become the single greatest act in San Diego.

How impossible it will be for me to walk up to these guys now. They used to share fellowship with me for a bit after a gig. Now anything we talked about back then could be a vague memory. They are so huge!

And I’m proud of them. God bless these guys.

I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Shamrock on a few occassions.

He opened the Lion’s Den in the South Bay of San Diego, where he trained my friend. But I actually met him at a signing, when he performed for the WWF. It was at a Winchell’s. He was a really nice guy, taking pictures and signing autographs. (And for one tough guy, he was really into those Winchell’s donuts.)

This dude is HUGE. Say what you will about him losing to Tito Ortiz. This guy could take you to school.

But time after time he would be hanging out at the gym, shooting the shit with people and hanging out.

My friend that trained with him told me that the WWF portrayal of Ken Shamrock “snapping” was not necessarily fiction. He did have a temper, and would need to be restrained if angered enough. But I never saw it. For a man born to kick ass, he was friendlier than most.

Junior may be one of the greatest quarterbacks in the history of football…

...but he is also a wonderful human being.

Whenever he went around San Diego, he was polite, charming, and personable to every fan. Myself included. He was one of the most loved local celebrities, and for good reason. Junior loves the community, loves the fans, and loves everything about the city.

If Junior stopped to talk to you, it was a pure delight. You could be a die-hard fan, a fair-weather fan (which is most of the SoCal population), or just someone who knew his name… and he would be cool to you.

Now, I’m not the biggest Chargers fan in the world. Not even much of a football fan—not since the Nebraska Cornhuskers dynasty ended in the 90s. But Junior Seau is a hell of a guy.

It’s not a good thing to write something riddled with ad-hominem fallacies. But I can tell you, this woman is not what she seems. There’s a lot of debatable things in her bio, but after one encounter with her, I tend to believe the controversies.

I approached her with a few fans, and let’s just say her language was less than polite. Now, I’ve seen athletes, musicians, and actors deal with some very pushy and hostile fans. Most of them handle it with good manners. Some of them had no choice but to be rude, when fans were invasive. The fans I was with were humble and non-threatening in the slightest.

She said one sentence, and the tone of voice and profanity she used had made me lose respect for her as a human being.

I didn’t exactly meet him… but pretty close.

About ten years ago, my Morrissey fandom was not unlike Mom’s life of Beatlemania. I still have the shirts. I used to have every album he recorded. I wrote lyrics on bathroom walls and books. You know how it goes…

The shows were spectacular. Just like in the “Will Never Marry” video, I wanted to jump that stage and embrace the man. At every show, there were people crowd surfing for that chance. So, I wanted to pick the right time to get there. I promised myself if he ever played “Speedway”, I’d get up there.

I went to several shows, and he never played it until his 1999 tour.

I surfed all the way to the front, falling twice, and when I finally made it to the stage, I was dropped again. I reached out, and down came a hand.

It was Morrissey. For a second I thought I could jump up there. But security was coming. So I just shook his hand and whispered “thank you”.

And he winked.

Security walked me out, and ripped off the floor wristband. I watched the rest of the show at the top of the arena. I saw my friend make it on stage, and this time, security was not kind. As soon as Morrissey was done hugging the kid, security put him in a crossface chickenwing, and sent him packing.

Good thing I didn’t get on stage.

Years later, when we went to see Johnny Marr and The Healers, we went to Morrissey’s house and loitered on his doorstep. We presumed he was inside, but it seemed like there was no activity. However, I saw some movement in the balcony as we were driving away.

Now that he’s left Los Angeles, that’s the closest I will ever get to Morrissey.

No big deal. I almost never listen to Morrissey anymore.