Meeting Adam in Malibu

ebackwardse from Toolarmy emailed me today (he also posted it on the Toolarmy boards) to tell me about his meetup with Adam at the recent Doctors Without Borders fundraiser.  Sounds like it was a good event for a worthwhile cause:

Location could not of been better!!! The restaurant was very small, but not at all crowded. As we walked in we were standing right next to the brother from Everybody Loves Raymond, who is a tall motherfucker btw! As we were quite hungry, we quickly found a spread of food set up just to the left and a nice lady filling out the name tags (even Adam was wearing one). My fiance and I each gave $40 cash (for the charity) and my friend gave some too, but there was no pressure at all, and the food was free. Adam was talking to some folks inside the bar that didn’t necessarily look like TOOL fans OR doctors, but who am I to judge. As we moved quickly to get the food and name tags we all brushed up against Adam, who had his back to us. Again, it was not crowded at all, there was no security, and anyone could just walk up and talk to him at any time. It was wide open and extremely laid back. There were plenty of people there for dinner that did not know what was going on and I guarantee you they had no idea some of us were meeting our hero. Nobody was gawking or making a fan-idiot out of themselves.

Blair was sitting at the bar with a quite beautiful woman whom I think is his girlfriend. I had stood right next to him to order a couple of beers for me and my friend and a water for my lady and we made small talk. He seemed very nice and sweet and I really felt like apologizing for all the whining that goes on here, but refrained. At this point I was really nervous. It’s funny, but I ended up being less nervous talking to Adam than I was talking to Blair!

By this time Adam had went outside to take a short phone call and a few (obvious) TOOL fans started showing up and chatting with him outside, taking pictures, and having him sign things. My friend had brought his Lateralus vinyl, which he (oddly enough) received with Maynard, Justin, and Danny’s signature, but not Adams. He ran to the car to grab it and Adam signed it for him.

Adam was making his way through the patio back inside when I was about to walk up and introduce myself. Another fan came over before I had my chance, but I wasn’t worried at all since it was so casual and there were very few people there. This guy was going on and on about how Adam influenced him and he moved here to do film editing, but switched to music, had friends in bands who opened for TOOL in ’92, can I give you my number and share my music with you, etc. He was basically trying to say everything to Adam that could of taken up a novel in the span of about 45 seconds. He was very nervous and you could tell Adam was getting a little uncomfortable with it, so when he tried to hand him his number, Adam politely pushed his hand back and said, “Honestly, I will just throw it out; please just send me the info on Myspace.” Now, I realize this could sound like he was being a jerk, but he wasn’t – not at all. Having some small experience with these things I can tell you that the reason famous people will turn you down 9 times out of 10 when you ask to exchange info like that, is because this guy could claim that the next TOOL record has three of his songs on it and he can prove it because he has pictures of himself with Adam in Malibu and anyway, I am sure the guy meant well, but…

This is getting way too long so I will cut to the chase. I introduced myself and asked if my fiance could take a picture. He was amazingly nice and totally down for it. I then explained to him that I had spoken with his brother Al about some products that I developed for Belkin. Before I could even explain that I sent them to Al to pass on to him, he lit up and said, “THAT WAS YOU!?!” Even my fiance said this was the most animated he was the entire night. Being a geek myself, I completely understood the way to his heart was through his gadgets! He immediately thanked me for the cooling stand I sent him for his Macbook with a built-in fan.

I had also sent him a 4-track mixer recorder for iPod and another battery powered, handheld 2-track unit. We chatted for a minute about the stuff and he said that he gave the 4-track recorder to a friend of his to figure it out so he could show him how to use it.

Then, to my eternal happiness, he said, “Oh yeah, I’m taking the little one on tour with me.” I almost shit myself! To think that something I helped develop may possibly be used by Adam to capture inspiration is the true honor of my life. This is sure to keep me inspired on the job for years to come!!!

And here’s a pic!

Nice work Jeff!