It’s always weird when I’ve gotten an autograph from somebody that dies soon after. There have been many people I could’ve gotten signatures from, and I decide not to put the effort into going to the venue -- and they die a few months later. And I regret those. One of the most regretful of those moments comes when I worked as a DJ at a radio station and I brought winners backstage at a concert. It was Joe Cocker and Stevie Ray Vaughn. We were told by the…

Well, Joe Cocker is up where he belongs – at that big rock stage in the sky. I have to admit, I’m only lukewarm on him as a performer, but as a rock star he was always a class act with the fans.

When I was in my early 20’s working at my first radio station, I brought some contest winners backstage to meet him. It was my first time being backstage at a concert, and…

I love classic rock bands. The one thing that doesn’t work for me is when I’m not a fan of the vocalist. I might lose a lot of cred when I say I’m not a Bob Dylan fan, but I just can’t take his voice. Sure, he has a few songs I like and his “Blood on the Tracks” is one of the greatest albums ever (I bought an autographed copy at auction years ago).

So when I was in…