“It has been difficult to hold onto many paintings but I have retained a few. Possibly the current favorite is titled 'Big Band' completed in 2005. It measures 13 feet x 9 feet. It has 18 nearly life size recognizable portraits of the biggest jazz stars that I knew and saw perform in the 1950s, '60s, '70s, '80s and includes Wynton Marsalis.” Has BeensBigsStarsDifficultSawsFeetPaintingBandJazzSizeCurrentsPortraits80sLife Size Author:LeRoy Neiman
“The first band I saw were Mike Sheridan and The Nightriders, in their brown mohair suits, in 1966.” FirstsSawsBandSuitsBrownMike Author:Jeff Lynne
“I found out about college radio and this whole noise genre blew me away. When I saw that guys could just get up there and have no traditional music ability and be in a band, it was really appealing to me.” WholeGuyFoundAbilitySawsCollegeBandRadioNoiseTraditionalGet UpGenreThat GuyTraditional Music Author:Girl Talk
“If anyone saw Fall Out Boy's first 400 shows, we were the worst band of all time.” IfsFirstsShowsFallBoysSawsWorstBandAll TimeFall Out Boy Author:Pete Wentz
“I was 16 when I came to New York. I had graduated to a tenor banjo in the school jazz band, and it was kind of boring - just chords, chords, chords. Then my father took me to a mountain music and dance festival in Asheville, North Carolina, and there I saw relatively uneducated people playing great music by ear.” PeopleKindSchoolFatherSawsNew YorkBandMountainEarsJazzBoringFestivalsChordsGreat MusicCarolinaUneducatedNorth CarolinaTenorsMusic And DanceBanjosJazz BandAsheville Author:Pete Seeger
“The British invasion was the most important event of my life. I was in New Jersey and the night I saw the Beatles changed everything. I had seen Elvis before and he had done nothing for me, but these guys were in a band.” ImportantDoneNightGuySawsEventsChangedBandBritishJerseyInvasionNew JerseyImportant EventsBritish Invasion Author:Steven Van Zandt
“I was making stickers for guys' bands. I was in the front row photographing bands, booking bands, doing all of the kind of backstage stuff, and I didn't even think for a second I could do it, and then I saw Babes in Toyland, and all that changed.” ThinkingKindGuyStuffSawsFrontsChangedBandBabeSticker Author:Kathleen Hanna
“I came to New York for the first time with Peter Buck at age 19. We spent a week living out of a van on the street in front of a club in the West 60s called Hurrah. It's where Pylon played. I saw Klaus Nomi play there. And Michael Gira's band before he did Swans-they all wore cowboy boots and were so cool and had great hair. I was so jealous.” FirstsPlayAgeSawsWeekStreetsFrontsNew YorkHairBandFirst TimeWestClubsJealousBootsPeterCowboyVansBucksSwansCowboy BootGreat Hair Author:Michael Stipe
“When I first saw Destiny's Child, I was in the fifth grade, and it made me want to sing and make music and there would be these freestyles on the radio for what seemed like hours, it was just so cool to me. So all of these influences and these styles started to blend together. Eventually, that evolved into me finding the indie scene in Houston. When I was 19, I joined a rock band, and that's when I began to say, "Okay, this is something that I could take seriously."” WantFirstsChildrenMadeWould BeTogetherHoursDestinySawsInfluenceRocksStyleSceneBandFindingsOkayRadioGradesFifthHoustonRock BandsFreestyleFifth Grade Author:Lizzo
“I always wanted to play music, and always loved it. I saw a band come to school, when I was in elementary school, and wanted to play drums. I started playing drums at 11, and that's where it all started.” PlayWantedSchoolSawsBandElementary SchoolPlaying Drums Author:Patty Schemel
“The first time I ever saw Lydia Lunch perform it was a religious experience. Not only is she intelligent and beautiful but she actually understands how "my" brain works. This almost rivals my first concert- Cindy Lauper when I was 12. She was so fascinating to me at the time. She made me want to dye my hair pink and start a band. (SO I naturally did)... All Cure records have had a great effect on me musically also.” WantFirstsMadeBeautifulReligiousBrainRecordsSawsEffectsHairBandFirst TimeIntelligentCuresFascinatingConcertsLunchRivalsReligious ExperienceCindy Author:Jessicka
“I saw the Ramones, early on at a country-rock palace in Denver. They were opening for some record-company band, so the local music establishment, and I emphasize the word "establishment," was there in force, and the handful of us who knew the Ramones were up in front. And half the fun was, you know, not only were the Ramones the most powerful band I had ever seen at that point, but they made it look so simple - that anyone could do it, hell, even I could do it. This is what I should be doing.” KnowsShouldLooksMadeCountryFunForceSimplePowerfulHalfCompanyHellRecordsSawsRocksFrontsBandLocalsOpeningMade ItMost PowerfulEstablishmentHandfulPalacesRecord CompaniesDenverRamones Author:Jello Biafra
“In San Francisco, most of the older activists, especially at Berkeley, were very hostile towards punks. The music, certainly, wasn't nice and mellow for them, and neither was our look or our attitude. While in Vancouver, the two most important early punk bands, D.O.A. and the Subhumans, were both managed by former yippie activists, who saw this as a logical extension of what they were already doing.” LooksTwoImportantAttitudeSawsNiceBandFormerLogicalActivistPunkExtensionsHostileSan FranciscoMellowVancouverBerkeley Author:Jello Biafra
“My all time favorite band is Paramore and she's basically one of the reasons I was inspired... umm, well Hayley Williams from Paramore was one of the basic reasons I wanted to go rock. I saw the band live and they're great together and they write incredible music and also I like a lot of older bands. I like Motley Crue a lot and who else, I've got a lot of favorite bands but those are pretty much the main ones.” WritingWellsReasonWantedTogetherSawsRocksBandInspiredIncrediblesAll TimeFavorite BandsAll Time FavoriteMotley Crue Author:Demi Lovato
“It was Miles Davis who took me to New York, and Coltrane was in the band, as well as Paul Chambers, Philly Jo Jones. 'Trane took me aside, and, of course, we did Blue Trane, which was my first album-and that started everything. He had confidence that I didn't have; he saw something that I didn't see.” FirstsWellsCoursesSawsNew YorkBandBlueAlbumsMilesChamberColtrane Author:Curtis Fuller
“There was a band in San Diego, Bluegrass Etc, that played a weekly gig. My parents would take my brother and me every Saturday night for 7 or 8 years. Sean and I started taking lessons with them and they gave us a great foundation in bluegrass instrumentation. They were the lens through which I saw music for a very long time.” YearsLongNightParentSawsBrotherLessonsBandLong TimeFoundationMy BrotherEtcSaturdayLensesGigsSaturday NightSeanSan DiegoBluegrassInstrumentation Author:Sara Watkins
“I saw an article where the manager of the Pussycat Dolls, which is kind of this like striptease band, girl band, said, oh well, the girls are totally third-wave feminist. This is what third-wave feminism is about. Like you don't get to use that word. You don't get to say that something is feminist as a way to sell back sexism to women, as a way to further consumerist ideas.” WayWellsKindSaidIdeasUseGirlSawsFeminismLike YouBandThirdsSellsWaveFeministManagersSexismArticlesDollsOh Well Author:Jessica Valenti
“I knew about Heatmiser, and I saw them one time at Pine Street [later changed to La Luna], which was the center of a lot of alternative bands during the 80s. But I didn't really know too much about their music.” KnowsSawsToo MuchStreetsChangedBandAlternativesOne Time80s Author:Gus Van Sant
“Robert Altman made that movie Kansas City about the jazz scene in the city, and we saw that band all together, and that was an amazing show. That's what I got into. I like jazz.” MadeShowsTogetherCitiesSawsSceneBandJazzKansasKansas City Author:Nick Kroll
“I just chased bands all over the country. The biggest one I saw was Jimi Hendrix.” CountrySawsBandHendrix Author:Cassandra Peterson