A wild thing happened to me in 1998--

I got invited to a nightclub in Hollywood, which was booked for an invitation-only event being put on by Radio & Records, Inc. for their annual convention.  R&R had booked several Southern California nightclubs for these special events.  I got in because I was the guest of a guest of a friend, Jacqueline Lennon, who was singing that night in a great band called World Groove.

There were some magnificent artists playing, that night.  Chris Stills, son of Steven Stills (of Crosby, Stills & Nash), performed on acoustic guitar.  He was incredible!  Later, Phoebe Snow was singing and playing acoustic guitar with her two other acoustic guitarists.  She did some ballads, including her big hit, Poetry Man.  Next, she wanted to do some upbeat rock.  She said, to a packed crowd of music industry people, "Is there a drummer in the audience?"  My best friend, Bill, knowing that I can be kind of shy, yelled at me, "GO!! GO!!!"   With my heart pounding, I trotted up to the stage, thinking, "Oh my Gosh- I can't believe I'm gonna do this!

The next thing I knew, I was up on stage, sitting down at the house drumset (which, unlike most house drumsets, was a BEAUTIFUL set of drums).  Phoebe Snow announced to the audience, "Never seen this guy before in my life--  this is going to be the true essence of jamming--  I have NO IDEA what to expect!"

We played Rockin' Pneumonia and The Boogie Woogie Flu.  It went great!  Phoebe turned around and whispered, "What's your name?  I told her my name.  She pointed at me and shouted out, "Dean the Drummer!!!  I got a bunch of cheering and applause.  We all grinned at each other, and I went back to my seat in the audience, on cloud nine.

Phoebe wanted to do more rock.  Before I could take a sip of my drink, she said into the mic, "Can Dean the drummer come back up here?"  More cheering and applause.  I got back on stage, and we played the Janis Joplin hit, Piece Of My Heart.  Phoebe hugged me and said, "You were great!!  I told her that I was a fan, and she said, "I'm a fan of yours!!  Her two guitarists grinned and shook my hand.

Afterwards, a bunch of people came up to me, shook my hand, and said things like, "You kicked ass!!  The drummer from another band came over to shake my hand.  Whee!!!

After several days, I was still all giddy and jazzed.  I was a basket case at work the next day, because I got barely any sleep from being so excited.

If you're reading this from heaven, Phoebe, thank you for one of the best evenings of my life!