The Day I Met Joe Bonamassa

4/4 09 West Hampton L.I.

  Got a phone call Friday night sayin we're in. Timmy what d'ya mean? I mean we gotta be there 4:30 and we're gonna meet Joe. I was like okay. Sure enough 3:30 Saturday rolls around and so does Timmy and his brother Tony they come to collect me and my son Ben aka gotmule, and we're in the town of West Hampton in 1/2 an hour with a 1/2 an hour to kill. So we wind up in a local watering hole for a couple of beers. All is well.

  At 4:25 we mosey up the block to the theater and go into the lobby and Timmy says a few words to the girl in the box office and before I knew what was happening we were sitting in the empty theater admiring Joes' rig, by the way he was running the Bogner in place of the Cat 5 this night. All the sudden from the side of the stage comes Joe Bonamassa just walking across the stage and I'm like Hi Joe and wave he looks up seems a little suprised that anyone is there and says Hi I'll be there in a second. Well he and Warren come over to say hello and introductions are exchanged.

  Now the fun begins. Timmy says something like Joe you might know Ben you've traded posts with him in the gear section of your forum, he built a 4 amp rig inspired by yours and you commented on it. This next thing blew me away, Joes like Oh yeah you're the guy lets see if I can remember the amps you used he then rattled off the amps my son used in building his rig. Mesa Lonestar, Top Hat Emplexador, Fuchs ODS, Two Rock CRS. He remembered this from a clip on youtube he watched 2 months ago. I was impressed. Joe says to Ben You win come on.

  They go up on the stage and Joe grabs out 001 and starts a little light riffing as he's explaining his rig to Ben. He then gives the axe to Ben and the boy does some  playing, he played it nice and Joe commented that he lkes the way Ben plays.
While all this is going on Dave strolls in and remembers the 4 amp demo of Bens'. Now there is alot to talk about gear, gigs, stuff that you would just bs with your neighbor about. Out strolls Carmine and I say hello. Before I know it 45 minutes have gone by and Joes got something to do. So we say our goodbys and he and Dave take off.

  We're standing in the theater now and we start bs'n with some guy who turns out to be Dave from Fender pick.com. What a great guy. He was there to interview Joe but missed the early boat and was hoping to catch the later one. We go out for some chinese. What a great afternoon-unforgetable. The best part is we still have a Joe show to attend. I am going to post my review of that show in a thread that has already been established. Don't miss this review.

  In closing, I've heard the countless stories about the kind person that Joe is and I never doubted them. Having the chance to meet him was nice enough but as a parent, when a person in his position extends a kindness to your child, well lets just say it meant alot to me plus he is a cool guy and I enjoyed his company.

  Thankyou Joe Bonamassa for a great day!
  fuzzy wuzzy aka Jack

  Bens 4 amp rig: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9ZyFl1IoBw

  Pictures:  http://s393.photobucket.com/albums/pp17 … /?newest=1