So I'm hanging out at a 4 year old's birthday party today...

[pjmuck]

Took my son to one of his class mates' birthday parties today in West Orange. Couldn't get out of it, since my wife's taking him to another one tomorrow and I get the afternoon off to hang more sheetrock, so it's my turn.

Nice house, lots of backyard space for the kids, a blow up castle, swings, face painting, cotton candy, etc. I vaguely know some of the other parents but I've never met the birthday girls' parents. So I take my son into the house to go potty, and proceed to walk past at least 8 or 9 pedal steel guitars, 2 autographed acoustics, an upright, etc. This guy comes up from the basement and I say, "Wow, there's a lot of pedal steel guitars here." "Yeah, those are mine," he says. "Cool. You play professionally?", I say. He laughs and says, "I try". Didn't get to talk much at that point, so I head back out to the backyard. I run into another musician dad I know and we get to talking. "Did you see all the pedal steel guitars he's got in there?" I say. "Don't you know who he is?" the other dad says, "That's Robert Randolph." My jaw almost hit the floor, and I naturally felt like an idiot thereafter, especially after my last comment to him, "Oh, yeah, I'm a musician myself." LOL. He must hear that a thousand times.

He was a little guarded at first, but I did get to talk to him a little later on after a couple of cups of sangria and the assurance I wasn't there as a stalker. I didn't realize any of this at the time, but most of his band was there too. I kidded him that the kiddie bag he handed out was a slight disappointment compared to the pedal steel guitar I thought I was going to get. ;^)

All in all, a very cool guy and he and his wife were perfect hosts and the BBQ food was awesome. Just don't tell him my kid peed all over his toilet seat. ;^)

[fivebass52]

Great story! He is incredible on steel... am always amazed whenever I see him play. He's definitely taken the instrument to another level, just as Bela Fleck brought the banjo out of a tight genre... Too bad he didn't play some for the party!

[Frenchy-Lefty]

Good story! I love his music!

[AzWhoFan]

Just goes to show that you should never piss off the neighbors. You never know who might be living in the 'hood.

As i mentioned elsewhere, did you ask him to come over and help you with the sheetrock? LOL

[pjmuck]

Just goes to show that you should never piss off the neighbors. You never know who might be living in the 'hood.

As i mentioned elsewhere, did you ask him to come over and help you with the sheetrock? LOL

Yep, he's coming over Tuesday. Apparently he REALLY wants to learn how to hang drywall, so I told him I'd oblige in exchange for some more down home BBQ.

I'm beginning to discover I'm surrounded by well known/semi-well known people in this town, and my 4 yr. old's the one with the connections. Another one of his class mates' dads is a former defensive lineman for the New York Giants, and my bassist neighbor a few houses down (who I'm going to be studying with) has a pretty impressive resume too:

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/mark-peterson/6/a37/6b1

[fivebass52]

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/mark-peterson/6/a37/6b1[/quote]

Wow, this guy has one helluva resume! Taking lessons from him is going to be a treat!