Last year on March 1st, (2001) Def Leppard played the Houston Astrodome during a rodeo week celebration. We heard where the band were going stay in advance. We were there waiting in the lobby when the band got there! Malvin (tour manager) asked us to allow the guys to get checked in and that they would all be down later to hang out in the bar. We all (3 of us!) said hi to all 5 of them and it was all real cool, so we allowed them their space, since they would all be back down anyway! We had a room there in the same hotel, so we could just hang out and not be bothered by the staff, this place was nice, you see.
Phil came back down almost right away! He was looking to get some coffee, and he wanted to know where a Starbucks was. As the two people I was with knew him pretty well, and we were in ear shot of him asking that of the hotel staff. The hotel staff was looking it up when I told him, as we walked over, that there was one in the mall right across the street! He said cool and then I told him that we can show him if he liked, and he said lead the way! We walked him over where we sat, chatted, and had coffee with him for about an hour, then we all walked back and he came up to our room with us! He signed all of our stuff, and took some pictures with us as well! A real neat guy!
After he left (he said he was going to meet his wife Anita who was coming on a different flight later) we all relocated down to the bar and they they all were except Rick Allen. Phil left the bar shortly after we got there, because he was still on his way out to meet his wife! Malvin saw that a couple of us had stuff to get signed, and he asked us, "Lets not do that now". He then told me, after I asked him about when we could do it, that he would make sure that we would get everything we wanted to get signed if we were cool, then I said NO PROBLEM! So we hung out with Sav, Viv, Joe, Malvin, and Phil (in and out at times) from about 6pm-ish till after 2am, drinking eating, and chatting with DEF LEPPARD. I asked about Rick at some point later while sitting at the bar and Sav said he's into this "new zen thing" and he was taking some time to himself, but then he did say he would come down later. Well, he didn't, I was bummed.
Malvin took me aside just before the night ended, and he told me be in the lobby at 11am and he'll make sure all our stuff got signed by the all the guy's then! I said that would be cool, but what's happening at 11am? He told me that they would be leaving to go to the Astrodome at that time to do the sound check, and they will all meet up in the lobby before they get in the van to go! We all chatted a little more, the bar closed and we all went up stairs to bed. We all hung out like we all old buddies that night and it was nothing but all good.
The next morning when we got up, it was still early, so we went and walked around downtown Houston for a while, then we made our way back to the hotel. At 11am we were there and so was DEF LEPPARD (all of them!). I went from one band member to the other ending with Rick Allen getting ALL my stuff signed! It was so cool! We took pictures, hung out, and chatted with them all for about 20 minutes!
While I had Rick sign my stuff I struck up a conversation about how his flight was leaving LA the day before, and almost all of the guys (led by Joe) butted in on that one. They were all talking about how a terminal 7 at LAX was closed for a bomb scare when they were leaving LA and that all of their crew (and Anita too, as it turned out!) were late getting out becuse of it. I told Rick I worked in Terninal 7 and bam, all of a sudden he was very interested in what I did, who I did it for and all that! It was real neat when the conversation turned like that, he was listening to what I had to say and he was interested too! I actually had Malvin yelling at Rick to go and get on the van to go at the end of it!
I just told him about how I'm a aircraft mechanic at United Airlines and how I was from LA and grew up there, it was about me! I didn't mean it to be like that, but he was real neat to talk to. I had my questions for him, but we joked around a little, he listened to me talk and we talked absolutely zero about his druming or Def Leppard at all.
After the gig, (which was short, 10 songs, but yet great too!) we all relocated back to the hotel, and met up in the bar again! No Rick, and Sav split early (to fly back to Dublin), but Phil, Viv, Joe and Malvin were all there and we closed the bar again (two nights in a row!). This time though, the place was hopping! There were tons o' fans this time, but still a real cool place to be anyway! I took my picture with Malvin that night and I was getting all the guys to sign my hat (the grey baseball style one) I bought at the gig. I do still need both Rick's to sign it though (it was an after thought to get it signed, you see). What a great two straight days though to spend with Def Leppard.
My impression of Rick Allen from all of my encounters and the one conversation with him is that he is real down to earth all in all. He was very interested in what I had to say, that one time we talked, so he's not one of those ROCK STAR type of person who just puts up with me for a few minutes. He has a spiritualness (if thats a word) about him, but with an edge. He has a presence, sort of a feeling I had standing in front of him. Maybe it was because of all the anticipation of meeting him, but maybe not I think. I did notice that he can joke with the best of them, and often does (you rip him, he'll rip you right back!) with the others in the band. To me he seemed like a regular guy who has a lot on his mind and a lot of stuff to do, you know? Kinda preoccupied, but yet can give you all of his attention when he has to. I think he's a great guy all in all. Well worth the wait!"
Tom
