3 Artists, 1 Question

(Above [L-R]: Eugene Mirman, Hollis Gillespie, Colin Meloy)

Comedian Eugene Mirman:
“My first concert was Guns N’ Roses opening for Aerosmith. It was awesome. I was in eighth grade. My brother took me. Could you imagine being 1,000 feet from Axl Rose and later Joey Kramer?! The best part? I got water in my knee and spent the next day in the hospital in surgery. (They cut my knee and drained it! Plus there was a med student who for 20 minutes kept missing the vein in my arm with the IV. She poked a lot of holes in me.) Still, thanks, Ilya (my brother), Axl, Slash, Mr. Tyler, Joe Perry and the rest of the gang for rocking so hard. I hereby offer $100,000 (an amount I don’t have) if Guns N’ Roses re-forms (with or without Steven Adler) and plays on SPIKE TV for 20 minutes.”

Author Hollis Gillespie:
“My first concert was at the Hollywood Bowl where I saw Kiss, Montrose and Bob Seger. I tried to rock out, but I was 12 and worried someone would slip acid in my slurpee. Gene Simmons spit up blood but you could tell he had it in his mouth the whole time, waiting for the right moment. Seger caught a Frisbee mid-”Katmandu” and expertly hurled it back into the audience. Later I saw the lead singer of Montrose in the parking lot of Old Town Mall in Hawthorne, and he was wearing the same pants.”

Colin Meloy of The Decemberists:
“My dad took me to the Great Falls state fair in Montana to see Willie Nelson, and I remember specifically that there was a beauty pageant right before Willie came on.”