Over the last week, a few of your Brains bloggers have had brushes with various levels of musical fame. In chronological order:

DFW airport, Friday, Nov 9 - I had the pleasure of recognizing Darryl McDaniels (aka DMC of Run-DMC) as we crossed paths in the airport at 7am. My husband turned to me and said “do you have the camera?” and we immediately turned around and started following (stalking) him to his gate. I nicely asked “Mr. McDaniels” if he would humor us with a snapshot with our son and this little slice of musical heaven is what we captured. We thanked him for his time and promised him that Run-DMC would be a part of the baby’s musical education. Considering that we interrupted him on the way to the men’s room, he couldn’t have been nicer.

WOMMA Summit, Vegas, Thursday, Nov 15 – Geno met Ken Block, lead singer of Sister Hazel before his presentation to the WOMMA attendees. The audience was equally wowed by Ken’s understanding of how to connect with fans as they were with his spontaneous a cappella rendition of Sister Hazel’s #1 earworm “All For You”. Ken further walked the talk by staying after his presentation to greet fans and attend other WOMMA sessions. Geno was wowed by the fact that he jumped off the stage to have a photo taken with him and even followed up later that weekend by emailing Geno to thank him for his support – these guys know how to create fans!

Ghost Bar, The Palms, Vegas, Friday, Nov 16 (wee hours) – Having been abandoned by the other, lamer Brains, Spike proceeded to the Ghost Bar for some people watching. While there, he approached none other than Poison lead singer Bret Michaels and asked if, since he was flying solo, he could hang out with Bret & Co. Instead of saying something along the lines of “back off, stalker” (what I would tell Spike were I to walk a day in Bret’s bandana), Bret said “Of course, man – join us!” Unbelievable! Spike was, naturally, too cool to have asked him for a photo, so this image will have to suffice.

Each of these encounters has become a story that we will retell again and again. Not only will we tell the stories, I know I’ll be picking up a few more of these folks’ hits on iTunes now that it will feel like supporting a friend and reinforce a good memory. Making sure every customer touchpoint is memorable can pay off immediately.

(NB, on the way home from Vegas, Identity Ignition Specialist Amanda spotted Dr. Noah Drake/Working Class Dog Rick Springfield in Starbucks at DFW, but we were in a hurry so we don’t know whether or not he would have been fan-friendly!)

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Other posts by Virginia.