Tuesday, September 16, 2008

This IS Joe Jackson (not Brian Eno)

One of my funniest celebrity moments happened when I met Joe Jackson, one of my favorite musicians. Jackson had just come out with his book, A Cure for Gravity, and he was doing a book signing tour at Borders Bookstores.
I found out very late about the event. I scrambled and bought a picture (which was advertised as him) on Ebay. It arrived the day of the event. It looked a bit off, but I brought it with me anyway.

Jackson read excerpts from his book and then settled in behind a desk to start signing copies for anyone who wanted it signed. At the end, I approached Jackson to get my book signed, but decided not to get the picture signed. Jackson saw the picture and I explained what happened.
Sitting back and roaring with laughter, Jackson exclaimed "That's Brian 'F-ing' Eno!". (Brian Eno is another English musician who does bear a resemblance to Jackson.) He asked if he could sign it anyway and proceeded to write "This is not Joe Jackson" on it.
Jackson thanked me for giving him one of the biggest laughs he had in a while. I was happy that he had fun with it and now I have a great story and an odd autographed photo of Jackson/Eno!
Joe Jackson signed his Live In New York CD and reading/signing at Borders in Chicago, IL-1999.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

so what made you NOT have him sign the photos? did you get a feeling it wasn't him when you actually met him? that was a good "gut" instinct.
too too funny...

Johngy said...

The picture didn't look right. I didn't study both enough to know for sure, but I figured getting the book and his cd signed would be enough without taking the risk of looking like an idiot.