Degrees of separation

Bob-Dubery

You know the theory: Everybody on the planet is separated from Kevin Bacon by no more than six handshakes, in fact nobody is separated from anybody by more than that degree of separation.

EG: There are, at most, four degrees of separation between me and Ozzy Osbourne.

I have shaken hands with Dave Pegg - so that's one.

Pegg played with Jethro Tull and thus will have shaken hands or otherwise made contact with Ian Anderson - two

An early, short-lived incarnation of Tull featured Tony Iommi on guitar - three

Iommi will have shaken hands with Ozzy - four.

Having shaken hands with Richard Thompson, who several times jammed with Jimi Hendrix I am two degrees of separation away from Jimi. Also from James Burton, Bob Dylan, Sandy Denny, Nick Drake (hmmm... a lot of dead people here), Jimmy Page, John Bonham (another corpse), Jim Keltner and three at most from the legendary Peter Grant.

Pegg has played more sessions than he can remember - so that probably gets me within two degrees of lots of people (including another path to Nick Drake). Burton and Keltner have also played with lots of other people (both of them with The King), so now I'm really cooking.

This also explains why everybody says they know somebody who knows somebody whose uncle got murdered / saw Elvis walking out a supermarket / knew Howard Hughes / is no longer allowed inside any branch of McDonald's anywhere in the world etc etc. Those chains are there.

So by quick reckoning I am two degrees separated from The Queen, all members of Led Zeppelin, Jimi, James Burton, Elvis Costello. Ian Anderson, Martin Barre, Sandy Denny, Eddie Jobson, Nick Drake, John Martyn, George Gruhn, Jerry Douglas, Billy Bragg, Koos Kombuis and who knows who else.

I'm three degrees separated from Elvis Costello, Elvis Presley, Ricky Nelson, Tony Iommi, Joan Baez, Rory Gallagher, Robbie Robertson, the classic Grateful Dead lineup, Alison Krauss, Richie Hayward, Pippa Middleton, Eddie Vedder and who knows who else.

Four degrees at most separated from the Wilson sisters of Heart. Take that!
Go shake a couple of hands. It shrinks the world.

IceCreamMan

Interesting thread..... I am connected to iommi directly , having had a couple of beers with him in the 80's and he is directly connected to Ozzy and I have shaken yr hand so you 1` degree less than 4 8)

never knew I was this closely connected to Thompson I must admit.

I met DLR and Alex VH in the 80's too, they were here for a scouting mission ...so only separated from eddie by 1 degree.

interesting eh/...... while I remember them I guess they don't remember me ☹

Squonk

I shook Roger Moore's hand in the early 70's at the then Jan Smuts Airport, he was filming "Gold". My goodness where would that lead to?

Another interesting handshake was at the SABC, when Nelson Mandela entered the building and all the bodyguards pushed all the people back and he walked past me and put out his hand,it was quite a moment! How many people have shaken his hand?

Bob-Dubery

IceCreamMan wrote Interesting thread..... I am connected to iommi directly , having had a couple of beers with him in the 80's and he is directly connected to Ozzy and I have shaken yr hand so you 1` degree less than 4 8)

Actually 2 less. There's 2 degrees of separation between you and Ozzy.

never knew I was this closely connected to Thompson I must admit.

I'll warn the next GFSA member I meet. But you don't catch anything by virtue of being so little separated from him.

I met DLR and Alex VH in the 80's too, they were here for a scouting mission ...so only separated from eddie by 1 degree.

interesting eh/...... while I remember them I guess they don't remember me ☹

The key thing is to shake hands or have a cup of tea with somebody like Pegg or Danny Thompson who have played more sessions than they can remember. I've had Danny walk past me, but I can't say I've actually met him (he was talking to the lady standing next to me), but he played in RT's band for years, so I'm two degrees separated from Danny and thus three degrees separated from Cliff Richard (Danny played on "Congratulations", but I don't hold that against him), Roy Orbison (Danny played in his touring band for a couple of years), Peter Gabriel and (oh boy!) Kate Bush.

Bob-Dubery

IceCreamMan wrote I met DLR and Alex VH in the 80's too, they were here for a scouting mission ...so only separated from eddie by 1 degree.

Two. You're one degree separated from DLR, so two separated from Eddie. Thus three degrees (at most) separated from Michael Jackson.

Shibbibilybob

I have shaken the hand of Nico McBrain, so, only two degrees from Bruce Dickenson ?

I worked in a guitar store in London in 2005, and one day, Rob Lowe (that actor from the west wing) came in and bought a beautiful ash tele (that I had my eye on and had been saving my puny wages for).
Anyway, while he was trying this guitar out, he was just dropping names as he went. It was hilarious.

"hey man, could I maybe get a pick? I've got this one, which was given to me by my friend Keith Richards, but I don't really wanna use it".
"Oh this riff sounds sweet, I used to jam this with my buddy Johnny Depp" ...and so on... so add a few more there too.

DonovanB

I like these exercises.

I was chatting to the Archbishop of Durban, Cardinal Wilfred Napier the other day. So I guess that makes me 2 degrees from the Pope and his vast number of political connections.

Which reminds me of a joke:

Reinhard was always bragging that he knows everyone. Nick was tired of his nonsense. "Pick anyone in the world," says Reinhard, "and I will prove that I know them."

"Steve Vai." is the challenge from Nick. "No Problem," says Reinhard, "I know all the airline guys and the consulate so I'll get us there." And off they go to the US where Reinhard knocks on the door of Mr Vai.
"Reinhard!" exclaims Vai and invites them in to show them how to play the A#m pentatonic scale.

"That was just lucky", says Nick, "I'll bet you don't know Kim Jong Un."and off they head to North Korea where they end up in a banquet with Kim Jong and family.

"Ok." says Nick. "This is too much. You surely don't know the Pope." and off they head to the Vatican.

At the square the crowds are too much. "He won't see me from here," says Reinhard, "I know all the guards so I'll go inside and come out on the Balcony with him."
an hour later Reinhard returns to find Nick passed out with paramedics attending to him. "What happened?" he asks.

"It was all fine when you left. Until the guy next to me asked 'who's that on the balcony with Reinhard.."

Reinhard

Donovan Banks wrote I like these exercises.

I was chatting to the Archbishop of Durban, Cardinal Wilfred Napier the other day. So I guess that makes me 2 degrees from the Pope and his vast number of political connections.

Which reminds me of a joke:
Reinhard was always bragging that he knows everyone. Nick was tired of his nonsense. "Pick anyone in the world," says Reinhard, "and I will prove that I know them."

"Steve Vai." is the challenge from Nick. "No Problem," says Reinhard, "I know all the airline guys and the consulate so I'll get us there." And off they go to the US where Reinhard knocks on the door of Mr Vai.
"Reinhard!" exclaims Vai and invites them in to show them how to play the A#m pentatonic scale.

"That was just lucky", says Nick, "I'll bet you don't know Kim Jong Un."and off they head to North Korea where they end up in a banquet with Kim Jong and family.

"Ok." says Nick. "This is too much. You surely don't know the Pope." and off they head to the Vatican.

At the square the crowds are too much. "He won't see me from here," says Reinhard, "I know all the guards so I'll go inside and come out on the Balcony with him."
an hour later Reinhard returns to find Nick passed out with paramedics attending to him. "What happened?" he asks.

"It was all fine when you left. Until the guy next to me asked 'who's that on the balcony with Reinhard.."
? Awesome. Haven't met the new pope yet though.