Fan Anecdotes Back to James Griffin Archives Home Page
Over the years, I have heard of a number of funny or quirky or touching or maybe even simple but interesting stories from fans that had occasion to be with Jimmy when he did or said something that displayed his charm. That's what this page is all about.
| From Dean Adshead | I've been a BREAD fan since I was nine (1997) after first
hearing a cassette of "The Sound of Bread". I started to use the internet and began to socialise with Bread fan across the world on the guestbook on The Bread Fans website, one of the fans I talked to was David Crawt who I spent many hours chatting to online about Bread. As a musician myself, I set up my own website with a guestbook and I was overjoyed to discover that one day, the one and only James Griffin had signed it thanks to David Crawt letting him know of me. Shortly after that, me and James began exchanging emails with each other chatting mostly about music, I have saved these emails, a lot of which are quite interesting in terms of facts. I remember I sent him one email asking him what he was up to, his reply was, "About 185 lbs. How about you?", Of course I meant in musical terms. The best memory I have of him was when he gave me his phone number and I called him for a chat, when he answered, he must of forgot I was calling and his first word was a very lazy sounding "Hello", after I reminded him it was me he greeted me again, much more friendlier, we chatted about various things. I told him I was quite nervous talking to JAMES GRIFFIN on the phone, he reassured me he was no different to anyone else. I told James I saw David earlier on in the year and his reply was a very blunt "Oh - he really oughta retire..." followed shortly afterwards by a "He oughta take a pill", both of these comments I found hilarious, we both agreed however that David is an outstanding talent and James commented that one of his favourite tracks by David is "She Was My Lady". Me and James also agreed that "Manna" is our favourite BREAD album. I proceeded to tell him about my nerves when playing live to an audience, he told me that if you're fully organised, you can never be nervous, I've never forgotten this advice and I have also never been nervous since! One of the highlights of the phone call was when I was asking him which singer was singing which songs in The Remingtons and while telling me this he also sung a line of each song he was giving an example of. I was in disbelief at first that James Griffin was singing to me, on the phone with that legendary voice of his. I was deeply saddened to hear of James' passing, I was aware of his illness and it did look positive until the news arrived that he had died. I will miss him not only as a musician, but as a friend. |
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From Fran Hart |
Just prior to the Bread reunion kick-off shows in Atlantic City, Jimmy invited me up to his hotel room to hang out for a while. When we got in the elevator, he started singing "You're So Vain" by Carly Simon. He told me that he thought it was a terrible song and that basically her career was never the same after that song. The elevator stops and a woman gets on, while he's still singing the song. He stops and asks her, "Do you like that song?" I don't remember what her response was, but I thought it was pretty cool of him to ask her. I'm sure she had no idea who Jimmy was, and that made it an even bigger kick for me. | |||
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From Fran Hart
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Related to the above anecdote, we get to his room and, at that time, he was just getting interested in the Internet. He had asked me to bring some stuff with me to show how he might use the Internet to catalog his songs, and maybe market them to film-makers and other artists who might be interested. I created a sample website for him on my laptop and brought that to the room, to illustrate some of my ideas as to what he might do. I used one of his songs from the "Lost Without Your Love" LP, "Today's The First Day" as a sample song. As he listened to it, he said that he'd like to re-record that, because the vocals shouldn't have been so staccato. (Short, crisp, almost cut-off words.) He wished he had done it in a more flowing manner, and he proceeded to sing it the way he wished it was. It was about as close as you could get to watching him create, outside of a studio. It was a memorable little moment and a great one to recall. | |||
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From Lisa Formica |
Hi Fran,
Merrillville, Indiana (a.k.a. the Chicago leg of the Bread reunion
tour) August 1997 at the Star Theater. After the show, Jon Boba, myself,
Richard Shupe and Manual Alayon went to the bar at the hotel next door
for a drink and to talk about the show we just saw. We were keeping an
eye peeled just in case one of the guys should happen to stop in. No
sooner had we found a table, but Jimmy walked in, he saw us, and came
over. I believe Jon bought him a drink. Anyway, we were chatting for a
while, having a great time when 3 young ladies who were standing over in
the corner kept moving closer, and closer to our table, pointing and
giggling. Jimmy was getting more and more nervous the closer they got.
Then one of them said something like 'It IS James Griffin' and that's
all it took. Jimmy said "gotta go" and ran out of the bar so fast we
didn't even get to say goodbye!
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From Lisa Formica |
Hi Fran,
1992 Remington's show at Toolies Country in Phoenix. After the show, Jimmy
comes over to say hello to me, since I was front row center all night. He
takes one look at my friend Theresa who came with me, and started speaking
Spanish to her at an incredible rate. After he is done with what he was
saying, Theresa said "I'm so sorry, but I don't speak Spanish". To that,
Jimmy replied, "Oh, I thought you were my ex-wife! You look exactly like
her!" Theresa said, ' I wish I was, but it's very nice to meet you
anyway!"
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From Fran Hart |
A few years ago, Jimmy performed at the 'Rock with the Jocks' charity concert here in Boston. It was a night of music and athletes, with members of the Boston Celtics hanging out and signing autographs. Jimmy performed with Terry Sylvester (Hollies), Don Brewer (Grand Funk Railroad), Bill Kelly (The Buoys) and Jim Della Croce (manager of The Remingtons). They played a set of hits from each group. I got to hang out with Jim and met Terry and Don after the show. After a while, Jimmy seemed to be a little restless and he asked, "Do you have a car here?" I said "Yep - in the garage." He said, "Let's go then!" So we hopped into my truck and drove back to his hotel. All the while I'm thinking, "I'm driving James Griffin around Boston!" If that wasn't enough, when we got to the hotel, he invited me to dinner. Bill Kelly joined us and we spent a great time talking about all kinds of things. | |||
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From Jon Boba |
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