So I interviewed Brian Johnson at the Mitty.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9aXY5BMkvk

Dude is awesome. That is all.

Dude "bought a Lotus Cortina Mk 1, that was sitting on somebody's lawn, for two hundred bucks."

Dude will fit right in around here.

Stealthtercel wrote: Dude "bought a Lotus Cortina Mk 1, that was sitting on somebody's lawn, for two hundred bucks." Dude will fit right in around here.

I KNOW! He didn't go out and buy a full tilt race rig, he wanted to earn respect and do it right. He bought a POS and learned to drive it. Yeah man, he's alright in my book.

Great interview! I just love that guy - he seems like someone you could sit down and chat with over a pint or two. I did a piece on him last year, watched several you tube videos as part of the research and came away with the feeling that the guy never lost his humility. Makes even that much more likeable. http://virtual.autonet.ca/doc/Edmonton-Sun-Autos/autonet_apr23/2010042201/22.html#22

Can't expain how awesome it was when we bumped into him the day before a gig in Detroit. I was picking up an ex at Metro and he came down the tube talking to her. She goes "John, this is Brian..." I said "I love your music, it's an honor!" Leah looked surprised then turned to look at him "We have been chatting for hours, you never mentioned you played music! What do you play?" He smiled and coughed out a laugh. He walked with us to baggage claim. His publicist (god I hope it was his publicist not some murderous stalker) just followed along like it happens all the time.

Great job!

I'm compiling and editing the video I collected during the Mitty weekend and cussing about being stuck (though I enjoy it all the same) administering parade and touring lap sessions and doing all the logistical nonsense that comes with putting on an event.

Next year, it's just me and the camera. (Fourth year I've made myself that promise.)

Nice thanks

http://www.johnstarkeycars.com/pages/articles_fa.html

cool story on Brian Johnson's T70

Will watch in a moment, but I'll be buying his book when it comes to the States: (it might be here by now--haven't checked since the winter)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rockers-Rollers-Autobiography-Brian-Johnson/dp/0718155424

Just watched it.

As usual, what an awesome dude. Such a humble, normal car guy. Worth hundreds of millions and he could hang with any one of us and talk cars.

You look at so many celebutards and see how high on themselves they are and then you see Brian Johnson--who could buy and sell all of them--and he's as humble as can be.

Great interview.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-f1cwycSWq0

Reminded me AC/DC Thunderstruck w/ military vids. 39M YouTube views, one of my all time favs.

So, here's my "first time I ever met Brian Johnson" story (contains some coarse language):

I think it was about '99 or 2000 or so. We were doing a story comparing some vintage race cars, and Brian's DeLuca Racing crew kindly volunteered their cars for me to share at a Daytona HSR event. I would split time between Brian's Lotus Cortina and his wife Brenda's Spridget, and Brenda would drive the Spridget when I wasn't hogging it. Brian was supposedly busy that weekend, but it was mentioned that he might drive over from their Sarasota home to say "hi" and check in on the gang at some point in the weekend.

So I get comfy in both cars and eventually go out for my first on-track session in Brian's Cortina. The car was absolutely a joy to drive in that upright euro sport sedan sort of way. Although the limits weren't stellar by modern standards, you could just do whatever you wanted with it, and slide it around like a hooligan without any real loss of momentum. The initial intimidation of "I'm driving a famous guy's race car" wore off a about turn four in a perfect four-wheel drift.

Of course, like most folks that went to high school during the '80s, AC/DC was a fixture in my car stereo. Although I mostly listened to stuff like The Cure and Skinny Puppy, I will freely admit to wearing out my cassette tape of the "Maximum Overdrive" soundtrack with repeated listenings in my Trans Am.

So as I pulled back into the paddock after my first track session, I was a bit starstruck to see the car's owner—AC/DC's front man—hustling up to the driver's door as I removed my helmet.

There's a reason rock stars are rock stars. Brian Johnson stands about five-foot nothing, but the guy has legitimate presence. As he bounced up to the side of the car, it may as well have been Hulk Hogan leaning in to undo the window net. Now, I'm not usually someone who gets particularly loopy around celebrities, but I have to admit that I did have some passing thought of "Wow. I'm about to talk to Brian Johnson. I wonder what his first words to me will be? How will the relationship between the lead singer of one of the biggest bands in the world, and the humble journalist who had just driven his car be defined?

"How's your arse-hole?"

"Um, fine, sir, I think?" And for some reason I thought about the incident involving Led Zeppelin, a groupie, and a mud shark.

"If you want to get this fooker goin' fast, you gotta wind her up until your arse-hole is goin' like a bunny's nose!"

I'm still not quite sure I understand the metaphor, but then again I'd never written that a young lady had "knocked me out with her American thighs," so I may not be fully able to understand the genius.

At any rate, I went on to find out that behind the legend is a guy who accurately fits the "hardest working man in show business" descriptor. The dude is just 11/10ths in every facet of his life, and legitimately seems to enjoy every second of his existence. I'm sure having enough money to hold God's mortgage doesn't hurt, but you definitely get the impression that if he was delivering pizzas for a living, he'd be the best, happiest, most dedicated pizza delivery guy in the fleet. His satisfaction seems to come not from the achievements, but from the intensity that he puts into his pursuits. I dig people like that—people that love the work, no matter what it is.

He hung out for part of the day, just being a racer and shooing the breeze. I think my favorite anecdote was when he casually mentioned that he had to get back to his office because Metallica was borrowing their stage for part of their tour and he needed to make sure all the pieces were present before they picked it up. For some reason I had visions of Lars Ulrich and James Hetfield meeting Brian at some U-Stor-It place in their '82 Dodge van and picking up their stage and heading out, but I imagine the reality involved lots of paperwork and 18-wheelers. Still, though, it was interesting to hear that bands at every level seem to have the same symbiotic relationship with each other when they travel in the same circles.

Oh yeah, and his wife is a talented racer herself, and a world-class chef. In other words, it's TOTALLY okay to be jealous of the guy.

jg

Yep.

In reply to JG Pasterjak:

JG (and David), you should know that E36M3 like this is part of why so many of us love the forums so much. We already suspected that y'all who make the magazine are just like us..that's why we buy the damn thing in the first berkeleying place. Stories like this from the staff just confirm it.

In reply to JG Pasterjak:

Killer story, JG. Seems to nail it on the head.

I thin kthe coolest thing about him is that he quietly donated a wing to a children's hospital in Florida. Where so many celebrities are quick to say "LOOK WHAT I DONATED!!! I'M SUCH A HUMANITARIAN!!!", Brian Johnson donates an entire wing of a hospital to very little fanfare.

THAT is cool. Dude definitely figured out the right way to live life.

WHY AM I THE ONLY berkeleying PERSON WHO'S NEVER MET BRIAN JOHNSON!? Seriously. I want our glasses to get shorter on whiskey, ice, and water, and hand him a "For those about to hong..." shirt. Damnit.

JG Pasterjak wrote: "If you want to get this fooker goin' fast, you gotta wind her up until your arse-hole is goin' like a bunny's nose!"

Is that a bit too rough for the magazine? I laughed for a good 5 minutes after reading that, it is even funnier now that I've met him and can hear it in his own voice.

I can't believe that fooker is 6 years older than me!

I met him at LAST years mitty. Loved every second of my conversation with him.

I've heard him use the "bunny's nose" metaphor before, maybe on Top Gear? Great story JG!

I missed him doing an AC/DC song on karaoke night at our local bar a couple of years ago. How berkeleying awesome must that have been?

Monster Toad wrote: I missed him doing an AC/DC song on karaoke night at our local bar a couple of years ago. How berkeleying awesome must that have been?

For years I have listened to a buddy of mine swear up and down that he (Johnson) has been spotted at Karoake bars but I always thought it was BS.

John Brown wrote:

Monster Toad wrote: I missed him doing an AC/DC song on karaoke night at our local bar a couple of years ago. How berkeleying awesome must that have been?

For years I have listened to a buddy of mine swear up and down that he (Johnson) has been spotted at Karoake bars but I always thought it was BS.

I should have also mentioned that the name of the bar is Big Johnson's.

Lesley wrote: I've heard him use the "bunny's nose" metaphor before, maybe on Top Gear? Great story JG!

I was thinking of the TG interview. Something how the no-so-cool Mini wagon's had sliding rear windows that were perfect for sticking ladies' legs out of...

I'm not sure what would be more cool, hearing Brian sing his own songs at karaoke, or him doing something completely out of character like Tom Jones?