George Thorogood Threw Me Off Stage – Literally

Did I ever tell you about the time George Thorogood threw me off stage - literally - in 2013? People ask me for great radio stories all the time. When I tell them one, often they ask when I'm going to write my book. It's doubtful that will ever happen, so I usually share them in articles like this! Since our incredible Big Gig with John Fogerty and George Thorogood & The Delaware Destroyers is coming up on June 7th, I thought I'd relay this doozy regarding George and me. Several times over the years, we've done a cool thing before a show at the Keswick Theatre in Glenside. We'll invite some listeners to a private Q&A and discussion with that night's performing artist. It's a really cool idea, in that there are only 30-40 guests invited to attend, in this huge theater! You can feel the intimacy between audience and artist so well that way. I loved the idea. We could have a live hometown broadcast across the street at the Keswick Tavern, then pop over to the theater for the pre-show event. How cool! The first one of these we scheduled was on March 24, 2012 and it was with Dave Mason. When the MGK management asked me to host the event, I jumped at the chance! As you can see by the photos below, Dave and I had a great time chatting. [caption id="attachment_955448" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Dave Mason chats with 102.9 MGK's Andre Gardner during an "artist spotlight" before Mason's show On March 24, 2012 at the Keswick Theatre in Glenside, PA. (Photo: Tom Collins)[/caption] The next "Artist Spotlight" scheduled was almost exactly one year later, on March 14, 2013. It was going to be with George Thorogood! Once again, he and I would chat for a bit, then the audience would ask some questions. Over the years, I'd met and/or hung out with both Billy Blough and Jeff Simon of the Delaware Destroyers, but never George himself. Both of those dudes are great and always cool. Now, the stage was set, literally, and I was excited to sit down with a local rock legend. The invited guests took their seats and I came onstage to introduce George Thorogood. He came out, and we started to chat. We just got through talking about how his and George Harrison's birthday were so close together, and I asked a follow up question. That's when things got weird. I don't exactly remember the next question I asked but it was absolutely benign, nothing confrontational or anything. Literally three words into my question, Thorogood's face suddenly changed. It went from hyped up to angry, and he started waving his arms toward me. I thought maybe he was busting my chops and giving me a quick hit or something, but he proceeded to forcefully push me toward the edge of the stage. He was saying something like, "get out of here, we don't need this!!" Thankfully ace local photographer Tom Collins was there with his camera, and snaped a few shots of the moment: I felt a bit embarrassed and definitely surprised by what had just happened. Obviously not feeling the love from this guy, I stumbled and got my balance, and simply walked offstage to sit down with the rest of the invited guests. George ended up doing a very entertaining chat and Q and A with his fans. To this day, I'm still not sure what the happened there. Maybe George was having a bad day, or maybe he didn't like the look of me. But when I'm old and grey, and I'm recanting stories to my grandkids about my time on the radio, I will surely tell them about the time George Thorogood threw me off stage - literally! If George Thorogood is planning on an interview leading up to our Big Gig with him and John Fogerty, I hope Matt Cord & Steve Vassalotti will have better luck that I did! [select-listicle listicle_id="954911" syndication_name="the-mgk-big-gig-2024-lineup-is-here-and-its-better-than-ever" description="yes"]