A Mark In Time
Mark Knopfler Discussion => Mark Knopfler Discussion Forum => Topic started by: Pottel on December 10, 2011, 11:20:13 PM
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found this little piece in the WWW on GW:
Glenn Worf says Marsh Shapiro won't remember him, but Glenn Worf remembers Marsh Shapiro.
"I'm not sure I would have been a musician without him," Worf was saying Thursday.
Worf, 55, who grew up in Madison, has become quite a musician. Based in Nashville, he plays bass and bass guitar in recording sessions for the best acts in the business.
He played on Jimmy Buffett's last two studio CDs, and then late last month, Worf sat in with Buffett at Alpine Valley in East Troy.
It was his first time playing live with Buffett. "Jimmy knew I was from Madison," Worf said.
Tuesday, when Mark Knopfler's new CD, "Get Lucky," is released, you can hear Worf on bass. Next year he'll spend five months on the road with Knopfler.
But Worf's roots are here, and he says he owes it all - or a good part of it anyway - to the many nights he spent outside Marsh Shapiro's Nitty Gritty with "my wet nose pressed to that big plate glass window."
Worf was too young to get inside, but he thrilled to the national blues acts - Buddy Guy, Luther Allison - that Shapiro began booking in 1968 when he took over the bar at the corner of Frances and Johnson streets and renamed it the Nitty Gritty.
Worf stood outside at the window that allowed a view of the stage. "Occasionally Marsh would take pity on us and bring us Cokes," he said.
Worf grew up in the Orchard Ridge neighborhood and his parents, Gayle and Mary Worf, still live there. Glenn said that his dad tells the story of how one day when Glenn was a young teen, he summarily announced he was going to take up the guitar. Glenn doesn't recall any such epiphany but he'll take his dad's word for it. In any case, he got started, first with guitar, and then, at 15, with bass.
"On my end of town there weren't any bass players," Worf said. "And I liked the way the bass sounded."
He played in bands while attending Madison Memorial and that's where he met his future wife, Susan Meier. Susan is in the area this week visiting her sister, Pam, who owns the Panacea retail shop in Spring Green. Glenn and Susan now have four grown children.
It was the desire to raise a family that led Worf to settle in Nashville as a freelance studio musician. After UW-Eau Claire, where he studied music, Worf played in some bands. He fondly remembers one with Madison legend "Westside" Andy Linderman, but for the most part, Worf said, the music and venues were uninspired, the travel brutal.
He moved to Nashville in 1979, and after a few lean years, developed a reputation as the go-to guy when a bass player was needed. Over the years he's played with Emmylou Harris, Bob Seger, Alan Jackson, George Jones and many others. Worf met Knopfler in the early 1990s when Worf was playing with some buddies on a Monday night at the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville and Knopfler walked in.
"I knew with Glenn straight away," Knopfler told the Nashville Tennessean in 2005, "'Now this here is bass playing.'" The former Dire Straits star contacted Worf a short time later and they've collaborated ever since.
Worf said he considers it "the supreme honor of my professional career" to play with Knopfler, whom he calls "the greatest musician I've ever met." Worf played on "Get Lucky" during two three-week recording sessions in London in December and February. The CD is out Sept. 15.
Worf met Buffett through Buffett collaborator Mac McAnally. He enjoyed the Alpine Valley gig with Buffett last month, and said that with his kids grown, more touring may be in his future.
There is more Wisconsin in his future, too. Worf still considers Madison home and he said he and Susan have a farmhouse in Door County and hope to spend six months a year there.
Perhaps Worf will check out the Nitty Gritty again, too. The only song he is likely to hear is "Happy Birthday," but, hey, at least he'll be inside.
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Great article! :) Thanks for posting it Pottel.
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Why underrated?
Doesn't Mark's himself saying that Glenn is probably the most busiest bass player in the world?
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yeah, mark, but in general, we, for example, hardly ever talk about him, it's like, he's furniture, you like it, and bought it coz you really wanted it, but after a while it is just there, and no longer "noticed"
that is what i meant.
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Glenn, a cool cat who sounds like a dog. Worf worf!
(that was awful ...)
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(that was awful ...)
I agree ;D
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That was Worf-ul! ;D
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Speaking of dogs ... Poor Rowlf:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9X3iF6ntXQ
This kills me every time. LOL.
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That was Worf-ul! ;D
Indeed.
Energize, Mr. Scott
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Glenn is a fine musician and a really, really nice person. He says his father taught him it doesn't cost anything to be nice to people.
Thanks so much for the article, Pottel.
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Glenn is a fine musician and a really, really nice person. He says his father taught him it doesn't cost anything to be nice to people.
Thanks so much for the article, Pottel.
He's really a very nice gentleman. Knopfling and I met, talked and had photos taken with him last year during GL tour in Temecula, CA.
We asked if Mark was around somewhere. He politely remarked that he would see what he could do for us. How kind of him. Of course Mark wasn't anywhere around to be found. :(
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He seems like a great guy indeed. I wonder why he has a less prominent role in the band than say during the Golden Heart tour, where he also sang. Anyone knows?
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i met him at the RAH last year, where he was rehearsing on the big lady during the support group. simply a nice fella. and tall!
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He seems like a great guy indeed. I wonder why he has a less prominent role in the band than say during the Golden Heart tour, where he also sang. Anyone knows?
One guess would be that he doesn't particularly care for singing that much. The band is bigger now so he doesn't need to.
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I think he did a good job, and he was also much more "active" in those days, more in-your-face playing.
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I've met him twice -- with SweetSurrender in Temecula and once in Las Vegas.
In Vegas, we had about a five-minute conversation, which he kept going by asking me questions in addition to responding to mine.
Much of the band had come out into the lobby to meet Matt Rollings' mom and stepdad and friends, so there were people milling all over that he could have talked to, but Glenn kept talking with me about his respect for MK and things like that. It was so cool.
(Sweet Surrender took this picture in Temecula)
(http://i319.photobucket.com/albums/mm469/knopfling/Mark%20Knopfler%20Temecula%204-15-2010/IMG_0650.jpg)
Matt's stepfather took this picture in Vegas)
(http://i319.photobucket.com/albums/mm469/knopfling/various/mattrichardlindaglenn7-21-05.jpg)
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How could he not be friendly to you, with such a charming lady? :D
It must be great memories, and the pictures captured the good mood that obviously was around that event. It must have been during the Shangri-La tour back in 2005, right?
LE
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How could he not be friendly to you, with such a charming lady? :D
It must be great memories, and the pictures captured the good mood that obviously was around that event. It must have been during the Shangri-La tour back in 2005, right?
LE
Temecula was 2010 Get Lucky only if memory serves. Never played there before.
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Wow, LE, thank you so much! Very kind of you to say such things.
Yes, it was 2005/Shangri La in Vegas. Temecula was the 2010/Get Lucky tour.
I also saw MK in Vegas in 2008 and 2001.
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Nice memories knopfling! And pics
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Thanks, Pottel. They are good memories, for sure.
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Knopfling, the photo did turn out great. The one you took for me turned out just as good. I still couldn't forgive myself for stopping to get something to eat that day , which caused me a missed opportunity to see Mark stepping out of the car and walked through that door. >:(
Temecula was indeed the best memory of all for me. A handshake from Mark at the end of the show was more than I could ever have asked for. I was sooo taken emotionally !!! It was such a sweeeeet memory every time I relive that moment.
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Sweet, I'm still way jealous you got that handshake from the stage. MK never does that!
But I'm still happy for you.
Next time . . . !!!
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A handshake from Mark at the end of the show was more than I could ever have asked for. I was sooo taken emotionally !!! It was such a sweeeeet memory every time I relive that moment.
Welcome to the club. RAH 2008 for my part.
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A handshake from Mark at the end of the show was more than I could ever have asked for. I was sooo taken emotionally !!! It was such a sweeeeet memory every time I relive that moment.
Welcome to the club. RAH 2008 for my part.
Thank you for welcoming me to the Mark's handshaking club ! :) Who else ?
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Post-concert Glasgow 2001. Mark was sitting in a BMW 5-series waiting to be taken to his hotel (perhaps) while he signed things for people who had waited patiently until about 00:30/01:00 when the band finally started coming out. He signed my tour book too. Oh, and I met Glenn briefly just before Mark too who gave me his signature on a setlist! As has been said before, a gentleman.