RealSteveRosen

How are you? Michael was actually quite cool. Very nice. Soft-spoken. No ego that I could see. After the interview, he went into a corner of this room where the interview was held and he started dancing. It was as natural for him as breathing was for all of us. Being that close to him and watching him dance was pretty freaking unreal. I don't think his feet touched the ground.

Biggest rock star? I've interviewed a lot of people and they were all pretty cool. There were some morons. Todd Rundgren believe it or not was pretty difficult. I was interviewing him for a guitar mag and he didn't want to talk about guitars. As if he was above that. Made me mad! Thanks.

Hey: That's a good question. Recently, I went back and made a list of all the people I've interviewed who have subsequently and it was a very long list. A very long, sad list. Tom Petty was amazing. Jack Bruce. Jeff Porcaro. Keith Moon. Paul Kossoff. John Entwistle. Cozy Powell. Ray Manzarek. Les Paul. Leo Fender. Very sad.

Terrific question. Most of the interviews I've done have been for musician-oriented mags - Guitar Player, Guitar World, Bass Player and assorted musician-related international mags - so the conversation centered on the artists talking about their playing, techniques, tones, songwriting. I mean what guitar player doesn't like talking about guitar? But if I've done my job correctly and asked the right questions and stuff, a player's personality will come out in his description of how he plays and how he approaches a song. Who he is will be revealed. That being said, yes, most people want to know about the person as much as they want to know about the music. I've done those types of interviews though they're not my most favorite conversations I've ever had.

Hi: I will tell you who I think is the "greatest" guitarist of all time (hands down): Jeff Beck. Jeff can play anything. Country, rock, jazz, blues, fusion, metal, R&B. His hands were gifts from God. In term of technique, it doesn't get much better than Satriani or Steve Vai. Eric Johnson was a real game changer. Thanks.

Zep. Though pretty much everything they did was behind closed doors, it was insanity around them. Though nobody was supposed to say a word, every girl within a 20-mile radius was there in the hotel lobby. It's beyond me how they found out. Each guy in the band had his own limo and they had their own private jet. It was insanity though a lot of fun! Oh, I almost forgot being on the road with Sabbath for a couple days back in '74. Some of the band - I can't remember if Ozzy was there - came into my room and trashed it. Set the couch on fire, blew the fire extinguisher over everything, broke the TV. Of course, I had to join in. I mean how could you be in a room that was being destroyed by members of Black Sabbath and not join in, right? Fun fun fun. I didn't know what was going to happen but when I checked out the next day, all the damage had been paid for. One of the nicest bands in the world.

Thanks.