“Never squeeze the hand of a guitar player”

It was a cool spring evening in Toronto in 2014.

My sister Alyson and I were sitting in Massey Hall waiting for one of the legendary blues musicians, Buddy Guy to begin his performance. We were talking to a fellow behind us about how excited we were for the concert, nerding out on how much we treasured the moments to see the "old fellas" before their time as performing musicians came to an end.

Then I spotted him.

Randy Bachman.

One of the most influential and treasured Canadian musicians, original members of The Guess Who, and host of the show "Randy Bachman's Vinyl Tap" that had fuelled my rock and roll history soul.

It's not generally "cool" to approach famous people when you see them, but I had to embrace this opportunity to meet someone who had played such a big part in my exploration of rock and roll history (opinions on the music of Bachman Turner Overdrive aside).

After deciding to just go for it, Alyson and I quietly approached Mr. Bachman, who was very open to us and receptive to us telling him how much we respected and loved him.

We were a little into our pleasurable conversation when the fellow that had been sitting behind us all-too-enthusiastically and all-too-forcefully ran up to Randy, and grabbed his hand to shake it, again, all-too-enthusiastically, and all-too-forcefully.

"Never squeeze the hand of a guitar player!", Randy Bachman said, taking his hand back, shaking it out, and rolling his eyes at me and Alyson in annoyance as the guy sheepishly and shamefully creeped back to his seat.

We agreed with him, as guitar players ourselves, that it was never okay to mess with the tools that are created to make music. We exchanged a few more words about our love for him, our excitement to see Buddy Guy, and ended our conversation with gratitude and big smiles.

But before we went back to our seats, Randy Bachman said to us: "Wanna take a selfie?"

The resulting picture is me looking like a total geek because I was shaking like a leaf as I talked to him, as well as 2014 phone photo quality, but a moment that still lives in my heart and memory as one of the most memorable experiences in my little rock and roll historian life.