PONCA CITY, OK. — When you work as a journalist, you never know who you may end up meeting, interviewing, or talk to on the phone.
Even small-town journalists can experience encounters with celebrities. Case in point, one Saturday morning at work I had a celebrity encounter over the phone.
Pete Agnew, who gained fame as a member of the band Nazareth, was calling my small-town Oklahoma newspaper from overseas before taking the stage in Germany as part of the group's 40th anniversary tour.
What rock music fan has not jammed to the tunes Love Hurts and Hair of The Dog?
For those with no knowledge of the band here is some background.
According to former band member Manny Charleton's Web site, Charleton started out as a guitarist in the 1950s with a band called Mike Satan and the Hellcats. In 1968, Charleton joined The Shadettes.
The Shadettes were formed in 1962 by Agnew and Alfred Murray in Scotland.
Soon the band consisted of McCafferty, Charleton, Agnew and Darrell Sweet and the group changed their name to Nazareth in 1970.
Charleton was with the band until 1990. Since then he has performed solo and as members of other bands.
Billy Rankin replaced Charleton and performed with Agnew, Darell Sweet and Dan McCafferty and Jimmy Murrison and Ronnie Leahy joined the group in the '90s. Sweet passed away in 1999 and Lee Agnew stepped in as the drummer.
Agnew was calling my small-town newspaper to express his concerns with Charleton, who is playing in America and calling his band Nazareth.
Charleton and his American band members were scheduled to perform in Oklahoma that night.
Agnew wanted to make sure that fans knew they were not going to be enjoying the original sounds of Nazareth, as he and the others, are on tour overseas in Germany.
Agnew said that Charleton and other former members of legendary rock bands are teaming up with a company out of Florida called Artists International Management, (AIM).
The former members tour the country using the name of their former bands. To some the marketing tools are not clear, and some fans may think they are seeing the original band.
Charleton and his new bandmates are the second group to come to our town using a classic band name.
A few months before, Bad Company, featuring former lead singer Brian Howe, came to town and Molly Hatchet is scheduled here in May.
Agnew and the others posted a press release on their Web site, www.nazarethdirect.co.uk about Charleton and his group.
Charleton's promotion did not set well with Agnew as he indicated he was in a court dispute with Charleton.
A press release on the AIM Web site, www.aimrocks.com, states that TMZ has confirmed the court dispute.
The release reports that other legal proceedings brought against Charleton has been dismissed and that the overseas band and its Canadian agent maybe under investigation.
If you are a true fan of Nazareth, you would probably enjoy see Charleton's band as well, since he is a part of the band's original roots.
I believe true fans of the bands will do their homework and know if they are about to enjoy the sounds of the real thing or not. In the meantime, a note to all journalist, be nice when you answer your phone, you never know who will be on the other end.
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