A brief meeting with George Martin

On March 19, 1996 (nearly 20 years ago today) I took the opportunity to meet the great George Martin at KCRW in Santa Monica, CA. I had been volunteering at the station for nearly two years. One morning, on my way to college, I heard that George Martin would be interviewed at 9 AM. Though I knew it would be nearly impossible to get to Santa Monica from the Valley in time, I had to try. As expected traffic on the 405 was virtually impenetrable. My battered, little hatchback veered between slow cars, and madly switched lanes in an attempt to quickly progress southward; meanwhile I pulled my hair out in frustration. Soon both my car and myself began to overheat. I listened to the interview begin in a bumper-to-bumper standstill. 

Somehow I swerved into the community college that housed the station just as the morning DJ was saying goodbye to Martin. I stepped into the long, narrow hallway that separated the on-air studio from the parking lot. At that very moment George Martin and his assistant strode toward the exit that I had just entered. Had I been stuck at just one more traffic light, or if I had hit my snooze alarm even once that morning, I would have missed meeting my all time hero. 

George Martin graciously posed for a photograph, shook my hand and signed my CD copy of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Then he was off. It was the briefest encounter possible. It is rare to meet one's all time hero and role model. In writing these remembrances I'm struck by a particular irony - I played hooky that day to meet George Martin, but it was because of George Martin that I even was in college. I was a music major and it was his genius that inspired me to begin with.

Thank you for letting me share my story with you.