Bill O’Donnell – An Xperience Interview

Bill O’Donnell – An Xperience Interview – by Rob Smittix.

RRX: We’ve got my uncle, Bill O’Donnell, House Manager of the Palace Theatre, on the line.

BO: If you hear barking in the background, it’s my dog Doja Cat.

RRX: A dog named Doja Cat. That’s different.

(both laugh)

RRX: I know you’ve got a lot of stories …

BO: Hours and hours, a couple of days.

RRX: You should probably write a book.

BO: I think back, and I thought of how many autographed pictures I could have gotten from all these artists, but that’s not me. It’s not me, you know? I’m very fortunate to meet the artist, you know? To sometimes have casual conversations, which is really awesome for me. I find that there are some idiots out there, but a vast majority are really good people when you start talking to them. As far as my history goes, the Palace, I’ve been there since the mid-’70s.

RRX: Before I was born!

BO: Exactly.

Besides the Palace, there was a long stretch in which I actually worked for a security company, Concert Services, which is no longer around. But we did all sorts of major shows and events up and down the East Coast. So yes, I did Woodstock ’94 and ’99. ’99 I’d like to forget.

RRX: No kidding.

BO: But yeah, we did Phish all over the place. One of my favorites … I was fortunate enough to do the Rolling Stones tours. I was a supervisor, and my crew, we would always end up with the artist. But Keith Richards was my favorite of all. He’s the nicest down-to-earth guy.

RRX: Wow!

BO: People ask me what my absolute favorite was, you know? There are too many favorites. Also, before I started at the Palace, I worked with Jim Barrett. I was a co-manager at Just A Song, a vinyl record store back in the ‘70s.

RRX: I did not know that.

BO: So Jim would remember me. At times, I went over to RPI to do radio things over there with him, too. It was quite an experience. So it’s been my life in that direction.

RRX: I also think it’s cool that we are having this conversation on Uncle Skip’s birthday.

BO: Yes, he was an influence, too, of course. His influence was with Blue Öyster Cult.

RRX: Through Skip, I’ve become friends with Buck Dharma, and just like we are talking about your favorite experiences, hanging with Buck Dharma is certainly one of mine. I wanted to ask, could you share any stories about artists who were hard to deal with?

BO: I’m not gonna go there, but there were a few.

RRX: Okay, how about one of your most cherished memories?

BO: I will tell you one of my most memorable was with Chris Cornell when he did the solo show at the Palace. Quick history of that, and I’ll try to condense this. Chris had a mad psycho female stalker. She was claiming to everybody that his kids were her kids, she tried to break into his condo down in Florida, and it goes on and on. I was talking with his tour, security-wise, for like three weeks prior, to make sure everything was good. I said, send me any information you got on her, we’ll start working on it. I got a federal Wanted poster for her. She had been charged in New York City, both on city charges and also on federal charges. She cut her ankle bracelet off and was on the run. I did everything I could to make sure that the theatre was tight and everybody had her picture, even the Albany Police. I made sure that everything was set.

I was gonna have a police escort for his car out of Albany. During the show, I would go up on stage – the tour manager was up there – I’d say, “keep me posted on the time,” because I had the setlist and the approximate time it’s gonna be over because we have the Albany Police waiting for the end. Every time I went up there, he says, “Bill, I don’t know.” Chris kept saying how relaxed he is and how awesome it is, and he keeps on adding songs. People don’t realize that saw him that night, that they probably got the best show on that tour. And I say that because he played at least a half hour over, with adding all these songs.

So, at the end of the show, I watched Chris come off the stage, and he was like, “I’m so relaxed.” He literally jumped into his tour manager’s arms and was just so happy. Then we get them out to the car and everything’s ready to go. The car moved about three feet, and I’m standing there going, what the hell? I stopped, and the back door opened. Chris came running out to shake my hand to tell me how great it was and to thank me and to thank everyone who put this together because he felt so good that night. And then it was not too many months afterwards, Chris lost his life, you know? So that moment is precious in my mind. And you realize also what these talented people who become stars have to deal with in life.

RRX: Just a sidebar, when I worked at The Edge, I had a stalker, and that’s with very minimal local fame, you know what I mean?

BO: Yeah, it’s scary. But yeah … worked with a lot of memorable people over the years, even in comedy. I had an interaction with Robin Williams. It was funny because when he played the Palace, we talked about things just to get pieces for his routine. And I don’t know why, but somebody brought up Mayor Jennings and his tan or whatever. Robin was guaranteed that Jerry wasn’t coming that night. So Robin got into that part of the routine about Jerry, and all of a sudden the audience kinda got strange, and Robin sensed that. He said, “Wait a minute, turn up the lights.” He goes, “Is the mayor here tonight?” And there was Jerry in the 2nd row.

RRX: Oh my gosh.

BO: After the show, Jerry came up to me and he asked, “What’s the possibility of my wife and I meeting Robin? We’d love to meet him.” I said, “I’ll go ask.” And I went down to talk to him, and Robin Williams was Robin Williams on the stage and off the stage; there’s no difference. I asked him, and he says, “Yeah, you can bring him in here.” And then he goes, “Oh, wait a minute. Is he gonna hit me?” I said no. He says, “Well, I’ll meet him, but you’re gonna stand in between the two of us.” And of course, Jerry was great with him. They had a nice conversation.

RRX: That’s so cool. Well, I know we haven’t even touched the surface of your 50-plus years of stories, so you really need to write that book. Anything you’d like to say before we hang up?

BO: In all my years at the Palace Theatre, I’ve had so much memorable pleasure from the performers on stage and watching the audience experiencing their special performance. But more than that, watching the faces of all those leaving at the end of a performance, with their memorable experience shown in the happiness on their faces. That’s what it’s all about!

RRX: Awesome, thank you so much. I love you, Uncle Bill.

BO: I love you too.

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