My shyness and hesitance in engaging Williams to be interviewed or a guest on the podcast stuck with me for several years after my last interaction with him, and it was a regret. Which is why I had no hesitation about asking the next famous person I knew was a CoffeeGeek fan for exactly that: an interview I could publish on the website. And that famous person was Steven Page, of the Bare Naked Ladies (and since then, a fantastic solo career).
Around late 2008, I was aware that Page read CoffeeGeek and that he was a serious home espresso nerd, but how I found out escapes me this day. This was still before Twitter was really a thing and Facebook had just gone to public access a year or two before. All I know is, Page got my contact email and had sent me a few emails asking about how to get the most out of a La Spaziale espresso machine.
We interacted back and forth and this time, I didn’t hesitate and wasn’t shy – I asked him if we could do an interview for the CoffeeGeek website. Well, we did, and Page even shot a few photos of himself in his kitchen, with his LaSpaz machine behind him for the interview. And here it is, originally published in April, of 2009.
Since then, Page invited my wife and I to two of his private shows in Vancouver and Victoria, and I’ve been able to give him some excellent coffee as a thank you on both occasions; and I also got to witness just how gracious and fantastic he is with fans, one example which I will share with you now.
Page was hired to do a fancy private corporate function at the Cactus Club Cafe English Bay Beach location during one of the Festival of Light Fireworks competitions in Vancouver around 2009 or 2010, and he invited my wife and I to it as guests. It was super posh and exclusive, and I felt entirely out of place (my partner looked fabulous and fit right in). Page, who smoked back then, during the middle break in his performance invited me to go with him to stand right outside the entry gate area on Beach Avenue because smoking was not allowed in the closed off (but outdoor still) facility.
So we were out there, talking and nerding out about coffee and espresso, when a woman runs across the street and engages him. She was a total super fan of the Bare Naked Ladies and Page, and saw him from the balcony of her condo tower across the street. And let me tell you, she was seriously losing it – Beatlemania losing it – over meeting Page in person. It was almost scary.
Page was absolutely perfect in that moment (remember there were no cameras around, this is before smartphones took off, no one to record his interaction or take note of it). He acted almost as enthusiastic as she was, yelling ‘I can’t believe I’m meeting YOU!” to her, asking her name, giving her a massive hug, and actually having a conversation with her – an enthusiastic, fun conversation. The woman was almost literally in heaven. This went on for a solid five minutes.
Then Page’s manager came around and told him it was time for the second half; the woman remembered that she brought a BNL music CD and wanted him to sign it but forgot a pen. Page asked his manager to find one. One was found, and he signed the CD and then posed for a photo with her (she brought a digital camera as well); I was the one who took the picture. Page then said goodbye, and gave her a huge hug and thanked her for being a fan.
The entire time I stood back and soaked all of that in. How Page made that woman – a kind of crazy, dishelved, nondescript person – feel like the most important person on the planet. How absolutely genuine he was with her. How delighted he was to interact with her. After, as we walked back inside, he told me he never got tired of that.
I’ve had conversations and interactions with Page since that time, but I’ve never told him how witnessing that incident turned me into a super fan of his. Not a super fan of his music – that was already set in stone (The Chorus Girl from his 2010 Album Page One is one of my all time favourite songs of his) – but of him as just a genuinely good human being.
Mark has certified as a Canadian, USA, and World Barista Championship Judge in both sensory and technical fields, as well as working as an instructor in coffee and espresso training. He started CoffeeGeek in 2001.
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