Little story about Bill.

Bill went to Roosevelt High, same as half the awesome people in the entertainment industry#Notable_alumni), same as a lot of my friends. As such, he's a known quantity. Or, at least he is, if you know who he is. He's a decidedly unassuming man.

One of the first shows I worked for money was the Swans' Soundtracks for the Blind farewell tour - they called it quits for 13 years after that because Michael Gira and Jarboe couldn't stand each other. And I've got the monitors dialed up and I'm checking my lights while they're doing a good'n'proper Swans-ey dirge and this dude in a black sport coat and wool scarf, probably in his 50s, walks in. He stands next to me and proceeds to strip-tease.

Mike Gira cracks up, the song stops, and he says "you asshole." Then he gets into the mic and says "Bill Rieflin, ladies and gentlemen."

I turn to him and say "You're Bill Rieflin?"

He says "Most days."

"I drove four thousand miles to see you play with Ministry twice."

"I'm sorry."

"No, you guys were awesome! It was fuckin' rad."

"Those pricks still owe me money."

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There are a lot of nice people in music, industrial/goth included. Bill Rieflin is definitely one of them. When he started touring with REM everyone in town went UP-GRADE!