Hanging out with Paul Rodgers and Storman Norm Casler at the Skynyrd show was all right then

By Steve Newton

I interviewed rock legend Paul Rodgers (Free, Bad Company, the Firm) for the first time back in August of 1997, when he was heading to Vancouver for a show with Kenny Wayne Shepherd and headliners Lynyrd Skynyrd.

I’m pretty sure that’s where I got him to sign my vinyl copy of the first Bad Company album.

I wangled my way backstage and got a photo with Rodgers, although it appears as if I tried just a little too hard to smile.

The fellow on Paul’s right is Norm Casler, aka Storman Norman, a Vancouver blues musician and radio personality who hosted the weekly Sunday Blues show for years on the local radio stations CFOX and CFMI (Rock 101). He was an awesome dude. (Check out our matching promotional Skynyrd shirts!)

To hear the full audio of my 1997 interview with Paul Rodgers subscribe to my Patreon page, where you can eavesdrop on over 400 of my uncut, one-on-one conversations with the legends of rock since 1982.