White Castle, America’s first fast-food hamburger chain, has been an inspiration to artists and bands for decades. Next week, the home of The Original Slider® will celebrate titans of the music industry by inducting three extraordinary Cravers into its exclusive Cravers Hall of Fame.
John Prine’s tour manager of nearly 30 years, Mitchell Drosin, had a first-row seat for the immensity of John’s Crave. One morning, many years ago in Kansas City, Mitchell’s hotel room telephone rang around 8 a.m. A woman on the line asked if her husband could meet John at his show in Houston the following day, her husband’s birthday. Mitchell said, “Yep, no problem,” not overthinking it at such an hour, and closed his eyes again. Yet, the phone rang again and it was the same woman with a more detailed request. She said her husband, a Canadian astronaut, needed some hours in the cockpit and could fly a private jet to them in Kansas City and continue on to Houston. Even more curious, the Canadian astronaut was to be accompanied by an Italian astronaut.
This was music life, man. Mitchell called John later in the morning to tell him what happened. John was all for it, but unbeknownst to the astronauts, he had something in mind to make the trip even more epic. En route to the airport, John said, “Let’s stop at White Castle first and pick up a bunch of sliders for the pilots and attendants.” When they boarded the plane, John said with a smile, “Hey, I’ve got lunch for everyone!” The astronauts had never had White Castle before. Needless to say, they loved every bite. The group bonded over the sliders and made the entire plane smell of grilled onions!
—
Photo Credit: JStone / Shutterstock.com