Great story about Tim Robbins' Fishbone shirt in Bull Durham:
Back in 86, we were playing a little dive club in Raleigh NC. It was a cool little place and we'd done shows there before a couple times. Tim Robbins made a point of coming to a lot of the NY shows and we'd make sure to accommodate him when he arrived. Already a good friend of the band, we made sure he got to say hello anytime.
We had just finished our NY show earlier in the month and I can't remember if he was there, but there we are in Raleigh and about an hour after doors opened, in the door walks Tim! I saw him as he was comin in so I made sure to quickly revise the guest list and greeted him as he came in. He turned to me and told me he really needed to get a couple of shirts. "No problem!" I said and took him right over to the merch stand and asked for 2 shirts to be comped. He turned and said, "No, I need to PAY for them! And I need the receipt." I had no idea why he was there and I asked how he came to be there. He said he'd seen the add in a local paper and just HAD to come by. So he got the shirts and we wrote him a receipt for them and he went off backstage to say hello to the rest of the band.
At the time, I was thinking, "What a great guy, he made sure to purchase the shirts to show his support!! What a guy!!"
What none of us knew at the time, he was there shooting "Bull Durham." He saw the add because he was in Durham and saw the local paper there. I thought he'd just driven down from NY.
I don't know if he told anyone in the band that he was nearby shooting a movie but I had no idea. I was just happy to have been there when he came in to put him on the guest list and get him his shirts.
2 years later, out comes the movie!!
He had PURCHASED the shirts, with the receipt, to give to wardrobe specifically for that scene in the movie. He wanted it to be officially part of his costume. Therefore it had to be purchased so it could be an expense of the production and he needed to have at least two so there was a back up for the shoot.
Little did any of us know, he wasn't just BUYING the shirts to show his support with just the purchase, he was WEARING it in the MOVIE to show his support!! He wanted to make sure we got all the coverage that shirt could represent being seen by the millions who would come to see the movie!!
Now THAT'S one HELL of a GUY!!!
Every time I see the film, I pat myself on the back a little for being there to make sure he got them NOT KNOWING that it would be featured as part of his costume.