Apr 102012
You don’t have to name names, if you don’t feel comfortable doing so, but if you’ve ever been backstage at a concert, in whatever capacity, do tell a memorable moment!
Here’s one: I was backstage visiting my close personal friend and bandmate chickenfrank one time, maybe 15 years ago, when he was playing with another band. His band finished its opening set, and booted Pogues singer Shane MacGowan and his new band of faux-Pogues were about to take the stage. As his bandmates waited in the wings, Shane quickly ducked into the backstage bathroom, where he vomited, wiped his vomit-covered lips on his sleeve, and walked onstage to begin singing. Gross.
Not really backstage, but…
’03 Mayall brought the ‘Breakers out here. The place was very small and when I judged about ten minutes to kick-off I went outside for the last two smokes before it started. It was empty out there but for the ticket-taker boss, and who should then come right out to settle up before playing but John Mayall! I sort of worked it out so I’d be walking in just as they finished their business and was able to catch Mayall with a “Hey John! This is gonna be great! Have a good show!” And He Looked Right At Me From Three Feet Away and replied, “Aw, thanks mate! Enjoy the show!”
So that’s right: I’m mates with John Mayall. He said so.
And folks say cigarettes ain’t ever good for you.
aloha
LD
I have two. I got to go to a soundcheck about 18 years ago when Richard Thompson was playing at Toad’s Place in New Haven. After the soundcheck we (my wife and I and our two daughters, then about 5 and 2 years old) went down to the dressing room. Roger McGuinn was opening and he was there. He and Richard were going to do a number or two together and were discussing which it was to be. They decided – and for the life of me I can’t remember what song it was but it was a Byrds classic – and they began practicing it. Call me a fan boy but it was something to sit there in a small dressing room and hear that legendary 12 string sounding just like you all know it does.
The other was at the Shubert in New Haven. Our oldest was 6 weeks old and we went to see Richard Thompson, David Bromberg, and Taj Mahal. Richard was the headliner and was on stage when the baby needed nursing. So Cathy and Kate went backstage to take care of that. Taj Mahal took a fancy to Kate, wanted to hold her, and was singing to her. Kate of course has no memory of it but it’s a pretty neat start to life.
Can’t think of anything I haven’t already yakked about, but the second time I saw The Pogues, my girlfriend at the time kissed Shane on the lips…Had to boil her head for a week before I felt it was safe to go near that mouth! Like the Stones clip; haven’t seen it before. This, however, may be my fave piece of backstage Stonery:
http://youtu.be/jliscrtOQHs
I may have commented on this before in one of my Soul Aslyum asides . . . but in late summer of 1997 we got three backstage passes (for four people) for what started out as a Soul Aslyum, Semisonic, Matchbox 20 tour. By the time they reached Merriweather Post in Columbia, MD, it had turned into Matchbox 20, Soul Asylum, and Semisonic tour. Matchbox 20 exploded that summer.
Of course, I didn’t give a rip about Matchbox 20. Being a good Minnesota boy, I was all hyped to meet Dave Pirner and Semisonic’s Dan Wilson, who with his brother Matt, was in Trip Shakespeare, one my favorite Twin Cities bands of the late 80s.
Dan Wilson, who had dyed his hair a sickly yellow, talked on his cell phone the whole time. Dave Pirner brooded in his bus, after bitching about his record company not promoting the Candy From A Stranger album during their part of the show.
So that left us hanging out with Rob Thomas and his bandmates. When they tried to kick one of us out, because we only had three passes, one of the Matchbox 20 guys said to the security dude “Don’t worry, they’re cool.” So I pounded the ol’ Budweiser with Rob Thomas, who was a pretty decent guy.
Flash forward to 2010, and Matt Wilson and John Munson (Munson was in both Seminsonic and Trip Shakespeare) form a band called The Twilight Hours, who played Iota in Arlington, VA. Before the show, I get to chat up Matt and, especially John, about those Trip Shakespeare albums. I asked John who wrote on Toolmaster of Brainerd —
http://youtu.be/kv8TsCXo1ZQ
and he said “That was all Matt” — so it all works out in the end.
I had a beer with d. boon at the 9:30 club. It was early before the show, I had some excuse to be there (writing for the school paper maybe?) so I think I faux interviewed him. I invited him and the band to crash at our house in DC. He was all “aww schucks, thanks … but we stay with Henry’s (Rollins) mom’s place. She cooks for us.”
He died about 3 weeks after that.
There is one that comes to mind that doesn’t involve the Dead Milkmen I can tell. We’ll it is only tangentially related to the DM.
A dear old fan / friend of the band moved to California many years ago and became friends with Keanu Reeves and played street hockey with him. Our friend ended up managing Dogstar – the late 1990s band Mr. Reeves was in.
They played the TLA and the Mrs. and I went to see our friend. The show was forgettable. But I do remember an awkward moment when somehow Keanu and the Mrs. and I were left in the dressing room by ourselves. I had no idea what to say. So we said nothing other than hello. I must admit to being a bit star struck.
I’ve mentioned this here before but in 1990 or so, I was at a Peter Case show at Slims in SF when I noticed that Cyril Jordan from the Flamin’ Groovies was sitting nearby. I went up and introduced myself, told him that I was a big fan of the Groovies and that my band played Shake Some Action. He gave me his home phone number and said to call the next time we played out and that he would join us onstage. I never called because my band broke up shortly there after and we sucked anyway so I would have been embarrassed to have him see what we were doing to his song. But I carried that phone number in my wallet for years.
Then, in 2008, my band opened for Magic Christian, Cyril’s band with Clem Burke and Eddie from the Plimsouls. Would he be as cool as I remembered? Yes! We chatted backstage and he addressed all manner of rock and roll topics from buying acid for Cream to Kim Fowley suggesting the title for Teenage Head to Dave Edmunds’ advice on the use of compression while recording (“Pancake it”). I asked if he was still playing that Dan Armstrong plexiglas guitar and he promptly got it out and put it in my hands.
A bit off topic: I have to belatedly acknowledge the Mod’s interviewing skills for asking the following question while interviewing the singer from Magic Christian (who had never been in a band before he asked all of those guys to form MC): “Please note that this question is meant as a compliment, but how big are your balls?”
https://www.rocktownhall.com/blogs/index.php/the-rock-town-hall-interview-magic-chris/2/
I have a few stories of hanging with some cool dudes, but this is a sentimental favorite for obvious reasons.
My wife was pregnant with our daughter in 2002, and I went to see Jay Bennett and Edward Burch play in NYC after they put out their record. I always loved Jay in Wilco, and my wife and I were really digging that album – especially the version of “My Darling” on it, which was so obviously about a baby. (Jay had written it about his niece being born.)
After the show, Jay was hanging at the bar. We ended up talking and drinking and closing the place down, and I finally asked him if my wife and I could have his permission to use a snippet of the lyrics of “My Darling” in our birth announcement, as my daughter was expected to be born in a few weeks.
Jay immediately said “of course,” enthusiastically hugged me, got misty, and wrote down his home address and phone number for me. He asked that we send him a copy of the announcement when the happy day came.
One of those pretty pink gingham announcements is still framed in my daughter’s room nearly 10 years later. We sent one to Jay although I never heard from him or met up with him again. Of course, Jay is gone now.
This was the quote we used:
“Because we made you,
My darling,
From the love that was in our hearts,
We were a family, my darling,
Right from the start…”
Beautiful! I’m glad so many sweet, “Mean Joe Green tossing the kid his jersey” moments are being reported after my particularly disgusting set up.
I SUMMON MWALL to share the story of Alex Chilton coming back to his pad for drinks and weed after a 9:30 club gig in the late 80s.
That I missed! I had seen an earlier Chilton show a few month prior. He was just ok, so I decided to skip it. When I finally rolled in that night (I lived there too) MWALL regaled me with the story. Dang it!
As I recall, that same Pogues vomit show had John Doe’s band on the bill. I remember having what seemed like a lengthy conversation with DJ Bonebreak after their soundcheck. He was friendly, outgoing, and seemed liked he enjoyed talking rather than just treating it like an obligation. Similar to D Boon with his modest level of success, he probably didn’t even realize that meeting him was such a thrill for me. Keanu knows meeting him is a big deal. What with the popularity of Dogstar.
That’s right, I forgot that Doe was part of that bill.
Thinking of Doe that night I just thought of a nerdy thread to launch, maybe later tonight…
Yesterday my teenage son and I stopped in at the Paley Center for Media, which had no artifacts and was essentially a video library for people who don’t know that YouTube and Hulu exist. At least their collection allowed us to view old episodes of Saturday Night Live, clips of which are swept from YouTube in record time. The first thing I called up was the Rolling Stones’ 1978 appearance on the show. What a joy. It was as fun as I remembered it. THAT is the Stones I wanted to see live!