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.. .. Day 2 Rex is Jay's brother. He is a filmmaker and an old friend from way back. Sarah, his lady keeps a lovely house and as we walked in the aroma from the curried chicken she was cooking up in the kitchen made our mouths water. After a few beers sitting in the sunshine of their garden we chowed down and headed over to Dante's for sound check. ....Portland.... is pretty with lots of rivers running through it, Dante's is downtown in the shady part of town with lots of derelicts hanging around, the Great White Sharks teeth were gleaming as we parked in front, as if to let everyone know, "Don't Fuck With The Shark." Dante's is a big room with all pro sound and a stage that's high up. As we load in with Pansy Division and The Avengers we replay last nights events, it seems like everyone is getting along great. The cast of characters is as follows, Pansy Division: Joel on lead guitar, John on guitar and vocals, Chris on bass and vocals and Luis on drums. Luis and Joel play double duty and are also part of The Avengers an long with Gregg on blistering lead guitar and of course one of the grand dames of punk Penelope Houston on lead vocals. Chris Pansy and I are becoming fast friends and we wind up calling each other everyday from the road to swap travel advisories and road conditions. A big part of our income on this tour is the "Million Dollar Merch" table. John is an expert with merch and The Pansy Division carry an impressive array of swag. They have shirts and CD's and DVD's and John's book that he wrote of their early years on the road, Penelope also runs a tight ship, and they have buttons and stickers and LP's, CD's 45's and she even had an Avengers dress. We needed 3 tables put together to handle all the stuff. Jay was our man for the merch and he did a great job giving the peeps all the inside info on our array of products. We were carrying Nerves CD's and LP's & shirts along with my last 2 records, Flying High and Ribbon of Gold and a lovely 3 color Beat shirt. I was proud to see the whloe thing once it was set up!
Soon it was show time and we were on stage again rocking out. My band has become a rock n roll steam roller, we have been doing shows all over the place for some 3 years now and it has become a greased machine. .... Our set list for this tour is as follows: .. .. Day 3
.. .. Day 4 Well hot diggidy dog we got a day off! We woke up surrounded by mountains, sun shinning down in the outskirts of ....Redding..... First order of business for me after a hot cup of Joe was a dive into the pool buck naked! Jay's ranch was sprawling and the boys spread out nicely, Chris and Manolo took the downstairs den and Juancho and I had our own bedrooms, where Jay and his brothers used to be long ago. Olivia treated us to a nice breakfast of quesadias and fresh fruit and then it was off to do a little sight seeing compliments of our hostess of the mostest Jay. First stop was the Whiskytown Damn inaugurated by John F Kennedy himself, we stood there listening to his speech he had made so many years ago, for any American it is a moving experience to hear JFK's voice again after so long. Then we went to see the bridge that the famous Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava designed over ....Turtle.. ..Bay..... It was lovely and we walked across it and saw all the big geese swimming around as the fly fishermen fished away...delightful to say the least. Then it was off to meet the legendary Steve Huff bassist extraordinaire of The Beat and my com padre from way back. We cruised downtown passing the old Thompson Big and Tall clothes store that Jay had the unfortunate duty of closing down after three generations of service to the community and we rooted Steve out of his office where he does soft ware trouble shooting. Steve appeared to be glad to see us and he agreed to join us later for a tri-tip BBQ at the Thompson ranch. Then we need to get supplies so Jay took us to the best spot to stock up on booze and tobacy. Back that the ranch Jay's kids had the grill going and old friend Bob Sell showed up with his private stock of home brewed liqours...peach shnaps, plum whisky and god knows what else but it was good and it was strong. After shots and beers and shots and more beers it was dinner time and we all helped ourselves to big portions of Tri-Tips and beans and corn on the cob, salad and then peach cobbler for dessert...yeah we was living large! After all that good food and booze it was bed time for the nipper...tomorrow was another day....
Day 5.... .. .. We pulled The Great White Shark out of Jay's Ranch and headed down the mountains and back onto I-5 direction ....Sacramento..... Tonight it would be just us and Pansy Division at The Fire Escape in ..Citrus Heights... The sun was shining and we were in good spirits after all the good spirits we had! Olivia had whipped us up a great breakfast of eggs and beans with tortillas, OJ and lots of hot coffee to fuel our drive, what a lovely lady she was! The Shark was shimmering in the sunlight as we barreled down the road. We mad good time and as we pulled into Citrus Heights I spied a road side Mexican joint that fit the bill so we pulled over for yet more good Mexican food! You can never get enough burritos! The Fire Escape had all the trappings of a good ol rock n roll joint. The sound man knew his stuff and for me it was one of the best sounding gigs we did. The joint wasn't too big so there was no need to mike up the instruments, it pure unadulterated rock n roll. There was a local band opening whose name escapes me at the moment but they had members from The Mr. T Experience and they did a great version of Paper Dolls from The Nerves. It was the first night that I really got to listen to Pansy Division's set and they really rocked, they are all great musicians and I was really happy we were on the road with them, aside from the fact that they are all just the nicest fellows you could ever want to meet. John was a fan of mine from way back so he would pick my brains about the old days, it was really kinda of touching the way he would want to know things about my past which he seemed to know a lot about. Cris from Pansy Division and I were well into becoming fast friends and Joel and Luis too, it was one big mutual admiration society all the way around! After the show we had a few more beers, chatted with the fans who all had been thoroughly satisfied, loaded up the Shark and we hit the road for ....Berkley.... and our good friend Eric Blakely's house. We arrived at about 3 am and Eric was waiting up for us. We had to completely unload the Shark for security measures and then figure out how all of us where going to sleep in Eric's very small apartment! Thank god I had had the foresight to get Jay to buy a Coleman blow up bed for the trip, tonight we put it to good use! Soon we were all snoring away with rock n roll music in our dreams! We were half way through the tour and it was going by way to fast!
Day 6 .. Day 7.... .. .. In the morning after hot showers and fresh brewed coffee we headed back to ....Oakland.... and The Uptown Club. Everything was gleaming in downtown ....Oakland.... as we pulled the Great White Shark up to the curb in front of the Uptown Theatre. Across the street the marquis of The Rex Theatre was flashing colours all over the street, the sky was that blue azure of the on coming night, in front of the stage entrance door stood a beautiful blond in a blue t-shirt. She smiled sweetly at us and welcomed us to the Uptown! Yeah I love rock n roll baby! The Uptown is the real deal, great stage and an all pro attitude. We load in and kill time until the show…occupational hazard. I had a bunch of friends that would be coming to the show, people I had not seen in years! My good buddy from radio Dave Logan showed up and we shot the shit and had a cocktail, Steve Owen my friend and compadre from the days when I was sucking eggs in Frisco back in the late 80’s showed up too. After a few more drinks it was show time…as I walked through the crowd I spied one of our oldest and truest fans from the way back machine, he was wearing his sparkling white Paul Collins Beat shirt in red letters from a show we did at The Old Waldorf back in 1980 something! We ripped through our set which by now we could play in our sleep, Manolo was all over the stage tearing his leads off in big chunks, the band just keeps getting better and better it is a joy to be a part of it. Juancho picked ....Oakland.... to debut his referee’s shirt with black and white vertical stripes, I was a little leery at first but everyone seemed to get it as Juancho whistled and made the classic hand signal for a foul! It was late when we lest the Uptown but I was feeling good, the warm ....California.... evening breeze kissing my skin. Jay and I followed Eric Blakely back to his pad in Berkeley and Chris, Manolo and Juancho headed to the ....Mission.... in San Fran with a couple of beautiful babes. All was well here in our rock n roll fantasy!
Day 8.... .. .. We slept in, had some good coffee and headed over to my good buddy Steve Owens pad in the outer ....Mission..... It brought back old memories as I climbed the back stairs to his house, this is where I had stayed for awhile after my first divorce, things where pretty bleak back then, a far cry from where they were today! Steve is really a great guy and we sat in his living room, Eric, Jay and I , just trading licks on the guitar and dobro, which Steve plays so well. I was happy to see my two old friends, Eric and Steve, who had never met each other, become friends, music being the common bond. We sipped on some cool micro brewed beers and let the afternoon just drift by, just what the doctor ordered after the miles that we had logged on the road. All too soon it was time to go, we cruised down ....Mission.... until ....16th Street.... and picked up the rest of the band and headed over to Bottom of the Hill, out in the flats, now trendy but back in the day when The Nerves were playing you would only find drunks, bikers and sailors! Tonight would be packed! It was getting close to the end of the tour and we could all feel it, no one wanted this ride to end. The friendship between the bands just kept getting tighter and tighter, I had really become very fond of Chris from the Pansy’s and it always gave me warm spot when I would see him watching our show and making sure everything was ok! Tonight Penelope asked Manolo to come up and play with them on their encore, Money. It was great and you can see it here on You Tube! We rocked the house hard and there where tons of fans from back in the day, it was a very satisfying moment for me! My good buddy Chris Von Sneidern showed up as well as Radio Icon Dennis the Menace ............along with Paul Kopf and our good buddy the legendary Cyril Jordan from the Flaming Groovies and the now Magic Christians!
The girls where all beautiful and the guys were looking cool, SF is still a cool place to be! Chris had a whole bunch of friends show up, that guy knows more cute looking chicks then anyone I know! A good time was had by all and at the end of the night some dude handed me a king size pharmaceutical joint in a nice plastic tube case! I smoked it the last night of the tour in LA with Juancho and Manolo and we got completely ripped! We drove back to John Padilla’s house so we would be that much closer to our next stop, ....Santa Ana.....
Day 9.... .. The White Shark was cruising down I-5 towards ....Santa Ana...., it was hot and we had the windows down to avoid the AC which would all but render my voice useless. By the way my voice has been holding up great I was singing like a veritable bird! The waist ....land.. of ..Southern California.... drifted by and prepared us for the evenings festivities! .... We pulled into my dear friend Joan’s luxurious sprawling ranch style house complete with swimming pool and chilled out while we had home made margaritas and relived old times with Joan. She had been to most all of The Beats East Bay shows and even had an old set list framed on her wall! After a quick dip in her pool we made it over to The Galaxy, a huge club with a capacity of at least 1000 people. This was one of those gigs where they paid you a ton of money and hardly anybody showed up and you spent the whole night wondering what the hell you were doing here! We survived the ordeal and left the next morning after coffee and bagels which Joan graciously made for us..... .. .. Day 10 .... .. .. This was it! This was the wrap! The big time playing Los Angeles on The Sunset Strip how many dreams had been made and broken here, why even I had spent a good part of my youth chasing down the dream right here in Los Angeles. The Echo was located minutes away from where Steve Huff and I had relentlessly toiled day after day making The Beats first demo which would become The Beat’s first album and take its place in rock n roll history. The White Shark was parked out front as had been its custom every single night of this tour! The Avengers and Pansy Division were all here and there was a special feeling in the air, everyone knew it was the last show but no one wanted to say anything except that we were all wishing it could just go on and on. There was line to get in and the place started to fill up fast and it was a Sunday night. Jack Lee was there, Patrick from Alive Records showed up Pamela Lillig from Bug Music with her boyfriend Art, booking agent extraordinaire made the scene along with our good friend John Wicks of The Records and his lovely girlfriend Valerie amongst a host of other luminaries, fans and curious on lookers. My good buddy Javier Estrella showed up for the third time on this tour, he had been in ..Oakland.., ....San Francisco.... and now here in LA. Javier has probably seen more Beat shows then anyone I know, he is always right upfront dancing and sweating and singing along with every song! I opened the set with a short dedication to my good friend Jack Lee and we ripped into Hanging on the Telephone for the last time on this tour. Penelope and Chris and John danced for our whole set, Gregg stood and watched us as we went through our paces and then it was over and we were back in the dressing room all covered in sweat! Pansy Division and The Avengers in turn put out there all for the LA fans and record moguls and soon we where all standing out in front of the club, the gear was all packed and it was time to say good bye! Gregg from The Avengers summed it up the best when he said…Come on guys, lets just keep on going, were just getting warmed up!.... .. The Avengers/Pansy Division/ Paul Collins Beat 2009 West Coast Tour .... SEE YOU NEXT TIME!
Dantes, Portland, OR |
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Saturday, November 07, 2009
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