[kj] OT: People I've accosted.

[TB]

"Alexander Smith" wrote:


"who was the most amicable "famous" peep that you approached?"

(great anecdotes snipped)

Stiv Bator, Nicky Turner, Brian James, Dave Tregunna - The Lords of the New 
Church
Between the end of 1985 through '86, Stiv and The Lords pretty much lived in 
LA as their record deal and relationship with Miles Copeland and I.R.S. 
Records fell apart.  My buddy and I were huge fans of The Lords and caught 
every local show we possibly could.  They made money while kind of marking 
time playing shows in Southern California at virtually every hell hole club, 
and dive bar in the area they could book.  During this period, I got to meet 
the band many times usually before or after shows hanging out at the bar or 
outside wherever they played.

Stiv was usually the most approachable when he wasn't high and after a few 
shows, he got to know my friend and I by name (although he never bought us a 
fuckin' drink!).  We'd give them shit during shows, always screaming for 
them to play really deep album cuts that they'd never tackle.  Nicky Turner, 
the drummer was a really nice, down to earth guy but he was getting sick of 
going nowhere playing in a band and was getting cozy working for Miles 
Copeland which was causing friction in the band as Miles was ripping the 
band off blind (like Copeland did to every band he managed) so there were 
times when I'd catch them maybe 2 or 3 times in a month and hear both sides 
of the gossip about shit like that. Eventually the bass player, Dave 
Tregunna left the band during this period.  I rarely talked with Brian James 
because he seemed to always be drunk and between his heavy Brit accent and 
being trashed, conversation was always a one-way affair.

Two big Stiv moments stand out for me.  One was after a show they played at 
a local club in Long Beach that attracted maybe 20 people, Stiv asked me 
about watching "Apocalypse Now" as he remembered a previous conversation 
where I had mentioned I recently got one of those new-fangled laserdisc 
players and that movie on LD. So he had a roadie drive him and they followed 
me to my condo a few miles down south in Huntington Beach and we watched the 
movie - at least I did as Stiv spent most of the time in my bathroom puking 
and snorting lines.  The other moment was when I introduced a friend to Stiv 
after a show in the club's parking lot, Stiv reached out to shake his hand 
and promptly vomited on the guy.

After they kind of relocated to the UK in late 1987, they really fell off 
the radar and in early '89 I had heard they broke up in typically shambolic 
fashion during the encore of a show.  I was pretty bummed to hear that Stiv 
was killed after being struck by a car in Paris in '90.  Still a fan after 
all these yaers, I keep in touch with Brian James' manager and helped talk 
my friend Adam Becvare of the Black Halos into touring with Brian when he 
attempted to do a Lords reunion in '02.

Other "celebrity" encounters include Sam Kinison at The Roxy in October of 
1990 when I took my then-girlfriend to Hollywood for her birthday.  It was 
incredibly packed that night and while making our way to the bar, she first 
stepped on his foot passing by him with her high heels (he was wandering 
around practically incoherent and didn't seem to notice) and as we were 
leaving an hour later she ran smack into him again causing him to spill his 
drunk he was carrying on his shirt which kinda pissed him off (she later 
said he was so short, she couldn't see him in the mash of people until she 
was right in front of him).  I also had the.....um, pleasure of standing in 
a stall next to Gene Simmons there that night taking a piss. No, I did not 
look.

(Now Former) Van Halen bass player Michael Anthony back in my dj days at the 
end of the 80's when I spun records at local Garden Grove metal club, The 
Marquee.  Anthony and a few friends came in the club to watch Badlands play 
that night and my girlfriend literally dragged him over to my booth to say 
Hi.  We only bullshitted for a couple minutes but he was a very cool, down 
to earth guy.

Back around 1984 I was browsing in the laserdisc section at the Hollywood 
Tower Records video store on Sunset Blvd and someone taps me on the shoulder 
and asks me if "Amadeus" was available on laserdisc yet.  Without even 
turning to look at the guy, I said I "wasn't sure but I didn't think so." 
He then asks me if I've seen the movie as if he was striking up conversation 
and I turned and there's Stevie Wonder dressed in a business suit like he's 
about to go out to dinner (at 2 in the afternoon) probably thinking (since 
he um, couldn't see me) I was one of the staff.  At this point, his 
"handler" who'd been chatting with the girl at the cash register comes 
rushing up to hustle him away like I'm harassing Wonder and they go out 
front and leave in a limo.  It happened as fast it it takes to read this 
paragraph and I look at the girl behind the counter with a total "WTF?!?!" 
look on my face.

There's a few more, but that's all I gots time for tonight.

T.B.