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Well now... You have reached a special little page here at Groove
Northwest that depicts acts of craziness, spontaneity, and random weirdness. If
you have a story, send it via e-mail to Weird
things, and we will get it up.
Stories involving tunes or bands are the best, but
any crazy crap will work! Pictures too; they work well. Saves a thousand words, you
know. |
"JOURNEY
CHANGED MY LIFE!"
Yes, yes, you read that header correctly.
I apologize in advance for any non-eighties born punks that never
heard of a band that has sold in excess of 70 million records...but;
I got to spend the entire day with Deen Castronovo, the drummer
for Journey (yes, I know Steve Smith was the drummer a long time)!
When the band came to the Rose Garden, The Statesman Journal did
a story on Deen, being as he is a local guy. Well, Deen invited
Paul Jones (of Paul's Picks on this site) to the show and I went
with him. Man, if you have ever wanted to be a rock star, let me
assure you it would be worth it ten times over. All the members
were running their butts off, but man-road crew galore were there
to set things up, tune guitars, tune drums, set up sound, etc.,
etc., etc. The Rose Garden itself is huge, and there were places
I went to that day that I had onyl heard of or seen on TV-like the
catering room where I had two free meals, thank you very much. Deen
hung out with Paul and I the whole time, too-we were never in his
way or slowing him down; just the opposite, actually! He was thanking
US for being there for him to hang out with! GIVE ME A BREAK, DEEN-I
would have given not one leg but three to spend the day as I did!
I got to play Neil Schon's guitars and hang out onstage before/during/after
the sound check, I got to meet Peter Frampton in some dark little
alley, and got to see the show for free as WELL as gained entrance
into the after show party. Wow. Take a breath here...PHWEEEEEW!
The whole day was simply beautiful! In addition
to meeting the entire band, I got to meet the road manager and the
whole road crew, talk to the instrument tech's while they were working,
and meet Buko from Two Louies (hi Buko!) behind the drum kit in
the little hidden area where Deen's son hangs out during shows.
To be treated as we were is simply amazing to me-I never, ever in
my wildest dreams expected musicians such as this to be so, well,
NICE. I can only hope that I get a chance to be in their shoes on
day to give someone else the same opportunity they gave to me that
day, recuding me to utter silence on the hour drive home in awe!
You see, it wasn't simply hanging out with Journey and Peter Frampton
that made it so cool-it was hanging out with Kyle (Deens son), and
all the roadies as well-and having such a DAMN good time of it all.
I will buy any album (of course the new one is already mine as it
was GIVEN to me by the band!) of theirs that they make from here
on out, without a doubt. They have earned my respect as a fan and
musician and I hope you, the reader can feel a little bit of my
enthusiasm for these guys. They are cool guys, and deserve a good
listen to their new album.
-MAS
"PAULA VAIL
IS A CRIMINAL!"
This is not an amazing feat of any kind.
This is a waring to all those bands on the west coast about a supposed
promoter/manager named Paula Vail,
who often calls herself "Global Management".
Paula is a rip off artist and criminal who will stop at nothing
to take any and all monies she can get her hands on. What proof
do I have? Well lets see here. Ever ask Floater about Paula Vail?
How about Business Suit Guy? How about the Feel? Paula owes me about
$5000 personally that she outright STOLE from me while saying it
was being spent on items such as studio time, CD replication, stickers,
and tee-shirts. In fact, she LOST an $850 payment via money order
that mysteriously ended up being made out to her own rotten crack
whore self. Sorry...getting a little upset there...PLEASE-if you
EVER meet this woman, do NOT work with her, talk to her, or allow
her to screw you in such a way! I am still paying (literally) for
what she did to me-do NOT MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE! IF you want more
info, feel free to write to me, but only if she has propositioned
you for managment or promotion. I will tell you all, and at length,
so as to disuade you from falling into her terrible and sneaky trap
into which many other top acts have fallen.
This is no joke. This is for real. Consider
yourselves warned via GNW!
-GNW
"YOU GUYS
ARE WEIRD!"
Ok.
WE finally got a new "Amazing" story. this one isn't so amazing, but
it cracked me up.
I was recently playing a show with the Cow Trippers in Bend, Oregon, and got
into a great conversation with Tony (drums) and Drew (guitar). We were
discussing road trip anomalies, and boy, they pulled a good one on me! IT seems
they had just returned from Montana, and had quite a time. You may hve to be a
traveling musician to really laugh at this, I don't know...Drew told me in a
solemn voice that after watching a rockabilly band open for them, the Cow
Trippers got up on stage and started to do there thing.
They rocked. The rolled.
They zigged and zagged. When that very first song was finished, and the symbols
drained themselves of noise, the room became dead silent. As any band would do,
they were stunned. Then, some guy in the back of the room took it upon himself
to address the situation. He stood up and stated loudly, "You guys are WEIRD!"
That set the mood for the whole trip.
-GNW
STORY OF A "NORMAL" BAND TRIP TO L.A.
So you want to be a rock star, huh? Man, thats all
I ever wanted to do since I heard Hotel California when I was a little screaming
boy. Well, I am still no damn star, but I have played in every city on the west
coast, so it's a start. This little dialogue will outline my outstanding trip to
the great city of Los Angeles.
The time: summer 1999. The trip: a showcase at the Dragonfly in LA, right
on Santa Monica Blvd! Man, I was excited. We rented a van for this trip, on the
day we were supposed to leave. I had told our manager to get us a van, and she
got us a Crown Victoria passenger car. How do you do that? Anyway, the van would
not carry all of our gear, so we had to take two vehicles. Rule number 1 to any
new band...DON'T EVER TAKE 2 VEHICLES. Anyway, we headed out on our amazing
journey after a killer show at Tommyjohns in Salem. Along the way, and looking
for a camping spot, we high-centered Tony's Ford Escort on a cement block. Boy
was he pissed! It took some rocking and lifting, but we got it off in the end.
We made it to Red Bluff (northern Ca) and decided to camp for the night. This
was totally awesome, as we found a killer site to camp at, far from other people
and those darn rollers. Boy, that night was all about being a rock star, for
sure. I will never forget our super campfire and the amazing river we swam in.
The next morning we began to travel south in good spirits, feeling good
and knowing we were headed for success. About an hour into the trip, vehicle
number 2 (following the packed van) blew out a front tire and the occupants
narrowly escaped death. The driver of the van (me) did not see the problem
behind him, and by the time it had been seen, man, we were way down the highway.
Well, turns out that the car, which belonged to Tony the bass player, was in bad
shape. He had a spare in the trunk, but the tire which had blown could not be
removed from the freakin' car. Now I don't really believe in miracles, but right
then along came this dude from Portland with an empty car trailer. No shit. He
saw our plates and decided to help us out (thanks man!). We got to the next town
and had the car fixed, but it cost about $120 and set us back about two hours.
Now this is where it gets interesting. We hauled so much ass to get to
the show! I was stressing about cruising a van at 90+ mph on the LA freeway, but
we had no choice if we were going to make it. This was not the kind of show a
band wants to miss, man. Rule number 2: LEAVE EARLIER THAN YOU NEED TO (there
was only one stop that whole day for food or restroom access). We got to LA in
the middle of rush hour, and realized we didn't have directions to the show.
Great. We knew it was on Santa Monica Blvd., but that road is long as shit, and
stretches miles across the city. Right then, amidst the traffic, we in the van
decided to slam on our brakes and test the antilock quality. Note: a Ford Escort
of about 1987 does not come with such a neat-o feature as anti-lock brakes. Our
car number 2 splammed us from behind right on the freeway. Tony got so mad (the
car owner) that he proceeded to punch out the front windshield. Also, we still
had no directions to the show (thanks, Paula).
Well, we got directions from a few phone calls (the club was not listed
in the phone book-and information couldn't help us) and headed to the club. We
show up to hear our manager yelling at us about being late for our sound check
(Paula). Stupid bitch! We sound check as fast as we can, and get off stage to
get dressed. Meanwhile, Joel the singer tries to park the van for me, as I was
no longer capable of thought. He found a parking spot underneath the most
convoluted "no parking" sign I have ever seen. That spot cost us $78
in the end! So we go on and play our show-to a completely empty room. We
had driven from Salem, Or. to Los Angeles to play a measly 30 minutes to a
non-existent crowd of music execs. Cost me personally about $1200 for the trip.
Of course, that is not what we were told would happen. We were led to believe
that the room would be filled with these important people-from the likes of
Magic Johnson Studios, Columbia, Arista, Etc., Etc. We even paid for these
people to come (well, we paid our manager, who was supposed to have this all
lined up). In the end we made it out alive and played a good show, even though
it was short. I had a great time in LA (Hi DJ Odeed!) and would highly recommend
it. Just use your common sense and don't leave the details up to weaklings who
want to be part of the group. This may not sound too amazing, but man, it was.
It really was.
-MS/The Feel
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