Talking with Shirley today, she shook some musical connections from my brain grooves. I told her Id just re-watched Less Than Zero, which was shot in LA in 1987. The shallow, empty images of LA during those years brought a crampy filling to my stomach. It all felt too familiar. The film captured those days in LA pretty well. The scene of Club Scream (Dark, smoke filled room of spray painted walls, blaring with punk music) reminded me of this - A few years ago I was reading Anthony Kiedis bio. In it he talks a bit about the nights he spent at Power Tools, a club I used to go to at the same time he did. It was in an old downtown LA hotel; dark, moody, smoke filled, with go-go dancers and cigarette girls. In his bio, Anthony also mentioned how he and Flea, one early morning, got a ride home from Power Tools with a girl. But first they all stopped for an early morning breakfast at Canters, where he admitted they didnt have any money and left the chick with the breakfast tab. After reading this, I put the book down. And got really pissed. Those assholes owe me breakfast, I mumbled through gritted teeth. All these years I cant forget the overly-amped duo who conned me into driving them home from Power Tools and buying them breakfast at Canters. It mustve been them. That had to have been me. Who else had that exact same experience? Power Tools, amped up guys, Canters. It had to have been Anthony and Flea. At the time, I was broke, working as a movie extra, sleeping on near strangers couches, moving constantly, driving a rusted Audio Fox that wouldnt reverse. I HAD TO PUSH THAT DAMNED CAR out of parking places. Try THAT in heels! Decades later, Flea became one of our clients. Hed call Ian on his cell phone often, and sometimes hed call the house and Id answer. If Id only read Anthonys book sooner, I couldve said, Yeah, Flea... Im pretty sure you owe me breakfast. Too embarrassed and mortified, I didnt tell Ian my suspicion that I onced got conned into paying for some LA dudes (whom I suspect were half of the Chili Peppers), until today. Ian then reminded me that Flea later became our client. And then rattled off a list of our other musical connections, musicians I met before I met him that he knows - In 1978 I won an album from KMEL rock station in San Francisco - Joe Walshs Lifes Been Good. *Ian later worked with Joe. In 1983 or 84, I dated a guy who knew the guys in Todd Rundgrens band Utopia; My date took me to one of Utopias concerts in San Francisco (when I still lived there). We sat right in front. After, the entire band, except for Todd Rundgren, came over to my dates apartment to party. The Utopia guys sat on one side of the room and some rabbit fur coat wearing groupies giggled next to them. I sat by myself in a chair, too shy to say a word. When the party ended, Kasim Sulton (the bass player) came up and gave me a soft kiss on my lips, even though we never said a word to each other. So sweet. I melted. *Willie Wilcox of Utopia is a friend of Ians. I won concert tickets from a San Francisco radio station (I think it was KMEL) to see Paul Young (Everytime You Go Away). I went with a girlfriend. We were young and just wanted to hear the music, but some security guards scooped us up and pushed us toward the backstage door. Go on in. My friend and I giggled, feeling so sneaky. We walked down the hallway, passed a room with the door opened. It was Paul Young and his band. They yelled at us to Get the hell out of here, you damn groupies! Mortified, we ran away and wanted to cry. *About eight years later, Ian worked at a recording studio in North Hollywood. I went to pick him up late at night. He was standing on a dark sidewalk talking to someone, when I walked up. Ian said, Oh this is my wife Michele. And the guy said in a British accent, Very nice to meet you. Im Paul Young, as he shook my hand. I tried not to laugh. But I think I gasped. 1987, I had a very bad date attempt (my roommate tried to fix me up) with actor John John Cusack (before I ever heard of him.) I didnt really like him. He didnt like me back. *Ian produced music on John Cusacks movie Tapeheads (1988). A week after my bad night with Cusack, my roommate begged to go and then dragged me along to the wrap party for Cusacks movie Tapeheads (1988). I didnt want to go and see John. But she wanted to see her boyfriend (one of the movie producers). I ended up going. Walked in to here the funky sound of The Bonedaddys, and danced all night. My roommate took off with her boyfriend, leaving me alone and waiting in a dark alley of downtown LA... until King Cotton slithered his tongue toward me and introduced himself as King Cotton of The Bonedaddys. And then introduced me to his record producer, Ian Gardiner. We seemed to be destined to meet from my kooky/horrifying experiences and his clientele/friends.
Posted on: Tue, 06 Jan 2015 04:22:00 +0000
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