Marky Ramone Almost Cancelled

 Late 90s-ish and The Hostages were booked to open for Marky Ramone in the 7th St Entry. We were geeked. That Marky Ramone And The Invaders record was pretty cool, and Marky was as close to a living legend as I had met at that time.
The Hostages did our usual show and in doing so I accidentally kicked a monitor speaker off the stage while swinging from the lighting rig.
A guy I was friendly with was running sound and managing the night, and apparently was in a bad mood and threw not only me out after our set, he threw out the other Hostages (who had nothing to do with my accidental kicking the monitor off the stage [and was COMPLETELY un-damaged!])
I went down into the Entry dressing room and started packing my stuff up. Marky was there and, very honestly hurt, asked "ain't you's sticking around?" I told him what happened, and how I was 86'd and wished him a good show. He threw his drink on the floor and, genuinely upset, asked me if I wanted him to cancel his set. I told him there was a room full of fans upstairs and it wouldn't be fair to them if he canceled. He asked me again, and said "I'll fuckin' cancel if you want me to, that sucks they won't let you rock out!".
I wished him well, told him to play extra hard for me, and I left the building.
Say what you want about Marky Ramone, that night he was willing to cancel a show just for me. 

He's a stand-up guy.

 

 

MOTÖRHEAD!!! FUCKING MOTÖRHEAD!!!

Here's how I remember it:

I don't remember the first time I actually heard Motörhead... I remember hearing *of* them for ages, but I can't pinpoint the exact time Lemmy first molested my earholes.  MAYBE their appearance on The Young Ones? but logic dictates that I had heard them before 1985. I probably owned a comp or 3 that had  Motörhead on it... Catch A Wave, Geef Vor New Wave, Chiswick Chartbusters?

Whatever, I was familiar enough with them that I totally geeked out when, in early 1987, I heard that they were going to play an all ages show on Easter Sunday of that year. In 1987 I was 19 years old and had missed the change in the drinking age from 19 to 21 by a mere 3 months.

I was at the big family Easter dinner and had just finished eating when I excused myself and told everyone that I had plans to go see Motörhead. Puzzled looks fell on the faces of my entire family and a few were wondering who would go to a car show on Easter... 

 

 

 

 

As usual I don't remember anything about the show, to the point where until I found this recording I wasn't sure whether it was Philthy or Pete Gill on drums (it was Philthy). 

This was to be the first of many times witnessing the greatest rock n roll band to ever walk this or any other planet, I must have seen them a total of five, six, *maybe* seven times? I can't remember and no one reading this really cares. Suffice it to say that I saw Motörhead every time they played near me from this show in 1987 until 2015 when Lemmy's death effectively killed the band... aside from 2 shows that I skipped. 

One was the next year or so, back again at First Avenue. I had started singing in Iron Fist (possibly named after Motörhead's album of the same name?), and we heard that Slayer, Overkill, and Motörhead were booked to play. Iron Fist's guitar player, Nikki, and I went to the club and met general manager, head booker, and all around grumpy bastard Steve McLellan, and we BEGGED him to put us on the bill as the opener. We offered to play for free. We offered to do a twenty minute set. We offered to stick around after the show and help clean up. Steve was hearing none of it, even though he was a big Iron Fist fan. He claimed that there just wasn't any room for an opening band and walked away.

In protest I boycotted the show. I had seen Overkill already, and was not a fan of Slayer...

A few weeks after the show Nik and I were back down in the First Avenue main office on more band business. Steve heard us and poked his head into the office we were in and, almost tearfully and very honestly said "Boys, I fucked up. If I had put you on that show you'd be signed and touring right now." Anyone who met Steve would immediately tell you he was the grumpiest, most cantankerous bastard out there. But in this moment he showed true emotion and genuine remorse. In that moment, also, he won enduring admiration and respect from me, and I enjoyed playing for him and his club for many years after.

The other time I missed Motörhead was in the mid 90's when they played the local heavy metal club, The Mirage, and I wasn't able to get the night off of work to attend.

Another time I saw them, in the late 90's or early 2000's, I was able to get backstage where Lemmy was sitting by himself reading a book. My friend Mike (drummer of Quincy Punks) had somehow wrangled a spot as Mikki Dee's drum tech. and was able to get me backstage before the show. He took me back into the dressing room and said "Hey Lem, this is Ollie, Ollie, this is Lemmy. I gotta get to work." and he left us alone together. Lemmy went back to reading his book and I had to think quick. The LAST things he wanted to talk about were Motörhead and Ace Of Spades, so I had to quickly go thru a mental list of other topics of conversation. And then I hit on it.

I said "Hey Lemmy, I want your opinion on something."

Without looking up from his book he said "yeah, what's that?"

"Well, I want to know your ideas on how Herman Goering's experience as a fighter pilot in World War One influenced the way he ran the Luftwaffe in WWII."

Lemmy casually put his book down and asked me to repeat what I had just asked. I dutifully repeated myself and the man's eyes lit up as he stood up and shook my hand.

I'd *LOVE* to say that we had a half hour conversation, but in reality I got a half hour history lesson/lecture answering my query. Ultimately the tour manager popped his head into the dressing room and pulled Lemmy away, but not before I was able to secure another handshake and an autograph. I said "you're going to laugh when you see what I want signed" as I handed him a copy of the "men's magazine" Jail Babes (in which a fully clothed Lemmy appeared with to fully UNclothed women). He took it, signed it, and said "I wasn't laughing when we took those pictures, why would I laugh now?", and then left the room.

Ollie Stench, Mike Roberston, Lemmy Killmister

I now have his autograph framed and it hangs next to my bedroom door.

I know Lemmy never remembered me personally... he probably didn't remember exactly when or where, but I know he went to his urn remembering the fact that at some time some kid asked him a question he was genuinely interested in.

Anyway, back to the 1987 show. In the spring of 2023 I was trawling some bootleg sites and came across this recording. I'm always amazed when things like this appear so many years after the fact.

Here you go, Motörhead at First Avenue April 1987

1. Iron Fist
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2. Stay Clean
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3. Nothing Up My Sleeve
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4. Metropolis
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5. Doctor Rock
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6. Deaf Forever
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7. Ace of Spades
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8. Steal Your Face
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9. Bite the Bullet
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10. Built for Speed
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11. No Class
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12. Orgasmatron
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13. Motörhead
    Killed by Death

A Night of Total DEVO!!!

 DEVO

First Avenue

Nov. 1 1988

Photos courtesy of the DEVO Live Guide

Here's how I remember it:

6-8 years earlier DEVO was the only reason I existed.  They were far and above my favorite band at the time. But time marched on and I grew from being a spotty young teen to a jaded spotty young adult and DEVO didn't hold quite as much sway in my life any more. But I wasn't going to let that stop me from seeing them at First Avenue!!! What WAS going to stop me was the recent change in the drinking age from 19 to 21, a change that I missed by a mere 3 months. So here I was, 20 years old, and unable to gain legal entry to see DEVO. What to do, what to do? Well, I did what any good young punk would do, I scammed my way in! 

I had just started my role as vocalist #4 in my favorite band, Iron Fist, a few months earlier, and we were darlings at First Avenue. To the point where they painted our logo on the outside of the building. This was right before they painted all the silver stars with band names, and I was beyond honored to have my band included on the literal wall of fame. So, being in the good graces of the staff of First Avenue, Iron Fist's guitar player called the general manager of the club, to see if he could vouch for me.  Of course I only heard one side of the conversation, but it went something like this:

"He Steve, it's Nik, Iron Fist. Hey yeah, so you know our new singer? H wants to go see DEVO but he had his wallet and I.D. stolen. Can I vouch for him so he can get in?"

Pause

Pause

Pause

"OK, great, thanks a lot Steve, we both really appreciate it!"

Then said guitar player tells me that my name will  be at the door but will absolutely NOT be on a guest list, that I would have to pay the entrance fee. Then he also said that "Steve" asked if we were available to play a few shows he was working on*.

Night of the show and I don't really remember much (as usual). I remember DEVO being good. I can't remember if they had their video projections or not, or if it was just a stripped down stage. But it was DEVO and I felt like a kid again.

Years later whilst trawling the internet's I came across a pretty good audience recording of the show, maybe from Booji Boy's Basement? I can't remember, but I got ahold of the show and now I post it here for your edutainment.

1. Jocko Homo
2. It Doesn’t Matter To Me
3. Going Under
4. Working In A Coalmine
5. Happy Guy
6. That’s Good
7. Jerkin’ Back ‘N’ Forth
8. Pity You
9. Girl U Want
10. Whip It
11. Baby Doll
12. Satisfaction
13. Uncontrollable Urge
14. Gut Feeling (cut)
15. Gates Of Steel
16. Booji’s Beautiful World

*that Motorhead/Slayer/Overkill show later in the month is the subject of a future post

Kraftwerk - Minneapolis 2015

My 4th time seeing my all-time favorite band ever, Kraftwerk. I had seen them in Chicago in 1998 and 2005, and at The Myth nightclub in a Minneapolis suburb in 2008. This was the first time witnessing the 3-D show and it was pretty impressive. I traded my co-conspirator in The Trapezoids a bunch of vinyl for a $90 ticket in the balcony as at the time I was drinking air and eating dirt I was so broke.  As fate would have it I just happened to have my Zoom H2 along with me that just happened to have a fresh set of batteries and an empty SD card. Also, conveniently, the seat next to me was empty and I was able to use it to store my jacket that had the recorder in it. Apparently when I set my jacket on the seat it just happened to start recording (COMPLETELY accidentally of course!). Lo and behold a surreptitious recording of the night's festivities.  A few days after the show I posted the accidental recording on the earlier version of this blog, but took it down shortly after. However, the person that is in charge of the Technopop 2000 Kraftwerk Archive had grabbed it and added it to their collection.

So here 'tis, via the Technopop 2000 youtube channel, for your entertainment and educational use.

Northrup Auditorium's event page

Twin Cities Media review (and also the source of the photos used above)

1. Numbers
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2. Computer World
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3. It's More Fun to Compute / Home Computer
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4. Computer Love
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5. Pocket Calculator
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6. Metropolis
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7. The Man-Machine
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8. Spacelab
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9. The Model
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10. Neon Lights
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11. Autobahn
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12. Airwaves
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13. Intermission
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14. News
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15. Geiger Counter
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16. Radioactivity
    (Fukushima Version)
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17. Electric Café
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18. Tour de France 1983
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19. Tour de France Étape 1
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20. Tour de France Étape 2
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21. Trans-Europe Express
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22. Metal on Metal
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23. Abzugideo
25. The Robots
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26. Aéro Dynamik
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27. Planet of Visions
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28. Boing Boom Tschak
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29. Techno Pop
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30. Musique Non Stop

How To Get Front Row Center Tickets For Danielle Dax and Sisters Of Mercy

 Here's how I remember it:

Late March of 1991, I was driving a courier van as a day job, had just quit the first "real" band I was in, and was shacking up with my then-girlfriend Ms. Polly Purebread.  While finishing my route one sunny Thursday afternoon I drove past the Orpheum Theater and saw posted on their marquee that The Sisters Of Mercy with special guest Danielle Dax were playing soon. Tickets were going on sale that coming Saturday.

I nearly jumped out of my van in excitement. The Sisters AND Danielle Dax?!? Two of my favorite bands at the time, together, in concert!!! I quickly rolled back to the garage and dropped off my courier van and then high-tailed it to see Polly at her place of employment to tell her the news. She was just as excited as I was, until she brought up the question of how we were going to get tickets... This, obviously, was well before the days of online ticket purchasing, and neither of us had a credit card, so trying to get tickets on the phone was out of the question. It was going to be cash on the barrelhead so to speak.  I told her that I was going to go home and think about it while she finished up her work day.

I went home and started going over all the ticket-buying scenarios I could think of. I could go to the Orpheum box office, but they didn't open until an hour or so after the tickets went on sale. For a show of this magnitude we wanted the best tickets we could get as soon as we could get them. The ticket office at Dayton's opened at 9am, right as the tickets went on sale. We assumed that there would be a line around the block waiting for the doors to open and the throngs of black-clad goth kids would be clamoring, fighting fang and nail, to be the first in line for tickets. There had to be a better way... work smarter  not harder as my father would often say...

And then it hit me. The perfect plan.

Polly got home, and over dinner I explained to her what I had come up with. She agreed that it was the best plan, assuming everything went correctly.

The next day I stopped by her place of employment again to say hi, and we were both giddy with the thought of seeing two of our favorite bands. When she got home that night she handed me cash that she had withdrawn from the bank to buy the tickets with. I paper-clipped it to that day's courier manifest that I had "forgot" to turn in after my shift. Oh well, I'd give it to my dispatcher on Monday and apologize for taking it home with me over the weekend. I went to bed early that night as I had to get up at 7am in order to put the master plan into action.

At 7am my alarm went off and I was startled awake. This was Saturday, and I didn't work Saturdays. Polly slept through it like she always did, but I was still quiet as I gingerly got dressed in my courier uniform. I grabbed the clipboard with the previous days manifest and the cash and went downstairs to catch a bus.

I got to Dayton's at about 8:30 and went to the delivery door. There was a guard there and he asked what I was doing. I said that I had an envelope to pick up on the 6th floor. He had me sign in and then let me through the secured door so I could go "pick up my envelope".

Phase One complete! On to Phase Two...

I took the elevator up to the 3rd floor where the ticket office was. It was empty and all the lights were off, door locked solidly.  That's OK, it was still part of the plan.

At about 8:55, a mere 5 minutes before the ticket office was supposed to open, a random Dayton's employee walked by and asked what I was doing there. "The store's not even open yet, how did you get in here?" she asked in a voice more stern than a burned out home ec. teacher. I flashed my clipboard with the day old manifest on it, and flashed my ID badge, and said that I had just dropped off an envelope on the sixth floor. And I figured that while I was here I might as well grab some tickets when the ticket office opened up. She said "you know there are people waiting outside and its not really fair to them!" I fully agreed and said I'd happily go outside to the end of the line, but it was still March and there was a chill in the air, and I hadn't planned on being outside so I left my jacket in the van. She looked me up and down, left to right, inside and out, and finally said "well, you're already here..." and walked off.

Phase Two complete! Onto the final phase of my cunning plan.

At 8:57 the light went on in the ticket office. A minute later the window opened up and a woman who looked younger than me popped her head out and asked if she could help me. I said I was there for Sisters of Mercy tickets and was willing to wait for everyone ahead of me to get theirs first. She said that since I was already there and she had just got her system up and running she could sell me tickets right then and there, at 8:58. Two minutes before they officially went on sale.

Phase three completed.

I hopped the bus to go back home, and when I entered our apartment my girlfriend was still in a deep sleep.  I got out of my uniform and into bed. She stirred a little, and woke up enough to ask if I was able to get the tickets. In a very sullen voice I said "yeah, I got the best seats I was able to, and I hope they're good enough", and then handed her the tickets.  She squinted at them, then sat bolt upright and shouted "YOU GOT FRONT ROW CENTER SEATS!!!"

As usual, I don't remember anything much about the actual show. I remember being entranced by Danielle Dax. I remember the Sisters had a LOT of fog. And lest you, my dear readers, think that I exaggerate about getting lost in concert performances, my only complaint after the show was that they didn't play "Lurcretia My reflection", to which my girlfriend said it was the second song they played! (proof will be posited in the link to the recording of this show found a little further down)

your humble narrator in the souvenir shirt from said SoM concert

After the show was over my GF and I thought nothing of going around to the back of the venue in hopes of meeting the band. I *REALLY* wanted to meet Tony James, current bass player for the Sisters, but more importantly to me former mastermind of two of my favorite bands; Generation X and Sigue Sigue Sputnik. Sadly no Sisters were spotted, but about 200 feet down from the stage doors was a small touring bus. Standing outside of the bus being ignored by everyone was Daniele Dax and her guitar player. I nudged my GF and said "follow me", which she did. We went up  and introduced ourselves and complimented them on their performance. They seemed genuinely appreciative and told us we should see their "real" show. It seemed Mr. Taylor (aka Sisters Of Mercy boss Andrew Eldritch) wouldn't let The Dax Band use all their stage finery which included elaborate costumes and stage sets.

The guitar player (I cannot remember his name for the life of me) was enthralled with my homemade Clinical Psychosis shirt, and was doubly intrigued when I told him it was the band I was currently singing for. Disappointed that I didn't have any of our music to share with him, we made more small talk for about 15 minutes until the tour manager herded everyone onto the bus and off to the hotel.

A few years later I was able to procure a recording of the Sisters set from that night courtesy of Minneapolis live music archivist J. Free.  He didn't record the show himself, his friend did, and sadly missed getting a recording of Danielle Dax' set.

Oh yeah, the screaming you hear directly in front of the person taping it? That's me.

Here's a link to grab that SoM set for your dining and dancing edutainment

April 6 1991

Sisters Of Mercy

1. First and Last and Always
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2. Lucretia My Reflection
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3. Body and Soul
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4. Ribbons
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5. Alice
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6. Dominion/Mother Russia
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7. Amphetamine Logic
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8. Detonation Boulevard
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9. Marian
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10. This Corrosion
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11. Gimme Shelter
    (The Rolling Stones cover)
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12. Flood II
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13. Temple of Love
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14. Something Fast
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15. Jolene
    (Dolly Parton cover)
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16. Valentine
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17. Vision Thing