along with Juan's chick, Shelly. To give you an idea of what kind of person Shelly was, I came home one day and she had rearranged all of the pictures on the wall. So, I moved them back, and bitched her out. She was just staying there. She didn't own the place.
It was becoming evident that this arrangement wasn't going to work, but I did try to accommodate them. With Jeni and I, we were clean people. We weren't neurotic about it, like Helga on the tour bus, but we liked to keep our stuff nice. When it became clear that Juan and Shelly were slobs, I left a nice, friendly note for them.
"Let's all help clean up after ourselves, so that the place stays nice.”
I wasn't an asshole about it, or anything. I was just trying to get my point across without creating tension with a face-to-face discussion.
I found the note wadded up on the floor later that day.
It wasn't long after that I came in, and the kitchen was in a total upheaval mess, as it had been many times before, with her and Juan not cleaning up after themselves. I told her to get in there and clean up the shit, or pack up and get out. She went out on the front steps and waited for Juan to get home. When he got in, she was out there crying. I told him, "Dude, I don't know why she's acting like this, but I'll tell you like I told her. I don't mind you staying here, but clean up the mess you make, or move out.”
So, he moved out. Then he quit the band. A successful band on the rise. But, that was Juan. He was completely unreliable. He would never show up on time for rehearsals, just a complete pain in the ass nightmare. All through the days of any band I ever played with him in.
We did go demo a tape in Firefoxx, and it was really good. The closest we ever came in that band was when the legendary producer Kim Fowley, who produced the Runaways and others, showed some interest in us. Kim was a trippy dude. I remember he was managing Helen Ready at the time. And, he always referred to women as "stink". We were all over at the apartment one night, and he gets a call. He starts fumbling for the remote, trying to find it. "What's up", we ask? "My stink's on the Tonight Show.” We turned the channel, and there was Helen Ready talking with Johnny Carson.
In the summer of 1979, cash flow had reached critical mass. I started playing in a cover band, called Rocket 88, named for this old Oldsmobile one of the guy's had, just to pay the bills.
In the end, it was a good thing. It really helped my playing. You just can't overplay when you're doing five or six sets a night. You'll have nothing left in the tank, come the fifth set. Jeff Naideau, who passed on about three years ago, was the singer / keyboardist; Bruce Bossert was on bass; and Steve Conrad was on guitar. And, we did cover shit. That was the first band I ever went out of town with.
We went to Albuquerque, NM in Jan. 1979 and did a two-week stint there at a place called Bo Jangles. We stayed at this hotel that had this weird bar across the street with transvestites and shit in it. I'd never seen anything like that, really. Maybe a little, up on Sunset. But even that was still pretty tame. We came back and played all over LA, then went to Flagstaff, Arizona. I was gigging more than I ever had. At five sets a night, I'm lucky my arms didn't fall out of socket.
Fire Foxx 1978. RATT Bassist Juan Croucier (left), Me, Lead Vocalist and Lead Guitarist Ron Abrams (right)
Rocket 88 in 1979. We were playing in Flagstaff Arizona here.
Brother-in-law took this picture while working as an interpreter in Russia 1984.
Lean Into The Strike Zone, And Take One For The Team!
Be careful out there. There are things that go bump in the night. Actually, there are things that go 'Give me your wallet or I'll kill you' in the night. - John Larroquette It was through Rocket 88 (named after the old car from the 1950s, Rocket 88) that I wound up sacrificing a full year of my life to the court system.
We were finishing this two-week
It was becoming evident that this arrangement wasn't going to work, but I did try to accommodate them. With Jeni and I, we were clean people. We weren't neurotic about it, like Helga on the tour bus, but we liked to keep our stuff nice. When it became clear that Juan and Shelly were slobs, I left a nice, friendly note for them.
"Let's all help clean up after ourselves, so that the place stays nice.”
I wasn't an asshole about it, or anything. I was just trying to get my point across without creating tension with a face-to-face discussion.
I found the note wadded up on the floor later that day.
It wasn't long after that I came in, and the kitchen was in a total upheaval mess, as it had been many times before, with her and Juan not cleaning up after themselves. I told her to get in there and clean up the shit, or pack up and get out. She went out on the front steps and waited for Juan to get home. When he got in, she was out there crying. I told him, "Dude, I don't know why she's acting like this, but I'll tell you like I told her. I don't mind you staying here, but clean up the mess you make, or move out.”
So, he moved out. Then he quit the band. A successful band on the rise. But, that was Juan. He was completely unreliable. He would never show up on time for rehearsals, just a complete pain in the ass nightmare. All through the days of any band I ever played with him in.
We did go demo a tape in Firefoxx, and it was really good. The closest we ever came in that band was when the legendary producer Kim Fowley, who produced the Runaways and others, showed some interest in us. Kim was a trippy dude. I remember he was managing Helen Ready at the time. And, he always referred to women as "stink". We were all over at the apartment one night, and he gets a call. He starts fumbling for the remote, trying to find it. "What's up", we ask? "My stink's on the Tonight Show.” We turned the channel, and there was Helen Ready talking with Johnny Carson.
In the summer of 1979, cash flow had reached critical mass. I started playing in a cover band, called Rocket 88, named for this old Oldsmobile one of the guy's had, just to pay the bills.
In the end, it was a good thing. It really helped my playing. You just can't overplay when you're doing five or six sets a night. You'll have nothing left in the tank, come the fifth set. Jeff Naideau, who passed on about three years ago, was the singer / keyboardist; Bruce Bossert was on bass; and Steve Conrad was on guitar. And, we did cover shit. That was the first band I ever went out of town with.
We went to Albuquerque, NM in Jan. 1979 and did a two-week stint there at a place called Bo Jangles. We stayed at this hotel that had this weird bar across the street with transvestites and shit in it. I'd never seen anything like that, really. Maybe a little, up on Sunset. But even that was still pretty tame. We came back and played all over LA, then went to Flagstaff, Arizona. I was gigging more than I ever had. At five sets a night, I'm lucky my arms didn't fall out of socket.
Fire Foxx 1978. RATT Bassist Juan Croucier (left), Me, Lead Vocalist and Lead Guitarist Ron Abrams (right)
Rocket 88 in 1979. We were playing in Flagstaff Arizona here.
Brother-in-law took this picture while working as an interpreter in Russia 1984.
Lean Into The Strike Zone, And Take One For The Team!
Be careful out there. There are things that go bump in the night. Actually, there are things that go 'Give me your wallet or I'll kill you' in the night. - John Larroquette It was through Rocket 88 (named after the old car from the 1950s, Rocket 88) that I wound up sacrificing a full year of my life to the court system.
We were finishing this two-week
Similar Books
![Moore, Gigi - Desiree's Lone Wolves [The Double R, Book 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)](https://fs.collectorofbookboyfriends.com/456238/thumbs/152x264/moore-gigi-desirees-lone-wolves-the-double-r-book-2-siren-publishing-menage-everlasting.jpg)
