GONE GAMBLIN'

This was to be some weekend…. 

It started with a road trip up to Seattle to see The Hellacopters/Quadra Jets at the Showbox. That was a barn burner, recorded and later released on the live Sub Pop album. 

I had seen them in Portland, and I don’t think they had a great time at E.J.’s. This time they opted to just do Seattle. 

Road Trip….

Great show with surprise guest Scott Morgan joining the Copters for two Sonic’s Rendezvous songs. 

Afterwards I was whisked away to SeaTac Airport by good friend, Lisa Z and was on the next flight that morning to Las Vegas. Getting into Las Vegas, hungover and dead from the night before, the sun SEEMED like a refreshing thing… NOT!!!

I remember I could see my hotel, from the airport, but it was advised that I would probably die if I had tried to walk to it.

So, I got a cab, and this is before cell phones and got to the hotel. We had made plans to meet at the pool. 

It was sweltering hot and I had to get in. 

But first, had to meet my people, and then get the key to go up to the room, to change, to come back down to the pool. Las Vegas is huge….

We were at Mandalay Bay which was awesome. A fake beach and lazy river to relax in with drinks. Pretty awesome. Getting day drunk in the heat was kinda nasty, but what the heck, I was ALL IN this weekend. The show that night was X with The Supersuckers opening up. We had an inside contact with the suckers and had passes waiting etc. I had a camera and was shooting a lot of bands at the time, so was permitted a photo pass. NICE….

We pretty much got to the show and the boys were on stage. I started shooting out in front of the stage and was immediately shut down and told I could only shoot from the stage. 

Alrighty then. NO problem. 

Up to side stage I went and started to shoot. “Act like you’ve been there before” is my motto and I slid with it. 

Suckers are doing their Devil Rock and Roll thing and we see them off the stage and X is up next.  I still had to be on the side of the stage to shoot. NO problem.

Especially since Jane Wiedlin was there as well, watching her old pals in X. 

The only thing was, I had NO IDEA it was her. She had on a Cleopatra wig. 

So, I kicked her drink over. 

Hey, it was sitting on the floor. I mean I apologized right away, and offered her another drink. But, she was more than cool about it. We were going Cool Places. 

As I’m standing there taking pictures of X, a band that I was introduced to from Decline of the Western Civilization, and had been a huge fan of, and here I am standing ON STAGE basically with them. WTF indeed. 

I owe this all to Ron apparently who had given us the passes. I’m standing by Billy Zoom and he had just returned to the band making this an early version of their “Reunion”. 

The band finishes their set and we make our way back to the Suckers dressing room. I got my camera with me, but we are on a smoke brake at the moment and talking about their album that just got shelved. They were gonna write a whole batch of new stuff and Eddie mentioned they were going to write about Tucson. 

Jan. 87 Tucson AZ article on the house I lived in. OZ House. Eddie is quoted in the article. Here is a picture of their singer Eric, who went on to be in the Black Supersucker. Then immortalized in the song Marie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1hl5Pou6k8

See…. I had come to Portland from Tucson and they traded the desert for the rain around the same time. 1988. I believe we may have been “running from” the same sorta of situation in Tucson. Kids lived beyond their years down there and you found yourself knee deep in adult  situations real quick. 

Anyway, as I’m listening to Gone Gamblin the song, it totally brings me back to the story at hand…

We were backstage and they are gonna rewrite the album etc. and Eddie says “Hey that was pretty cool that Jane Wiedlin was there tonite!” I said WHAT?!?! WHERE?!?! 

He said “Standing right by you the whole nite!!!” It suddenly hit me, it was my favorite fucking band growing up-THE GO GO’S- guitarist that I had kicked her drink. OH THE HORROR. 

My mother had driven us as kids to see them with Flock of Seagulls at Purdue University on the Vacation Tour. I LOVED THE GO GO’S.

Then all the sudden someone comes in and says “Their ready for you!” 

Eddie grabs me and says “You’re our photographer.” 

We go down the hall a little and Billy Zoom is standing there with John Doe. Ron makes small talk with Billy and there is a bench along the wall. I jump up on the bench and Billy Zoom just looked right at the camera and did that million dollar smile. I snapped the pic, and jumped down and kept moving. Thanking Billy, we make our way into the room proper. 

It is full of various people, but Exene is starting to stand up from this really cool chair with flames around it. Out of nowhere I ask her “Exene?!?! Would you mind sitting back down so I can get a picture of you in that cool chair?” 

She totally complied and I got up on a coffee table and shot the picture like I was from fucking Rolling Stone or something. So I’m out of my mind and again, playing it like I’ve been there before. 

We then make our way to the bathroom they had there in the dressing room. And it’s popping off!!! I saw NO DRUGS. That is 100% honest. Straight up…

But man, it was just alive. Ron kinda seemed in the center and the action and they were all in the shower goofing off with the shower head. Acting like it was a mic and singing into it. All of the sudden the disposable camera’s came out. Told you, this was pre cell phones. 

Danny Bland was their manager and he started to hand them to me in an orderly fashion. As the Supersuckers posed with Exene and Jane, I snapped away. INCREDIBLE. Luckily I have the photo’s to prove it:)

So…. From there we make our way to the MGM Grand, which was where they all seemed to be staying. We get there and it’s packed. At 2:30am!!! 

We get in line and make small talk about what we wanna do etc. and then all of the sudden the automatic doors come open and it’s Jane with some guy who is pulling himself on the ground all the way through the lobby. I mean, like he fell out of a wheelchair and had to make his way inside somehow! 

Well, everyone is wondering WTF is going on, and is this guy ok? Jane is kinda cheering him on.. “Come on, you can do it!” Then all of the sudden, he pops up to his feet and acts as if nothing has happened. 

WTF indeed. Mommy look at me?!?!

Anyway, we make out way up to their rooms while I take a fair amount of ribbing from that hard case of the band MR. DAN BOLTON AGE ?

Trying to represent the Turbonegro, decked out in denim, Dan comes at me with “Look at this guy trying to look like Corey Hart!” 

Which was a pretty good line. I laughed.. But then again, I can laugh at myself. 

Ron, being a little cooler, was making small talk with me and I told him I just flew in from seeing the Hellacopters last nite. He gushed about how much he liked them, so I hooked him up with some extra stickers I scored. He was very gracious. 

We smoked some more weed and then proceeded to pile into a rickshaw thing that carried a load of people. I felt bad for the dude… 

But we made our way down to Binions Horseshoe to play craps. I was familiar but unfamiliar so Eddie was very patient and kind of explained the basics and I have to tell ya, I was hooked on dice for a bit.

Anyways, we said our goodbyes by the time we got to the penny slots. 

They probably got in their van, on the dusty old road to give you two friendly beeps on that horn.

Meanwhile we were looking for that van behind CIRCUS CIRCUS that had sold us some blow earlier that night! 

Into the wayward wind I keep on traveling

I’ve gone gamblin.