MtnHusker said:

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BradWesley said:

😑

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BradWesley said:

@MtnHusker you ever have any bands too messed up to play at your venue?

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MtnHusker said:

Funny you mention messed up musicians with a VInce Neil video. Vince Neil was the worst we had. I helped open a venue in Steamboat called Levelz and did all of the booking. They wanted to book VInce and I said No way because he was a known drunk and problem. Well they wanted him so I told them to do it. Long story short he and his girlfriend polished off close to 2 bottles of vodka before the show started and he didn't know the words to his songs and could barely speak when he staggered on stage. 2nd song in the Crowd booed so loud he told them to fuck off throwing the microphone into the crowd storming off the stage. Almost had a riot.

Thats when I got the SOS call from the GM of Levelz saying what do I do. Basically first step is park a shitty car in front of the tour bus so they can't leave until it's figured out. Their tour manager was somewhat easy to work with but booking agent had final say and it was late at night. Spoke with Booking Agent in the morning and he tried playing hardball. I reminded him that one of the tours I set up for another one of his clients, Quiet Riot, had major issues when the lead singer Kevin DuBrow tried to bail on the tour. There must not have been much newsworthy going on because I had CNN, USA Today..... calling me to ask what happened with the concert being cancelled after 2 songs. Lets just say I threatened to do an interview with all of the media outlets about how difficult it was to deal with old school bands that had seen their fame dwindle. In the end he cussed me out but they paid back all of the money and covered our advertising in exchange for me saying that "Vince Neil was not feeling well and probably had Altitude Sickness".

Most of the bands didn't get too fucked up because you can't really drink while you are playing. Reggae star Eek-A-Mouse would get hammered but he had a stutter so you really couldn't tell when he was singing. Drummer Russell Batiste of the Meters/Funky Meters had a habit of getting so smashed the 2nd set would be a mess so I'd try to bring his Jack Daniels bottle out late hoping to keep him somewhat sober. HR (Human Rights) of Bad Brains was a crack head. I'd sit with him the whole time before the show in the green room so he wouldn't blaze up. Shock G with Digital Underground liked doing psychedelics sometimes and when he did the show would really suck. No energy as he would get all trippy.

Bands like Sublime/Longbeach Dub All Stars and Slightly Stoopid could party like fucking rock stars and still play. I've never seen a band more dedicated to doing drugs than the boys with Sublime. I could write a book about the adventures of doing shows with Sublime. I'll see if I can think of some others. Most of the big bands have strict tour managers that keep the problem alcoholic/drug addicts under control before the shows.

PS: I refused to do shows with George Clinton because of how messed up he would get. I did shows with his band The P Funk All Stars but not when George was playing with them. Big time crack head and even had 1 person who's only job was to carry the crack pipe. Was difficult to get him to go on stage and then when he did finally go on it would be 20 minutes before closing time/venue curfew and then he didn't want to stop playing. have to shut the stage power off on him. He was in his own little world

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BradWesley said:

Love these ‘Behind the Music’ stories.
View attachment 56823

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MtnHusker said:

anyone who has been in the music business has plenty of them. I could seriously write a book but would hate to out the musicians for shit they've done. Seen so many cheat on spouses, do hard drugs, get in fights with their bandmates......

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MtnHusker said:

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