Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Anecdote # 37

The Fourth Day Of My Professional Touring Life.

and so it was in June of 1977 I moved to L.A. to begin rehearsals with frank zappa. I rented a non-descript one bedroom apartment on Canyon Drive in North Hollywood not far from the famous Hollywood sign. who says 'nobody walks in LA'? I sure did. I had no car. frank's brother-in-law Midget Sloatman was often my ride and my only friend.
one curious thing happened. one night I dined alone at a famous spot called Musso's and Frank's, the oldest restaurant in Hollywood. frank had taken me there for dinner once. it was a long walk back to my sad apartment and I had nothing to do, so I stopped in a bookstore along the way. I bought a book on Elvis. I never knew much about his life and this book was written by his bodyguard Red, reportedly close to Elvis all those years. I took the book home and settled into a long read on the couch. I fell asleep about 2 AM. the next morning the world's headlines read:
Elvis Is Dead!
he had died that night while I was reading about his life.

rehearsal's were held in a huge movie studio on Melrose Avenue where they used to make Laurel and Hardy films. for 3 months 5 days a week we rehearsed there before we ever stepped in front of a real audience. most friday nights I went home with frank for the week-end to get a jump on learning next week's material. I can't say I enjoyed the rehearsals which were long and tedious. I felt like an outcast. it seemed like the other player's were custom-made to be in frank's band. all of them were readers, very familiar with zappa material, and all of them actually lived in LA. it was a lonely time for me.

the rehearsals drug on and on. we learned five hours of zappa material! the huge film lot was a strange place, there was no telling what might be happening there from day to day. one time I watched them filming in blue screen the Spiderman TV series. strange watching a guy crawling along on the floor and seeing him projected onto the side of a building in the playback screen. they were forever correcting his positions, "pull your left foot in a bit, you're supposed to be standing on a window ledge". another time I watched them film an Apple Jacks commercial. they had a huge 30-foot Apple Jack box and these jacks the size of lounge chairs.

at certain times I wasn't needed during rehearsals. I would walk down melrose avenue to a huge old building called Western Costume. there I could roam floor after floor of authentic costumes used by all the major film companies over the years. this was the place that outfitted the movies. for example, you might find yourself on a floor filled with civil war period clothing. surrounded by hundreds of uniforms of all types, as well as the accoutrement's: boots, prince nez glasses, hats. canteens. anything you've ever seen in a movie Western Costume had it. it was a fascinating way to kill an hour or two.

finally after three months you could tell it was time to go touring. extra people began to arrive at the film lot each day. more crew members. Big John Smothers arrived to the thrill of the other band members who had already toured with him. and a new tour manager introduced himself as Ron Nehoda. seemed like a nice person.

the tour started. my first professional show ever was in Tempe, Arizona September 8, 1977. then we flew to San Diego for a show on the ninth. the third show was in Las Vegas at the Aladdin Theatre. wow! Las Vegas. it was every bit as exciting as I expected. electricity in the air and big show lights everywhere.
the Aladdin was a sizable complex which included our hotel and of course a large gambling casino on the bottom floor. after the show most of us ended up checking out the casino, but I didn't stay long. not much of a gambler. the window in my room would not open. I found out why.

frank's tour had something no other tour I've been on since had: a bag boy. Pancho was a fresh 19-year old kid who was responsible to pick your bags up each morning outside your door to be delivered to the airport for the day's flight. he was a nice kid but like Ron, I barely knew him.
the morning after our show at the Aladdin Pancho came around 9 AM to pick up the bags. when he got to Ron's room there was no answer. eventually he had a security person open the door. Ron was sitting quietly in a bathtub full of water and blood. he had slit his wrists. evidently Ron had a serious gambling addiction as well as a taste for coke. he had gotten himself so coked up the night before he had gambled away frank's earnings from the concert (reportedly about $15,000.00) as they took him from the tub he was still alive. he said to poor Pancho. "I'll tell you about it later".

there was a serious shitmist inside the plane to Tucson, our next concert. I remember we checked in the hotel and frank asked us all to meet him in the empty lounge on the ground floor. there he reported calmly that Ron had in fact died and went on to say there was nothing more for us to do but play a show that night, that's what he wanted us to focus on. and he was right in saying that. the strange thing to me: I never saw anything in the press about Ron's death. I expected something in Rolling Stone's Random Notes or somewhere but...what happens in vegas.

and that began the fourth day of my professional touring life.

22 comments:

  1. Like many, I discovered you via Sheik Yerbouti, and it's fascinating to hear about life on-the-road during that era. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow...! Wild, and strange... No mention in Frank's book either, maybe out of respect?

    So was your room at the Aladdin directly over the pool?

    LOVE these anecdotes!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Adrian - you should write a book. (I'd buy it!)

    You're the coolest guy I "know."

    Dan

    ReplyDelete
  4. When living in Portland, OR, years ago, a friend finally buckled and bought a cd player. His first CD: Zappa. Later that night we heard that Frank had died that day. My friend said "I feel like buying a Sinatra CD."

    ReplyDelete
  5. Spooky.

    Let me know if you and the gang want the local Chapel Hill/Carrboro "tour" next week. I also emailed your mgt re: my work, which hopefully will get forwarded to you.

    Take care and travel safely,
    david

    ReplyDelete
  6. I've just recently moved to Vegas from Boston. It would be nice to see you here sometime! Johnny Mo

    ReplyDelete
  7. I can only imagine the pain and discomfort it must have caused.
    Adrian, I want you to know how much I enjoy reading your blog posts, they make me smile, think, and ponder. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  8. hello adrian, the web is incredible,
    i was kind of browsing youtube and came across King Crimson - then at
    Wikipedia where i checked your bio i
    found out you have a blog - actually, on the same blog service I use - blogger - so here I want to say big big thanks for Discipline and Beat
    which was music that helped me survive my awful depressing teenage high school years - when everything looked lost, i just put on my headphones, and walkman and listened to the stuff like Neal and Jack and Me and got some positive emotions and strength to
    keep going

    ReplyDelete
  9. I just came across this very interesting blog. I was in the audience at your first show with FZ! I remember it well! Ed Mann told me once that FZ did NOT find the ASU show to be very good, but I remember having a great time.

    I took TWO girls to that show with me and didn't get lucky with either of them--at least not THAT night!

    Thanks for the memories!

    ReplyDelete
  10. your anecdote in LA reminds me of a similar situation that I went through some years ago. I know how terrible it is to share apartment and not having a car! By the way, people in LA speak and way too much!

    ReplyDelete
  11. It is nice that new members started coming to the band and you decided to tour around. Once I was living in a foreig country, and I would say three months is the average time we spend before feeling ready to explore the place.

    ReplyDelete
  12. This is an awesome post shared here. Great article and thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  13. nice post I enjoy reading your blog posts

    ReplyDelete
  14. Hello,
    This is really great information. Keep posting such an amazing information.

    Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Hello Dear,
    Really your blog is very interesting.... it contains great and unique information. I enjoyed to visiting your blog. It's just amazing.... Thanks very much for the share & keep posting such an informative articles. I'm looking forward to your blog. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Hay it is really great to read about your story the way you present it is very interesting Thanks for sharing it..

    ReplyDelete
  17. Wow very nice one play this music. Really wonderful post.......!

    ReplyDelete
  18. I've just recently moved to Vegas from Boston. It would be nice to see you here sometime! Johnny Mo

    ReplyDelete
  19. hello adrian, the web is incredible,
    i was kind of browsing youtube and came across King Crimson - then at
    Wikipedia where i checked your bio i
    found out you have a blog - actually, on the same blog service I use - blogger - so here I want to say big big thanks for Discipline and Beat
    which was music that helped me survive my awful depressing teenage high school years - when everything looked lost, i just put on my headphones, and walkman and listened to the stuff like Neal and Jack and Me and got some positive emotions and strength to

    ReplyDelete
  20. hello adrian, the web is incredible,
    i was kind of browsing youtube and came across King Crimson - then at
    Wikipedia where i checked your bio i
    found out you have a blog - actually, on the same blog service I use - blogger - so here I want to say big big thanks for Discipline and Beat
    which was music that helped me survive my awful depressing teenage high school years - when everything looked lost, i just put on my headphones, and walkman and listened to the stuff like Neal and Jack and Me and got some positive emotions and strength to
    keep going

    ReplyDelete