Los Angeles: El Rey

Ahhhh.... a DAY OFF in Hollywood..........The Teddy Hotel was right on the Walk of Fame, right across the street from Mann's Chinese Theater........ Stephan and Siggi were sitting at a sidewalk cafe, asking me what the big deal was with all the stars on the sidewalk..... As I stood on Walter Lantz's (Woody Woodpecker's creator) star, I explained the whole tourista trap thingie to them........ then told ham to dream on.... Kiss doesn't even have a star, but Reginald Denney does...... Jeez.... If I get the crap beat out of me on live TV, then hug the thugs who did it it court, can I have a star, too? GIMME A BREAK!!!.

We stayed at the site of the very first Academy Awards Show, the Theodore Roosevelt Hotel. Lemme tell you something...That place was OVERREATED!!! The staff was a bunch of ASSHOLES, except the lady in the gift shop... she was a trip. When I went down to pick up a second card key for my room, they asked me how long we were staying.... This was about 20 minutes after Marko went round for round with those people... I told them that if the pissed off my road manager again, we were going to pack up and fid somewhere else to stay.... They got the message real quick.... 9 rooms at 90 bucks a day talks, eh.... When I ran into Brad, Lamb's road manager, and Sean, their sound guy, they acted all jealous that we were at the Teddy Hotel and they were at a dive..... Yah.

So anyway.... after walking around Hollywood, doing the starry-eyed tourista thing, I found my way into a cyber cafe to catch up with a few friends..... that being done ten bucks later, I went and got me some REAL food for a change... Yup... Boston Market...(laughs) After walking a few blocks down Sunset Blvd to hit a newsstand to pick up a copy of a local magazine that's like one huge classified ad section... hookers all over the place... not like Vancouver, where they were at least kind on the eyes... no... the LA hoes were kinda, like, blecch...... people actually PAY for that? EWWWWWW !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, I was hanging out in the hotel with Marko, when we get a phone call......it's Chris, Nine Inch Nail's drummer...... He wants tickets.... a knock sounds on the door...it's one of Marko's best friends, Marshall...... we start talking...... I asked him who he's worked with.... Marshall told me he just got done managing the House Of Blues Summer tour.... he's been out with Marilyn Manson.... (marko replaced him on that job)... hmmmmmmmmmmm.........

So, the next day, we get to the El Rey....it's one of the best places we played, second only to 9:30 in DC.... The place is TOTAL Hollywood... looks like a rebuilt theater from the 1930's... not bad for a 4 year old concept...... Of course, I immediately walked in and did my Siggi and Steffan imitation...."this is unacceptable... it must be removed.... The first thing I told the house guys was, 'Your operative words of the day are: "NO... Shut Up.... Kiss My Ass.... Go Away", in reference to the total retentiveness of Siggi and Steffan..... When I told them the 4 trackspots in the center of the stage were in an unacceptable location, and that "S n S" would tell them to remove them, they got their practice in.... We ended up hanging the backdrop in front of that area of the stage... problem avoided.... When it came to be show time, it was great....... The VariLite guy for Nine Inch Nails, Willie, was sitting right behind me, talking to the soundman for Motley Crue..... The bass player for a VERY huge band, who asked me not to use his name on my site , was sitting right in front of me, leaning on my console... (not to mention bugging the HELL outta me) The place was full of people who act like they were in the "Sprite in LA" commercial...... (laughs) In the middle of the show, I had an I Beam get retarded on me... as I was fixing the problem, Siggi came running down, and got in my face, screaming at me to lower the levels, I was ruining the show! OK .... THAT WAS IT. I'D HAD ENOUGH. I looked Siggi straight in the eye and said, "(sexual intercourse) THIS, (sexual intercourse) YOU!! DO IT YOURSELF!!" and stormed out of the El Rey..... A minute later, a TOTALLY shocked Siggi came running outside, apologizing for flying off the handle..... we came to an understanding that night..... he ran the projector..... I ran the lights...... I knew MY job... he knew his...... I didn't tell him how to run the projector, he didn't tell me how to run the lights..... DAMN, I should have done that WAY EARLIER...(laughs) Siggi apologized to me for the remainder of the tour for his behavior.... we parted friends....

As we took our stuff out of the El Rey, they started to let in the dance crowd for the night... Oh My God...it was Black Gay Disco Night at the El Rey.... We got the hell out of there as quickly as we could... (laughs)

on to The Glass House rave in Pomona!