I thought I had posted this story somewhere on the boards. But after a good look around, I couldn't find it. I promised Scream Ale that I would post it. It's about The Time I Met Lemmy
In 1995, I had left a job at a major concert trade publication to start my own company that dealt with the tracking and reporting on touring acts. My business partner was BRIAN!, who many of you met in Las Vegas.
One of our first trade shows we attended as this new business was called Foundations Forum, an annual four-day conference which focused on hard rock and metal.
When preparing for the trip, we had discovered that Lemmy would be giving a key note address. I've never been a big fan of Motorhead, but did have a poster of the "Motorhead family tree". A record label had sent it to me several years earlier. I'm not sure why I kept it. But since Lemmy would be there, I brought it.
Since the trade show setup time started before noon on the first day, we arrived the night before. We used this time to get familiar with the Burbank Hilton. and to get cripplingly drunk.
During this time, we found the service elevators, which would come in handy later on. And we found the staff uniform room, which would also come in handy later on.
On the starting day of the conference, BRIAN! and I set up our booth and then retreated to our room for sleep.
I woke up at about 2:00 in the afternoon and headed down to the bar for one last relaxing drink before the crowds of people showed up for the 5:00 P.M. opening party.
That's the first time I saw Lemmy. He was sitting there with his signature cowboy hat, signature Jack and Coke, and signature cigarette hanging from his mouth. He was also surrounded by about eight fans who desperately wanted to visit with him.
I turned around and headed straight back to our room. "BRIAN!," I said, "wake up. Lemmy is holding court in the bar. Bring the poster and a pen."
I headed down the elevator and was met by BRIAN! nine minutes later.
As we walked toward Lemmy's table, we could see that his crowd of adoring fans had doubled. We stood patiently until he made eye contact. At that moment, BRIAN! held up the poster. Lemmy locked eyes on it and summoned us up. The seas parted.
We were standing in front of Lemmy, for christ's sakes. BRIAN! walked through the parted seas with the poster.
Lemmy took it and said "I've heard about this, but never seen it."
He put on a pair of glasses and began examining the poster like it was the holy grail.
""Oh, I remember this guy,'" he mumbled, and ""I remember that guy." He was remembering people from Hawkwind and the Pink Fairies.
At that point, I asked "Would you mind signing that for us?"
Lemmy reached out for a pen, without looking BRIAN! placed a big fat magic marker in his hand.
Lemmy stopped, looked at it and said "I thought that was a fucking dildo."
And then he signed it, without even looking at what he was doing, and the handed the poster to me.
He then handed the big fat black magic marker to BRIAN! and said "You go have fun with that."
Lemmy
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Lemmy
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Re: Lemmy
The second day of Foundations Forum 1995 was rough. Every single person at the convention was hung over. Musicians, industry professionals, groupies, and fans of metal were all moving pretty fucking slow. And we had to babysit our booth for about five hours.
To make things worse, nobody was really interested in the services we provided. It just wasn't a good day. For anyone.
Roadrunner Records also had a booth in the hall and was giving away softball-sized stress balls with "Life of Agony" printed on it. LOA was one of their newly signed bands.
Throughout the morning, BRIAN! and I took turns making beer runs and pretty soon, we had a collection of about 10 empty cans. It was at that point we decided to fight our boredom by setting up a makeshift bowling alley in the isle in front of our booth. The Life of Agony freebee was the bowling ball and the beer cans were our pins.
The remaining hours turned into a mess of fun as a crazy collection of musicians and industry pros took turns bowling. The highlight of BRIAN!'s day was when Joey Belladona and Scott Ian, both members of Anthrax, stopped by and played an entire 10-frame game.
To make things worse, nobody was really interested in the services we provided. It just wasn't a good day. For anyone.
Roadrunner Records also had a booth in the hall and was giving away softball-sized stress balls with "Life of Agony" printed on it. LOA was one of their newly signed bands.
Throughout the morning, BRIAN! and I took turns making beer runs and pretty soon, we had a collection of about 10 empty cans. It was at that point we decided to fight our boredom by setting up a makeshift bowling alley in the isle in front of our booth. The Life of Agony freebee was the bowling ball and the beer cans were our pins.
The remaining hours turned into a mess of fun as a crazy collection of musicians and industry pros took turns bowling. The highlight of BRIAN!'s day was when Joey Belladona and Scott Ian, both members of Anthrax, stopped by and played an entire 10-frame game.
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Re: Lemmy
All the goofy shit that's on youtube and yet no one filmed Joey Belladona and Scott Ian bowling beer cans? That's bullshit.Dear Booze wrote: ↑Wed Oct 27, 2021 1:18 pmwas when Joey Belladona and Scott Ian, both members of Anthrax, stopped by and played an entire 10-frame game.
That's a funny Lemmy story but what became of the uniform closet and service elevators?
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Re: Lemmy
The following afternoon was fun. It was "Showcase Day." Many up and coming bands as well as recently signed and unsigned bands were scheduled to play at a number of venues in and around Los Angeles and Hollywood. We had a schedule and had chosen several shows that we wanted to see.
There was also a bunch of busses that made continuous loops around to all of the clubs and halls. This was kind of nice because nobody had to worry about getting a DUI; we could drink as much as we wanted.
One of the band we wanted to see was Machine Head. They were fun and we were friends with Kathy Reed, their record label rep.
Kathy needed to pick up a member of Type O Negative from his apartment in Hollywood and I decided to tag along. There were also a couple of members of another one of her bands that came with us. As we waited in the apartment building's lobby for the musician to come down, we saw actor Richard Greco exit the elevator and then come back a few minutes later. He stopped a few feet from us and asked "are, you guys, like, a group or something?"
Without missing a beat, one of the smartass musicians looked at Greco and replied "well, we are here together, but we are all individuals."
Greco paused and thought about the answer for a full 10 seconds and then said "Duh, I meant are you musicians or in a band or something?"
What a moron.
There was also a bunch of busses that made continuous loops around to all of the clubs and halls. This was kind of nice because nobody had to worry about getting a DUI; we could drink as much as we wanted.
One of the band we wanted to see was Machine Head. They were fun and we were friends with Kathy Reed, their record label rep.
Kathy needed to pick up a member of Type O Negative from his apartment in Hollywood and I decided to tag along. There were also a couple of members of another one of her bands that came with us. As we waited in the apartment building's lobby for the musician to come down, we saw actor Richard Greco exit the elevator and then come back a few minutes later. He stopped a few feet from us and asked "are, you guys, like, a group or something?"
Without missing a beat, one of the smartass musicians looked at Greco and replied "well, we are here together, but we are all individuals."
Greco paused and thought about the answer for a full 10 seconds and then said "Duh, I meant are you musicians or in a band or something?"
What a moron.
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Re: Lemmy
Later the same day, BRIAN!, Kathy, one of her artists (I can't remember who it was), and I were standing in line to get into a club for another showcase. Rikki Rocket, drummer for Poison, and duchebag deluxe, walked up to the forgotten-named musician and said "dude, I know you, you're in [whatever band]. You don't have to stand in line. We can go right in."
So we all kind of shrugged our shoulders and started to bypass the line of people. After taking just a few steps, Rikki turned to forgotten-named guy and said "No, I meant you. Lose the baggage."
Forgotten guy blew Rikki Rocket off and stayed with us. But I'll never forget what a complete asshole that guy was. I'm sure that after Poison broke up, he eventually got a job delivering pizza or something.
So we all kind of shrugged our shoulders and started to bypass the line of people. After taking just a few steps, Rikki turned to forgotten-named guy and said "No, I meant you. Lose the baggage."
Forgotten guy blew Rikki Rocket off and stayed with us. But I'll never forget what a complete asshole that guy was. I'm sure that after Poison broke up, he eventually got a job delivering pizza or something.
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Re: Lemmy
The last day of Foundations Forum 1995 turned into one giant party. Everyone was drunk and/or stoned and everyone was having fun. BRIAN! and I packed up our trade show shit at about 5P.M. and joined the fun.
At some point, BRIAN! and I got lost from one another and I spent about and hour wandering from party to party, each held in various hospitality suites. But, with so many people, It was close to impossible to travel between floors on the elevators. That's when I realized how important my Chef's uniform was. I went back to my room, changes clothes, grabbed a tray of dirty dishes that someone left in the hall, and began using the service elevators. It was like an instant all-access pass to the entire building. Nobody asked questions. It was fucking cool.
But I still couldn't find BRIAN!
Eventually, I was near the main bar. The same place where I saw Lemmy on day 1. The place was fucking crowded. It was insane. There was also some sort of commotion coming from the men's room. It sounded like a fight. I decided to take a look.
As I entered the bathroom, I saw Big Jim Martin, former guitarist of Faith No More and a couple other guys preparing to knock the shit out of BRIAN! I quickly learned that Martin had asked BRIAN! if he had a match and BRIAN! said "you bet, Your face and My Ass!"
They didn't think BRIAN! was funny and let him know. BRIAN! hated Faith No More as well as Jim Martin's current project (at the time), Behemoth. And he let them know.
So here I am, dressed like a hotel employee. Not a cop, mind you, but a fucking kitchen worker. But everyone straightened up, and began behaving pretty quickly. Weird and funny at the same time.
After a few moments I started laughing and let Jim Martin and his crew in on the joke. He thought it was pretty funny and shared some pretty funny stories about people dressing up like delivery guys in order to get backstage at concerts. I think we all had beers together, but I honestly can't remember anything else after that.
At some point, BRIAN! and I got lost from one another and I spent about and hour wandering from party to party, each held in various hospitality suites. But, with so many people, It was close to impossible to travel between floors on the elevators. That's when I realized how important my Chef's uniform was. I went back to my room, changes clothes, grabbed a tray of dirty dishes that someone left in the hall, and began using the service elevators. It was like an instant all-access pass to the entire building. Nobody asked questions. It was fucking cool.
But I still couldn't find BRIAN!
Eventually, I was near the main bar. The same place where I saw Lemmy on day 1. The place was fucking crowded. It was insane. There was also some sort of commotion coming from the men's room. It sounded like a fight. I decided to take a look.
As I entered the bathroom, I saw Big Jim Martin, former guitarist of Faith No More and a couple other guys preparing to knock the shit out of BRIAN! I quickly learned that Martin had asked BRIAN! if he had a match and BRIAN! said "you bet, Your face and My Ass!"
They didn't think BRIAN! was funny and let him know. BRIAN! hated Faith No More as well as Jim Martin's current project (at the time), Behemoth. And he let them know.
So here I am, dressed like a hotel employee. Not a cop, mind you, but a fucking kitchen worker. But everyone straightened up, and began behaving pretty quickly. Weird and funny at the same time.
After a few moments I started laughing and let Jim Martin and his crew in on the joke. He thought it was pretty funny and shared some pretty funny stories about people dressing up like delivery guys in order to get backstage at concerts. I think we all had beers together, but I honestly can't remember anything else after that.
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