During the years I grew up listening to music and playing guitar in the ORANGE ROOM, there were few incidents that ever rivaled the night our band played in the small town of HAVANA, Illinois. Maiden Cane were a rock band and we played some tough joints over the past year or so. The name of the Havana bar escapes me and there will be many holes in my memory from that evening. The night seems to come back to me in short bursts and flashes. Like a dream...or a Vietnam flashback!!!! It's the feeling of knowing you were there, but sometimes feeling like you're retelling another persons story or watching a doumentary on TV.
I was still living with my parents and I had just turned 20 years years old when I made a rather rash decision to quit school and get a job!!! It was the first of many mistakes I'd make during those days. Within a few months, I began the experiment of living on my own with our drummer and another friend. But, for now, I was working at Bergers Downtown and playing music on the weekends.
It was late Summer and I had worked all week at Bergners and remember being excited that I was getting off early enough to travel with the band to set up. Many times, that was not the case, and I'd need to arrive a little late due to my work schedule. We all began setting up our gear on the small stage in the back of the bar. The bar itself was one of those long rooms with the barstools on the right and tables along the left and middle of the room. It reminded me of that video of Waiting On A Friend by The Rolling Stones. I popped the cap off my first bottle of ice cold Budweiser and remember telling our bass player proudly, "this is my first beer all week, " like it was an accomplishment or something.
Before long, our first set was underway and the band sounded good and rested. We were firing on all cylinders and we had several friends of ours in the crowd. After the second set, a friend of a friend came up to me on stage and said he was going to pick up a gram of the recreational drug... that was popular at the time...MDA. The drug itself was very prominent in those days and was usually a powder that when taken orally, would produce visual hallucinations and a feeling of euphoria and heightened intimacy.
Our final set came and went without incident and the crowd we're having a wonderful time. It was right about the time of our encore that the same guy, who left earlier came up to the front of the stage and confessed to the band, " I couldn't get a gram". "Oh, that's Ok..we're just fine as we are", we said. Then he dropped the hammer on us......"yeah I couldn't get one gram...I bought two"!!!!! Then he proceeded to open a clear baggy full of fluffy white powder and encouraged each of us to lick their finger and take a swipe!!!! Well, I thought it would be one and done, so I took a large swipe and said thank you. I didn't have to drive. We played another song or two and after the encore, he emerged again with the magic baggy!!! Well, I thought, I wasn't expecting to see him again, so I took my second finger full. We began putting our guitars in their stands and I turned around... and he WAS BACK AGAIN!!!! We all had a third helping and after that...the night gets a little foggy. We may have taken more but the next thing I recall was getting a huge rush of adrenalin and euphoria..... before I relieved my entire days worth of food and beer against the back wall of the stage!!!!!
It happened so fast, and very few actually saw me puke my masterpiece, that it almost seemed like a non event!!!! We were all extremely high by now!!! The next thing I remember is three of the band trying to put our guitar player in the back of his small Music Man amplifier!!! The space was probably about the size of two shoeboxes. And the funny thing was, he was trying to fit in there!!! It was hysterically funny!!!! We must of maneuvered around the sloppy stomach juice enough to pack our gear. It was around this time that I blacked out!!!!
Our drummer had taken me out the back door and into the cool night air. I came to looking up at the vast sky full of beautiful stars and the fresh air felt good entering my lungs in long deep breaths through my nose. What happened??? That had never happened before!!! Did
I pass out? I don't think I fell or anything...but I just lost a minute or two of my life. Passed out on my feet? Once outside, I felt great. The first rush had passed and I was ready to party!!! What was next????
We were all young and bullet proof and the night knew no limits. The next thing I remember... we were all inside a long tube and everyone from the Havana bar was there. It felt like we'd been transported!!!! I have no idea how we got there. None. Perhaps aliens had abducted us for an anal probe and set us down in a cornfield next to a mobil home where a party was in full swing!!! The trailer was PACKED with people from the bar!!! Dozens of long haired dudes and several, tube topped chicks... just slowly rotating around the inside of the trailer in a counter clockwise fashion...with new faces routinely popping up in front of me. Many were feeling the euphoria of the MDA and occasionally, people would rub against each other and that would produce a long passionate kiss or a gentle touch. That happened to me several times. It was just so surreal... but at the same time, so warm and intimate. The radio played WWCT loudly as this fishbowl of humanity circled the room. First the living area, where a guy called "The Colonel" was separating black capsules on the back of a blue frisbee. Further around the room, and I'd see our guitar player holding court to several girls. After a few minutes, the sway would take me into the kitchen where I'd see more of the band guys. I would constantly sing the " I WANT IT... I WANT IT" bit from MAGIC BUS and then....a new set of people would be in front of me. While all this was unfolding, an older guy was sitting at the front of the room watching his wife interact with other guys. He seemed to enjoy it as she would occasionally kiss a stranger. He just watched.
After what seemed like an hour had passed, several of us including our drummer found ourselves back outside and to the rear of the owner lot. The stars were dancing in the sky and we noticed a dog on a leash barking. We huddled around the dog and I began singing, "Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby" by Carl Perkins. It just sounded good out there to be singing at the top of my lungs to this barking dog!!!!
All good things must come to an end. Thanks to a Caterpillar friend of our buddy, he took us home from this mad hatter tea party.... all the way home.... to Lake Camelot. Unfortunately, he had ingested many of the black capsules that were being counted on the blue frisbee and he was getting sick. "How are you feeling", we'd ask. "Pretty Rocky" he'd reply. The sun was up when I finally laid my head down on the bed in my orange room. Thank goodness my family were all at my brothers motorcycle race that day. Then It hit me.....Oh shit!!!! we have a gig tonight at Lake Thunderbird. I needed sleep, but due to the artificial manipulation of the night before, there was no way I was going to get sleep. I just laid there until it was time to shower. I had never felt more hungover as I did that day. To this very day, I've never felt worse than I did that morning.
Somehow we all found our way to the gig that night in time for the show. We were all still alive but, barely. I remember feeling so tired that I couldn't lift my feet high enough to walk over our guitar cords. I just shuffled. We later found out that our late night vocal session with the neighbors dog had gotten our buddy's friend evicted from his mobile home. We made it through the private party and said our goodbyes. I'm sure I slept in the ORANGE ROOM the whole next day. It's possible that I damaged my brain that weekend.....
but there would be other nights of mayhem to come. But, nothing like the night in Havana!!! Just another tail...from the landlord's dog....when days were psychedelic!!!!
Comentários