Adventures from the merch table at the Ventura show....

[Keyser Soze]

ok... this is a true story... the names have been change to protect the idiotic... err, I mean... the innocent...

I had some of the strangest people go by the table at the show yesterday...

someone asked me, and I'm not kidding you.... who the IRON MAIDENs were a tribute to... he had the most serious face when he did this...
I played along, thinking that he was playing me, but he kept going. At this point, anyone with half a brain would be laughing at my "who-the-hell-is-this-idiot" expression on my face, but not this guy. He actually thought this was a legitimate question. And, no, he didn't look drunk, and he wasn't one of the older, well dressed people that kept on parading by the table, he was one of the security guards....

ok, here's another one...
there was a guy that looked like a reject from a Farmer John commercial... He asked me this : "Is this the Iron Maiden from England, or the Iron Maiden from America?" I told him there's only one Iron Maiden, and that the Maidens were the next best thing... and he was actually, visibly, upset that the real Iron Maiden was not playing... granted, he was drunk as a skunk, but even then, you'd think common sense would prevail... (or maybe I'm a bit of an idealist when it comes to human intelligence...)
He told me I had lost a sale because Iron Maiden, the REAL Iron Maiden, wasn't playing...

I had another guy ask me why I wasn't selling Real Iron Maiden merchandise... hehehehe...

OK, now I go... it's time for my medication...

 

[Snausages]

Miss much, did I?

 

[smylex]

No, Keyser...'tis not you that needs the medication. It's the people that were asking silly questions.

And, remember, I think it was P.T. Barnum who once said something to the effect of, "You can never go wrong underestimating the intelligence level of the masses."

 

[Bruce Chickinson]

Keyser...thanks so much for manning the merch booth. I wished you could have watched more of the show...espcially the part in ACES HIGH where that drunk bastard stole my SM 58 Mic and I tried bonking him on the head w/ my mic stand, before grabbing Jojo's mic and knocking down HER mic stand until Smylex got my mic back from the crowd. It turns out FIVE different guys had to be thrown out before the night was through. One guy, the ice thrower, was picked up like a log and his head was used to slam open the double doors before he was thrown out onto the pavement.

VENTURA CROWDS ARE ROWDY MOTHERS! I LOVE IT, and can't wait to come back and play the Ventura Theatre. The sound there was GREAT!

 

[Mike Heenan]

Jenny I haven't gotten a chance to look at the video I shot but I'm pretty sure I got all that on tape, as when it was happening, I was like, what the hecks going on over there! Who do you think's more rowdy though, this crowd or the one's at 14 Below?

 

[Jeff Milne]

The two times in the Blaze B era that I saw the real Iron Maiden, they played a place
about the same size as the Ventura Theater. But the smallest place I've seen them with
Bruce is the Universal Amphitheater.

 

[Keyser Soze]

that, the universal show with Bruce... was brilliant... *gets misty-eyed at the memory*

 

[drumslut]

Very interesting indeed! I can't believe how many e-mails I have received from people asking to meet Ozzy. Some also suggest ways Ozzy can improve Ozzfest (song selection, etc.). One guy adamantly wanted to form a joint venture with my band and his carnival enterprise for the next Ozzfest! Even after I told him my band was only a TRIBUTE and not the real thing, he still persisted!