I've only been to one so far, so here's mine:
July 31, 2003--Los Angeles
Epic show, even though Opeth played only their mellow stuff, no death metal. Porcupine Tree freakin' owned, what a band! Drove up I-5 from San Diego with three 21-year old, 6' tall, Playboy-quality, blondes wearing short shorts and tank-tops (I work with one, and she brought two friends...I was pinching myself all day...) Stopped at a liquor store on Sunset, loaded up on Jack Daniels and Heineken and went to our hotel and got way shitty. Cruised down Melrose (still the best shopping street in LA, despite its cliche-ness), got a rock-star shirt for the show. Got kicked out of a panty store because my friends were trying on duck panties over their shorts. Crashed a video shoot for some vegan TV show.
Back to the hotel. Got dressed for the show and went to our dinner reservations at HOB. Drank some $8.00 Jack and cokes (fuckin' rip, but I acted like it was a cheap price to pay...in front of the girls, you know ) I had a ticket, but the girls didn't so they tried to sweet talk the manager into letting them in. He couldn't get them on the floor, but, he said, "you can come up to the Foundation Room ".
If you click on the link, you'll see that the Foundation Room does not suck. I believe it costs $3000 to join. If your a hot chick, I guess you get in free. So they go up there and I don't worry about them. I watch Porcupine Tree and then go outside to call them on my cell. As I walked out, Meg, one of the girls was coming downstairs, "there you are! Come up!". So bouncer gives me a wrist band and I go up to the inner sanctum. Balcony views of downtown L.A. Candlelit rooms with long tables where people sat on pillows. I watched Opeth live on a big screen sitting on a plush couch, sipped on the girl's free drinks, then cruised downstairs to watch the band in person.
Left the show with the girls and went to some country bar called the Saddle Ranch. Tryed to get into the SkyBar, but couldn't get in (celebrities and guests only). Went back to the Foundation Room and that's when things started to get a little ugly. Karim, the doorman who was extremely polite, cooperative, and hospitable (even to me, the guy) while he was on the clock, was now off work. So he descended upon the girls like a hawk swooping on field mice. Trying to kiss 'em, grabbing asses, all kinds of shit. He had his boys there and I'm by myself, dude-wise. "We're out", I tell one of the girls, so we go outside to catch a cab. We all get in and close the doors, tell the cabbie where to go, and the back door opens and Karim jumps in! "This is a mistake", I tell him. Homey looks at me and laughs. Puts his hand on Meg's thigh, thinking he's coming back to our hotel and scoring.
The cab driver pulls away. "Can you stop at the Pink Dot?", Karim asks. Its a liquor store. So we stop there, Karim gets out and goes in alone. Meg and I are in the back seat yelling at the cabbie to take off. "Go...go...fucking go!..." I could see Karim looking out the liquor store window. Finally, after like three minutes the cabbie uderstands us and leaves. We looked out the rear window just in time to see Karim standing at the curb in what was clearly exasperation. It was great! The two girls in front felt bad for him. Fuck that dude.
"So, you girls know you won't be able to go back there for awhile", I said. We went back to the hotel, drank a bit more, and went to bed. I slept barely a wink since I had Meg next to me all night. No sex, just near-ness. Oh well, it was better than a night watching TV.
July 31, 2003--Los Angeles
Epic show, even though Opeth played only their mellow stuff, no death metal. Porcupine Tree freakin' owned, what a band! Drove up I-5 from San Diego with three 21-year old, 6' tall, Playboy-quality, blondes wearing short shorts and tank-tops (I work with one, and she brought two friends...I was pinching myself all day...) Stopped at a liquor store on Sunset, loaded up on Jack Daniels and Heineken and went to our hotel and got way shitty. Cruised down Melrose (still the best shopping street in LA, despite its cliche-ness), got a rock-star shirt for the show. Got kicked out of a panty store because my friends were trying on duck panties over their shorts. Crashed a video shoot for some vegan TV show.
Back to the hotel. Got dressed for the show and went to our dinner reservations at HOB. Drank some $8.00 Jack and cokes (fuckin' rip, but I acted like it was a cheap price to pay...in front of the girls, you know ) I had a ticket, but the girls didn't so they tried to sweet talk the manager into letting them in. He couldn't get them on the floor, but, he said, "you can come up to the Foundation Room ".
If you click on the link, you'll see that the Foundation Room does not suck. I believe it costs $3000 to join. If your a hot chick, I guess you get in free. So they go up there and I don't worry about them. I watch Porcupine Tree and then go outside to call them on my cell. As I walked out, Meg, one of the girls was coming downstairs, "there you are! Come up!". So bouncer gives me a wrist band and I go up to the inner sanctum. Balcony views of downtown L.A. Candlelit rooms with long tables where people sat on pillows. I watched Opeth live on a big screen sitting on a plush couch, sipped on the girl's free drinks, then cruised downstairs to watch the band in person.
Left the show with the girls and went to some country bar called the Saddle Ranch. Tryed to get into the SkyBar, but couldn't get in (celebrities and guests only). Went back to the Foundation Room and that's when things started to get a little ugly. Karim, the doorman who was extremely polite, cooperative, and hospitable (even to me, the guy) while he was on the clock, was now off work. So he descended upon the girls like a hawk swooping on field mice. Trying to kiss 'em, grabbing asses, all kinds of shit. He had his boys there and I'm by myself, dude-wise. "We're out", I tell one of the girls, so we go outside to catch a cab. We all get in and close the doors, tell the cabbie where to go, and the back door opens and Karim jumps in! "This is a mistake", I tell him. Homey looks at me and laughs. Puts his hand on Meg's thigh, thinking he's coming back to our hotel and scoring.
The cab driver pulls away. "Can you stop at the Pink Dot?", Karim asks. Its a liquor store. So we stop there, Karim gets out and goes in alone. Meg and I are in the back seat yelling at the cabbie to take off. "Go...go...fucking go!..." I could see Karim looking out the liquor store window. Finally, after like three minutes the cabbie uderstands us and leaves. We looked out the rear window just in time to see Karim standing at the curb in what was clearly exasperation. It was great! The two girls in front felt bad for him. Fuck that dude.
"So, you girls know you won't be able to go back there for awhile", I said. We went back to the hotel, drank a bit more, and went to bed. I slept barely a wink since I had Meg next to me all night. No sex, just near-ness. Oh well, it was better than a night watching TV.
