Originally Posted by
falkor
Oh it was amazing, dude. His stage persona was unbelievably larger than life; shouting "THE POWER OF CHRIST COMPELS YOU!" while anointing the audience with red wine, tossing pumpkins into the audience like beach balls (it was a Halloween show) and sneering "Yeah, FUCK YALE," since the show was at Toad's Place in New Haven. After he took off his chain-strapped bass guitar and snapped each strings apart on his knee at the end of the show, the crew started breaking shit down (this was 2000, so there was no security) and I saw my chance. I summoned my courage, vaulted the stage to tear off bass string as a souvenir, grabbed a couple of discarded guitar picks, and... "Hey, are you with me?" said a ~50-year old blonde guy wearing a stage crew badge. I was like "Um..." as I stuffed the bass string into the back pocket of my jean shorts. "Are you helping take down the stage - are you with me?" he asked, pointedly. "I guess so? Yes..." and with that, I was hauling cabinets and rolling equipment into the trailer behind the tour bus. I saw Kenny outside and had him sign my ticket, feeling like I was pretty lucky at that. As the cleanup progressed, Chris (the roadie) told me not to ever follow his path. "I've been doing this for years, done guitar tech for a lot of big guys. Metallica, Stevie Ray Vaughn, you name it. And it's not worth it. Yeah, it looks fun, but you're on the road all the time, and you can never really have time for home or family. You are a smart guy...you've got all these books around you in this place, study your ass off and make something of your life. Don't do what I did." We closed up shop with the stage, loaded the last gear, and I figured the band was on the bus and got ready to go. "Hey," says Chris, "You want to come back stage?" I was like "Sure, that'd be cool, never seen back stage." We go down to the basement I didn't know existed past a security guy who actually did exist, saying "He's with me," and he opens the door and waves me in with a grin on his face. I walk into a medium-sized comfortably lit room with a large L-shaped couch, and seated in front of me is the Green Man in the flesh with three girls seated to his left - and three girls seated to his right. "Hey, I'm Peter," he says. "I'm Bobby," I respond, standing there like an idiot. "Nice to meet you. That show was incredible." "Here, you want some wine, Bobby?" He pours me a glass of wine, and I look back to see Chris still standing at the door grinning like the Cheshire Cat. "Well, Bobby, here's to a quick and painless death." Best toast ever. "Yeah, to good times," I mouth feebly. I mean, what the hell was I supposed to say? "You liked the show?" "Yeah, I thought it was amazing, the Halloween motif - pumpkins, etc." He laughed and we talked about the stage antics like the wine blessing and so on. "So, we just released our compilation, The Least Worst Of, this year," he says, and talks a bit about the release. After this point, my brain - I've got to be honest, I was done. I'd never met anyone remotely famous to have a conversation, much less a giant of a man who just blew away an audience I was in at the first club show I'd gone to. I mumble a few things about myself, saying I was in college and what I was studying. He nodded and took interest, but between my ears ringing and the six goth girls dressed in black in his entourage I couldn't stop looking at, I was fucking toast. I can't remember if I asked him the question I was wondering, which was why they hadn't played "Everything Dies" considering how good a song it is, but I wasn't in any condition to have a conversation anyway. He seemed content to just relax there on the couch and let time go by. I guess when things are at peace, no words are needed. Eventually Chris came over and said that they were going to be closing the club soon, so I should probably head out. I somehow remembered to ask Peter to sign my ticket and walked back to my dorm. What a trip. I'll never forget that night. I hope he got his wish...