Hollywood: Rock Of Ages

by Chris Solberg

  Hung Lo ruled!

  Hung Lo: Ahhh, yes...back again for more some beer huh?

  Very good...very good.

  Rock N Roll Denny’s - Vinnie Vegas

  When we first started visiting Hollywood before we moved there, normally we’d get a cheap motel so we could enjoy some of the wacky things that happened after 2 am. Rock N Roll Denny’s was one of them. Rock N Roll Denny’s was on Sunset & Martel, right down the street from Rock N Roll Ralph’s. At any other time of the day, it was a regular Denny’s that you could not distinguish from any other. But after 2 am on Friday and Saturday nights, it became Rock N Roll Denny’s.

  After the clubs shut down at 2 am, that did not mean the party was over. Tons of drunken glam rockers would descend on Rock N Roll Denny’s like a plague of locusts. The place went from being a normal all-American diner, to a complete bacchanal of heatheness and chaos at the drop of a hat. Oh, how the waitresses must’ve dreaded ever having to work that shift, and I’m sure a lot of them refused to do so. I know I would have. Right around 2:15 am, cars would come screeching into the parking lot (and I do mean screeching!) to grab a coveted parking spot and be the first in line for a booth. This led to a spectacle of leather and denim clad longhairs running in their boots and blasting through the double glass doors in a frenzy of yelling and screaming. I know this because I had a front row view time after time. I guess we were the only ones who had any sense to get there at 1:45! By 2:30, the place was packed with girls and guys throwing fries at each other, playing musical chairs with the booths, and shouting at each other from across the room. People were crammed 10 to a booth and chicks were sitting up on the backs of the furniture. If a guy had to piss, rather than making everybody get up, he would crawl out under the table to the aisle while his drunken buddies would kick him unmercifully.

  This was the place to be seen, so everybody was extra loud as well as extra animated. Because everybody was so drunk, the waitresses took tons of abuse, so much that plenty of times I felt like sinking low in my chair and

  sliding under the table. Once somebody did something outrageous, somebody else would try and top it. Every single person put on a show assuming that somebody was staring at them at any given moment. Of course most people ordered fries or onion rings, and milked the booth for two hours. If you didn’t get there by 2:20 you could forget about ever getting a table. The worse place to be was in the crowd of losers at the door who got there too late. I remember a few times being in a taxi on the way to Rock N Roll Denny’s telling the driver, “Hurry, hurry! It’s 2:10!!!” One of the guys who was ALWAYS at Rock and Roll Denny’s was Rik Foxx. Rik Foxx was a guy who like Liz-Bone, was milking the notoriety he achieved from a previous band. There was a band popular in LA before we moved there called “Steeler”. Steeler was no different than any other metal band circa 1982, as they basically played Judas Priest riffs with the singer going “Yaaaawwwwwwwwww! Their guitarist was a guy named Yngwie Malmstien, who later left the band to become the grand worshipfulness of all guitar noodlers. Rik Foxx was the bass player in that band. As a bass player, he thumped the E string as well as any other guy this side of Nikki Sixx. Come to think of it, he was the poor man’s Nikki Sixx. Think about it... Nikki Sixx... Rik Foxx? Come on! Rik had the same dyed black, haystack hair with the bangs covering his eyes. Rik always wore the same outfit that he had on when they shot the back cover of Steelers’ album. He wore that outfit so there would be no mistake that it was him. Oh, but in case there was, he painted RIK FOXX on the back of his denim vest. Rik wore the usual ripped denim, but he added all sorts of fluorescent green, orange and pink things all over the place. This is a look that would later be adopted by Winger... if that says anything! Rik was a bit older and was beginning to sport a double chin as well as the beginnings of a beer gut. Unfortunately, this didn’t stop him from wearing skintight pants stuffed into his signature white boots.

  Every weekend, it was the same thing, Rik Foxx strutting up and down the aisles of Rock N Roll Denny’s in the same outfit. “Hi, I’m Rik Foxx”. It’s funny how that guy got so much notoriety from being in that one band. You have to understand that back in those days, lead guitarists ruled. In hindsight, back in the day, Yngwie was the shit, so I can see it how it could happen. The funny part is that Rik was not alone. There were a whole pack of guys that were riding on the coat tails of past glory, just like Rik. I remember looking in BAM magazine and seeing something peculiar. Let’s say you were in a band named “Screamer.” Let’s say that band did pretty well, but somehow you and the drummer left the band. Well then you’d start your own band called “Pounder” and add: (featuring ex-members of Screemer). This disclaimer became a huge part of your reputation and you made sure to include it in your ads. Now to be fair, their were a few times where the ad would say “Featuring ex-members of Danger Danger” or something similar, but that made sense to me because people were very familiar with Danger Danger.

  It officially got out of hand when pro bands would use that tactic to try and hype their new projects. Pros never started bands, they started “projects”. Their ads would read: Annihilation (featuring ex-members of Devilcry) as if you knew who either band was. The whole “featuring” thing really jumped the shark once and for all when I read a ad that said: “Deformer (featuring brothers of ex-members of Hurricane) I kid you not, it was priceless!

  Rock and Roll Denny’s was a phenomenon that really made a mark on the Hollywood scene. It was fun to see the reaction on people’s faces we brought there who had never seen such a thing. Some people got into it while others were appalled at the debauchery. But after we got our own apartment, we stopped going there. After all, with our own party pad, we just didn’t need it anymore. And to tell you the truth, our place was more fun! And if anybody wanted food, well, then we could open up a can of Spaghetti-o’s. There you go... just like Denny’s! In fact, one night some girls came over to our apartment with a brand new hottie recruit in tow. There was nothing heavy-metal about this girl, instead she looked like the most beautiful Brazilian model you ever met. She was wearing a short white dress that was layered in lace tiers with spaghetti straps. She had on bright red pumps with no panty-hose because she had the deepest golden tan you could imagine. This girl was not a ten, she was a twelve, hands down.

  All of the guys were instantly abuzz trying to figure out who was going to land her, but she really wasn’t giving any signs that she was interested in anybody. I don’t know how, but later she got completely wasted. She was slurring her speech and stumbling around with bleary eyes. Her friends asked us if we could give her anything to eat to help sober her up, so Cupkake went into the kitchen and heated up a can of Chef Boy-R-Dee raviolis. Of course in his drunken state, he behaved more like the Mad Hatter than Wolfgang Puck in that kitchen, but he got the job done and dinner was served. She wolfed them down in seconds and then laid down on the floor. She laid down on her side and because the white dress was designed with ballerina style lace on the bottom, everybody was treated to a gander of her ass and white lace g-string. The girls kept going over to her to try and put an end to the fun by covering her ass, but the lace would pop back up giving us a full view. After awhile the girls gave up because there was nothing they could do. The guys of course thought it was the best thing in the world and if you saw how hot she was, you would too. We just couldn’t believe our luck.

  A few minutes later, she hacked up the raviolis onto the rug. Actually she didn’t heave, they just kind of poured out of her mouth very daintily. Apparently she didn’t chew them, because for the life of me, it look like somebody had simply poured a can of raviolis out on the rug beside her mouth. We all marveled at the exotic goddess on the floor. Even in a moment of chunks, where usually you are at your worse, she managed to puke with all the beauty and grace of a fawn. No splatters, no heaving, no drama, indeed she didn’t even mess up her hair. No stains on her clothes either (can you imagine spaghetti sauce on a white dress?) just a simple serving of ravioli on the rug. C
upkake even pointed out that if you didn’t know any better, you might heat them back up and eat them. For once in his life, everybody turned on him by throwing whatever they could grab at him as he took cover in the kitchen. Fun times!

  Alice Cooper - Vinnie Vegas

  I was in the midst of my band hunt, and becoming both discouraged and annoyed with the shenanigans I had to put up with. Cupkake had it easy, he hooked up with Slapkat right off the bat, and they were playing gigs before you knew it. I would go to their rehearsals like a pathetic puppy dog just to be around rock and roll and somehow try to live vicariously through the band. After no success, I toyed with the idea of starting a band as opposed to joining one.

  Along the way I met up with a guy named Pete. I liked him because he was really down to Earth as well as a great guitarist. He agreed to play with me and start looking for other bandmates. With Pete and I teamed up, we’d need to find 2 or 3 other guys who had it together. Unfortunately, after a few weeks, he told me that he was done with LA, and heading back to New York. I was disappointed, but our project wasn’t really beyond the drawing board stage, so I told him I understood and got back to square one. A few days later, I got a call back from a bass player wanted ad that I had called. The ad had mentioned that it was a huge national act, so of course I called. Now many times when I called back an ad like that and asked who the band was, I would hear something like “Well, the band’s really big, but I can’t really get into that right now”. This usually turned out to be some “pros” who you never heard of before. And of course... they sucked. This guy told me, “I’m just going to come out and say it, the band is Alice Cooper”. Of course at first I didn’t believe it, but he explained how he was a representative from Live Entertainment and he was in charge of casting for an Alice Cooper video. It was soon apparent that this was for real so I agreed to audition. Now mind you, at this point, Alice Cooper was not really a big act at the time. But this video would eventually change that big time. My head was spinning, but at least I had the clarity to ask some pertinent questions. What should I bring? “Just bring your bass, we’ll have amps and a drum set available.” What song will I play? “Don’t worry about that, just play anything. It’s all about looks.” Who’s going to drum? “We got a drummer, just show up!” Well this didn’t sit well with me. The biggest audition of my life and I’m just supposed to wing it? I had to come up with a plan, so I called Pete and hoped that he hadn’t took off for New York yet.

  Luckily he hadn’t, so I asked him to do me a huge favor. Just come down to the audition with me and we’ll play that old New York Dolls song we practiced. That way I’ll have a leg up on the competition, and who knows?... maybe he’ll like you too! Those turned out to be prophetic words indeed! We showed up at a Hollywood soundstage and waited our turn. Sure enough people were just noodling through the audition and most of it sounded like crap. Then It was our turn to perform and boy was I nervous! We played American Idol style, in front of a table with three people sitting at it. But instead of the third person being Simon Cowl, it was Alice Cooper himself. Well, how I didn’t pee my pants is beyond me, but Alice was very nice and congenial. Sure, I was on the spot, but as usual, after three sticks and the band kicking in, I lost all nerves and had a great time. And the song sounded great! Well, why not? It was only three chords!

  I recognized the drummer, it might have been Cozy Powell, but I don’t know for sure. One thing was sure, the guy was quite good. He had a large, black bitchin’ set that sounded like thunder and with Pete and I playing our three power chords repetitively over that drumming, it really sounded huge. I could see people craning their heads into the door trying to see who was playing and I felt like a real big shot. After playing a while the stage manager stopped us and Alice stood up and said, “Wow, New York Dolls! Cool, I really love that song! Chatterbox! Real Cool guys!” Boy, out of all the cool gigs I’ve played in my life, I really don’t think I could top the feeling I had right there. I’ve had people give me compliments before, but getting one from Alice Cooper was a real Wayne’s World moment. I felt like I had hit a home run, so I picked up a 12-pack and headed back home to soak it all in. As it turned out, I didn’t get the part, but my buddy Pete did. Can you imagine that? A few months later, Pete was playing guitar on MTV in Alice Cooper’s huge comeback video “Poison”.

  Man I wished it were me, but I really was happy for Pete. He was a really decent and talented guy and he deserved it. But I often wondered what that would’ve been like, because the guys in that video were just extras. To be on MTV would’ve been huge, and the video was on heavy rotation for over a year. But after that glory died down, you’d be just the same guy you were when you started and it could’ve never gotten any better than riding that huge wave of fame. You’d be done in just a little over a year. Well, it’s

  something to think about. As for Pete, he didn’t have to deal with that because somehow he ended up actually joining the Alice Cooper band. He went on tour and even ended up in the Wayne’s World movies! He played in the band for five years I believe.

  Every now and then I’d run into Pete at Rock N Roll Ralph’s. He’d be cruising up on his skateboard and tell me how he was just in Denmark and in a couple of weeks he’s going to Japan. I had to laugh... here’s Pete Freezin’, rock star guitarist for Alice Cooper and he’s still riding his skateboard to Rock N Roll Ralph’s! You just had to laugh... That was fun.

  I said Chatterbox... I said ya like to squawk lot

  C’mon gimme some lips...Yeah Chatterbox!

  -New York Dolls

  Exodus

  SAN DIEGO BEGINNINGS - Vinnie Vegas

  To fully appreciate the joy that we were experiencing in Hollywood, you’d have to know about our humble beginnings in San Diego. As it turned out, Cupkake and I were only living two miles apart when we both had our epiphanies about moving to LA. We didn’t even know each other at the time. That was destined to change. Sure, I was dying to hit LA but I was living in San Diego, California, the sun and fun capital of the world. So it was kind of silly for me to complain, I mean the place is gorgeous. In the Summer, there’s nothing like kicking back on the beach at night in shorts while you gaze out at the complete black of the ocean on a moonless night. For some reason, the ocean calms down at night and the waves gently lap up to you while the sound soothes you. The fair weather means that the girls like to wear sundresses and run barefoot, and you never ever feel a chill in your bones.

  San Diego was my home because I was born there, so we made our own local music scene and tried the best we could to live the Rock N Roll lifestyle. We did a fairly good job, and we knew we weren’t in the spotlight, but everybody did the best they could to live up to the crazy reputation of rock in the 80’s. But, there was no mistaking the feeling that we were a minor league team in a major league arena. Yet, LA was only 100 miles to the North and that was indisputable ground zero of the entire rock renaissance of the time. Only a few years back, the entire idea of rock music seemed doomed. New Wave and Punk had suddenly eclipsed Rock, and worse yet, seemed in danger of burying it forever. But Rock came roaring back, first with the Vanguard of British bands like Def Leppard & Iron Maiden, then secured by a new breed of rock led by California bands Ratt & Motley Crue. If there was any doubt that the English could not hold the beachhead, these new reinforcements came in to secure the objective and set the stage for a 7 year reign as kings of MTV. Well this seemed like fun and I wanted to be a part of it! San Diego lives in the shadow of LA like a little sister who is less popular, and has yet to grow up. It is divided into mesas which are separated by canyons where as kids, we built forts and stashed our pornography. Each mesa had it’s own subdivision on top, with it’s mall and movie theater at the center. Mira Mesa, Kearny Mesa, Clairemont Mesa. If you’ve ever seen the movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Director Cameron Crowe based his movie on time he spent undercover at Clairemont High. Well that’s what they say in San Diego at least. But he later directed the movie Rock Star based
on his life in San Diego, so maybe there’s something to that. Growing up on the mesas, we spent our nights partying on the beach or hanging out at house parties where there was always a keg, and sometimes a band! At either one of these locales, you could find plenty of buds to hang out with, and many a girl to hit on. These house parties soon became an intricate part of our local music scene.