randulo’s unblog

There are a lot of stories I can't tell about touring Europe and Japan with a blues-rock band, but some memorable moments happened in Amsterdam. We had a gap in the concerts after the gig and we were to spend about 7 full (paid) days in the city. We were staying in a big chain hotel like a Hilton or Ritz, with displays of diamonds at the entrance in glass cases on both sides of a walkway. Rich tourists were ogling that stuff and long story short, that kind of snooty place is not my scene and no one in the band was into it. I did like the cute chamber maids they employed though and made a point of chatting them up every chance I got. After a couple of days, we got ourselves moved into a funky little place on a canal called "Bodies".
 
Bodies was run by a guy who spoke fluent Dutch with an Oklahoma accent and ran a bar called "Bodie's Music Inn", which I believe was nearby but may have been in the hotel basement. We liked the funky feel of this place a lot more.
 
One day I walked in and saw Red Holloway talking amiably to a couple of tourists and he waved me over and said, "Listen to this voice" and then gestured to the man to speak.
 
"Hold it right there, partner!" said the man, whose voice I immediately recognized as that of John Anderson. John had to be one of the most widely used character players ever. Red recognized him from all the westerns (hence the signature phrase) but I knew him more from Twilight Zone and Outer Limits. He did have a beautiful voice, and maybe did Shakespeare at some point in his life (see the article). John and his wife were very pleasant people and I'll treasure the meeting however brief and alas superficial it was.
 
A few days later I was called in my room at Bodie's to come down and enjoy one of his specials: Scotch and chocolate milk, something I later saw George C. Scott serve to a truckful of hookers in "The New Centurians". Bodie then said, "There's someone here to see you" pointing away from the bar. It was a smiling Claire, a maid from that fancy hotel we'd just left.

God it was good to be (that) young!

Geneva, Switzerland, 1974
 
In between tours to Europe and Asia that year, some friends and I were hired to play in a club act for three brothers who danced and sang. We were recruited in Los Angeles and flown to Boston. After several days of rehearsal, we traveled from Boston to Geneva to play a show in a cabaret. Most musicians will tell you, there is nothing more boring than to play medleys, especially medleys with no solos. "O Holy Moses" modulates into "Proud Mary", and on and on for 40 minutes, then break time.

When musicians get bored, there are three possible cures: sex, drugs and alcohol and food. As we got done playing at around 4AM with nowhere open to eat, we'd look at each other during the medley and nod, "Salami sandwich in the room there boy, got some hanging out the window in a pillow case". Usually it's all three of the possibilities, just the order that might vary.

I won't go into the sex part here, but it will always be a factor in the business of making music and this was no different, except for the weird crowd in this place, women in fancy fur-lined coats drinking Champagne at $100 a glass (in those days). I had sent a train ticket to a girl I met in Zurich on a previous tour and she was to join me in mid week, so I wasn't looking.

So to the drugs and for legal reasons I won't go into who did what, although the statute of limitations is probably in force from 30+ years away, but still... Inquiry was made as to where to seek certain controlled substances and we were told, "Go to the fountain, man, the fountain is where it's at." And so it came to pass that we were looking around for someone who looked like they would know where to cop substance X and each time a likely candidate was seen, he was asked the magic question. Finally a positive nod and a transaction was made. We went back to the hotel.

Again, without the superficial details, something bad happened, a dose too strong, a tolerance too low, who knows, and one of us is slipping into unconsciousness, but with the lucidity to say the following astonishing sentence: "I saw some huge industrial garbage bags on the maid's cart this morning. Put me in one, drag it to the elevator and put me in the dumpster." One of us went to get the bag.

I won't ever tell what happened next. Go listen to http://tr.im/wwhite and it may become clear. What I will say is that as you travel and look upon the many, many beautiful places on the planet, places like the lake and fountain in Geneva, the bridges of Paris, the streets of Rome, the Hollywood Hills, you aren't thinking of it but many, many funky things have gone down there. Damn, it's good be home.