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ON THE FRONT LINES with Freak |
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ON THE ROAD WITH... FREAK HAYSEED
DIXIE @ JOE’S - Chicago, IL - 2/28/03
“They
wanted me to wear brown contacts and drive this re-habbed ambulance into
the jungles of Mexico and deliver it to Zapatistian rebels,” Chris
laughed, “all because I was the
most Mexican looking guy there.”
My week had taken a
severe turn for the hectic as a concert dry spell broke wide open throwing
me in front of nine bands in a fifty-four hour time span starting with the
Audioslave show the night before. I had already nailed
myself to the bar by the time they hit the stage, but the younger crowd
wasn’t really interfering with my drinking.
The buzz behind this super-group was intense but the short set of
new material would be a disappointment for most, since no Rage Against The Machine
or Soundgarden songs would be
played. Good for them! The second show was a
carbon copy of the previous night’s performance, from start to finish.
Hell, I even stood at the same place at the bar, so I ducked out
early and headed over to DePaul University where Local
H was jamming at the student center. It was a little
surreal stumbling past rows of clean-cut kids busily sipping on their
Starbucks while typing away at computer terminals.
A perky pair of blondes bounced over to sell me tickets to the
weekend pep-rally but a good whiff of my high-octane breath cut their
sales pitch short and with a point and a smile they steered me where I
needed to go. Local H is always
great and it was good to hear some of their new material which, according
to Scott and Brian, should be out sometime this summer.
I left as soon as they finished and headed
downtown to pick up Hayseed Dixie’s
wild and crazy frontman, Barley
Scotch, from his hotel. We
cruised over to Rush Street and sat down in a hole called Pippin’s where
we continued to drink until they tossed our drunk asses out.
There’d be no time for sleep since they were jamming on Mancow’s
show that morning and a Fox camera crew would be there to cover it live...
so we had to have our heads on straight. The show went off
without a hitch, but instead of grabbing a quick nap somewhere that
afternoon like I should have done, I
went to the Allstate Arena to see the Whitesnake/Scorpions
show instead. I arrived as Slaughter
was going on and immediately pulled a beer raid on Matthias
Jabs’s dressing room. Slamming
Warsteiners, we bitched about the lack of talent in the guitar players
around today while he warmed up. I ducked into the Bud
box to watch the show and continue to drink.
Whitesnake, who were amazing even though David Coverdale’s voice started to fade near the end, and the
Scorpions both showed that the old guys could still tear it up like the
youngsters. I hung out until
the encores before jumping back in my Jeep and heading down to Joe’s on
Weed Street for the Hayseed Dixie
show. I arrived half in the
bag but ready to rock and was promptly greeted by security personnel who
demanded an explanation for the large, empty bottle of wine in my hand.
I tried to tell them I was playing the jug for Hayseed but they
would have none of it and insisted that my instrument remain outside.
Once inside, I wound
up directly in the face of a psychopath.
The tall, earthy woman had seen the confrontation with the bouncer
and assumed I was in the band. “Hey
man,” she blurted, “I’m a
good friend of Allan Woody, do you know him?”
“Who?”
I asked.
“Allen Woody, he’s a kick ass bass player from down south
I’ve known for years, he’ll be here tonight.”
My head was spinning. “The dude from Government Mule?” I asked. “Yeah! You know him?
He’s a good friend of mine.”
“He’s
dead!” I screamed, “Dead!
Allen Woody is dead! He won’t be here tonight unless his ghost
plans on drifting through for….”
Whack! She caught me with a
solid right across the jaw before storming off in tears.
Great, I figured,
that’ll be coming back to haunt me but more important things were at
hand. I needed a beer fast
because it was nearly time for Hayseed to go on. Banjo, bass, mandolin,
fiddle and snare drum ready, the hillbillies launched into AC/DC’s “Shook
Me All Night Long” followed by covers of Kiss,
Queen, Aerosmith and a few originals all done in the breakneck speed
of true Kentucky bluegrass. To celebrate, I
ordered a tall glass of Wild Turkey on the rocks and enjoyed an incredible
show.
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All Rights Reserved © 6 String Design2003 |
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I
was sitting backstage listening to stories from Chris
Cornell and Tim Commerford
of Audioslave before the second
of their two sold out shows at The Riviera.