I wonder if Sylvan drank a beer with Buckethead?

[Be4u]

Hurry up and post the details!

[Top Speed]

Sylvan, you seem awful grumpy today reading your various posts.  Did Buckethead tell you to fuck off or what?

[DCEPTCN]

Sylvan, you seem awful grumpy today reading your various posts.

[DCEPTCN]

[schild=13 fontcolor=C0C0C0 shadowcolor=C0C0C0 shieldshadow=1]Kneel, motherfuckers![/schild]

[sun dog]

Could I get the Cliff notes???  The post on T6P must be in the garage or somewhere I can't see without a log in.  

--Mike

[87natty]

I'll get em for you...

[Recklessrob]

Could I get the Cliff notes???

[sun dog]

Good, misery loves company.



I haven't learned how to quote yet.

[DCEPTCN]

No such thing as Cliff Notes, guys...it's a LOOOONG story.  

Well, here's the story of my adventure. I left home around 6 am Saturday morning and -as always- enjoyed the drive from here to Flagstaff. I was pretty ticked off only moments after arriving in town, though, because mapquest tells me to take Santa Fe Drive, but NOWHERE is that road actually marked as such- rather, it's Route 66.....so, I had to find my own way which sucked. Finally, I found the venue around 1 pm and checked into the Town House motel which was a block away, which was cool, 'cause that meant I could walk there and have a few beers. The place looked kinda run down, but it's location in relation to the venue, plus a price tag of $29 a night sounded good, so I checked in. I went up to my room and was momentarily nonplussed at seeing the room.....it's been a while since I stayed in such a ratty place, but oh well, right? 5 minutes later, a train goes by and I realize that Im 30 feet from the tracks.......e very 20 minutes or so for the rest of my stay I was listening to a train horn across the street. That sucked, but I can live with it. So, I drag all my stuff from the car to the room and decide to walk over to the venue. There is a rack in front that has the area's free entertainment rag, so I grab two copies 'cause Big B is on the cover. Other than that, there is nothing going on at the venue seeing as how doors don't open untill 8. I cased the place right away: Only one door out of there in the back alley....this makes it easy to intercept an artist after the show. Cool. I head back to my room and watch Comedy Central until 7 pm (making two trips around the block and still seeing no one there). At seven, I load up: smokes, camera, copy of my demo, copy of the Death Cube K (Buckethead) CD "Dreamatorium" to get autographed, my ticket, some cash for a T-shirt, cell phone (to call buddy while B is tearing it up on stage so he can hear it)....and I head over to the Orpheum. It's pretty chilly out, but I don't care 'cause I'm one of the first ones there. A guy who was standing in line had drawn a portrait of B that was really impressive...(see below for a crappy pic of it) I wait an hour and they open the doors.....pat-down search, stamp on hand, and I'm in. I stop at the bar first and get me a beer then head to the front and get a prime spot at the barracade right in front of the stage....5 feet from where B will be standing soon! There is a kid next to me (I say "kid" because he's a little tiny person and because he acts like a complete retard the entire show) who is totally annoying and as he consumes beers, he's getting dumber by the moment.....but what do I care? I'm about to see Big B! Well, after AN HOUR of just standing there, unable to move for fear of losing my good spot right at the stage, the house lights go down and the opening act takes the stage. I later heard that they were a local band, Buddha With A Gun will forever live in my memories as the worst band I've ever paid to see live. They were downright AWFUL. The only way I made it through thier set without losing conciousness was by admiring the tail of the bass player chick who was only moderately hot, but wasn't covering much. Anyway, they finally finish thier set (consisting of sure to be classics like "Monkey Biscuit") and go on thier way. Then, as is always the case, it is a wait of about 30 minutes before B starts his set....so, I stand there with the idiot kid next to me acting like a jackass as things are set up for B. Such as Herbie, some Star Wars toys, a severed head atop an amp, etc. Then, you hear strings and everybody takes the stage.......se eing Buckethead walk out right in front of me -arms at side, hands strangely tense, walking without hardly bending his knees- was almost spiritual for me. He slings on his white Les Paul and, as soon as you hear "Wel..come..to...Buck....et...head...land" he rips into the song of that name! B played for around 2 and a half hours and was more amazing than I had even anticipated! The breakdancing, the nunchucks, the running around with the chicken, the handing out of toys to the crowd.....godd amn, what a show. Unfortunately, the idiot next to me became increasingly irritating with each passing moment (or should I say, "beer"?). Each time that B would start tearing it up and doing his trademark 8-finger tapping and all that awesome shit, this retard beside me would throw both arms up, doing "the horns".....this was a problem, because it blocked my view. Now, if he had done it once, twice, thrice, that would be one thing, but I think his arms came down out of my view for a TOTAL of 15 minutes of the show. Add this to the fact that he's flailing and yelling and bumping into every one.....which is commonplace at, say, a Soulfly show- but at a B show, folks wanna be seeing the amazing stuff that he's doing. Over time, I find myself growing more and more irritated with this idiot as I came a long way to see this and he is ruining it for me. I looked several times around the crowd and -yep- he was the only one acting like this. As the cocktail girl came around, she was bringing him more and more beer and I really wish I could have had him cut off......secur ity even had to come over a few times and tell him to chill out-- to no resolve. It got to the point where this kid is flailing his arms like a moron and I'm not only trying like hell to see B, but now I'm dodging this kid's elbows. Once or twice, I actually felt my arm lifting to grab him and tell him to chill out, but that's not my style and I had little faith it would have any effect. The next thing that happened is embarrasing for me, 'cause I never act like this, but I guess I have to admit it. All within a split second, the kid's elbow hits me in the temple and (without thinking, just instinct) I grabbed him by the shirt and drew back to split his face open.....stopp ing because I realize that my glasses are missing. So, I push the kid away as he's pleading, "What's wrong, dude?! It's all good!!". I've gotta hand it to the security, in that fraction of a second, the guard was right up on us with the flashlight and I point to my face and mouth the word, "glasses". He points his flashlight at the floor and I look around for a few seconds a find them.....I reach through the barracade and retrieve them. The dumb kid has now gone back to watching the show, but a little more calmly. Over the next minute, I start to realize that I was so irritated that I almost struck somebody...... something that hasn't happened since I was a kid. Hell, I'm 28 years old! I couldn't believe that this kid had pissed me off so badly......tha t is the reason why, the next time him arms went in my way, I thought it wise to just give up my good spot and get away from him. So, I make my way through the crowd and back to the bar. I needed something to calm my nerves a little. I yell to the bartender "A SHOT OF JAGER PLEASE!". To which he replies, "WE'RE CLOSING THE BAR!"....I pretend not to have understood and repeat, "SHOT OF JAGER!". I see the, "oh, hell with it" look on his face as he gets me the shot.....a pretty healthy one, too! I throw it back, go over to the merch table and buy myself a Buckethead T-shirt and watch the remainder of the show (about 15 minutes) from the back. It's a pretty small venue, so even from the back you're not that far from the stage. B played stuff spanning many of his albums and lots of tunes that I love but would have never expected him to play, like "Frozen Brains Tell No Tales" and "Aquabot". He did Ozzy's "Crazy Train" and, even though I love Randy Rhoads, played the solo better than it's ever been.

[DCEPTCN]

Part 2: (apparently there is a max of 10000 characters in a post)

He even -get this!- did the Hendrix classic "Machine Gun". Now, I'm not a huge Hendrix fan, but I have always admired that song......no one will believe this who didn't see it for themselves, but he did it BETTER than Hendrix. Attack me all you like, Hendrix purists, but that's the honest to god truth. An amazing show! I've been a fan for many years, but seeing it in person is indescribable. ...oh my god, is he good! At the end of the show (after the encore "Machine Gun" performance) he sets his guitar down in front of the amp and the feedback screams as he immediately walks off stage. I race out the front door and run around back where there are a few people arriving in the alley at the same time as me. We wait.......and wait......and wait. His tour guy tells us, "Guys, I hate to tell you but he's LONG gone". Of course, we politley tell him that he's full of shit. We wait.....and wait....and wait. The main security guy comes out the back door and tells us with a chuckle, "As soon as he set that guitar down, he was out the back door, in a car and gone. Bang- just like that". I quietly ask him, "Are you serious? You wouldn't Bullshit a guy who drove 6 hours to get here, right?" He, says with an apologetic tone, "Sorry guy- he's been gone for a while". Long story short, after what I would guess to be about an hour and a half of teeth chattering cold in this dark alley there are only four of us true die-hards still hoping and praying that we will get to meet Big B. It was not to happen.....I could see Pinchface (B's drummer that night) siting inside, but no B. An employee of the Orpheum comes out to say hi to us as well as tell us that "...B left immediately. Sorry". I speak to this guy for a moment and he seems really nice, but he finally says to everyone- "Guys, I hate to do this, but..." as he's closing the back door. I say "Wait!" He pauses. I say, "look man, I'm getting just cold enough to believe that B has been back at the hotel for the last hour and a half, but could you be a hero and give this to Pinchface?" I hand him my demo and he very nicely and sincerely says, "You got it, bro", accepting the CD and closing the door. I walked the dark alley back to my cheap motel room with mixed emotions. When I got to my room, I had the six pack of Coors light that I had bought earlier and hit the sack....it was around 3 am. I slept through any and all trains that went by. lol........... .....I had a very hard time doing it, but I dragged myself out of bed at 8:30 and hit the interstate heading home. At first, I was still kind of mad that B just took off, 'cause I've always read that he is good to his fans and signs everybody's autographs.... ..but as the drive went on and I listened to songs like "Nottingham Lace" and other beautiful things like that, my irritation at that wore off and I began to just be happy that I was able to see the mythical virtuoso in person. I even had a bit of a laugh over the near altercation with the dumb kid at the show. lol Overall, a great experience that only strengthened my love of the bucket.


.....and I will likely always wonder if Pinchface got that disc to B......and if he listened to it.

[DCEPTCN]

More pics......

[DCEPTCN]

More......

[DCEPTCN]

More.....

[DCEPTCN]

Last one. (Whew)

[sun dog]

Great story, bro.  IMO, getting the demo to the drummer wasn't all bad.  It adds to the mystery, and there is a better chance he will listen to it and pass it on.  Assholes like the kid you describe are the reason he has to bolt out the door.  By the way, staying in a shitty hotel makes you feel like a "bad ass" on the lamb, always peeking out the window way too often.  


Thanks for the re-post, I hope you didn't have to re-type.