Afterglow

After it was over I talked with a bunch of people in the audience and all of them were extremely nice and effusive in their praise. The big joke outside in the alley afterward was that our music has a strange affect on our wives (let's just say they reeeaaaalllllly like us afterwards). One girl said she felt like she had been on drugs for 45 minutes (she meant that in the most positive way, believe it or not). Others commented on how they got caught up in the experience that we were having on stage. I loved that our crowd felt a part of the journey. We talked about how cool it was that our friends comprised all or part of three of the bands that night. The Roxy was full of good friends and good times.

Afterwards, Bob and I headed over to get a couple of drinks at the world-famous Rainbow. The place was absolutely packed with every strange creature in Hollywood. Misfits, the famous punk-rock band, had just finished a show a couple doors down at The Key Club and a lot of their fans ended up at the Rainbow. There's an interesting bunch of...er...people. For awhile I was standing next to Bam Magera, the professional skateboarder and prankster from the "Viva La Bam" show produced by MTV. George Lynch, who played guitar for Dokken in the 1980s, was there, too, along with several other people that looked familiar for some reason or another. This crowd was like the Star Wars cantina scene on steroids. You couldn't have casted a better Hollywood scene. There was an old man with a long white beard and a top hat sitting at the front table with a purple-sequined shirt. There were transvestites and people with piercings in places that looked...uncomfortable, face paint, tattoos on their eyes, neck (and probably everywhere else). Then there was the random oddball--like the lady in her 40s who was dressed like she was going to a city council meeting in Muskogee, and the guy who had to be fresh out of the Marines. I was a little afraid of going upstairs for fear that I might end up in an alternate dimension like the guy in Phantasm who peers into that strange world of robed Ewoks.

INTO THE VOID

We finally found a place to sit and Bob went to buy me a beer. I sat there in the afterglow of the show thanking God and feeling happy. Despite the circus environment I felt peaceful. Bob came back and we were chatting it up when this lady in her 50s with a low-cut blouse, dark hair, and a big cross necklace started talking to Bob. She was obviously hammered and Bob (nice guy that he is) listened intently as she asked him for a gumball from the machine next to us. He looks for money in his pocket and realizes he has none and, once she gets the bad news, she tells him he's a demon and that he's going into the lake of fire. He sits down kinda flustered and she gets my attention, despite my best efforts to ignore her. She takes my hand and pulls me toward her to listen closely since it was so loud in there. Then she kisses me on each cheek and tells me that since Bob didn't tell her if he was going to the lake of fire, that he surely was. I firmly assured her that he was not and then she starts babbling about how Jesus doesn't love her and won't accept her. She starts beating her breast and saying vile things about God. Bob and I were starting to get a bit anxious because we couldn't figure out where this was going. And, suddenly, the peace of God washed over me and I looked at her squarely in the eye. Instantly she stopped talking, grabbed my hand and kissed it as if to recognize some type of authority.

At first, Bob and I couldn't figure out why that lady would choose to come talk to us, since we were practically hidden in a corner minding our own business. Because of the bizarre spiritual nature of the conversation and the way she just stopped when the peace of God came, I believe something demonic was happening. Afterward I felt sad for that lady and prayed for her. My wife later postulated that perhaps demons came to harass Bob and I since we were Christians "in their house" so to speak. It's hard to know.

Despite the strange goings-on, the Rainbow experience was very fun. I enjoyed talking to the soon-to-be 40-year-old rocker with long blonde hair telling me about the time many years ago when he got up the courage to talk to Brian May (who was sitting at the table occupied by the old man in the purple shirt) about Queen, Freddie Mercury's death, etc. I also remember the beautiful blonde girl who got served at the bar before me despite being behind me in line. I asked her how she did that and she said, "believe it or not, most guy bartenders ingore me." When I told her I couldn't believe that, she said, "Oh yeah, I've had to do this (she fakes dropping her shirt to expose her breasts) just to get their attention." Shocking. Seeing all the people smoking, drinking, laughing and having a good time was very cool. The next time we play the Roxy, the Key Club, or the Viper Room, we're definitely going to hit the Rainbow.