...18 years ago...

Woke at 12:30. Coffee and a peach. TV, pool etc. boring afternoon. Jan calls - gig at the Troubadour as well as the Cathay DeGrande??? Calls are made. We'll do both shows. I find Rod (went for a walk). We load up and go to club #1 [Troubadour].

WTF!!! From no shows to 2 booked on the same night.

Nice place - weird people. Metal band is checking (called "Rated X"). This is not where we should be - sandwiched between 2 metal bands. Had food made by club. Talked to metal band. Nice guys - don't know anything about anything. Dave R. calls club #2 [Cathay DeGrande]. If we don't show up by 9PM - no show to play. Dave talks to club #1 - gets the impression that if we play it would cost us money (PA rental - cheated by the doorman etc.) We split. Over to the Cathay DeGrande.

I remember the stage being fairly high off the ground and our equipment being dwarfed by a double kick drum kit and Marshall amps. There is no way we'd have gotten out of there alive if we had stayed. Funny that we scrounged the free food! I think was the hay-day of the pay-to-play scene in LA (and metal scene hay-day?). Your band could pay to play a club - you took all the risk in promotion and had to get your fans out to see you. This is the only time we were in The Troubadour. Never played a show there.

Arrive and set up [Cathay DeGrande]. A fight breaks out. Pool cues are broken. Chairs are thrown etc. We don't know whether to leave or stay. We stay and sound check. Shitty system - rented. Sit around. No publicity. Jan B. is an asshole. She'll pay later. We play to two people. Break down - no pay. Leave at 12:30. Home late. A generally shitty evening that illustrates our stay in California quite well. To bed. Relax tomorrow.

But wait - the evening gets even better! It turns out that the fellow fighting over in the pool area is none other than El Duce from the Mentors (we found this out later - we didn't introduce ourselves). The fight was broken up by the bartender who I think at one point was throwing pool balls at the guys fighting. Thankfully they left. I gave short shrift to our actual show which was pretty entertaining and fun. The couple who watched us were on a date and sat up front. At one point one of them had to use the rest room. We stopped the set and waited for their return. If you're out there reading this now - thanks! Of the few references to the Cathay DeGrande club I could find on the web, this collections of old punk flyers and photos is great.