I was still hanging at the 'bookstore' a lot. i had made a great friend there. a fairly well to do guy named Mitch. He was a handsome and out going personality to say the least. he and i wee both ' hardcore regulars at the place and had two choices...be bitter competitive enemie bitches, or be friendly and try to get along. we choose the latter. Mitch was a really interesting guy. from a small mid western town.moved to the big city and had tons of way out experances. ended up in a great job and made tons of money one day we were talking and he ask if i wanted to go get a beer, of course i said yes. we both had seen a little bar on the corner of Pacific and Broadway called Mr Bings. we headed down the hill and began what would be a 10 year 'stool warming' at the greatest bar ever. the place was a mix of North Beach, China Town, and tourist. Mitch and i sat there for hours and talked and drank. His money seemed to be endless and he paid for every beer. he could tell a story and loved to talk. he and i became really good friends. now and then one of us would run up the hill to see if any action was happening at the 'store'. if too much time passed and the other was left at the bar, you can bet nerves were on edge and only seeing the other coming back could calm u down. it was a blast .
tons of sailors who were on leave ended up at Mr Bings. For some reason North Beach was a place for navy guys to gather and drink. maybe it was the strip clubs and adult video dives.Mitch would shamelessly flirt and buy them beers. i guess i did a bit of flirting myself. it was fun to watch them get drunk and steer them up to the bookstore. some went and some didn't . either way we all had fun. lots of people walking by the open door recognized me from the band. i loved that. sometimes crazy people that knew me would also come in and just sort of stand there and creep me out. but for the most part it was the bliss of drinking and laughing and sex all with in a few yards of each other.
Kevin had seen Sister Double Happiness a few times now We had even gone to LA and played One of the problems Warner's had with us was defining us and Kevin hated our first album on SST. He thought it was so bad that if the other executives at Warner heard it they would never sign us. that was odd to me. we were an independent band on an indy label and recorded an album and mixed it in 48 hours and he thought it so bad that he was not letting anyone hear it. I like Kevin, though. but it was always a lopsided relationship. he was clearly going to be the one with the power and we were the band. He was funny, though. we made each other laugh a lot. Debbie called one day to tell me a tribute to Roky Erickson was being recorded and we might be able to be on it. Roky was is pretty bad shape and a big fan of his at Warner's , Bill Bennit, was in charge of it. I found out REM and ZZ Top were two of the bands going to be on it..kevin went to bat for us and before long we found out we had made it! and the song we wanted, Red Temple Prayer--Two Headed Dog was ours if we wanted to do it. What a dream! Keving bookeed Hyde St. Studio and we had a time block of four days to record and mix. Before any of that, though we had to do pre production...which just means practice out asses off. getting the arrangement we wanted and deciding how to approach the song. It was pretty smooth working with Kevin on it. we wanted to do it hard but add sounds and tempos that would set us apart on the song. Kevin worked with us very close and had some great ideas. I thought he was pretty good in his moving in to the band and his comfort in giving opinions to a band that had been together for a couple of years and we had only known him a few months. However it was working and it was fun. i was learning that a lot of discipline was needed to keep my voice working smooth for a whole recording session. drinking was not a good thing. hot tea was. i hated hot tea then and loved cold beer so it was a big problem. i smoked a few cigarettes a day but had to stop. every one of us was going through his or her own victorys or problems learning how to really get serious about the recording process. just before we recorded we got the news that Kevin did indeed want to sign us and Warners would do it if he gave the word. Red flags certenly should have gone up when we were told the deal was in cement if Kevin was given the job of producing our first cd. oh, boy. even though this it's not unheard of it' a little dangerous to do. if their is a problem during recording it's the AnR person the band goes to for support or help. however as time passed and we spent more time with Kevin the more I liked him.
getting ready to sign with a major label was a funny thing. going to the Warner's complex in Burbank, Ca. with the men in suits and coolsters gone cooperate was always a trip. guards everywhere, and lots of people ready to help you spend the money you might just make them. oh so weird. but i loved a lot of it. even if they ere phony, the big shots were very friendly to you. phony is a word not used much around the place. I will say, though, I also met some very real and loving people People who loved music and were in positions of making and breaking other people. LA was fun on this trip down. we all piled up and were staying in Debbie's little apartment. Poor Mikey. he was hving trouble th whole trip.. as soon as we got back we were going to record the track for the Roky tribute cd...in the mean time we had decided to play LAA, meet th new lawyerthat was going to represent us, then drive to Texas and play a few shows. Mikey got sick, though. i was so stupid i didn't know why he was in puking in the bath room of Debbie's before we were leaving to go meet out new attorney. I kept knocking at the bathroom door, "Mikey, are you alright?". on the way down to Hollywood he kept nodding out and dropping his cigarette. i figured out what was going on and got super pissed. i'm not perfect and thought it was fucking disrespectful for him to hav gotten high when the our wholee futhur was right there in front of us. he decided not to go in with us. the lawyer was Rosemary carroll...ex wife of jim Carroll. i compleatly agreed tht if didn't want to go in to met her it was fine with me. Maybe nodding off during the meeting might be the wrong impression.