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Friday, January 22, 2016

MAX, IS THAT KURT COBAIN ON THE PHONE???

Keeping with the Zyon birthday week blogs, I recalled a funny phone call Max got when I was pregnant with Zyon. If I remember correctly, it came in shortly after Max and I got home from the Ministry/Helmet/Sepultura tour. I was super pregnant and laying on the couch. Briiiiiing.....the phone rings and Max answers...
with Ministry on the last day of the tour

9 months prego
Max was surprised to hear Kurt Cobain on the other end of the phone line. He had gotten our phone number from someone in Brazil. He explained that he was in Brazil, playing a big festival. He was looking for heroin and wondered if Max knew where he could get some. Max was pretty surprised and didn't really know how to answer! "No, I don't know how to get anything like that, and I am in America!" Max said. Kurt kept the conversation going for a bit and then switched the topic to pregnant wives!
Working a couple hours after Zyon is born
Kurt said he had heard that we were expecting a child. He said he hoped I would have an easier time than Courtney had, in labor. He sent me some good wishes and went on his way.
And then we had a Z!!!
Zyon and Max

Uncle Iggor with Zyon



Class dismissed.......

Friday, January 15, 2016

LOOKING FOR ZIGGY STARDUST....

In July of 1996, Max and I got one of the first family buses we ever had. We had saved enough money to take some of the kids with us and we didn't want to jam up the Sepultura bus. I had spent so much time on tour building the band and had left the kids with nannies, so we decided we would combine work and play. When the bus pulled up in France, we were so excited!! Our first personal bus.....

Sepultura
Our driver was cool but a bit overbearing. He loved the tour so much that we would be awaken early in the morning to look out at the view! Trouble was, Max and I had a private bedroom and we would wake up and he would be sitting at our feet! Haha! One day, Christina chewed his butt and gave him a lesson in driver's chivalry and it changed him forever! Years later, he even told her thanks for teaching him Driver's Etiquette!


David Bowie


We were all excited because the tour was full of festivals and one was particularly interesting. We were playing with David Bowie, at the Doctor Music Festival high in the mountains of Spain! We really didn't realize just exactly how high in the mountains though. The bus wound round and round, up the mountain which was solid hair pin curves with the farthest drop off on the edge of the road! It was barely wide enough for one bus, much less any passing traffic! It took nearly 8 hours to reach the outdoor venue! High in the mountains, stars blanketed the clear sky above us. Endless space as far as the eyes could see.

Of course the Seps had a great set, but David Bowie was something beyond supernatural! His voice carrying through our very souls and lifting off into space! It wasn't reality. It was something legendary! We were mesmerized through out his set. The music lilting towards us and then carried way on the wings of time, Anyone who can plan their art into their death isn't an artist. David Bowie was a Space Oddity, a Time Traveler, a Starman. RIP


And what could possibly top this show? Aliens arriving? An atomic bomb? Hell freezing over? Why, we knew all along. Since the morning we knew...we had to go back down that damn mountain! Thank God it was dark...



Class dismissed.....

Friday, January 8, 2016

PACK YOUR BAGS AND GRAB YOUR PASSPORTS, STUDENTS!! WE ARE GOING ON THE MONSTERS OF ROCK ON THE RUINS OF THE EVIL EMPIRE TOUR!!!

After the Moscow Peace Festival, Russia was tasting its first bite of freedom. Our booking agent was contacted by a promoter in Moscow, who wanted to bring Sepultura there for a tour. I could not contain my excitement! I was heading to my roots!! We would be the first international act to tour the newly freed countries, which had broken off from the former USSR. History was about to be made!

Sepultura

Sepultura
We were in store for an adventure, for sure! We would receive all expenses paid and zillions of Rubles, which had no value at the time. We did it for the fans. For 10 glorious days we would explore and for 4 shows, the Russian fans would feel like fans all over the world. The pit, seeing the band live, hearing the songs that lured out from ancient boom boxes, to be able to buy official merchandise...all the things we all take for granted in the free world. These were miracles to the Russian audience!

We travelled by train, which was an adventure of its own! Little tiny fold down bunks and a itty bitty table. The gear nested in every nook and cranny that didn't have limbs in it. Freezing cold tundra flew past outside the frozen windows! The train stopped at all the little villages; a people mover. Birch trees endlessly stood, tall white, chopsticks. The little wooden homes had gardens full of cabbage and beet plants, with animal shelters connected to the home...sharing the warmth of the fire with all living things.

We travelled to St. Petersburg, Riga, Latvia, Vilnius, Lithuania, and ended in Moscow. The war had just gotten over in Lithuania and people were standing in bread lines and digging in garbage bins of hotels to retrieve coffee grounds, and any scraps available and inviting. There was no heat in the city because the power station had been destroyed. We had armed guards outside our doors to stop any thieves or dark intentioned characters. The crew went to the bread line and one of them bought 10 Hershey bars for $10 and gave them to the crew and band, who were nearby. The women's faces consisted of astonishment and shock, seeing someone spend so much moola on chocolate bars! They had barely scraped up the 30 cents needed for a loaf of bread. Throughout the tour, we were all generous with the Rubles and gave them all away, to elderly people, mother's, gypsies and to churches.

We had a bit of trouble in Riga, which is a beautiful city on the Baltic Sea. One of the crew picked up a girl in the restaurant at night. He felt sorry for her and spent the night making her laugh. When he woke up in the morning, he wasn't laughing at all! His wallet and all his money from the entire tour had disappeared! He called the police, who informed him the girl was most likely part of an organized crime ring. All the while, the Little Miss stood and smiled...Palm's up!! The kicker was when the officer said that the guys may want to move to another room because there was a good chance they would have snipers attacking them, because they had reported the incident. We were happy to head out of Dodge!

Moscow is always inviting and interesting! Giant buildings all Ghostbuster-ed out! Lenin's Tomb, the Kremlin, St. Basil's Cathedral...everywhere you look there is a monumental view of the coolest architecture you can envision! The shopping is glorious and plentiful! We have been there scores of times now and see something new every time we return!

Max and Me in front of Lenin's tomb..

...overlooking St. Basil's Cathedral
My family lives in Omsk, Siberia. My beloved little Aunt Natasha was sentenced to 10 years in the gulag for making a casual statement.."Russia should replace Stalin, like Germany did to Hitler and the country may improve." The KGB got wind of it from a narcing 'friend' and zap...off to prison she went. The ride paid for by Mr. Stalin himself. She said she built the road across Siberia, while living on bread and water. Her Mother and sisters, and brothers searched for her for years , until the Red Cross finally located her. When she as released from prison, she was given a small apartment and was never allowed to move away again. So......we went to her! Yes, we packed up the kids and a friend, Mark Corona, and headed to the wilds of Siberia!! It was an experience that we all treasure. We had many conversations and great Russian cuisine around that little table in her living room!
Aunt Natasha's apt.


We will be heading to St. Petersburg and Moscow in March and we are all excited as can be! One of my Grandmother's Uncles was recently blessed with the title of a Saint and I will hopefully walk through the Holy Door of the Cathedral and wipe tears from my eyes. He was murdered with a group of priests, all in the same location, and President Putin has built a Cathedral on the exact spot. It will be a trip I will never forget! This is what roots are....






Class dismissed....


Friday, January 1, 2016

THAT KID WILL NEVER AMOUNT TO ANYTHING!!!!!

The '80's and 90's were spawning Metal like a hospital nursery! The German fans were out in full force, having discovered the love and intensity of Metal long before the wave hit many other countries! Why, it took over 25 years for the fans to discover jean jackets with patches on them! In these blooming years of thrash Metal, the Germans already had the fever and it was going strong! Fans would line up to party hours before the shows, swarm the merch tables and mosh like motherf#@$ers till the last guitar riff was long past a memory! The beer was flowing and I must admit, quite a few of them only heard the music in their passed out fantasies!



Motorhead was one of the bands the mighty Deutschland was infected with! Every year, they did a series of Christmas Metal Fests during the week of Christmas, and rocked the house down! My bands were a favorite flavor on these shows, and I looked forward to them with as much excitement as the fans fighting for the front row. Starting with Sacred Reich in the late '80's, and moving on to Sepultura, after I began managing them, we built a friendship with the band, the crew, and many other openers. I became friends with Phil Campbell during the Sacred dates, and he would let me sit in his area on the side of the stage...you can imagine how I loved that...what better view!!

This particular year, on a Sep run, we were in some beastly German city, and it happened to be Lemmy's birthday and I recall, it was the first day of the short tour. Andreas had broken his arm in a jet ski accident and the band hired a friend, Silvio Golfetti, from Korzus, to fill in. He had a super warm smile, was a kickass riffer and even looked a bit like Andreas. We were all grateful that Andreas had survived the accident, since it had broken his upper arm in quite deep water! The band did not want to cancel the run, and moved quickly to find someone up to the job.

Silvio from Korzus and Iggor
After short discussion in the backstage, Max asked me to ask Motorhead if he could sing Orgasmatron with Lemmy, that night, in honor of Lemmy's birthday. I made my way to someone...a crew member, a tour manager? Short time later, I got a big "No!" "Lemmy says Max sings with his throat and not from deep in his soul." Yeah, we were shocked, intimidated a bit, but soon, after a few vodkas, the Brazilians got a wee bit angry. The anger turned into pranking and soon, all sorts of remedies were being suggested, by the Seps. With big smiles, they decided to strip down with only a sock on their dangles, and march on the stage during Orgasmatron. This was not something I highly recommended, let me tell you, Students!!

The set was steaming hot! Max stage dived, rocked like a cyclone in a toy store, and the venue began blistering up, I was secretly hoping they would change their minds before Motorhead hit the stage, but no, the boozing, the atmosphere and the laughter got stronger by the minute!

Iggor drumming

Max crowd surfing

after crowd surfing

Iggor's drum kit kicked over
The crowd spat fire and looked like a tumbleweed hurricane as the mighty Motorhead hit the stage!! The Richter Scale went rocketing off the graph that night, somewhere in Germany!! And low and behold, during Orgasmatron, there they went, prancing like drunken sailors, spilling onto the stage. I saw the mortified look of Lemmy, as the shock set in! There was Max, only shirtless, but drunk as a pirate, sloshing his screwdriver right into Phil Campbell's pedalboard! Oh shite, this was gonna get my ass in trouble! Their crew did the best they could to lasso the Seps and clean the mess to avoid technical difficulties, but the knife had been sunk deep!

Motorhead

Motorhead

Dressing room fun

About to go on stage!
Immediately after their set, I was summoned to Lemmy's dressing room. There was hell to pay! I was impressed by the size of the cake!! A giant, two layer frosted beauty, in all its glory was waiting for him. He was a gentleman and offered me a huge slice before he sent me to walk the plank. It was creamy and delicious and made my whipping much sweeter! "That kid will never amount to anything! He can't control his alcohol! He has no respect for others!" I nodded, frosting slithering down my throat. I agreed to do the best I could to make sure Max acted with a bit more couth from then on! Lemmy was pissed, but a gentleman, for sure!

Someone mentioned to Lemmy previously, that my Mother had attended the Nurnberg Trials, had actually walked the hall of the jail cells where the violators were confined, had even peaked into Goerring's cell and miraculously survived a concentration camp. Lemmy was really interested in German WW2 history and invited me to visit historic locations in Nurnberg with him, and I was excited to go. But....at the last minute, this kid came to me and asked me to stay and spend the day with him. You know who I chose.....



Have a blessed New Year, my dear Students!!!


Class dismissed.......