White Lion Tour Diary – Entry #2, 3/9/05

By troypatrickfarrell

Episode 2

Yo Sludgers…

First, I wanted to clear one thing up… some guy in England (who else says “arse”, I’ve always hated that British form of that word), says I’m a racist… here’s his email:

“Brian Jones”

Priority: Normal

Take your racist opinion and go fuck yourself, arsehole…….

This was in reference to Episode 1 where I said something about the Arab guy who was so pissed about us using his internet connection. He drew 1st blood, by saying to me “you are a stupid people”, which one can read into being a racist comment as well, so now you know the facts, go brush your teeth now. (had to throw in a stereotype since you also think I’m racist). This comes from Miami Florida (South beach) where I’m @ an internet café blazing some sort of Indian Arab dance mix. I just can’t escape this……

Now that we’re done with that:

We bailed out of New Mex with good vibes… Hotel Blue let us check out @ 4pm, and this after Adam (the guy that leaves gear in the previous city) clogged up a toilet….. soon after, we hauled to Dallas.

Dallas Texas, March 2, the Firewater

…the Firewater had the makings of a great venue..and it is… but due to the weather…we were the 1st National Act to do the indoor stage…. the production was great… the lights were OK… if you’re into disco rave lighting for a rock band… Note: I’m not accusing anyone of anything… but if your lighting guy was on Blow… he would’ve put on the show we got… again… I never said this guy didn’t do coke… or… well, you know what I mean…

We get to the Venue..the outside is amazing w/ Fountains that are lit with orange fire like lights… but due to the possibility of rain, we went with the inside. Being a big rock star and all, I demanded they bring the drum riser from the outside to the inside, (I actually just asked if it was possible). This riser they had for outside weighed about 600 pounds..but over the top, they called a staging company to bring a riser in. Insert Spinal Tap moment here. The mgr. Kevin asks me what to get… and I said to bring in exactly what they had outside, 8’X8’X12”…12 became 24 inches…

The staging company arrives from East Dallas with a 2 foot high riser, which would seem to some to not be a big deal, but this thing was so fucking tall, it was like, “Yay, look at me, I’m the fucking insecure drummer”. Now I feel like a dick, as it cost these guys 250.00 more to get this thing, and now it’s not the right size. I try and Negotiate w/ Mindy @ Dallas Center Staging, and my offer of Free White Lion tickets didn’t sway her one bit. I should’ve told her Enuff Znuff was playing, maybe that would’ve convinced her.

I get w/ Kevin, the club’s point man and explain how embarrassed I am and he says, just get the right piece, and we did, at an extra 75.00 fee, now this fucking riser is 325.00. What a jagoff I feel like. All night those guys would walk past me and say or shout from the crowd “drum riser”.

The show was great, but one fan thought it stunk… I won’t respond to this guy but here and only here. You’ll see me in RED. Here is his email:

From: akashaman@xxx.xxx

Subject: dallas show well:

Been waiting along (as opposed to a long time) to see white lion , never got to see them back in the day. Was pretty dissappointed (instead of disappointed) in the show for two main reasons. A guitarist playing vito licks with no tremolo bar? (1st off, this is TRAMP’s WHITE LION, this is not Vito, James & Greg, THAT would be White Lion. Jamie Law pulls off Vito licks without a Tremolo Bar, and uses a Les Paul. Maybe he should play the headstock-less Steinberger?? I respect opinions, but this guy is sort of a wanker).

It goes on to say:

How does one do vito licks with no whammy? (no whammy no whammy big money big money, STOP) oh , half ass like it was done last night. (someone commented on the boards about my grammar, burn this guy 1st then you can talk about me).

The other think (thing) that bugged the hell out of me , to the point of leaving ; (<<unnecessary use of the semi colon;) is you “mike” (are we trying to protect the identity of Mike Tramp? His name is really Mike). kept rephrasing every single song ! it was like mike tramp trying to remember white lion songs : good god. Now I could understand if you played these songs every night, (what are you talking about, we’re playing the same songs everynight). that you might wanna change em up some , but this is not the case. This was “supposed” to be white lion songs (Except for Radar Love, they are all White Lion songs). ,I assumed like they were recorded. Like we friggen remember em ! I wanna forget them now! (I’d then recommend going to www.miketramp.com and clicking on the Tramp Shop and ordering The Tokyo DVD, Live From Brooklyn @ the Ritz, etc).

It continues to ramble on and on… but here’s a picture after the show of someone who would resemble the writings of the above. I don’t know if this is this guy or not, but if it was, it looks like he had a wonderful time. I guess we won’t see you in San Antonio… bummer

Drunk guy in Dallas

San Antonio Texas, March 3rd, Sanctuary

We pull up to what appears to be a punk club. Totally appropriate for Tramp and Znuff. Same old story, no monitors, lame Peavey PA with every Stack having a different replacement speaker in it. On Znuff’s set, which rocked, Monaco was so fed up w/ the lack of monitors, he turned his around, and told the crowd to put theirs ear up to it and then said, “this is what I get to listen to”. The monitor never moved after that. It was quite funny. Every venue has had some surprises, and these guys plow thru like pro’s everytime.

I wanted to thank Steve @ Ricardo’s Pizza for the 2 free pies and the ride back to the bus. He was so bummed he couldn’t make the show, but was stoked to come down after and meet all of us and bought some goods for the ride to Seminole/Tampa.

Seminole Florida, March 5th, Boomerz Boiler Room

Finally a kick ass venue. A real rock club w/ real lights PA, Food, Brews, what could go wrong? Apparently it was the high schools battle of the bands. It was to be done by 6 pm, we sound check, doors @ 8, etc. The damn battle of the bands didn’t end until after 9pm. So we had to cut time on the 2 openers, so we can get on and off around 1:30 a.m. and whore merch. The openers were good and it sucked cutting them, but we’re Headlining and due to poor scheduling and promoters adding 32 openers to sell tix to pay for the small fee they’re getting this package for, we’ve been close to cutting our set many times. So, I guess we deal with it.

Thx to Boomerz for the Porn vids… I was bummed that I got Backstage Sluts 17… the last one I saw was Episode 15, and I’m afraid to skip 16 as I might lose part of the story line. Quality stuff @ any rate, let me tell you.

Bus call was @ 4 a.m. and Eric (Znuff drummer) was to be across the street at the Country Kitchen… but went to a Denny’s away from the bus. No Cell Phone, we pulled away without him. He was in the Denny’s and saw the bus passing by and chased it down. We of course stopped.

He seems to be a bit pissed by this still to this day (even his own band agreed to leave). I get most of the flack because the driver is sort of answering to me this tour and I gave the go ahead to drive to Atlanta. I offered to play drums in Atlanta (since I’ve listened to Znuff since 85 and did some shows w/ Donnie Vie). If you can’t make bus call and you don’t have your cell phone and you’re not 10 min. away…we’ll see you when we see you. Chip nor Monaco cared that much. It’s Eric’s 1st tour and I think he’s a bit excited about the Rock Star aspect of it…get over it bro…it’s not what it’s about…it’s about playing Fucking “Kiss the Clown”!

The only 2 guys we wait for are Tramp and Znuff. They’re the reason we’re here… and Ellis our bus driver… can’t go without him!

The dartboard routing continues as we now travel north of Atlanta to then travel back south to Miami Florida. What you do is get a map (thank god they only used a map of the USA, or we might have a show in Syria tomorrow), and you get darts and throw them… one by one… and that’s how some dates on this run seem. But, it’s better than delivering newspapers.

Alpharetta Georgia, March 6th, Rock Star Saloon

Another gig, another issue. This place, although nice (and the promoter paid us in advance!), resides in a strip mall with houses behind it. They have a noise restriction until 10pm. Enuff Z’nuff wasn’t aware of this until days ago. Eric put towels on the drums and they played at a very low volume. Again, plowing thru like pros, towels on the drums so not to interrupt the restaurant next door.

10:15 comes and Tramp’s White Lion is ready to go, Under 105 DB..which we did all night. The show turned out to be a great one, and we’re starting to get some stage vibe as a band @ this point. Thx to Gwen and Colleen for polishing us last night… (duh… the nails).

Claus (Tramps WL bassist) and I are bonding, so we’re going Pretty Boy Floyd style with horrendously black finger nails. And we needed a touch up… thx ladies…

Bus Call 2 a.m. and we actually made it on time… driving due south to Miami Florida. Which is where I am as of right now, kicking the jams to Arab trance music and people are smoking out of bongs, but not pot, some sort of trendy Miami thing.

Tonight, it’s South Beach, so anything can happen. Along w/ 6 bands all night, there are free Hot Wings, a Female Mud Wrestling match, and 25 cent beers. No, nothing out of the ordinary… just spring break in Miami. The promoter is doing another show (Tramp’s White Lion only) 3/8 @ Purdy’s Lounge… same scene there tomorrow!… Hope to see you there……

Until Episode 3, “you are a stupid people, get out of my hotel or I call cops”

troypatrickfarrell of Tramp’s White Lion

email whatever to tpf@drummertroy.com

all dates and swag @ www.miketramp.com

MORE PICS!

Enuff Z’Nuff’s Eric and Monaco help troy out with the tour diary

troypatrickfarrell fresh off the boat… err, bus in Miami

Chip Z’Nuff’s edited version of the White Lion setlist

Johnny Monaco enjoys the luxurious backstage facilities

troy demonstrates how a snaredrum can be transformed into a makeshift MaxiPad

A discarded Enuff Z’Nuff setlist can be used to soak up any extra blood splatterings

Tramp’s White Lion on stage… somewhere.

Thanks to MASTEC for the additional photos!