Encounters with Missing Persons
by Will Myrex, Triple XXX Girls bass player
Taken from posts on the "missingpersons" yahoo group in late 2003, these stories took place "about 20 years ago"
The band I was in at the time
was called "Triple XXX Girls" (TXG) out of Tampa, Florida. We opened
for MP at the Tampa Theater in downtown Tampa, and also at Embry-Riddle
Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach. Without a LOT of digging on my part,
I can't provide exact dates... I'm not sure I even have this stuff written down
anywhere.
Background: As far as TXG
goes, I played bass under the stage name Will Myrex (myrex was an ant poison
available at the time). The guitarist was (all stage names) D. Martin, drummer
Sean Moore (who later drummed for the "Impotent Seasnakes" as 'Spawn
More'), and singer-percussionist-keyboard-trumpet Mike Knapp. Originally, I did
sound for the band and played guitar in a different band, "Your
Relatives." The original bass player for TXG, Frank Poole, for a variety of
reasons, was essentially fired from the band. Due to there being a contract for
a 3-night club gig, and my knowing the songs inside-out from doing their sound,
I crash-course rehearsed with them once or twice and then filled in for Frank.
Frank never returned, and I became bass player #2. Mike somehow wangled us the
gig to open for MP (possibly with help from then wife of Sean, Linda Laker, who
promoted local shows), and, incidentally, he also got us a one-time opening for
the Talking Heads at Curtis Hixon Hall in downtown Tampa. Ultimately, I left
the band in abject disgust, and was replaced by Robert Wegmann. So, that sets a
poorly-lit stage...
Tampa Theater is an old
performance/movie theater in downtown Tampa. It has decent acoustics, and is
really interesting inside - a sort of Spanish/Cuban 19th century village
interior, replete with twinkling lights in the ceiling. Quite a number of
"New Wave" groups played there, ranging from Iggy Pop to Blondie to
The Police to the Thompson Twins.
As previously mentioned, Mike
got us the gig there. We packed up all of our stuff from the barn that we
rehearsed in up in Lutz (just north of Tampa) and made our way to the Tampa
Theater. MP's stage was already set, including a lot of welded square-tube
aluminum props that occupied a lot of space. We had to hold off setting up our
own gear, for they hadn't done their sound check yet. We decided to sit out in
the mid-section near the sound board and listen to their sound check.
After a little while, the band
showed. O'Hearn played some scales and warm-up exercises, and a few riffs that
absolutely floored and humbled me. Cuccurullo fiddled with some amp and effects
settings, blasted an occasional power chord, fiddled some more, ran off a high-octane
riff, but otherwise was rather quiet. I don't recall if the keyboardist was
even there.
Then we heard the squeaky
voice of Dale Bozzio. She and Terry came out on stage, arguing. Warren &
Patrick both patiently waited while the argument simmered at moderate heat.
This was nothing new for them, based on their reactions. Dale, apparently, was
not satisfied with anything. I don't remember the specifics, but she was as
stubborn as a mule getting up to the mike. Terry went back to the drums, and I
thought, "All right! This is gonna be kewl!" Terry adjusted his kit,
did some Zappa-esque drum riffs (that also floored me), and seemed ready to go
into song. [side note: I was looking forward to this because one of my Top 10
albums - to this day - is Zoot Allures. I've always been a Bozzio fan.]
Dale whined a bit more, turned
back at him with hands on [sexy] hips, and he sat forward and pointed his
drumsticks at her. She turned around (facing us) pouting. I thought, "Wow,
what a bitch. Glad I'm not in a band with her!" The band launched into a
song (I don't remember which), and within about two bars Dale walked away from
the mike, and the band stopped. Warren just stared at her while Patrick's head
dropped. She whined about "the monitors" and "I can't hear myself"
over and over. Terry got up, walked over, held her shoulders and whispered - in
a pleading way - to her for a moment.
Then they tried again. Same
thing. Warren just shook his head. This lurching went on another few minutes,
and finally she walked off stage. The band just looked at each other, then took
off their guitars and left the stage.
That was the sound check.
We set up our equipment on the
very meager amount of real estate remaining on their stage. We went home, got
ready, and came back. The theater was filling up. "Show Time" for us
was approaching. I was hoping to meet the band... and then it was time. We went
onstage and played a really good 40-minute set, and got a vvery strong
reception... it felt "right" playing in our hometown, we were energized,
and the audience picked up on it... it all "clicked."
I was exhilarated when we
finished our set and left the stage. We were informed that MP had cancelled! So
we were both the opening AND the closing acts! I was pretty bummed about this,
because I was looking forward to watching MP play. There was plenty of
speculation about why they cancelled. Ticket sales was NOT one of them, because
the place was packed... and of course, a significant percentage were guys
wanting to see Dale's boobs in her fish-globes!
Truth be told, I wanted to see
them too, but watching Bozzio and O'Hearn play was what I really wanted to see.
I got my chance at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University later on... I chalk up their
cancellation to Dale having PMS. That's my theory, and I stand by it.
Opening Up for MP at
Embry-Riddle... fish-globes, beer bottles, 7-11's and all...
As mentioned, the band (TXG)
got two dates to open for MP, where the first date MP cancelled. This second
date was at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach - on the east
coast of Florida. We packed all of our gear into Mike's old blue van and made
the trek across the state. When we got to ER, the venue was a large concrete
block building - almost a huge cube, with the stage set at one end. There was
no soundproofing on the walls at all, and the floor was terrazzo - we were a
bit concerned about that.
MPs stage was already set up -
same as at Tampa Theater, and apparently had already performed their sound
check before we got there... we got the all-clear to set up our stuff. This
time, there was a bit more real estate on the stage to work with. After setting
up, the soundman had us bang out a song for a brief soundcheck of our own. From
then until it was Show Time, we just hung around, bored. I felt a little
nervous - I don't know why.
The room filled slowly with
people... LOTS of early-20's guys for the most part. We always did better with
an audience mix heavily slanted towards women, and where there was a dance
floor right in front of us. We also generally did better for an audience
familiar with our music and with us; one of the original founding concepts for
the band was somewhat "glam rock" with makeup, rouge highlights, etc.
At ER, I had my reservations, but I kept thinking back to how well we did at
Tampa Theater.
The room filled practically to
capacity. LOTS of guys wanting to see a gorgeous, petite blonde wearing a
transparent plexi-bra, me thinks. Then the lights went down, and we were given
our cue... Show Time. We went on stage, plugged in, made some intentional
banging noises, then launched right into our first song [damnit if I never
saved any set lists!] The lightman was on top of us - he (she?) was doing a
really great job with color changes on bridges, drum fills, etc, and the spot
operator was doing a great job too.
The fact that this room was a
big cube presented some problems that we didn't have a great deal of experience
with: I could hear Sean pummelling his kit ten feet away, followed by the LOUD
PA system stack ten feet the other way, then the slap-back echo from the far
wall following that. Instinctively I moved near Sean so that I could make sure
I was playing in sync with him and not some echo of him. Maybe I also did this
because of the expressions of a significant portion of the testosterone
factories looking up at us, wondering where were the XXX *GIRLS*? Mike saw
this, and signaled me up to the edge of the stage, so I would move up briefly,
then maybe keep close to Sean by walking over to D.'s side of the stage, etc.
We were playing pretty well, but when a song ended, there was a 50-50 mix of
cheers and boos.
During one song, I
distinctly recall looking at my hands, then up at the audience in the very
front, and started to gaze more towards the middle of the audience, when I saw
something heading towards me... I jerked my head to the left as a beer bottle
whizzed by my head. Had I not done that, I would have been beaned. My heart
pounded as I thought "Oh sh*t! Please let this set end so I can get off
this f'ing stage!" Mike had seen the bottle coming towards the stage, too
- after the song, he shook his head at the audience and said something to them,
which garnered boos from the bottle-throwing types and cheers from the rest of
the crowd there to listen to bands play music.
Before long, our set was over,
and I was really relieved to get off stage. We didn't do badly, but 1/2 the
audience hated us, and even threw stuff at us - a rowdy crowd to be sure.
Fortunately, we didn't have to roadie our own equipment off stage, as I recall.
After a little while, it was
time for MP to play. The house lights went down, and the cheering began. They
took plenty of time to show up at the stage. It was set up with Terry's kit on
the very right front of the stage as viewed by the audience. He was positioned
right next to the PA stack, so I stood hidden behind the stack to
watch them perform.
And what a performance! They
were incredibly tight, as one might imagine from musicians with the caliber to
play for Zappa. Bozzio was all of eight feet away from me - it was awesome
watching him drum. On the far side of the stage was O'Hearn. He had on this
zoot suit type outfit, with baggy pants and a jacket that had shoulders about
four feet wide. He was really into his playing, and he had these shoulder
motions and animated bounces that were really cool - almost like the scarecrow
in the Wizard of Oz! Warren was dressed in leather... 100% leather. Made me
think of the little "leather" vignette on Sheik Yerbouti. His
technique was so clean, the littlest motions articulating so much sound.
And, of course, Dale was in
her plastic boob-spheres, and as I recall, maybe something like body-fitting
silver pants. The spotlight made her glow, especially her huge platinum hair
with the fluorescent pink in it. She looked like a cross between the Drill
Thrall on the old Star Trek episode, and Seka, if you know who they are ;) . I
got a big grin looking at the guys in the very front... their gaze transfixed
not on Dale's face, nor hearing her voice, but on her boobs and hips. I can
guess what they were thinking.
MP got great applause after
each song, especially their hits. It was *incredible* hearing them, and being
so close to them on the wings of the stage. All those times I listened to
Bozzio's work on albums, and now I watched and listened to him live, from a few
feet away, and it is the BEST performance of a drummer I have ever seen. Sean
was moving around, but he also stood behind the stack, watching Bozzio, for
about half their set, and between songs would shout in my ear with great
enthusiasm "Isn't he incredible???"
MP did an awesome set, and it
really lifted my spirits to watch, listen, and admire them. Beyond pro's. These
are World Class musicians. They finished their set and disappeared. Reality set
in, and it was time to go. We had packed all of our gear in Mike's van. D.
decided that he would ride home with me, in my crapola '65 Chevy Bellaire that
had been hand-painted with silver Rustoleum. Then reality really set in as we
began talking about our feelings about our performance, the audience reaction,
the bottle throwing - and there was more than one thrown, as I then found out,
etc. We were both kind of down now, like the crash you get after the caffeine
has worn off, only worse. Self-destructive thoughts go through your head when
you are in that state of mind, like "that was my big chance, and I f'ing
blew it."
D. likes Zero bars, and I was thirsty,
so we stopped at a convenient store. I semi-noticed a big touring bus in the
parking lot as I walked in. We hit the drinks and the candy aisle, and I was in
a fog. It had been a REALLY long day, and I was just exhausted.
I looked up, and there were
O'Hearn and Cuccurullo, getting snacks too - it was the MP touring bus outside!
I thought, "this is my chance, but what do I say?" I was in the midst
of greatness, a rare encounter, in a brightly lit convenient store. And I was
burned out beyond recognition. As I stood there in my fog and depression, they
both looked at me and recognized me as being in the opening act... they had
watched us perform! Neither one was upbeat or smiling - almost a look of 'I'm
really tired and I really wish I was someplace else right now' on their faces.
They saw the look on my face,
and I suppose they knew the feeling themselves. Warren gave me a positive
'what's up' nod. O'Hearn said, with a small but sincere smile, "You guys
did good." All I could muster was a half-hearted "Thanks."
Then they were paying for
their snacks and out the door to their touring bus, as D. and I finished
getting our stuff together. I thought a lot on that long drive home...I'll
never forget doing that gig, how awesome MP was, and O'Hearn's thoughtful
words.