PART 8
July 4th 1988
Austin,TX-The Ritz (Shitz) Theatre
I don't remember what we did on our day off on July 3rd. Odds are we went back to Corpus Christi and hung out since it was close to San Antonio and there were places to stay and things to do. I remember a day or two before the 4th Les was calling the promoter in Austin to advance the show, get directions etc, but wasn't able to get ahold of him. Anyhow, on July 4th we pulled into a rainy Austin and searched around for a motel. After searching for awhile we were only able to find this really classy looking shit bag of a hooker roach infested motel somewhere. The inside of the rooms looked like they were out of some old horror movie, faded curtains, stained sheets, dirty shag carpet, brownish grimy tiles in the bathroom, completely gross! At some point, Les was able to contact the promoter who told us when load in was and that he wasn't able to possibly fulfill our guarantee, which I'm sure wasn't much by today's standards. Regardless, both bands split for the club. Angkor Wat got to the club a little bit before us and were already unloading their gear into the Ritz Theatre. Myself,Bill,Rob,Les and Scott all walk into this old run down theatre and immediately notice rain leaking from the ceiling, down onto the stage and floor in front of the stage. The promoter was nowhere to be found, just a few of his stage hand goons, who were no fucking help whatsoever. The bottom line was that the promoter was not around upon load in, didn't return our calls, was completely unwilling to work with us or commit to the bands basic necessities, such as our guarantee, safety, etc, etc, we quietly told the Angkor Wat guys that we were not going to load in our gear and play the show. The Angkor Wat guys agreed and we quickly helped load up their gear and hit the road back to the hotel. Let me make this very clear that both bands did NOT at any point want to let down any of their fans! This was a hard decision but it was the best thing to do for all of us at the time. Our sincerest apologies go out to the fans that waited outside in the rain, possibly bought advance tickets (which I doubt since it seemed that the promoter never even did any promotion. For years I have searched for a flyer for this show and never found anything.) and were left out in the cold on their 4th of July plans. It could have been a very memorable 4th of July, instead it turned into somewhat of a nightmare.
About a half hour or 45 minutes later we pulled up to our hotel. We had a short pow wow between us and made plans for the rest of the night. Out of the Cryptic guys, Scott and Bill decided to stay at the roach motel and rest. I don't remember which Angkor Wat guys stayed behind, I think Danny Lohner and Adam Grossman did? Myself, Rob, Les and Mike Titsworth from Angkor Wat piled into our van and decided to hit the town for the 4th of July. I think Dave Brinkman and David Nuss went out for something to eat, not quite sure. I remember that we drove down the main street where the Ritz Theatre was, to see if there was anyone outside in line. Low and behold there were a lot of people milling around, probably wondering where the fuck we were. I'm sure if anyone noticed us driving by, they would have run after us, to try and get us to come back and play or they would have thrown anything they could have found at us. An hour or two later we pull into the parking lot of the motel and go to our rooms. Scott and Bill come out of there room obviously very freaked out and shaken up. While we were gone Bill or Scott looked out of the curtains and saw a bunch of Hammer Skins with baseball bats and crowbars looking for us! From what everybody said, these guys waited for us to show up for a few hours. I felt bed for the guys that were holed up in their rooms while these guys were outside, ready to bust heads. I can't even imagine what would have happened if Scott or Bill opened their door and walked out into that. It would have been bad, i'm sure! How the fuck did they know where we were staying? Later that night, Danny, said that he told someone at the theatre while they we loading in, where we were staying. DOH! Luckily neither of the bands vans or u-hauls were at the motel when these guys showed up because I'm sure they would've busted up our shit really fuckin' good. We converse quickly with the Angkor Wat guys and decide that we need to get the fuck outta Austin as fast as possible. Just in case these guys show up again and beat us to a pulp, which was highly likely. So within what seemed like a 1 minute Chinese fire drill we had our bags and bodies into the van and were on the freeway to Houston for tomorrow nights show at the Axiom. Sorry Austin.
Les in K-Mart parking lot somewhere in Tennessee
Cryptic Slaughter van, Les and up front, Rob flipping me off and Scott. K-Mart parking lot in Tennessee.
Bill making a phone call at our hotel room in Memphis.
Rob disgusted with our hotel room in Memphis.
1 comment:
Just to amend this story a bit, J, I want to add that we didn't simply bail on the Austin gig without making a real attempt to work things through.
I actually drove all the way out to the promoter's house, which was a good half-hour away in Frog's Balls, Texas, or some such place. I got his address and directions from one of the club's employees.
He didn't answer his door when I got there, and by that point I was raging.
When he didn't show up at soundcheck, and subsequently didn't answer his phone on the day of the gig, that's when we decided that this wasn't going to work. Plus, I found out that he was a junkie, too, which explains his general jackassery.
So again, sorry Austin. We tried.
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