| I was intrigued
by rock musicians since I was a little girl. Something about tight-fitting pants
and scruffy hair excited me. I dated rock musicians throughout high school and
my friends consisted of guys in rock bands. I hung out with the Randy Rhoads crowd
at Burbank High School. This meant Randy, and all the other guys in bands. I dated
a guy named Tony for a long time, a drummer from
a band named Seducer. I began working in the music business in the early 80s,
doing publicity for an independent record label and managing bands throughout
the early 90s. (Among the bands I managed were local acts like Red Square, Hell’s
Kitchen, Cradle
of Thorns and the goth greats, London
After Midnight. Of all the bands I handled, I respect London After Midnight
the most. No matter how many times they were told to change the way they looked
or the way they sounded by record label vultures, the more they stood their ground.
Sean and Tamlyn led the band and stayed true to themselves and their fans, consistently
performing to standing only crowds and releasing
their own records to devoted fans. I met Bryan in 1981 standing against a cigarette machine at the Rainbow Bar and Grill in Hollywood. He had the look I was drawn to and I knew that this was the guy I would marry. We became inseparable, moved in together a few months later, and married a few months after that. Bryan was the typical musician in the sense that he lived in a dump in Hollywood, mattress on the floor, bottle of Jack Daniels by the bed, and musical equipment all over the place. He smoked three packs of cigarettes a day and drank like a fish. He came to Los Angeles from Washington, D.C. a year before with his band, Bolt, an act signed to Chrysalis Records. The band had gotten a ton of press and were doing well until Los Angeles went to their heads. This is a typical thing that no one tells musicians and the rest of the population. Come to LA and it will eat you alive. Bryan continued to play with bands, which included a stint with Quiet Riot and being hired by Dokken, but ended up playing in bands like Street Kids, fronted by Randy Rhoads’ brother, Kelly, Kid Fury, Tempest, and Hell’s Kitchen. In the mid-80s, I opened the largest talent booking agency on the Sunset Strip above the Whisky-a-go-go with my former partner David, and a couple of silent partners who owned most of The Strip. I also published a local magazine called Hollywood Rocks. During that time, I got to know the big hairspray bands of that era, promoting shows for bands like Warrant, Poison and Ratt. We had the regulars who hung out at our shows, which included people like Lenny Kravitz, Ron Jeremy, River Phoenix and Slash. At Hollywood Rocks we covered a lot of bands who later became famous-bands like and Pearl Jam and Red Hot Chili Peppers. I have a million Strip stories and could easily write a book, but I might find myself floating in the LA River if I do. I guess it’s all going to stay in my brain, only to surface in occasional nightmares. One innocent story was the night we went to an after-party with David Lee Roth. The party was raided by the cops, I fell into a bush of black widow spiders and ended up in the hospital. Memories….. After the Strip began to fizzle and the Seattle grunge scene took over, I went on to publish Music Confidential, an internationally-distributed music magazine, with my sister, Gina. (AKA “Wildflower,” Gina had already made a name for herself photographing everyone from Pearl Jam to Guns ‘n’ Roses). This was when I made it big, or at least, it felt that way. Offices in Malibu, rock celebrities all over the place, lots of parties and many perks. I met of lot of interesting people during that time and have a few highlights that will always stand out - meeting Joni Mitchell and actually hanging out with her, sitting on a piano bench with Bryan Wilson while he played Christmas songs, and hanging out with The Scorpions in New York City. Even being sued by Ozzy Osbourne now goes into the list of highlight archives. Bryan and I haven’t changed much. Bryan still looks the same, add a few years. I don’t look much different either. We still blast rock and roll, our house is full of guitars, and I’m still excited by musicians in tight pants with scruffy hair. The only thing that has changed is we eat brown rice and vegetables and Bryan quit smoking. He doesn’t drink like a fish any longer, but wishes he still did. He wants more tattoos and I want to write a book. Our goal is to grow old and have people our own age point at us and make comments about how weird we are.
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