1991-Part One…

I’m not big on singling out any specific year in music but now that it has been 30 years since 1991 for some bizarre reason I’m feeling compelled to write about that year as that was where a huge shift in all points musically as well some personal stuff for me was happening.

Hope you all like it..

As 1990 ended, I was digging the recent releases of AC/DC (The Razors Edge) and Cinderella (Heartbreak Station). AC/DC was huge business rolling well into 91 with a mega selling tour and a mega selling album and lets face it with CD’s raging in sales so was AC/DC’s back catalog.

Cinderella not so lucky. Sure “Heartbreak Station” went platinum in both Canada and the U.S but tickets for their tour were not selling.

David Lee Roth released “A Little Ain’t Enough” album and it climbed the charts quick and slid down the charts quicker than a stripper working upside down on a pole. A sign of the times to come for Dave.

By the end of January 91 it was the first of three shows that I caught that year outside of Tbay beginning with Poison that we went out to Winnipeg to see on a party bus that was indeed rocking…

The rocking bus included Tbone and his bro Rugg and my pal Oink’s. Shenanigans ran supreme once our feet got off the 40 seated Greyhound bus in Winnipeg after a 9 hour booze fest that began with morning beers at 8am!

Actually, looking back the party bus was more rocking than Poison who were umm I’m trying to be nice here. Uneventful. 75 minute headlining set eaten up by 15 minute’s in a guitar and drum solo’s (gah!).

Bassist Bobby Dall like he was in the “Every Rose” video was trashed and it was amazing that Poison was playing more songs from 88’s “Open Up and Say Ah” record than they’re current multi platinum release “Flesh & Blood.”

Warrant was the announced opener but by the time the show got to Winnipeg, Warrant was booted and Don Dokken with an ass kicking album (Up From The Ashes) and an even better band (John Norum, Peter Baltes, Billy White and Mikkey Dee) steamrolled Poison that night on stage. Opening with “The Hunter” Don and his crew blew off the headliner…

Shortly after returning home at the end of January from the Poison debacle I received a phone call from the two fella’s (Guy and Daryl) who ran the party bus to the Winnipeg Poison show telling me that they had a line on getting 40 tickets for the opening dates of Guns N Roses “Use Your Illusion Tour”at Alpine Valley just outside of Milwaukee for the start of the Gunners tour! Was I in?

Even though the show was 4 months away …

Frigg yeah I’m in..

Tbone was graduating that year from fourth year Mechanical Engineering from Lakehead University and all his exams and graduations were around that week in May so he had to bow out. My pal Oink’s was in as was Oink’s pal Andre and a couple of our lady friends Kathy and Donna.

Did I mention Oink’s has a friend named Paul McCartney who also came along..

When May rolled around and we boarded that party bus at 11pm to make the 12 hour bus drive to Milwaukee it was all bets off as after we crossed the border into the U.S, it was to someones garage in Two Harbours Minnesota as a fella was selling kegs of beer out of his garage so we all loaded up with keg’s and back on the bus and drank. It must have been funny if anyone was up at that time of the night in Two Harbours to see a Greyhound Bus wind and weave its way around to some dude selling beer out of his garage.

By 7am I felt like garbage but I wasn’t the only one! It didn’t help matters that some yahoo jammed a beer can down the toilet and it got clogged meaning the toilet was fucked..

Funny thing is somewhere in Wisconsin we were stuck along a highway in a construction zone and since the bus was about half full of dudes there we were standing along the side of the highway taking a leak. There we were. A row of dude’s pissing to the delight of the vehicles behind our bus honking at us on that hot humid morning.

Speaking of humid, the buses air conditioner kicked out as well so some one popped open the fire escape hatch on the roof which was welcome relief until the bus driver said he would pull over and refuse to drive as it’s against the law to operate the bus with the hatch open.

Dang! That bus was humid man…and tough to deal with with a hangover!

Eventually we made our way to Milwaukee and to our hotel which was a welcome relief and time for a nap and than a walk around town.

Amazing how many “Old Milwaukee” beer signs there were in this town.

That first evening we were in Milwaukee we hit Brewer Stadium to watch some MLB. The Brewers were playing the Cleveland Indians in which the Brewers won 1-0 as the game from start to finish wrapped up in under 2 hours!!

Brewer Stadium was a cool place to catch a ball game as it was all wood. Wooden bleachers everywhere and any seat was a great seat. I wish I took some pictures…

As we were walking back to our hotel, we noticed a city placed sign saying “You Should Never Walk This Or Any Path Alone At Night after 8pm”

Hmmm weird…

As it turned out a few months later (in July 91) Jeffery Dahmer was arrested in Milwaukee as he was responsible for the disappearance of many people and I’m sure you all the know the story about that…

Come Back for Part 2 as the real shit show begins once back at the hotel..