My @Home Attempt at Raggabone's Jerk Pork / Therapy / Trip Report Preview

[NOLAnmr]

Jeannie - Glad you are digging Stoopid. They are killing it and pretty much writing the book on being independantly succesful. Which is really an understatement of their world wide success at the moment. Thanks for condolensces on Nina...

Marley - Thanx for the Jamaican name suggestion.. I think we are going to go with "Lucea". It was a tough weekend making that short turnaround 16 hour round trip from NOLA to Little Rock. I'm exhausted. The puppy is now at home and seems to be doing great. She is so cute and everything is so new. It's fun seeing her little personality develop. She is a huge puppy and the father was over 100 lbs so she might end up a monster sized teddy bear. Now it's time to go through all of the puppy training...

Z-Corn - U know it, touring with HR was "quite" the experience. Anyone who knows anything about Bad Brains or HR has always known him to be extremely turbulent to the point of hindering the band's success, from crawling out of bathroom windows before signing major recording contracts to recording vocal tracks from jail through the phone. It's also part of what gives him & the band their mystique and legendary status because you really never know what's going to happen. You are not going to have a normal 2 person conversation with him before he starts ranting on about angels and mysticism. On the business side of it, was kind of tough also because the man is going to do only what he wants to do. Aside from touring with the opening band, I was also involved in booking and promotion such as setting up radio interviews for him and all. It was an honor to be able to do what I could for him since his band was so instrumental in shaping me into who I am today. He only has a briefcase, guitar and cd burner as all of his worldly possesions on him and carries them with him EVERYWHERE he goes. Sometimes even on stage. Maybe he has been ripped off in the past, but it is one of his quirks. I did feel somewhat special when he reached into his guitar case and handed me a piece of his personal collection. He gave me an original print of a professional photo of him in CBGB's green room in NYC. It now sits as on my wall of prized possessions with 5 guitars that hang (one of which is a replica Bob Marley Les Paul).

I'll tell you a little story about his time in New Orleans with us: We did 3 different small legs of touring with HR & The Dubb Agents (his solo project at that time) from 2006-2008 for the DIA Global Rock Showcase. Our last date on our first leg of the tour was @ home at Tipitinas. That was awesome for us for many reasons, 1 being we're playing with HR, 2 we're playing at the legendary Tipitinas night club that has seen so many greats pass through the years (I believe Robert Nesta Marley played there himself in the 70's) and 3, what a better way to end this tour for us than at home with our friends. HR & his band had a few days off before they continued onward to California for their west coast leg of the tour. They ened up crashing at our bass player Matt's house for a few days (he is actually the other guy with Willis the Wamerainer in the Bourbon St photo above). Matt is an awesome host and was grilling up meat for them all the time. HR, being Rasta, was of course a vegetarian but never really said anything. One morning, Matt wakes up and his house stinks really bad. He goes into the kitchen and finds HR boiling something on his stove. HR said "I'm just cooking some greens" and Matt asks "Oh, did you go to the store?". HR replies, "no, I just picked them from the backyard". He picked and was boiling the grass where the dog peed and pooped and stinking up the house. We later learned that he also ran up $300 worth of porn on his cable box. Good times...

[Z-Corn]

I only got to see Bad Brains once, in 1989 in Detroit...I think it was The Quickness tour. My wife and I have seen hundreds and hundreds of shows, this is a top 5, maybe even top 3 show OF ALL TIME for us both. People jumping off the balcony...HR doing backflips off the stage into the crowd...the whole crowd just smiling and dancing together, such a good vibe...

It really is sad how his mental condition has kept the band from getting as HUGE as they should have and deserve to be. I think he just couldn't handle the fame and notoriety that they did receive.

I got into them when I Against I came out. STILL one of my favorite albums, even with the crappy production and no reggae songs on it. I just had to put it on as I'm typing this!

I wish I'd run into you earlier during your last trip. My wife and I were the ones sitting at the bar when you got your Dirty Bananas to-go for your trip back to Mo-Bay...small world, eh?