| Hmmm, well, if it is cancelled, WAAF has got alot of advertising
to apologize for. They've been airing the promo for this show
for over a week.
Th 'Pile has their own sound system, which is manned by the one
and only Peter Hunt, the original guitarist for Extreme. At the
time they were called The Dream, but then they found this guy
named Nuno Bettencourt, well you know the rest...
Pete's quite adept as a sound engineer, in fact he engineered the
'My Little Funhouse' gig there more than a month ago, as well as
the 'White Trash' show. They shouldn't be lacking for sound, but
I cannot speak for Dee, or his management (obviously).
WAAF is actively promoting the gig, so if it's cancelled, somebody
please tell 'AAF, and John O. (the "O"-zone).
BTW, for those who don't know, The Rockpile is all the way 'round
in back of The Officer's Club, Rt. 99 in Saugus. Keep walking back
around towards the Bahama Beach Club, it's just behind the BBC.
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| Man o man, wowsers, oh my gawd...
Dee doesn't need alot of money if he keeps his current lineup.
I can't believe it, but Joey Franco has gotten better with age.
RockPile, Saugus, MA, friday Dec. 18, 1993
Dee's road crew had beefed up the inhouse PA quite a bit, and was
doing a sound check.
Mother Train's road crew arrived about 30 minutes before we did,
and of course, took up the space of three bands on the side of the
stage. I couldn't complain, after all this was "Mass", just under
a different name. We were just a local band who got lucky 'cause
the club likes our stuff.
I started setting up my kit out next to the bar, when Dee walked
up to the stage, to dictate his needs to his crew. He wasn't that
bad actually, he just stated what sounded like "crap", and asked
for more "balls" from certain sides of the stage. Then his band
did "Shoot 'em Down" for a soundcheck. Kind of freaky setting up
my drums in the bar, whilst Dee Snyder was singing a Twisted Sister
original. I was truly digging the whole scene...
After the soundcheck, this dude who played with Dee walked up to the
front of my kit and said, "Are you a drummer?". I said yes, and said
"Man, you're a great player". He nodded and said thanks, and was very
friendly to say the least. I said "I'm sorry, what's your name?".
He smiled and said, "Joe, Joe Franco", I reached out to shake his
hand, he smiled and walked out with Dee and Al and the bass player.
I then stood there like a dip****, realizing who had just said hello
to me. Joe Franco? God that sounds familiar. Oh my gawd, THAT was THE
Joe Franco? I could've slapped myself silly, I just asked the original
drummer for the Good Rats what his name was! No wonder he sounded like
a hot player, HE IS! Man, what a dope I was! Not only was he a member
of the Good Rats, he also replaced AJ Perro in Twisted Sister the last
year or so. Man! I felt like such a dweeb!
Well, a brief sysnopsis, my band was lucky enough to have John O. on
the stage to introduce us, but he didn't know the name of our band,
so we were introduced as a "great local Boston band". We blew our
load for 30 minutes, struck the last chord, and the stage guys said,
"Next!". We scrambled off the stage...
Mother Train started up, and sounded pretty darn good too. They also
played that Xmas song that Stryper played as a flip side on a single.
"Walking in a Winter Wonderland". They played it very well, their
singer is real good, sounded just like Stryper. The whole band was
very good. They were allowed 45 mins. on stage, we were only given
30 mins...
Before Widowmaker John O. gave away round trip airfare to "anywhere",
to a girl in the front of the stage. He wanted to give the airfare
to someone who could do a stupid human trick. One guy tried to tie
a string with his tongue, took him too long (he succeeded). Next guy
said he would lock his arms behind his back, and fall flat on his face
on the stage. He did, looked quite painful, but still not good enough.
John knew what the crowd wanted (they were mostly guys), the crowd
was screaming "We want t*ts!" over and over again. My guitarist sent
his younger sister onto the stage, but she couldn't give the crowd
what they wanted, she got a WAAF T-shirt and a smile. Next girl went
up, took off her sweater to put on a WAAF T-shirt. John O. made it
very clear that he was giving away airfare to ANYWHERE. There was
only one thing she had to do. She did. "I think we have a winner!"
The crowd went wild...
To say the least, Widowmaker was hot. Talented, very talented. Dee
still sounds like Dee Snyder. Joe Franco was the shining star, he
was unstoppable on his Premier drums. I think he is still sponsored
by Premier. I can't say enough about how talented this guy is, his
bag of tricks never became empty. Once I thought I'd seen everything,
he played something else that made me cringe. Man, awesome talent,
a veritable drum lesson for almost 90 minutes. Amazing. Colossal...
Dee's band was pretty good too, I heard some pretty serious guitar
solos coming off the stage, no big ego posing, just some serious
playing. The bassist was mostly a backbone player, no solos, no real
heavy harmonizing, but then again, this was Widowmaker, not a jury
exam at Berklee. Dee was himself, messing with audience in ways I
haven't seen at that club. One dude was standing on a stool, getting
in the way of spotlight. Dee had some words for him, he gave Dee
the birdie, and Dee said "Oh my Lord I can't go on, some ***hole just
gave me the finger! Well f*** y**!!!!!!!!!!!" He then wailed on about
his friends in the front row, the crowd went nuts, the band ripped
into the next song, very entertaining. All in all, they played three
songs from 'Sister, "Shoot 'em down", "I Wanna Rock", and of course
the first song that Dee ever wrote, "Under the Blade". Their last
song of the night. The crowd absolutely loved them...
After the night was over, everybody shuffled out, except for the
warmup acts, the crew, the club personnel, a few hangers on... I was
getting ready to load the drums out, when I saw Joe hangin' between
the stage and the bar. Dee was nowhere in sight, but Joe was busily
chatting. I went into the dressing room, grabbed the 8x10 glossy of
WidowMaker & a magic marker, and went out to find Joe. I walked up
behind him, tapped him on the shoulder saying "Joe, I hate to be a
pest, but could you...", he grabbed the promo pic, promptly signed
his name over his head, turned and smiled. I said, "You know, the
first time I ever saw you was with Rush at the Nassau Coliseum". He
said "Good Rats?", I said "You got it! man, you're a great player".
He smiled, said thanks, shook my hand. I smiled, said thanks, shook
his hand.
Man, as long as Dee keeps players like that in his band, he will be
going a long, long way...
To quote Dee, "Widowf******Maker, and don't you ever forget it!"...
Regards, Face
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