Adventures with Eric Burdon & Robbie Krieger (Part 2)

And The ‘Shroom Tour Rolls Into Malibu…

Disclaimer: In the following, I discuss my use of illegal drugs. Let me be clear, I no longer do illegal drugs or have plans to ever do them again, nor do I wish to condone or encourage their use by anyone. Illegal drugs were a part of my life in the past and I can’t change that.

(Read Part 1 of this story)

Backstage with Robbie (check out my boots!)

A few days later we were playing in Malibu at a legendary club called Trancas… it’s not there anymore (it’s now a Starbucks or something). Too bad… lotta great shows went on there…

Anywaaaaaay!!! We were on a roll. Playing small clubs but everyone sold out and rockin’! At Trancas you could count on it being like courtside at a Lakers game in the finals… stars and hot cars and very fine booty. I had invited some friends and one happened to be my mushroom man who we’ll call Frank. Frank was stuck out with a crowd of people… stars too… who were not being let in as the club was at capacity.

Well, I couldn’t have that, nor Eric… so a large bodyguard friend of mine, Animal (who I’d known since my NWA/Ruthless Records days), happened to be there so I enlisted his assistance and we went outside into the crowd, snatched Frank and his people and hustled them in the back door.

Eric and I had our dinner of psychedelic truffles and got ready to go on. It was so crowded in front and a very low stage… so I told Frank to stay by the stage door and once we started, open it and watch from there. They did  – so he can corroborate what ensued (and he has… many times).

It’s mid-way through the show, the house is a rockin’ and Eric and I are trippin’ hard on cloud 9. We were carrying on as we did on stage back then and somehow Eric’s hair got caught in the screw that tightens the neck of my sax to the body. He started to panic as we were twisted back to back and it was pulling his hair out, which was long at the time. I yelled in his ear and calmed him for a moment as we slid back to back in slow motion down to the stage… head to head like Siamese Twins.

Trouble ahead!

Trying not to laugh I begged him to hold on so I could take a look. I already had a sax in the shop for repairs so I was worried he’d make a move and bend it or worse and I’d be out of saxes…

As we lay on the stage, with the band blazing on, I looked at where his hair was hopelessly tangled up with my sax. I then made the mistake of saying something really stupid, “I think we’re gonna hafta operate.” When Eric heard that he freaked and jerked his head away and left a big clump of hair and scalp hanging from my sax.

I’m laying there laughing uncontrollably, looking at the crowd and then up at Robbie Krieger who’s almost losing it with laughter. Eric then did the craziest thing.

He’s on all fours crawling like a child mind you. At some point a very pretty girl in a white billowing type skirt was up on stage flirting with the keyboard player Jeff. Her back was to us and Eric crab walked toward her at light speed and crawled up into her skirt like a rat up a drainpipe… and disappeared. She screamed and starting beating on him.

I looked back at Frank and his buddy Mondo who were catching all this from the little stage door and we all just lost it… I don’t think we’ve ever laughed so hard.

I think that was the last time I ever played Trancas…

©2010, Zavala Songs, Inc.