DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME;

"Countdown shows 19-25"

#19-Feb 17, 1996-San Fransisco, CA.-BOTTOM OF THE HILL

Another Mike Lonn production, this show featured the SINGER with Dave Chapple
on bass (THIS WAS CHAPPLE'S FIRST LIVE PERFORMANCE AS A MEMBER OF LOVE!), me on
lead guitar and a young guy named JOHN KENT on drums. See (and i'll keep it
brief, as to not anger any fans), Lonn was cutting corners and figured he'd
have the SINGER play an acoustic set w/o the band. Dave Green called Lonn and
budgeted something that would work but Lonn balked and that was that. At the
last minute, the SINGER called me and asked that I come up with him.

So I rode in his car with my guitar. Chapple was planning a trip anyway to San
Fransisco so he brought his bass along. But we had no drummer! The BOTTOM OF
THE HILL club was packed with about 300 people and we had no drummer. So i
started asking around and a guy said to me, "My friend John grew up listening
to LOVE and he's a drummer!" So I told him to go find John Kent. he brought
him over and the guy was a dead ringer for SNOOPY, circa '65! I showed him the
set list and asked if he knew the songs. He nodded "yep" and asked that I cue
him every now and then. Well, we pulled it off but it was beyond sloppy and I
felt a little embarrased afterwards. I felt the SINGER got taken advantage of.
But it was to be water uner the bridge because three months later, we were
touring Europe with Gene Kraut.

#20-April 18, 1996-Coconut Teazer-Hollywood

Our triumphant return! (not!) Actually, the guy who ran the club-one-time LOVE
DRUMMER, Len Fagen-asked us to come back and do a show...this time with the
whole band! W eplayed a great show and i remember Andrew Sandoval being really
impressed and sayong so afterwards. We had Chapple with us and really felt
that we had a tighter unit. No disrespect to henry, because Henry was a very
able bassist. He was more "punk rock" and the SINGER loved that about him, but
we had our sights set on the more "Challenging" material and needed something a
little more substantial.

#21-May 19, 1996-Odense, Denmark- RYTMEPOSTEN CLUB

This was the first show of the '96 summer European tour and this show was also
broadcast live on Danish and German radio. The night before we played this
show, we went to a party and Chapple got so drunk we had to carry him-literally
grab his arms-back to the hotel. Yeah, we had some fun in Denmark. If you are
looking for a place to get into trouble, look no further.

Now, I remember this show as not being a very good show, for whatever reason.
Jazmaan came along for this tour as well...he kept things fun and interesting.
We also met BENT, who became our Scandanavian road manager (or road damager, as
he likes to say!)

#22-May 20, 1996-Copenhagen, Denmark-PUMPHAUSET

This was like the "break-out" show for us, in that we really sort of found
ourselves. There were about 300-400 people at the show and we just rocked it
like nobody's business. I also remember Bent kicking some chicks out of the
backstage area for drinking too much of our wine. We went to a party later on
and got f*cked up, big time. I remember the taxi driver ripping us off as well.
Dammit all.

#23-May 22, 1996-Oslo, Norway-THE CRIUSE CAFE

Although this place is no longer there, when we played it was a little cozy
cafe right on the water. funny, i remember ordering fish and they didn't have
any but they had texas chili. huh? We rocked this place and it was fun, even
though it was super small. I remember the sun coming up at like 3am or
something like that.

#24-May 23, 1996-Stockholm, Sweden-CLUB GINO's

This may have been the best show UP TO THIS POINT. This was our first time
(not the Singer's) in Sweden and it was beautiful! Our hotel was first class
and Rusty and i got the penthouse suite, which overlooked Stockholm Square,
where people were eating , drinking and shopping. We had a blast and after the
show, I met a really cute Swedish girl (who shall remain nameless, to protect
the innocent) who showed me around Stockholm AT 2AM, which was a lot of fun! I
remember lots and lots of wine...

#25-May 24, 1996-Malmo, Sweden-THE KB CLUB

Another stellar show, in my opinion. We were just getting better and better
and more confident with the arrangements. The Swedish people really
appreciated the show and I (like a fool) invited a bunch of fans to party in my
hotel suite after the show (hey, this was in my wild days, ok? I am MUCH MORE
MELLOW now...) but then they wouldn't leave! So we drank and smoked some
interesting substances till daylight. I was hungover beyond belief and I
deserved it. Actually, everyone else went to their rooms and Jazmaan and I
were left to entertain the party. Or was the party there to entertain us? I
remember Gene saying,"You don't look so good" to me the next morning. He had
no idea...

=====

Mike Randle
mike@lovewitharthurlee.com

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