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TM
tiki mick
Posted
posted
on
Fri, Oct 1, 2010 9:56 AM
Back when the Smokin’ Menehunes were just starting out, we had 4 members: Me, Tiki Bong, Spike “Lucky designs” Marble and Shirley Orlando (Who wrote the “Warm Sands” off the Hula Girls album). Anyway, Shirley owned an island décor store at the time, and one of her regular customers heard her playing our CD and liked it. She asked if Shirley knew who the band was, and could she hire them to play a party? So, Shirley let her know it was our band, and got us one of our first paying gigs! Good so far. Well, the client had some stipulations. First off, they could only pay us 300, and they wanted us to come at 2:00 the day of the party and set up long before anyone came there because she “didn’t want the guests to see us setting up”. Of course, the time of the actual party was 7:00 that night, so what the client was asking was outrageous, but what the fuck did we know? Shirley had to close her store, so Me, Spike and Bong drove over to this person’s house near Slater ave. to set up. When we got there, we noticed this odd looking and very short woman standing outside the house clutching a snarling and particularly evil looking little dog. I said “hi, we are the band” and asked her where she wanted us to set up. She had this strange, nervous laugh, and told me “You go in through the back, because we don’t want you in our house”. Odd comment to make, but ok….. While Bong was backing the truck up, I made chit chat with her, asking her if her neighbors were cool with her having a live band in the backyard (The houses were in very close proximity), and she said “Oh, I don’t care what my neighbors think”… Oops! In Huntington Beach, you have to have a license for live music. People get around that by clearing it with the neighbors, or even inviting them so there are no complaints or problems. Anyway, we started unloading our stuff, but these little dogs were attacking us as we were carrying in the equipment! I mean really biting, and snarling at us…going for our shoes as we were walking in! Bong asked the lady if the dogs would continue to do this, and she (with that annoying giggle) said that they were “Only playing”. The dogs would not stop. Even worse, they were starting to chew on any piece of equipment we set down in the back yard! Bong asked again, “are these dogs going to be running loose around here the whole time?” Now, she started getting mad, and said “What’s your problem? These dogs are OUR babies, and they have the run of the house…deal with it!”. The dogs would not stop, so we talked as a band in front of the house, and decided we needed to give this lady an ultimatum. So, Bong asks her one last time: “Are these dogs going to really be loose the whole time, what with their biting and aggressive behavior?” At this point, the husband got into the scene and rudely told us that he was starting to “Lose his temper” with us. Well, the lady and the man went completely nuts! Screaming at us and calling us every name in the book! “I can’t believe you shit- heads are leaving, you are destroying our party!!!” and “we will take you to court over this!!”. Bong looks at her and says “Show us the contract!!” and of course, every thing was verbal…so we had her there! She was following us out in front of the house and screaming at us, saying “I can’t fucking believe you are leaving!” Bong looks at her, (and this was a classic Bong response) says “Ma’m, it’s not that we are leaving….we just ain’t STAYING!”…..and then her head exploded! She was so mad, but we were laughing!!!! The bad news of the story was that she called Shirley immediately to complain, and because they were customers of Shirley, She felt obligated to go down there and do a ukulele-only performance by herself! But at the time, Shirley was exhausted by trying to work her store alone, and take care of an ailing relative….poor Shirley! It gets worse. Shirley went down there and played for like 4 hours, at the end, the lady told Shirley “Thanks” and DID NOT EVEN PAY HER! About a year later, we played some parking-lot event in costa mesa (Near Henry’s goat hill tavern) and lo and behold, this couple was there! And here is the funny thing! She did not remember us! They heard us playing and said “We really like your band, are you available for hire??” My theory is that this lady and her odd husband were so crazy, that our altercation with her was probably just one of many she has with everyone! She is probably in and out of court on a daily basis, suing people and generally being a menace to society (and her little dog, too!) http://www.myspace.com/lucasvigor "yer jus not tuned into the series of tubes yet, let it soak in". [ Edited by: lucas vigor 2010-10-01 10:00 ] |