Thin Lizzie and Phil Lynott

I was invited to a Thin Lizzie show at The Warfield theater. It was early in my career and a friend asked me to go with her. I was a huge fan and could not refuse. She said she had backstage passes and wanted to get there early. The Warfield backstage is under the stage. We hung out for a while and realized the band was doing a sound check. Charlotte had obviously been here before and knew the way, she grabbed my hand and said follow me as she led me to a private stage door and up this tiny metal spiral staircase onto stage right. It popped us right up onto the stage. After a blistering sound check Phil Lynott came right over to us, kissed Charlotte who then introduced me. She had met him before, and he knew she was coming. Clearly he was interested in hanging with her. I made my way back to the backstage area where I chatted with Neal Schon of Journey who was hanging… Neal later joined Thin Lizzie for a few songs during their amazing set. It was a brief and simple meet, but little did we know that a few years later, Phil would pass from complications from pneumonia at age 36...

Shirley Manson and Garbage

I got to know Shirley while working with Radio Active Records on her Angelfish album. We had some success with the track “Suffocate me”. The Album was produced by Tina Weymouth of the Talking Heads. The band came into San Francisco during a tour for their self titled debut Album. I took Shirley round to a few record stores for an impromptu greet and meet and luncheon with some managers. The following year Shirley ditched Angelfish and would front the band Garbage; which was a Butch Vig incarnation. The first Garbage album was done mostly in the studio with Butch playing all the instruments. The Band Garbage recorded a hit with “Stupid Girl” and were a darling at early commercial alternative radio. They decided to hit the road and brought along bassist Danny Shulman from some early Run DMC sessions. The band scheduled mostly Radio Winter Festivals and a handful of club dates. In San Francisco Shirley contacted me and made sure I was going to be at Slims for an intimate club date. She said “Bring all those people I met last time, so they can see my new band” To say the least the band nailed it! Shirley hung around and signed autographs for anyone who wanted one (she was a trooper) Both Butch and Shirley told me later that night Backstage, that they were not sure how the music was going to translate since they were using samples and Midi controllers. After much discussion we convinced them that they sounded amazing and not to worry. Shirley’s stage presence alone was intoxicating. The next day they performed for Live 105’s almost Christmas, and KOME ’s Almost Acoustic Christmas to much larger crowds but unfortunately only a 5 or 6 song set!