Welcome to My Jungle (21 page)

My only picture of me and Axl
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“Oh damn!” I screamed.

I ran faster than I have ever run before to get Axl his jacket.

When I got to him I could see he was looking for my happy ass. I tossed him his jacket and he just glared at me. I smiled, and I think he was a bit perturbed. But at that moment I really didn’t care because he got his jacket in time, and I got some incredible pictures.

“Paradise City” was a huge hit, and I know I’m a little biased here, but Guns N’ Roses stole the show. They were incredible and the crowd was totally rocking.

After the performances we all hung backstage for a few hours, and shared war stories from the road. There were no egos that day, and everyone treated the rock stars, and guys like me, with respect, as if we were all on the same team. It was my most memorable experience ever while on the road with both Air Supply and Guns N’ Roses.

But the night didn’t end there.

Axl usually didn’t go out after a show. But because he hadn’t performed his usual two-and-a-half-hour show, he decided that he would go out on the town with some of the other stars.

We took our limo to a local bar/restaurant. It was Axl, Earl, and me, and we hung with Liz Taylor, Liza Minnelli, Elton John, and George Michael. I was pinching myself to make sure this was all really happening.

We had a few drinks and I think a few appetizers, and suddenly, out of nowhere, Axl says, “Let’s go.”

When Axl says, “Let’s go,” we go.

So Earl and I got up from the table. I grabbed my leather jacket from the back of my seat. It got caught on something, but because Earl and Axl were already halfway out of the door, I ripped my jacket from the chair and ran out the door. No kisses good-bye with Liz and Liza, no hugs for Elton or George, we were gone faster than a kid stealing from a candy store.

As usual, our limo was waiting for us in front of the restaurant. We dodged a few fans, jumped in the limo, and sped off, back to the hotel.

As I got settled in the back of the limo, I checked my coat pocket for my camera and my rolls of film. They were gone. I checked in and around the seats of the limo—no camera or film. It must have fallen out of my pocket as we left.

Since the hotel was only about five minutes away, I didn’t say anything to Axl. I figured I would get him back in his room, and I would take the limo back to the bar.

And I did just that. But it took way longer than the twenty minutes I had estimated it would take.

So about an hour later I asked the driver to take me back to the bar. I ran in and I checked in and around the table where I had sat. But Elton, Liza, Liz, and George weren’t there anymore, and the table was occupied by a new group of people. I asked around if anyone had seen a camera and film, but no luck. In one hour, all my memories of the fifth greatest night of my life were gone.

Thank goodness I still have pictures of the top four days of my life.

Just think, some person in London has all these great pictures of some of the biggest stars in the world, hanging out with me, a guy that nobody knows.

But here is the benefit of writing a book and social media. Hopefully, the person who found my film back on April 20, 1992, is reading this book. And hopefully, he or she developed my film and didn’t throw the pictures away. Because it would be so cool, and make for a great story, if I got all those pictures back more than twenty years later.

GIANNI VERSACE & VICTORIA SECRET MODELS

In addition to teaching outside-the-box marketing tools to entrepreneurs all over the United States, I also talk a lot about joint ventures (partnerships), and how powerful they can be when trying to grow your business.

One of my favorite joint venture stories features two music stars from two totally different generations: David Bowie and Bing Crosby. These two music icons teamed up to perform the Christmas song “The Little Drummer Boy.” At first it seemed strange that two artists from completely different genres would get together. But when the song hit the airwaves David Bowie’s audience immediately knew who Bing Crosby was, and Bing Crosby’s older audience immediately knew who David Bowie was. And each of their audiences became fans of the other musician, and started buying their albums. The song, and the video that accompanied the song, were both huge hits.

I continue to show the Bowie/Crosby music video at all my seminars when I talk about partnerships. If positioned correctly, joint ventures are a win-win situation for both parties.

Axl was dating Victoria Secret model Stephanie Seymour back in 1992. So Axl, me, and usually Robert and Earl would be invited to some cool events in the fashion world. Let me clarify—Axl would be invited, and we were just there for support and security.

So because Stephanie was a supermodel, she had a connection to Gianni Versace. Gianni Versace was known as one of the top designers in the fashion industry. Very expensive, very high-end clothing. Versace was at the top of the fashion world, and Guns N’ Roses were at the top of the music industry. A perfect match.

Eventually someone, probably Doug or Axl, came up with the idea of a joint venture with Guns N’ Roses and Versace. At first, you’d look at that and say, “Not a chance in hell.” But as you look a little closer it made total sense.

All of a sudden instead of the typical black tour T-shirt with the Guns N’ Roses logo, our staff T-shirts were now made by Versace. We were all loving this. Because they were so valuable, I still own about twelve Versace tour shirts that say Guns N’ Roses on the front, with either Staff, or Crew, or Security on the back with the Versace logo. My guess is that each T-shirt was probably valued between $500 to $1,000 because of the designer’s name.

Besides the T-shirts, we also received boxes at each hotel on the road filled with more Versace T-shirts, Versace sunglasses, and silk Versace dress shirts. The boxes were worth thousands of dollars each. There was a frenzy every time a new box would arrive.

The relationship between Versace and Guns N’ Roses, specifically Axl, really took off. In June of 1992, while in Italy, Axl, Earl, and I went to Milan and visited the showrooms of Versace and Armani. They spared no expense and rolled out the red carpet for us.

We stayed for a while at Gianni Versace’s main store in Milan, and hung with Paul Beck, a former American model who, at the time, was married to Gianni Versace’s sister, Donatella. Paul was awesome. Really great guy, and very down to earth. Axl bought a few things, and Earl and I just tried on clothes just because that’s what you do at Gianni Versace’s store in Milan. But we had no intention of buying anything because, if I recall, the minimum price to buy any article of clothing there was about $200. And I think that was for a plain T-shirt.

The Versace line was always known for its vibrant colors. So Paul Beck grabbed a pink Versace jacket off the rack and handed it to me, and he told me to try it on.

I did.

I understand that pink is the new black today, but back in 1992 pink was not worn by many straight men.

But I tried it on, I looked in the mirror, and it looked awesome. I fell in love with this jacket immediately. So much that I felt like buying it.

Unfortunately, they don’t do price tags at Versace’s store in Milan, so I had to ask how much the jacket was. I knew I wasn’t going to like the price, and therefore wasn’t going to buy it. But I did ask.

Paul informed me that the jacket was $1,500.

I almost fell down. However, I tried to play it cool, and not show the horror I felt inside. I calmly put the jacket back on the rack and said, “Not bad, but let me look around a little more.”

Not bad? Why the hell did I say that? What I wanted to say was, “Fifteen-hundred dollars? Are you flipping serious?”

But I didn’t dare say that. Anyway, I wasn’t going to spend $1,500 on a pink jacket even though it did look cool.

But then Axl turned to Paul and told him to bring the pink jacket. Paul did, and Axl laid it on top of his clothes.

“We’ll take this, too,” Axl said to the cashier.

“Seriously?” I asked.

“It looked good,” Axl added.

“Thanks, dude.” We always called each other dude.

That was so cool. Axl bought me a $1,500 pink Versace jacket.

I loved it so much that I wore it at my wedding rehearsal dinner a year later, and I still have the jacket. Doesn’t fit anymore, but I kept it all these years.

That night, Axl, Earl, and I went to dinner with Paul, Donatella Versace, Naomi Campbell, and Stephanie Seymour. Christy Turlington was supposed to come but had to cancel at the last minute.

Pretty awesome lineup.

After dinner we went to Paul and Donatella’s home in Milan and stayed the night. This was probably the most beautiful home I have ever seen in my life.

The next day Axl, Earl, and I attended a Versace fashion show. Now that was cool. We had front-row seats, and Gianni Versace was presenting his new line of designs. I had never been to a fashion show before, and not only was I at one with Axl, but the three of us were treated like kings.

Because we had all-access passes, we were allowed to go backstage during the show to see things behind the scenes. We flashed our passes to a large man guarding the backstage door, and we entered what I can only describe as the forbidden zone. Straight men should not be allowed here because it is a candy factory for adult men.

It was frantic. I thought it was crazy at a Guns N’ Roses concert, but this was way crazier. In fact, the fashion show world had something that the rock world had a taste of, but the fashion world took it to a new level.

Naked women. There were naked models everywhere. Naked, half-naked, partially naked. All types of nakedness.

Earl and I looked at each other and all we could do was smile.

Models got out of their outfits, fixed their makeup, and put new outfits on in seconds. All out in the open. Nude models passed us on their way to get their next outfit, and say hi as they passed.

Can you understand how hard it was to look these women in the eyes and try to have a conversation while they stood there naked? Well, let me fill you in. It’s impossible. How do you not look down?

We hung out for a while backstage with Gianni Versace, and we thanked him for everything. He introduced us to everyone, both clothed and not clothed. Gianni Versace was a great man, a talented designer, and a very gracious host. It was a very sad day when he was killed in front of his home in Miami only a few years later.

There were many perks when traveling with Guns N’ Roses. Many perks. But I would rate my experience in Milan as one of my favorites.

SHANNON HOON

More nudity …

Shannon Hoon was Axl’s childhood friend from Indiana, and he was lead singer of the band Blind Melon. I got to know Shannon a little when he visited Axl on the road. Shannon had sung backing vocals for “Don’t Cry” from
Use Your Illusion I
and also appeared in the “Don’t Cry” video. Whenever Shannon was in town during a Guns N’ Roses concert, Axl brought him on stage to sing “Don’t Cry.”

In June 1993, Blind Melon and The Quireboys opened for Guns N’ Roses at St. Jakob Stadium in Basel, Switzerland. Shannon decided to stick around after his set to watch Guns N’ Roses play that night.

Halfway through the Guns N’ Roses set, Shannon walked to where I stood on the side of the stage, enjoying the show with a few other members of the entourage. He was wearing a Viking helmet and carrying a large pizza box. If you knew Shannon, this wasn’t out of character, so we thought nothing of it.

However, without warning or notice, Shannon put the pizza box on a road case and began to take off his clothing. All of his clothing.

He was now completely naked.

“Shannon?” I said, trying to question what he was about to do.

He just smiled at all of us, calmly grabbed the box of pizza, and headed out onto the stage in front of 80,000 screaming fans.

It was awesome. We knew he would be arrested, but it was still awesome. In fact, it was so Shannon Hoon.

He walked directly over to Axl, who was is in the middle of a song during the acoustic part of the show, and shook Axl’s hand.

The band continued to play, even though they were all laughing hysterically.

Without a beat, Shannon walked over to the congas and joined in on the song (without the Domino’s Pizza shirt).

He played the rest of the song completely naked.

When the song finished, the crowd went nuts. Axl just shook his head, probably thinking to himself that the press would have a field day with this one. Shannon got up, waved to the crowd, took a well-deserved bow, and calmly walked off the stage with both wrists placed in front of him, straight into the handcuffs of two awaiting police officers.

It was the easiest arrest I had ever witnessed. We all figured Shannon had done this before.

One of the police officers grabbed Shannon’s clothes, and they took him straight into their police car, to the local station, without incident. I assume he was booked on either poor playing of the congas, or indecent exposure, one of the two. I also assume he got out of jail either that night or the next day, but I never found out because we were on to the next city, and we had a lot of work to do.