DIARY: Sleaze and Drugs and the Afghan Whigs, 1994

Posted in Generally Rocktacular , I'm With The Band

From the Diary of the Backstage Rider

Saturday March 2, 1994, 4:25am

“Out at Lee’s Palace tonight to see the Afghan Whigs.

I was taking shots up at the front and stayed there in the front row, noticing the cute drummer. Made life-affirming and brilliant eye contact/smiles with Greg Dulli and Steve Earle (the drummer, and yes, he also has the same name as The Dukes and….) They were SO suave, cool. After the show (’cause I couldn’t pass on meeting them after all the smiles), I went to wait to chat. Hung around backstage in there, and Greg, bleeding from a cut from a hole he tried to put in his belt, gave me a beer. “What’s your name?” he asked. “Mikala? That’s a beautiful name.” [Editor note: He was SUCH a player]. I ended up discussing reporting and photography with their bassist John Curley and just laughed and chatted with them.

BACK TO THE HOTEL
After we got kicked out of the backstage, I was invited with them and we all headed to the Town Inn hotel on Church – me, the band, Jennie Punter (the music writer and she was drooling over Greg) and MCA Greg [a promoter friend]. Jennie was so trying to snog Greg, but he and I had a good pillow fight in the van. The black one was Greg’s and had stains on it. I made a joke about it having ”white stains” on it. Greg was tickled by that. “Oooh, you’re so bad,” he said.

At the hotel, Steve, two other guys and the band’s techs were watching porno on the TV and they were smoking a joint. [Editor's Note: Classy, no?] Immediately there, Steve pulls out a bunch of white powder and puts it on the table.

He shows me his drivers license and started telling stories about going on a Burger King bonanza and hanging out in Amsterdam’s red light district. [Editor's Note: I was pretty naive and didn't know what he was pulling out a card for. I thought "why the hell are you showing me your driver's license?']

I’m also thinking: I’m the only chick here, with, like six guys. What the hell am I doing?

But my instinct said to relax (it helped that MCA Greg was there) so I did and watched Steve and this guy Morris cut up the lines and sniff ‘em up. They both asked if I wanted some and you know, of course I said no. But sh*t, they had a huge bag of pot, and like a vast envelope of powder. Greg Dulli snuck out at some point but not without first noting the score and saying. “Ahhh, drugs. I like drugs.”

TJ HOOKER AND BOOBS
Anyways, we were watching TJ Hooker and Steve’s getting going. “I really miss her [his girlfriend's] boobs. I love them. I love women. (To me) Thank you for being a woman.” [Editor's Note: Classy, no?] But then they decide to leave the hotel and were gonna head to a boozecan on King Street. Didn’t think it was a great idea considering how wasted everyone was and would get, so I called a cab and said goodbye. Steve hugged me and said:

“Nice to meet you and thanks for being an inspiration to me tonight. You know, I don’t normally look at people in the audience but I was drumming and looked up and saw you and you made me smile tonight.”

Awww. \m/

Postscript: I absolutely loved the Afghan Whigs, particularly during the Gentlemen era, which remains an utterly classic album about addiction and darkness. But it seems the drug thing continued turned the band (and crew) into a bloated, mean mess. In 1998, I went back to the see them play at the Opera House in Toronto. I had just had knee surgery and so was leaning against the front of the stage, sitting down. I was SO excited to see them again and had hobbled to the venue. I will never forget this but their roadie came up to me right before the show and said “get up you lazy bitch”. I was gobsmacked. Yo, Greg Dulli, you owe me an apology for having an asshole on your road crew back in 1998. But the 2.5 hour set was still stellar.