The unsinkable Mike Edison — former High Times Publisher, Screw editor, Hustler correspondent, and professional wrestler of no small repute — is hitting the road to promote the new paperback of his outrageous memoir, I Have Fun Everywhere I Go: Savage Tales of Pot, Porn, Punk Rock, Pro Wrestling, Talking Apes, Evil Bosses, Dirty Blues, American Heroes, and the Most Notorious Magazines in the World.
He recently began his “I Have Fun in Brooklyn Tour”, a five-neighborhood odyssey that he promises will be “more fun than the circus”. He’ll be blogging his adventures here. (See below for dates.)
BROKEN BONES IN BROOKLYN… BUT STILL HAVING FUN!!
EDISON TO RECOVER — HULK HOGAN’S FUTURE REMAINS UNCERTAIN!!!
The broken toe referred to in my last blog post (Hulk Hogan RIP) was no joke. Since the last missive, I have been examined by more doctors than Piltdown Man and have looked at more X rays than the Department of Homeland Security. The verdict is now official — I am an idiot.
But what’s a fella to do? The show must go on.
After smashing my foot in Chicago, I went right from the Chi airport to the gig in Williamsburg, the first “big” show of the I HAVE FUN IN BROOKLYN TOUR, and hammered through the set with the help of the Space Liberation Army — Hollis Queens (drums), Dean Rispler (Bass), and Jon Spencer (outerspace guitar inventions, sonic whiz bombs, electric sunglasses, earthquake guitar, amplifier). When you have that much rhythm and noise behind you — and that much bourbon in you— it is easy to get rolling and forget the pain.
Ditto we rolled through Wednesday at Frank’s Cocktail Lounge (Fort Green), one of the best gigs I have ever played. Here is a short, non-time-wasting clip of us destroying “Jews for Jesus,” the story of going undercover to their bible meetings to expose them as a bunch of anti-Semitic creeps.
During the day there was no time to rest — Jon was getting ready for a Blues Explosion reunion, Dean is a singular type of Jewish missionary who roams New York making others happy, Hollis has a high-pressure publishing job for a magazine that you probably subscribe to, and I have my own phalanx of agents and editors and blogmasters demanding that I keep the writing up and keep pressing forward so someday I might be “successful,” whateverthefuck that means.
Exhausted and running on fumes — and when I say “fumes” I mean “Maker’s Mark,” — the next night (Thurs) Jon and I were on stage with Gary Lucas and his band Gods and Monsters. Also officially a Very Big Deal, I was very humbled and flattered just to be part of the whole shebang. Gary is one of the best guitar players EVER (actually he is much more than a guitar player, he is a MUSICIAN, something you kids might want to think about).
Gary is an old beatnik soul, a powerful Jewish intellect-slash-curmudgeon, and a perpetual student of the world. One can learn a lot by listening to his fucked-up blues and evil outer-space perambulations.
Anyway, here’s the ensemble cast of New York superstars he gathered for this ho-down, featuring me whanging on the tambourine at far left, next to Ernie Brooks (formerly of the Modern Lovers), Gary (Capt. Beefheart, Jeff Buckley, et. al); Billy Ficca (Television), Jon Spencer, Lenny Kaye (Patti Smith Group), Joe Hendel, and Jason Chandler.
Usually I play theremin with Gary, but that film is still at the lab, so dig this, a theremin turn I recently did on “Whole Lotta Love,” living THAT dream. I figure it’s a good follow up to the Bong Guitar video.
By Saturday, the penultimate stop on the I HAVE FUN IN BROOKLYN TOUR, the broken foot was howling, but I still wasn’t listening. I made good on my promise for the next show, put on a silly chef’s hat, and read from my book while flipping burgers out at Freebird Books in Redhook.
For better or worse, weeks like this are pretty normal for me. I once had to play a show with a broken hand by taping a length of pipe to a make-shift cast so I could fake playing slide guitar. One does what one has to, right?
Sunday is when the pain hit hard. A trip to the doctor Monday morning turned into a team of orthopedic surgeons picking me apart like a smoked whitefish sitting on a buffet table.
I went home with a jar of vicodin, got into the stash of medical marijuana and some very decent pinot noir (it was a rainy day otherwise I would have been drinking white), and sick of the Bravo channel, decided to watch some REAL reality TV, namely the Iranian Revolution, in full bloom on all the news channels.
Who’d uh-thunk it?
Do any of you remember the Ceauşescus and the fall of Romania? That shit happened in real time on telelvision, right after the Berlin Wall came crashing down, ditto, live via satellite.
I watched the Berlin Wall topple while tripping on acid, a couple of tabs of Double Barrel Sunshine that used to be popular when New York was still a good town for LSD. (Speaking of cities and drugs, I am working on a theory that Las Vegas is to Pills what New Orleans is to Liquor, and will get back to you on that soon, I promise.)
Anyway, I watched collapse of Communism, high as Ham the Chimpanzee, with my pal Chet, the psychedelic transvestite referred to in my book as “Go Go Boy.” You might know him — he was something of a mascot for the band Alice Donut and later became a featured dancer with the Demolition Doll Rods.
We used to drop acid once in a while, and every now and again we’d get lucky and see a real jewel like the fall of the Soviet Empire.
Go Go Boy graduated from Columbia University in the same class as Barack Obama, a fact he (Go Go Boy) is very proud of. But I can never stop myself from reminding him that Barack Obama is the President of the United States, and he (Go Go Boy) is a barely employed cross dresser, and not a particularly good one. Nonetheless, I am proud of both of them.
And you can bet Go Go Boy is not gonna start waffling on gay marriage.
# # #
AND THE SHOW GOES ON THIS THURS JUNE 25th at MANHATTAN’S BAR IN PROSPECT HEIGHTS, BKLYN (7 pm) with special guests ANDY SHERNOFF (Dictators) and TOM FOLSOM, author of the fantastic new book THE MAD ONES. If you missed Tom on the Daily Show or somehow missed all the rad publicity about his book, it is the over-the-top crazy story of Joey Gallo and is not to be missed. Please join us and support gangsters, good and bad!!!
Manhattan’s is at 769 Washington Ave.
And stay tuned for news of end of tour party coming soon. More details at www.mikeedison.com.
Thanks everyone for their continued support!
Xoxoxme.