A Mod Night Out

["Scott Schrade" <schrade@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

A friend of mine informed me that a bar up in Cleveland was going to have
a "Mod Night Out" in which they were going to show the QUAD movie on
their TV screens, raffle of some Mod-related items, & play a lot of Mod
music (R&B tunes from the 60's, Who, Jam, etc.).

So I went to this thing last night & decided to wear my "Who trench coat."
It's a green trench coat with lots of Who patches & the Who-circle-arrow
logo, a la the QUAD album cover, on the back.  I made this coat back in 
college (I had a lot of free time!) & only break it out for special occasions 
now.  I figured Mod Night Out was a special enough occasion.

When my friends & I arrived we were surprised to see about 10 scooters
parked outside the bar!  I thought Cleveland was too lame to have any Mods.

Inside was a nice, older, hip, fashionable crowd drinking merrily & having
a good time.

So I'm pissing at the urinal & some older dude with a shaved/bald head
comes in the bathroom & says, "Hey, I like your jacket, man.  You gotta 
remember & respect the older bands.  These kids these days get all hung up 
on some of these newer bands & they forget about the older bands.  You
gotta think about the older bands, too.  You gotta think about The Who."

"Oh, I do," I replied, zipping up & making my exit.  (Urinal conversations with
strangers shouldn't last for more than a minute or two.  Otherwise they become 
awkward.)

So, I head to the DJ booth & ask if I've missed all the Who tunes & the DJ
says that he *has* played some but will gladly play some more.  

Then, here comes my bathroom buddy again, wanting to talk to the DJ, too.
He sees my Who trench again (this time from the front!) & says, "Hey,
you're the Who dude.  I just took a piss with you!"

"Yes," I said, "my name is Scott."  "I'm Cheetah," he replies, shaking my hand.

Long story short (possibly too late for that) this guy turns out to be Cheetah 
Chrome from the seminal American Punk band the Dead Boys!

He was in Cleveland for rehearsals with Dave Thomas of Pere Ubu &
some other people because they're gonna do a gig in LA in the near future.  
A reunion of their first band before the Dead Boys & Pere Ubu were formed. 

He was very pleasant & talked with me & friends for quite some time.  He
almost teared up when the subject of Stiv Bators came up.  "He was my
best friend.  My wife.  My husband,"  Cheetah said.

Then Cheetah & I started razzin' the DJ 'cause the motherfucker wasn't play-
ing any Who!  "Where's the Who," I kept badgering?  And each time the DJ
played a song, Cheetah Chrome yelled, "This isn't The Who!"

Finally we got him to play "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere," which he dedicated
to Cheetah because he wouldn't stop bugging him.

So Mod Night Out turned out to be heavy on The Jam, light on The Who, &
extremely exciting overall because my freinds & I got to meet a Punk legend.

Plus the birds.  Lots of cute birds.


- SCHRADE in Akron