Tour Review, Flipside #16

THE SCREAMERS HIT NEW YORK (the stinking truth)   For anyone uninitiated into the Screamers Modus Operandi, here's a little sample of how it worked in N.Y. The Screamers flew to N.Y., that is, most of them flew to N.Y., the more expendable members (sound man, stage manager, body guard, piano player) drove. After a two day delay due to a fuckover too drastic to mention. Arriving an hour and a half late for sound check, they were unprepared to deal with the unnumberable problems that surfaced on arrival. These problems (courtesy of Hurrah's) with the lack of sound check caused a disasterous first set, hence, a sound check was scheduled for noon the next day, this happened every day. These daily sound checks put a real damper on discovering N.Y. at all. Tempers flared and tensions rose as more problems happened. Demands for less drug abuse only caused increased drug intake as there seemed no hope. Lack of funds caused cutbacks in all the wrong places, conditions led to an unbelievable climax.   Two of the "UNIMPORTANT" (see above) members of the Screamers entourage raised hell with...whate else? Spray paint. Among the quotes: "Hollywood is better," "why no Paint?," "Germs G.I. No God," "Screamers Hurt," "Plugz Electrify Me," "Nicky Beat Sucks." And Kira laid down on the floor while Gary painted the outline. This excapade cost the Screamers substantial embarrassment and money. Tommy had the solution: take it out of the crew's pay.   Who is Rene Daalder? Why is he in the sound booth? Why is he screaming on the headsets meant for communication between the house and monitor mixers? What has he done to Tomato? Perhaps Rene's involvement with the Screamers should be limited or cut off completely. Perhaps it lies in his wallet. It is undetermined whether Rene's grabbing and turning of dials in the sound booth caused the problems on stage, but it seems quite likely.   How long can Paul and KK stand the pressures of a sinking ship? Maybe they can start a band with Sheila.