From: UKESKIMO@aol.com
SUN 7th Nov. 8.30 am . I awake to sounds of doors slamming in the hotel , shite , another night of only 4 hrs. sleep . Today is not gonna be pleasant due to the night befores personal problems with the girlfriend . I go down to reception and get the free morning coffee and sit outside and smoke while i think what to do . Only one thing for it , gonna pull off the tour and go back to L.A to take her back home . Get more coffee and check into renting a car . Back out with more coffee and cigs and sit there when i see Jaymo appear . I tell him the plan which surprises him but understands why . The 'problem' comes down and Jaymo and Mel take off to Vegas as we go off to pickup the rental car . I'm still not felling well and the next 2 hours of shouting between us doesnt help as we head home . She insists that what ever happened the night before was than and that now i'm spoiling the tour for myself . Hmmm , ok , too pissed off to argue that one i head off in the Vegas direction . I drive for 5 hrs total till i find i just cant drive anymore , way too tired and sick , think i have a head cold . We stop for gas and a pee and Rachelle takes the wheel as i try to sleep in the back . One good thing out of this is a least there is more room now i have my own wheels and i think that Jamo and Mel must be thinking the same . 10.00 pm and she wakes me to show me the glow off in the distance which is the lights of Vegas . For me right now the closest and cheapest hotel will do just fine for tonight . A stop at the 7-11 and we are told that 'Arizona Charlies' hotel and casino is good choice and is close . We find it , check on the price , and check in . I feel so ill that we get a bell hop to go back to the car park to help with the bags as i can hardly walk now . A shower and some food helps and we return to the room and check out the local mags' one off which has a whole page titled ' Calling all goths'......'tour resurrects The Mission , GLJ , The Alarm '. The paragraph on the Mission finishes by saying " It looks like a new chapter is about to be written in the soap opera that is the Mission . Maybe it's the last........and than , again , maybe not " Ohhhhhh , best bit of all was the pic' of the band from the Neverland period and Wayne ( who was squat down ) is missing from the pic' as they cropped the photo !!!! I decide that tomorrow we will stay at the Mandalay Bay as the gig is at the House of Blues which is inside the hotel . I also feel sure that everyone else will have been compted rooms and will be staying there . Rachelle calls the hotel and books a room with a view . We also ask if anyone from the Resurrection tour has checked in yet . They tell us that not only have they not checked in but that no one even has a reservation as they would know as this would have been arranged for them by the H.o.B......odd !!! They ask if we are part of the tour , quick thinking on my part and i tell Rachelle to say yes although we are not in the band we are helping out on the tour and can we get a compted room ? We are told that no one gets compted rooms , however if we call a certain person at the H.o .B in the morning we could well get a discounted rate . This sounds ok by me as at $162.00 a night anything off would help !!! I'm ready for bed as by this time it is already 1.30 am. It really wasn't much of a rest day but on the other hand at least i wasnt at home and the thought of tomorows gig and a night in a 5 star hotel was exciting . As we dont have far to travel tomorrow a good lay in sounds for sure on the books , 10.00am would be just fine by me !!!
Mon. Nov. 8th. 7.30.am. for some reason i am awake , damn i wanted to lay in this morning . Still feeling like shite so decide to head downstairs and look for coffee , maybe that will help . Does'nt help much so i go across the street to the drug store and see what they might have . This is for certain a most strange drug store . One side has a coffee bar and on the other side is slot machines , somewhere in between is the cold remedies , only in Vegas could this happen!! 9.00am and i figure its worth a shot at calling the H.o.B to see if they can get a discount on the room at Mandaly Bay hotel for me . A few calls left and a few returned and bingo .....$89.00 instead of $162.00 , and we can check in when ever we want as we are guests of the House of Blues . So no time like the present , bags ready and off we go . All i can say is that this place is HUGE , no wonder they call it a resort , you could check in and never have to leave , every thing is inside this place . We go up to the room which is on the 5th floor and find that this does not have a view as we had asked for . I call down to the front desk and complain most strongly , "sorry thats all we have sir" ....."yea well i'm sorry but i am not happy at all with this ".......pause ...." Sir , we can put you on the H.o.B floor on the 34th. floor , it is slightly more money but we will waver the extra cost as you are not happy"......thank you ! Oh boy , the hall has casts of famous musicians coming out of the walls with velvet sofas placed at certain points along the way , and WHAT a room , one wall is ALL glass with a view of the strip , roman tub , his n hers sinks , ect.,ect. I tip the bell hop and we go off to say thanks to the person responsible for all this who we find in a back office at the H.o.B . She tells us that sales for the show tonight are low , but that may change as guests and puntters often show up at the door on the night . We than go off to the buffet where the spread has EVERY thing !!! Stuffed , we return to the room and than back down to the H.o.B at 2.30pm . Right at 3.00pm The Mission show up and i help to unload the van , put up the backdrop , and get all the merchandise over to the other end where Rachelle starts setting it all up . A fan shows up early with flowers for Wayne and Craig and cookies for the crew only, which i take and put in the dressing room . I find out latter that this is Melinda a long time fan from L.A. who remembers me from 10 years ago and unbeknown to me lives in the next street to me ! For some reason there is no sign of Jaymo or Mel , very odd , not like him at all . 4.00pm they show up and Wayne asks Jaymo " where the hell you been ?" . "you said be here at 4 " says Jaymo , " i said 3" says Wayne , opps . Jaymo is pleased to see me and not surprised that i showed up after all .The whole place is very nice including really nice dressing rooms, particly The Mission's. The sound check goes well and is all over fairly quickley with no problems except the useall which is Scott needs another snare skin and more sticks , this is like a daily thing and part of Jaymo's duties .Did i mention that Scott is a hard hitting drummer , just ask Jaymo !!!!!! Time for some serious cold remedies as i start on the first of many brandy and oranges as i relax in the dressing room and talk to Chris a mate of Waynes from L.A. who has shown up . The band come in and we sit around b.s.ing and i mention that i am not too well and Wayne backs away and says "keep the fuck away from me than , i dont want it "I also mention that we are staying here at the hotel . "How did you pull that one off Kim , we werent offered rooms here , we're down the street !! " says Wayne . ( he he !!!! ) Out of nowhere who comes in but none other than Tim Palmer, Mission record producer . After some male bonding i ask Wayne if he would indroduce me to him as i feel that he is almost a Mission member that i have never met. Wayne does so by telling Tim " This is Kim , one of the original Eskimos who is a big fan of yours , has all your stuff real diehard ,etc. " thanks a bunch Wayne as i feel myself go bright red as Tim shakes my hand and poses for a pic '. After that we head back to the room to freshen up and change . As i had read on the Mishlist that this gig was gonna be webcast i thought it might be fun to make up a bag of paper snow flakes to throw like the old days , well old habits die hard and i thought it might make the lads have a few flashbacks !!!! Well time is getting on and i don't want to miss Mike Peters so off we go back to the H.o.B and more brandys .....
Mon. 8th. Nov. So here we are at the House of Blues in Las Vegas . I watch another great set from Mike Peters . Watch GLJ for a while as i look around for other Mishlist members , AGAIN dont see any . Something else i notice missing are the website cameras ,they're not here . I have seen the Mission set list for tonight and they are gonna open with 'Wasteland ' which is great as i have the 'snow ' ready . I have a word with Jaymo and ask if he can leave his post and help with the 'snow' . I explain that it has to go up on the word "view" and he says he knows that , of course he's seen enough live viedos . The Mission come on to the intro music and go into 'Wasteland ' , just after Waynes says " There's a crystal.." i sign to Jaymo ...NOW !!!!! and up it goes !!! Looks great , just as it used to be in the old days except not so much of it . I dance for a while and notice Tim Palmer standing near the back and go to talk to him . I ask Tim " have they still got it " and he says " yea they still got it ".....They do the set and Wayne comes back on and does his solo bit , and during ' Dancing Barefoot' a young girl gets pushed up onto the stage and dances next to him. Wayne smiles at her as he plays and after a while Jaymo steps in to escort her stage right . Next time Wayne turns around she has gone and he looks puzzled as he plays on . The band come back on to play a few more than go off to a good reaction from the crowd , who in the end did fill the place up more than i thought it would be. I go back stage to get an idea of when or if the band want people back . " Give us a few minutes" says Wayne. Time i get back there are a fair few waiting all lined up by the bar area with one of the H.o.B security standing in front of the side stage door . I guess they had all been asking him if they could get backstage cause as i open the door the guy says " This is the man you need to talk to "...uhhhh , help !!! I tell them that im sure if they just hang on i'll get them back , but just a few at a time though .Once all in the dressing room the girl who got on stage has me cornered saying what a good heart i have and how wonderfull i am , erhhh... sure this is for me as Mr. Hussey is over there, she says she knows that. After about half an hour the dressing room is full and not long after we are getting the order from the H.o.B staff that we have to clear out as they want to close . Many disscusions are going on about the fact that the Mission didnt get to stay in the hotel here and why was this . Jessica from GLJ says they were compted a room ( doubt it ) and Mike Peters says he and Jules are gonna see if they can get a room , "Kim's even got one here " says Wayne . The subject dies down a bit as we wonder were we are all gonna move this party to. Taylor Robison ( President of the GLJ label) says not to worry as we can move all this upstairs to 'The Foundation Room' which is a private area he has reserved , cool. Most of us follow him to the elevator however when we arrive at the floor the doors open to reveal the staff of the room waiting to go down as it is now closed ! Back down we all go and Wayne , Mark , Dawn and some others decide to head else where. Next plan is to head up to the 34th. floor where Taylor's room is ,but than its changed to my room ! As we walk down the hall i see Mike Peters standing at the door of his room . I go over to Mike and inform him that i think we should move it all into his room . Mike looks at me and says " Goodnight Kim " as he closes the door . So its all down to our room and with their mouths wide open everybody goes straight away to the glass wall looking out over the strip . Someone knows a real seedy dive that we should all check out so off we go . It turns out to be seedy with a capital S !!!! Its dark , has a coin operated kids horse ride in the middle of the floor , a juke box with nothing but hardcore punk on it , and 4 tv screens which are showing hardcore porn !!!! ...hummm , nice . Scott and myself think that one drink here and we should be on our way. Rachelle nags Scott to death for a pic of him and one of the fans on the kids horse ride untill he finally agrees to it as long as the pic doesnt end up on the website . After that its time to leave but no one wants to shell out for a taxi so the one fan who brought her car has to get all of us in and back to the hotel. I'll never mention riding in Jaymo's car again after this !!!!! We get 3 in the front , 3 in the back with another one laying over myself , Rachelle , and Jaymo there in the back, this last person is a guy named Sterling who is way drunk .This is all in a Geo Storm ( for those who dont know , 4 in this make of car would be a joke ) . Well we make it back and one by one say good night . Finally i get to enjoy the room as we look out at all the lights and eat 'Ding dongs' and drink Coke , i think now this is way cool , but hell its nearly 3.30am , gotta to hit the hay , maybe i can lay in tomorrow !
........es KIM o
