ok here goes the story....

my friend adam couldn't go with me to the monday night LA II show so i invited my friend candice. (yes, she's hot if that helps the story, moving on) so we get there and she's telling me how her friend chelsea is there too and will be backstage. i say "how come?" she tells me that her father is david robbins and her uncle is.....tim robbins. HE-LLO!

so i ask her if chelsea could score us backstage passes, half joking of course not thinking she could. she calls her, no response. as i go up to the fanclub will call to get our tix (which were kickass btw) she comes up and says chelsea has two extra wristbands if we want them...if we want them!? um, yes please.

so we get in there, meet chelsea and her friends, get the wristbands and go to our seats to watch the 3rd best PJ show i've ever seen (behind friday's san diego #2, and MSG I 03 #1). anyone that was there knows that RITFW was dedicated to chelsea as it was her birthday.

so we meet up with chelsea and her friends after the show at the forum club which is some inside exclusive club dealie. we're in there shootin the shit and eventually chelsea's dad walks up. i introduce myself and he gives us some free drink passes (sweet). then jeff ament decides to walk right by me and talk to some friends. five minutes later mikey does the same. 10 min. later they both leave. about 15 min after that chelsea's dad and tim robbins (her uncle, keep that in mind) show up and take us down down down stairs to the real deal holyfield. we're walking past security and through hallways and toward these black curtains...here's where it gets interesting...

at the opening of this hallway with curtains is stone and mikey. mikey's back is to me so i don't say anything but stone is looking right at me (i'm last in the line of 6 kids and david and tim robbins). i say "hey stone, how are ya?" he simply replies "good, thanks". ok, no biggie. stone follows me into the dressing room. i give him a "what's up" smile and nod. he nods back.

we enter the dressing room and there's a few random people in there but the first person i see is dennis rodman sitting on a couch smoking a magnificent stoagie. there's cigar smoke all about this joint. then i turn my attention to the man - eddie fucking vedder.

he sees chelsea and gives her a big hug and kiss and wishes her a happy birthday and explains how much he loves her father and uncle. (he's fucking drunk as balls at this point, the man goes through 2 bottles of vino a night...he had one in hand btw).

so he introduces himself to the 6 kids (that includes me, i say kids lightly) and shakes my hand when he gets to me. takes a step back and says "oh man, you know i love that shirt!". of course i'm wearing my "free the west memphis 3" tshirt. i reply "you know it baby" or something stupid like that.

after eddie bullshit's with chelsea about her birthday with her and david and all he starts talking about the VFC tour...

after a little bit there's a break in the convo so i say, "hey eddie..."

he turns and looks at me and i go, "so i went to the reading, pa show and i happened to get front row seats right in front of mikey. i know its a long shot but do you remember a really big sign that said 'play leash or i vote bush'?" he steps back looking puzzled. i try and help jog his memory, "i showed mikey and he shrugged as if to say 'hell, i don't make the setlists, sorry man'. and then i showed jeff and he just laughed." at that point eddie goes, "you know what, it's coming back to me now." and smiles at me. he looks to tim and david and goes, "this fucking kid knows how to push our buttons" with a huge smile on his face.

i then say, "ya know, on behalf of the whole fanclub i gotta say thanks for finally playing it in boston and subsequently tonight and san diego so i could see it." (he nods his head in accordance)....i continue, "however, (eddie gets interested...) after all those years and the leash campaign finally over, you realize now the hardcore fans are going to start a new one..." he looks like he's gonna shit his pants at this point...keep in mind he's still very drunk...oh and all the other "kids" and tim and david robbins are like "does this kid really have the balls to be asking eddie all this? to have a real conversation with him and not just say hi?" fuck yea, i do! i got questions....but anyway...

so i continue, "you know the next song we're gonna campaign for is gonna be 'no way'. what do you say to that?" his response, in classic eddie fashion with that eddie grin: "no way".

so we're all laughing and i continue to press him!

i say, "ok, that's cool...but why?" now tim and david and everyone are like "what the fuck is this kid doing!?"

eddie says, "well you're gonna have to ask stone that, it's his song." i say, "ok, have him come over so i can ask him." everyone is shitting their pants at this point. eddie turns and yells across the room, "hey stone, this kid has a question.....or a request or demand for you." stone looks over and looks at me and then turns back to the person he was talking to without even a hestitation. oh well.

i wasn't gonna press my luck anymore. we all laughed and i said, "oh man, i'm not demanding anything, just wanted to know why he doesn't want to play it." and eddie starts telling me how when they recorded the original demo for 'no way' he sang it exactly like stone (he proceeded to sing the sciatic nerve line in stone fashion). this was very strange but cool. so then david interjects and asks eddie if he could sign the tambourine chelsea had that eddie had thrown to tim robbins during RITFW. eddie did (and drew a little wave on it with her age in it). keep in mind ed had a cigarette in one hand and the bottle of wine in the other the whole time.

after this we all said goodbye. i thanked david robbins like 3 times and we were walked out past the road crews loading up the tractor trailers. i (finally) shook tim robbins' hand and thank all them again like a half dozen times. we walked up the huge ramp and see like 10 fans standing at the top asking us, "are they still there!?!" i said, "yea. and they're fucking wasted." and just kept walking to my car.

and that my friends is a fucking story.

AWESOME story that is !

But man, you said "baby" to Eddie ?

Tim Robbins man! I'd have been pretty made up to meet him too!

cool story man

AWESOME

Cool. Hopefully theyll play no way in SF now.

heheh

Thanks for sharing!

groetjes,
Mirella

That is a cool fucking story - you got some balls

That is awesome. One of the best stories I've heard.

You summed it up perfectly at the end here.

I would have shit in my pants if I were you.

Sounds like Stone has a new bitch

great story. Good on you for actually talking to him

great story, wish it would happen to me

I'd have to be pretty drunk to even manage to speak to any of the band. Great story!

Jealous

So I am hanging out with Eddie Vedder and Tim Robbins in LA and I decided to talk about No Way and Leash ... um OK?

I'm fucking jealous of you. haha, I'm glad you got to meet up w/ Eddie and enjoy another excellent PJ show.

At least they're aware of the 'No Way' abscence of the last 8 years.

Dugan

wait...your name is MikeyIsGod and you didnt talk to mike? haha, just bustin balls, awesome story. way to bring up no way! maybe they'll play it now

awesome