Rock & Roll Tidbits

Guitarist David Marks was once a member of the Beach Boys, playing on the first five albums. “I thought my new group, Dave and the Markmen would take right off,” sighed the guitarist three decades later. Ooops.

Ex-Boomtown Rats member Bob Geldof once lost his job at a photo-processing plant because he had smoked a few joints in the darkroom, ruining a batch of film.

Jim Morrison was a freak’s freak. In March of 1969, he was arrested for exposing himself during a Miami concert. The ‘flashing’ rocker eventually had to go to court with a long list of charges that included: profanity, indecent exposure, lewd behavior, and public drunkenness. While in court the prosecutor asked Morrison if he had exposed himself, to which Morrison replied: “I don’t remember. I was too drunk.” He was later found guilty of exposing himself but actually found not guilty of public drunkenness. Oh, our lovely legal system at work.

After the very public trail, a friend asked Morrison what compelled him to expose himself onstage. “I wanted to see what it looked like in the spotlight,” explained the Lizard King. I guess he remembered that part.

While out and about, Jim Morrison spotted one of his friend’s sister standing in a boutique. “Whooopppeee, look at those tits!” he hollered. An elderly lady thought that Morrison was yelling at her. The feisty senior proceeded to chase the stunned rocker around the store, hitting him with her purse.

For their tour to promote the “Rumours” album, Fleetwood Mac spent thousands of dollars on a giant inflatable penguin. They only used it once.

In 1997, Mick Fleetwood estimated that he had spent the staggering total of 8 million dollars on the drug of choice: Cocaine.

At an Alice Cooper concert, he was chopping and smashing a watermelon onstage and when someone handed him a crutch, he continued his onslaught. Then he threw the disgusting mess out into the audience, followed quickly by a mass of feathers. He thought ‘This group of dummies just sat there and took it.” It was later that the shock-rocker learned that the first five rows of the audience were filled with disabled fans, they couldn’t move.

Danny Bonaduce of Partridge Family fame was a hazard to his own health. While in Florida in 1990, he was arrested on a drug charge. In 1991, he was arrested for assaulting a transvestite prostitute in Phoenix, Arizona. Seems he had paid for his/her services and then tried to get a refund when he discovered the truth. He left the scene traveling over 125 miles per hour in a 25 miles per hour zone.

After Ringo Starr joined up with the Beatles, his band mates didn’t think too much of Starr’s mental abilities. “If anything goes wrong, we can all blame it on Ringo,” explained John Lennon. “That’s what he’s here for.”

While playing a gig in Buffalo, New York, the Allman Brothers Band showed up fifteen minutes late and the club owner refused to pay them. Roadie Twiggs Lyndon wasn’t amused so he stabbed the man three times with a fishing knife. The club owner died and Lyndon was arrested for first-degree murder. The band then continued their tour.