The Worley Gig:
Music and Mayhem in New York City
by Gail Worley

The Column of The Daves
August 1998

My Dinner with Dave Mustaine
The phone rang and on the other end was one of my girlfriends, Veronique, calling to invite me to see the band Icos, for whom she does publicity. Veronique is known as "Ms. Megadeth," because she is also their publicist. "I might have Dave Mustaine with me," she said, since the lead singer/guitarist for Megadeth was in town doing publicity for OzzFest. I figured it would be pretty fun to see Icos and hang out with Veronique and Dave Mustaine, so I agreed to meet them at the Continental at 8 PM.

Dave Mustaine used to have a reputation for being an asshole. I mean, he got kicked out of Metallica, how does that happen? But now Dave has stopped drinking and taking drugs. He doesn't even smoke cigarettes. Actually, I knew I was going to really like Dave when he started complaining about how smoky it was in the Continental (aka Club Ashtray). "If you think this is bad," I told him, "you should check out Brownies." But Dave isn't from NYC, so he didn't know what I was talking about.

Before I wander off on some weird tangent - like you know I'm going to - I want to point out that I've concluded Dave Mustaine is a very nice person, and a regular rock and roll comedian. If Megadeth break up, he could give Jerry Seinfeld a run for the money. He's hilarious.

Icos came on and did a bunch of songs from their new album, At The Speed of Life. They have a heavy, guitar rock sound, with melodic vocals. I don't know if I'd call them melodic hard rock, because they're heavier than that. Yet they aren't metal enough to be called modern metal. Let's just say they rock. During their set, Dave and I were standing next to each other at the bar, and

I pointed out to him how much Danny, Icos' lead singer, resembles George Clooney. Dave agreed and added that he's sort of a cross between George Clooney and George Michael. A double-George combo like that has got to be a hit with the ladies. Then Dave said he was hungry, so Gaspar, who works with Veronique, took him next door to get a slice of pizza. "Don't let anyone fuck with him," she told Gaspar. Veronique, she goes.

After Icos finished their set, a group of us went to dinner at Pageant, a cavernous, trendy new restaurant on 10th street. There was me, Veronique, Dave, Gaspar, Bonnie from Capitol Records (Megadeth's label), a really cool woman named Roxy, who produces a radio show called Hard Drive, and Danny from Icos. It seemed reasonable to assume that the new, clean-living Dave might be a vegetarian. While we were deciding what to order, someone asked Dave if he ate meat. His response was "Fuck yeah!" I was liking Dave more and more. Both Bonnie and Dave ordered the tuna steak, which looked really good. We were all sharing bites of our food, and Dave gave me a piece of his tuna. It was delicious.

Dinner conversation was extremely lively and Dave wasn't afraid to talk about anything and everything. We all exchanged funny rock and roll stories, and Dave talked a lot about his family (his wife Pam and their baby daughter and small son). Most of what Dave said, I can't write about, because this wasn't an interview, but just a bunch of people having dinner. He also told us some "secrets" about certain musicians he's worked with that he prefaced with "There's no way you can ever repeat this," so you will have to find me in New York City if you want the real dirt. But Dave did tell a funny story about his six year old son, Justis, that I will share with you. When Dave bought his house in Arizona, he decided to "mark his territory, the way animals do." In other words, he peed on the ground. "So there I am in the back yard, peeing," says Dave, "And then I zip up and go back in the house. Then I hear Pam screaming 'Justis David, get back in the house!' And I look out and see Justis is peeing on the ground, too." Like father, like son. When Dave is on the road with Megadeth, Justis sleeps with a Bible, because it reminds him of his dad.

Is that cute or what?

One of the diatribes Dave went off on showed him to be more cerebral than one might think. He was talking about how most heavy metal musicians he meets are really one-dimensional. "They drink the same kind of booze, they like the same kind of women (stupid with large breasts) and they aren't very adventurous. Before I got married," Dave continued, all eyes on him, "I dated every kind of woman. I've flown airplanes, I've jumped out of airplanes. I've done every kind of extreme sport. I tell these guys they better take advantage of what they can while they can, because it won't always be this way." Wow, resonant words of wisdom. I learned a lot about what makes Dave tick that night, but what I really wanted to get the scoop on was Dave's Hair Secrets: he has the most beautiful long, strawberry blond hair I've ever seen on a man. My guess is that he's a Pantene guy, but he wasn't telling. As we were leaving the restaurant, I stopped Dave as he headed towards the Men's room, and extended my hand, saying it was really nice to meet him. Dave shook my hand and said it was really nice to meet me, too. Then he leaned over and kissed my cheek. I wished him good luck with the OzzFest shows, said goodbye to the rest of the gang, and walked home. When I got back to my apartment, I called my best friend Linda, and I told her all about my dinner with Dave Mustaine.

I'm a Marigold
Don't think it didn't practically kill me to spend $10 on a French import CD single of Nirvana's "Heart Shaped Box." Truth is, I was after the 2 minutes and 33 seconds of something like total bliss on the B side: a stone groove called "Marigold." I believe this to be the only Nirvana song both written and sung by Dave Grohl and, next to "On a Plain," it is my favorite Nirvana song.

"Marigold" is a verse chorus verse lo-fi drone, conjuring visual images of a mental patient giving the listener a peek into his four walled world. The verses are all essentially the same and the chorus, which is brilliant, goes like this.

"All in all the clock is slow/Six colored pictures all in a row/I'm a Marigold."

The vulnerability, paranoia and subtle horror Grohl expresses through this song will make you marvel that he wasn't the one who blew his brains out. "Marigold" is a truly disturbing, yet profoundly moving and beautiful song. All the ingredients that made Nirvana untouchable are gathered like precious jewels in a queer little silk purse of a song about a mental patient watching a clock tick while imagining himself to be a marigold. Sometimes, you just don't get any closer to God than that.

Space Lord Mother Mother
Monster Magnet, the greatest rock-out-with-your-cock-out metal band making records today, has a new CD out called Powertrip. This record kicks total drug-metal ass and takes names. To ensure that Powertrip embraced the true spirit of take no prisoners rock and roll, Monster Magnet's lead singer and dark overlord, Dave Wyndorf, told Mean Street Magazine that he employed a simple formula. During the recording, he plastered posters of nuclear explosions all over the studio walls, brought in stacks of porno and locked the band inside the studio. The barometer by which Wyndorf judges whether a song rocks hard enough is to ask himself the question "Can I hump a couch to this?" After playing Powertrip about a million billion times, I would say you can hump all kinds of furniture to these songs about driving a tractor on the drug farm ("Tractor") and comic book Satanism ("Bummer"). They even come close to doing a romantic ballad on "Your Lies Become You."

The single you are probably already hearing on the radio is about eating your enemies, or something like that, and it is called "Space Lord." I saw the video for "Space Lord" the other night between sets at Irving Plaza, and it is so metal it made my teeth hurt. You don't even need to have the sound turned up to appreciate images of the band cavorting in front of a glitzy Las Vegas Resort while a bunch of cheerleaders jump around. There are also many close-ups of Dave's face, and he's got a rad face. In pictures he looks like Satan, but when he moves around he's kind of handsome in dangerous sort of way. The fun thing about "Space Lord" is how everyone thinks Dave is singing "Space Lord Motherfucker," but he's not. He's actually singing "Space Lord Mother Mother." I swear. My guess is that Dave thought it would be hilarious to impose this tongue-in-cheek style self-censorship, knowing full well the brain would trick listeners into hearing "Motherfucker" instead of the perfectly acceptable and benign "Mother Mother." For this smooth move, Dave Wyndorf, I get on my knees and rule you with both hands. Buy Powertrip right now so you can get started on the lovefest before Monster Magnet play in your town.

Next Month: Intel Fest deprives Gail of much needed beauty sleep, and Gail visits Planet Arena Rock!

The Worley Gig regularly turns in both Pandemonium Online and The NY Hangover.

E-Mail Gail Worley

Other Features From Gail Worley:

Nivek Ogre's New Rx - No longer a Skinny Puppy, this famed industrialist dispenses Ritalin now, in this interview with Gail Worley

Visual Audio Sensory Theatre - In this feature, Gail Worley discusses religion and revenge fantasies with Jon Crosby, the aspiring Gothman with a VAST array of sounds...

Dream Punk or Noise Pop? - Gail Worley goes to South Park and Melrose Place with Carrie Clark, art therapist and feedback diva from 16 Deluxe

God Lives Underwater - "With a name like God Lives Underwater, it has to be good," says Gail Worley

Previous turns of The Worley Gig:

The Worley Gig #1-- Summer, The Rules

The Worley Gig #2-- All Tomorrow's Parties

The Worley Gig #3-- Weaselfest '97

The Worley Gig #4-- How I Spent Summer

The Worley Gig #5-- Random Excerpts From My Ass-Kicking Life

The Worley Gig #6-- Christmas Kicks Total Ass

The Worley Gig #7-- She's About A Mover

The Worley Gig #8-- The Goddess and Pig Watts

The Worley Gig #9-- Outrageously Boss Records and What Not to Do On a Date

The Worley Gig #10-- Marilyn Manson: The Satanist in Winter

The Worley Gig #11-- A Mosquito, My Libido

The Worley Gig #12-- Sex By SexWest 1998

The Worley Gig #13-- I'm Only Numan

The Worley Gig #14-- Marilyn Manson, Bauhaus Reissues

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