One of my more memorable rock-and-roll stories is about the time I served Queens of the Stone Age at the Jerusalem Cafe in Lawrence. They were nice guys, and they tipped well. One of them, a tall, imposing character with a thick goatee (Nick Oliveri) motioned for me to come over to the table before they left.
"Do you know where we can get some coke around here?" he asked. I giggled (I was 19 at the time).
"Uh, no, not really," I stammered, figuring out these dudes must be famous.
"What about weed? Can you get us a sack?"
I felt my equally-as-imposing-and-slightly-scary Palestinian manager glaring at me as I looked at my watch and tried to not sound like a total dummy. "I'll get out of here in a few hours ... " I trailed off, suddenly wanting to walk straight out the door and never return.
"Well, what about if you came and hung out on the bus with us later?"
"I think I can do that. Can I bring a friend?" I shakily wrote my name down on a scrap of paper and handed it to him. About six hours later, I was in through the doors at Liberty Hall via the guest list. Queens of the Stone Age were opening for Ween. Nick Oliveri played the set naked except for a tube sock on his dick. It was beyond awesome. So awesome, in fact, that I was too scared to go out to the bus.
QOTSA is coming to the Beaumont Club on April 6 to promote their remastered rerelease of their 1998 self-titled debut album. Tickets go on sale this Friday at 10 a.m. for this all-ages show.
Unfortunately, Nick Oliveri was kicked out of the band in 2004. However, Westport servers and bartenders, if you are approached by any of these dudes, help them out. Surely you know someone who can score these gentlemen some dank nugs. It might even get you on the bus after the show.
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