Читать книгу My Appetite for Destruction: Sex & Drugs & Guns ‘N’ Roses - Steven Adler - Страница 34

Saul didn’t like smoking weed as much as I did, so we would mostly drink when we hung out together. One week we’d have peppermint schnapps, another we’d switch to Jack Daniel’s, and then another it would be vodka. Every week it was something different, depending on whatever struck our fancy (or what we found in the cupboard).

My grandpa always had a couple of bottles in the liquor cabinet, so we’d skim a little from there, or we would have someone buy a bottle for us. I’m pretty sure Melissa’s mom would’ve gotten it for us if we really needed it.

I didn’t smoke cigarettes at the time, but Saul loved his cowboy killers, Marlboro Reds in the hard pack. He’d always be like, “C’mon, smoke with me. I don’t have anyone to smoke with.” So without giving it much thought, I started smoking too.

We would roam anywhere and everywhere. At first he would ride his bike, and I’d hitch my skateboard behind him. Then we decided that since all the people we associated with were older than us, it was time to ditch the bike and the skateboard and just walk instead. Back and forth between all the popular Hollywood clubs: the Starwood, the Whisky, Gazzarri’s, the Roxy, and our favorite, the Rainbow Bar and Grill. Everybody ended up at the Rainbow after the nightly club crawls. Saul and I had so much fun there.

Before going in, we loved to get primed by drinking in the parking lot of a nearby bank. One night we were pouring 151 Bacardi in the cap, lighting the rum on fire, and downing the mini shot. After a while, we were pretty toasted, and as Saul did his umpteenth shot, he missed his mouth completely and spilled a purplish-blue fireball onto his chin and cheek. All of a sudden the left side of his face lit up like he was the Human Torch. Saul didn’t immediately realize what he had done and just looked at me like he was confused. I was shocked shitless but instinctively reached out to smother the flames with my bare hands before it did any real harm. Booze would definitely mete out its fair share of damage to us over the next decade, but not that night. Saul got away with a nice healthy glow on his face, and I didn’t notice any burn marks on my hands. I’m sure we had both forgotten about it by the time we ordered our first round at the Rainbow.

Our afternoon strolls covered much of the same turf. We would also cruise up Santa Monica Boulevard, then head north past Barney’s Beanery, a great bar where you could shoot pool, play foos-ball, and order some great chow. It was also where Jim Morrison wrote songs for the Doors and Janis Joplin hung out when she was in L.A. In fact the artist R. Crumb immortalized Barney’s when he drew it on the Cheap Thrills album cover for Janis and her band, Big Brother and the Holding Company.

Saul and I would then head down Sunset to Tower Records, check out the scene there, and then wander up to Hollywood Boulevard. Tower isn’t there anymore, and it makes me sad every time I drive by the old brick building. Some things, especially record stores, should never change.

Flipping through Tower Records’ racks, from Aerosmith to the Who, always set me to dreaming about putting a rock band together, making out with our groupies, and traveling around the world. That’s all Saul and I would talk about. He’d often have his acoustic guitar with him, idly strumming away.

I remember walking out of the store just as Benjamin Orr, the bass player from the Cars, drove by in his Rolls-Royce. He was the coolest-looking dude on earth that day. He had the top down, music cranked, and a beautiful girl with him. He just looked like a rock star. You could tell when you saw a rock star back then. They really stood out. And I just knew in my heart and soul that one day, I would be that guy.