I Just Figured Out Why Bill Graham Collided With Me While Holding Two Beers At The Warfield Before The GNR "Use Your Illusion" Warm Up Tour RUSH KARMA

**RUSHHEAD666** · June 4, 2020

Guys and Girls!

I'm pissed tonight!!!

I am watching "Detroit Rock City!" One of the greatest movies ever made, yet I started thinking about RUSH!

I put on "Signals" tonight and my twisted wonderful Rush brain started to wander yet again into the past.

As many of you know I saw the GUP Tour when I was 16. Cow Palace.

I was lucky enough to bum "Rush" the show and wind up in the barrier next to Geddy.

I thought Geddy was going to stop the show but we knocked over all of those chairs and took over the Palace.

So on that note here's my late night beef.....

I just had to do some research and I was right!!!!

So I was going to go to the "Signals" Tour at 15 years young. My dad was going to take me. My dad rules by the way. Even today. I'm lucky!!!

But as I was thinking tonight, my brain remembered that RUSH did NOT Tour in the Bay Area year because Bill wanted cattle standing and RUSH wanted chair seating customers.

So RUSH pretty much told Bill to "FUCKK OFF."

I just looked up the dates in 1983. My brain was right.......

I am so pissed and it's 2020. lol

So Rush played....

Long Beach 1983... February 14th

Long Beach 1983... February 15th On my 15th birthday!!! UGH!

The Forum 1983... February 17th

The Forum 1983... February 18th Golden Earring opened!!! DAMN IT!

Totally skipping the Bay Area!! Thanks BILL!

So then my crazy Rush brain started thinking yet again........

How the fuckk did I miss the "Hold Your Fire" Tour? An album I adore and love and play my drums to all the time even in 2020!!!!

So I had to look up those dates!!

Sure enough.

The Bill Graham Rush Stand Off continued.

Even though I saw "Power Windows" Twice. I don't get it.

Maybe I'm wrong but the "Hold Your Fire" dates are screwed too. Well for me.

RUSH skipped the Bay Area again!

February 1 1988 Arizona. Tommy Shaw opened.

February 3 1988 San Diego

February 4 and 5 LA Forum

Nothing in the Bay Area.

I was so mad!!!!

But it's life.

This shit has been confirmed.

I always knew it in my Rushhead brain as a kid.

Fuckked by Bill Graham.

So yes...

Many years later I was at the GNR "Use Your Illusion" warm up Tour at The Warfield in San Francisco Ca.

I left my girlfriend in our seats to go buy two beers on tap.

As I am walking swiftly down the aisle some asshole in a collared light blue long sleeved shirt with his head down was walking briskly towards me.

Before I could dodge him he walked directly into my right arm holding a big beautiful beer.

The entire beer spilled all over this man.

It was Bill Graham.

I said to him..... "holy shit Bill I'm sorry........"

Bill looked back at me and sneered with a medium growl.

It was was EPIC!!

Bill is a Legend.

But thanks for fighting with RUSH so they had to skip the Bay Area for "Signals" and "Hold Your Fire."

Fuckk it.

And GOODFLYBYNIGHT!

RUSH FOREVER!

NEIL RULES!!!

HATERS ON HERE MAY HATE ME! SO WHAT! MASTURBATE AND LEAVE ME THE FUKK ALONE!!!! LOL!!!! SEE????????? LOL!!!

It means I'm kidding....................

**J2112YYZ** · June 4, 2020

The only Bill Graham's I know of are the televangelist and the pro wrestler from the 70s. I'm guessing that's not who you're talking about lol.

**RushFanForever** · June 4, 2020

Bill Graham (promoter)

**blueschica** · June 4, 2020

Earl, you have had the greatest adventures! You should write a book sometime.

**RUSHHEAD666** · June 4, 2020

LOL!!!

**RUSHHEAD666** · June 4, 2020

Thank you my friend!! I've been thinking about it. I always tease my friends and family..... "someday I am going to write a book but nobody would read it...." LOL!

I guess it could be done. I've seen over 800 concerts and met so many famous people which is no big deal. I guess I could have a chapter on my Rush travels. Concert travels. Professional athlete stories.

It's so stupid Becky, I've only been starstruck once and I bet you could guess it in seconds........

Yep... Neil Peart.

You know that story. All I wanted to do was thank him for being my mentor in learning how to play the drums. That was it, but I couldn't get the words out. Still it was an amazing moment in time. My heart was racing like a Shelby Cobra.

I also have a screenplay in me. Outline is done. I just need to focus and start typing. I did just by an Air Mac Pro to motivate. Time will tell!!

**JohnnyBlaze** · June 4, 2020

And on March 16, 1983 I attended my first gig. It happened to be Signals. And it was general admission. And there was a stabbing by an idiot who was knifing people on the floor. He was quickly taken out by security during TSoR opener. Rush wasn’t even aware of it until after the show.

As far as I can remember, Rush didn’t hit THAT town again until Presto and I was a senior in high school.

**RUSHHEAD666** · June 5, 2020

Holy Shit JB! That's a crazy story!! I'm sorry. So many idiots in the world. Can't we just have fun and live our lives????? I am glad you were not harmed and was able to see the entire concert.

Again, JB when I was pushed and shoved into the barrier at the Cow Palace during the GUP Tour I was literally smashed into the concrete right underneath Geddy. I was not hurt or harmed, but I will never forget even as a 16 year old kid gazing up into Geddy's eyes. He looked right down at me and I could see the fear in his eyes and on his face.

I am very serious, I really thought RUSH was going to stop the show so Geddy could calm down the wild floor section.

I know it was wrong, but I just went with the flow.

To my selfish enjoyment, here I was a kid with courtesy clerk Safeway money. I had nosebleeds.

Next thing I knew I was right under Geddy and I was able to see Neil's drum solo from the front!!!

It blew my mind.

I saw the VAN HALEN 1984 TOUR that same year at the Cow Palace. Another mind-blowing concert!!!

RUSH ON BROTHER!

**RUSHHEAD666** · June 5, 2020

I know it's all apples to oranges, but perhaps it's really not.

Why the hell would SRV jump into Clapton's helicopter during stormy weather? Was it fog? Then the fateful crash.

Why the hell would Bill Graham see Huey Lewis And The News at the Concord Pavilion then take a helicopter home during a foggy night? Then the fateful crash.

Why the hell would Kobe's pilot green light a liftoff in foggy weather in the morning when even the LAPD grounded the helicopters? Then the fateful crash.

I don't get it. I will never get on a motorcycle again or in a helicopter either. For all you motorcycle lovers and helicopter fans, go for it. Enjoy and be safe!!!

Back in 1979 my parents took my brother Eric and I to the Queen Mary in Long Beach Ca.

It was so fun exploring that ship.

But then my dad wanted to take us on a helicopter ride around the ship and the ocean beach area. So we did it. It was one of those helicopters with the big plastic bubble windshield.

Anyway, it was fine. I was very young but I was scared to death.

Well a week later that same helicopter crashed into a nearby cove by the Queen Mary. Everyone on board was killed.

That was it for me!

I'll be on a beach in Maui. Forget those helicopter rides too.

**JohnnyBlaze** · June 5, 2020

It is a crazy story...and only about the fourth or fifth time I told you and TRF :LOL:

I wasn’t on the floor though where the madness was. I was only 10 and in the seated area with two of my big bros. Even at that age Rush were my favorite band, and I knew all the lyrics and bios. I used my allowance and paid for half of my ticket while my bro paid the other 5 bucks. Hard to f***ing believe tickets were ever $10. Then, I got a starman sticker and my bro got me a Signals concert T which was big enough that I could wear it for another 3-4 years.

I was even super pumped when the opening act, Jon Butcher Axis, hit the stage. What an awesome time.

**RUSHHEAD666** · June 5, 2020

Hahahaha! So many years go by. So many lucid posts, polls and fuckking stories to share.

I've probably told my lame meeting of Neil Peart in Concord 2112 times. LOL!

Shit gets lost on here brother.

I love being a broken record of Rush Love because people on here come and go like the "Way The Wind Blows......"

You never know buddy, repeating stories that we love on here over the years may have some worth to them.

Fukk it man....

I just watched "The Hangover." A movie that will withstand the test of time. "Test For Echo?" LOL!!! Fuckk that album. LOL! Give me some Mike Tyson instead.

My brain forgot your story. Thank you for typing it again!!!

I can't wait to go to Vegas again!!! October baby! RAIDERS V TOM BRADY AND THE FUCS! LOL!

Even if I have to watch it in my suite, I will be across the street. Hey that rhymed! I am a poet and I know it.

Can't find love JB so nothing wrong with getting a couple of escorts for the night after the Raiders destroy Tom and Company. Cumpany. LOL

Long live rock and roll I need it every day.

"Love Is a Fist" JB

Signed,

Mr. Bungle

I love Mike Patton.

**Syrinx** · June 5, 2020

Earl your book would be twice as long as it has to be because it would be in all CAPS!! I would still buy it though!

**RUSHHEAD666** · June 6, 2020

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! CAPS ON BABY!!!!!!

So funny!!!!!! Hahahaha! Thank you for the wonderful laugh. I'll make sure to get an editor. LOL! 2112 pages of rambling. The editor will trim it down to 666 pages. lol

**Weatherman** · June 7, 2020

If I'd ever met Neil, I would've started asked him about books. We would've had a lot to talk about there.

And not one word about music. That would've been a ticket straight out the door.

My cousin met Alex and Geddy once. He was working in a fancy hotel lobby as a pianist. Ged and Al were carrying golf bags through the lobby and Alex heard my cousin playing, came over, chatted briefly, gave him thumbs up.

My cousin has a lot of good celebrity stories from that lobby...

**RUSHHEAD666** · June 8, 2020

That's awesome!! Yeah, I hear ya, I only wanted to thank him for getting into drumming back in 1981. Then I would have left.

"I can't pretend a stranger is a long awaited friend."

I Just Figured Out Why Bill Graham Collided With Me While Holding Two Beers At The Warfield Before The GNR "Use Your Illusion" Warm Up Tour RUSH KARMA

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