Bobby Rock

The Bobby Rock Newsletter #26 (9-22-2021) - "Nelsonmania!"

Hey Gang - 

It’s been over three decades since the “Nelsonmania” days. In this week’s Newsletter, I offer another excerpt from my upcoming book, Will Drum For Food, where I describe my initial, first-hand experience of this phenomenon. Fun stuff.

But that was last century. In this century, we are faced with new challenges that, perhaps, we couldn’t have even anticipated back then: weak, puny brains that are ill-equipped to handle the incalculable technology surge that is now upon us!  Let’s talk about it.

In this Issue:

• Behind the Hype: A new book excerpt detailing Nelson's inaugural, full-band autograph signing event in Los Angeles. Daaaamn!
  
  
• Bringing our 20th Century Brains into the 21st Century: Time to up our mental game, I say…
  
  
• Self-Evaluation on Your Brain Game: Setting the table for future contemplations on this important subject/practice...
  

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Here’s another excerpt from my upcoming book, which is a follow-up to The Boy Is Gonna Rock:

Will Drum For Food: 
Surviving the Nineties with Clubs, Campgrounds, Clinics, and Credit Cards

This memoir focuses on the Nelson hey-day, on through a decade-plus of my pursuits as a drumming educator and solo artist. It delves deep into the creative, philosophical, and business aspects of surviving and thriving in both of those very different musical/cultural worlds and, as you might imagine, there are plenty of stories to tell! This excerpt details my first in-person exposure to what we jokingly referred to as “Nelsonmania.”

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It was summer 1990. After the Rain was barreling up the charts and MTV had “Love and Affection” in high rotation, as it was on the way to becoming a number one Billboard hit. The early promotion strategy at this time was to send the brothers around the country with their acoustic guitars, visiting radio stations for interviews and record stores for signings. A full tour was in the works, so the rest of us band guys were basically on-call in LA.

During a few phone conversations I had with the twins around this time, they would tell me about the insanity they were encountering out there: thousands of fans trudging through these signings, kids chasing and jumping onto limos, security guards attempting to wrangle the more overzealous clusters of young women, etc. I presumed the guys were just super-stoked and, therefore, exaggerating a bit. But as I would soon find out… they weren’t!

Let’s pick it up from the first time the full band did a signing together. This was at a Sherman Oaks Galleria record store in LA, where we all met at the brother’s house then covertly took a limo to the event. And again, this is an unedited, first-draft preview. Enjoy…

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“Nelsonmania!"

Finally, we went through this back door of the record store and into some kind of office space. I could hear the After the Rain record playing beyond the remaining door between us and the actual shop. But first, there were some quick instructions from yet another security specialist on hand.

“Ok guys, we have one extremely long line of kids extending through every level of the mall right now, and then outside and down the street along Ventura Blvd. They will be allowed into the store in small groups of fifteen to twenty at a time, brought through the line along the table where you guys will sign their stuff, then promptly led back out of the store before the next group is let in.”

In trying to ascertain how long we might be there, Gary (Grosjean, our tour manager) asked the store manager, “Any estimate on how many are out there?”

His eyes widened. “At least 3000,” he said, exasperated.

“Ok,” Gary responded, matter-of-factly. Matthew and Gunnar didn’t flinch. This was just another day at the office for them and, in fact, a considerably “lighter” turn-out than they had been navigating around the country. But me, Brett, Paul, and Joey shot each other looks of absolute disbelief.  Autograph signing events in LA or Manhattan—be they at record or book stores—would routinely draw about half the amount of people as pretty much anywhere else in the country. There are several different theories for this, but this is why I had my estimate of “a few hundred.” 3000+ seemed unfathomable… until that door opened and we were all led out to the table toward the front entrance of the store.

As soon as that first group of kids saw us, it was like a fucking car bomb going off: an explosion of shrieks and shrills punctured our eardrums like jabbering scalpels. It was firecracker loud.

“Daaaamn,” I remember saying, basically to myself, since no one around me would’ve heard it. The brothers smiled casually, genuinely happy to be there in the middle of the hornet’s nest, and completely at home amidst what was an almost dangerous level of idolatry. 

As we were taking our seats at the table, it was as if a match had been thrown on a long trickle of gasoline: you could actually hear a crescendoing roar echo throughout the mall, as this infinite line of kids were spontaneously reacting to the fervor and excitement of those in front of them. (Remember, no one could actually see us until they were let into the store.) This was unlike anything I had ever dealt with in the Vinnie Vincent Invasion. I mean, VVI had some hardcore fans, to be sure, and some of those guys and gals would be really jacked to see us. But this? Particularly the initial, sweat-soaked caravan of several hundred who had waited the longest and were arguably the most devoted? Man, this shit was scary... but cool! 

Yes, we were routinely in teen rags like Sixteen Magazine…
even though our PR team never solicited these kinds of publications!

Of course, this was primarily a younger female audience, but the raw amount of emotion and sincerity that they stepped up to the table with was something to behold. Young, timid girls, at that awkward age, with flushed red cheeks, braces, hairsprayed bangs and poofy pigtails, stepping before the Nelson brothers and band, offering up their vinyl, clearly bewildered by the force of emotion they were feeling, yet fully present in the moment. 

And man, as I would sit back and simply observe, I gotta say: the brothers were then, and always, exceedingly kind and empathetic to the sensitive dynamics of such an exchange: always patient and friendly, just like I imagined their father must've been as he greeted his hoards of admirers at autograph signings some thirty years prior. Matt and Gun were unquestionably born into this earth, at least partially, to fulfill this particular role, at this particular time.

After the brothers signed, the kids would diligently push their records down the table, with varying degrees of enthusiasm, for the rest of us band guys to sign. It certainly helped that our photo was on the back cover and we were in the “Love and Affection” video, and I think most were excited to have us sign, as well. But it was more than clear to all of us that this was really about the brothers. And I think we were all cool with our role in this reality.

One hour blurred into two, and then three. It was an endless cavalcade of tears, sweat, and starter perfume, with its fruity-floral fragrance lingering just beyond the nervous “thank you's.” We were signing records and magazines non-stop. 

I noticed that there was also this strange rise-and-fall algorithm of kinetic energy that would swell forth from this never-ending caterpillar of a line… almost like a “wave” at a baseball stadium when the entire crowd participates in that sequential stand-up ritual. Only in this case, it was these rapidly-rising outbursts that would randomly occur when some of the fans, realizing they were just about to be in front of the twins, would start screaming and carrying on. This would spark an expanding reaction through those immediately behind them and, at times, cause a little pushing and leering… especially as the day wore on and, I suppose, the total waiting time for these folks began to extend beyond eight or more hours. 

A month or so later… this was pretty cool!

At one point, there was a commotion over by the store entrance and I witnessed my very first “Nelson Security Breach Moment.” These were freaky, and difficult to describe. It’s like, here are basically a bunch of young girls, who, individually, would be about as harmless as a butterfly. But if you get a large mass of them together, torque up the emotion and adrenalin, throw in a dash of impatience and urgency, then suddenly, you’re looking at a crushing throng of humanity that is threatening to steamroll its way over security guards, album displays, and anything else in its wake. 

Security would usually manage to calm these momentary outbursts. But at one point, perhaps around four hours in, it seemed like maybe someone was knocked down, and the proverbial panic button was pushed. Next thing we knew, we saw this impromptu employee/security guard sort of human-shield/full-body pressing technique kick into effect, and the crowd was inched back beyond the entrance area. This enabled an assistant manager to roll down the store’s security gate, effectively providing a protective barrier between us and them. 

What the fuck? we all sort of murmured. We didn’t really know what had happened. But before we could get a clear read on things, Gary walked over and informed us it was promptly time to bail and, in a flash, the signing was over. We were all escorted in reverse back through the concrete maze of hallways and elevators and into the limo, and then back to the brother’s house… all inside of ten minutes. Just like that. 

The funny thing was this: Once Brett and I jumped in my ol’ beat-up Vette and headed back to my place, it was like nothing had changed since earlier that afternoon. We were just a couple of struggling musicians, commiserating about the vicissitudes of balancing artistic expression with paying the water bill. At one point, as we were heading down Van Nuys Blvd. toward the crib, I looked over at him and said, “What the fuck just happened?” And we laughed. It was as if we had driven through a “Back to the Future” type of time-warp dimension where we were worshipped by the throngs… and then suddenly—bang!—we were back in the Valley heat and the LA grind like nothing had ever happened. Truly surreal.

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The Woes of Our 20th-Century Brains!

As I wake up every day and contemplate how much of my true potential as a human remains untapped, I’ve had a reoccurring thought for awhile now: we have all brought our 20th century brains into the 21st century.  Here’s what I mean:

We have dragged into the present era, a brain that has been developed and conditioned to learn, read, study, discern, memorize, and archive a somewhat finite amount of readily accessible “content"—as well as navigate a finite amount of outside stimuli and distraction—into an age of an incomprehensible degree of technology and access, where content, outside stimuli, and distraction are now infinite.

Yes, that’s one long-ass sentence! But think about it. The one-dimensional, linear way of thinking and learning that most of us grew up on in a 20th century classroom just ain’t gonna cut it these days if we truly wish to maximize the opportunities for expanded growth at hand.  Simply put, we have immediate access to virtually anything and everything we need, related to any form of expansion and evolution, both personally and professionally… and we are carrying around the “keys to the castle” in our back pockets (hello smartphone). Such was not remotely the case in the 70s, 80s, or even the 90s.

So, I’ve been spending some extra time lately revisiting a lot of old books, courses, and personal writings that encourage a more creative, expansive way of thinking and learning. It’s real work... kind of like going to the gym for your brain. But again, it’s essential if we want to stay afloat in the tsunami of content and stimuli that washes over us daily.  

Which leads us to…

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Three Questions to Consider in Upping our Brain Game

Here are the three main things I’ve been asking myself lately. And believe me… this is an area that I NEED to spend more time with myself:

1. What kind of system do I have in place to record original content (new ideas, etc), organize and prioritize what I want to learn more about, or archive my weekly “curriculum" of interests that I wind up studying?

2. How often do I practice memorization, or really stretch my mind to recall or remember things, even if it's just for the "brain workout?” 

3. What measures do I take each day to: protect my mind from the absolute trash that’s out there demanding my attention, or safeguard against those unstructured, time-wasting rabbit hole excursions?

Perhaps we all struggle with one or more of these things. But just like physical exercise, if we want a 21st Century Mind, we have to make consistent efforts to gradually increase our practice and conditioning of the almighty brain. 

More soon…. 

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If you are still with me at this point, I truly appreciate you hanging with me here. I’m aware that these Newsletters require a fair amount of your time and attention, and I don’t take that shit for granted!

Thank you, and I’ll catch ya next week!

Until then,
BR

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