Jesus Jones, Schlotsky's. etc

I had two questions on my mind over the noon hour while I was out walking around and then buying a Subway sandwich (+ chips & drink) to bring back to my cube.

1. Whatever happened to Jesus Jones?

Remember him? He sang the song "Right Here Right Now" that topped the charts for a brief moment back in '91 or so. The reason I thought of him is because that's the song that was playing while I ordered my sub.

The first time I heard this song was when I saw this video back in '91. It was at about midnight in a deluxe penthouse in Las Vegas. I hadn't slept for 5 nights. My eyeballs were green. I was having major sleep deprivation halluciantions as I drove the Pinto with 4 bald tires through the scorching desert. Why was I there? Why was I not sleeping? No good answers.

I was living in Madison and supposedly going to a Technical College but had long stopped attending. Randy and I decided to drive a couple acquiantances from Madison to Las Vegas to attend a couple Grateful Dead shows. I don't know why. We had no intention of attending the shows ourselves. Why? Don't know. Why not attend if you are going to drive a couple thousand miles to make the trip. I don't know. Did the people we drove down there pay us or something? No. Did we have any money? Yes, a very little. Before we left town, we swung Paisan's, the Italian restaurant where I had done a little dishwashing. I had worked there on and off but had never collected my checks. I went there thinking I might have some money waiting for me and lo and behold there was probably $300 in wages waiting for me. We were psyched!

So we drove down there. I think I didn't sleep because we didn't stay in any motels, we'd just pull the car over and sleep. It was early Spring but still very wintery and cold. I could not sleep. How can you sleep in a Pinto with seat upright and the temperature about 20 degrees?

We arrived in Vegas after an ardous and forgettable journey. We went into a casino, the first one we found. Being 19 years old, we couldn't enter the actual casino part to play blackjack but there were some machines we could play. We had about $100 between us (which somehow needed to last us all the way to L.A. and then back to Madison). In all of 5 minutes we lost that in a machine where you insert silver dollars into a slot and it flings it up onto a shelf of other piled up silver dollars and you hope that some will fall off. We lost it all and then stood around like we had both been mildly electrocuted. Like from a 9-volt battery. Very low level shock.

Then, we got a little bit lucky. Since the Dead were in Vegas the casino was full of deadheads. One of the acquiantances we drove there with met someone who invited us up to the penthouse he'd rented to celebrate his birthday. We went up there. That's where I saw the Jesus Jones "Right Here Right Now" video on the big screen TV.

I don't know what it made me feel. Maybe I sort of liked it and I thought it was kida catchy. And kinda hopeful but cynical...and catchy. It was the beginning of the 90's. Who knew what could happen...

I didn't go to sleep that night until after the sun had come up. I was overtired. I do remember watching the sunrise over Las Vegas through the floor to ceiling window and drinking a Tequila Sunrise. I also recall hearing the Eagles song "Tequila Sunrise" at the same time but that couldn't have happened I don't think. I think I either made that part up or else made the part up about drinking the Tequila Sunrise. I might have made up both the drink and the song but I know for absolute certain that I did see the sunrise.

During the two Dead shows, Randy and I tried to sell unfrozen whatever-you-call-thems, those frozen treats that are a long flat tube and you push it up from the bottom as you eat it. We had some but no ice. No one bought any. We didn't see the shows. I just remember watching the people doing those whirling Deadhead dances. I didn't know what to make of it. I remember the dusty parking lot and all the hair and the curry-like scent of happy unwashed pot-smoking vegetarians.

I did see and hear a portly man who had to be approaching 40 years old yell "Thank You Jerry!" from the parking lot we were in after some faintly heard "solo" - most of the music was a full band solo all the time. And a slow one at that. I think candy bars and heroin were the drugs the Dead were imbibing at this particular moment in time. Jerry at least. Not that that is bad. I just think it makes for some sluggish jams.

Then we drove to L.A. to visit the home of one of the people we drove down there and to drop the other one off. I don't recall much other than that the person had a tennis court and a hot tub and they supposedly lived down the block from Michael Jackson.

What else did we do in L.A.? Got money wired to us from my sister to replace all 4 tires on the Pinto. I called my parents to let them know that I was in L.A. and hadn't been attending classes for some time. They weren't pleased - they were not just mad, they were mad and concerned. Ouch! Then we started the drive back. Smoking cigarettes and eating mostly convenience store snacks. I remember a snack-induced bellyache. I remember how weird Utah looked. It looked tripped out in an ancient manner.

Let it be known: we didn't do any drugs or drink anything besides a few beers (if that) on this trip. We were intoxicated on our own cluelessness.



2. Whatever happened to Schlotsky's?

They are great but somehow lost on the sandwich game. I think they played it cool when all the competition came in. Now I'd have to drive about 10 miles to get one. When did you last have a Schlotsky's?