MR

A co-worker just COMPLETELY surprised me... said he had something special to show me, and apparently someone I knew many, MANY years ago now works for one of our clients. She was a big fan of our local band Silk Cutt at the time (apparently named after a brand of English cigarettes), and has kept pictures of us ever since then. She has stuff I haven't seen since I was probably 20 or so! Anyway, she sent a rough scan of some photos of us playing at the State Fair one year, and it was always one of my favorites. I couldn't believe it, and had to go show everyone in the office.... haha!

Anyway, I may have given some backstory on that band before -- I'd only been singing for a year, and we were huge fans of Duran Duran, INXS, The Cult, etc., and modeled our look after DD especially. I was the cross between Simon and Nick, my roommate played bass and was the John Taylor of the band, and our drummer was Roger... haha! We thought we were the coolest dudes we knew, and there were absolutely no other bands around like us at the time. What's funny is that we never played that many live gigs, actually, but that one show was really the pinnacle of brief tenure. We had many more "fans" than we deserved, and most of them just enjoyed coming to our rehearsals and hanging out and partying with us. Ahh yes... the 80's! A whole city full of rednecks, and then the 4 of us, with our eyeliner and jazz shoes... Don't the British call cigarettes "fags"? What an appropriate name for our band, then, because we got called that by a whole bunch of jealous rednecks whose girlfriends we were stealing... LOL! Man, we got chased out of a few parties by a gang of them...

Dang, I'll have to see what else this girl has... this really took me down memory lane!

Dude, you sure you weren't going for the Mallory look back then?

SO COOL!!! How many cans of Aqua~Net a night for you?????

That is to cool We have are very own rock star on the board. You looked great

Look at Rip bringin' cheesy back!

Where was this pic?
Rock City or Checkmate?


later~

NealIsGod wrote:Dude, you sure you weren't going for the Mallory look back then?

LOL! Actually, I had a crush on Mallory! Hell, I think I had a crush on everyone back then.... By the way, I believe I was 18 in this picture.

Michigan Girl wrote::lol:

SO COOL!!! How many cans of Aqua~Net a night for you?????

I DID have Aqua Net! Unscented of course -- the sickly sweet smell of the scented version is something I never want to experience again! I ended up growing my hair out several inches longer, and the best way to describe it was a Nick Rhodes mullet... not quite a redneck mullet (which I used to call a "crew cut with a dip flip... haha!), because mine was longer on the top. But I can't believe how long I would spend fixing it each day -- would hang it completely upside down to blow dry it, then spray and tease it. I was often told I spent more time fixing my hair than any girl... LOL! And around that time I also experimented with dying it, and it went from bleach blonde to jet black, to kinda orange-y once I used some color stripper on it. At that point, I opted for cutting it all off and having it dyed back my original color...

Dang, those were the days! Probably my absolute favorite point in my pre-hubby/daddy lifetime! I don't even know that guy anymore...

Nice photo Rip. They should clean up quite nicely -

Rhiannon wrote:Look at Rip bringin' cheesy back!

Hey, it ain't easy being cheesy!

Arkansas wrote:Where was this pic?
Rock City or Checkmate?

LOL!!! No, this was at our State Fair, but you know your local clubs well! Didn't Rock City become Nite Life? I used to go there fairly often, and once sang "Separate Ways" there with the band the bass player you see joined after we split. Their singer was a HUGE Steve Perry fan who really sounded quite a bit like him, so no doubt they played lots of Journey -- something our band never did. I went to see them play at Rock City/Nite Life (whatever), and he invited me up on stage to trade verses with him -- that was fun! As much as I liked that guy, he also seemed to be a pathological fib-teller, and claimed to have had personal vocal lessons from Perry -- something I never believed.

Believe it or not, I never made it to the Checkmate Club -- don't think I've been there a single time, but I actually passed by it the other day! Is it still open? I always heard it was a DIVE...

finalfight wrote:Nice photo Rip. They should clean up quite nicely -

I have one that is my absolute favorite of all -- a posed shot that was every bit as cool as any album cover, and we liked it so much that we had several copies blown up into I believe 16x20 and signed and framed them as gifts for our family. I think we printed 5 like this, and my mother still has one hanging on her wall -- I need to get it and scan it.

I remember I was all rocked out, and the rest of the guys showed up in shirts and ties!!! But somehow the contrast between us ended up making the photo kinda special. The bass player and I got an apartment together right after we graduated high school, and I also remember being pissed when he signed one of those big pics over to his ho of the week! I said, dude! You probably won't even be talking to her after next week, so why give her one of these? LOL!

Man, that apartment... I could tell stories for DAYS, but it's probably not a good idea... We used to take turn week to week buying groceries, and I would also get ticked when his pals would come over and scarf up all the food from the fridge like they owned the place. That was actually part of the reason we only lasted a year there. He told me pretty specifically he wanted his place to be kinda of a "crash pad" for friends, where they could hang and weeze and crap... I wasn't down for that at all. But we went our "separate ways" and he got what he wanted, and so did I. Soon after, he moved to L.A. to pursue the music scene there, and was still there until just several years ago. Never saw him again until about 8 years ago when I went to L.A. and found that his band was opening up for Stephen Pearcy, and we got together and had a great time! I have several great pics from that night. He's since actually given up music and moved back here, and I need to look him up and give him a call! Great guy, and we always had a blast together.

That's a great story. Its cool that you met up again all that time later and both of you were still in the music business. Him opening for Stephen Pearcy and you as head of promotion and marketing for Dokken!

you were an Andrew Ridgeley away from being...WHAM.

Maui Tom wrote:you were an Andrew Ridgeley away from being...WHAM.

LOL!!!! Another memory! I was actually really wanting to do "Edge of Heaven" around the time we split, and always loved that song... we just didn't get around to it. I have sung "Careless Whisper" several times, though, and had started working on "Everything She Wants" a few years ago, but never followed thru...

Rip, your stories are always fun to read...still need to look for your "shirt" in the DVD.

tammy wrote:Rip, your stories are always fun to read...still need to look for your "shirt" in the DVD.

If you like Rip's stories, I have an endless supply... LOL! I'm thinking of a great one involving two girls we met in a Waffle House right now, or our antics at the workplace Christmas parties, or our Camaro/Firebird hijinks... but best not to get started...

Rip Rokken wrote:If you like Rip's stories, I have an endless supply... LOL! I'm thinking of a great one involving two girls we met in a Waffle House right now, or our antics at the workplace Christmas parties, or our Camaro/Firebird hijinks... but best not to get started...

I'm going to get you on a sugar high at the banquet next month and have you tell all these stories. BJG will transcribe, I'll interview, and we'll publish it all right here... the Rip Rokken tell all!

Rip Rokken wrote: ... LOL!!! No, this was at our State Fair, but you know your local clubs well! Didn't Rock City become Nite Life? ...

Used to go there quite a bit myself. In fact, saw REO there one night after playing Barton at the State Fair. '88, I think. There were a lot of shows out there at the 'Hall of Industry' also.

Rip Rokken wrote: ... Believe it or not, I never made it to the Checkmate Club -- don't think I've been there a single time, but I actually passed by it the other day! Is it still open? I always heard it was a DIVE ...

The 'Select-a-Mate' closed years ago. You went there to drink your face off, dance your a$$ off, and get your brains boinked out. It was just an 80's after hours meat market, nothing else. Prime time for that playground was 12-6.


later~

Rhiannon wrote:

Rip Rokken wrote:If you like Rip's stories, I have an endless supply... LOL! I'm thinking of a great one involving two girls we met in a Waffle House right now, or our antics at the workplace Christmas parties, or our Camaro/Firebird hijinks... but best not to get started...

I'm going to get you on a sugar high at the banquet next month and have you tell all these stories. BJG will transcribe, I'll interview, and we'll publish it all right here... the Rip Rokken tell all!

Perfect job for me, too, as you know how I have such a way with words. Um... and pictures.

bluejeangirl76 wrote:

Rhiannon wrote:

Rip Rokken wrote:If you like Rip's stories, I have an endless supply... LOL! I'm thinking of a great one involving two girls we met in a Waffle House right now, or our antics at the workplace Christmas parties, or our Camaro/Firebird hijinks... but best not to get started...

I'm going to get you on a sugar high at the banquet next month and have you tell all these stories. BJG will transcribe, I'll interview, and we'll publish it all right here... the Rip Rokken tell all!

Perfect job for me, too, as you know how I have such a way with words. Um... and pictures.

Brazilliant!

Rip Rokken wrote:A co-worker just COMPLETELY surprised me... said he had something special to show me, and apparently someone I knew many, MANY years ago now works for one of our clients. She was a big fan of our local band Silk Cutt at the time (apparently named after a brand of English cigarettes), and has kept pictures of us ever since then. She has stuff I haven't seen since I was probably 20 or so! Anyway, she sent a rough scan of some photos of us playing at the State Fair one year, and it was always one of my favorites. I couldn't believe it, and had to go show everyone in the office.... haha!

Anyway, I may have given some backstory on that band before -- I'd only been singing for a year, and we were huge fans of Duran Duran, INXS, The Cult, etc., and modeled our look after DD especially. I was the cross between Simon and Nick, my roommate played bass and was the John Taylor of the band, and our drummer was Roger... haha! We thought we were the coolest dudes we knew, and there were absolutely no other bands around like us at the time. What's funny is that we never played that many live gigs, actually, but that one show was really the pinnacle of brief tenure. We had many more "fans" than we deserved, and most of them just enjoyed coming to our rehearsals and hanging out and partying with us. Ahh yes... the 80's! A whole city full of rednecks, and then the 4 of us, with our eyeliner and jazz shoes... Don't the British call cigarettes "fags"? What an appropriate name for our band, then, because we got called that by a whole bunch of jealous rednecks whose girlfriends we were stealing... LOL! Man, we got chased out of a few parties by a gang of them...

Dang, I'll have to see what else this girl has... this really took me down memory lane!

Ahhh hem....and we should care about all of this because?????

Tomulator wrote:

Rip Rokken wrote:A co-worker just COMPLETELY surprised me... said he had something special to show me, and apparently someone I knew many, MANY years ago now works for one of our clients. She was a big fan of our local band Silk Cutt at the time (apparently named after a brand of English cigarettes), and has kept pictures of us ever since then. She has stuff I haven't seen since I was probably 20 or so! Anyway, she sent a rough scan of some photos of us playing at the State Fair one year, and it was always one of my favorites. I couldn't believe it, and had to go show everyone in the office.... haha!

Anyway, I may have given some backstory on that band before -- I'd only been singing for a year, and we were huge fans of Duran Duran, INXS, The Cult, etc., and modeled our look after DD especially. I was the cross between Simon and Nick, my roommate played bass and was the John Taylor of the band, and our drummer was Roger... haha! We thought we were the coolest dudes we knew, and there were absolutely no other bands around like us at the time. What's funny is that we never played that many live gigs, actually, but that one show was really the pinnacle of brief tenure. We had many more "fans" than we deserved, and most of them just enjoyed coming to our rehearsals and hanging out and partying with us. Ahh yes... the 80's! A whole city full of rednecks, and then the 4 of us, with our eyeliner and jazz shoes... Don't the British call cigarettes "fags"? What an appropriate name for our band, then, because we got called that by a whole bunch of jealous rednecks whose girlfriends we were stealing... LOL! Man, we got chased out of a few parties by a gang of them...

Dang, I'll have to see what else this girl has... this really took me down memory lane!

Ahhh hem....and we should care about all of this because?????

You cared enough to reply though. Just ignore it then if its not of interest.

Because this message board is a community and through it many people make friends and share interesting stories. If it makes you feel any better we could pretend that Ripper was singing a Journey song.

Tomulator wrote:

Rip Rokken wrote:A co-worker just COMPLETELY surprised me... said he had something special to show me, and apparently someone I knew many, MANY years ago now works for one of our clients. She was a big fan of our local band Silk Cutt at the time (apparently named after a brand of English cigarettes), and has kept pictures of us ever since then. She has stuff I haven't seen since I was probably 20 or so! Anyway, she sent a rough scan of some photos of us playing at the State Fair one year, and it was always one of my favorites. I couldn't believe it, and had to go show everyone in the office.... haha!

Anyway, I may have given some backstory on that band before -- I'd only been singing for a year, and we were huge fans of Duran Duran, INXS, The Cult, etc., and modeled our look after DD especially. I was the cross between Simon and Nick, my roommate played bass and was the John Taylor of the band, and our drummer was Roger... haha! We thought we were the coolest dudes we knew, and there were absolutely no other bands around like us at the time. What's funny is that we never played that many live gigs, actually, but that one show was really the pinnacle of brief tenure. We had many more "fans" than we deserved, and most of them just enjoyed coming to our rehearsals and hanging out and partying with us. Ahh yes... the 80's! A whole city full of rednecks, and then the 4 of us, with our eyeliner and jazz shoes... Don't the British call cigarettes "fags"? What an appropriate name for our band, then, because we got called that by a whole bunch of jealous rednecks whose girlfriends we were stealing... LOL! Man, we got chased out of a few parties by a gang of them...

Dang, I'll have to see what else this girl has... this really took me down memory lane!

Ahhh hem....and we should care about all of this because?????

Because it was an amusing and delightful story, like many of Rip's are? He's got a lot of friends here dude, and if you don't like it don't read it.

Don't be a jackass.

Rip, loved the pic and the stories... I have plenty of stories of my own that will hopefully be added to as my life goes on! Maybe one day my old band's pictures will randomly show up and surprise me when I least expect it.

Tomulator wrote:Ahhh hem....and we should care about all of this because?????

Tomulator wrote:Ahhh hem....and we should care about all of this because?????

Because you touch yourself at night.

Has your question been answered sufficiently or do you require further explanation????

I've heard Rip sing Journey...

Melissa wrote:I've heard Rip sing Journey...

Meh too... and I thought it wasn't all that bad. But I had been drinking and the lights reflecting off those gold dragons were really distracting.

Tomulator wrote:Ahhh hem....and we should care about all of this because?????

Hey, man, I don't disrupt your Toto threads, so please show me the same courtesy... now VAMOOSE!!!