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Day 1:
It's dark and it's late when we land in San Francisco; the perfect time to meet Gene Simmons in a cemetery.
Tommy thought he got the jump on Luda tonight when he bailed out of New Orleans early but Luda caught a private jet and they all ended up in the cemetery at the same time. It's not as creepy as you'd think, but it is cold and it is raining and Gene Simmons is silhouetted by the moon in front of a mausoleum. It's almost like any horror movie from the 80's.
Gene is an interesting guy. I'd love to have been able to tour with KISS in the 70's. He does seem to know quite a bit about eco-friendly burial practices, maybe too much. Not everyone can keep a crowd entertained while dropping witty tidbits about being worm food and polluting the ground with formaldehyde run off from your coffin, but everyone is soaking up his knowledge like thirsty sponges.
I haven't ever given death a second thought, but now that I hear what Gene is saying I would hate to lay in the ground and rot, poisoning the earth with formaldehyde and the methane that builds up from oxygen deprived decomposition.
Enough about that for now. I'm off to listen to some more of what Gene has to say and I'll check back with you tomorrow.
Day 2:
Today is Earth day and it's beautiful. We've rolled in with Luda and crew on a mission to find out more about green burial. Gene challenged our guys to plan green burials for hip hop (Tommy's team) and rock (Luda's).
We are at the Green Apple Festival in Golden Gate Park. This place is a whole other kind of green and its hard not to get distracted from our goals. Tommy Lee showed up here too and Luda got a little revenge on him for running out in New Orleans by having the Grateful Dead guys call him up on stage to play with them.
That was a good show. 3 generations of musicians on stage jamming together and having a great time. The crowd loves it. This was one of those moments that I love in live music - standing just off stage watching the magic happen. I'm part of this. It's a great feeling.
Watching Tommy Lee on stage you can see why his career has endured - he loves playing the drums, you can't miss it when you watch him.
I don't see a lot of work getting done to plan funerals, though, everyone is enjoying the festival.
The funerals are going on at the beach right now. It's sunset, the air smells like kelp and sand and there are tons of people around waiting to be guests at the funeral of the moment.
Tommy is up first and he serves up an explosive event complete with choir, fireworks, all kinds of high energy shenanigans. I can't tell you the details of the funerals, I think they are something you have to see for yourself. Luda put on a comedy roast and Tommy got served a heaping helping of jokes about his lifestyle, women and manhood (of course. How could they not go there?) It was an experience that no other funeral I've been to can touch. Just wait until you see it.
~Roadie T
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