Bob Timmins Tour Diary
The following are excerpts from a diary belonging to western Maine expatriate Bob Timmins (apparently the intention was for it to be published in Rolling Stone magazine). We received the journal anonymously last week. We at Rave On feel it gives a rare glimpse into the life of an artist who is "about to realize all his dreams and then some."
July 16.
I'm really feeling at home here in Brookridge, Mass. I'm so glad I moved away from western Maine and all the bullshit that's been going on there. I feel really bad for Perry. It sucks that he got run over, but that dude needed to get his fat nose out of Bob Timmins' business and pronto. He had no right putting on a car wash for my son. Dylan knows that he'll be taken care of as soon as I make bank on this record deal I'm going to be offered next week. As for Rhonda, nobody mentions the fact that she and Doug Sheffield from Top Flight were rumored to be carrying on an affair behind Bob Timmins' back.
Top Flight
(Sheffield is second from left)
I gotta be honest, knocking those dinks out of the water in that readers poll felt better than the sweetest orgasm. That victory really was the catalyst for my new life. It just showed me that I can do anything I want to if I put my mind to it. Western Maine really is a tiny place when you think about it. It seemed huge when I was struggling just to get gigs at The Brew Pub, but now that I'm really successful, I just doesn't seem to fit anymore. I've taken a lot of heat from those dickshines at Rave On for moving but I'll be damned if I let those cockknockers tell me how to live my life. It's only caviar and Chablis for Bob Timmins from here on out. Think I'll pop over to McMulligan's Tavern and show everybody the new song I just wrote. It's called "Baby's Rockin' Boogie Shoes," and I know it's going to be a top 3 single when my record comes out by the end of the year.
July 17th.
Just had a great meeting with my manager. Walt Billups is the greatest manager I could have ever hoped for. I'm so grateful that we found each other. He, of course, made his name as the guiding force behind Mahogany Rush, GTR and Emerson Lake and Powell, and more recently as the brains behind the Master Monsters of Rock tour featuring his three current clients: Uriah Heep, Creedence Clearwater Revisited and Jeff Thorogood (George's younger brother -he's as good on the flute as George is on the guit box!). Walt said he hopes to have Timmins (that's the name of my new band -I think it says it all! ) on that tour during its final two weeks after all my record deal stuff is wrapped up. Speaking of which, Walt says it's looking really good for our showcase in New York. He says he landed us a plum spot at the premiere showcase club in NYC: Kenny's Castaways. We go on at 7:00 on Sunday night. Walt says this is perfect because when you go on earlier, all the A & R (that means Albums & Records) people still have fresh ears. He says he's gotten really favorable and interesting responses from workers at RCA, Arista, Sony and a label called Television Tunes that I've never heard of.
Man, I hate not knowing which label I'll be signed to by the end of the month. It sucks not having a tape or anything to play for these people, but Walt said that they're all really knocked out when they hear about the Rave On readers poll award. I guess those asslicks up there are good for something after all. Maybe I'll let them have the scoop when I get signed. Who am I kidding? That honor goes to Jan and the gang at R. Stone! Ok, off to rehearsal now. I can't wait to play the guys the new song I came up with this morning. It's called "Jukebox Lover," and it is a kicking little song. Man, they're going to dig it.
July 18th
Practice was magical last night. My new team is so much better than those fuck knuckles up in western Lame, it's not even funny. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the supporting players of Timmins: Hunt Gormley on bass (he currently plays with the Rudy Lothbern Project but we all know those days are numbered, huh?!), Gary Stendleton on rhythm guitar, keyboards and flute (he's right up there with Thorogood as far as I'm concerned, and he's able to keep up with Bobby T's guitar onslaught -no easy task!) and Mr. Cedric Daniels on the skins. Cedric is my man! He brings a whole different shade to my music. He acts all cool when I ask him to give me five but I can tell he knows I'm down with his bad self! Cedric you are the man, my dude!
Cedric
Those guys played "Mary Lou," "Rockin' My Life Away," "Betty Lou" and "Baby's Rockin' Now" like they'd been playing them all their lives. I am so excited about the future. Cedric said he needs to know how the money will be split up, but I told him to just concentrate on the music and things will probably work out just great. I thought I heard him say something under his breath but maybe he was just coughing or something. I'm paying these guys a lot of good money already. Walt said that for tax purposes, all the major expenditures have to be billed to my credit cards. He said everything will even out when I'm bringing in fat ducats.
Tried to call Dylan today, but his mother told me to stuff it. I told her that she'll be crying all over Doug Sheffield's's satin jacket after I buy back custody of Dylan. She said it doesn't work that way. What a ditz, Walt assured me that once I get my advance all I have to do is send a check to the judge for $5,000 and I'll get custody of my son. He really knows his way around the law books. I can't wait to be riding down the highway in a big tour bus with a swimming pool in the back, my son on one side and Naomi on the other feeding me grapes and painting my portrait. She's going to show me her idea for the covers of Portraits tomorrow. I know I'll love it.
July 19th.
Last day of rehearsals before we leave to tour our way down to NYC. The itinerary looks awesome: Thursday in Pittsfield, Mass; Friday in Windsor Locks, CT; Saturday in Camden, New Jersey and Sunday -the big night in NYC, baby! I think we're almost ready.
Met with my lady today and she showed me her ideas for Portraits. God, she's gifted. Each of the three CDs will have a different cover. The first is a painting she did of me as a boy. Young me is laying in the grass staring up at the sky while a vision of Elvis, The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix and Foghat crowning me the king of rock and roll dances above.
The second is a painting of me in my late 20's, rocking out on my yellow Jackson Thruster. It's so ironic that she chose that guitar out of all my many axes because that was the one on which I wrote "Rock 'n' Roll Dreams'll Come Through," the centerpiece of Portraits. The painting contains all the elements (positive and negative) that conspired to lead me on the journey to where I am today: my first band Poorboy; my drunk driving arrest of 1988 (I said the negative too!); my marriage to Rhonda; the birth of Dylan; the day Bob Seger's bassist came into Strings and Things to buy picks; the formation and break-up of the Bob Timmins Band; falling in love with Naomi (she portrays herself as the Goddess Aphrodite -how apropos!) and my leaving western Maine for greater things. Naomi chose to represent me as a Christ figure carrying a huge electric guitar on my back through the town of West Hoover while people are jeering (I wept when I saw this).
The cover of disc three features me at my present age, hovering above the state of Maine clad in a mystical white robe and shooting a bolt of lightening from my Epiphone at the horde of naysayers (I couldn't help noticing the most prominent one had a rather shiny chrome dome!) groveling at my feet for redemption, as the angels of rock (Hendrix, Janis, Lenonn, etc ) fly about my head. I wept when I saw this also. How could someone get it all so right?
Been thinking a lot about what Walt said the other day about my becoming a well-rounded rock star. Walt says that when Portraits hits I gotta be ready to branch out and maximize my visibility. I know I should be a movie star at some point so I'm going to buy that book that shows you how to do it. I think I'll be a pretty kick-ass movie star -I want to be as good as Travolta but also as cool as my main man Samuel L. Jackson. That dude is baaad!
Walt is looking into what it will take to make Portraits a DVD-ROM. Naomi has a DVD-ROM on her porta-comp, and I've been watching that a lot late at night. She's only got one DVD-ROM so far -The Runaway Bride- it's pretty cool, I think everyone should see it. I feel a real connection with Julia and Richard - I think the three of us are made from the same STUFF. Can't wait to hang out with them some time next year. I bet they've got a cool palace.
The guys played great tonight. WE ARE READY! We roll out tomorrow. Y'know when you're a kid and you have dreams of stardom, you wonder if it'll really happen, and what if it doesn't? Now that things are finally in place for me to bust wide open, all I can say is: IT'S ABOUT TIME. Sleep tight Pittsfield, Timmins is gonna rock your socks off tomorrow night!
July 20
As I write this, Hunt, Gary, Cedric (he's still the baddest!) and I are rockin' down the highway in Road Force Timmins (it's actually Walt's Winnebego- it's cool though!). Walt also hired a six man road crew (a guitar tech, a drum/flute tech, a keyboard tech, a front of house sound man, a monitor man, and a lighting guy) to help us out. They're riding in the Ryder truck ahead of us. I'm totally into this. I always hated people seeing me setting my own amp up and getting my own drinks. Fuck that.
Walt's #1 Rule of Rock is: "Never let 'em see you before the show." I couldn't agree more. The audience wants to think that you've just gotten off a helicopter when they see you walk out onstage. They don't want to see you haggling with the bartender at Maddison Square Gardens for a Miller before you go onstage. Anyway, I told the guys that if they do a good job they'll be treated very well in the years to come. I thought I heard one of them say something under his breath when I turned to walk away, but maybe he was just clearing his throat. I gotta work out some sort of incentive plan for my boys in Team Timmins. Oh, I forgot to mention that Walt's 18-year old daughter Corrine will be selling merch for us. Naomi designed these great shirts for the tour. The shirts are black and sleeveless, with me on the front with my cool aviator shades. The back of the shirt has the front cover of disc three and the words "I've Come To Show You The Way" in silver.
Soundcheck didn't quite go as planned. Scandals isn't really set up to have a production of our size. The stage is pretty small. So small that only Cedric can set up on it. He said there was no way in hell he'd be setting up on the floor, and that he'd walk if it came down to it. I said "chill bro," but that only seemed to make him madder. Walt talked to him for a while and Cedric calmed down. He keeps bringing up the fact that he did that tour with Peter Wolf back in '87, and while I agree that that is a great thing to have on his resume, Timmins is going to make The J. Geils Band look like a frog fart.
The club only has a vocal PA, so there wasn't much for Karl the soundman to do. Same story with the lighting rig -actually there wasn't one. Bert, the lighting engineer, said he'll probably end up putting a red gel over the light bulb that hangs over the band area and go over to the hotel and stroke it.
**Back at the hotel after the show**
We smoked!! Man, what a rush. There were only about 20 people there, but they really loved us. The vibe was incredible. I felt like the band, the crew and the audience was one organism. I thought I was going to blow out some pant pudding when we went to the bridge on "Fisherman's Daughter." Walt said he hadn't been so energized at a rock show since the first Emerson, Lake and Powell gig.
Hunt
One weird thing happened that could have turned the show into a disaster: It seems Hunt has a nasty/self-destructive streak in him that doesn't become visible until he downs a couple beers and takes the stage. About halfway through the set, Hunt -all 5' 9"/120 lbs of him- started in on this one muscle-bound guy in the audience who was sitting all by himself. Hunt kept implying that the guy was "queer bait" and that he was trying to get Hunt to come back to the stockroom with him to "get plowed." The muscle-bound dude took it good- naturedly for about two minutes. When Hunt wouldn't stop, the guy simply strolled up to the stage area and broke a table over Hunt's head. I was able to sweet talk the guy into laying off Hunt by letting him sing any song he wanted with us. Fortunately, the guy had great taste. He chose "Night Moves." We played the song, he sang (somewhat off key but hey, it helped smooth things over!), and the show went on and we killed 'em. Sold a T-shirt too.
July 21
Ugh. This bare bones style of touring is getting on my nerves. Cedric and I had a big fight this morning because I demanded he get his fat ass off my bunk and let me get some sleep. He called me a pud wack, and I told him to suck beef. Hunt broke it up before it got too out of control. I wish Walt was riding with us in the Winnebago. But he feels he needs to ride to each town in a limo, and I guess he's earned the right to do that. I need to be patient, because someday next week it'll be me who's riding in that limo!
Got to Windsor Locks today and discovered that the show had been moved from Lady Luck's to a warehouse on the outskirts of town. It seems Lady Luck's got busted last night for underage gambling and the place was shut down. Walt pulled some strings and got us put on a bill with some new young bands at this place. I don't think I've ever heard anything by Hatebreed, Sick Of It All or Suburban Discharge.
It feels weird being so much older than these other musicians, but this will give me a chance to show the younger kids some pointers. I'm looking at it as a chance to get some ideas for the mentor program I'm going to start when I'm massive.
***Later***
What a waste of time. We never even got to play! Halfway through Suburban Discharge's set, this gang of bald- headed dudes (no it wasn't an army of Perry Shepherds -what a nightmare that would be!) showed up and started fighting with all the young kids who came to hear us play our music. I got up onstage and tried to be the voice of reason, but I got clubbed in the back of the head by one of the skinheads. The cops came and chased everyone away, but a bunch of our stuff got stolen during the confusion. Everything of Gary's was stolen with the exception of his back-up flute. My beloved Jackson Goblin was lifted also. Cedric says someone stole a pair of his briefs.
Hatebreed at soundcheck
We eased our sorrows by going to the hotel and drinking by the pool. Man, that Corrine has a nice little bod. She was parading around in this little bikini right in front of me. I really think she was flirting with me. Thank God I'm not married anymore. Well, I guess I am still technically, but it's over as far as I'm concerned. I really think she was flirting with me. Oh well, stardom has it's privileges!
Corrine
(photo B. Timmins)
July 22
Riding in the Winnebego. I'm totally depressed. I talked with Dylan this morning. He says his mother told him that I had been executed in prison because I had murdered someone. I knew Rhonda was low, but I can't believe she would tell the precious sweet fruit of our loins such a thing. Try as I might, I could not convince my son that he was not talking to a ghost. He didn't even seem upset that i was 'dead,' he just kept asking what famous dead people like George Burns, Buddy Rich and Casey Stengel are really like.
Compounding my misery is the fact that I can't get Corrine out of my head. Man, is that a luscious bod. Oh man, I would do just about anything to get a taste of that. That truly is the kind of suga papa likes. C'mon Bobby, relax, she's your manager's daughter. You'll get all the groupies you want in a couple weeks.
Camden truly is the worst city on Earth. I walked 2 blocks from the club (a dive called Putnam's) and was relieved of my wallet, watch and belt. Why did they take my belt?! Then, as I was running back to the club, I got a ticket for 'sidewalk running.' I told the cop that I had just been mugged, but he said I had better shut up or he'd take me down to the 'butt hut.' I know the rock gods are testing me -I also know that I will emerge from this victorious! I just need to get through this day.
**Later**
Timmins is the greatest band on Earth. There, I said it. If we can deliver a set that damn good in the world's worst club to an audience of 3, then I hate to think of the damage we're going to do to a packed arena next year. Cedric truly is the baddest dude on the planet -hell, he's almost as black as I am! Gary and Hunt were right on too. They played "Keep Rockin'" like I'd always dreamed it would sound. I swear I saw Corrine salivating at one point while she was watching me. Man, I really want that stuff she's got. Want it bad. Real bad.
I gotta put that stuff out of my mind. All we have to do is play half as good tomorrow as we did tonight and the world is ours. Just think -by eight tomorrow night I'll be well on my way to all the things Walt and I have talked about: giving the world an important piece of art (PORTRAITS); getting my credit cleared up; purchasing a castle in Hollywood; being a star (rock, movie and whatever else); rubbing elbows with all my idols ("Bob, this is Sharon Stone, she said she has been dying to meet you." "Pardon me Mr. Travolta, I've got to talk to the newly-divorced Ms. Stone now. Oh, hello Mr. Clapton, yes I can give you a few lessons."); eating all the food I want; buying a car; man, the list goes on and on.
Sweet dreams everybody. By this time tomorrow, I'll be the emperor of rock.
This is where the diary ends. For a review of the Kenny's Castaways show, please click: