The Best Of A Bad Situation

While this story doesn't have anything to do with my personal experience in the PNW, it's still worth telling here. It's a bit lengthy, but worth the read...enjoy!!

I began my obsession with Jerry Cantrell back in 1999, when I was still with my last boyfriend. Getting into Alice In Chains was one of the few good things that came out of that horrid relationship. AIC is an amazing group, with heartfelt, emotional songs, mostly written by the late, great Layne Staley (RIP) and Jerry.
In December of 2000, my BFF told me that Jerry was doing a show in San Francisco the following month, and that I simply had to be there. As a Christmas/birthday gift (my birthday is actually the day before Jerry's!!), she totally hooked me up: hotel room, tickets to the show, and a tune-up for the car I had at the time!! She rules!!
I took my friend Maddy with me (BFF couldn't take time off work to go with me), and we got to Slim's at around 2 pm the day of the show...Jerry hadn't even shown up yet!! When he did pull up in his black Yukon, I went into fangirl mode, trying not to geek out that he was actually there in front of me. I was disappointed, however, when he got out of his truck and was sporting a full beard...yuck! *lol*
I said hi to him, and he said hi back, then entered the club through the front door. A few minutes later, he came out and started unloading his equipment...he didn't have any roadies! At one point, his arms were so full of gear, that I opened the club door for him...he thanked me, and again I tried not to geek out.
Long story short (too late, I know. LOL!!), I was front row for the show, and took tons of pictures of Jerry doing what he does best. Toward the end of the show, Jerry announced that he'd be back in SF in February for a show at The Pound...heck yeah, I'd be there!! After the show, I waited out back with a bunch of other diehards, waiting for Jerry to come out. I got to "officially" meet Jerry, and he signed the "Boggy Depot" songbook that I brought with me....and he reminded me about the show the following month. No, Jerry, I won't forget.
After getting home and developing my film, I decided that I was going to do something special for Jerry: I grabbed the best 9 photos, took them to a do-it-yourself framing place, and put together a 20x20 photo frame of my favorite shots from the January show. My plan was to wrap it and present it to him on the day of the February show.
Again, I got to the venue before he did. When he showed up, I was beyond stoked that he had shaved!! I remember thinking, "Dang, this man is beautiful!!" Before he was able to get out of his truck, I was on my way to say hello, with gift in hand...and he totally remembered me!! Being that this was 1999, I don't remember his exact words, but I do remember that he was very gracious and appreciative of someone giving him a gift. I also remember his excitement as he opened it and was told that the photos were ones that I'd taken at his previous show and that I'd put the frame together myself...he loved the effort and thought that had gone into it. I asked if I could take a picture of him holding the frame, and he was more than happy to oblige. One of his dudes was there (I don't remember who the guy was), so he took the pic. Then Jerry said, "Safety shot?" Yes, please! This time, I was in the photo as well, with Jerry being a goofball behind me. LOL!!
Fast forward to March 16th, 2002 ~ Austin, Texas. I went to many other Jerry shows during the time between SF and Austin, and gradually became friends with Jerry's bassist, Adam Stanger. In early '02, Jerry was confirmed to play Austin's yearly arts festival, SXSW, the day before my birthday, at Stubb's BBQ. Adam surprised me one night by telling me that he'd get me into that show as a birthday gift. SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!! I got my flight and hotel sorted out and was excited beyond words to be on my way. Again, to make an amazing story short, after having dinner with Adam, I had the amazing honor and privilege of meeting "Brother" AND "The Rooster"!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Later in the evening I also met Vinni Paul and the legendary Dimebag Darrell (RIP) from Pantera!!!!!!!! After soundcheck, we were hanging out backstage, and Adam was looking through my Jerry photo albums. I can't remember why I chose to bring them with me to the show, but I'm so glad I did: as Adam was flipping through the pages, he suddenly stopped on one particular page, and looked at me with his mouth hanging open. He said something like this, "You gave him this photo frame?!? The one he's holding in this picture??" I knew which one he meant, so I said, Yeah," and told him the story. He continued with, "I can't believe you gave him this!! I just saw it in the game room at his ranch in Oklahoma!!! It's sitting on the piano!!!!" I was stunned to hear that Jerry had it in a place where it could be seen!!! I was giddy for the rest of my trip over that bit of info...
Fast forward again, to the release of Jerry's "Degradation Trip, Vol. 1& 2." In the liner notes I read that Jerry's bluetick coonhound Monkey had died. Being an animal lover, I was really sad about this, so I commissioned an artist friend of mine who specialized in pet paintings to paint Monkey's portrait onto a 5 pound stone. As a "model" for Monkey, I gave her a guitar magazine that had a pic of Jerry with Monkey, and she said that she could get the other details from a random bluetick coonhound pic that she had lying around. On my way to the Palladium in Hollywood, California, on May 29th, 2002, where Jerry was opening for Nickelback that night, I picked up the painted stone and was beyond thrilled with the finished product. I knew Jerry was going to love it! I got there early enough to case out Jerry's tour bus, and met up with some friends I'd made at various Jerry shows. After Jerry's set, we went to hang out by the bus, cuz none of us were interested in watching "Picklesack." I mentioned to Bevan (drummer for Comes With The Fall as well as Jerry's backing band for the tour) that I had something very special for Jerry, and would he mind letting Jerry know. Within minutes, I was being escorted onto the bus!! Jerry was on and off again, being pulled away for a photoshoot just outside the bus, as well as a meeting with his manager in the back room of the bus. I waited for Jerry for almost 2 hours, but once his meeting was finished, he came out and sat across from me, saying hi and asking how I was. He offered me something cold to drink (non-alcoholic, since he'd quit drinking by this point), then said, "You have something for me?" I said yes, but that I'd rather not give it to him in front of everyone because I didn't know how he was going to react...I didn't want him to be embarrassed if he got emotional. So he led me to the back room of the tour bus and shut the door!! I wasn't nervous, because my admiration of and obsession with Jerry has only been heartfelt, and never involved anything sexual...in fact, the simple thought of that frightened me. *lol*
My friend had put the Monkey-rock in a simple brown paper bag and stamped puppy paw prints on the outside...no wrapping required. Jerry and I sat down, and I told him to just put his hands in the bag and pull out what was inside. He looked at me kind of sideways, but gave me an intrigued smile and reached into the bag. When he saw what it was, he got misty, but smiled HUGE, saying excitedly, "It's my dawg!! It's my dawg!!" He leaned over, gave me a big hug, and said, "Thank you SO much...this is really awesome, and so thoughtful of you!" There was more amazing conversation in that little room, but that's another story for another day.
Fast forward (last time!) to early November of 2002. I'd learned that Jerry was going to be on MTV Cribs, so I set my VCR to record it whilst I watched the first airing. And I watched, stunned at what I was seeing. When it was over, I immediately got on the phone to my BFF and totally geeked out as I told her that they not only did a close-up of the photo frame I'd given Jerry back in February of 2001, but that I also caught a glimpse of the Monkey-rock I gave him on his tour bus in late May!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She geeked right along with me as I told her that the photo frame was on the piano in the game room, just as Adam had told me back in March at Stubb's!!!!! I giggled though my giddy tears of joy, and to this day, this story (along with other Jerry anecdotes) is a source of much laughter between my BFF and me.
Thanks for taking the time to read...and don't miss the captions under the following photos. \m/

At The Pound in San Fran, February, 2001

"Safety shot."

Jerry with Monkey, from a guitar magazine that I can't remember.

The finished Monkey-rock..."It's my dawg!!"

On the tour bus: I took this shot of Jerry holding the Monkey-rock the night I gave it to him.. In Jerry's episode of Cribs, there's a glimpse of it on the counter behind him, and he turns and looks at it right before they cut to him picking up Shaquille O'Neal's shoe.