June 16, 2000 -- Too Hot to Handle

I don't remember exactly how it happened, but somehow, in 1976, we hooked up with the british band UFO (Doctor, Doctor; Lights Out in London; Too Hot to Handle) and ended up hanging out with the guys in the band. I can't remember if we met them first and then went to see them play at The Golden West Ballroom in Norwalk, California, or if that's where we met them but, in any event, that show is my first real memory of UFO. I'm not even sure which of us went, but I know Lita was there and I'm pretty sure Cherie was as well. Anyway, we were backstage hanging out with the band when the opening act went on. I asked someone who the opening act was and was told "some local band from Orange County." They sounded pretty good through the walls, though, so Lita and I went and checked them out. The band was totally awesome. It turned out they weren't from Orange County, but rather were from Pasadena and were called Van Halen. So that night started our friendship not only with UFO, but with Van Halen, too.

It's hard to believe, looking at their picture now, but the guys in UFO were really fun and cool and Lita and I, in particular, and to a lesser extent Cherie, hung out with them alot when they were in town, especially Phil Mogg, the lead singer, and Pete Way, the bass player.



No, this isn't Spinal Tap, it's Michael (then known as Michel) Schenker,
Pete Way and Phil Mogg of UFO around the time we knew them

One day, Lita and I were visiting Pete and Phil at the Sunset Marquis, a funky hotel off the Sunset Strip in Hollywood where a lot of rock bands used to stay. Pete and Phil were really fun, kind of manic guys, and on the day we visited, someone had brought them a huge stack of American rock magazines that had feature stories on UFO. In a moment of frenzy, Pete and Phil ripped every one of them to shreds, strewing the pieces all over the floor of their living room. They then decided to have a water fight with us, and proceeded to blast Lita and me with squirt guns and glasses of water until, eventually, the floor was completely covered with soggy magazines and all of us were soaking wet. I had magazine pieces and ink plastered all over me and make-up dripping down my face so, when the fight was over, I asked the guys if I could use their shower. When I got out, I heard Lita calling me, so I wrapped a towel around myself and went out into the living room where Lita was on the phone to our manager.

Lita had called our manager to check in, and he asked to talk to us both at once. So Lita held up the phone receiver between us, and our manager told us we had just been booked to open for Queen in Hyde Park in England, an outdoor show that was expected to draw 100,000 people. We were, of course, quite ecstatic, so when it started getting a little bit hot in the room I figured it was just the excitement. Until I noticed that it was getting especially hot between my legs. So I looked down, and Pete and Phil had taken the one dry magazine left, lit it on fire, and were holding it beneath my towel! At that point, Lita and I wisely decided to leave, but later that week, Rodney Bingenheimer called and invited us to go to Disneyland with UFO. We couldn't resist.



The Runaways with Rodney Bigenheimer



As I remember it, the group that piled into Rodney's huge, old car to go to Disneyland that day consisted of Rodney, Lita, Cherie, Pete, Phil, Michel Schenker and me, and maybe the drummers from one or both bands. We ran around Disneyland all day long, having a great time, and after a few hours sat down at a cafe to have something to drink. At which point Michel got up and walked away. When he wasn't back after 45 minutes, Pete and Phil wandered off to look for him.

About a half an hour later, Pete and Phil came back, propping up between them Michel Schenker, stoned out of his mind on quaaludes and tripping (literally) through the bushes. He was so messed up, they had to take him out to Rodney's car where he promptly passed out. The rest of us continued to enjoy Disneyland for another couple of hours. When we went out to Rodney's car to drive back to L.A., Michel was still passed out in the back seat. He remained passed out all the way back to Hollywood and was still out cold when the rest of us stopped at the Rainbow Bar & Grill on the Sunset Strip to hang out.

We stayed at the Rainbow for hours as it was the big rock hang out in the '70's and a lot of fun. Around midnight, Rodney went out to check on Michel. Rodney came back and reported that Michel was still passed out, but had pissed all over his car and Rodney wasn't sure if he should have his car washed because, after all, it was Michel Schenker's urine. We persuaded Rodney to have his car cleaned, and Michel's behavior persuaded us to stop hanging out so much with UFO. But it was fun while it lasted.