The Saga continues......

Chapter Two- Feb. 13 to Feb. 14, 1999 "Greatest Hits"

Motley Crue was scheduled to play in the Spokane area for their "Greatest Hits" tour in Feb. of 1999.  I got in touch with Nikki a few weeks before the show, to invite him to dinner before the show.  To tell ya the truth, I was amazed him accepted.  Mostly because I knew how damn busy he must be, especially the day of a show.  A few friends of mine I had met on the internet were going to the show too, so we decided to meet and hang out.  Lorraine was flying in for the show all the way from Kansas, now that's a fan!  My other friend, Ryan, was coming in from Idaho.  Once I drove up to Spokane, I gave Nikki a call at his hotel.  He was kind of busy, and was having problems with his lap top computer that morning, so he asked me to call back a little later.  After about an hour, I called back, and we made arrangements for an early dinner that evening.  Then Nikki said "Hey, would ya mind if I brought Tommy too?"  I was like "Hell yeah, bring'em!"  I asked Nikki if he'd mind if I brought 2 friends, who were major fans, and he said it was kewl.  We made plans to met in the hotel lobby at 5:00.  I called Lorraine and Ryan and told them the plann, they were so excited, as was I.

 At about 5:00 on Saturday, Feb. 13th, we all hooked up in the hotel lobby. Nikki was all decked out!  Rcok star deluxe, hahhahahhahahaha. He came out of the elevator with his security guard, Chris "Hawk".  We all walked over and said hello and chatted a bit.  Then came Tommy, wearing sweat pants and holding a cell phone. After he was finished with his call, he walked over and greeted us.  Lorraine had brought Tommy a gift, a dual sterling silver picture frame with his son's names engraved on it.  He loved it!  Then we all headed to the parking lot.  We decided to take the band's rented Suburban truck to dinner. A few fans in the parking lot saw the guys and got a few autographs, before we headed down the streets of Spokane to dinner.  Nikki drove, hahhahahahahahaha, that was an experience in itself.

 When I invited Nikki to dinner, I asked him what kind of food he liked, and he said SUSHI!!! So we went to the Shogun Japanese restuarant downtown. We all headed back to the sushi bar, towards the back of the restuarant.  Luckily, it was early and not very busy, so we all fit at the sushi bar counter. It was Me, Lorraine, Ryan, Nikki, Tommy, and "Hawk".  The waitress handed us our sushi menu.  Now, I had NEVER eaten sushi in my life, but I knew what it was, raw seafood!  But, I thought I had to give it a try. I was sitting in between Nikki and Tommy.  We all placed out orders, and started talking about music, kids, relationships, fans, etc.  I asked Nikki and Tommy to sign a couple of my Crue albums, and they did, quite personally too! When our food got there, I was pretty nervous. Not only am I having dinner with my all time favorite band, but I'm having to eat raw seafood in front of them, for my very first time!  No pressure there!  I examined my "food" and asked Nikki "What's this green stuff?"  He said it was like mustard, but very mild.  I figured I'd just put the whole thing in my mouth, try not to chew it, and just swallow it.  Of course, everyone at the table was watching for my expression, hahahahahahaha.  Ahhhhh, wasabi, the "mild" mustard, yeah right!  Nikki kind of laughed, as did everyone else.  They got me, but it was all good.  We finished our meal, and I asked for the bill.  I started getting my checkbook out, I figured I invited them, so I was gonna pay!  Nikki saw what I was doing and said "LISA, put that away, we got it."  Wow, how kewl, Sixx bought us all dinner, what a guy!  Then we headed out the back door, but not before Tommy noticed a Karaoke machine, and went over to check it out.  Nikki soon followed.  Tommy wanted to sing "Rock the Casbagh", but they didn't have time, dammit!  That would have ruled!  So, we headed back out to the truck, and headed back to the hotel.  Tommy drove this time, hahahahahahahaha.

Back at the hotel parking lot, I asked Hawk to take a picture of all of us, to remember the evening by.  We all stood in the lot, and got a picture, that was kewl.  The guys had to meet with some contest winners before the show, so they had to get going. At this point, me, Lorraine, and Ryan headed over to the venue. A radio contest was going on, about the most dedicated fan.  We noticed a couple dressed in wedding attire.  I guess they got married earlier that day, and spent their  honeymoon at the Crue show, very kewl! ( Later that evening, Crue pulled the bride up on stage and let her take the final bow with them, and let her throw her bouquet into the crowd, hahahahhah).  I had 4th row tickets, but Lorraine and Ryan were up in the balcony.  My sister-in-law, Whitney, meet me at the show, but had missed dinner.  Her and I sat in our seats till about the 6th song.  Then "Hawk", Crue's security guard, came over and said "Nikki wants you up front, go get your friends". I ran up to the blcony to tell Ryan and Lorriane the good news.  Lorraine came back up front (front row, NIkki's side), while Ryan choose to stay behind and film the show from the balcony.  There we were touching the stage, about 2 feet away from Nikki!  I was videoing taping too, and got some REALLY close shots.  Nikki was hamming it up for us, it was killer. I had told Nikki at dinner that I was going to be bringing my 19 year old sister-in-law to the show, but she couldn't make it for dinner.  So, to make it up to her, at the end of "Smokin' in the boys Room", Nikki walked over to Whitney, put his bass around her neck, and made her play it!  She froze, she didn't know what to do, hahahahahahahaaha.  That was kewl of him to do for her.  I had a picture of it, but gave it to Whitney,cause I knew she'd want to keep it.  Towards the end of the show, Nikki walked over and handed all of us a handful of picks, very kewl.

  We had passes that night, but the security wasn't letting anyone go back, darnit.  So we went back over to the hotel.  We has an idea some of the Crue might be in the lounge, so we checked it out.  Wouldn't ya know it, there was Vince and "Hawk".  We all walked over, and asked Vince for a quick autograph, which he was happy to give.  We talked for a few minutes, then sat down at our own table for a drink.  "Machine" Graham came over, and sat with us, Lorraine bought him a glass of red wine.  We sat and chatted with him for about an hour.  He's a very kewl guy.  I tried calling NIkki's room on the house phone, to invite him down for a bit, but his line was busy for a while, so I gave up. After a while, I told everyone good night, thanked them, and went home.

As I drove back to Pasco, I left Nikki a voice mail, thanking him for taking the time to have dinner with me and my friends.  It was a dream come true!  I'd like to thank  Bob and Hawk for helping with the arrangements, you guys rock!

 Crue was playing the next night, Valentine's Day, at the Yakima Sun Dome.  I really wanted to take my son to a show.  He's alway wondered why I'm such a "Crue Freak".  Since I went to the show the night before, I knew when to have my son sit down when the dancers came on.  I hadn't bought tickets to the show, cause I wasn't sure if I'd be going, but Nikki provided 2 free tickets to me and my son at the will call window.  My friend Ryan got tickets too, and sat right next to us, that was kewl.  I saw Machine before the show, and gave him some thank you cards to give to Hawk, Nikki, Tommy, and one for himself.  Me, my son, and Ryan found our seats and watched the show.  I tell ya, I never get bored of Crue, the show was awesome!  We didn't get back stage that night, but I was happy with the experience of seeing Crue with my son, it being his very first concert ever.  Crue brings the generations together, and my son sang along with most of the songs.