1991.10.10 - Anaheim Bulletin - Rock's Doc

Rock 'n' rollers are as fam-ous for their entourages as they are for their music.

[Missing], roadies, hair-dressers, gurus .. they've all traveled with bands at one time or another. Read on, and see how one group has a different kind of groupie on its back.

Rock's doc

Steve Thaxton is a chiro-practor with a great interest in rock 'n' roll. These days, he has the chance to tune up members of the band Guns N' Roses.

Thaxton, 27, a former Sissonville football star and a state champion in the pole vault, was ready to settle down with his new bride in July and start a practice in Midlothian, Texas.

Then, the band came calling.

"It's not how I had planned it. It just happened," Thaxton said. He found out that one of the rock group's assistants needed a chiropractor. Borrowing an examination table, he went to the Dallas amphitheater where the group was performing and treated members of the crew.

After word spread about his work, he treated band members the next night.

He eventually began travelling on the band's plane and went with them on vacations to ski resorts.

The band has asked him to stay on the tour for the next two years. Thaxton canceled his plans to start his practice.

"Three days before, I'm a poor college student eating peanut butter and jelly, and then I'm eating caviar with Axl Rose," Thaxton said.

Thaxton so far has traveled with the band through the western United States and Europe.

"They lead a pretty hard and fast life," he said. "When they are performing, they are going all out."

Lead singer Axl Rose earlier this year leaped into the audience at a St. Louis concert in an attempt to stop a fan who was videotaping the concert.

Despite their rough-and-tumble image, Thaxton said the group is likeable.

"These guys are the nicest guys I've ever met," he said. "They are also some of the most appreciative patients I've ever had. They treat me like a million bucks."

Bluefield Daily Telegraph, October 10, 1991: