2019.04.23 - Riki Rachtman's Cathouse Hollywood Podcast - Then Axl yelled at David Bowie "I'm going to kill you tin man"

1989 Was a great year for rock and roll and Oct 10,1989 stands out as  not only one of the best LIVE performances from Guns n Roses but the unbelievable circumstances that led Axl Rose to chase David Bowie down the street in front of the club. You may have heard bits of this story but you never heard what David Bowie was really like that evening. He caused a bit of a commotion while finding sanctuary in the DJ booth of Joseph Brooks and on this episode we are hanging out with Joseph. What also made that night stand out was theGuns n Roses performance and what was filmed when the band didn't perform. What part do sex toys play in this tale of raunch and roll? Why did Axl accompany Riki to New York? Why give you any more teasers just listen dammit



Transcript of relevant parts:

Riki Rachtman: I've been asked what's the best show I've ever been to, and that's no easy task considering I've been to hundreds and thousands of shows. Who is the best live band ever? I'll be honest. Guns N' roses. And what was the best Guns N' Roses show I've ever seen? October 10th,1989, at the Cathouse. That was the night Guns N' Roses shot the infamous It's So Easy video. Even Guns N' Roses manager at the time, Alan Niven, have referenced that their life performance that night was one of the best ever from the band. Way better than that live show that we've all seen at the Ritz. I'll talk about the live performance in another episode.

[...]

A little side story about the Paradise City video. I showed up at the Cathouse early one night like I usually did. I was always the first one there. I'd walk in the club, climb up on the roof and hang a big vinyl banner that said Riki Rachtman's World Famous Cathouse. DJ Joseph Brooks had showed up and started loading in his milk crates of records when Axl Rose pulled up. So often we see that angry Axl guy, but when he was in a good mood, had something up his sleeve, he'd get this like shit-eating grin. And that was Axl on this evening. He had a VHS videotape in his hand. I wasn't on MTV yet, so he wanted to show me the video just as a friend, not as a BJ. I'm pretty sure he just wanted to get my reaction. He gave the videotape to Joseph. The club wasn't open yet. Most of the staff wasn't even there. Axl and I walk out onto the empty dance floor. The video starts. It's Guns N' Roses' Paradise city. The video goes in between live segments of the band at their peak in front of a massive sea, fans at Giant Stadium in New Jersey and the 1988 Monsters of Rock Festival at Donington Park. I'm watching the video. Axl's watching me watch the video. Then I notice, he's wearing a Cathouse shirt. This was so bad-ass. Not only was it cool to see him wearing the shirt in front of all those fans but this is gonna be a video on MTV. As the video winds down he takes off his leather jacket and the video ends with him arms wide open in that damn Cathouse shirt. I thought to myself, "Better makes more Cathouse shirts."

[...]

And while I'm on the subject of Headbangers' Ball. Around this same time, I've mentioned the Axl and I believe the tour manager Doug Goldstein, that I thought it'd be cool to be on that show Headbangers' Ball. At that time, Adam Curry was the host. Axl not only hooked up an audition, he flew with me to New York, got us a hotel, and introduced me to all the bigwigs at MTV. This whole story will be part of a future episode of this podcast. At one point during that trip to New York, I somehow remember going into some sex store and he bought a paddle and a ball gag. There is a reason though, that I bring this up. The ball gag and the paddle. I know it wasn't for some crazy sex S&M thing, or maybe it was, but I think he sort of bought as a gag.

[...]

Hold on a second, How do we get here? And what about David Bowie? After our New York trip, Axl had this idea to do a live show and a live video shoot with director Nigel Dick at the Cathouse. They played a full show. I think they actually played two shows that night. But they would also film scenes that would be used for home video. This was all the brainchild of Axl's. During the video Axl had a segment which had mock bondage scene with his then girlfriend, Erin Everly. Axl had assless chaps on, a black leather Cathouse vest, and he shot several scenes not only with Erin tied up, but with that red ball gag in her mouth. Yeah, I think the paddle was involved as well. There was no chance in hell that MTV would ever play it. But that wasn't the intention. Also, they wouldn't play it because it was for the song It's So Easy that has the word "fuck" in it at about a dozen or so times. I don't know what ended up on the editing floor, but Erin ended up trying to use some of the footage against Axl in the divorce settlement. I could go into more details about that night, their live performance, and the video shoot, but that's gonna be another future episode of the Cathouse Hollywood Podcast. I have to move on. I do want to tell you, though, that that night, Guns N' Roses were better than any of the probably hundreds of times I've ever seen them. That was the best live show I have ever seen. It was a special night because Guns N' Roses were playing stadiums and they'd come home to play a secret show at the Cathouse. It was so special that not only a list celebrities were there, but family members of the band, like Slash's mom who happened to be friends with David Bowie.

[...]

In Hollywood you had Melrose Ave. and in the middle late 80s it had a vibrant community of punks, rockers, mods, rockabillies, all shopping, dining and pretty much just hanging out. I've referenced this street several times in previous episodes. Jaime Tawne worked at Retail Slut and across the street from Retail Slut you had the famed record store Vinyl Fetish. One of the guys that ran the place was Joseph Brooks. Vinyl Fetish was not your typical record store. It had only cool stuff, import stuff, local bands. This is where Nikki and Tommy designed a window display to sell their first album on Leather Records. It was a little intimidating to go there and when you asked the owner Joseph for anything on the pop charts.

Joseph Brooks [audio]: we said, "Leave, go to Woolworths," you know, we like, "Get the fuck out of here. We don't carry that shit."

RR: Joseph Brooks was the perfect choice for the Cathouse DJ. He was a major part of what made that club successful. Back in the day, he was also one of the very few that was sober. And he remembers working October 10th, 1989. A few weeks ago, when I was in LA, I hung out with Joseph and we talked for hours. He's got so many good stories that yes, we'll be on a future episode of the Cathouse Hollywood Podcast, but we're remembering October 10th, 1989. Joseph was in the DJ booth, which was pretty much off limits to anyone but the closest of friends. Two of our security guards walked in.

Joseph Brooks [audio]: Julio and Sam came up and said, "There's somebody outside. We don't know where to put him. Can we put him in here?" And I'm like, "Who is it?" And they go like, "We can't let him be in the club and this is the only place where we can put him." And I was like, "Who is it?" "David Bowie." And the security guards came and they were like my best friends that were not like weird security. And they came up to me and these were like my best friends and they were like, "Can we put this guy in here?" They knew that they didn't ask that casually because they knew that I didn't want people in there if I didn't know them. They asked me to put David Bowie in here who is my ultimate hero. And I was speechless. I didn't know what to do. And I kind of wish it didn't happen now because he was a drunk mess. He was not the David Bowie I wanted him to be. I had spent my whole life thinking about it, it wasn't that moment at all. And so it was a big disappointment because he was just an ordinary drunk. It's sad, I know, right? It's terrible. It's just terrible. But he came into the booth and they put him in there and he was abusive to the waitress. And he kept demanding more drinks and he was rude to her and then he was just like a loud obnoxious drunk and was hitting on girls. And Guns N' Roses are playing. And he's like, "I wanna get up there with them," and I'm like, "You know, I really think it's not a good idea." He's like, "How dare you," or something, he didn't say, "How dare you?" But he was like, "How can you tell me that?" I was like, "Look, I'm personal friends with these people. And that singer up there, he's not, this is his moment, right. He's not gonna want you to get up on that stage." He's like, "I'm gonna go walk up there." I was like, "Please don't do that. That's not good." And so then the security guards came and they took him away. They took him out. And I think he left.

RR: Now there's more to the story.

JB: You see, I was in one space. I didn't walk around.

RR: See, I never heard this part of the story-

JB: He signed my records.

RR: I never met him. Or did I? Was I? I was drunk. Maybe I did meet him. I don't think so. Well, that night he also tries to pick up on Erin Everly.

JB: I can believe that.

RR: OK, so you don't know the rest of the story.

JB: See, I've heard this, but I didn't witness it, because I have another story similar to this.

RR: OK, so what happens is he tries to pick up on Erin Everly.

JB: I believe it.

RR: My security guard, George, who spoke with earlier, comes up to me and he says, "Riki, Axl's chasing David Bowie down the street saying he's gonna kill him. He's saying, 'I'm gonna kill you, tin man'." This is when David Boy was doing that band Tin Machine. My security guard says Axl Rose is chasing David Bowie down the street. I looked at him, I stared at him and I just turned around and walked the other way. Because I don't know how to deal with that type of situation, right? Guns N' Roses knew they could do anything in the Cathouse, right? But here's Axl Rose, your friend and a guy that's a big part of club, chasing one of your heroes down the street and I didn't even know David Bowie was there. So I guess Axl was chasing David Bowie down the street-

JB: It's very possible because he was coming on to all the girls that would come into the booth and Erin prob... she always would come to the booth to see me. We were good friends. And so it's very possible that she came in at one point and he was like, said some slurry British horrible thing to her, and then pursued her afterwards in the club. And easily that could have happened and then that word of that could have easily gotten to Axl and Axl could have like easily have gone off like he was so easily able to do. So that's very possible. But Bowie was in the booth for a while and I think it was the lowest point in his career. [?]. He was really not... But he eventually cleaned up his acting and got great again. But at that point in time, it was not the best time to meet him, your hero.

RR: In preparing this show, I hit up everyone I could find that was there that night. And I even did what I promised I wouldn't do. I read an article from a major music publication that had the headline, "Axl Rose punched David Bowie at the Cathouse." I don't remember any blows being thrown. I couldn't reach Axl, but Duff said he didn't think Axl hit him, and Slash told me he didn't think Axl hit him either. Several of my staff said David Bowie was a mess. Axl and David met up with the China Club, they made-up, and Axl even said he was surprised how similar he was to Bowie.

[...]

Excerpts from Alternative Nation:
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During a new interview with former MTV Headbangers Ball host Riki Rachtman for his podcast, The Cathouse Hollywood Podcast, Rachtman spoke to Joseph Brooks, who was the DJ for the infamous Hollywood nightclub. Here, Brooks discusses how David Bowie tried to play with Guns N’ Roses during the height of their career and the lowest of his. Alternative Nation transcribed Rachtman and Brooks’ comments below.

Rachtman: A few weeks ago, I hung out with Joseph and we talked for hours, he’s got so many good stories that will be on a future episode. However, we are remembering October 10th,1989. Joseph was in the DJ booth, which was pretty much off limits to anyone except for the closest of friends. Two of our security guards walked in.

Brooks: Julio and Sam came up and said, “There’s somebody outside, we don’t know where to put him. Can we put him in here?” I’m wondering who it is and they were like “we can’t let him be in the club and this is the only place we can put him.” So, I said: “Who is it?!” “David Bowie.” The security guards came, they were like my best friends, they weren’t weird security. They came up to me and they wanted to know if they could put this guy in here. They knew that they didn’t ask that casually because they knew I didn’t want people in there if I didn’t know them. They asked me to put David Bowie in there, who is my ultimate hero.

Rachtman: Of course.

Brooks: I was speechless, I didn’t know what to do. I wish it didn’t happen now because he was a drunk mess and he was not the David Bowie I wanted him to be. Who I had spent my whole life thinking about, it wasn’t that moment at all. It was a big disappointment because he was an ordinary drunk. It’s sad, I know, it’s terrible, terrible. Bowie came into the booth, they put him in there and he was abusive to the waitress, he kept demanding more drinks, he was rude to her and he was a loud, obnoxious drunk who was hitting on girls.

Brooks continued:

Brooks: Guns N’ Roses were playing and was like “I wanna get up there with them!” I didn’t think it was a good idea, He said “well how can you tell me that?” or something to that effect and I told him that I’m personal friends with these people, that singer up there (Axl Rose), this is his moment and he is not going to want you to get up on that stage. Bowie says that he is gonna go walk up there and I advise against it. So the security guards came and they took him away, they took him out. I think he left.

https://www.alternativenation.net/david-bowie-nearly-joining-guns-n-roses-revealed/

Transcribed this.