Blackie Lawless

A few years ago, we played a European festival with the band WASP. The leather clad lead singer, Blackie Lawless, who is six foot something and wears platform shoes, came into the back area stonefaced, shades on and nose in the air. Somehow, he managed to enter with the presence of John Wayne in a Western film, barging into a saloon, guns blazing. At the same time he was, cold, distant and aloof. It was as if he was all that mattered and the rest of us didn't exist.

Blackie is an LA glam rocker who used to get mentioned alongside other icons such as Nikki Sixx of Motley Crue. He was a descendant of shock rocker, Alice Cooper, pre- Marilyn Manson. But somehow WASP's music hasn't had the popularity or staying power of those other artists. Maybe that's because, to be quite honest, it wasn't very good. The songwriting was ok, for the genre and time period, but the musicianship was pretty bad.



But from his backstage demeanor that day, you'd think he was rock star royalty along the lines of Steven Tyler of Aerosmith and Roger Daltrey of The Who. I've since met both Steven and Roger, who were nice and outgoing. I couldn't imagine them acting that way if they tried.

Everyone in my band was a little bit bummed out by him and talked about what a'dick' Blackie was. Normally I'd feel compelled to I give someone the benefit of the doubt and defend them on the grounds of being "misunderstood" or some other bullshit (it's the Libra in me I guess, try to get along with everyone). But in this case I agreed, Blackie's attitude was indefensible.

Nonetheless, I kind of had to hand it to him. He emitted a hell of an aura. It was enough for me to admit holding a secret admiration: not for his behavior, but for him having the balls to pull it off.

" I hear what your saying, and agree with you" I told the guys in my band. "But you know what? That guy believes, therefore he is." There was awkward silence. "Don't you see?" I continued. "He believes in his greatness, we sense it, even if we don't agree. And I guarantee you his audience will buy into it." More silence.

" Look" I pleaded. "Don't let it bum you out. We don't have to like him. We don't have to like his music. I sure don't. And, my god, we should never act like that backstage! But look at his level of confidence! We can learn from that and apply it to our onstage presence."

It was like Vince Vaughn giving a pep talk to his down and out gym employees in the movie "Dodgeball." Others were nodding their heads in agreement. It had been years since we'd played together and we were sounding ok, but something was missing. And seeing him up close exuding extreme confidence, however pretentious and misguided, was helpful (thanks Blackie).

Another Blackie story was told to me by an attractive woman in her forties who once had an encounter with him. It was the mid-80's at the height of WASP's popularity. She had just said goodbye to some friends at the infamous Rainbow Bar And Grill in Hollywood. As she stepped onto Sunset Boulevard to catch a cab, Blackie pulled up in a brand new black Corvette. "Get in" he said, like Sean James Bond pulling up in an Aston Martin.

I ask her what happened next. Her face is glowing like a neon sign in Hollywood.

" I got in!" she says giggling,

"And...?" I ask.

"It was the most wonderful night of my life" she says.

"Sounds like he 'got in' too." I reply .

We both laugh. Just then, her husband approaches. "Please don't tell him, he'll have a fit!"

All this leads me to believe that there needs to be a psychological study on Blackie. Where does one find the audacity to pull off this type of behavior?

The most recent thing I heard about him was from another band that just played a festival with WASP. Supposedly everybody had to clear the area once WASP was brought to their dressing room and no one was even allowed to approach them.

That's really lame Blackie. Sorry. I can understand creating hype and rock star aura, especially if your from the era of LA rock in the 80's. I can get with the Sunset Strip story and you pulling up in a Corvette. Cool, I get it.

But hey, it's 2009 now. What are you doing? Come back down to Earth, Blackie, just a little bit. It's not so bad down here.