HITS AND MISSES ALASTAIR RIDDELL

HIT

When you have kids, and we have four, your life changes and so do your holidays. I know it may seem like a cliche but the best fun-filled holiday we had as a family was a trip to the Gold Coast theme parks. We made the holiday all about the kids and let ourselves be kids again with them. We had so much fun trying all the rides, swimming in the hotel pool and sitting up late watching movies and eating too much popcorn. Even though our kids are now grown-up we still look back fondly on that holiday.

MISS

I visited and ended up working in Los Angeles as the soundman at the “Troub”, the famous Troubadour nightclub in West Hollywood. I lasted a hectic three weeks and to be honest it was like hell on earth, a trial by fire. The Troubadour was and still is a club where up-and-coming hopefuls showcase themselves. There were three or four acts a night and between each act there was a furious period of mic-ing amps, drums and singers and trying to sound check them. My friend Andrew Barnum and I went around to the house of the club’s owner, the famous Doug Weston, to arrange some gigs. It was just after Christmas, and although there had been some rain, things were still quite dry. When we arrived at the house Doug was in an angry mood. He had an 18-year-old lover there with him, as well as some other hangers-on, and a singer/songwriter from Virginia who was also trying to get a gig at the club. Doug was simply insane with jealousy because his young paramour was flouncing around the house saying he did not feel duty-bound to remain faithful to Doug. Then like something out of Blue Velvet Doug lost the plot and after locking us all in and holding us hostage, he started smashing furniture with a baseball bat, threatening to produce a gun. After an intense two hours of this he set up the dry Christmas tree on the front berm, squirted lighter fluid on it and set it on fire. It was a sight to see, truly crazy times.