Blind Melon

Ok, it's time for a KRZQ story. For those of you who don't know, Daniel Cook & I, (along with many other very talented people) took over KRZQ in the spring of '87. It was the first time in many years that there was 2 Rock stations in Reno (KKBC went away in, like '80). March 13th, (a Friday) 1992, at 3:00pm, I flipped KRZQ "Alternative". Prior to that we were considered a "Rock 40", and we played Guns'N'Roses and the Cure, along with cool all time greats. A switch to "Alternative" was an arduous and ambitious task. We worked hard, and brought a lot of cool "Low Dough" shows to town. One of them being Blind Melon & Flowerhead at the Ice House, (now a strip club) for $1.00. It was early March of '93. There was still snow on the ground in Reno from a recent storm. Both Bands made it to town, and KRZQ provided the P.A. system & lights for the show. I was having Dinner, when the club called, the band had screwed up the monitor system, and now was refusing to play. I talked to their road mgr, and told him I would get a new monitor system. I called Scott at Starsound, at 7pm, on a Saturday night, and my old friend came through for me, delivered a new monitor system, and even set it up. When we arrived at the club an hour later, Blind Melon, still refused to play. What? I got you a new monitor system! Play! Blind Melon's Road Manager told me that Shannon, (Shannon Hoon, singer) Was so stressed that he strained his vocal chords yelling at the crew. So? Play! They Refused. The club was packed to capacity. A lot of people had driven a long way to be there, and I hated to dissapoint them. I got on stage, and made the announcement, "Radio Buddies" Blind Melon will not be playing tonight. If you want your dollar back, we'll do that, otherwise, KRZQ says "Free Beer" for the next hour,and Flowerhead will play! Shannon Hoon was standing 10 feet away from me in the audience, and yells "Make us out to be the Bad Guys!" I jumped off the stage, microphone in hand, I'd had it with his RockStar attitude. I said, "tell 'em why you won't play, didn't I get you 2 different P.A. systems? Didn't I get the band and crew Hotel Rooms? Didn't I feed you all twice?" He just stood there, after a long pause, and said "F*ck You!" I grabbed the Microphone back, and said, "There you have it, straight from Shannon, Reno gets a big F*ck You from Blind Melon!" Shannon took a swing at me. This was not a good idea. Shannon was maybe 5'7", I'm 6'5", he weighed maybe 140. I'm stepping in at 210. I reached out with my arm, putting my hand on top of his head, and held him at bay while he furiously swung away, unable to reach me with his blows (all of you with little brothers have used this same trick). Finally, I picked him up by his jacket, and belt loop, and tossed him out into a pile of snow, I looked at the rest of the band, "who's next?" none of them wanted to take me on. Blind Melon got on their Bus, and got the hell out of Reno. It's too bad, they were a good band. They were something. I got to see them backstage at Cal Expo, when they opened for Jimmy Page & Robert Plant, they were cordial. I felt real bad when Shannon overdosed and died about a month later. I guess the old formula goes like this: I'll write a song about the future, and song about the past, and then I'm gonna off myself, and make the music last. Shannon's hanging out with Brad Nowell (of Sublime), two of the greatest songwriters from the '90s, gone before their prime...