Contact us
Back to All Posts

You won’t want to miss this missive about bassists with local links

Two women with strong local ties have a pair of friends who are prominent rock stars, are in their late-20s, moved to California when they were about 20 and at times have hung out in downtown Hudson nightclubs.
Allison is friends with Flea, the accomplished bassist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and got to know him through her even stronger friendship with the bassist for the group Fishbone.
When I first talked to Allison about this, Flea was in the news when he lost an expensive mansion to raging wildfires that hit California. He has also made headlines as the Chili Peppers were up for induction in the rock ‘n roll hall of fame. When the group performed in the Twin Cities earlier this year, the reviewer noted that it was Flea’s bass grooves that were the highlight of the show.
Allison says that she has had conversations with Flea and has “hung out” with him many times, but that she knows the other bassist much better. I have known Allison well for several years, and have always wanted to ask her if a line from the song Dani California might refer to her. (I know she would demurely deny it). The Chili Peppers — who again are from L.A. — in their lyrics are known for name-dropping, of states not people, and in Dani they sing about regret about not being able to make a planned road trip to the Twin Cities area.
The other focus of this story — and I at one time tried to no avail to get the two women together for a photo — is Taega. She is tight with multi-platinum artists such as Jermaine Jackson, former of the Jackson 5, and also Serge Tankian, Serbian frontman for the acclaimed heavy metal group System of a Down. Ironically, Taege knows prominent people who lost their homes in the aforementioned fire such as Flea, and even dated one of them some time ago. Still, Taege says she would rather talk about Jackson’s work with orphans in Iraq — which was prompted in part by a relationship with Helena who is Iranian — than about his fame. “He’s just Jermaine,” she also says demurely.
How Taega got to know these people, and that was some time ago before she got her college degree and moved on to bigger and better things, was working her way through school at Starbucks in Las Virgenes, a suburb of L.A. at the mouth of the Malibu Canyon.
“Jermaine is a really interesting guy; his girlfriend is amazing. In talking with him one afternoon at the store, we all ended up reminiscing on our favorite winters in the Midwest,” Taega said. “The most interesting part was that it took his girlfriend mentioning Wisconsin or (Upper) Michigan about six times before he realized what we were talking about. As soon as he did, he went into a story about someone in his childhood on a snowmobile.”
Also prominent regulars were Tito Jackson and Ernie Hudson.
“I used to see Jermaine, Tito and their girlfriends all the time, all over the city. I find it hilarious. Over the course of a weekend last summer, I saw Helena at The Rack shopping and Tito at Kerry’s Deli for dinner,” Taege said in an earlier interview.
“Aside from the Jacksons, I try not to really bother them — they’re just people too,” Taega said. “But honestly, each celebrity I have met throughout those six years has been remarkably kind. Serge has such a surprisingly quiet and mellow voice, considering his musical style. He seems to be a very, very, very kind and down-to-earth man.”
“I’ve been told that Britney Spears and boyfriend Kevin used to come in,” Taega said. “She would order for the two of them and make him drive around the parking lot, so as to prevent too many paparazzi photos.” This quote came from the height of her popularity.
“The celebrities who I actually missed and was disappointed that I did, were Gavin Rossdale and his baby son Kingston,” Taega said of the frontman for the rock group Bush and squeeze Gwen Stefani of No Doubt. “I never worked Friday nights, so of course, that would be the night he comes in. That was a seriously disappointing miss.”
“To be honest, most of the celebrities who were regulars at my store, or even just stopped in, often went unnoticed. One who didn’t really ‘act like a regular guy’ was Bruce Willis,” Taega said. ‘He walked through the store one day, just to use the restroom, waving and smiling at everyone in the lobby. No one cared. Why would we?”
And oh, there is one more local woman with a bassist friend, that being the one for the Smashing Pumpkins. Heidi, formerly a bartender at Dibbo’s, has known the other woman for years and says she would love getting on stage with her. I recall making a road trip to Milwaukee and seeing this very tall and leggy member of the Pumpkins in a prominent photograph in the arts and entertainment section of the Journal-Sentinel, right next to legendary singer Billy Corgin. The accompanying article made special note of the solo she had played the previous night.

 

Share the Post:

Related Posts

  • I’ll be brief and punchy with this headline notation, as we transition to giving you more and sometimes shorter choices. And you may notice some of that as you beckon forward. It’s circular. Like a flush. Be careful what you mix, heads vs. text, drinks vs. food, and all kinds of potions — that may go bump in the night. —– Punchy, potentially, but I digress or progress with a new patriotic addition.
My mom has told me not to be a potty mouth when I write, as she certainly would not appreciate hardly any of the standup humor on say, Comedy Central Radio. SNL maybe. But after 11:30 p.m. … But there comes a time where a man must make a stand. And for this jokester, it was now when he had to choose whether to pass on the opportunity that would otherwise bite him in the butt, for in front of and behind him is the Mother Lode. Or should I say load. Or “Mothers” of Invention. Heh heh, heh heh, Butthead, look...
Read More
  • This coulda been Vanna White’s next Big gig In The Sky, if the scaffolding was not so high. So this is how the project went, by the letters and numbers, of get Trump’s name erased from the Kennedy Center. The $250 bill might be tougher. Sad but true. So, What are there more of going on right now, wars or Trump pet construction projects?
So the wall is down. Of letters, that is. Not down by Mexico. Cemented into the concrete. Of the Kennedy Center. Where music has sat. (Near where a now defunct wrestling arena rusts in peace. Or a bloodied White House lawn. With leftover paper cups and plates, more likely bowls and small utensils, anyone?) Or more ornate than inside? A tarp the size of Pennsylvania, the predominant battle state, covers workers as they chip. So geez, how big are the letters? Four times 50 living workers high? But now none remain, or so we are told by flunkies. Or is...
Read More
  • Stressed out as a caregiver? She’s back at yah. This is a rare case of a husband and wife being joint caregivers — for each other — aided and abbetted by the fact that they have a lot of the same disabling conditions. So she shovels snow using a walker/scooter, while he cooks gingerly using a microwave and offers her a plate when she sits down, in an easy chair, in a reversal and new take on traditional roles. Whatever it takes. Necessity is the mother of invention. —– In a new add, Towns and the champion Knicks got kicked around but still got their kicks in the long run … As do Norwegian dancers.
A few years back, I wrote an article about Hudson Deacon Tom Kroll and how he did so many extra dutiful tasks, his living out the Gospels tirelessly, when his wife was ill, in addition to his regular job. I was inspired at the time to pen this, about my own lovely, disabled wife — we were separated briefly but now back together with our 40th anniversary this month, as wholehearted caregiving has many strains — and how an atypical view of standard roles, out of necessity, made things work, as far as our approach to work and home that’s...
Read More
  • He says, and goes fishing with the boys. She says, then goes to the middle of Texas, inviting her mates to a ranch/villa built for the ages. The bachelor and bachelorette parties were on the same night, but though very different, they had some things in common … like the snakes, at least three kinds, to avoid. (None with exotic dancer.) But while away, they did not avoid each other, completely. He made a phone call. —– Just added, last call included a Carolina cowpoke.
What do fishing, maybe in the dark, thus a Texas ranch, snakes of various types and do they come or stay out after dusk, eating either and only fine food or snacks, and a game of cards — likely just one each — have in common. And no strippers or Chippendales. And an only half or quarter, not full Monty. (Who is Monty anyway?) Or cowboy or cowgirl hats. Although there was some dress-up. More Barbie than boots on, I think. It’s an easy answer, connected and conflicting, but not in all or dirty ways, bachelor and bachelorette parties. One of each...
Read More
  • Full metal jacket? Hey, I wasn’t exactly to the point of going Rob Halford. But tastes aside, there must be some reason why after 26 years I was shunned, like going Bob Daisley by Ozzy at his reunion? OK, I know, my style may not have fit with the packed crowd. And the last couple of times for this, I tried to do too much with ad-libbing. So yeah, I get that this time around, I was the somewhat unusual choice to be the one left off the set list, with singers clamoring to get up there. But seriously, just being analytical of strengths and weaknesses as a singer here, no hard feelings. I’m not Dio. (Or Traveling Wilburys, a when jumping inside, inside joke.)
It was clear to me at the most recent Jeff Loven music show in Hudson, for Memorial Day weekend, that there has been a changing of the guard. The sword has been passed. New blood, like Yungblud, has been brought in. And, I must say, loyalty — amongst the devotees who travel frequently and all across the two-state area to virtually all of Jeff’s shows — has been rewarded. They are the royalty, in what just makes good business sense that I can appreciate. In a significant but not unprecedented altering of course, I was not one of those asked...
Read More
  • Songs by Napalm Death? A fire swept down my very street today, where the babies were burned. (But alas, a new A/C unit is on its way up the freeway.) The Stones did not leave these themes unturned, either, or should I say unrolled. Oh wait, this all was my cooker of an apartment, and we are not talking the kitchen. But all these matters will become more pressing, a pressure point, as the new normal especially in southern climes is temp well into the triple digits. It is these people, the third world, and their heat stroke not mine, that most concern me. (Another example of hellfire temps just added. Sin after Sin.)
Trial by fire. My broiling heart in my efficiency flat still beats a bit, in concern over those boiling over in worse apartments in a Chicago tenancy, or on an ocean island instantly-burn-your-feet beach or dessert, or forced to endure ice baths just to keep cool — or simply be offered no way to maintain an ice-dripping body other than also read a non-cookbook at the library, or select not a big steak you can’t afford but a 73/27 burger from a freezer and slap it on your forehead. Just not too hard. All these things are ones where you especially today either burn or...
Read More
Scroll to Top