March 1, 2004
Bob Weir, of the Grateful Dead, has a new group called Ratdog and they hit Phoenix on Saturday night. I’m not a fan of either group, but the promoter Danny Zelisko (alias “Cisco” and “Danny Z”) invited all of the friends of the late Hank Cookenboo to attend a pre-concert bash in Hank’s honor.

At six, I met Kathy at Rumors haircutting salon in Scottsdale. When I got there and finally found her through the maze of glass and spiked hair, Brad was in the process of whacking her do into a “Ratdog” style in honor of the concert ($90 for color, $60 for haircut. Yikes! What women pay to be beautiful, but I must admit it did look good).

Got down to the Celebrity Theatre at about 7:20. Five bucks to park (ouch!). KSLX had a van there blasting out Classic Rock. There were vendors selling tie-dye shirts spread out on the parking lot pavement (Kathy bought one, $10, for Tommy, but on the way out when she called Deena to ask if T would even want one the answer was a big nega-tivo).

Haven’t been to a concert since pre-9-11 so I was not prepared for the weapons search (girls on left, guys on right, pull everything out of your pockets). Quite a hassle. I got in relatively quick but the girls line was quite slow probably because they have more stuff to empty out. We finally got into the “Rich Private Suite” at about 7:45. Many of the oldtime KCAC-KDKB gang were there, including Dwight Tindle, Johnny D, Jack Alves, Hans Olson, Wonderful Russ, Scott Jones, Lee Powell, Bud and Carole Compton Glenn.

As soon as we got there, Danny Z came up and bear-hugged me and said to his third wife, “This is the guy who called me Idi Amin, and lived to tell about it.” We laughed. I vaguely remember running a photo of Danny in New Times and writing a snotty cutline comparing him to Idi Amin. This was in the late seventies and I think Z was, well, acting just like a concert promoter.

After the pre-concert cocktail party, Danny had a roped off section for us to sit in, and from the stage he announced us and we all stood up and saluted our, late, great friend Hank Cookenboo. It was a classy gesture on Danny’s part. We, on the other hand, took our bows, then ducked out before the music started.

Met Wonderful Russ, Bud and Carole at Manuel’s on Indian School. Bud told me how to do my driveway. Had the number 5 combo: taco, tostado, enchilada and beans and a Pacifico ($55 cash, I paid). Got home at 11:30.

Painted all day yesterday. Did two more big ones on the Injun cover. Watched half the Oscars. My favorite line from Billy Crystal was after the umpteenth “Lord of the Rings” Oscar was presented, he quipped, “It’s now official. There is no one left in New Zealand to thank.”

”It struck me that the movies have spent more than half a century saying ‘They lived happily ever after’ and the following quarter century warning that they'll be lucky to make it through the weekend. Possibly now we are entering a third era in which the movies will be sounding a note of cautious optimism: You know it just might work.”
—Nora Ephron