Wednesday, February 2, 2022

Pam and Tommy and Hulu and Don't Meet Your Heroes.

Well, I must say that I have started watching the new Hulu series PAM AND TOMMY and damn if the actor playing Tommy Lee (Sebastian Stan) isn’t a dead-on doppelgänger !! Tommy Lee was the reason that I started playing drums as a kid and why I wanted to be a drummer so badly. I worshiped him as a kid, as he always seemed so fun loving and cool and inventive on how he performed live twirling his sticks and speaking to the audience often. He reminded people of just how relevant the drummer of a band can be behind sitting way behind the other band members. Never meet your heroes. I met Tommy Lee back in 1997 while in film school (right before he was arrested) and it was a surreal experience. I met the entire band that night, Motley Crue, and Tommy was probably the biggest jerk and asshole I have ever met in my life. The first episode of the Hulu episodic series, thus far, is portraying him EXACTLY as he truly IS in real life (and probably why his son Brandon punched him out cold a few years ago) - an aggressive beligerent cocky asshole. The Hulu series is very well done so far, but its greatest gem is the cast and actors playing Tommy and Pam. I thought Machine Gun Kelly did a great job portraying Tommy’s lanky body language and walk in the NETFLIX movie THE DIRT, but this show is portraying EXACTLY what Tommy LEE is like in real life, an asshole narcissistic Rock Star who will be unfortunately be remembered as both one of the greatest showman’s ever as a rock drummer, and one of the biggest jerks to people, those who work for him, his kids, and even his bandmates who he routinely sued. Vince Neil, who I never thought would be a nice guy was actually one of the kindest people I had ever met in my life. Mick Mars also, very kind and genuine. But Tommy Lee-  the greatest jerk I have ever met (besides filmmaker Frederick Wiseman) and sadly the single reason. that I started playing drums and fell in love with the instrument as a kid. What irony huh. Once again, never meet your heroes , as it could sting... 


(Tommy Lee, as I want to remember him as I was a kid watching MTV)


Here is a guitar pick Nikki Sixx's bass tech Tim "Looser" Luzzi gave to me for helping set up Tommy's drum kit for a Dr. Feelgood show at Hampton Coliseum. Tim was the best, so down to earth and tolerant of Nikki's drug-induced grandiosity antics backstage ... and was Nikki's bass tech from 1981-1991. ..