Emilio Estevez and Zander Schloss in Repo Man
Zander Schloss and others (including Courtney Love) on the set of Straight to Hell, by Alex Cox
I also set up a Neptoon Records in-store, that a few lucky people came to, where they heard this, a cover of the Clash's "Straight to Hell." You can see Zander onstage with Joe Strummer, doing this very song, here. The in-store was terrific -- and also involved Zander doing songs from his solo album, Song About Songs, and a few ones as yet unrecorded. He's extraordinarily talented and very funny and there are some great songs on that album and the next (and fun videos based on them).
He even posed for a photo with me:
But there ended up being one sour point to the evening. By the end of the night, Zander was burning out on autograph requests, having to be plied to sign Repo Man soundtracks and such -- things somewhat remote from his solo work, even though he is in that movie. People brought everything they had -- including me (the Repo Man soundtrack, a copy of the Wonderful reissue, my OG Straight to Hell poster, two Joe Strummer records...). He had to spend as much time signing as singing! And he drew a line that, in retrospect, seems kinda hilarious: he refused to sign Josh Nickel's generic beer can.
Of course, Zander didn't know Josh from Adam -- that among other things, Josh fronts an important hardcore band, runs a label and store, has affiliations with Neptoon, and so forth. Josh and I had chatted about his can beforehand, and while I wasn't taking notes, it was something along the lines of how he had wracked his brain trying to think of a cool, funny, but not-obvious item for Zander to sign, an in-joke kind of thing, and had actually (if I recall correctly) gone out of his way to get a generic beer can, like the ones you see in Repo Man, ordering it off eBay from the USA in time for the event (we don't have generic beer up here in Canada, that I know of!). Here is Josh BEFORE trying to get his beer can signed -- he's pretty happy with the clever gesture!
Now maybe it's just that I am not someone who gets bugged to sign things. From my point of view, I'd be flattered for people to want my signature on anything, pretty much (except perhaps a blank cheque). But once you are at a certain level of fame, I am sure it gets tedious! But for Zander to take umbrage, get huffy and REFUSE TO SIGN JOSH'S CAN -- it annoyed not just Josh, at the time, but me too -- if Zander had been around when Josh told me the story, I probably woulda marched back to Zander and practically ordered him to sign the guy's can! "Do you know who this man is? Sign his fucking beer can!" (I'm laughing at the utter absurdity of this, of course). I didn't actually hear the interaction that did take place, just what Josh reported to me later, but Josh said something like, "He wouldn't sign my can! He told me to fuck off! That guy takes himself wayyy too seriously!"
This all seems pretty amusing to me now and I want to point out to Josh, in case he's not on that page yet, that a story is almost as good as a signature, in the long run. To prove the point, I have another signed can story for him -- it's not my own story, but I have no memory at all of who told it to me; it wasn't their story, either! But this person was in New York, and happened to see Andy Warhol somewhere, and thought it would be funny to get Andy Warhol to sign their soup can. Warhol chuckled and obliged. The person had the soup in their apartment, displayed somewhere, unopened, and had a friend staying overnight or something, and left them in the apartment... returning to discover that they had EATEN THE SOUP (and I presume they had thrown away the can).
I would offer, here, that this story is more funny and engaging than a can of soup signed by Andy Warhol would ever be. In almost every sense, it is value-added; they can tell this story for the rest of their lives. The only thing they can't do with the story, unlike with the can, is re-sell it! (But no one is gonna buy a signed generic beer can with Zander Schloss' signature on it, so that's not really a factor here, anyhow).
Anyhow, after the instore, Zander stopped replying to what few emails I sent (mostly I wrote to check if he was okay on my posting that "Straight to Hell" clip, which I ended up doing regardless when I didn't hear back). I kinda shrugged him off, then as I was sorting my records the other day, I came across this, one of a dozen things I pestered him to sign. Zander is on a half-dozen tracks on this album, anything from Earthquake Weather or the Latino Rockabilly War years.
And suddenly I discovered I was over it. Zander's a great musician, a compelling actor, an interesting character, and an enjoyable raconteur. And he signed my record "To Allan with Love" (I don't have a heart symbol on my keyboard but there it is). I have hereby gotten over any irritation I may have felt, and advise Josh Nickel to do the same. I mean, the guy played with Joe Strummer AND he plays with the Circle Jerks AND he acts in Repo Man and Straight to Hell and.... He's one accomplished motherfucker, man! You gotta cut him a bit of slack!
Joe Strummer and Zander Scloss by Julian Yewdall
There are no in-stores in town this time, but Zander will be in town with the Circle Jerks on Tuesday. I hope to do more about that gig, and if and when I do, I will post it here. Welcome back to Vancouver, Zander Schloss! You will be happy to know: I have nothing left for you to sign!
Note: I believe Adolescents are opening for the Circle Jerks this time around. Tickets are still available! See you Tuesday.
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