The Oldest Crush

We've all got crushes that we develop on famous people...but sometimes one just sticks with you over the years. Mine is Dave "Snake" Sabo, the guitarist from Skid Row.

Stop looking at Sebastian Bach!!! Look at Snake in the upper left corner! That's better. Anyway...somehow Snake has ended being the end-all, be-all of famous crushes for me. It started because I thought he was cute, had a great voice when he talked in interviews on MTV and had some awesome hair.

I was completely addicted to Skid Row's debut album - in fact when I was in Grand Junction, I went to the mall record store with my cousin. Between us we had enough to buy the tape and we listened to it over and over in her brother's car because they didn't have a stereo inside their house. Then, even though she paid the bigger half, I took the tape home with me! When Slave To The Grind came out I was a giant pile of excitement. "Monkey Business" was the hottest song I had ever heard at the time. And "Get The Fuck Out" completely appealed to my little rebellious side.

Then, sadly, somehow I moved away from listening to them. I bought B-Sides Ourselves and Subhuman Race when they came out but never listened to them. When, in 2000, Christina asked if I wanted to go see the Kiss Farewell Tour with them at Fiddler's Green I of course said yes. When I found out Skid Row was opening I was all the more excited. I had never seen them live in their heyday and even though the lineup was a tad different (new singer and new drummer) I was jazzed to see Snake, Rachel & Scotti.

Christina's sister Tish is the biggest Kiss fan you will ever meet and Paul Stanely is her ultimate famous crush. So we went up to Denver early early and drove around the venue to see if we could spot her man. Throughout the afternoon Christina's brother Tony was constantly picking out the grungiest, yuckiest dudes and saying they were my boyfriend. I played along until we were in the parking lot of Long's Drugs. We were stopped behind a white van and these three guys were getting out. The one on my side had longish lanky hair dyed a fire engine red on top. I was just thinking he was kinda cute when Tony said, "THERE'S your boyfriend, Heather." "Actually he's kinda....HOLY FUCKING SHIT!!!! That's Snake from Skid Row!!" I screamed it and my window was all the way down. He had to have heard me...I think he might have looked over but I don't quite remember.

The other 2 with him were the new singer Johnny Solinger and Christina's soon-to-be ultimate man, bassist Rachel Bolan. I was losing my mind about here - we were at Long's Drugs for crying out loud and these rock stars were just wandering in!! We ran in and found Rachel & Johnny, had a picture taken with them. You will never see that picture because I am 200 pounds of sunburned goo in it! (The day before I had seen Badfinger in concert outside at the AFA - another story for another time.) I never saw Snake in there - I was too freaked out to go look for him. But their set at Fiddler's that night was amazing! Johnny blew my mind and Snake was SO hot!



That started a Skid Row kick of epic proportions for Christina & I. We watched their home videos over & over again, listened only to their CD's, including the 2 I had never listened to before. Subhuman Race quickly became my favorite. 2 years later we heard they were touring with The Rock Never Stops Tour. They would be stopping twice in Colorado: the first show in Denver and 2 weeks later at the State Fair in Pueblo. We bought tickets they day they went on sale then started a huge diet! I wasn't about to be the "fat groupie named Heather" that Henry Rollins was talking about...

August finally rolled around. The Denver show...blew my mind. We were front row center and Skid Row just rocked the house. I got a pick from Snake and Christina & I got winks from Johnny while we were singing along to their new song "Thick Is The Skin." There was a lady behind us who kept hitting Christina in the back of the head with her pumping fist so I elbowed her in the chest...she tried to get us thrown out but it didn't work! Skid Row did a Meet & Greet afterwards and Snake was the first guy in the line. God, he was so sweet!! I got a hug and a cute picture of him with drummer Phil Varone. Christina suggested that our song for that night be "Kiss Me Deadly" by Lita Ford because of the line, "Didn't get laid, got in a fight..."

The State Fair show was the deal-sealer, however. Like Christina mentioned in her post below, the tour buses were fair game . We got to go over and meet the guys...Snake's birthday was coming up the next month so I got him a card and gave it to him and got a picture with him.

I love this picture!! After a smokin' set, they did another Meet & Greet. This time we were in a line that wound around - when we came around the corner where we could see the guys, Snake was first. He caught sight of me and smiled & waved....LOVED the fact that everyone turned to see who he seemed to know! I had bought an 8x10 of the group that he signed, "Heather, thanks for the birthday card. Snake." Then he signed my stuffed snake that I won that afternoon "Fuckin' right," his what you might call motto. Then...I got all brave and asked him for a kiss. Damned if he didn't comply! Made my night! I could die a happy, happy woman!

I have never met any famous person who was sweeter than Snake Sabo. A complete doll and a killer musician. If you're interested in their new stuff, go get Thickskin and Revolutions Per Minute. And check out Snake's MySpace!!