Poison front man and reality TV star, Bret Michaels hit the Hard Rock Casino a few weeks ago.  I have seen Poison a few times in the past- Opening up for David Lee Roth and then headlining with Cinderella and Dokken years later.  Yes, I am a fan of hair metal- grew up with it in the 80's.  If you are looking for a good time and a fun show, Poison is the band for you.  Not the best musicians, but it is fun music.  

I heard Slash talking on Howard Stern last week, and he said that he auditioned for Poison back in '85 or so.  He said it was easy music to play but he didn't look the part.  He said he was wearing jeans and a T-shirt and Bret asked him what kind of shoes he would wear.  Slash then walked out of the audition and CC was walking in, carrying a pink guitar and all glammed out.  He said, that guy (CC) has this gig.  How funny would it have been if Slash was in Poison?!  I think it worked out best for everyone.

Anyway, I wait after the show to meet Bret and try and get an lp signed.  There were 2 other people there at the time.  He comes out and we ask if he would sign.  He said that he had to take care of his insulin first but don't go anywhere, he would come back out from his bus and sign.  Cool, we thought.  Well, about 40 minutes pass by and about 12 people are gathered around- still not too bad, but it's getting a little colder out.  About 10 minutes later, a whole herd of people-about 50- come from backstage for a meet and greet by his bus.  Apparently they paid 200 dollars for this opportunity.

  I see camera's flashing and people coming back with their stuff signed.  After about 45 minutes, the original crowd of 12 is now 5 hardy souls.  The meet and greet is about over, but we are still holding out hope that he would come over to us.

We ask his manager if he would come over, and he said probably not- he just signed a bunch of stuff and they had to get to the next city.  However, he said I will get you guys guitar picks.  Better than nothing we thought.  A few minutes later he comes back and hands out the guitar picks.  I tell him that Bret told us not to go anywhere because he would come over.  So I asked if he could take the album to the bus and have him sign it and another guy had a cd cover.  He said "what's your name"  I said Greg and the other guy said Dave.  He took our items and headed to the bus.  A couple minutes later, he comes back with our items signed.  Cool- another guy who takes care of his fans.  

And another lp and guitar pick to the collection.