HOW I MET MR. WALL-OF-SOUND--
I was working at the Fatburger on Santa Monica, seating people, (not an official position as they reminded me every 5 minutes) ten years ago when he came in with bodyguards to get a chili-egg-pizza burger at 3 A.M. I immediately put some of his songs on the juke and won him over with my grins and head-bops in his direction. He invited me back to his "castle" at Alta-Loma. I got in that limo and never looked back (I was facing the back in the limo, so I would have been looking forward if I looked behind myself - small distinction, but...)
WHAT WAS IT LIKE, BOB?
That first night was a party that has continued til this day. Phil took me home. There were a coupla nasty hookers there, too, whose names shall remain unremembered, and the party started Spector-style when Phil brandished a gun playfully, shot at us playfully, herded us playfully into a listening room, and playfully wouldn't let us leave until we heard his Christmas album 10 times in a row. Since that time there have been many parties, too many to recount. But they all have had that same exciting mix of hail-fellow-well-met and I'm-gonna-shoot-you-if-you-don't-do-what-I-tell-you energy, blended just so, everything pushed to it's limit, that I have come to call the WALL-OF-FUN.
Now let me testify to his character. Phil has only shot me 3 times in ten years. Granted, he has shot AT me around 15 times, and granted he has shot at the walls and ceiling around me approximately 37 times, but when you take into account how many times he has shot a gun off around me, or more importantly, how often he has wildly brandished a gun in my presence (125 times), then being shot 3 times is not a very high percentage. Keep in mind - we were partying. This was a GOOD time.
Now, if you'll get off your high horse for a moment, I will let you in on something else. Of the 3 times that Phil has shot me, he has only killed me TWICE, and of the only two times he has killed me, he has only shot me in the face ONCE, and, sorry to destroy your sick fantasies, but he has never had sex with my corpse, and of course, as I am writing this, I have been revived - brought back from the dead - every single time Phil Spector has killed me. Uh-oh, did I rain on your parade? Ohhhh....I'm so sorry.
I'll tell you some more secrets that may ruin your simplistic assumptions; Phil only shoots near you or at you if you're already a friend. That's right. You're not a true pal until you've been tapped. It's an honor. Oh, and he never shoots in justified anger, only in fun, when he is partying, or working, or you're in the same room with him.
One thing that's often been forgotten of late is how important the "wall-of-sound" is. It has generated some of the greatest records of the last 40 years. These are songs that play on the radio constantly and that 50's-inspired hamburger restaurants play round-the-clock to remind you of that other time. It's an inspired sound, and listening to those records often makes you nod your head in brief recognition. What a gift he's given us!
Well anyway, the point is, my Hollywood friend is free to roam and party and I am so happy, so raise a glass, force your loved ones to stay at your house listening to your favorite records, and wave a gun around...life is good.
David Tristman