A Question from Pete in New York

What would you do if a drunk punk throws bottle rockets at you onstage during a solo acoustic show?

WWJDD?

It seems obvious that you have to keep yr cool and fire back some choice words to the dummy who wishes he had enough talent to be on stage rather than firing bottle rockets from the audience. As Peter Case once told me, "Don't lose yr cool, man. If you lose yr cool, you lose yr power." Occasionally this kind of disturbance can save an otherwise dull show, it's happened to me. Where the show goes along, good but nothing special. Then some drunk start mouthing off & you've got immediate conflict & something memorable. Just go w/ it, be witty & don't get ugly. If it comes to that, hopefully there is some security guy to "throw the bum out" or you might just have to put up yr dukes, this if course is a last, & ultimately never satisfying, resort. And handling these things (stupid people or equipment failure) just gets easier the more time you have to deal w/ them. Keep yr cool & no one will notice. If they do, they just think how cool you are.

good luck, I hope this helps
and as always, thanks for writing
JD