Here Today... Gone To Hell!

http://www.earvolution.com/2006/06/axl-rose-lends-underdog-hand-shakerleg.asp




Axl Rose Lends Underdog a Hand: Shakerleg Opens For Guns N' Roses
By: David Schultz
Photos from Shakerleg.com by Alzo Slade

How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Any Catskills comedian worth his salt will immediately tell you, "practice, practice, practice." Ask that same comedian how you get to the Hammerstein Ballroom to open for the newly revamped Guns N' Roses and you'll probably get a non-sequitur response involving Henny Youngman, the neighbor's wife and a nice piece of kugel. For street performer Shakerleg, also known as Mark Nicosia, all it took to open for Guns N' Roses was being in the right place at the right time; oh yes, and having the balls to demand to be there.





New Yorkers present at the Hammerstein Ballroom for Guns N' Roses' first run of shows in years may have recognized Shakerleg from his years as a street performer in New York City. Employing a style that attracted the attention of Modern Drummer magazine and Drummerworld.com, Shakerleg plays without drum sticks, beating on a modified drum kit with his hands. With his right leg adorned with shakers ? hence, the Shakerleg moniker ? and his left leg also banging out the beat, the innovative drummer has made himself a fixture at the Union Square Subway Station for close to five years.

Just recently, Shakerleg experimented with playing aboveground, finding a new niche: 59th Street and Columbus Circle, right next to the Trump International Hotel& Tower. In setting up shop on the well-traversed thoroughfare, Shakerleg played to his surroundings. A bit less sycophantic than a contestant on The Apprentice, Shakerleg drew an audience while dedicating songs to the multimillionaire, loudly proclaiming, "This one's for you Trump!"

One weekend, while Shakerleg was doing his thing on the Circle, he's interrupted by a lady dressed in sweats. "I was wondering," she asked calmly. "I have a client upstairs in the Trump Building who is in town and he's got a very important function and he needs to sleep." Seeing where this conversation is leading, Shakerleg quickly cuts her off. "I'm not stopping for anyone in that fuckin' building. They can kiss my ass."

"I'd be willing to pay you," she offered. "He really needs to rest."

"You think you can just pay me off? Fuck that!" replied an incensed Shakerleg. "I gotta make a living and no way in hell are you gonna match what I make out here!"

"I'm trying to be nice," said the woman. Coming clean about her client, she reveals "It's actually Axl Rose."

"I don't give a fuck if it's Jesus," the drummer retorted. "I don't give a shit about Axl. Do I know him? Has he done anything for me?" The rant continued. "Nobody asks those dancers over there to move, so I'm not going anywhere. I could make $300 out here in a few hours."

"So if I went to the ATM would you leave," the woman countered.

"You're kidding, right?" he blurted back. "Yeah! If you came back with $300 I'd leave. But this is the most sellout thing I could ever do. I'm the only person in the world playing like this and I got Axl Fucking Rose up there trying to get me to stop."

"Do you even see what I'm doing," Shakerleg asked.

"Yes, we've heard you for the past few days," she deadpanned.

"And no one hooks me up," Nicosia continued. "What you need to do is get my card to Mr. Axl Rose and tell him that he needs to see what I do."

The woman turned and went back into the hotel, leaving Shakerleg on the sidewalk with the group of bystanders that had gathered during the argument. When she didn't return, Shakerleg resumed playing. After ten minutes, she returned, money in hand, accompanied by a short, unassuming gentleman.

"Sorry, but it's my job to see to it that he's happy and can rest," she apologized.

Dejected, Shakerleg took the money; but he wasn't done. "See what you've done. You've taken me away from my audience that I could've entertained; people that thank me for what I'm doing. The only way to make this right is to put my ass on stage and I'll open a show for him. I mean it. You guys should put me onstage in front of his crowd to make up for this crowd here."

Calming down, Shakerleg introduced himself to the brother and sister who act as Axl's managers. He explained his frustration over the fact that no one will take a chance on what he's doing and that they should take his message to Axl. They asked for a copy of his CD. Seeing that they had already given him $300, Shakerleg didn't think a free CD was too much to ask for. He threw in a DVD press kit as well.

Ten minutes later, the brother comes back. "Dude, you're not picking up your phone," he said.

"My bad, the phone was in my bag. What's up?"

"Well, what are you doing tomorrow," the manager asks.

Without expression or emotion, Shakerleg gave him the answer, "I'm opening for Axl Rose."

"Yes you are," he replied.

An hour later, Shakerleg received a call from Rick Fagan, Guns N' Roses tour manager.

The next day? Well, see for yourself.



http://www.shakerleg.com/av/AudioVideo-GNR.html

Wow, that's a great story :)

That's fucking awesome. In a way it reminds me of Motley Crue getting that guy who worked at Starbucks to be their Drummer in Red Deer when Tommy wasn't able to. Though Harvey wasn't quite as pushy as this guy :rofl:

Nice find, very good read!

i was just thinking the same thing about harvey and motley crue, but hey thats awesome that the guy opened for guns n roses! good for him :)

That is awsome, so he was the guy playing on the 15th about an hour before bfmv. That was right after they opened the doors. That is cool.

See Axl is a good guy  : ok: : ok: : ok: : ok: :peace:

Yeah he is but after getting what he wanted.... ::)

I don't like his attitide that "I am Axl Rose I have the money and i can have it my way..."

If it was a 1986 and a rich guy asked Gnr to stop playing/performing cause he wanted to sleep probably Axl would have given a big fuck off and keep on playing...

lol with that attitude that guy is lucky.

In my experience hotels are ususally pretty well insulated from outside noise.  How loud was this guy that he could here him up in his room?  Were the windows open or something?  I would think traffic would be louder.
  He was probably kicking himself,  " I shoulda said $500!"  d'oh!

I thought the days when people could get a break like that were over. Nice to see I thought wrong.

nice to see axl giving somebody their chance. hmmm, now if only he would give us something....

That is an awesome story ;D  In NYC anything can happen ;)  : ok:

can anybody rip the video and uplaod it somewhere

very cool.   8)
any HTGTH'ers in the front rows for this show?

I saw him on the 17th - he was pretty good actually.

A couple guys behind me were yelling - we love you Chris, i voted for you on american idol.

cause he looked like him :hihi:

pretty neat story.axl needs his sleep for them hard nights.so it worked out for the good then.

well, on the next show, I'm going with a "axl, BITE ME" banner.
maybe I get to hear the album.

Great to here the whole story!! Loved this guy at the shows. He really kicked ass! Wish him the best.
amy

here's the footage.....this guy is unbelievable


http://youtube.com/watch?v=U8Ezg9SECh8&search=shakerleg

This is a great story, plus the guy is amazing!! It sucks that I didn't get to see this, I went to only the May 14th show.

omg i forgot about him.. i meant to look for him online.  he was really cool.  I'd rather see people like that open.  It created a cool vibe. 

OMFG!!! i stayed at West 59th street!!! that's where i met Jim Belushi....damn!!

'Youre better than the opening act'  ;D

God aint that the truth!!

I wasn't even there and I was just thinking the same thing :hihi:

I wish I could afford to pay people to shut up

Axl needs to hire this guy. He's awesome! Just think Axl you could have another solo in the show!

Hey that's me in the front.  This dude and A7X were eating right next to us at a diner later that night. 

Really cool story and cool perfomer too.