Upon meeting Jay Reatard (aka Jay Lindsey) on Monday at 6PM, I said ‘fuck’ to myself because of his haggard appearance and odd demeanor. The next two hours became nothing more than a black comedy disguised as incoherent ramblings from a spoiled overgrown child.
Within the next hour, Jay threatened The Strange Boys for an article that appeared in last week’s Austin Chronicle. In short, the article reveals that The Strange Boys are not releasing the Jay Lindsey produced tracks for their upcoming In The Red debut LP. By 7PM he was whining and pouting “I am not playing tonight if [The Strange Boys] are.” This was after bitching and yelling at them for 30 minutes in the green room as if they were his children. He even unleashed his anger by throwing a glass in the green room. RIOT ON JAY! The Strange Boys said he had been pissed about the article all day long, even calling from the road to vent at them.
About 30 minutes later, the major drama started because Jay wanted to let a girl into the show that he met on myspace earlier that day. The emails probably went like this: A/S/L, 134, LMAO, LOL, BFF etc. The skank informed us that she had no I.D., but claimed to work as a dancer at Million Dollar Saloon. (FYI, she looked 16) By TABC law, venues in Texas cannot permit minors into a bar (even if its an all ages show) without picture identification. Jay refused to speak to me or the owner; blabbing non-sense that he “tried to advance the show with him for six weeks about this and he never responded.” By the way, Stephen Pope, his bass player and tour manager, confirmed this was bullshit and we should just ignore Jay, since “he will calm down soon”. By 8PM he was loading the van and left the show with the myspace whore.
Jay Lindsey did not want to play the show. Why?
He is rich now and likes to remind people of that fact. My favorite quote by him: “You know how much money I have in the bank!” Actually, Yes; $250,000 courtesy of Matador Records.
He got paid almost Four times the Dallas guarantee in Austin the night prior.
He had been doing coke for 12 hours straight.
He had not slept in two days.
He left to go buy $55 worth of LSD.
I guess ditching the groupie, then eating Chinese take-out in your hotel room, while tripping on Acid is much better than playing a show. Jay Lindsey solidified his infamous and difficult reputation by disappointed over 100 fans, all to get fucked up on drugs. Technically, he gave up over $1K for some horrid underage girl that he didn't even slay; when he should spend it on therapy to work out his sexuality. Apparently (and there is video to prove it - ask Cheap Time), when Jay Lindsey gets ‘reatarded’, he “jokingly” likes to perform oral sex on sleeping bandmates and tour mates. So maybe being pictured in bed with Bradford Cox on the cover of his last Matador 7" was not a gag?
The only rumor I couldn’t verify: Jay Reatard bailed on recording with Stuart Sikes in Dallas.
NOTE: While I am not mad about what happened on Monday, I am disappointed as a fan. As a promoter I find it annoying, yet a really memorable evening.
UPDATE:
Brooklyn Vegan picked up on the story, then
Idolator poked fun at the comments section on BV post.
