Welcome to Alabama, kiddies. This is Sloss Furnace--an industrial rust factory turned into a park. The venue is basically outdoors, a covered pavilion-type thing with a floor that slants all the way to the stage. Oh, fun, I say--the downhill mosh pit. This place is fuckin' surreal.

Of course, the first person we see when we get here (at 2PM--didn't realize there was a time change for the better at the state line), other than KORN, is Ginger. Walking fast, as ever. (The Mansons' bus and Danzig's show up later, four-ish--Ginger had hooked a ride in with KORN. Probably so he wouldn't wear out the hotel carpet.)

Just when I think I'm done writing, the full contingent of Spooky Kids walks by the other side of this damned chain-link fence (feels like watching the 'rock band' exhibit at the zoo...). They were talking amongst themselves; Manson spotted our little knot, and pulled up short, then smiled and waved at us. Stunned, we waved back.

Daisy cruises by a bit later; Chris howls out "Chickens hate Manson!" and Daisy raises his fist in a salute, then loses it, totally cracks up. Apparently Chris also got Madonna with this one--and 'chickens suck dick' in Charlotte; Madonna came back with "Kill the chickens!" and they both found this highly amusing, much to the confusion of everyone else around. (These jokes have been floating around from the Columbia, SC show from last tour--Madonna spent the early part of the set that night just repeating these little phrases in a high, unnatural voice...)

May 7 - morning, on the road to Knoxville.

Think I'm finally awake enough to recount last night. Oh man, whatta show. They had LOTS of space to work with--big stage, wide and deep. Return of the Cube. Yeah! We were right in the center for this one--an excellent place to be.

Obviously they'd decided that it was time to mess with the locals a bit-- hey, it WAS redneck Alabama. So...they file onstage from my left...Twiggy finishing the parade resplendent in a new blonde wig (long and a bit fluffy, looked like a cheap porn star on the downhill side), green dress, glitter eye makeup, and the fuzzy pink housecoat from the 'Lunchbox' video. A truly gender-confusing sight. And we wait for Manson. Actually, I can see him, far off and back behind Twiggy, twitching and creeping in that way only the Rev can do. He's dressed for Alabama, too--the old blue-gray dress, black stockings pulled to just over his knees...it's the Mad Housewife effect. And I just KNOW that what he's wearing under the dress isn't much, and we're gonna be seeing a lot of the Reverend's skin tonight.

They blast into 'Cake And Sodomy'. Everyone behind me steps back. (Mind you, these are the same folks who were singing happily along with Jonathan on 'Faget'.) Mr. Manson leans out toward the audience with this 'ah--fresh meat--rednecks!' look and gives the song everything he can put into it. He's simply incandescent tonight--I haven't seen them hit this level since Columbus, Ohio. He lifts the dress to show us he's not wearing a stitch underneath except his black jockstrap, baiting the inbreds. I hear mutters of "fuckin' faggot" behind me...I have no desire to tell them I'm 99% sure it'll get worse.

They play the usual set, minus 'Get Your Gunn' (which was also dropped in Charlotte)--no surprises there. Twiggy is all over - I'm thinking of him as Energizer Twiggy--bounce here, run over there and jump back, pogo like mad; then, tired out from all that exertion, he leans back against the speakers and slides down...crawls over to his monitor, sits on it for awhile...all the while playing, and looking like a really broken rag doll/autistic child. Then he's up again--bounce bounce bounce.

Manson tries to get closer to the audience--the barrier's eight feet from the stage and is braced up with tables (I kid you not!) placed on their sides. He balances on a table-edge and tries to walk out, tightrope style. Doesn't work--he falls, flailing, into the space between the tables, misses half a line of song, picks up a couple of nasty bruises,and scrambles back onstage. (I think it was during 'Dope Hat'--the dress had been ditched by then.) He's right in front of us most of the night, staring intently. I fix back, and sing till I'm hoarse.

During 'Sweet Dreams' some fucker comes flying over my head--security were doing a fantastic job, but they can't catch 'em all, and I'm pissed when they crowd-surf during that song anyway. Jerkboy swings his arm into my mouth, and I bite. Right above the elbow. Hard. There's blood--I hold on, taste it, and bite down harder. He drips. Manson stares at me with that intense pinpoint focus--MASSIVE amusement and approval--that's what they get when they hurt you, isn't it? I can hear him thinking and security pulls the fuckhead on over, and the moment's over too. An INTENSELY weird half-a-minute. I'm even more keyed up--shaking-- can't/don't wanna break eye contact with him for anything. At the very least I'm not gonna take my eyes off him for the rest of the night. During 'Lunchbox' he breaks a bottle and starts cutting himself high on his chest (about mid- sternum)--I can't see--I've got security dudes in my face--I put my hands between them (they're right up against me) and MOVE them--I hafta see --I don't care what lands on my head. They do 'My Monkey' and 'Misery Machine' for the first time in a week; I rip my voice out on 'Misery Machine' again-- can't talk above a whisper today.

Evidently Birmingham has some public nudity law. The Rev peers into and pokes around in his jockstrap, shows us his real hair color, but nothing more. But I was right, it was about to get far worse for this crowd. Manson heads for the crowd, stage right, and slips/stumbles right at Twiggy's monitor (I don't think it was an intentional fall, but I missed parts of this--didn't actually see it--he was just suddenly down), rolls over it catty-cornered, and comes up off to the edge of the stage on the far side with a grin of pure wickedness. He swings around, grabs Twiggy, and the next thing I know Twigster is on his knees, face in the Reverend's crotch, Manson's hand tangled in Twiggy's hair, pulling him closer as he arches his back and hips into Twiggy's face. Manson's still singing, and Twiggy's still on his knees, playing bass, and getting way too friendly with what's in front of his nose as the Rev backs up to the drums, hauling Twig with him. Ginger ignores them both, is plainly NOT looking--Daisy looks amused (and maybe a little relieved that it's no longer himself who gets this treatment). He finally lets Twiggy go; Twig crawls back to his spot and is picked up and set on his feet by a roadie (I love this about Twiggy--you just grab him by the shoulders and lift him up, bass and all, and he never stops playing. Energizer Twiggy, sure enough.) And Manson's back in front of us--on the cube, off the cube, staring at us and the yahoos back of us. I can just tell he's gloating--'See--I AM your worst nightmare'--and I'm hearing more things like "fuckin' goddamn faggots" and worse from the local Beavis-and-Butthead educated crowd. (Think my favorite was "Git a woman, you pussy!" There's already enough gender confusion in that statement to sink a battleship...)

Not to give the impression that there aren't Manson fans here. There's even two carloads that drove in from east Texas. (That's one thing I've noticed --Mansonites will TRAVEL. It's just that there are a lot more locals (I suspect) that had crawled outta the hills for this show. (Probably the ones who couldn't get tix for Skid Row, who are also playing in town tonight. Something to do...) You know the kind of people you're dealing with when you hear this conversation while waiting for the door to open:

"Dare ya t'eat that there centipede..."
"Well...I dunno..."
"Give ya a quarter..."
"Hmm. Well, th'first one didn't taste that bad..."

ANYway. They finished (as I said) with 'Misery Machine'; there was massive, wholesale 'quip destruction (Ginger used the bass drum as a trampoline again --I'm still impressed by that--and so's the one drummer I've told about it since). I peeled out, and went and sat on some steps way back of the 'building', and shook. It was that exhausted but hyper-alive, way-too-much-energy feeling. Of course,the first person I see when I look up is Ginger...

Birmingham set list: Cake And Sodomy; Cyclops; Snake Eyes And Sissies; Dope Hat; Organ Grinder; Sweet Dreams; Dogma; Come Together/My Monkey; Misery Machine

What the well-dressed Manson boy was wearing tonight: Twiggy and Mr. Manson - described in text. Daisy - the dark green pants again, with black fishnet shirt over a sparkly silvery one - it's in some of the photos that have been published. Madonna - as before, only with white tights. I notice tonight that the fav black shirt with pentagrams is from some vinyl siding company; their phone number's on the back. Somehow I bet it didn't come with those red pentagrams originally... Ginger - as last night, different black t-shirt.

--coyote--