Rat Stories Have an anecdote abo

"Rat used to DJ at the Kitchen Club back in the day, spinning all the great bands: Nirvana, Pearl Jam, James, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Deelite, Jesus Jones* etc... *I may be remembering some of the bands incorrectly He also put out a weekly playlist that included an op-ed by the man himself, one of which featured a wisdom nugget I've never forgotten... I will paraphrase it below (we're going waaaay back and I've long since lost the tattered paper): "You people who are into the "support local music" scene should really support local music by telling your friends whose bands you go see (which are the only bands you go see) that they suck and they should quit, because they do and they should. Maybe this truth, coming from "friends," will encourage them to actually create music that doesn't suck." Prick Livingston V	Rat literally cleared Churchills in 7 seconds by blowing a whistle into the mic. Hearing damage? I say yes! Once at the Square he was overly enthusiastic in his head movements, and his glasses went flying off his face, soared over the bar, and skidded to a stop near the front door. (I think this was pre-expansion.) I bought him a ""safety strap"" so it wouldn't happen again. I think he wore it for about two years after. Tracey Burger	A bunch of us were hanging at Rat's apartment, having a few beers and admiring his bathroom (he had the tidiest bathroom in America - if not the world). It was close to Halloween and we were talking about costumes we had worn as kids, and Rat told us how his mom had dressed him as Raggedy Ann one year. Well, naturally, we were all a bit taken aback by this so we decided to call Mrs. Falestra to verify Rat's story. Rat dialed up his mom and - with Mrs. Falestra on speaker, we asked if she had indeed dressed Rat as Raggedy Ann for Halloween. Her reply was - "That idiot Rat Bastard! It was Raggedy Andy!. What kind of mother do you think I am...dressing a boy as Raggedy Ann...?!?" Still - Rat as Raggedy Andy must have been a sight. Bridget Anne Morin
Seven-Six-Seven...that is how Rat referred to an airplane. Once I was saying to him that all the other veteran local rock people had it tougher than him, with their drug problems and whatnot and then Rat mumbled, "They never fell off a 7-6-7 before". Rat then explained that as he was waiting for a wheelchair to come up the conveyor belt to go on a plane, he leaned on what was suppose to be the safety bar and it was not connected and Rat fell from the back of the plane unto the tarmac. He said he jumped out and up off the plane so he wouldn't hurt himself worse (Some Rat theory that I still don't understand). After he hit the tarmac he turned and yelled, "Pull the fucker out!" because he knew the plane should leave and he didn't want it out late. Steven Toth	Rat and I were talking about guitar solos and he told me that he played an amazing solo on guitar with no strings. I don't doubt this at all. Adam Zimmon	I was recording at Rats studio and was working on a song that was a little on the slower side. Nevertheless, I was a little offended when I looked over and saw that Rat was fast asleep! Later, when I confided to someone else who had worked with Rat about this I felt a little better, because this person said Rat used to fall asleep in his sessions all the time! Emily Easterly
Rat explained to me that he was recruiting ladies for the squelchers because women had a higher tolerance for pain, what with the childbirth and all. Bill Orcutt	i was at a weird hippie festival in south florida seeing a friend's band play. i was with my friend and her mom, and her mom was saying that she was mad because everyone was drinking beer and she didn't have any. then like an idiot i said that i recognized a man in the distance, he had big poofy hair and black wayfarer eyeglasses on, he was wearing some weird tee shirt. and he was drinking beer. my friend's mom made me go up to him and ask him for beer for her to drink. i seriously think i went up to him 3 different times telling him i was rob elba's daughter and that my friend's mom just wanted beer and she was making me ask him. he looked at me like i was crazy and just handed me the beers each time. that was nice of him. i still feel bad about bothering him though. Cori Elba	My favorite recollections of Rat would have to be Ratcapella, where he would get really drunk and sing Mark Eitzel/American Music Club songs acapella as loudly and passionately as humanly possible. As always, Rat would gauge his sucess by the number of people who had walked out on his performance. I was always mezmorized by this and would be standing alone, or maybe with one or two others, at the end of the performance in awe. Several years later I moved to Los Angeles and met Mark Eitzel himself. When we got to talking, eventually I asked him if he knew Rat. "No, I dont think so" was the response. I then proceded to tell him about Ratcapella, and he just strared at me completly dumbfounded. It was better than an actual Ratcapella show. Shane Soloski
Rat had a night at the Square called " *69 ". He would spin incredible 7"" singles for hours into the early morning. Before he began his DJ set that evening, we left the Square and headed north on Washington Ave, but I can't recall why, because by the time we arrived at the corner of Washington and 7th, Rat pushed me into a doorway and flung himself in front of me, but still facing me. After mere seconds I realized that we were caught between the crossfire of bullets being sprayed by Miami Beach undercover cops and the couple of trashy thugs they were about to take down. After that moment, it's all mental white noise... too much THC? Or too many Sunday nights with Rat? No matter what, Rat, protected me... from bullets! Sam Fogarino	During a TLASILA UK tour driving 15 hours from London to Glasgow, Rat killed about 3 or 4 or those hours explaining to me the entire road system of USA...thrilling. Andy Bolus	Back in the late 80's I was playing in Quit. We were recording at the Sync Studios that was on NE 125th St. near the Dunkin Donuts. DAT technology was just arriving on the scene. Rat was telling me about how he had just returned from Japan. He was exhausted. He flew over there to trade DAT's or something (probably with the Ex or something) and was halfway back to Miami when he realized he forgot his DAT in Japan. When he got back to Miami he got on the next flight to Japan and went right back to get it. This is like when I forget to get milk or diapers or something and I have to go get it. Except that it was a DAT, it was Rat, and instead of CVS, it was the other side of the world. Russell Mofsky
At work Rat was called upon to escort two drunken women off a flight, who were both supposedly girlfriends of Gene Simmons. One of the ladies was a Porn star and the other was the wife of Lorenzo Llamas. When Rat was getting them off the plane the porn star screamed at him "The stewardess is just jealous because I got these!" (points to her big boobs). Then the ladies said "Hey, we're friends of Gene Simmons and we are famous", to which Rat replied "Hey, guess what ladies...I'm famous too!" Veronica Tejeda	We were at Churchill's on a regular Thurs night doing our Squelch thing or what have you. I remember hearing some hub-bub from a crazy dude at the bar who was giving the Churchill's bartenders some grief. I think he was ranting and really drunk so he was basically your typical Churchill's clientele. So we're banging away doing whatever and suddenly - about 7 minutes into this crazy cacophony - the dude comes up to the front of the stage and starts yelling at us to stop. He's pulling at his hair, jumping around and yelling 'stop' about a hundred times. Really freaking out. Of course, we just continued playing and didn't pay any attention to him. Out of nowhere, the dude pulls out a gun and points it at all of us for various time intervals. Most of us stopped playing and tried not to make any sudden movements. Rat? Now I've seen Rat remain pretty cool and calm during some typically crazy shit, but I distinctly remember the memory of Rat being a bit bent over, with his eyes hanging halfway outside his head but still noodling around on his Strat like crazy. The guy - apparently frustrated by his inability to get him to stop even with the threat of death - threw his hands up in the air and stormed out of Churchill's. I think Tom Squelcher ran after him but wasn't able to catch up to him. Roger Monotract	I remember that I put together a group of musicians (who will remain unnamed) to play a show opening for Matt Kramer's band, Coma, at Stephen Talkhouse in 1995. I had previously done my spoken word with Rat at the Blue Steele open mic and loved how he played with my words. There was great chemistry between us, which wasn't always the case, even with excellent musicians. Anyway, before the show I invited Rat to sit in with us. My lame support musicians flew into a tizzy because they thought Rat was going to overplay and just make noise while we played. I assured them that would not be the case. Pussy-boys that they were, they would not let up on me about Rat, who by this time had shown up with his gear and was ready to play. I insisted that Rat play. Grudgingly, they decided to go along with it. So about two or three pieces into the set, I invited Rat on stage. Rat played beautiful acoustic guitar accompaniment, which was the perfect choice for the piece. After the piece ended, Rat turned to me, acknowledged the moment, packed up his gear and left the stage. I asked the crowd to give it up for Rat and he received a huge ovation. The idiots with whom I was playing were shocked that Rat could (and would) play that way. After the show, I told them I never wanted to play with them again. I then had a beer with Rat and thanked him for putting up with the bullshit and playing great guitar. Adam Matza