It was 9:30 and hundreds of teen girls in lace tops and crucifix jewelry filled the parking lot. Music Plus was a Ticketmaster outlet and Madonna concert tickets were about to go on sale. This was a problem. Store manager Dave Selznick was on vacation and he’d assigned “Bad Luck” Benjy to open. I knew Benjy played a late night punk show at the Hollywood Stardust Ballroom and was probably still sleeping. I walked to a payphone at the corner of Santa Monica and Westwood Boulevard and called him. His wife Tina answered.
“Where’s Benjy,” I asked.
“He got food poisoning last night at Toi on Sunset. I’m taking him to emergency.”
“Can you drop off the keys first. We’re locked out.”
Ten minutes later, I spotted Benjy teetering through the parking lot. He looked awful. He pushed aside the Madonna wannabes and staggered toward the front door still wearing eyeliner from last night’s gig. Suddenly he leaned forward and spewed a torrent of brown puke toward the Madonna clones. They screamed and covered their faces. Benjy managed to unlock the door while simultaneously barfing on the windows. The staff ran inside and watched as the once orderly ticket line dispersed into chaos.
Alejandro, the cross-dressing karaoke lover, turned on the Ticketmaster computer. At 9:59, we opened…