I had dreamt of visiting the Sunset Strip since I was 11 years old in 1986 and I fell in love with all the rock n roll playing on the radio and MTV. A lot of people would call them hair (or glam) bands as the majority of the guys in those bands had better (and bigger) hair than most of the women, some even wore more makeup too! Who knew that almost 40 years later I would find myself in the middle of it all. Growing up in the 80s, my walls were covered with the pages from such magazines as Metal Edge, Metal Sludge, Screamer, Rip Magazine and more. There wasn’t an inch of wall space showing as pictures were plastered all over the place. I would see their videos on MTV (when MTV was cool and actually played music videos) and watch Headbangers Ball where I’d see all the cool places the bands played at (and many got their start) on the Strip such as the Troubadour, The Whisky a Go Go, the Roxy, The Rainbow, The Viper and more and I thought of how absolutely awesome it would be to see that music scene.
I never even really went to any concerts until my later teenage years and so I never got to experience many of those awesome bands in their heyday. I love that a lot of them continue to tour doing what they love so I can make up for the lost time and hear all the hits I love, instead of sitting in my room with a tape recorder and microphone held up to the radio as the songs took over the airwaves trying to capture every word in a little notebook hoping dad wouldn’t walk in or the DJ would talk over it making me wait for the song to play again.
Flash forward to 2006, when the Tawn Mastrey Foundation had been recently formed. I was the Communications Manager and my role was to reach out to Tawn’s rockstar friends. Through that position, I actually became friends with many of the rockstars I had on display on my bedroom walls as a kid. I was overjoyed to not only be part of the foundation as Tawn was a friend, but also that I would actually get to talk to those guys whose music I enjoyed. I never fan girled as they are people just like us; however, I certainly would share my love of the music with them. One of those rockstars I became closest to was none other than Jack Russell, the incredible voice of (Jack Russell’s) Great White. I wrote a piece about my memories of Jack after he passed called On the Other Side of the Ocean, There is Peace and when I learned of the Celebration of Life concert in Los Angeles honoring Jack and the legacy of music he left was going to be held right in the thick of it all at the Whisky, I just knew I needed to be there to pay my respects to him. I couldn’t think of anyone else to join on this epic adventure other than my rock n roll bestie, Dana McBride, as we were brought together through the love of both Tawn and Jack. We, of course, were missing Cara from our rock n roll trio as she is a big part of bringing us all together. I know she would love to share all the places she’d go as Hollywood was her former stomping ground and, like Tawn, always enjoyed sharing her time and love of the place with others.
Overwhelming doesn’t begin to describe my feelings as we walked down Hollywood Boulevard checking out all the stars on the Walk of Fame. Our good friend (and local), Alison “Metal Babe” Masson took us to a few other sites such as the Griffith Observatory where I saw the James Dean bust statue. (I adore James Dean and love Rebel without a Cause, which of course had many scenes filmed there.) We also went to Guitar Center where we saw the handprints of several musical greats and ran into Tony Montana. He was the first person from Jack’s band that we saw after arriving in California and it took some control to not burst into tears as we embraced in a friendly hug.
Another almost surreal part of this adventure was that we had the opportunity to stay in the Over the Rainbow strip apartments where many of those rockstars partied back in the day. If only those walls could talk! We were literally right there in the middle of it all. Records, posters and guitars adorned the walls of the apartment bringing me right back to that wonderful nostalgia felt in the 80s.
We got to the Whisky and I immediately started seeing people that I had only spoken to or knew online through either the Tawn Mastrey Foundation or, ultimately, Jack. I may have squealed like a schoolgirl when I saw Rockwell Sheraton while we were waiting in the VIP line to get into the venue. We had known each other for more than a decade but only met in person in that moment. This happened again and again as I finally got to meet and hug friends I’ve known for so many years, such as Jaymz Eberly Jr., who was a great friend and amazing photographer for Jack and his bands over the years. He even created an incredibly touching and amazingly beautiful slideshow of pictures submitted by friends and family worldwide which played on stage during the entire show. I was brought to tears as there was one moment where a picture of Jack and I (the first we’d taken together) remained on screen for more than a minute, though the pictures were supposed to rotate every five seconds. That picture of Jack and I also included a little card of Tawn. I truly felt his presence and believe that delay in the picture change was both Jack and Tawn showing their love and their little way to say Hello.
The energy in that packed room at the Whisky was off the charts as musicians took the stage to play Jack’s songs, even a couple tunes that had never been performed live before. When his son took the stage to perform a lovely song for his father, I decided to video that moment and, to my surprise, I saw at least four pictures of me and Jack (and with other friends such as Cara Mastrey and even my mama, Alyce Hendrickson) and another five or so pics that I took playing on the slideshow, almost as though Jack was saying it will be ok and that he loved the show of support, honor and respect that was put on for him!
Don Dokken gave a super heartfelt talk about his time with Jack and shared some of the stories from the many times they had performed together and then went into a rendition of House of Broken Love. So many amazing musicians (and family, fans and friends alike) came out to show their love and respect to such a great man. I personally want to thank and share my admiration for all those who took the stage. Robby Lochner, Tony Montana, Dan McNay, Dicki Fliszar, Ken Mary, Sean McNabb, Michael Olivieri, Chris Tristram, Nate Peck, Andrew Freeman, Hal Sparks… you all took control of that stage and played your asses off to celebrate our friend. You all did him proud for sure! Jack’s legacy lives on as you continue to play the tunes we all know and love as Once Bitten.
I even made some new friends that were close to him and felt honored to meet some of his family as well such as his sons, Matt Russell and Matthew Hucko, as well as his lovely cousin, Naomi Breshears. I want to thank Nancy Sayle, Jack’s long time public relations person, who worked tirelessly for months to put this event together to celebrate Jack (her good friend, whom she’d worked with for over 30 years) as she wanted to make it a night of celebration, not sadness. Though many tears were shed, in the end, there was a certain peace in the air on March 25, 2025 as people from all over came (or watched via a livestream) to honor our friend, Jack. I know he was there with us all as you just could feel it as the energy was positively infectious! I am disappointed that it took almost 40 years and the passing of our dear friend to finally get me to Hollywood, but I am so glad I went as I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. It was bittersweet but also absolutely wonderful being with everyone who knew and loved him! Epic, emotional and surreal are understatements of our time on the Sunset Strip celebrating and remembering the one and only Captain Jack Patrick Russell.