'The Roar of L'Amour'

MIKE PARENTE - Some hysterical stories about the owner (RIP)

Taken from Facebook

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THE DIRTY ROTTEN MUTHAF*CKERS

One day I am in the passenger seat of Mike Parente's Cadillac in Staten Island, headed to Brooklyn for some meeting and Mike goes "I was told to ask you about a band", I respond "who?", he says "I fucking forgot" ...

This was very typical of a Mike/Chuck dynamic.

We move on to other conversations and out of nowhere Mike yells out "DIRTY ROTTEN MUTHAFUCKER!” - That was not out of the norm for him, so I didn't respond.

He goes "So?"

I just stared at him with a confused look …(my usual look towards him).

I then ask why he yelled that and he said, "how many?"

I am totally confused and speechless.

Mike says "You never heard of The Dirty Rotten Muthaf*ckers?"

I then realized he meant a band and I can honestly state that, no, I never heard of them - because they didn't exist.

Mike laughs and goes "I thought you knew everything"

After 10 minutes of confusion, Mike goes "they go by the initials DRMF" ...

HUH? WHAT? WAIT...

I ask Mike, “Do you mean DRI that stands for Dirty Rotten Imbeciles”?

Mike's response? "Same shit"

Imagine over 4 years of that type of conversation and you can imagine the Mike/Chuck dynamic.

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WSOU - The "catlicks verse the publicks"

During my tenure, I built up enough clout/following to wind up being invited on various radio stations and be featured on TV and in magazines.

One of my better relationships was with WSOU in NJ.

They would ask me on the station so regularly that security knew me.

When the station first went to a metal format (RIP Dave Gizzo) they built a relationship with me.

Eventually I would give them the club line-up, and they would promote it for free.

I would get the staff comped and sometimes bring one up on stage with me.

After a while other clubs complained that it was too "Chuck/L'Amour" centric and they started charging for 3 hour blocks of sponsorship.

They said I could have first pick of 3 and they wouldn't charge us at first because of all our history.

Extremely fair and I agreed.

Eventually it came time to charge us, and I told Mike and he said, "set up a meeting" and I will show you how to negotiate.

On a Friday morning, I did, we pick up Mike, and we drive to the campus. I say "we" because Pete Lomenzo who was my assistant came with us.

We get there and the meeting starts and we are talking about how the station can no longer say things like "suicidal", they called Suicidal Tendencies ... "The Tendencies"

Mike says "Ya know what your problem is ..." (I knew something good was coming), he continued "... the Catholics like to dance, while the Publics like to rock"

You see WSOU was part of a Catholic University called Seton Hall.

In Mikes dialect it was "Catlicks and Publicks" ... in his mind I guess it was an 80's version of West Side Story.

Remember, we are in a meeting with college seniors and faculty.

The meeting goes on and Mike is discussing the popularity of White Lion.

Mike and his brother George also managed White Lion and he had every right to brag.

The conversation morphed from that to Mike himself and he said "you can ask anybody in this industry about Mike Parente and they will tell you his reputation is ... UNSPEAKABLE".

He added "right Chuck?" ... I COULDN'T AGREE FAST ENOUGH.

I swear to the day I die (which might be soon) that was the quote. If anybody has Pete Lomenzo's info, ask him.

Pete almost burst out laughing and later that night called Mike "The Slip Mahoney of Metal" (Bowery Boys reference)

The seniors at WSOU were silent out of respect, but they left me a message on my answering machine (remember those?) that said "we get it now, you poor guy"

Oh and after all of that, Mike agreed to the same thing I agreed to.

The same exact money and the same exact deal that we get priority.

On the way home I kidded about it and Mike said "eh, it was a fair deal".

I said they also gave us about 6 months free and still giving us priority and he said "good job".

If it wasn't for this story, it would have been a complete waste of my day, but like most things ... it worked out.

RIP Mike ... a lot of fun memories

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WHITE LION AND CAROL BURNETT

When White Lion was in LA recording PRIDE, the local legends Prophet were playing the club.

Before doors, I am talking with Scott Metaxas the bassist and Mike Parente (club owner and White Lion manager) comes over.

Scott congratulates Mike on White Lion and Mike says they are currently recording their album in LA with ... err ... with ... umm ... with ... err ... Chuck, who are they recording with again?

Before I could respond he blurts out... LYLE WAGGONER

Scott shockingly goes "really"?

Mike said "yep, he wasn't easy to get"

Scott says "The guy from The Carol Burnett Show is producing White Lion?"

I said ... "It's Michael Wagener" and walked away.

Mike said " Same shit" and walked away.

I think Scott is still standing there confused

Now you understand what it was like for me there lol

Chuck Kaye

Ah Yes Indeed

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