Louder Than Love || Chris Cornell

I'm The Beast And You're The Master

Sacramento, California
January 31, 1989

The next morning, we had to get up early to make it for a small show in Sacramento California at The Cattle Club. It was an 8 hour drive so we had to leave at 7am. After just getting to sleep at like 1am the night before, I'm used to not sleeping but Chris was definitely a little groggy getting up. We pack up our things quickly and head out of the hotel. We pile ourselves in the van and head out to find some much needed coffee before we leave town. Chris is so cute when he's sleepy, He just rolled out of bed and threw on some black track pants with the 90 logo on them, his Spiral Nirvana tank top and threw his hair back in a half ponytail. I wanted to take a really quick shower so I didn't feel half as sleepy and I just threw on a Led Zepplin T-Shirt with my skinny ripped jeans, threw my hair up in a messy loose bun with my classic Doc Martens.

We grab some coffee from a local coffee shop and head out of town towards Sacramento.

"Tunes?" I ask Chris as I take a sip of my coffee.

"Fuck yea... I need to wake up," Chris yawns and I smile at him. I take out a cassette from my bag and put it in the deck and turn it up a little.

"Fuck... yes Aerosmith!" Chris says and turns it up even more. I look over at him as he starts to tap the steering wheel to the opening track on 'Get Your Wings' and giggle a little at him.

"What?" He smiles at me.

"Nothing... you're just cute," I giggle and take a sip of my coffee.

"I'm trying to wake the fuck up... god damn I'm still sleepy," He yawns.

We drive for a long time while I do my best to guide him with the map we have, and we make a stop for some food at a diner on the highway. It was so funny how he kept joking that it was like a horror movie stopping there to eat since it was in the middle of nowhere. After we break to eat we head back out on the road and continue our way to The Cattle Club.

We eventually arrive in Sacramento and make our way to The Cattle Club and make reservations at the Hotel just across the street. Chris and the guys always try to get a hotel as close to the venue as possible so they don't have to lug everything around as much. We check in at the hotel and once again meet with Kim and Matt in the hotel bar area for them to figure out the setlist. I decide to stay in the room, as I did want a little nap.

•••

Chris walks down to the hotel bar and sees Kim and Matt sitting at the bar.

"Hey," Chris says as he walks up to grab a seat.

"Yo," Kim says and Matt nods. Chris orders a beer while Matt pulls out some paper to come up with a set list.

"So... how about starting with 'Flower'?" Chris says.

"Cool... ok Flower, then maybe Hands All Over... I think they transition well into each other..." Matt says as Chris and Kim agree. They continue on coming up with the list but had to modify it a bit and take out 'Circle of Power' as Hiro was the one who did vocals on that track, but they were able to come up with a good list.

"Did you hear anything about getting someone to fill in for Hiro?" Chris asks.

"Uh... no... I called Susan but, she still hasn't heard anything back for his temp replacement... we might just have to ask Mike to do it," Kim says. (Mike is their bass tech)

"Damn..." Chris says and takes a sip of his beer.

"Yea... this sucks... but hey... Mike knows all the material so he would be good choice for now and he said he'd do it if we were really stuck," Matt says.