‘One Foot in the Gutter’ spoken word tour

Buffalo, NY was treated to an evening of storytelling from the one and only Riki Rachtman. Only five dates were booked throughout the beginning of December, to gauge the interest in his “behind the scenes” recollections. Limited capacity venues were picked and tickets sold quickly.

Growing up the 1980s and 90s, most – if not every – Saturday night was spent watching the quintessential host of Mtv’s Headbanger’s Ball. He had the ultimate job for us music fans, he got to hang with all the coolest people, and now here he is wanting to share his stories with those of us wanting to hear them. Rachtman shared stories about close friends that became household names. As well as rockers no longer with us; Dimebag, Lemmy, Bowie, Layne, Kurt and Shannon.

He also shared lots of personal stories, some embarrassing, but at the end of it all it makes up who he is today. He shared clips of videos of memorable events in his life. Looking back, he reminded the crowd that as the owner/founder of the World Famous Cathouse, he did not allow cameras in, so there is not much documented from that era aside from stories. Not much has seemed to change, as he requested at the very beginning of the show that all cellphones be put away, jokingly citing there was zero reason to update anyone not at the show seeing as they choose not to be there. He did allow for everyone to take a quick photo about halfway through the show.

His storytelling can be a bit chaotic at times, given his extensive life experiences and crowd members interjecting definitely adds to the roller coaster ride. However, Riki handles all the extra commentary as smoothly as to be expected. He responds and politely reminded the crowd, multiple times, he is on a timed schedule or else he would just talk all night.

At one point, towards the end of the night, the crowd had a heartfelt discussion about igloos.