“THE LOST WEEKEND” CHRONICLES A 1984 CONTEST WINNER’S TIME WITH VAN HALEN

Page Six of the NY Post reports:

In 1984, MTV gave contest winner Kurt Jefferis a chance to party all weekend with his heroes: the notoriously depraved band Van Halen.

The then-fledgling music-video channel flew Jefferis and a pal from Phoenixville, Pa., to Detroit, where they met up with the band at Cobo Hall. First things first, Jefferis told The Post, “a guy handed me a bottle of Jack Daniels. I took a sip and asked for more.” After being passed a joint, “I took a couple hits and a couple more swigs of Jack Daniels.”

During the show, Jefferis got smashed in the face with cake and showered in champagne by the band members, then he went backstage where there was a feast of lobster, filet mignon and cocaine.

“I did a couple lines. Then David [Lee Roth, the singer] said, ‘I think Kurt needs Tammy,’ ” Jefferis recalled.

The groupie “took off her clothes and started dancing naked. The two of us wound up together in the shower…”

…“I blacked out, and the next thing I remember is waking up in a hotel room bed,” said Jefferis, now 54. Tammy was long gone and “my head was killing me.

But he still had another day of partying with the band. So Alex Van Halen told him to shotgun a 16-ounce beer. A hungover Jefferis declined, but the drummer wasn’t taking no for an answer, “Alex said, ‘Kurt you are not leaving this spot until you drink it…’ ”

…His wild time is captured in a new documentary short, Lost Weekend, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 20th. (The movie I Want My MTV, about the channel’s early days, is also part of the fest.) It’s a look at a time you can never imagine happening now, when the break-the-rules channel let viewers in on the fun by gifting them cars, VIP treatment at concerts and even their idols’ homes. The contests sometimes ended up in sex, chaos or with winners owing thousands of dollars…

…No way could that happen today,” he said. “You’d be signing releases out the wazoo — and that would take all the fun out of it.”

Read more at the NY Post.

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  • The Sentinel on

    How cool would it have been if 5150 bombed worse than van halen III. Then they fire sammy and get right back with dave and put out fair warning part 2 and kept that train going all these years!


    • Doug R. on

      How cool would it have been if Sammy Hagar never saved Van Halen’s ass, and then Daryl Hall or Patty Smyth would’ve been the new lead singer of Van Halen, now that would’ve been cool! …


  • shannon mehaffey on

    Excuse me….he blacked out? really? either he isn’t telling the truth or he’s an idiot…how could you black out after that? Playoffs? …Playoffs? did you say playoffs?


    • Dana on

      I edited the article, but he blacked out due to a head injury sustained years earlier. Here is the exact text:

      After that, things got fuzzy. Unbeknownst to MTV, Jefferis had suffered brain trauma a couple of years earlier, as a result of falling 13 feet over a stairwell, and was not equipped to handle Van Halen-level partying.


    • shannon mehaffey on

      He’s lucky he’s not dead ….smh.


    • elliot goldberg on

      dana, “stairwell to halen”


  • Taskerofpuppets on

    Great story. I don’t remember this contest, but I do remember the the Metallica one where the guy in Aberdeen , WA where the band showed up in a semi and they setup and played for the guy and his friends. Then he was given all their equipment & gear. Good times.


    • Doug R. on

      Oh I remember, and this is 1 contest I’m glad I didn’t win!
      Also remember the “MTV Party House Contest,” with John Cougar Mellencamp. I’ll never forget the promotion based on “Pink Houses” – win this house, and we’ll Paint the Mutha Pink!! 😉 Ah the good ol’ days.


  • Tyger of Pan Tang on

    I was backstage at Metallica on the Puppets tour, but there was not a chick in sight, not even at the show. Five years too early … .


    • Dana on

      I am a female and I saw them on that tour. They played the old Felt Forum in Manhattan. Unfortunately, it was after Cliff Burton passed.


    • Tyger of Pan Tang on

      Yes, I too missed my chance at seeing them with Cliff … I would have if Ozzy (actually, Sharon) had not replaced Metallica with Blue Oyster Cult as openers on The Ultimate Sin tour.

      I’m afraid the ladies in my neck of the woods were just not that enlightened back then Dana – I would have loved to know girls like you and your girlfriends in those days.


    • Dana on

      🙂 Thank you.


    • Rattlehead on

      Tyger, Cliff was “the bomb”. I was privileged to see him with Metallica three times….Once at the County Club in Los Angeles opening for Raven while touring for Kill Em All, headlining at The Backdoor in San Diego while touring for Lightning (Armored Saint was the opener), and at the San Diego Sports Arena opening for Ozzy while touring for Master.

      Even though Cliff is no longer with us, IMO he will always be known as the bass player for Metallica. All other bassists for Metallica will always be considered “replacements”, fair or unfair……


    • Tyger of Pan Tang on

      Rattle, that’s incredible … how badly did they blow Ozzy off the stage? The minute we heard that Metallica was replaced by BOC, we figured we knew the reason: Ozzy was fearing the real Reaper.


    • Dana on

      Tyger,

      Rattle also saw Ozzy with Randy, now, that is what I really call lucky, I am so envious.

      D


    • Rattlehead on

      Tyger, yes, IMO, Metallica blew Ozzy away. But, at the time, I was totally into Metallica more than Ozzy, so maybe I’m being biased?????? It was also my first time seeing Metallica in an arena setting, rather than a club setting, so their presence on the stage was grand. They had the big backdrop of the Master album cover, and they had some of the large crosses depicted on the album cover set up on the stage. They only had access to the front of the stage, so you could tell they were kinda cramped considering the stage production they were trying to create.

      It was also my wife’s (who was my girlfriend at the time) first time seeing Metallica. She only went with me to keep me company, as she didn’t/doesn’t like Metallica. I tell her to this day she should feel privileged to say she saw Metallica with Cliff Burton, but she just looks at me like I’m being ridiculous….she wouldn’t know Cliff Burton from any other bass player.

      And I remember some leather clad dirtbag try to playfully “hit” on my wife (girlfriend) as we were heading into the venue.


  • RTunes68 on

    MTV played music?!?!?


    • Dana on

      Ha!


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