I mmediately there are problems. We planned on playing "Bulls On Parade" and "Bullet in the Head," but there's "objectionable" language in each of those songs. We assumed that Saturday Night Live would be fully prepared to bleep it out. However, that was not enough for them because Steve Forbes, the billionaire, ex-Presidential candidate was hosting the show and had friends and family in the studio. SNL insisted on muting the language during the performance within the studio itself, because they claimed they had to run a "tighter" show due to Forbes' appearance.

D uring rehearsal, our crew hung two American flags upside down on the grilles of the bass and guitar amplifiers. No big deal. We thought that is was appropriate, especially in the election year, to demonstrate that, in our opinion, American democracy is inverted when your only choice is between wealthy representatives of the privileged classes. We weren't tearing up pictures of the Pope (as Sinead O'Connor did), just a couple of upside-down flags. We already had to endure some of the Steve Forbes skits in which he incessantly promoted his flat tax. As the Republican Convention draws near, he just wanted to keep that on the agenda, and the show was on April 15th--Tax Day.

S o anyway, they start throwing a little pissy fit when they see the flags. At this point they're completely up-front; they say we can't have the flags on-stage because it will "offend our corporate sponsors. They have to come down. Steve Forbes is on the show." And we're like, that's absolutely ridiculous, they promised us eight minutes to play what we play and do what we do and this is what we do. We argue and hassle about it and have a little conference among ourselves. It's about 5 p.m. and we say, "Okay, we'll take the flags down. *WINK*"

SATURDAY-DAYTIME DRESS REHEARSAL



T he dress rehearsal for the show goes off without a hitch. The flags are not there; we're waiting for the actual performance, the live performance that night. At this point there's plenty of time in the show for both of our songs.

D uring the dress rehearsal, we played both songs and came out at the end. They show you exactly where you stand; Steve Forbes stands at the front, you flank him on the side. He's looking straight ahead and we're glaring away. I thought, I'm just going to break the ice here, and I complimented him on a particular joke during the opening monologue. He responded like any good candidate does--he smiled that crooked grin. People were laughing their heads off at my "ice-breaker."