Paying homage, rocking out to the Crüe

By Rachel Gorr

The 1980s hair metal emitting from the room at all times gives definite insight into what’s to be expected in room 635N at University Plaza.

Joey Avraham, a sophomore accountancy major, Chris Mazurkiewicz, a sophomore finance major and Mark Purcell, a sophomore marketing major, are all about the ’80s and their living room is all about college life. The walls of their pre-furnished living room are coated in band posters and beer signs.

Most of the beer signs are pretty ordinary but a few have special meaning to the guys, like the Jack Daniels wall clock Avraham received from a high-school buddy and the huge, 3-D Budweiser sign that hangs in the corner.

“Purcell and I went driving on Hillcrest [at the beginning of the year] and saw the sign at a garage sale and slammed on the brakes, skidding to a halt,” Avraham said. “We ran over to the sale and bartered the sign down to a mere $0. I’m good at bartering because I’m Jewish.”

The Budweiser sign wasn’t the only item that came free to the guys. Their room also houses several old gas station cigarette signs. The acquisition is a point of pride.

“We were all in the mood to steal, not even joking,” Mazurkiewicz said. “We drove past this abandoned gas station and saw the signs and we were like, ‘These things are [awesome],’ so we ripped two of the signs off a fence and then we needed a hammer, pliers and a screwdriver to rip one off a light post at a busy intersection. It was good fun.”

Also adorning the room’s walls and lit up with blue icicle lights are several Mötley Crüe posters, an homage to their idols.

“After seeing them for the third time this summer we decided to turn our room into the greatest Mötley Crüe shrine ever,” Avraham said.

The friends also have a preference for dressing up like Mötley Crüe for all sorts of occasions, from Halloween to theme parties.

“[The dressing up] was really Avraham and Mazurkiewicz last year,” Purcell said. “They had plans of dressing up as Mötley Crüe for Halloween and I just kind of joined along.”

It all began when Avraham received another pair of hot pink, spandex, snakeskin bell-bottoms from an ex-girlfriend.

“After giving Mazurkiewicz my pink pants I decided I needed new, sexy Mötley Crüe leather pants,” Avraham said. “I walked into the Salvation Army and tried on a pair of size 5 women’s leather pants and ripped the crotch out so I had to buy them. They were only $1.25 and with some ingenious engineering and some shoe string I laced them up the crotch. In order to fit into such sexy pants I have to wear a pair of skin tight red ‘euroshorts’.”

For Avraham and Mazurkiewicz though, the Crüe is the only band for them.

“It’s like Vince Neil [lead singer of Mötley Crüe] always says, ‘I don’t know why people have to listen to music about how crappy their life is when everyone knows their lives are messed up,’” Mazurkiewicz said. “Rock is the only escape from the realities of a [bad] life.”