All dolled up, Scotto escorted me over to the Life Cafe around 4 or 5pm, then left to continue his quest for the elusive VAT forms...The party was already going downstairs in LIfe Cafe’s basement social room aka The Late Room, a girl about 16 years old was our security! Just nod yes to her asking whether you had a ticket to the show and in you go! My first best hug was from Ratdog.org’s Cousin Bud- if I have a regret or 2 about anything, its that I hadnt ditched my passed out husband in Amsterdam and run off to play at Rookies with Cousin Bud & Sam! Great couple of guys- EastCoast Philly style.I hung out and around with my new & various Eurotour friends for awhile and headed back to the street to see what was up there....Stepping out of the dark cellar which was the Late Room, I ran right into Theresa, Robin and others dancing on the sidewalk to the Ratdog soundcheck which was loudly and clearly coming out of the Life Cafe...More hugs and loves..and I turn around and to my delight stood the beautiful little Geraldine and her father the (yum) handsome David! They seemed just as happy to see me as I was to see them, we compared notes on the what we had been doing since London.. since then the blushing Geraldine had become a complete Bobfreak..Well, why not? I told her, I have loved Bobby since I was younger than she is now...sigh.....
Playin with the band...
While I was enjoying everyone on the sidewalk- welcoming David , Angela and their GratefulRatdog newbie friend Stacey (this was going to be his first exposure to Dead related music), along came Scott- no VAts to be had..We all headed back downstairs where the party had grown to become a standing room only crowd . Theresa had snuck downstairs and secured a big booth where we toasted David- it was his 30th berthaday! I had brought over a Grateful Dancing Bear birthday card which is still sold in my town’s one head shop. For David, I also had (still pritsine and unopened in the original cellephane) a pair of Rockwings purchased at Kaiser last December from Deadnet’s own Legendary Rob. I still need to send on some Weir sauce- that will be my next job, after /if ever I finish writing these last few hours of tour tales..We were having a truly great time- it almost couldnt have been any better but then members of the Band started showing up.
I don’t know if they got there one at a time or straggled in one or two at a time but, I poked my head around a corner and there was Robin holding court with a group of tie dyed Eurotraders..a few feet away Jeff and Jay were inspecting the beautiful cake expertly baked and beautifully decorated by Ceceila, who was all to happy to explain her cake decorating technique to me (at last, someone to discuss the wonders of royal icing with- I so wished I had a spare bottle of Weir Snake oil for her!).. Mark off to the side, getting swarmed by all the usual camera bearing suspects....In the background, on a small stage Workingman’s Deed was playing FOTD.....David wandered off to get a berthday ale at the bar...Angela and Theresa borrowed a pen and got the band members to sign the birthday bear card for David..by the end of the evening everyone including Bobstar wrote birthday greetings on it...Which fulfilled Scott’s written birthday message to David “ I don’t remember my 30th, but I guarantee you won’t forget yours!”
Maybe because it was tight quarters or because the party had started hours earlier or just the fact that Jeff,Jay, Robin and Mark were around and being accessible to everyone who wanted a handshake,autograph, a hug or take a photo- it seemed the time to move up and out to get in line came all too soon...
Scott and I placed ourselves in line, right behind us was none other than Darlenie, the Scottish Bobbyhead I stood at the rail with back in London with...big hugs and another round of updates...this lady drove, I forgot how many miles ALONE to get to London and then to Manchester for a Bobby fix...I felt outright guilty telling her that I’d be seeing Bobby and Ratdog again in about a week, then Bobby with the Dead a few weeks after that, back home in California....I don’t think I’d be able to wait as long as she has out in the heathery hills of Scotland for a Bobdog fix....
The inside of the Life Cafe was set up a little like Astoria with a balcony over the floor..except of course, the Astoria seemed to be about twice the size. Not much time to find a spot- tiny Angela had some space for me behind her at the rail. Looked like an excellent spot- as we were closed in to the corner by the big speaker. David was next to her at the rail. Scott was as usual, right behind me..David and Geraldine next to Scott, Keir somewhere behind Geraldine, Stacey, the newbie on Scotts other side ..for a few moments it looked like a good space...but the place kept filling up and folks had squeezed in so much that I started wondering if maybe there was a better place to be- looked around and realized EVERYONE in every corner and up in the balcony were packed in ala Sweetwater . Even if I could spy a place to go- there just was no way out of there...As expected, once the music began, folks sort of spread out a bit...They opened the show with a rockin Loose Lucy - perfect choice!!
“Thank you! for a REAL good time!!!” has been ringing in my head ever since! The show stayed high energy and kick ass all night...We all got our awaited favorites..Got my Black Throated Wind and She Says..Scott got Aiko and his Candyman...We all smiled at the blushing Geraldine when Bobby sang “Good Morning Little School girl”
I turned and grinned at the Newbie Stacey- he was beaming, dancing and nodding like crazy to the music... The ceiling over the band was slanted with some sort of reflective covering on it..like a huge mirror - we could see everyone in the audience out of normal visual range and that made for a great memory! A glance here- I could watch Cousin Bud do his happy dance, a glance to the side of him and there was WDP, Robin and Theresa.. A glance in my own direction and I had a clear view of Scotto doing the head bop thing he does..I loved it- makes me want to put a mirror on my own ceiling....Another great show...except of course, for the one guy who just can’t maintain...and at least, it was just the one guy...
Wherever he goes the people all complain
We saw this guy at one of the other shows- perhaps he was the jerk who had to scream out “WharfRat” during the end of a quiet song in Milton Keynes. Before this particular Jerk shoved his way over by us, I had seen him via the reflective ceiling- bugging our friends along the rail...He caused a stir everytime he passed by us- knocking into and pushing folks as he moved along..At some point, probably during WharfRat, he lost his mind and jumped right up on the speakers which were behind me, kicking my back in the process ..I got mad!! and tried reached up to pull his hand off as Scott (tuffer than he appears-he’s a pawnbroker, ya know) and others tried pulling the rest of Jerk down....Chris Charucki appeared on stage- like a wild man, pulling out his pocket knife -with the plyers facing out (plyers?)- he fixed an angry eye on the Jerk and lunged off the stage coming toward
After another few minutes, we recovered our groove and got lost with everyone else in the St Stephen>William Tell Bridge>the eleven...Everyone sang along to NFA...Encore was Brokedown Palace. Again, as with Milton Keynes,the everysong in the setlist had a lyric or two with special meaning.....Before everything broke up on the the stage, Jay grabbed a mic (ruh-roh!) and introduced the crew with Ringmaster/Game show host flourishes...when Jay got to Charucki- our little corner cheered a bit more loudly...
Strangers stopping strangers just to shake their hand
One of the best bits about the UK shows was that except for London, Dogheads were encouraged to hang out and buy drinks..It is one of the factors that made the shows feel like a big party- the being able to hang and compare notes about the show..made for a very festive time...In Manchester, it was a last chance for getting everyone’s proper e-mail addies, for hugs, for promising to send cds and pictures along, more hugs, to be inviting new pals and to be invited by others to come stay over...cameras were flashing away and mine was no exception...everyone wanted to hold on to these precious last minutes of a really wonderful trip..It was a time when the folks you hadnt quite met but “knew” finally asked you your name and introduced themselves...I was scribbling my addy for one of the Germans, when Luke came by and told me that Bobby was taking pictures with fans on the other side of the bar, would I mind taking one last picture of him with the ultimate bandmember?...Scott and I followed Luke around to where Bob was being blinded by flashes.Sure enough all our camera toting friends were paparazzing it up... Luke took his place next to Bobby and Flash! Flash! Flash! Chris or Norm told me to run over to get my picture taken..So, In the madness of the moment- I threw myself right into what would probably have been a nice picture of Tiny Dancer and his Bobness. Flash! Flash! Flash! step away and someone else stepped right in for his turn....What followed was a random hugging binge - I don’t even know exactly who I was hugging sometimes- but I remember not wanting to let go of anyone from Cousin Bud to David and Angela to Jeff Chimenti ( bandmembers were blending in with the after crowd) to crazy Chris Jones.....Finally, the bar was closing and everyone was being moved outside...our group hung outside for awhile and then divided up....Scott and I along with various friends found out that a Donor kebob take out- another form of gyros/shwarma/something in a pita was just around the corner..and because, it wouldnt be right to be in a new town without eating something in a pita ( which sometimes is called a “Bap”) we had to order....
A running joke among some of us was how “He who shall remain nameless” kept getting into little mishaps everywhere...This particular night, he innocently tried to order fish and chips (the photo display seemed to be advertising such). This simple order caused the big mean lookin Kebob guy to loudly and angrily go off on “Nameless” ala John Belushi “NO FISH!!!! No Fish!!!! Just cheeps! Just cheeps!!JUST CHEEPS!!!” Okay, so maybe you had to have been there, but in light of Nameless’s misadventures, we laughed til we almost cried..that set the mood for the next half hour- standing around and being silly - I wouldve been still standing there, but there were only a few hours left until a taxi would be coming to take us to the airport.
Goin’ home, goin’ home,
Scott stretched out on the huge bed and conked out...I carefully repacked all stuff I had flung around while primping...this left me with time for about a 40 minute nap, before it was time to go downstairs and meet the taxi....Groggy as hell, Scott and I limped to the lobby, dragging our luggage along...We were almost through the door, when our van navigator Robin found us.
Hugs & hugs & hugs and then Scott and I were in the cab on our way to the Manchester airport, where we would catch a flight to Gatwick International airport where would catch a flight to Philly and from Philly we would take a final flight home to SFO...
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