Back to Life with the Commoners – Part 1 of my meeting Duran Duran

Back to the commoners? Just joking, because I absolutely adore my friends. And like I said to Cathy as we were getting ready, “Meeting famous people is A LOT of work!”

She agreed.

And God love her, she really was superb at the concert and makes me aware of why she is one of my two best friends (Now, if I can remember why I love the other one, David Almeida, I’ll be good…)

Two to Get Ready: OK, so what I decided to get signed… The 1984 Tour Program. I had one that burned up in my 1985 house fire, and Michael Slaymaker found another in mint condition and gave it to me a couple of holidays ago. Secondly, since I didn’t want to open my original RIO album still in the shrink-wrap, I went to Rock and Roll Heaven and bought the double-vinyl (LP) of their new release Astronaut. Which turned out to be a very good move.

Oh, and we had to go out the night before and get silver Sharpies. More on why that was both foolish and not foolish later.

We got pretty like Rio. We forgot to eat anything, so were were like Duran Duran’s proverbial wolf. And we jumped in Cathy’s Rav 4 for our now-“Notorious” ride from Hell.

Getting there. We started out about 40 minutes after I had wanted to at 3:40. I hate I-4!!!!! There was construction for miles and miles and miles, tons of semi-trucks, and two…count ‘em TWO…overturned vehicles within a 12-mile stretch of each other slowing us down and making us another 40 minutes late. Now we’re an hour and 20 minutes behind… The second accident we saw a baby in a car seat with its mom by the side of the road, which just about broke our hearts.

Then there was the gah-dammed mutha-f*ing son-of-a-biotch parade downtown. I HATE TAMPA!!! We HAD to park six blocks away and run. We had to figure out a way through the d@mn parade!!! We had to pee. We had to eat. We had a half an hour.

So Cathy and I stopped to use the restrooms at this dive bar across from the Forum. I’m naming my first child after the bathroom attendant lady, because she asked us what she could do to help us and I said we needed two large drinks and hamburgers. She asked what we wanted on the burgers.

I replied, “Quick! What we want on the burgers is quick!”

And God bless her and her few remaining teeth – because less than five minute later there were two very very tasty and perfectly prepared burgers sitting in front of us. I tipped her $7, and Cathy and I ran out the door just as the bar started playing “Is there Something I Should Know?” I love that bar…sniff.

And coincidentally, there WAS something I should know. More later!