Feb 11, 1997: Border’s Phoenix-- There were other shows Justin did in California but somehow I wanted to skip the Bay Area, and I swung out over the plains and open spaces, driving to Phoenix from Portland. I have a brother who lives there in a development out West of Phoenix proper, hadn‘t seen the family in a long long time, and decided I should. Got there a little early, the whole family was at school or working, so found the hide a key, and hung around drinking my brother’s beer. I was tempted to throw a can in the pool just to piss him off (he’s that kind of guy, comes unglued over trashy living) but I choked myself back in time. Wife Penny and daughter Jamie showed up eventually. Jamie is a gorgeous blonde youngster in fourth grade or so, and (at her Mum’s prompting) she hopped onthe piano bench, and proceeded to whip off a musical piece on the piano that would give credit to Mike Pinder! I about dropped my teeth. My own Mum can play like that too, so apparently it skipped a generation. As soon as she could, the kid skipped out and vanished, and I spent a nice day chatting with Penny.

I had dragged along a piece of Moody sheet music I was going to try and get Justin to sign this time (determined to do much better this time than last!) and it came together, I would send it to Jamie! (well really how many signatures do I need? I don’t sell them…. That seems sorta sleazy). And I did afterwards, Mailed her the signed copy of "Nights in White Satin" and told her the sheet music was going to be worth money some day, and to take good care of it. It’s probably sitting in that very piano stool still, there in Phoenix.

I’ve forgotten the rest of the episode now, but eventually I turned up at Phoenix Borders, and there was quite a line forming already. That day earlier, apparently Justin and Gene Simmons (?) had been on the telly in an ice cream eating contest, and again this is a bootleg that NEVER surfaced so I guess no one had their VCR ready, they were all downtown waiting in line with me. They counted something like 450 or more at this signing.

Martin Wyatt was along as Justin’s personal manager, but also in tow was daughter Doremi. The place was really crammed. I don’t remember the song line up, but I do remember Doremi was standing a ways back from her Dad (in the book stacks, looking a bit pensive) and he was singing "Land of Make Believe". I thought it was really nice, that song was apparently written right before she was born, and there she was, all grown up and a nice looking young lady. That is about all I can remember of that show. It wasn’t real long, and it took forever to get through a line of over 400 people! I didn’t stick around long, got a signature, and boogied out the door. Because………..

Well, the Dallas show was next! You’re right, I’m a complete hare brain, I was going to drive there in under 24 hours! Compounding the whole thing, I did a really stupid stunt and turned onto a dirt road that looked like a short cut, and turned out to be the infamous "long delay" out in Arizona somewhere. This could be the trip I almost got stuck in a flash flood somewhere, the rain came down and it was dirt, sagebrush and pounding monsoonal water and I was like nowhere, scared the hell outta me.

The rest was just road warrior stuff, there is something metaphysical about driving across that desert area anyway, and I had a lot to think about (see above about life changes). It was sorta like meditation, and I had new wheels under me so it was a great ride.

About 2 am, when all the circuits from God go dead (this is known as the Dead Zone in sleep research) I pulled over in a place called Munday Texas. I tried to sleep, and maybe dosed a few nanoseconds, but the front seat of a Ranger is just a little shorter than I am, and my adrenaline was just too jacked up. I stared out at the oil fields in the dark, with the dirty street lights on them. Man this is a dead town. I know pbaub lives here, but I have no idea where. Am I safe to drive? (Pinching myself) Yeah I guess so. I revved up Strider the Ranger, and took off again.

Feb 12: Border’s Dallas: The freeway system of Dallas I have blanked out. I got caught in the morning rush hour and it SUCKED, I remember that much. If the terrorists nuke us, I hope they start with Dallas, so they can rebuild their freeway system (that is a dire insult, coming from a native Los Angelian). Thankfully I got to Border’s with plenty of time to spare, and was able to dodge to the bathroom and clean up (and grab some breakfast at a nearby burger joint!) I finally got to meet Kathy Loyd (Keester) and Paula Woods, both of whom I had corresponded with for over 5 years. They were really really nice gals! It was worth the journey just to meet them finally.

I was very shaky from lack of sleep, but I maintained anyway, because Paula was going to spring something on Justin and the rest of the fan club (only a few of us knew). She had the promo single Higher and Higher dubbed "Forever to Be Alone" she had bought it for close to $1000 prior to the word getting out that it had been stolen (see back issues to Higher and Higher). Paula was a really smart, curmudgenous lady, who finally got fed up with my smart-assed ways and told me off a few years ago, and I hadn’t heard from her for a long while. She just passed away here Dec 26, 2007. What a shame I didn’t get to visit with her more. She had like EVERY Moody boot on the face of the Earth. I’m pretty sure she wasn’t funneling them to Goldmine, but then again one never knows. She just was good at spreading the information around, and every fan club needs that. You can’t get the good information any other way.

Anyway Justin got the friggin promo BACK and was so rattled he signed two of Paula’s things.

The show was a really nice one as I remember. People were friendlier in Dallas than they had been in Phoenix, that place was nuts. Fewer people here.

Some interesting folks showed up, one was Lady Sarah, and this was a big deal, they had an area roped off for her entourage, and such. (I think she must have been married to Sir Edward Lewis who used to run Decca, and was a good friend to the band prior to the 80’s. But don’t quote me on this. Lady Sarah was definitely a friend of Justin’s, they all left together afterwards). Lady S. had a pretty woman in her entourage that I dubbed "the Sad Eyed Princess" I have no idea whom it was, but she was morose and mopey unto drippiness. She sat there looking all sad and beautiful, a bit like it was an act frankly. I got the feeling she was waiting for her prince Justin to come sweep her off her feet and make her all happy again.

Another nice looking gal fan (I have no idea whom it was) was in good shape, dressed in some levis outfit, and while Justin was plugging along with his dark blue Guild guitar, this gal never stopped her jitterbug go go dance. She shoved her little fried-egg boobs out quite prominently almost to the point of obscene-ness (apparently afraid Justin might miss seeing them). Women like that give me a pain in the ass (both types) but of course I am always polite in public, stuck to myself, kept quiet and I have no idea whom they were. Just making observations.

This was the show too, where I saw Justin actually sic Martin on some dude in the audience who was openly grinding away with a big video camera! Martin strolled over with an apologetic look on his face and took the tape! Justin said "You never know where they are going to show up" after that by way of apology, and I think Martin may have even handed the guy money for it. It was a legal fine point tho, and rather interesting to see in action. The amusing thing after THAT was Paula Woods sitting there with a tape recorder openly under her seat!

I’ve blocked out now if I said anything to Justin, but I got an old Songwriter album this time for him to sign, and it’s still in my collection. I’m sure he was pissed that I wasn’t buying a new CD each time, but there is only so much money I could afford to pour into the man’s pockets. (He has enough already!) It was either here or in Phoenix, but I hassled Martin a little bit, and he seemed cool enough. Nice guy, I can see why he’s Justin’s good friend.

After we went through the line, Keester and I plopped down in chairs to watch Justin, with a serious sense of lust, or love or something like that, savoring the moment. It was a bit like being in our own private theatre. Someone next to us opened their latest issue of Moodymania and called out "anyone want a photo of John?" hehe. Another gal we heard go over to Larry the store manager and whine because "they didn’t get told Justin was going to get his record back" that is, the promo return. She didn’t have her camera loaded, poor thing. Chortle……… NO ONE knew, but about five of us. I confess I kept my camera on Paula for HER, because I didn’t want Justin losing his temper with her (she was a cancer survivor). He stayed cool, but I bet his blood pressure went up. (That’s payback for the elevator, Justin!) Larry tried to contain his disgust over the camera whining. Keester and I sat there like a couple of owls, smiling and taking all this in.

All too soon Justin finished up his last signature, and packed his entourage, and off they all went. Doremi had to put back all her books I think (she was having a great time all this while, picking through the store).

As I was short on sleep, I checked into a motel room, and somewhere in all this, went over to meet Keester’s horses (Pirate and My Gal). Pirate was a little bossy, but I really liked My Gal and enjoyed being around them. Horses are NOT big dogs, I can tell you that, totally different behavior. Last I heard My Gal had a foal, and Keester with husband had moved to East Texas, near where the Space Shuttle crashed. Another good friend who has dropped out of the fan movement.

My next stop was to see my cousin in Spring Texas and his family, and after that I drove on downward to New Orleans, which I had never been to before. I don’t plan to go back either, and this was before Katrina ever visited the place. As far as I’m concerned, God applied "the Big Flush" to that place with good reason, a filthy city. I can say I drove through the French Quarter, and that is all I plan to say about it. Stayed that night on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, which was pleasant (first time I’d see the Gulf, it looked like a mill pond). Then I went up through the state of Alabama doing research into my Native American genealogy, and eventually to Huntsville, where I enjoyed their aerospace museum.

Then I came back through Memphis, Oklahoma, and Colorado and thence to SLC, One Moody footnote: while in Colorado somewhere I spun out on ice, scaring the hell out of me, and fetched up in a center divide (preferable to going over a cliff in the darkness, which was my alternative). It cracked the front bumper of my new Ranger, and it has been that way ever since (hidden by the license plate). Due to Ford’s better ergonomics, the front axle looked broken, but thankfully had twin suspension, and it rolled away from the incident just fine. I crept out of the Rockies on chains.

Sometime during this snow drift episode, some smart-ass was posting rude things on Lost Chords about fans at Justin’s Dallas show, like how the fans need to work out at the gym more and so forth. Mind you I wasn’t near a computer for about two weeks during this. But a gal who went by "Frisk" (forgot her real name) managed to blame me "Tigger" for this whole episode, and when I got back, my account on Lost Chords was cut off, leaving a trail of mayhem and disorder behind it (which I had absolutely nothing to do with). Man was I mad! Frisk tried to file a legal suit against me after all that (after she had slandered me, called me a troll and posted my REAL name to the newsgroup, again not very nice at all). So this began my really "ugly" era in the fan club, and made me think about whether it was all worth it or not. This fan club drives some of us around the corner, and I was going there right along with the rest of them. When people get socially ugly, you have to keep reminding yourself "I'm here for the music" and leave it at that. No matter what BS is slung.

We never did figure out who that smart ass was who posted about the Dallas show, it was no one I knew. Someone into gyms, duh!!!! About this time we did start getting some real mischief makers in the on line group, who were able to send blind emails with fake accounts plugged into them. I’ve been through several blind email accounts on various news groups since then, and have also developed a wariness for process servers. Are all fan clubs like this, do you suppose?