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Mike Peters at The Agora Ballroom, Cleveland, Ohio, October 23, 19989:00 AM Finally left Columbus, off to the two and a half hour drive to Cleveland! Stopped at a BP gas station to fill up the car and get a breakfast of cappucino and cashews. Ok, strange breakfast, but hey, when you're at a gas station, your options are kinda limited! Another uneventful drive, although I'd forgotten how beautiful the foliage in Ohio is in the fall. Gotta remember to get back during this time of year more often. 11:30 AM Got to Cleveland and realized I had absolutely no idea where I was going! But followed the directions to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which were pretty clear, thank goodness! Originally had planned to meet with some digest members there, but of course, we never really made firm plans, and I wasn't planning on running around screaming "Anyone here for the Mike Peters gig?" Wished I had picked up a Mike Peters T-shirt from Jules at one of the earlier shows. But I kept my eyes peeled for anyone wearing such a t-shirt (no one was, unfortunately!) I absolutely loved the Rock Hall! Ended up spending four hours there, watching the movies, listening to the stuff in the listening booth. Got to hear the original Grandmaster Flash version of "The Message", which I had never heard before. I can see why Mike decided to cover this song. Also listened to Duran Duran of all things, guess that John Taylor show got me kinda nostalgic for that stuff. The movies were totally cool! I loved the MTV retrospective, just a whole lot of clips and words mushed together, very electronic arty. It amazes me how the marriage of music and video, really affects me, particularly since I haven't really watched MTV or VH1 in years. The combination of visual and audio assualting my senses was just an amazing natural high. One thing about the Rock Hall I did observe--U2 are undoubtedly going to get into the Hall of fame their first year of eligibility! Sheesh, they're practically in there already--they've got a super cool display case with lots of memorabilia from when they were just a high school band. Bono's in damn near all the movies it seemed like, and I think they had a thing with The Edge's favorite Rock and Roll movies or something like that. As much as I love U2's music, back in the "War" days, who would have ever guessed that these four angry young men from Ireland would end up being part of Rock 'n' Roll royalty? By the way, I did scour the whole damn place, even reading the fine print on the wall of magazine covers for any mention of The Alarm, but to no avail. I guess all those guys, in addition to bands they get clumped with such as Big Country, Simple Minds, The Waterboys, etc., will always just be footnotes to U2's overshadowing success. A shame really, but of course history is written by the winners. 3:30 PM Finally got bored with the Rock Hall, but it was still way to early too head off to the Agora. Decided to go get something to eat, and promtly got lost! Luckily I was smart enough to pick up a map of Cleveland at the Rock Hall gift shop (along with some postcards for Terry to send out to some digest members). Found my way back to downtown Cleveland and decided to stick to Euclid Avenue where the Agora was. Drove by the Agora on my quest for food--almost missed it! From the Euclid Avenue side, the place doesn't even look like it's open. Nothing on the marquee announcing upcoming acts, boarded up windows and doors, old withering posters. Had to drive all the way up to Case Western Reserve University area (about 50 blocks) before I felt safe enough to get out of my car to go to a McDonalds. 4:30 PM Decided to eat my McDonalds lunch of a large Diet Coke and large fries in the Agora parking lot and wait for someone else to show up. Didn't take long before Terry cruised by in his Thunderbird! I had "The Best of The Alarm and Mike Peters" blasting in my stereo. Fortunately Terry was feeling considerably better than when I last saw him in Columbus. A short time later, a big truck pulled up--turns out it was Greg (with the really cool Eye of the Hurricane tatoo!) who had driven to Cleveland all the way from New Jersey. Some guys who work at the Agora stopped by to talk to us, they were pretty nice. They were just waiting for Mike and Jules to show up for soundcheck. Took some pics and signed the postcards for our digest friends. 5:30 PM My buddy Kellie finally showed up. Told her about the Cincinnati show, and the four of us just sorta hung out, waiting for Mike and Jules. Then came the big bathroom hunt! Apparently Greg managed to find a bathroom in the building where the Agora was--although he thought he was almost trapped! Apparently the elevators in the building will let you go up, but the only way to get down on them was to know the secret code! So Greg tried the stairs. No problem leaving the floor, but as he descended all the doors were locked--until he got to the ground floor. Kellie meanwhile decided to ask the Agora folks if they would let her use the facilities--unfortunately, the roto rooter guy was in there cleaning up a flood! So she opted for the Scary Shell Station on the corner. I kinda felt bad not going with her, but with my luck, we'd leave and Mike and Jules would show up! 6:30 PM Spotted the familiar white Chevy Blazer driving past the parking lot and waved. After a few minutes when the Blazer didn't reappear, I decided to walk to the front of the Agora to see if they were there. Saw Mike in the Blazer and waved. Mike opened up the window, and I chatted with him for a few minutes (Jules was in the Agora figuring out where they were supposed to unload their gear). I told him that it looked like it was going to be a cold night, and oh by the way, Terry, Greg, Kellie and I had been waiting for two hours out there for them. Also told Mike that this would be my last show on the Interactive Acoustic tour. I was planning to go to Detroit, but my it would be a tight squeeze to drive back and make my 6AM flight back to New York. And besides, I figured that I should go see my parents since I was in the area. Mike agreed that it was a good idea that I visit Mum and Dad. Greg had run into Jules and they came out of the Agora. Mike greeted Greg warmly, I said hi to Jules and walked back to the parking lot since they were going to pull in back there anyway. Mike pulled the Blazer up by Kellie's "Sport-Ute" which of course Kellie thought was very cool. Mike and Jules signed Terry's postcards. After a few minutes of chatting, Mike and Jules headed toward the alley to the backstage door. The four of us sort of hesitated, not sure if we should follow. But Mike invited us in for the soundcheck so we could get out of the cold--what a guy! Anyway, there was a gate separating the parking lot from the alley where the backstage door was. Mike thought that he could drive the ol' Blazer through the gate, but the Agora guys said it wasn't a really good idea and to go through an adjacent parking lot. Fortunately Jules relayed this information to Mike before he tried going through the narrow gate! Of course, Greg, Kellie and I helped Mike and Jules unload (Terry got out of schlepping gear on account of his back). We were happy to discover that Mike was playing in the small club part of the Agora, not the considerably larger theater part--after playing to such a small crowd in the very large (1400 capacity) Bogart's in Cincinnati, it was nice to see the Agora Ballroom was just a small stage with tables and barstools for seating. Soundcheck was pretty neat as usual. Mike was still working on the guitar part for She Sells Sanctuary, and played Kaleidoscope and Festival of Lights. He also sang an old Hollies song, The Air That I Breathe, which made Kellie muse about other cheesy songs Mike should cover. During soundcheck, Terry and Greg found a comfortable table, and Terry commented that this was the first soundcheck he'd ever been to. Meanwhile, Kellie and I were rolling around in hysterics reading the personal ads in the local indie newspaper. Kellie and I helped Jules set up the merch table, which fortunately was fairly close to the stage. So Kellie and I ended up spending most of the night precariously perched on a couple of barstools (when you're as short as we are, spending a night on a barstool is quite an experience!) I finally picked up a couple of T-shirts from Jules. Kellie and I managed to run back to our cars to stash our loot and still get in the backstage door. 7:30 Doors open, and the rush of fans to the merchandise table began. We were glad to see there was a rush! Especially after the 25-30 people in Cincinnati, it was refreshing to see more than 100 people at this gig. It was also great to meet so many people who were only names on the digest--Jon, Adrienne, Scott, Ed and Tony. Kellie's husband Dean showed up which was great (sheesh, at least her hubby goes to the gigs with her!). Eventually Jonna showed up too, and related a hysterical story about her ride from the Boston mini-Gathering to Newark airport for her flight back to Pittsburgh!
9:45 SET LIST for CLEVELAND AGORA Breathe The thing I thought was strange about this crowd was that everyone pretty much remained seated at their table during the whole show. I'm used to hanging on a monitor in the front of the stage, but everyone tonight was very mellow and I guess really wanted to listen to the music. Either that or all of us Alarm fans are just getting old and prefer to chill out instead of jump around like crazed teenagers! Just about every song Mike played was a request. Highlights were Train A Comin', In Circles (where Mike talked about his relationship with Billy Duffy and Coloursound), Knife Edge (with all of us singing Eddies "ooh--ooo--ooos"), A Time To Believe (the first time Mike claimed to have sung the song since it was recorded), and Moments In Time. Moments In Time was very special since Kellie requested it and it was dedicated to Kellie, me, Tracy and another old friend Angie. Poor Kellie was in tears during the whole song! I actually remembered to take the tape recorder of pause and had it sitting on a ledge behind my barstool. Of course, Jules decided that she's going to sit with us all night and put her camcorder by my tape recorder. Not that I think she would have cared that I was bootlegging the show, but it was just a little strange. It was neat sitting with Jules (although I became a wee bit self conscious about singing along since she was also and she has a wonderful voice whereas I seem to have become tone deaf after I hit puberty nearly twenty years ago). She was also typing away on her laptop during most of the show (I can relate to that now--I'm writing this on my laptop during my morning commute into Manhattan!). Not that I was being nosy, but it looked like she was working on stuff for the 21st Century fanzine. After Mike left the stage, he gave his guitar to Jules then just wandered into the audience. I'm guessing he did this because it was getting pretty cold outside and he didn't want all of us standing in the cold waiting to talk to him. Again, what a considerate guy! Of course, the Agora staff wasn't really thrilled and they kept trying to run us out of there! Kellie and Dean helped Jules pack up the merchandise as I chatted with some of fellow digest fans and took pictures. Jules was impressed with Dean's domestic abilities, and commented about how the men's attitude towards housework is considerably different in the UK (ahem, not naming names here!). The crowd started to thin out, so we decided to say goodbye to Mike. I actually had Kellie take a picture which I don't think I ever did in the ten years I'd seen and talked to Mike. Mike talked about Coloursound a bit (and asked Kellie if she was planning on doing a C.O.L.O.U.R.S.O.U.N.D. fanzine), and then we all got our hugs and said our goodbyes. I realized that I still had all the merchandise money in my pocket, so we went over to say goodbye to Jules. More goodbye hugs. Jules asked me if I was going to be at the Coloursound show in NYC, and I told her it depended on if the hubby would let me go, since I had been running around the country a lot during our first month of marriage! We finally reluctantly said goodbye and left the building. The drive back was pretty uneventful. I had no idea where I was going, so I just followed Kellie and Dean followed me in case I got lost. Kellie's got six cats which made for an interesting evening! I couldn't believe that my three day adventure was over. I wish I could have stuck around for the entire six weeks of the tour, but that damn thing called "real life" kinda gets in the way. Still, the memories made over the past three days will live forever in my mind, so to speak. Definitely a "Moment In Time." It almost seemed like a time warp, going back ten years to the carefree days of my youth. Recapturing that spirit that I thought was long gone, really made me feel alive. How does one go back to real life after such an adventure? I could see that old "post concert depression" coming on! Now I'm wondering whether this little adventure is the beginning or the end. Sure there's so many more shows coming up--Coloursound, for example--but will I ever be able to go on such an adventure again? Or will I just be resigned to the one or two gigs nearby instead of trekking around the country? Only time will tell, I guess!
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