At
my request (or was it coercion), Pete wrote a review of this gig.
Before flying out from the UK to, Ed had arranged for Ashes to Ashes to be playing at the Star Dust lounge Saturday night because it was close to our hotel and would give us our first opportunity of seeing the band perform.
Unfortunately, it was
midnight Saturday and we still didn't know where the Stardust was. Gordon
decided that if he got undressed the phone might ring. It's on par with waiting
for a bus, lighting a cigarette up, then the always arrives so you have to
put the cigarette out.
Ed's note: So you might ask when was the last time you caught a bus then Pete?
October 2003, New York when Gordon had to put his freshly lit cigarette out.
I watched the TV for a while longer then decided to hit the sack myself. After five minutes the phone rang. Wouldn't you just know it! It was the call we had been waiting for The directions to the Stardust. We were staying at the Holiday Inn, University Boulevard, not a mile away from the venue. This seemed a little strange as no one in the Holiday Inn had heard of the place.
Off we went, "two left turns and it's on the right, can't miss it," was the directions from Ed. He was anxious we got there as they had already finished the first set. We made the second left and looked to our right, sure enough you couldn't miss it. We had arrived at a bar in the middle of nowhere, 'The Stardust Lounge'. Not exactly Ronnie Scott's, but for late night entertainment, it certainly worked.
On
our arrival at the Stardust, in the wee hours of Sunday morning, we were greeted
by friendly faces, Ed, Sheri, Sheri's boy friend Scott, the band (on their
break) and a few of the locals of this waterhole. After saying our hellos
and getting our drinks, we were led to the back room where the band had their
kit set up. We had arrived in time for the second set. The stage area boasted
the drums in the center, where Dave showed us how not to miss a beat. Ed,
bass guitarist and vocals was to the left. Stage right was lead singer and
guitarist, Andrew, and they were now getting ready to rumble.
The heavy rock set kicked off with some stomping good tunes, some new, some old, but certainly good entertainment. We chatted to Sheri, Scott and Dave catching up on the events from the year. Part way through the set Ed gave us his rendition of the Blow Job Song, (Blink 182), rockin' good! We did have a dancer for a while, who took a shine to Dave on the drums. I think he autographed her breast as well. The set got hit twice with power failures, but it didn't dampen the spirits of the band who once restarted, took off with more banging tunes.
Suddenly a strange, vibrant, good-looking blonde appeared wearing leather trousers that fitted her perfectly.She told us the story of how she could recognise any accents from around America. Faced with one gentleman, she told him he was from Alabama. Unfortunately for Alabama, because we now gave her that tag as a nickname, the guy was from England. Alabama has moved on from that job in the bank.
When
the set finished, I think this was around 2:30 ish, the lads came over to
catch up on things and to introduce us to some of the band's friends and followers,
Ed was wearing a fantastic T, but Gordon won't let me include the text in
this review (as it's meant to be a family site [except for the Cleveland T,
but that's in plain english]).
We also learnt the meaning of 86. Dave had mentioned it onstage and we Englishmen didn't understand what he meant. We do now.
Dave and Sean started loading the band's gear while we finished our drinks and spoke about our trip so far. Ed told us Sheri said she would call us with the evening details, she forgot, distracted by her new man? A great end to the day. We left around 3 from a large, by this time empty car park, for the short drive back to the hotel, ready for the game and content that we had finally seen the band.
