As Lisa and I settled into our new apartment at the Peppertree Villas on 1455 Bell Pepper Court, Apartment 203, she and I went about our business of unpacking and decorating while awaiting the arrival of Summer – not that we didn’t continue to take part in numerous activites all the while. As we attended school and worked in the front office at Kroger Beavercreek, we remained busy babysitting Ashleigh and Briana, hosting parties, hanging out with friends – and I kept involved with my Sons of the Desert tent, collecting autographs, and watching movies. The following is a synopsis of some of the memorable events (at least for me) from that time period as recorded in my little pocket planner…culminating with one massive Big Seven concert as we rolled into Summer.
I had recommended that one of my bosses Dee Ann Booher send away for some autographs for a charity auction for her daughter’s school. She had some moderate success and Lisa and I actually attended the auction on Friday, May 3. We actually came away winning some of them – a Gerald Ford signed photo for Lisa (which I now own), a Playbill program signed by Helen Reddy, and two signed color photos of Hulk Hogan, one of which I gave to my Dad. I think in total they cost under $30. This day also happened to be May Daze so we wondered by foot over to some of the parties in the WSU campus housing.
Two days later we held our monthly tent meeting at Dad’s house where we featured The Big Noise and a few shorts. This one had been delayed from April as we made the move from one apartment to the other.
Lisa and I each got involved with playing softball, both of us participating in our family Frickers team on Sunday afternoons and Lisa playing on my Mom’s women’s softball team. Lisa often got extrememly frustrated with herself because she had been a great fast-pitch softball player in high school, but could never manage to get good hits off of the slow pitchers. The first game that I played in since grade school was on May 19 – and we lost.
By Friday, May 10, we had already gotten into the Summer party mode, attending a good one at Susan Tafini’s boyfriend Mike’s apartment and then hosting one ourselves the following Friday on May 17. This was a good way to break in our new apartment and introduce it to our friends and co-workers. We had my sister Denise, Jeff and Eric Flinn, Susan and Mike, Carl Lichtenburg, and fellow Kroger chums Trishia White and her friend Jenny, Gary Green, Russell Hicks, Rebecca Bard, Erika Bierley, Renee (?), and Lee Ann Timmons. I was particularly inebriated and remember going up to Meijer with Jeff and Gary (whom I took along for no reason at all) and stumbled through the store. Jeff accidentally smashed a 40oz. beer on their tile floor.
Lisa turned 20 years old the next day on Saturday, May 18. For her birthday, I bought her a brand new kitchen table and chairs (which sit in my kitchen to this day) which we didn’t pick up until May 24. We went out to our favorite spot The Olive Garden for dinner.
We were proud to play hosts in our new digs and saw Christi and Joy visit to check out the place on Tuesday, May 21, and then Lisa’s parents came back for another visit on Saturday the 25th.
I will spare you the documented evidence of how obsessed I was during this time with listening to music, watching movies, and recording rented Laserdiscs (but the complete list of all of them exists if you are interested!). But I will share the tale of Wednesday, May 22 when I went to return a few laserdiscs to the video store in Arbor Shopping Center after running few errands. Much to my dismay as I pulled them out of my back seat, I was horrified to find that they had all but completely melted in the hot car. That is, they were warped beyond all recognition. I ended up having to pay for them and then set about trying to find a place where I could return them. I think I eventually had success with one of them (after re-melting it and shaping it back to look like a flat disc) at a video store in the Dayton Mall. Always the wheeler-dealer, I also traded my old broken Laserdisc player for twenty free rentals with the guy at Maytag around this same time.
On Sunday the 26th, it was already time for the next Laurel and Hardy meeting at the home of Charles Sexton. This was a very unusual and unique meeting as we showed only two classic shorts and the rest of the evening was filled with animated cartoons in which Laurel and Hardy made an appearance. This meeting was meant to correspond with a special ‘Art Issue’ of Dante’s Info, but with all of the moving and partying that was going on, this issue wasn’t completed until July!
Although the first day of Summer wasn’t technically until June 21, I always consider it officially summer when June hits. The Spring quarter at Wright State came to an end for me – and two of my cousins graduated high school. Danny and Ben had a joint graduation party to celebrate their escape from high school on June 8. I was dragging a bit during the party as my friend Matt Bohlander had been over to visit our new apartment the night before and we were up drinking and smoking until the wee hours of the morning.
Ashleigh’s kindergarten year at Shaw Elementary School wrapped up too. This gave her more time for play practice in a local Kettering community theater in which she was participating with her grandmother Joy. The role: one of the orphans in Annie.
On Sunday, June 16, I was vindicated for our previous softball game loss (and the three cancelled games in between) as our Frickers team was victorious in our second game. And more importantly I managed to actually get two hits.
As usual, there was an obsession brewing in the back of my head: the Big Seven. That is, both collecting Big Seven CD’s and no doubt using my deposit refund from Woodman Park to save up some money to blow at an upcoming Styx concert. This concert was actually scheduled for Friday, May 24, but it had been cancelled. I had paid a pretty penny to get these seats from a ticket broker. They were only about ten rows from the stage, so I wasn’t happy that it had been cancelled. This gave me a sinking feeling that it would never really happen, but fortunately everything turned out quite swell.
Two years earlier I had seen a great concert at MacGuffy’s in Dayton of Styx lead guitarist James Young. During that show, I got to meet Young’s tour manager Keith Marks who told me that there would be a Styx reunion concert coming up and that he would be their tour manager as well. “How would I get to meet them?” I asked. He responded, “just ask for me.”
So Lisa and I traipsed off to Riverbend Music Center in Cincinnati, on Tuesday, June 18, for the rescheduled Styx concert. I had it in my head that I was going to meet them so I brought along a batch of CD covers to get signed. The show was awesome and our seats were spectacular for this Return to Paradise world reunion tour. This was the first time that Tommy Shaw had toured with the band since the early 1980’s, so it was really cool to see him on stage with former bandmates Dennis DeYoung, James Young, and Chuck Panozzo. Unfortunately drummer John Panozzo was ill and was not touring with the band. In his place was Todd Sucherman, who remains in the band to this day. Lisa never let me live it down that she managed to catch Todd’s drumstick during the show. But I had the last laugh as I own it today!
Photo I took during the acoustic performance of Boat on the River of Dennis, Chuck, Todd, James, and Tommy
Kansas was the opening act and as they performed, I was obsessed with getting ahold of Keith Marks, asking everyone I could if they could get him for me or get a note to him. I had no luck. One younger gentleman who was working the lights for Styx was a bit more help. He said that yes, he knew Keith, but couldn’t leave his post. I told him exactly what I needed him for and he meekly replied “Well I have a backstage pass you can have.” I literally almost jumped out of my socks as he slipped it out of his pocket (seen at the top of the posting), until I realized the problem with this: he only had one pass, and I had Lisa with me.
Although willing to leave her out while I went backstage, I still begged and pleaded for this gentleman to get me another pass and he told me that he would see what he could do after the show. I thanked him wholeheartedly and asked his name. He said something like Matt Dion – but Lisa heard it differently…and correctly: Matt DeYoung, son of lead singer Dennis DeYoung.
So as the story goes, he did get us a second pass. Ironically, I ran into Keith Marks as I entered the backstage area and he had no idea who I was. So we filed back to the outdoor greeting area. I had purchased three new CD’s while at the show, CD’s that I had been looking for for ages: Tommy Shaw’s early discs Girls With Guns and What If, and Dennis’ new offering The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Before the band came out, everyone waiting (which was about 100 people) were given 8×10 glossies to have them sign. They also gave us pizza.
Seeing I was a true fan, Chuck asked me my name and wrote it in the bottom left. Drummer Todd Sucherman signed the photo even though he’s not in it.
Everyone applauded when the members of Styx came out. The band plopped down at a table and began signing autographs. I had a boatload of stuff and didn’t know how well this would go over, but the first thing I did was to show off the solo albums that I had with me so they knew that I was a real fan. They bought it.
Dennis DeYoung even said “wow, you must be a real fan” and he asked me my name. I told him, but unfortunately what he heard was ‘Brian’ and thus inscribed my Hunchback CD incorrectly. Tommy Shaw commented that even he didn’t own a copy of the rare CD Ambition which I had brought along. He signed that along with the two solo CD’s that I had purchased there (which I’m embarrassed to report that I later sold for quite a tidy sum). James Young was a little baffled when my Styx CD’s crossed his path – already signed by him from our previous meeting. So I explained that I had met him before. Lisa proudly had Todd Sucherman sign the drumstick.
Inside of the Hunchback CD – to Brian
Autographed Boomchild CD
A CD so rare at the time that Tommy didn’t even own it
The only bad thing about having Todd Sucherman sign the Styx CD’s (on which he didn’t play) was that in the confusion, I thought that his signature said Tommy Shaw, and thus only had Tommy sign one Styx CD. The only other bad thing was that in all the excitement I left the Styx tour shirt that I had just purchased sitting on the table. We got all the way out to the car and I had to go back. Unfortunately by that time it was gone.
This was the only CD that James Young actually signed that night for me – as did Dennis, Chuck, and Todd
James had signed the disc above and below two years before
The grand prize: The Grand Illusion, signed by original members – and only original members – Tommy Shaw, Dennis DeYoung, James Young, and Chuck Panozzo
This was the one and only time I had ever managed to get backstage at a Big Seven concert – or any concert for that matter – and despite the minor pitfalls, I think I certainly made the most of it, giving me a memory that I will treasure for the rest of my life – and a batch of CD’s I will either treasure…or have made a few bucks on.
Back at home after the show, showing off a Hunchback postcard I picked up at the concert
1996 will continue…
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