Sexism, Bruhs, and Rock n Roll

Tag: Australian rock band INXS

Blog Post 21- INXS at the Beacon Theatre, NYC. July 31, 1984

Nile Rodgers, Tim Farriss and Garry Gary Beers. INXS at the Beacon Theatre in New York City. Photo by Jess

Michael Hutchence and Belinda Carlisle’s last night together

INXS opened for The Go-Go’s for the last time on July 29, 1984 at a show at Kings Dominion amusement park near Richmond, Virginia. Neither INXS nor The Go-Go’s had a concert on July 30. It’s not clear whether Belinda Carlisle and Michael Hutchence spent a final night together after the last show or if it was the following night. INXS did not arrive in New York City until the day of their show at the Beacon Theatre on the 31st.

Belinda Carlisle wrote in her book, “Lips Unsealed: A Memoir”, that she and Michael spent a sweet, sad, romantic, and passionate last night together where they promised to remain friends.

The Go-Go’s did their next show in Berkeley, California on August 1, 1984. INXS presumably traveled by bus to New York City from Richmond on July 31 to perform.

A screenshot from Google Maps showing the drive from the last INXS concert with The Go-Go’s to New York City where INXS would perform at the Beacon Theatre.

Front row seats

We had front row seats to the show because Jess, Terri and Dana had waited in front of the theater all night on the night before tickets went on sale to buy tickets for all of us. When that was, I don’t know because it isn’t in my diary. Probably some day or night when I was working and couldn’t spend all night on the sidewalk with them.

The page from my 1984 pocket-sized appointment book showing July 30 to August 5. INXS concerts and waitressing shifts.

The day before the show-a diary entry

7/30/84

I’m all hyperactive because I’m excited about tomorrow. We have front row seats. It is going to be great because no one can kick us out and it will be a longer show cause The Go-Go’s split. Oh, I hope they aren’t too weepy about the separation. They will get over it. I think Belinda set the whole thing up.

Renee [Terri’s sister] is coming along with us. She is a great kid and a lot of fun. She isn’t a wet rag like some people I know. I’m going to run into Susan and Maria tomorrow and they’ll want to know everything that has ever happened to me. It might be fun to be infamous, but I don’t know. If I don’t want other people to spread gossip around, I have to watch what I say.

I think deep down inside I want to be notorious and have people whisper when I walk by. It might be fun to be on people’s bad side for a while. I am a weirdo.

I’m bored now. I have stuff I could do but I don’t feel like it. I’ll watch TV.

The morning of the show

On Tuesday morning, July 31st, Jess, Terri and I went into New York City. Terri or Jess would have driven us in. I’m 61 years old now and I have never driven into New York City. It’s too scary. If I was in charge of this stuff, we would have taken a bus into the Port Authority Bus Terminal.

Dana was having a bunch of girls over to her parent’s apartment which was a nice place in the 80s somewhere. Whether it was Upper East Side or West Side, I don’t remember. It’s why I wrote in my diary that I would see Susan and Maria.

While we were there, I made an INXS poster to take to the venue. If I didn’t have a letter from Maria that she wrote on 9/4/84, I would not know about the poster because I don’t remember.

It’s possible I also filled out a form for Dana’s INXS Alliance club. I remember writing that my goals were to be independently wealthy and a world traveler, but I don’t remember if that was at this gathering or some other time.

Back in 1984, I was envious of Dana. If I recall correctly, both of her mother and father were entertainment lawyers and based on their nice apartment in New York City, they seemed successful at their jobs.

They also had connections, so I was envious that Dana had opportunities that I did not have. My family could not fully foot the bill for my education even with financial aid, so I had to earn money to pay for part of my tuition and all of my expenses.

The waitressing job I had was essential because I made well above the minimum wage there. The tips were great because the Emerson Hotel was popular and busy, and I was a pretty young woman. It would have been stupid and dangerous for my future to blow off my job to stay with Michael Hutchence.

Some books by Jean Paul Sartre, French Existentialist

Sometime between July 4th and July 30th, I decided to give Michael Hutchence the two Jean Paul Sartre books I told him I had read when we were in his hotel room on the night of July 2nd.

After thinking about it, I went out and purchased another book by Sartre so I could read it and then also give it to Michael. I didn’t write any of this down, so I no longer remember the name of the book I bought but I believe it was a different book in Sartre’s trilogy of novels than the one Michael showed me that night.

It was quite nice of me to spend some of the little money I had to buy a book for someone who had a hit record album in Australia. And it wouldn’t be the last time I gave him a book or spent money on a book that I tried to give to him when I barely had money myself. Lots of fans give gifts but I think Michael misconstrued what it meant when I did it. In a way, I was like Oprah Winfrey and wanted to share books I loved.

Waiting for INXS in the lobby of their hotel

At some point before we expected INXS to arrive from Richmond, Terri, Jess, and I got back into the car and drove to the Barbizon Plaza Hotel where INXS was staying.

The hotel at 58th Street and 6th Avenue was across West 58th Street from the Helmsley Windsor hotel where INXS had stayed when they played Radio City Music Hall with The Go-Go’s on June 28.

A screenshot from the website nycago.org with a photo and description of the Barbizon Plaza Hotel.

A screenshot from the website nysonglines.com that shows that the Barbizon Plaza Hotel was across from the Helmsley Windsor Hotel back in 1984

As we waited in the hotel lobby, Jon and Garry walked in and walked straight into an elevator. When Andrew walked by, he said hello to us. Then Timmy and Michael came into the hotel and the two of them looked extremely tired.

We stopped Michael and asked him to please wait because we had something to give him. Jess left to go to the car and retrieve the books and magazines. I asked him if he had read “Nausea” and when he said he had not, I told him that I had it for him.

I think it’s funny to say that I gave Michael Hutchence nausea.

Here is a video about the book. It’s a weird book.

Jess came back with the three Jean Paul Sartre books and also a couple of magazines about flying airplanes that she had found at her house in the den. She brought them for him because Michael had said he wanted to fly a plane that night when we were all in his room.

Michael’s manners

Michael said, “I’m forever in your debt” after I solemnly handed over the books to him. That was a bit much although I think it turned out to be true in the end. He was using the manners he had learned somewhere whether from his father or from the British community in Hong Kong.

Many people have remarked upon his somewhat unusual way of behaving. In this case I would describe him as being dramatically debonair. To me, it was memorable but weird. A regular “thank you, that’s nice of you” would have been better. I suppose I was being weird too by acting like books are holy. But they are!

Someone came over to ask us about Michael Hutchence. This person wanted to know who he was, so I said he was Michael Jackson and he was playing across the river. Michael Jackson and his brothers were doing a concert at Giants Stadium at the Meadowlands in New Jersey.

https://www.nytimes.com/1984/07/22/nyregion/jacksons-to-hold-3-concerts-in-jersey-and-2-in-new-york.html

We left the hotel after that because Michael had gone to his room to sleep. I have no idea what we did until it was time to see the concert. Maybe we grabbed something to eat or went back to Dana’s apartment? If Dana lived on the Upper West Side, then we would have been able to walk from her place to the theater.

Beacon Theatre

The Beacon Theatre was and still is at 2124 Broadway between 74th and 75th Street. In Manhattan, 20 north-south blocks equal one mile. It would have been no more than fifteen blocks to walk there. But that is another thing I no longer remember.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beacon_Theatre_(New_York_City)

Like I said earlier, we had front row seats, and they were near the middle of the stage. At least six of us, perhaps even a couple more girls I didn’t know, were there too. The concert itself is another thing I don’t remember. I’m sure I enjoyed it. If INXS had not been a good live band, I would not have wasted my time going to eleven shows that summer especially after Kirk Pengilly had brought his girlfriend over for the tour.

Screaming girls

The main things that I disliked were when girls screamed or jumped on stage to attack Michael and when Michael messed up the words. And by screaming, I don’t mean cheering. I didn’t mind cheering. Some of the girls let out the loudest, high-pitched screams like they were seeing the Beatles and while I hate to describe it as hysterical, the word fits. It was painful and I think it damaged my hearing.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/our-natural-history/202102/why-do-female-fans-scream-for-the-beatles-and-other-megastars

Nile Rodgers joins INXS onstage

Nile Rodgers, former guitarist for Chic and famous record producer, came onstage and played guitar when INXS performed Original Sin. The photo at the top of the page is from the concert. Nile Rodgers had produced the song almost a year earlier in New York City at the Power Station.

If it wasn’t for the letter from Maria that she wrote on 9/26/84, I wouldn’t know that Michael Hutchence came over to me during the show and sang The One Thing right into my face. She wrote, “Something like that is hard to forget!” and yet, over the years, I forgot!

The Beacon Theatre stage door

After the show, we waited along with dozens of other INXS fans on 75th Street where the stage door to the Beacon Theatre is located. There must have been some kind of lounge on the second or third floor where the band was hanging out.

There were windows facing 75th Street and we saw Tim Farriss at one of the windows. He was looking at the crowd of fans who had gathered and he yelled, “No shit!” to all of us because he was pleased to see so many fans.

Michael then leaned out of the window and threw a bunch of white, rectangular cards that were about 3 inches by 5 inches in size. We grabbed some and saw that it was an invitation to an after-show party at some club called Pizza A Go Go.

The invitation to the INXS concert after-party that Michael Hutchence threw from the window of the Beacon Theatre.

When Michael saw Terri, Jess and I, he tried to pour beer on us from the bottle he was holding. He missed. That was not the kind of behavior that I found amusing. It was not something that would win me over. Just the opposite-it was the behavior of a 12-year-old boy in middle school who was a jerk, and I hated those boys.

After a while, everyone with INXS came out from the theater except for Timmy and Jon. We stayed and waited for Timmy because Jess and Terri wanted to show him a list of VHS videocassette tapes they had made with movies and shows on them and find out which ones he wanted.

When Timmy and Jon came out of the stage door, some weird guy walked by and asked us where the stars were. I pointed to the sky and told him, “Up there.” Timmy had hurt his head somehow, so he didn’t want to look at the list of tapes and we let them leave.

Pizza A Go Go

We decided to drive downtown to check out the club. When we got there it did not look interesting but then I saw that Ronald, a guy who sold t-shirts for INXS, was there and that seemed like a good sign so we decided to stay for a while and see if anyone from the band would show up.

Eventually, all members of INXS came to the club except for Timmy and Kirk. Gary Grant and Nile Rodgers also showed up. A few people we had seen at the Barclay Hotel in Philadelphia were there: Bonny and Franny, Ellen, and the sleazy-looking woman who was with Michael and Belinda was with Michael again.

Dancing with Michael

When Michael walked into the club, he looked around and proclaimed, “This is fucking happening!” Apparently, like me and my friends, he had adopted Nile Rodgers’ famous phrase from the recording studio. As I mentioned before in the blog post I wrote about being at The Power Station, I loved it when Nile said, “This shit is happening!”, so I told my friends, and we incorporated it into our speech and into our letters to each other whenever possible.

We greeted Michael and he kissed each of us hello. Michael was wearing a bright blue shirt. When a song by the Talking Heads started playing, all of us went out on the dance floor and danced together. The lead singer of INXS danced in the club the same way he danced when he was performing onstage.

Talking to Nile

After the dance we did not hang around with Michael and I don’t think we talked to him again that night. I saw Nile Rodgers and went over to him because I had something I could talk to him about. But when I said hello to him and told him that I had been in the studio when INXS was recording Original Sin with him, he asked me if I was the girl with the shaved head.

Nile told me he didn’t remember me after I said that I was not the girl with the shaved head. You can read about that day in the studio in Blog Post 5. He was friendly and nice, but I don’t think we talked for long after that. Maybe I talked to him about the concert, but I don’t remember.

We saw Gary Grant making out with Ellen, someone we had met in Philadelphia, so we left him alone. Bonny and Franny were glommed on to Jon Farriss, same as they were in Philadelphia, and they also recognized me from there. They were talking his ear off again, so we spent most of our time at Pizza A Go Go chatting with Garry Gary Beers.

Talking to Garry Gary

Garry Gary was very friendly, and I was surprised when he apologized to us for not being friendly when we saw him in Florida. He said he didn’t stop to talk to us because he was in a bad mood. Then he explained that while on tour with The Go-Go’s he had had an affair with their laundress.

On that day in Florida, the tour with the Go-Go’s was close to its end and Garry had told the woman who took care of the Go-Go’s clothes while on tour that he would be breaking things off with her and she was very upset about it. He felt bad about that so that’s why he didn’t feel like talking.

Later, I asked Garry, “How is Eric doing?” and I don’t think he knew what I was talking about. Eric was the name of the bird-shaped plastic whistle I had given him as a gag gift a month earlier. So, I said, “the bird whistle” and he remembered and told me that Eric was fabulous, but he still can’t whistle well. That whistle was probably thrown in the trash the night I gave it to him! It was a piece of junk after all.

Leaving INXS at the club

Terri, Jess and I left the club before the band did and drove home. Timmy had not shown up at the club so there was no reason why Terri would want to stay.

We had spent a lot of time with Garry Gary, so Jess was happy. I didn’t have to work the next day for a change, but I usually didn’t want to be out with INXS in the first place, so I didn’t mind leaving.

We needed to get some rest because we would be driving to Toronto, Canada in about 24 hours, on the night of August 1st, to see INXS play at The Concert Hall in the Masonic Temple. It was going to be an eight-hour drive.

February 28, 2026
Blog Post 20- INXS in St. Petersburg, Florida, July 25, 1984

Gary Grant, The co-manager for the rock band INXS, holding a sales award for The Swing, at his office, Hay St, Neutral Bay. September 16, 1986. (Photo by Adrian Greer Michael Short/Fairfax Media via Getty Images).

There aren’t many photos of Gary Grant out there so I am borrowing this one from Getty Images so you can see what he looked like.

On July 24, 1984, Jess, Terri, and I flew from Newark, New Jersey to St. Petersburg, Florida on People Express airline. You paid cash on board the plane and I paid my fare of $79 using one-dollar bills from the suitcase in my bedroom closet.

When we arrived, we picked up a rental car from Rent-A-Wreck so we could keep the costs of our trip low. The car really was a wreck. It had no radio and the handle for the window fell off when I closed the car door. Back then, most cars had crank windows that you had to open and close manually by turning a handle on the inside of the car door. Electric windows were a luxury item.

Chasing the mail carrier

The three of us drove over to Jen’s house in Tampa. Jen realized that she had given a letter meant for Jon Farriss to the mail carrier. Jackie sent it from Chicago, and we were supposed to deliver it to Jon when we saw INXS. So, we got back in the car and drove around near Jen’s neighborhood until we spotted the mail carrier and retrieved Jackie’s letter.

Next, we drove to the Bayfront Concourse hotel in St Petersburg. We knew that INXS would be staying on the tenth floor of the hotel. Like I have said before, I was not involved in getting that sort of information whether through asking Gary Grant, calling the MMA office, or asking a band member, so I don’t remember how that happened.

Waiting for the band at the hotel

Anyway, the hotel gave us a room on the same floor as INXS or at least that was what we hoped. The band was not there when we arrived. INXS was still the opening act for The Go-Go’s on their tour. They had played at the Sunrise Theater in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on July 22 and July 23. On July 24, the band had to travel four hours by bus to get to St Petersburg for the show on the 25th.

Our room was large and had a king-size bed. There was a large mirror on the ceiling over the bed. Once we got up to the room, we waited. Our window looked out over the front of the hotel, so we spent our time looking out the window. Terri started to worry that perhaps we were not at the right hotel.

But then an RV pulled up to the front door and we jumped around and screamed when we saw it. We opened the door to our room so we could see what was happening. Vance, the roadie, walked by our open door and went into the room next door to ours.

INXS arrives

Tim Farriss (fake name Alvin Purple) was the first member of the band to see us in our room. The details of what happened are lost now. Garry Gary Beers and Kirk Pengilly walked by, and we all said hello to each other, but they didn’t stick around. At some point Andrew Farriss popped into our room and remarked that our room was nicer than his and he wanted to switch rooms with us. We kept our room.

Gary Grant, the INXS manager who was also the tour manager for this tour, stopped in and told us that Michael Hutchence and some of the other band members would be busy doing telephone interviews with Australia for most of the night. We never even said hello to Michael or Jon Farriss because they didn’t come up to their rooms on the tenth floor with the rest of the band and we didn’t see them at all that night.

I removed my contact lenses and stored them in their case with some contact lens saline solution. They were soft contact lenses but they were not extended-wear lenses so they could not be worn while I was sleeping. Disposable contact lenses had not been invented yet.

Gary Grant wakes me up

We turned on the TV and The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson came on at 11:30pm. I fell asleep on the floor. A short time later, I woke up because Gary Grant was standing over me in our room and screaming, “Wake up, Donna!” So, I got up off the floor and put my contact lenses back in because I am very near-sighted and couldn’t see without them.

David Letterman came on and Gary Grant stayed in our room to watch it with us. He was supervising the radio interviews, so he had to stay up for as long as the band were up doing them. When he wasn’t off checking on the band members, he hung out with us in our hotel room.

David Letterman with Billy Idol

The Late Night with David Letterman show aired at 12:30am ET on NBC. It was a late-night talk show hosted by a comedian who also did celebrity interviews much like all late-night talk shows on TV in the United States.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Late_Night_with_David_Letterman

Billy Idol was on the show that night. He looked wasted and it seemed like he had been using cocaine before his appearance because he kept touching his nose. I thought he was a moron. The video appears below so you can judge for yourself.

July 24, 1984, David Letterman show interview with Billy Idol

Another segment of the show was a comedy bit where David asked the audience to pick a new catchphrase from a bunch they came up with. Number 3 was “They pelted us with rocks and garbage.” That was my favorite and it won. It made me think of INXS because of the stories they told the media about their pub shows in Australia. It was pretty much the only history of the band they had to talk about with anyone.

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/63979/23-things-david-letterman-invented

They pelted us with rocks and garbage

Before there was the internet and internet memes, I combined David Letterman’s catchphrase with a photo of INXS and made my own meme of sorts to use as stationery when writing friends and pen pals.

A photocopy of a magazine photo and the David Letterman show catchphrase, “They pelted us with rocks and garbage” combined to make some fun INXS stationery!

Seeing Vance the roadie again

When the show was over, Gary Grant had to leave to check on things. Terri, Jess, Jen and I decided to go out to Burger King. I desperately needed some coffee if I was going to stay awake and help keep Gary Grant company. We were not people who used cocaine or took pills to stay awake. Not party girls or groupies either.

Out in the hall we bumped into Vance and stopped to say hello. He looked at me and said, “You look familiar. Were you in Fort Lauderdale?” I said, “No, I was in Long Island.” Then he remembered and said, “Oh yeah, you’re the girl I hassled in the bar.” Having been trained to appease men and make them comfortable, I told him, “Oh no, you didn’t hassle me!”

But he was right; he did hassle me. That he barely remembered after being on the road for a couple more weeks means that he probably just took his shot because I happened to be there and it’s what he did out on tour whenever he had a chance.

Burger King

At Burger King, I acted like a nut. Back then I could be described as “out there” because I loved comedy and I tried to be funny as much as possible. I was like a performance artist in many ways.

Jess had a little stuffed koala and I put it in the breast pocket of my shirt, so its head was sticking out. When I got to the counter, I asked for eucalyptus leaves because that is what koalas eat. Not a joke that was likely to be understood in Florida. And I also ordered coffee, of course, so I could stay awake.

There was a stack of Burger King crowns on the counter-the thick sheets of paper with slots for sizing that sort of look like a king’s crown. I took one, turned it into a hat and then wore it back to the hotel and in the room.

A stack of old, paper Burger King crowns

Gary Grant returns to hang out with us

Gary Grant came into our room again. Our room also had a table and two chairs next to the windows. He sat down in one and I sat in the other while Jess, Terri, and Jen sat on the bed, and we all chatted.

Our room with its mirror over the bed, came up in conversation. Gary too thought it was a better room than his and he wanted to switch with us. I made a joke that I had better be careful in case there was a hidden camera behind the mirror because I might want to be Miss America someday.

The Vanessa Williams Miss American scandal

That was a reference to Vanessa Williams. Her Miss America scandal was fresh, as she had resigned the title the day before. I’m pretty sure David Letterman made jokes about it on the show we had just watched.

Vanessa Williams was the first black woman to be crowned Miss America. She was crowned in September 1983 at 20 years old. She gave up her crown on July 23, 1984, at 21 years old when Penthouse magazine announced it would publish nude photos that had been taken when she was 19. Some of the photos included simulated sex acts with another woman.

Vanessa did not pose for Penthouse but for a photographer she was working for who said that the photos would be artistic, and she would not be recognizable. He also said that no one else would see them. He lied but she had no recourse because she had signed a release form. Scumbags like that guy were numerous in the 1980s.

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/july-23/miss-america-resigns

Mary Tyler Moore

I told Gary Grant that I had been awake for more than 24 hours already because I stayed up watching The Mary Tyler Moore Show until it was time to leave for the airport.

Gary Grant said he hated Mary Tyler Moore because “she is such a dag.” Dag is an Australian slang word, and the meaning definitely came across as negative-like witch or bitch or ugly. It actually means “uncool.”

Now I wonder what it was that made her a dag in his opinion. Was it her feminism? Was she uncool because she wasn’t some rock and roll sexpot? Was she uncool because she stood up to men or stood up for what was right?

Meaning of the Australian slang word “dag”

https://slll.cass.anu.edu.au/centres/andc/meanings-origins/d

Mary Tyler Moore Show

Emerson Hotel

I’m pretty sure I spoke about paying for my flight using the one dollar bills I had in the suitcase in my closet and that led to me talking about my waitressing job at the Emerson Hotel which was not an actual hotel but only a restaurant. Gary Grant asked, “What hotel?” because I think he just wanted me to repeat the name. But I was always worried that people would think I worked at a hotel so instead of saying the name again, I replied, “It’s not a hotel.”

I forgot to mention that earlier in the day, before we checked in, my friends and I walked along the pier in St Petersburg which was not far from the hotel and did some shopping. I bought a silver ring with a black diamond-shaped pattern on the top side. Black and silver is a favorite combination of mine. In the room, I showed it to Gary.

REM

We heard some stories from him. For instance, they had gone to see REM in concert on one of their nights off and his opinion was that they sucked. INXS was much better live.

Burn For You

INXS now had a video for Burn For You and it was made in the style of a home movie. You can see that for yourself here. We didn’t know it yet, but we were going to see the new video the next day.

The underwear thrown on stage

Gary Grant also told us that Kirk’s girlfriend, the future mother of his child, Karen, who was still along on the tour, tried on the underwear that was thrown on stage by the crazed female fans to see if it fit her. I can’t believe he told us that!

Before Gary left us for the night, he gave us more details about the three nights INXS would play in eastern Canada in about a weeks’ time. INXS would be finished touring with The Go-Go’s after four more shows and then immediately do their own tour in clubs and small theaters.

The morning of the INXS concert

When we woke up on the morning of July 25th, we watched TV, and I also did some crossword puzzles. I had one of those soft covered books of crossword puzzles that you could buy at the newsstand. Perhaps I bought it at the airport to keep me busy.

Once again, we propped open the door to our hotel room so we could see if anyone from INXS walked by. Around lunch time, the four of us walked down the hall to Timmy’s room and knocked on his door.

Hey Timmy!

He opened the door, and he was nearly naked! All he had on was a pair of tiny shorts. His short shorts were even shorter than the short shorts I was wearing. My satiny shorts had about a two-inch inseam.

Tim had been reading Shogun by James Clavell and he was still holding the book. Shogun was a best-seller and had been turned into a hit TV mini-series in 1980. The mini-series had the second highest ratings in the U.S. after Roots. A third of America had watched Shogun.

Lunch with Tim Farriss

Timmy suggested that we all go to the restaurant downstairs, so we waited in the hall for him to put clothes on and come out. Then we went downstairs to the restaurant which was called the Greenhouse.

I sat on the other side of the table from Tim Farriss and I don’t remember where anyone else was sitting. In my diary it says that Tim drank some chocolate milk while I ordered strawberries and cream and only ate some of it. Tim was mostly smoking cigarettes and telling stories.

Animal Cruelty

My favorite story was about Timmy’s job at a chicken farm. The farm had a system where they would put a peg on a chicken’s cage if it didn’t lay any eggs. If the chicken received a certain number of pegs on its cage it would be killed for not laying enough eggs.

Sometimes there were chickens that would peck him so Tim would get revenge by taking pegs off another chicken’s cage and put them on the cage of the chicken that pecked him.

Tim picked up a butter knife from the table and demonstrated how the chickens were killed. Then he said he used to eat eggs in front of the chickens and tell them it was nothing personal.

He told us that he owned a ranch with an orchard and a vegetable garden. His cat was named Cat, and his dog was a boxer named Samantha. But he hated the dog so he would kick it and he would not let the dog come into the house.

Touring America

Jess said that she would make INXS some videotapes so they would have something different to watch while they were traveling on the tour bus. She asked Tim to tell her what she should tape for them, and he said, “you know what we like.”

Then he said that he would hate to tour America constantly. “With the exception of you guys, of course” he added when he realized how that sounded.

Kirk slits Michael’s throat

We also heard more about their videos and music. For example, I wrote in my diary that Tim told us that Kirk slits Michael’s throat in the Dancing on the Jetty video. I don’t know if that is what Tim really said or if I just remembered it wrong when I wrote it down because Kirk slits Michael’s throat in the video for Melting in the Sun and not Dancing on the Jetty.

Melting in the Sun was clearly filmed in London along with the end of the Burn For You video. The parts of the Dancing on the Jetty video with INXS in it look like it could also have been filmed in London at the same time so maybe Tim was confused.

Melting in the Sun video

More INXS music and video info

Tim told us that his son James Lee was in the video for Burn For You and also that his wife Buffy didn’t like it that there were women singing backup vocals in the song. I don’t think she had anything against the singers themselves-just that she would not have had singers from outside the band doing the vocals.

The only other stuff I wrote down was that Tim’s grandmother took him to see The Sound of Music and that American milkshakes are thicker than Australian ones.

He also said, “if you hear some songs that sound like us but are under a different name, it could be us.” I guess INXS had talked about doing some kind of project where they put out music under a different name, but I have never heard anything else about that other than what Tim told us. There is no music out there under a different name and no mention of a plan to do that in any books or articles.

Strawberries

While we were sitting at the table with Tim, Kirk and Karen walked into the restaurant. They sat down at a nearby table just to the right of where I was sitting. From where she sat, Karen could see that I had stopped eating my strawberries.

When Karen stood up from their table, I noticed it, and it looked like Kirk felt embarrassed and was trying to talk her out of doing what she was about to do.

Karen walked over to our table and asked me if I was finished eating my strawberries. She said that it was hard to get good, fresh food while on tour and asked if she could have the rest of my strawberries.

Kirk was looking sheepish. He knew what had happened between us and so did I, but I don’t think Karen did. Even though she was with Kirk instead of me, I didn’t mind at all that Karen asked for my strawberries. I was finished with them, and I gave them to Karen so they wouldn’t go to waste.

If she had known that her boyfriend had been making out with me ten months earlier, I don’t think she would have approached me. But I was trying my very best to act like I had never had anything to do with Kirk Pengilly beyond just being a fan of INXS. Which is how it always should have been because I was never trying to be anything more than a fan. Those guys messed with me and not the other way around.

Taking Tim’s cigarette butts

When Tim went back upstairs, we stayed behind for a few minutes. I took the cigarette butts that Tim had smoked out of the ashtray and put them in my purse. There were either two or three. I told Terri that I wanted to do something with them, but I didn’t know what yet.

Bumping into Jon Farriss

We went back upstairs and bumped into Jon Farriss in the hallway. My crossword puzzle was giving me some trouble so I said to Jon, “Can I ask you a question?” He said okay, so I asked him, “What European capital starts with the letter T?”

Jon didn’t have the answer and said, “At least you didn’t ask a question like, ‘Where did you get your name?’” Terri was confused and said, “What, Jon??”And he said, “No!! INXS!!” It seems that Jon was sick of being asked how INXS came up with their name. I don’t remember if Jon was given the letter from Jackie-maybe that happened when we were on the bus with INXS a short time later.

After that we were back in our hotel room with the door open, talking and joking about what we had just heard at lunch. It was hilarious that Kirk slit Michael’s throat in one of their music videos and we joked about that. Terri and Jess were almost as much a part of it as I was because they were there too when something happened with both Kirk and Michael. Also, it was very fitting after what Michael had done, getting me to kiss him when my loyalty belonged to Kirk Pengilly.

Michael Hutchence walks by

We had yet to see Michael Hutchence at all in the whole time we were there but now he was awake, and it was time to leave for the venue. He looked into our room as he wandered past the open door, and he was surprised to see that we were there.

Michael came into our room to chat for a couple of minutes. He also blatantly ogled me, taking a good look at me from my feet to my face and back again. It was quite rude, but I let him get away with it.

I was still wearing the short shorts and a cropped t-shirt. My wardrobe was quite modest, so my shirt wasn’t cropped very much but I was showing more skin than I ever had before because it was Florida in July.

The only thing my diary mentions besides the ogling is that Michael told us that he had been up all night doing interviews.

We all went down to the lobby together on the elevator. Once there, I stood by the elevator panel and held down the “door open” while my friends exited the elevator. Michael waited for me to get out and he put his arm out to keep the door from closing while he followed me. Gentlemanly, yes, but also a bit self-serving perhaps. Trying to earn brownie points for being polite while also having a view of my backside.

Watching Burn For You on the tour bus

The band was about to see the video for Burn For You for the first time and they invited us to get on the bus to watch it while they made their way to the Bayfront Concourse theater.

Michael sat down near the front of the bus, and I sat down next to him. He opened the book he brought with him and started reading. He never even looked up to watch the video.

Someone said that The Go-Go’s were getting emotional about them leaving the tour but I didn’t write down who it was.

Tasteless, Sexist Joke

There was something I remember that I never wrote about in my diary so I can’t be sure when it happened. I wrote about it in some of my letters because there are mentions of it in the replies from friends. But I have no way to determine exactly when it happened. It happened while we were on their tour bus, so it was either this day or another time in 1984. I’ll just assume it happened in Florida.

We were on the INXS tour bus and Jon Farriss was holding a dish that had some kind of pasta with a thick, white cream sauce in it. Perhaps a fettucine alfredo. He stuck the tip of his index finger into the sauce and then licked the sauce off. Then he said, “Tastes like fish!” Obviously making a crude sex joke about women’s vaginal secretions which can taste like fish if they have bacterial vaginosis.

My friends and I paid close attention to the music video, and we were able to watch it twice before the bus stopped and dropped us off outside the theater. The bus and the band proceeded into an underground parking garage.

What I did with the cigarette butts

A few girls were already outside and set upon us when they saw us get off the tour bus. They asked us questions about what we were doing. They seemed like they might be the kind of hysterical girl fan who annoyed me and that I liked to imitate and mock. So, I took the cigarette butts out of my purse and told them that Tim Farriss had just smoked them.

When I said, “Here, you can have them” and handed them to the girls, they squealed and screamed, “Oh my God, Oh my God!!” Then they asked if I could get them anything else from the band.

Inside the theater, it was general admission near the stage so there were a lot of people packed into that area. We were not at the very front for the show but somewhere in the middle.

Assault

Jess held up a small tape recorder and taped INXS. There were three guys behind us, and I felt someone touch my ass. I was furious so I turned around and yelled, “Don’t touch me!” Those assholes played innocent and denied it.

It wasn’t long before I felt a hand reach up the leg of my shorts to touch my private parts. Immediately, without turning around, I kicked back with one leg and threw both of my elbows back as hard as I could into the guy directly behind me.

When I turned around, the guy I hit whined, “I didn’t do anything!” I said, “I don’t care. If anyone touches me again, I am going to hit you again.” The jerks kept their hands to themselves after that.

If I had a time machine, I would go back there and kick all three of those guys in the nuts because I was not violent enough. I regret having been too nice to boys and men and just hitting that one guy was me being too nice in that situation.

Bootlegging

After the show, we waited for the band outside as usual. My diary says I was keeping myself occupied by balancing on a plank because I hated hanging around to see the band.

Someone must have seen Jess holding up the tape recorder during the show because when Gary Grant saw her, he came storming over. He was very angry. He said, “So, you’re a bootlegger, are you? Is this what it’s all about?”

I think he noticed that we all got quite upset because the last thing we wanted to do was make INXS or Gary Grant angry with us. We were on the verge of tears.

Jess said that no, she was not a bootlegger and was only making the tape for our personal use. Then she took the tape out and told Gary that he could have it. Gary didn’t take it. Instead, he said, “I trust you this time, but I don’t ever want to see you with a tape recorder again.”

We kept our promise to keep that INXS concert to ourselves.

In 2006, I sent the cassette tapes of the INXS concerts from 1983 and 1984 to a place that converted cassettes to CDs.

The CD I had made from the cassette recordings I had of two INXS concerts. I put the CD and case on my scanner bed and scanned it.

There’s nothing in my diary about hanging out with INXS after the show so I don’t think we did. I think that after Gary Grant yelled at us about taping the concert, INXS took off for Atlanta.

The Go-Go’s and INXS had a show the next night, July 26, in Atlanta, which was at least a seven-hour-long bus ride from St Petersburg, Florida.

Terri, Jess, and I did not follow INXS to Atlanta. We stayed in Florida for a few more days.

January 30, 2026
Blog Post 14- INXS at Jones Beach, NY. June 30, 1984

Photo by Jess. Jon Farriss playing drums at a concert in September 1983

The day after the show at Radio City Music Hall on Friday, June 29, 1984, INXS opened for The Go-Go’s at a show in Boston. That day, I waitressed at the Emerson Hotel from 5pm until 1am. The restaurant closed at one but if I still had customers I would have to stay until they left. If I was scheduled to work until 2am, that meant I would have to stay until after all the customers left, and then put all the chairs on top of the tables before vacuuming the entire dining area. The only reason I survived the summer of 1984 was because I was 19. And even so, I almost didn’t survive because I almost fell asleep while driving home from my 11th INXS concert in August. More about that in a future post.

June 25- July 1, 1984. Donna’s calendar. INXS and work.

On Saturday, June 30, 1984, INXS opened for The Go-Go’s at the Jones Beach Theater at Jones Beach on Long Island. Jess, Terri, Jackie and I had tickets and as usual, we went early to be there before INXS arrived to do a soundcheck. Soundchecks tended to happen in the afternoon, so we often showed up before 3pm. That meant getting on the road around noon, depending on where we were going. Jess had to come get us and drive us in her car because Terri’s car had to be fixed after the incident coming back from greeting INXS when they arrived in New York City three days earlier.

The theater in Jones Beach is about 57 miles from Hillsdale, NJ and because one must drive through New York City to get there, it takes an hour and a half to two hours to do it.

An idea of how long it takes to drive from Hillsdale, NJ to the Jones Beach theater and the route.

Jones Beach Theater website:

https://www.northwellatjonesbeachtheater.com

Waiting for INXS behind a dumpster

When we arrived at the theater, Jess drove the car into a parking lot that was close to the backstage area and parked the car behind a dumpster so we would not be seen because we were not supposed to be in that lot.

Then we waited, and waited, and waited, and waited for quite a long time. Somehow, we knew what the RV that the roadies for INXS used to get around looked like and noticed when it arrived at the theater.

I decided to get out of the car and move closer to see if anything interesting was happening while trying to stay hidden by crouching behind the other cars. When I got close to the road, two guys saw me. I could tell that they saw me, and I had nowhere to go so I decided to bluff my way out of it by walking over to them and asking if there was a bathroom nearby.

One of the guys walked me out of the backstage area parking lot to the front of the theater. He asked me if I had parked in the lot where he had found me. There was no way I was going to divulge where my friends were still hiding so I told the guy I was there by myself, and I had parked my car “out there” while waving my arm towards the parking lot in front of the theater.

Waiting for my friends to come out from behind the dumpster

There was nothing I could do but stand around and wait for my friends. I had no ticket, no money, and mosquitos were eating me alive. Two other girls were also waiting in front of the theater, so I spoke to them. They told me that they were supposed to be going backstage, but they couldn’t because Atco had not put them on the guest list. Again. So, they were annoyed.

Eventually, Jess, Terri and Jackie drove out from the backstage area because it was getting late and INXS had not arrived. By the time INXS arrived, it was too late for a soundcheck. We were standing near the road to the backstage area and when their bus drove by we waved at them, and they waved back at us.

A clever plan

We had a situation with our seats where Terri had a seat down in the front section of the venue and the rest of us had seats on a higher level. Once we went into the theater, we devised a plan so we could all get down in front. The great thing about INXS being the opening act was that there were plenty of empty seats near the front of the stage that we could take if we could get down there.

So, we all went to the concession stand and we all bought soda and popcorn, so our hands were full. Then we walked down to the section where Terri’s seat was, and she showed her ticket stub to the usher. She told him that we were with her, so the usher let us follow her. It worked exactly as planned and we found ourselves seats on Timmy’s side of the stage in the third or fourth row.

INXS on stage

INXS arranged themselves on stage in the same way at every show. If you are looking at the stage from the audience, Jon, the drummer was in the center at the back. Garry Gary, the bassist, was to the right of Jon. Andrew, the keyboardist, was to the left of Jon. At the front of the stage, Michael, the singer, was in the center, and the two guitarists were on either side- Timmy to the right and Kirk to the left.

Kirk Pengilly was my favorite member of INXS, but I almost always watched the show from either the center or the right side where Timmy and Garry Gary were because I went to concerts with Terri and Jess and their favorites were Timmy and Garry Gary, respectively. So, I was outnumbered.

The concert

Once the show started, the guys doing the security for the theater did their best to make sure the audience did not have fun. They were jerks who constantly came around and told people to sit down.

Michael Hutchence kept making comments like “seatbelts off!” because he wanted people to get up and dance. I would stand up again whenever the security guy walked away after making me sit down. Michael even gave that guy the middle finger when he made people sit down.

I wrote in my diary that Kirk came over to our side of the stage when he was playing a guitar solo. He looked at us and raised his eyebrows a few times.

The last song

INXS was known for ending their sets with the song “Don’t Change.” That didn’t always happen, but it usually did. Certainly, every show I saw in 1984 ended with “Don’t Change.”

When INXS started playing “Don’t Change”, I left my seat and went into the aisle so I could dance. The security guy came over and told me to go back to my seat, so I did, but only for a moment. I went back into the aisle again and I decided I would stay there.

There’s an instrumental break in the song where Jon is only playing the bass drum- two beats in quick succession and then three even beats. During that part I raised my arms over my head and clapped my hands to the beat of the bass drum. I watched Timmy while I was doing this.

The security guy came over and started yelling in my face to go back to my seat, but I kept clapping. Then he grabbed my arms while they were still over my head and started pushing me backwards. At that moment I looked at Timmy and he smiled at me. I smiled back at him and started walking backwards to my row while the security guy was still holding my arms and threatening to kick me out. I felt very defiant and heroic.

INXS video of Don’t Change

This video of INXS playing “Don’t Change” live during the portion of Live Aid that was performed in Australia in July 1985 shows where the band members typically stood on stage. Also, it shows Timmy doing the clapping during the instrumental break. It’s also a performance where Michael gets the words slightly mixed up. “Don’t Change” is a simple song and it was one of their most performed, but Michael often messed up the lyrics. It was one of the first things I noticed about him. I knew the lyrics better than he did.

The Go-Go’s

It would not have mattered if we had been kicked out because we were leaving anyway. We did not stay to see The Go-Go’s perform. Not that day or any other.

A history of The Go-Go’s:

https://www.vogue.com/article/go-gos-40th-anniversary-beauty-and-the-beat-oral-history-belinda-carlisle

The Go-Go’s on the Tonight Show with Joan Rivers, August 7, 1984 after INXS split from their tour.

Near the backstage door

We walked outside to where there was a backstage area of sorts and stood around waiting outside of a chain link fence. I did not want to be outside waiting for the band because I didn’t think it was cool to be waiting there with a bunch of screaming girls. Expressing my displeasure didn’t do me any good. My friends wanted to do it, so we did it. Terri had something she wanted to give to Garry Gary or to have signed by Garry Gary-something like that.

The t-shirt guy for The Go-Go’s (the guy who sold their merchandise) talked to me. About what, I no longer remember. My diary says that I told him that I wasn’t waiting for INXS-my friends were waiting for them.

I also talked to Tony, the guy who sold the INXS t-shirts. Tony was looking around for the 14-year-old girl he wanted to pick up. Disgusting! In my diary I wrote, “it made me ill to listen to them” talk about the girls who were there. But I never called them pigs or said anything about how disgusted I was by what I saw and heard. I only noticed all of it, and wrote it down, and remembered it. The 80s were a time when women and girls smiled, laughed, shrugged it off, took it. I wish I had done more fighting or screaming or something.

Tony asked me if I wanted to dance and I said, “not now” and he said, “Oh, after the guys go by?” I said to him, “I don’t care.” Because I didn’t care if I saw INXS or not. I had already met them, and I didn’t want anything from them. Kirk had a girlfriend, and she was with him.

When INXS came out from the theater, Terri yelled “Garry!” several times from where we were behind the fence- trying to get his attention. Later we found out that Gary Grant thought that Terri was yelling at him to try to get him to come over. I have no idea if Garry Gary or anyone came over or not because I didn’t write it down. I don’t think anyone did.

Following the bus

We ran off to get into the car so we could be ready to follow the tour bus when INXS left Jones Beach. At the time, we did not know where they were staying. I was embarrassed that we were following them like they were the Beatles, and we were crazed fans because we were not. While our car followed right behind them, we could watch the movie that was playing in their tour bus. There was a TV, and we could see it through the back window of the bus. It was National Lampoon’s Vacation, a comedy that starred Chevy Chase and that was released in July 1983.

I think this gave Jess and Terri the idea to tape TV shows and movies for INXS to watch while they traveled by tour bus. It wasn’t me because I didn’t own a VCR. My family had cable TV but no way to record anything. Money was too tight to buy a VCR. Later on, they presented the band with videotapes. I remember that Jess gave them a tape with the mini-series Shogun on it. There were others but I don’t remember how many or what was on them.

The Holiday Inn, Rockville Centre

The bus arrived at the hotel and so did we. I was so embarrassed about following INXS that I didn’t want to get out of the car. But everyone else was getting out and then when we saw Timmy, he invited us to come to the bar and have a drink with him, so I got over it.

A route between the Jones Beach theater and the Holiday Inn in Rockville Centre.

AI Overview of the original Holiday Inn that existed in 1984 and the hotel at the same location today.

Andrew, Timmy, and Jon Farriss were the only members of INXS who were on the bus. Gary Grant also came back to the hotel after the show but the other three did not. We heard that Kirk and Karen went off on their own to New York City. Michael and Garry stayed with The Go-Go’s and also went to the city. My internalized misogyny makes an appearance in my diary from time to time like when I wrote that “Michael and Garry were in NYC with The No-Go’s and fat Belinda.”

The bar was in a building that was separate from the hotel rooms. Walking in, the bar was at the back of the room with the long side facing the door. It wrapped around on the left side and met the wall, and it had an opening on the right side for the bartender to go in and out. On the right side of the room there was a small open area with a jukebox, a drum kit, and dance floor. There were several tables on the left side of the room.

I ordered a drink right away and met the bartender who was an old guy named Danny. He had white hair, so he seemed to me to be over 60. The guy was chatty, and he made a lot of jokes.

Tim Farriss

Andrew, Timmy and Jon sat at the bar. Timmy was with a woman named Barbie and we were told that she was from Boston and in the music business. She must have traveled with INXS from Boston since that’s where they were the night before. In my diary, I called her a bitch. She was unfriendly and I don’t think she wanted us around.

Terri offered to buy Timmy a drink, but he wouldn’t let her. I walked up and introduced myself to Timmy like I had done with Andrew in NYC-told him my name and offered my hand for a handshake. I’m sure there was much more conversation than what I managed to remember and write down in my diary. There always was.

Timmy thanked Terri several times for the “Stay Young” t-shirt that Terri made for James Lee, Timmy’s firstborn son, who was only about two years old. James Lee was taking after his uncle Jon, according to Timmy. He told us how James Lee took cooking pots and set them up on the floor in the kitchen and then asked for sticks so he could bang on them.

Gary Grant

The first thing Gary Grant did when he saw us in the bar was to yell at Terri about what she had done earlier in the day. It was not okay for her to call him over. He didn’t want people to know who he was, and also- he was busy. Terri apologized and explained that she was trying to get Garry Gary to come over and not him. Then she said she understood that he had a hard job and bought him a drink. All was forgiven.

Gary Grant then started joking that he had terrible problems; his wife had been raped, his house and kids had been burned, and he was going to die in an hour.

In the spirit of the Monty Python skit where four Yorkshiremen sit around and tell increasingly horrible stories of what they endured in order to outdo the other guys, I told him I was going to be tortured and die in three hours. He said I beat him.

The Four Yorkshiremen Monty Python sketch

Soon it was just us, Jon, Gary Grant, and a roadie for INXS named Vance in the bar. Timmy left with Barbie and never came back. I don’t think Andrew stayed long in the first place. Andrew wasn’t sociable and he didn’t seem to want to be on tour, so we mostly left him alone.

Vance the roadie

Vance was a good-looking guy; also, Australian. I noticed that he was “giving me the eye” like he was interested in getting to know me. I deliberately avoided making eye contact with him because I was not interested.

After a while, all I wanted to do was go home because I had to start work at noon the next day and work straight through until nine at night. It was a strenuous job-on my feet all day and walking around carrying heavy trays full of plates. I didn’t know how I was going to get through my shift. I was bored and tired, so I walked outside where I sat on some steps that led to the rooms. My head was down, and I was resting when Vance came out to talk to me.

I complained to him that I was tired, and I had to be at work the next day. Bars in New York stayed open until 4am so it was possible to stay out very late. Most of what we might have talked about has been forgotten. What I wrote down was that Vance told me to look on the bright side of things and he suggested that I should have another drink.

That seems like an innocuous thing to say, right? But it’s not. It’s the kind of thing that predatory men do so they have a better chance of getting what they want. Maybe I would loosen up or become interested if I drank more alcohol. When I went back into the bar, I didn’t have another drink.

Gary Grant, on the other hand, was quite drunk. He was singing along to the song “Mona Lisa” that the jukebox was playing and that was funny. Either I blurted out that it was Nat King Cole, or someone asked if I knew who the singer was, and I said it was Nat King Cole. Anyway, Jon was surprised and impressed that I knew it was Nat King Cole.

Mona Lisa video

That was one of many, many things that annoyed me out of everything that happened. Because Jon was only three years older than me and no one in INXS was even born when “Mona Lisa” was released in 1950. The song was a big hit. It was number one for five weeks and it won an Oscar. Why wouldn’t I know it?

Playing the drums

At some point, I got so bored with being in this bar that I took a seat behind the drum kit, picked up the brushes that were there, and started playing along to the music from the jukebox. I was playing a cymbal with my right hand and the snare drum with my left hand.

Gary Grant took a bowl from the top of the bar and placed it on the floor in front of the drum kit. Jon came over and gave me some pointers and complimented my drumming quite often. He told me to use my left hand for the cymbal and my right hand for the snare, so I started drumming that way. But when he told me to start playing the bass drum with my foot too, I was too scared to try because I thought it would be too difficult and I would fail.

Jon told me that I needed some practice, but I would be stupid if I didn’t take up the drums. He said I have rhythm and “when you have it, it’s easy.” “When I show you something, you pick it up right away. A lot of people would sit there and say ‘duh.’”

Truth be told, I never mentioned that my youngest brother had played the snare drum and the bass drum in the school band-marching in the marching band and such. We never had any drums at home and my brother didn’t play a drum kit, but he had drumsticks and a practice drum pad, and I was already quite good at playing drum rolls on it.

When I finished playing, I picked up the bowl. I made 47 cents and a piece of popcorn. Not bad.

Finally, it was time to leave. Danny, the old guy bartender, said he would take me to see the next INXS concert and then we would hang out with Jon in the bar and Jon would give me more drum lessons. As usual, I humored this old guy-just laughed along and agreed. It was just easier to go along in the moment and then either not take it seriously or just not do it because I didn’t want to. I didn’t even know if it was meant seriously anyway.

You Never Used To Cry

Jackie started to cry after Jon kissed her goodbye. She loved him. I did the same thing to Jon Farriss that I had done to Andrew and Timmy. I held out my hand and told him my name. “Hi, I’m Donna!” Jon and I shook hands. Then we left and drove back to New Jersey.

Jackie with Jon Farris of INXS in 1983

Don’t Change official video

October 24, 2025
Blog Post 4- INXS concert August 16, 1983

Terri, Jess, and I had to wait outside of The Chance in Poughkeepsie, New York for the INXS concert. We stood in line at the door. One of my college roommates, Karen, who lived in Newburgh, NY when we weren’t in Philadelphia at college, came to The Chance. Terri’s sister, Renee, and some of her friends, also came up to see the show.

The doors opened and the doorman wouldn’t let me in when I showed my Penn ID card. Terri was 19 and Jess was 20 so they were legal and got in. My roommate, Karen, was also only 18 but she wasn’t carded at the door, and she got into the venue. Renee and her friends were even younger than me and they were not allowed inside so they decided to go back to New Jersey.

I waited for a little while and then I took off my hat and got back in the line. When I got to the door, the doorman recognized me and said that there was no way I was getting in to see the show. I decided to wait for the band to show up. Because Kirk had talked to me at soundcheck; I thought he might let me go in with him if I asked.

I must have had a notebook in my purse along with my pen because I wrote this:

8/16/83

In a hundred words or less-Why America stinks. 1. Too many laws. Fuck it.

I can’t take all of this hypocrisy anymore. I am old enough to drink one hour and then I’m not old enough an hour later. I’m going to cry soon because this world sucks. It has to be a joke. I mean what kind of God would expect us to believe that we are here for a reason. There are no reasons for this insanity. God must be a sadist because you can’t win. Either you live under communist oppression, or you live under democratic oppression. I can’t believe that they won’t let me in on the ID that I have. Gimme a break. What’s the use of being alive when you can’t do what you want? If there is some reason, I really would like to know it.

It’s quite dramatic-so dramatic that I have to laugh at it now. I was so angry that they would not let me in to see INXS after they had let us in earlier in the day and served me alcohol during the soundcheck.

After I sat down near the stage door, some local guy who was doing the sound for INXS sat down next to me. I think his name was Jim. He sat down next to me and started asking me very personal questions. Being young and inexperienced, I sat there and answered them. Questions like “Do you have a boyfriend?” and “Are you a virgin?” The answer to the first question was no. I did not have a boyfriend. I told him that I had never done anything but kissed. That first year of college, I had kissed a guy who lived a floor above in the dorm. Jim told me that he had a girlfriend and that they liked to have sex. He said he wanted to take me to Great Adventure (A Six Flags amusement park in New Jersey) and show me a good time but that he wouldn’t try anything with me. I declined his offer.

Jim told me that he had been on tour as the sound mixer with the Thompson Twins and that every show of theirs was the same because the whole thing was on tape. Obviously, I wrote down that fascinating bit of information for posterity.

I explained to him about why I was stuck outside and that I was waiting for Kirk Pengilly from INXS to arrive so I could ask him to let me in to see the show. While I was waiting, the opening band took the stage and began playing. At that point, the sound guy decided to let me in himself.

He opened the stage door and told me to follow him inside. Then he told me to go along the side of the stage and down the steps. I thanked him several times because he solved my problem and made me happy. Terri and Jess saw me back there and waved and yelled. I walked along the side of the stage (the left side if you are facing the audience) in full view of the audience while the opening act was playing right next to me. As quickly and as carefully as possible, I made my way down the steps to the floor and joined Terri, Jess, and Karen in the front row. We were up against the stage.

I don’t remember much from the concert. When the band started playing Jan’s Song from Shabooh Shoobah, Michael Hutchence (the singer) plucked the hat from my head and wore it on his own. One of the lyrics from Jan’s Song is “She puts her hat on; looks in the mirror”, so my hat was an appropriate prop.

When Michael finished the song, he handed my hat back to me. While he was doing this, he said something to me. I have no idea what he said because I couldn’t hear him well enough. That was something that would happen again in the future.

During one song, Timmy Farriss, one of the guitarists, (we always called him Timmy and not Tim) threw some guitar picks into the audience. Karen caught one and gave it to me. A couple of months later, I gave it to Terri because Timmy was her favorite band member.

After the show, Jon Farriss, the drummer, was onstage for a minute, so I asked him to autograph my ticket. He said, surprised, “This is a whole ticket from tonight’s show!” and signed the ticket. He said he liked my hat and I said, “I like yours. Do you want to trade?” He said no because the hat was a gift from someone, and it had sentimental value. I don’t know what happened to the autographed ticket. I no longer have it. Perhaps I gave it away like I did with the guitar pick.

A photo of Jon wearing that hat from 1983.

The doorman saw me and said, “So, you managed to sneak in somehow. It’ll never happen again.” That was true because I never went back to The Chance. There was a fire there about a year later and it was badly damaged.

We went into the ladies’ room and a few other young women were in there. They knew where INXS was staying, and they told us. Karen decided to go home. Terri, Jess and I decided to go to the hotel.

We waited in the lobby of a Ramada Inn somewhere in the area. When the band arrived, some of them complained that the Holiday Inn they had stayed in the night before or whenever wouldn’t allow them to bring guests upstairs. Pretty sure Michael was one who complained, perhaps also Timmy or Kirk.

They went up to the floor where their rooms were, and we followed them, along with some other people who were in the lobby with us. At first, everyone stayed out in the hallway. Michael spoke to me and said, “Thanks for the use of your hat.” I told him, “Anytime!”

There was a room for business meetings at the end of the hall. Timmy opened the door to that room, but he couldn’t find the light switch. Then I went in to look for the light switches. I found them and turned on the lights. Timmy, Kirk, my friends and I went into the room. Perhaps some other fans came in, but I don’t remember. Most of the fans stayed out in the hall with Michael.

In the room there was a cart on wheels. Something similar to a hotel luggage cart-it was for transporting something. I got on it and started pushing it around with one leg-like a scooter. I stopped after I ran into something with it. Kirk called me a vandal when that happened.

There was also an easel with white paper and markers and a watercooler in this meeting room. It seemed like a good idea to play a game of hangman, so I drew the gallows. I had been a bit obsessed with the phrase, “the best thing since sliced bread.” To me, it was a weird saying. So, I chose “sliced bread” as the puzzle. Timmy was the one who guessed the answer and won the game. I think we played another game of hangman but it got boring, so we all went to Timmy and Kirk’s room. Back then they were two to a hotel room to save money. The door stayed open, and it became another area for the party.

Michael was just outside, still in the hallway, with a bunch of fans. He was playing the Talking Heads on a red Japanese boom box. Timmy told us how exciting it was for him and the rest of INXS to meet the Talking Heads. He was acting like he was a huge fan when he told us about it-just the same as how their own fans were when they met INXS.

Michael Hutchence holding the red Japanese boom box.

Someone turned on the TV and we looked for something to watch. There was a show where a woman was giving birth. Another channel was showing an Aussie-rules football game (I think that is what ended up staying on). Terri wanted to watch the channel that was showing the colored stripes signal instead, basically expressing her displeasure at what was chosen. I was tired so I stretched out on one of the beds (I sat up against the headboard and my legs were on the bed and stretched in front of me) and watched TV. It was the bed farthest from the door and closest to the TV. I think Kirk and Timmy were sitting on the other bed or maybe just standing around with three or four other young women. I think Terri and Jess were sitting near the desks on the chairs.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMPTE_color_bars#:~:text=SMPTE%20color%20bars%20are%20a,(EG)%201%2D1990.

It wasn’t much of a party. No drugs and no alcohol that I can recall, which was fine by us because we didn’t use drugs or even drink really. I think Andrew, Jon, and Garry went to bed. I don’t recall them being around. I was just waiting for Terri and Jess to be ready to go home. I wasn’t even talking to anyone.

Timmy must have been bored also because he decided to put on a mix tape that someone had given to him in Los Angeles. He said that it was a great tape. I sat there listening, but I was getting more bored by the minute because I didn’t recognize any of the songs and none of what I heard interested me. Then the fateful moment happened. A song came on that I knew and liked. Finally, something interesting was happening! I got excited, pointed at the boombox and said, “Hey, Shriekback!!” The song was “All Lined Up.”

Kirk heard me say that and I guess it was the opening he was waiting for. He walked over and said, “Move over, darling!” so I moved over, and he stretched out next to me on the bed. His first question was about what other music I liked. I mentioned several bands, but I only know for sure that I mentioned XTC. I don’t think I asked him about his musical tastes. After a day filled with events and conversations, it is impossible to remember everything even as soon as the next day.

I was having fun talking to Kirk. I told him about toxic waste in my home state of New Jersey. It’s kind of what the state is known for. New Jersey has the most Superfund sites of any state-those sites are the most polluted with hazardous, toxic waste. In the 1980s, the air smelled bad as you drove on the NJ Turnpike past refineries, etc.

The Emerson Hotel and my job there as a waitress was another thing we talked about. Kirk said, “I bet you’re good at it.” I said, “No, I bump into the chairs.” It was my first summer at that job and I was still learning. It was a popular restaurant, so I made good money which I needed to pay for college. My mother worked there as a second job, and she got me in. I told him that I had $600 in one-dollar bills stored in a suitcase in my closet. I didn’t tell him that I was keeping it hidden from one of my brothers who used to steal from me to buy pot (marijuana). I was not a fan of people who smoked pot because of that. It wasn’t until many years later that I found out that many of the members of INXS liked to smoke pot, including Kirk.

Sometime during our conversation, I asked for Kirk’s autograph. I don’t know why. He seemed disappointed that I did that. He signed a piece of paper from a note pad that came from the Emerson Hotel anyway.

Kirk Pengilly autograph

From time to time, Kirk got up to check on the shirt he had soaking in the bathroom sink. It was a red button-down shirt with little horses on it. Another thing I wrote in my diary was that he said he wanted to name his future children Billy and Milly Pengilly. I’m glad he didn’t go through with that.

Garry and Kirk, INXS, photo by Terri, 8/1983. Kirk wearing the red shirt with horses.

After a while, I got up and left the room to get a paper cup from the meeting room. I was thirsty. Terri and I also wanted to see what was happening out in the hall. Kirk followed me out.

Terri and I stopped to talk to Michael. I didn’t like Michael. He walked funny-like prancing on tip toe. To me, he seemed arrogant and obnoxious. Michael seemed to like to tell people how to dress and I think he said something about what Terri was wearing when we were in the hall talking to him. I can’t remember what exactly-only that he said something insensitive about the dark color of her skin and Terri was hurt by it. Something along the lines of whatever color Terri was wearing did not go well with her dark skin or maybe he said a different color would go better. I think he was clueless and didn’t notice that he hurt her feelings, but I noticed, and it made very angry. It was another mark against him in my book.

When we went back into the hotel room, we all sat around and talked to Timmy. We didn’t even know it was his birthday that day. I don’t think he mentioned it either. Someone at this party offered Timmy a piece of gum but he didn’t take it. He said he was allergic to artificial sweeteners.

Timmy told us a story about a guy named Simon. My diary says Timmy said he knew him growing up but now I wonder because I read an anecdote in the Story to Story book from when INXS played mining towns and it was similar. Timmy said that one of the things Simon used to do was put spiders in his mouth and then freak people out by having them crawl out of his mouth. I said, “I wonder what he does for kicks now”?

Timmy also told us that he, Jon, and Andrew had found out that their grandfather had died. They had had a concert a couple of days before and they were told about their grandfather’s death after they finished the show. I felt sorry for them because they were so far away from home and there was nothing they could do about it. Terri and Jess didn’t know what to say after hearing about Timmy’s grandfather. I said, “That’s a bummer.” Timmy said, “Yeah, it is.” I still say that when people tell me bad news sometimes.

Other random things- For some reason, during some conversation, I said, “It beats the heck out of me!” and Kirk laughed at that. I guess it’s not something they said back in Australia. Also, Kirk and I drew on the paintings on the walls in his hotel room. This was something that surprised me when I read my diary after so many years. I don’t remember doing it, but it sounds like something I would do back then. I wonder what we added to those paintings. Was it mustaches on people or flowers or what? Did Ramada Inn ever notice?

Before we left, I took a blank piece of paper from the notepad in the room. Terri took some of the hotel writing paper home with her. When we said that we were leaving, Kirk walked us out of the hotel. We stopped just outside, and Kirk said goodbye to Terri and Jess. They headed to the car. Then Kirk said, “And you!” and he sort of grabbed me. He put a hand on each of my arms near my shoulders, pulled me to him, and kissed me. I think I would have been justified if I slapped his face for doing that but instead, I kissed him back because I liked him a lot. We made out in the parking lot there for a minute or two before I said goodbye and walked to the car. Kirk walked back inside the hotel. I should have left it at that but I didn’t.

May 31, 2025