Sexism, Bruhs, and Rock n Roll

Tag: Belinda Carlisle

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 18- INXS at Mann Music Center, July 7, 1984

Kirk Pengilly, guitarist, saxophonist, singer for INXS, photo by Terri, Atlanta 9/5/1983

Before I even went to any INXS concert in 1984, I had asked my boss at the restaurant for the day off on July 7 so I could go to the INXS concert at the Mann Music Center in Philadelphia. So, I was planning to go to this show before I ever saw Kirk or Michael and I liked to stick to my plans.

After what happened with Michael Hutchence in his hotel room on July 2, I went to work from 12pm to 9pm and my friends went to see INXS in East Hampton, NY on July 3. On July 4, Kirk Pengilly turned 26, INXS traveled to the Midwest, and I went to work from 11am to 8pm. The Go-Go’s and INXS played Summerfest in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on July 5 and I had the day off from work. I was back at work on Friday, July 6, 1984, from 5pm to 1am while INXS and the Go-Go’s did a concert in New Haven, Connecticut.

Ticket for The Go-Go’s and INXS concert at the Mann Music Center in Philadelphia July 7, 1984. Not my ticket. I got this photo from the internet.

The concert in Philadelphia was on Saturday, July 7. It took Terri, Jess, Jackie, and I about two hours to get to the Mann Music Center by car. The Mann Music Center was an outdoor theater located in Fairmount Park in West Philadelphia.

The route from Hillsdale, NJ to the Mann Music Center in Philadelphia from Google Maps.

Do I have to be harassed everywhere?

When we arrived, we all had to pee, so we walked into a seedy-looking bar in the neighborhood. It was five o’clock somewhere, but I don’t think it was five yet when we got there.

The bathroom was too small for all four of us, so Jess and I had to wait near the bar. Sitting at the bar was a skinny black guy (we were in West Philadelphia where most people were black). This guy looked like he was in his late 30s and he was drunk.

When he saw me, he asked if I was married. Jess told him I was engaged. He said I should break up with my boyfriend and marry him instead because he had a great chest. Then he unbuttoned his shirt and took it off to show me his bare chest! Pointing to his chest, he said, “Does your boyfriend have anything as good as this?” It was scary. What is wrong with men? I couldn’t even use a bathroom in peace.

I had no choice but to be as polite as I could be until the bathroom was free and I could go in it. After that we left as quickly as we could and walked back to the Mann Music Center where we found out that the INXS tour bus had already gone inside.

Hey, Timmy!

We were still outside the venue, but we could watch INXS do their soundcheck from there. Timmy heard us all yell, “Hey, Timmy” in unison. He waved to us and then raised his fist in the air.

The Hooters

As usual, our plan was to find seats down near the stage so we were sad to learn that The Hooters would be going on before INXS. The Hooters were a popular Philadelphia-area band, so a lot of people showed up early to see them and that messed up our plan.

Philadelphia rock band The Hooters

The Hooters- All You Zombies

Eric Bazilian and Rob Hyman, the founding members of The Hooters, went to my school, The University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia, but at least ten years before I was in college. They met each other while at Penn. They formed The Hooters in 1980.

INXS on stage

When INXS took the stage, I decided to stay in the seat I had a ticket for. It was about twenty-five rows up from the stage. Terri, Jess, and Jackie decided to see what they could find near the stage, so they left.

After a few minutes, I saw them waving to me, urging me to come down. They found seats in the second row on Timmy’s side of the stage and there was one for me too. So, I got up and walked down the aisle to where they were. When I walked down the row to take my seat, Michael saw me, and I noticed it when he recognized me.

I also noticed Michael looking over at me from time to time during the concert. One time, he was in front of us when “Dancing on the Jetty” started. I was standing there swaying to the music at the very beginning of the song and Michael was staring at me. I was feeling the music. Then he stopped staring and sang the song.

Dancing on the Jetty

There were a lot of screaming girls at the concert. Girls acting all hysterical over seeing INXS or any other musician never made sense to me. Really, I don’t get it at all. Why scream because of some guy? I wrote in my diary that those girls made me laugh and that I thought INXS liked us because we treated them like they were normal people.

Following the bus again

After the concert, we had to follow the bus again because we didn’t know where they were staying. This time there were guys in a car behind us and they also followed the bus because Belinda and Charlotte from The Go-Go’s were on the INXS tour bus.

It was an exciting ride as we were following them through the streets of Philadelphia. We ran a couple of red lights so we could stay right behind the bus. The destination turned out to be Rittenhouse Square and the Barclay Hotel. At the time, it was the classiest hotel in Philadelphia. Or if not the best, it was the most famous.

A picture of the Barclay Hotel on Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia that I took from the internet. The bar was on the right side of the ground floor.

The Barclay Hotel impressed me when I saw it with its marble floors and palace decor. I don’t think I had been in any hotel as expensive-looking before.

Rittenhouse Square at 18th and Walnut Street is a small park and one of the original squares William Penn planned for the city in the 17th century. It’s one of the best and fanciest neighborhoods to live in or hang out at in Philadelphia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barclay_Hotel_(Philadelphia)

The Go-Go’s and their fans

The two guys who ended up at the Barclay with us seemed to be the same age as we were-between 18 and 21. I wrote in my diary that Charlotte was on the bus, but today I don’t remember seeing Charlotte at all.

When Jackie and I reconnected on Facebook, she said that she remembered being on an elevator with Belinda Carlisle and that she wanted to punch Belinda.

That is something I don’t remember but I do remember both Michael and Belinda being super-fucked-up on drugs. Michael was even worse than the last time we saw him just five days earlier when he was lying down drunk on the pavement. It wasn’t just alcohol this time-I could tell that other drugs had also been consumed.

Thank you, Gary Grant

The first thing many members of INXS did when they arrived at the hotel was look for a cigarette machine. The hotel did not have one. We gave Gary Grant a bottle of wine to thank him for being so nice to us. He had just gotten Jackie into the show on Long Island. Gary gave Jess a kiss so she must have presented it to him.

I had nothing to do with buying the wine other than chipping in to pay for it. Terri and Jess did all the planning and were the ones who contacted Gary Grant. If they had not done those things, I wouldn’t have a story to tell. I was just along for the ride.

After we gave Gary Grant the wine and the band went to their rooms, we waited around in the lobby. It wasn’t long before Kirk came down and said hello to us. In my diary, I wrote that he was wearing an ugly outfit. Unfortunately, I didn’t describe it at all. I wish I had. The members of INXS often wore clothes that we didn’t like, and I often never described the clothes and just wrote my opinion. If I had a chance to go back and do it again, I would write down more descriptive details!

Going out for cigarettes

Kirk told me that he had told Terri and Jess to say “Hi!” to me for him when he saw them in East Hampton. He said he was going out to buy cigarettes so I told him that I knew which way to go and would show him. Everyone in our group and the two guys who had followed us, all went with Kirk to the store.

We headed north on 18th street towards Chestnut Street and Kirk walked very fast. It was almost hard to keep up with him. After a couple of blocks, we found a store that sold cigarettes. Kirk bought a pack of Vantage cigarettes and we all headed back to the hotel.

While we were walking back, the two guys who were fans of The Go-Go’s asked Kirk several questions about them. Again, the actual questions and answers were not written down by me so I no longer remember them. All it says in my diary was that Kirk was nice and he answered the questions about what The Go-Go’s were like.

When we got back to the hotel, the guys didn’t come inside with us, and when they were gone, Kirk laughed about them asking him those questions. Before he went upstairs, he told us he would come down to the bar later and then we did not see him again. Just like that night five nights earlier, he didn’t come to the bar.

The hotel bar

Jackie and I decided to check out the bar which was on the ground floor near the lobby. When we looked in, we discovered that Jon Farriss was at the bar so we went in and sat down at a table near the entrance.

Jon Farriss was sitting at the bar with two older women in their thirties. Jackie bought him a drink and when he got it, he looked over at us and smiled. I got up and sat at a table near where the three of them were talking at the bar so I could eavesdrop on their conversation.

That’s how I found out more about those women. One was named Bonnie, and the other was Franny. I don’t remember who was who but one had been a former model who now had a business baking brownies. The other woman was acting like a fool in love or a crazy fan. She told Jon very seriously that she knew his soul because of the way he looked at her. Then she said that she could sense that there was something between them.

I’m sure I looked like I wanted to bust out laughing. The woman saying that nonsense noticed that I was sitting very close by and listening so then she told Jon that she felt like she was making a speech and that I was taking notes to write an article for the National Enquirer. The National Enquirer was a weekly tabloid paper mostly devoted to celebrity gossip.

A photo of an April 1984 edition of the National Enquirer that I found on the internet.

After she said this, Jon turned and threw a swizzle stick at me. It didn’t hit me, but I got the message and went back to the table my friends were sitting at. But I don’t think he was upset because a little later he came over and sat with us.

Chatting with Jon Farriss

When he told us that the men’s bathroom was incredibly fancy and had a spiral staircase made of marble, Jackie and I went out to look for ourselves. There wasn’t anyone in there, so we went in and looked around right quick.

All the conversations I write about here were a lot longer than what I remember of them or wrote about them. What I remember is a minute here or a minute there and I rarely took note of what my friends talked about in my diary because it was my diary. Sometimes we spent a lot of time in the same room with members of INXS without talking to them. Other times we hung out with them for minutes or for hours.

During our time with Jon, he talked about his American girlfriend from Texas named Lisa. He met Lisa when INXS toured the United States in 1983 and they were still together. Jon was upset that Lisa was going on a ski trip with two guys and he would not be there. He didn’t trust those guys and was worried something would happen. He told us that one of the guys was Swedish, had big thighs, and only had sex on his mind. It’s in my diary because I found the jealousy to be amusing and his concern to be stereotypical: guys only want sex. And it was a surprise to see a handsome, attractive guy like Jon Farriss be insecure like that.

We were ready to leave and make the two-hour drive back to North Jersey and were saying goodbye to Jon when some girls outside of the hotel started banging on the window because they saw Jon. He decided to leave the hotel with us to meet his fans.

Michael, Belinda, and Michael’s “friend”

While we were in front of the hotel, Michael walked out of the hotel accompanied by a sleazy-looking woman who we had never seen before and Belinda Carlisle of The Go-Go’s. All three of them were incredibly wasted as I mentioned earlier. Belinda looked like a warmed-over corpse. They stopped when we said hello. Michael said hello to Terri and gave her a kiss but didn’t seem to see me at all. I think he was pretending not to see me so he could ignore me because the situation was a bit awkward but who knows? Maybe he was too wasted.

Belinda asked us “what day is it?” (which I thought was pathetic) and we told her. I think Michael said they were going to buy cigarettes and then the three of them started skipping down the street towards Spruce Street. That was the wrong direction to go if they wanted to find cigarettes. They were headed to a residential neighborhood. None of us stopped them.

Going home

Jackie cried for the whole car ride back because she was going home to Chicago and would not be seeing Jon Farriss again. I had to be at work that day but not until 5pm for a change so I had 10-12 hours between getting home and starting my 8-hour waitressing shift.

The concert had started at 8pm and likely lasted three hours. We would have gotten to the hotel around midnight. Bars in Philadelphia closed at 2am so we likely left the hotel around the time the bar closed. I don’t know how long we stayed outside because I just didn’t write all those details down.

My diary entry for an INXS concert later in July mentions a woman named Ellen who we had met in Philadelphia so we could have been talking to her. Anyway, it was another two hours or so to get back home so I don’t think I got back until 5am.

Information gleaned from old letters

At the end of the summer of 1984, having met many new people while going to 11 INXS concerts, I had many stories to tell them. I wrote a lot of letters when I got back to college to tell them of my adventures, and they wrote back. Because of that, I believe that the mystery woman with Michael and Belinda, a woman I saw with Michael again later in July, was someone named Sherri.

A letter, dated September 26, 1984, from a woman named Kirsten (also known as Kira) who we met in Connecticut and who was from there mentions a woman named Sherri. Sherrie was described as being extremely sleazy-looking and a druggie. Kira said that she had “seen/heard of a woman named Sherri who supposedly gives Michael drugs and sleeps around with him throughout the tour!”

Kirsten told a story that she had heard from a friend. This friend named Corine told Kirsten that she was in Tim’s dressing room and Michael and Sherri were also there. According to Corine, Michael and Sherri went into the bathroom several times to fuck.

This was something I had not heard until after we stopped following INXS that summer in 1984 so while I had some idea of what Michael was like based on my own experiences up until then, I was still quite naive and my opinion of him was too high.

January 3, 2026
Blog Post 17- INXS at The Jag Club. July 3, 1984

Tim Farriss plays guitar for INXS at the Jag Club in East Hampton, NY. July 3, 1984. Photo taken by Terri.

Where I left off

On the very early morning of July 3, 1984, I had just left Michael Hutchence’s hotel room after he reiterated that he wanted to have sex with me while outside Jess was yelling, “What about Kirk?”. Terri drove us back to New Jersey and I went to my waitressing job as scheduled after a couple of hours of sleep.

Jackie, Jess, and Terri slept for a few hours before getting back in the car and returning to Long Island. If they left around 1pm they could make it there before soundcheck. Even though I wasn’t there, I was told about their adventure afterwards. But I don’t remember, and I only wrote down a couple of details. Did they leave later so they could sleep longer and then miss the soundcheck? Don’t know.

The route Terri, Jackie and Jess would have taken to get to the INXS concert at the Jag Club in East Hampton, NY.

INXS would have left at 2pm or 3pm to take their tour bus to the Jag Club if they planned to do a soundcheck. The Jag Club was in East Hampton, Long Island which is out on the eastern end of Long Island, 100 miles from New York City.

This is the route INXS would have taken to get from their hotel in Rockville Centre to their show at the Jag Club in East Hampton, NY

The Jag Club

Articles about the building that used to be the Jag Club

https://www.easthamptonstar.com/government/2023323/its-nightclub-days-may-be-over

https://www.easthamptonstar.com/east-magazine/2023716/last-dance

The Jag Club did not impress my friends. Terri told me it was a dump. They wouldn’t let Jackie in. Gary Grant snuck her into the club so she could see the show.

Why didn’t Kirk come to the bar in Rockville Centre?

Kirk talked to my friends. I don’t know if he approached them to explain why he never showed up in the bar the night before like he said he would or if they approached him. In any case, he told them that he didn’t come to the bar because he had gotten sick. Food poisoning or something. Or maybe that was just an excuse because he was with Karen, and he didn’t want to come down. It’s possible I would have asked him if Karen was his girlfriend back in September 1983 or questioned him about what his intentions were towards me back then.

But really, there was nothing for Kirk and me to talk about. It’s not like I would have been interested in arranging to see him at some other time when his girlfriend was not around. Being some Australian jerk’s side piece was of no interest to me. Not that he would even propose that- I have no idea what that conversation would have been like if he had come down to meet us. If he had come down, I think we would have left afterwards and the mess with Michael would have been avoided but who knows?

When Kirk saw my friends in East Hampton, he asked, “Where’s Donna?” They told him that I was at work, and he told them to tell me that he said “Hi!” I wonder about that now. Was it his way of saying, “What about Kirk?”

Did Michael talk on the tour bus?

Because Michael didn’t convince me to stay with him and therefore, I was not on the tour bus with INXS when they drove to East Hampton, I assumed that no one would hear about what happened. That Michael would not say anything about what happened. But, in doing my research, I have discovered that Michael was quite a blabbermouth, and my assumption could be wrong.

I had already been acting like nothing ever happened between me and Kirk Pengilly because I was going to be cool and protect him from his girlfriend finding out. If I had a time machine and I could go back there, I would do that again even though no man deserves to be protected that way. But only because Kirk and Karen eventually had a daughter named April and I wouldn’t want to prevent her from existing.

Now I was about to pretend that nothing happened between me and Michael when I was around INXS. I walked out of his hotel room with a permanent case of mixed feelings and conflicted about what I should do.

Why so negative about Michael Hutchence?

Many people have complained to me that I only have negative things to say about Michael. Well, that’s because there are a lot of negative things to say about Michael but also, if I really had thought highly of him, things would have turned out differently and I think people would have heard of me because I would have gotten involved with him. The negativity is an essential part of the story.

Before July 2, 1984, my situation was disappointing but fine. I liked Kirk a lot but when he wrote me a letter it was merely friendly, and he didn’t give me any way to write back to him. I would have liked to correspond and maybe have a relationship that way. Then there was the article that Terri’s Australian pen pal sent that said he had a girlfriend. And then INXS came back to the NYC area and Kirk’s girlfriend came too. The “next time” that Kirk had suggested back in 1983 was not going to happen.

After July 2, 1984, my situation was complicated and absurd. I was still a virgin who had never had a boyfriend, but I managed to get entangled in a love triangle of sorts with two members of my favorite band. One of whom, Michael, has often been described as enigmatic and he left me confused. What happened with Michael also messed up any chance that I could be with Kirk Pengilly in the future. Sometime when I would be older and more experienced and maybe he would be single.

Bullshit narratives

No Filter podcast with Mia Freedman- The Four Women in Michael Hutchence’s Life. An interview with Richard Lowenstein

There is a part of this podcast around the 11-minute mark that mentions that Michael was like a serial monogamist and that he wrote letters to Michele Bennett, his girlfriend from 1982-1987, apologizing for some occasion when he slipped up and had sex with someone else.

Richard Lowenstein doesn’t say when those letters were written or how many there were. I think those letters were written because Michael knew word was going to get back to Michele about what he did, and he was trying to get ahead of it to make himself look better.

The idea that Michael was trying hard to be faithful to Michele and then would slip up from time to time after a long dry spell on the road is a giant load of crap. One of the reasons I am writing this blog is to push back against the bullshit narratives that people like Richard Lowenstein are trying to sell.

Michael’s behavior: it seemed insane

Michael found a steady companion in Belinda Carlisle only a couple of days after they met. Now maybe he had been a bit lonely between the time INXS left Sydney and Michael left his girlfriend, Michele, for Tokyo at the beginning of May 1984. INXS toured through Europe and spent some time in London working on videos after that. It was a whole six weeks of being away before Michael met Belinda on June 22, 1984.

But when he came after me, he had only just left Belinda behind that day, July 2, 1984, and they were reunited again on July 5, 1984, in Milwaukee. I always thought he was bonkers over me so maybe that explains why he acted so desperate. Or maybe he had serious problems with being alone in his bed for even one night. Whatever it was, it seemed insane.

My experience with Michael showed me a lot about him and I have spent a lot of time now finding out about other people’s experiences to help work out the puzzle.

Many people have said that Michael was “in love with love” and that he did not like to be alone. He seemed to have an especially hard time being alone in hotel rooms while on tour.

I think he did what he did and said what he said because he had experience manipulating young women into situations that would get him what he needed. I didn’t fall for Michael because he was a great person and the kind of guy I was looking for because he was not. I fell for him because he pushed me. He knew what to do. If he fell for me, it was partly because I was awesome and partly because he had some psychological issues that caused him to be “in love with love.”

What Belinda Carlisle said

In Belinda Carlisle’s book, she wrote that she and Michael were attracted to each other from the moment they met. So, that’s different from what happened between me and Michael. My attraction only happened after the staring and the kissing and that was instigated by Michael.

His attraction to me could have started the first time he saw me in May 1983. It was only later, when reading my diary in 2020, that I noticed that Michael picked me to interact with out of all the women and girls in the audience during both shows I went to in 1983.

Belinda wrote that Michael was not a good person to be serious about and she only chose to have sex with him after she was sure she could protect her heart.

She wrote that he told her he had a serious girlfriend and that he also had a lot of “friends”- other women in his life with whom he had sex. It sounds like he told her this before they started having sex two days into the tour, but I can’t be sure.

I don’t know if Belinda found out about Michael’s “friends” before he got her into bed or before he tried to get me into bed. But if she didn’t already know, she was about to find out about Michael’s “friends.”

SPOILER ALERT- the friend was not me.

December 6, 2025
Blog Post 15- INXS Concert July 2, 1984, Holmdel, NJ

Terri took this photo of Michael in front of Toad’s Place in New Haven on August 15, 1983.

This photo of Michael Hutchence was taken by Terri on August 15, 1983. INXS played at Toad’s Place in New Haven, Connecticut. I was not there but my friends were. That INXS had just seen them on the 15th probably explains why they let us into soundcheck on the 16th in Poughkeepsie (see Blog Post 3 for more).

I have this photo because I bought it from Terri back in the 80s. Both Terri and Jess sold photos that they took of INXS to fans to help defray the costs of film and developing. I think Terri got this shot when Michael was posing for some other photographer because a similar shot ended up in some magazine somewhere.

To recap: The first week that INXS was back in the New York City area for the first time since September 1983, my friends and I were either seeing them or I was working. INXS had concerts at Radio City Music Hall, Boston, and Jones Beach. Then they had off while I worked. The next day was the concert I’m about to write about. They played at The Garden State Arts Center in Holmdel, NJ. Still opening for The Go-Go’s. I was scheduled to work the day after that from 12-9pm.

Week of July 2-8, 1984. INXS and work. Donna’s calendar.

Wikipedia article about the Garden State Arts Center

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

The ride to Holmdel to see INXS

To get to the Garden State Arts Center, we drove down the Garden State Parkway. The Parkway has always had tolls. These days many of the tollbooths have been removed and replaced by sensors and you don’t have to stop at the ones that remain if you have EZ-Pass. You can drive right through at a slow speed.

Back in the 1980s, if you had exact change then you could stop and throw coins through your open car window into a bucket before proceeding. If not, then you went to a tollbooth with an attendant who could take your money for the toll and give you your change.

An example of what we threw our coins into from the car window.

This photo of the toll booth coin bucket is from this article-

https://whyy.org/articles/end-of-an-era-garden-state-parkway-coin-booth-phase-out-begins/

You can see the route and distance to get from home to the INXS concert in Holmdel, NJ.

On our way down, we noticed that some of the tollbooths had posters advertising the concert we were going to. Jackie wanted one so the next time we saw one at the toll plaza, she got out of the car and took down the poster while we were stopped at the tollbooth.

The warning from The Go-Go’s bus driver

When we arrived at the Arts Center, we walked over to the backstage door. It wasn’t long before we were told to leave but that didn’t happen until after we spoke to The Go-Go’s’ tour bus driver.

My impression was that he was in his forties- old enough that he could have been our father. His name was Frank. We told him we were there to see INXS, and he said, “Watch out for that singer.” It was weird when he said something along the lines of “he was in some pants he couldn’t get out of.” I’m not sure what exactly he meant by that, but it was clearly something sexual. Now, at this time, none of us had any idea that he was messing around with Belinda Carlisle, but it turns out he was. Did he have his hand down her pants and wouldn’t or couldn’t take it out? We did not ask for clarification. Anyway, The Go-Go’s’ bus driver felt the need to warn us about Michael Hutchence. He told us to be careful and “don’t get hurt for a night of fun.” Clearly, he didn’t think that Michael Hutchence would have our best interests in mind.

I’m grateful for the warning even though it didn’t work at the time. It’s illuminating now. Frank was the bright spot among the men we met while we were doing this stuff. I don’t even know how much he would have seen. INXS had only been part of The Go-Go’s tour since June 22- eleven days at that point. Was he even their bus driver for the whole time? Who knows?

Ever since I watched the Richard Lowenstein documentary, Mystify: Michael Hutchence, in 2020, I have been doing a lot of research so I can know as much as possible about what really happened in 1984 and beyond.

Mystify: Michael Hutchence documentary trailer

What I didn’t know about Michael and Belinda in 1984

Belinda Carlisle’s autobiography contained the most useful information of the books I have read by members of The Go-Go’s. Kathy Valentine’s book didn’t have much useful information to offer about INXS. Gina Schock’s didn’t either-there was nothing that I didn’t already know.

The Go-Go’s started their tour with INXS as the opening act on June 22, 1984 with two nights at the Pine Knob Music Theater in Michigan about 40 miles outside of Detroit.

Wikipedia article about Pine Knob Music Theater

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

Belinda wrote that she and Michael hooked up about two days into the tour. So, around the time that Jackie saw INXS in Chicago on June 24, the third date of the tour, is probably when Belinda and Michael started having sex.

As I wrote in my first blog post, I joined a Facebook group for INXS fans back in 2019. One of the women in the group shared a story about having seen Michael Hutchence and Belinda Carlisle in a club in Cleveland and they were rolling around on the floor together. Belinda in her book said that she was partying even harder than Michael was at the time and both were partying very hard. They had a show in Cleveland on June 26, 1984, so this sighting occurred either that night or the previous night if both bands had already arrived in town from Chicago.

On the morning of June 27, 1984, INXS did a live show for a Cleveland radio station. I have the CD from that show. Michael mentioned in an interview during that concert that the band had to catch a flight to New York. They did and we met them when they arrived at their hotel in New York.

The cover of the INXS CD of the special morning radio concert at the Cleveland Agora on June 27, 1984

Screenshot from Amazon that gives information about the concert CD.

Based on what Gina Schock wrote in her book, Michael and possibly other members of INXS went out to clubs with her and Belinda that night. This was not something we heard about when we saw them. We weren’t invited and I’m not sure we would have gone if we had been. It would have been boring for me as it usually was because I didn’t care for clubs and bars. I only drank a little and I didn’t do drugs and neither did my friends.

The drummer for The Go-Go’s, Gina Schock, had a book published.

According to Andy Warhol’s diary and Belinda’s book, there was a party thrown for The Go-Go’s after they played Radio City Music Hall on June 28th at a club in New York City. I don’t know if anyone from INXS was invited or was at the party. The books don’t say.

I ordered Belinda Carlisle’s book to read on my Kindle.

Now that I am done adding some information that pertains to Michael and Belinda and the tour up until now, I will get back to the story.

Back to July 2nd. Birthday Presents for Kirk

After we were kicked out from the area near the backstage door, we stood near the road where the tour bus would have to come in and we waited for INXS to arrive. When we saw the bus, I think Terri waved to get the bus to stop. We had presents to give to Kirk for his birthday on July 4th. The bus stopped and Gary Grant opened the door. Jess was the one who handed him our gifts and told him they were for Kirk’s birthday. My friends told me that everyone in the band waved to us from the bus windows, but I only saw Andrew Farriss wave.

I gave Kirk a coffee mug, an American flag, sparklers (for the 4th of July), and an entire issue of The Weekly World News. The main story was about a priest who burst into flames while performing an exorcism.

The actual cover of the Weekly World News I gave to Kirk Pengilly.

When we went into the venue, we ran into a girl named Maria. We first met her at the show at Radio City Music Hall a few days earlier. Like me, her favorite member of INXS was Kirk Pengilly so I liked her. Maria and I became pen pals.

The INXS concert

Security was a pain at this concert too. It was very difficult to find seats down in front when everyone was forced by security to sit down and there were more people than there were seats. We didn’t have tickets for seats near the stage. Jackie, Jess, and Terri had to move around a lot. I spent most of the show over on Kirk’s side of the stage and I was able to do that because a nice girl named Joyce let me share her seat with her when we were told to sit down.

During the show, the band noticed where we ended up whenever we had to move. It was always fun to interact with them. Sometimes, we would put our arms up and sway or clap and some members of the band would pick it up from us. Other times, the band would do something, and we would copy them. During the song “I Send A Message” my friends and I would all yell “Hey, Timmy” just before his guitar solo.

While INXS played the song “Original Sin,” Michael Hutchence came over to Kirk’s side of the stage and he noticed that Joyce and I were sitting together in the same seat. When he did, he smiled at us, and I smiled back at him. When the show was over, I asked Joyce for her address so I could write to her. She gave it to me. I think I might have told her that we knew the band and I would write to her about it.

Following the bus again

Once again, we waited in our car for INXS to leave the Garden State Arts Center in their tour bus and we followed the bus when it left. This time we lost the bus for a bit after we stopped in a highway rest stop and made a wrong turn. But we found them again when we saw the tour bus stopped at a different highway rest stop. We pulled over on the shoulder of the highway and then waited for the tour bus to return to the road. Once it did, we pulled out behind the bus again and followed them-we didn’t know where we would end up.

After over an hour of driving, the bus carrying INXS pulled into the parking lot of the Holiday Inn in Rockville Centre on Long Island and so did we. INXS was still staying at the same hotel we followed them to a couple of nights earlier.

The time and distance between the INXS concert and their hotel on Long Island.

INXS gets out of the bus at their hotel

All of us got out of the car and went over to the bus to wait for the band to emerge. I no longer had a big problem with doing it as we seemed to be welcome. Kirk and Karen got off the bus. Karen was holding the American flag that was part of my birthday present to Kirk. Kirk thanked us for the presents. He said, “I got the whole paper”, and it sounded like he was bragging. It was also a reference to the fact that Garry only received part of the Weekly World News when I gave him a birthday gift. Yes, Kirk was my favorite, and I gave him a much better present than the one I gave to Garry Gary. Kirk told us that the paper was passed around the bus so everyone could look at it during the ride. He also said that he would stop by at the bar later, but he never showed up. More about that in a future post.

Jon Farriss got off the bus and we talked to him. We asked him where INXS would be playing on their own the next day, July 3rd. He said, “I don’t know. East Hampstead, New Hampshire, East Hamster, something like that.” The official list of concert dates that INXS compiled has the wrong town listed too. They played in East Hampton on Long Island the next day. More about that in the future post I mentioned. I bought the deluxe edition of Calling All Nations from INXS because I wanted the list of their shows which they call Gigography.

It seems that Michael spent the long bus ride drinking alcohol and having his hair braided by Karen. At that time, Karen was a hairdresser. I don’t remember how I knew that-did someone from the band tell me or my friends or did we read it somewhere- I have no idea, but it was something I knew.

Michael drunk on the pavement

Michael came out of the bus, and he was very drunk. He took a few steps and then decided to make himself comfortable on the pavement near us in the parking lot. He was lying on the ground. The rest of the band just left him there and went about their business.

Garry Gary came off the bus and he was carrying his bass in a case. Michael saw that and said that Garry had a gun. Then Michael started babbling about the gun that he had. It was the replica of a Russian gun, and you could flip up one of the pieces, etc., etc. I had no idea what he was trying to describe to us.

Michael was still on the ground when he took out a cigarette and a lighter. Jackie ended up lighting Michael’s cigarette for him while he insisted that he was able to light the cigarette himself. But people were happy to do things for him and always willing to do things for him and to give things to him. Jackie wanted to do it.

He made a very interesting remark about the drunken state he was in. He said that if he kept up what he was doing that he would be an alcoholic by the end of the year. But we shouldn’t worry about him because he would not keep it up. Incredible that he would say that to us when he barely knew us. Did we look so concerned that he felt he needed to say that? Or was he just kidding himself that he didn’t really have a problem?

Eventually he stood up and he continued to talk to us. The subject turned to cars, and he told us he had a Citroen and that he was going to buy a new car when he got home- a five speed. We also heard about Kirk’s old car and how they used to drive it at a low speed and then one of them would jump on the hood of the car and then roll off it on the other side-like stunt men in the movies getting hit by a car.

Michael acting stupid

When a big car drove by us as it was leaving the parking lot, Michael went to jump out in front of it like he was going to demonstrate what he and Kirk did but then he stopped. After that, I thought Michael was fucking crazy. Then he said that the car that drove by was “awful.”

Michael told me that he saw me in the audience at the show and noticed that I was sharing a seat. I’m sure I told him all about that. Terri asked Michael to take his hair out of the braid it was in because she didn’t like it that way. And Michael did it while telling us that he doesn’t care about hair. He said in his soft, lispy, voice that he was trying to grow his hair long like a hippie and that many people complained to him that it “looked uncool or something.”

I decided to get lottery numbers from Michael, so I asked him to pick a number for me. Jackie suggested 69- ha, ha, ha, get it? The first number he chose was 4. I told him I already play that number so he should pick another one. He picked 8. Then I asked him if he could even count as high as 36. (The NJ Pick-6 Lotto at the time had numbers from 1-36.)

What I said was a joke that was meant to mock him and insult him because I didn’t have a high opinion of him, and I didn’t like or respect him. Michael was offended and hurt by it. He seems to have thought that everyone considered him stupid. I had touched a sore spot. He said, “I’m not dumb” and asked, “why do people always think I am?” His reaction told me something about him. He cared too much about what other people thought of him.

Michael’s British friends show up

Our time with Michael in the parking lot came to an end when three British guys who knew Michael showed up. One guy was named William, and he was or had been a roadie for The Stray Cats. Michael went into the hotel with them.

INXS opened for The Stray Cats a few times in 1983 when they came to the United States for the first time. First, they opened for Adam Ant. Then they opened for The Kinks for one show, played at the US Festival, and opened for The Stray Cats before going back to Australia in June of 1983. So, he would have met William then.

This story will continue in the next blog post because the night is not over for us.

November 1, 2025