Sexism, Bruhs, and Rock n Roll

Tag: I Send A Message

Blog Post 19- In between seeing INXS in Philadelphia and Florida, July 1984.

Big Country concert in Tampa, Florida with Jess and Jen. March 1984.

Back to the diary entries

When I had a free minute after either working or seeing INXS over the previous two weeks, I wrote in my diary about my life. Bob was a guy who went to the University of Pennsylvania. It’s funny because I met him while riding on a bus in New York City when I was a freshman. He was talking to friends about a mural, and it sounded like the mural in my dorm, so I asked him if he was from Penn. It turned out that he lived on the floor that had the mural in the hall-one floor above me.

In the two weeks from June 27, 1984, to July 10, 1984, I saw INXS five times and waitressed during eight of the other nine days. That’s why I was so tired.

A calendar from 1984 in case you want to see what day it was.

7/10/84

I’m so tired. I wasn’t supposed to work today but now I’m doing double shift. I got a letter from Bob. He sort of invited me to see Elvis Costello. Bob is a real pain because he likes me so much and I don’t like him the same way.

Here is video from 1979 of a favorite Elvis Costello song of mine. Oliver’s Army. Warning: the lyrics contain the N-word. Not meant in any kind of racist way. It’s unfortunate that it was used as a descriptive term for soldiers in the song.

7/12/84

I hit four numbers in the Lotto tonight. I don’t know how much I’ve won yet, but I could use any money I can get.

7/14/84

I won $139 in the lottery. That will practically pay for my airfare to Florida. I’ll be glad to get away. I got a letter from Joyce today. She is sicker than I thought. She thought I was about seventeen. I do not take that as a compliment. She wants me to send her any addresses or phone numbers of the band that I might have. She must be kidding. I hate doing laundry every day, but I don’t know where Mom put the other uniform.

Note: Joyce was the girl who shared her seat with me at the INXS concert on July 2nd. Read about it here. We were planning to fly to St. Petersburg, Florida on People Express which cost $79 each way.

Video about People Express Airlines

Wikipedia article about the novel 1980s airline People Express

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People_Express_Airlines_(1980s)

Dreaming about INXS

7/16/84

It was hot as hell in my room last night. I’ve been having weird dreams lately. Last night I was working lunch at the Emerson Hotel while at the same time I was watching All My Children. INXS came on the show and were doing Johnson’s Aeroplane. In the meantime, the place got very busy, and I was stuck. Then someone walked out without paying the check. Later on, I was sitting outside, and two girls wanted to know what TV show I had been on.

In my dream the other day, Terri and I followed the bus into a wooded area, and she went up the road to look. I was listening to the Walkman and chewing gum. Timmy came out dressed in the black and white striped shirt from I Send a Message. I couldn’t talk to him because I was choking on my gum but spit it out when Terri came down.

In Florida we will stay at the Bayfront Concourse on Tuesday night. On July 31 they will be at the Beacon Theater and then I might go to Canada for three days August 2, 3, and 4. I’m not scheduled to work until the 5th, so it is possible. By the time I catch up with Phila, there will be much more to write. This is definitely crazy.

I don’t think I should buy any more clothes for a while. I may also call up Laura R and schedule some hours during move-in so I can get some money sooner. I’ll probably work so much during first semester that I’ll run out of my grant.

What was I talking about?

There wasn’t any air conditioning in my bedroom. It wasn’t nearly as hot then as it is now in northern New Jersey in the summer but usually it got up as high as 85 degrees Fahrenheit during the day. On very hot days the temperature reached 90 degrees. My sleep suffered because my room was uncomfortably hot. Our house had a couple of window air-conditioners but not one in my room. My very small room had two windows which I kept open, and it would be cool enough to sleep okay around 4am.

All My Children was a daytime drama, also known as a soap opera, that was on Channel 7 which was the ABC network in New York City. I started watching the show in the summer of 1975 when I was ten years old. It was one of my favorite TV shows and I watched it as often as I could until it was cancelled in 2011. So, for 36 years. The show taught me a lot.

An All My Children episode from 2/20/1989

Here’s a video of INXS performing Johnson’s Aeroplane live in 1985. Michael messed up the lyrics. Andrew wrote the music and lyrics to that song and Michael seemed to have an even harder time remembering the lyrics if someone else wrote them.

I don’t have a document that shows how much money was allotted for my work study grant. The work study program is a financial aid program for needy students. They can get an approved work study job and then work and get paid up to the amount that was awarded in their financial aid package.

There was plenty of work in the dorms (where I had worked during my sophomore year at Penn) during the period when the students came back to school in the fall. They hired extra people to work behind the reception desk in the lobby because hundreds of students were picking up keys to their dorm rooms at the same time.

My diary entry mentions that I was thinking about signing up for some of those shifts. The next entry mentions that I won’t be able to afford textbooks so that is probably why.

INXS video for I Send A Message where Tim is wearing a black and white striped shirt.

One week until the INXS concert in Florida

7/18/84

Just one week until Florida. Renee and Danny both say I should go for it with Michael. My Weekly World News horoscope for next week says I should live it up, laugh it up, and be my usual fun self. An important person has had his eye on me for some time now and this may be the turning point. The answer to a nagging love problem is say yes. Sounds good to me.

I’m so excited about going on my trips. I’ll have almost two straight weeks off from work. I’m not going to be able to afford books in the fall. I worked lunch today and now I have off until Friday. After this weekend vacation starts.

Yesterday Renee and I went to Bergen Mall and then to an erotic cafe in Edgewater called Enigma. It was completely white inside, and body parts grew out of the walls. I had fun but the cappuccino made me sick. I asked the guy if they had any Birthday Party-he didn’t-Psychic TV was playing while we were there.

Danny and Steven F came into the Emerson Hotel today which was a surprise. I’m going over to the Ridge diner tonight to bum around. I tried out Renee’s inversion boots. They gave me a whopping headache.

What should I do about Michael?

You can tell from reading my diary that I was thinking about whether I should have sex with Michael Hutchence or not. His seduction techniques worked on me at least somewhat, and between that and the kissing, I was feeling desire and positive emotions towards him.

Feelings beyond just wanting to live like an adult in every way which was an ongoing thing even though I wasn’t mature enough to prepare for that life. I had never seen a gynecologist and I was thinking about buying a bathing suit on credit far more than I was thinking about getting birth control for my trip.

Asking my youngest brother Danny and Terri’s sister Renee what I should do tells me that my doubts and fears were stronger than my desires. They encouraged me sleep with him.

Even my horoscope said I should sleep with him and maybe I would have if he had been available on that one night in Florida when I was free and I didn’t have to go to work. I’ll never know. More on what happened in my next post.

Terri and I were friends and in the same class in high school. We met in seventh grade when my family moved to Hillsdale. My brother Danny and her sister Renee were also friends and in the same class in high school. Just the other day he was remembering that our father would call him an N-word lover because he was friends with Renee. More about my horrible racist father in a future post.

It’s unusual that Renee and I went on an adventure without either Terri or Danny there. Maybe they were working. I must have been over at their house that day too if I tried hanging upside-down in Renee’s inversion boots.

Steven F was part of the gang of neighborhood kids that we grew up with when we lived in Westwood, New Jersey. He was Danny’s age. They came in to eat lunch at the Emerson Hotel where I worked as a waitress.

Danny worked at the Ridge Diner in Park Ridge; starting as a busboy when he was still in high school. My mother sometimes waitressed at the Ridge Diner as one of her extra jobs to make ends meet and so did I. It’s still going strong today.

Psychic TV was a post punk band and performance art group. I was not a fan.

Trouser Press magazine

7/19/84

Breaker Morant is on tonight after the lottery drawing. Trouser Press went out of business. Record has taken over the subscription duties. It’s a shame that such a good magazine went down the tubes. The Go-Go’s were on the cover of Record. I’m sending away for a catalog of Aussie records.

I got my appetite back and have been putting the pounds back on. I need a new bathing suit for Florida, but I can’t afford it. Maybe I should try Bambergers and charge it. I have to find my missing pants. I think Mike “borrowed” them.

Notes

Bamberger’s was a department store. There was one at the Garden State Plaza shopping mall in Paramus, NJ.

Article about Bamberger’s

https://jerseydigs.com/l-bamberger-co-newark-history/

Breaker Morant is an Australian movie from 1980. Bryan Brown was in that movie. He was also in the TV miniseries The Thorn Birds.

Trouser Press was my favorite music magazine. It featured many new wave bands.

A subscription form for Trouser Press magazine from one of my old copies.

Mike is my brother and the middle child in the family. He was the person I was hiding my money from by keeping it in a suitcase in my closet. We had a similar build and sometimes my jeans ended up in his dresser drawer.

MTV is boring

7/21/84

It is rainy outside, so I am stuck here. I feel like going back to bed.

Danny got into a fender bender this morning, but it wasn’t his fault. Some people are just stupid idiots and I’m the one who gets them at work.

MTV is boring. They play so much shit.

Note: I was not happy to be living at home over the summer. Like I said earlier, I wanted to live like an adult. My mother liked to worry about me and keep tabs. She also was very critical of me, and we did not get along well. Plus, there were five grown people living in a small house. I would leave to get away from all of that.

MTV was playing a lot of bands and artists I didn’t like such as ZZ Top, Van Halen, Huey Lewis and the News, John Waite, Wang Chung, Bon Jovi, and the big-haired metal bands like Ratt, Quiet Riot, Twisted Sister, and Motley Crue.

Wikipedia article about glam metal aka Hair Bands

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

Vacation!

7/22/84

VACATION!!

I found a roach in the coleslaw on Saturday night. [July 21,1984] Yummy. Somebody called before closing and whispered, “My stepmother is on her knees.” I don’t know what that means.

I had a couple of psychotic people today. They didn’t like the prime rib, so the woman sent it back. They were very annoying. I have to get a job that has a more expensive menu next time, so I don’t have to deal with so many cheapos.

7/23/84

Just a couple more hours and I’m off to Florida. I’m going to miss Michael K’s going away party. He leaves for the Navy on Wednesday.

I wonder if I’ll end up like Alice and start putting reminder notes everywhere like the ones on her pocketbook. “Remember to read other notes.”

DIAL-A-MATTRESS. Mary Tyler Moore is on now. I’m getting sleepy. I bought a nice-looking bathing suit and a new pocketbook. Danny and Carl are getting up soon to go to the bakery. I don’t know how they do it.

Note: This last diary entry before leaving for Florida was written while I was staying up all night watching TV. My brother Danny, and my mother’s husband, Carl got up around 2am to go to work at the HoHoKus Bakery. They had to bake the bread and pastries for when the bakery opened its doors at 6am.

Like Steven F., Michael K. was one of the kids from the neighborhood in Westwood. His family lived across the street from ours. My mother met his mother when they were pregnant with boys who they would name Michael. Michael K. was the youngest of four kids. His sister Claire was my best friend. His other sister Kathleen was blind. His brother Danny was a teenager. Their father had died so they received government benefits.

St. Petersburg

As I mentioned in my diary on 7/16/1984, we had a room booked at the Bayfront Concourse hotel in St Petersburg, Florida for 7/24/84, the night before the INXS and Go-Go’s concert at the theater across the street from the hotel.

By we, I mean Terri, Jess, Jen from Tampa, and me.

Jen is second from the left. Terri is third from the left. I am the one in the red hat. Jess is taking the photo. This photo is from a future INXS concert in August, 1984.

In 1984, the Bayfront Concourse Hotel was where the Hilton St. Petersburg Bayfront is now. The Bayfront Center Arena was where the Dali Museum is now. Google Maps.

Wikipedia entry for the Bayfront Center Arena

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

Article about concerts at the Bayfront Center Arena

Vintage St. Pete: Concerts at the Bayfront Center Arena

January 17, 2026
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
Blog Post 12- INXS releases The Swing, Spring 1984

The fourth album by the Australian rock band, INXS.

This post contains diary entries and a letter. There is information about the Australian rock band, INXS, and about what I was doing, thinking, and feeling.

Working graveyard shifts

It’s towards the end of spring semester of my sophomore year in college. I am working at my work-study job for West Campus which oversees the student dorms in the western part of Penn’s campus. That includes the three high-rise apartment buildings where I worked and lived.

Here are a couple of diary entries from when I was working the overnight (graveyard) shift at the desk in the lobby of one of the high-rise buildings. There was an intercom system that broadcast into the stairwells that could be switched on at the desk. There was a hand-held microphone at the desk that was part of the system. It was there for fire safety. During fire alarms, the students were trained to leave their rooms and wait in the stairwells. The intercom could be used to tell them to evacuate the building if it was necessary. Usually, it was used to tell them to remain in the stairwell.

The two tall buildings in the bottom right are High Rise North and High Rise East. West Campus. University of Pennsylvania.

4/27/84

Another night, another graveyard. INXS is keeping me awake tonight. Now I’m playing with the mike and singing to the lobby. A guy with a New Order and Bauhaus tape left me the case and took my INXS one. He said I had a pretty good voice and asked if I was in a band.

All the weirdos are out tonight. Some guy wanted to know if I did crank. I said no and he said, “what are you doing tonight?” Nada. INXS and Dr. Pepper make for a natural high.

Time to wake up Ralph-he’s coming in to replace me at 4. Someone showed me a death star instead of ID. Very comforting.

4/28/84

I’m at work again. I’ll be at work later tonight. Hopefully I won’t be incoherent by the time I finish tomorrow.

It’s graveyard time again. I’ll probably be incoherent soon. At 2am it will instantly be 3.

It’s 5am and I’ve lost it completely. Don just left. We had an interesting conversation. I bought a pizza at a discount. I don’t know why because I ate three pieces and gave the rest away and it cost five dollars. Someone could sell me the Brooklyn Bridge at this point.

A guy claiming to be a social worker almost duped me. Luckily, Victor was around because he found out that the number the guy was calling was for a Honda dealership. The guy left. I am very stupid when it comes to believing people.

I don’t think I’ll remember anything if I study. Just have to keep awake. I’m glad the elevators are here to swallow up the people as soon as they come in. I wonder if my saying I like graveyards is a form of relieving dissonance. I don’t think so because I do like the peace and quiet. I’m the owner of the building. I’m in charge-I put my feet on the desk and blast music. It’s all mine. People think I’m crazy when I say I have fun. I’m getting paid for hanging out and having a private party. I only have to stay awake to make sure that only Penn jerks get in and not jerks off the street.

I’ve been up for 17 hours. That’s not even close to a record. Why it’s nothing really. I should be sharp as a knife. I think I own a dull blade.

The sun is peeking out from the horizon. This dawn used to be sunset in Australia. It’s amazing what a little light does to me. Sunrises are amazing.

It’s fun whirling in my chair. If I ever become an executive- God forbid, I want a chair I can spin around in.

I’m ruining my teeth drinking all this Dr. Pee Pee. Here comes Mr. Sunshine. Here comes Mr. Rainwater. Here come the Anarchittys running up the street.

The trees are a nice color green today. I don’t want to study my schoolwork. I want to be rich. I want to go traveling. Gonna blast some German music. [Falco] I wish I knew the words. My bladder is becoming really efficient because of this job. There’s a funky pigeon outside the door. I’m having a Dr. Pepper overdose. When I go home this summer, I’m going to have nicotine and pepper withdrawal.

4/29/84

It seems these past couple of days I was either sleeping or at work.

Well, I just got up, so it is off to work in a few.

Original Sin finally debuted on the charts here at #87.

I’m getting depressed. I have to figure out a way to get out of lunches at the Emerson Hotel. Fran is going into the hospital, so they’ll probably want me to work as soon as I get back. Terrific. I just have to think of the money. The whole thing is depressing.

I spoke to Mom on the phone. It doesn’t help my mood at all. Sleep will be good tonight. I’m so tired. I won’t dream. I won’t think. I’ll have an eight-hour vacation from this world.

The weather is nice. A cool breeze is coming in through the door. Danny is getting a computer. I might be able to use it over the summer.

Chris invited me to an EST meeting on Tuesday. I haven’t gotten mail in two or three weeks. I want my Trouser Press. I have to subscribe to it again.

From my collection of Trouser Press magazine. October 1983 issue.

5/1/84

Another graveyard. This one hasn’t been much fun. It is 6:20am. I want to die. I have so much work to do.

I went to an EST guest seminar, and everyone gives me the hard sell to do the training. I don’t know. I feel like hell.

5/3/84

It is 2pm and I’m about to take a nap because of a graveyard tonight.

I’ve been keeping weird hours. I worked graveyard Tuesday then slept from 8-3 then stayed up until midnight and got up at seven this morning for my Sociology final which went OK. I got my paycheck today.

Some woman from EST called here to talk to me. I don’t know how she got my number, but they better stop bothering me.

5/4/84

Nan just told me that the light under the desk was on meaning that everything going on at the desk was being broadcast into the stairwells- how embarrassing. A girl came down from the stairwell while I was playing INXS and singing to it and she said I had a good voice so it must have been on then. I wondered how she was able to hear me. It was bound to happen sooner or later. A total of about seven people offered to get me coffee or breakfast. I never expected so many considerate people to be around.

5/5/84

It is almost 10 pm and once again I am behind the desk. My feet are vibrating because they are on top of the refrigerator. I’m listening to the Swing. I made a special trip downtown to buy it. I told Chip from WQHS it was a great album so maybe they will play it. I should be getting paid for PR work.

Letter from Terri

A letter from Terri who was still in school in Florida arrived. It seems to be the last letter from her for the next few months. We were both about to go back to New Jersey for the summer, so we didn’t need to communicate by mail once that happened.

Terri gave me news about INXS. She said that “The Swing” was supposed to be out in a few days. One of her pen pals in Australia recorded it on cassette for her so she had already listened to it and said it was great.

Gary Grant was still in Australia, so she was not able to speak to him when she called Atco Records. The receptionist finally put her through to someone else and whoever it was said that “there was nothing definite, but there was talk of a spring tour with the Cars. If they plan to come in OUR spring, they better get something settled soon!!”

A friend of hers left for Australia so Terri told her about Gary Grant and gave her the address for their office in Sydney so she could go there if she had a chance. I don’t know if she actually did.

An MMA Management ad from Billboard magazine. Date unknown.

Terri heard “Original Sin” on a “real” radio station for the first time in Tampa- on a commercial station and not a college station. “They are still trying to figure out who Inkses is in Florida, for the most part!”

An Australian friend sent her a nice poster of INXS, and she told me all about it. The Farriss brothers looked stunning. Timmy looked cool. Jon’s hair looked like it did this time last year at the Ritz. Andrew had shaved and looked adorable. “Michael is too busy looking evil, so the heck with him.” Garry looked like he had a cold but his hair looked good. Kirk’s hair was going back to brown. She didn’t like the haircut, “but at least he doesn’t look like a lawn mower’s been in his head! And a new pair of frames-this guy is the Elton John of INXS!”

The back of the poster contained information about the band. The members of INXS chose their favorite songs from The Swing. Kirk chose “I Send A Message” while everyone else chose “Dancing on the Jetty” except for Michael who couldn’t decide.

Everyone but Andrew gave the names of their girlfriends. Terri wrote, “I won’t tell you Kirk’s unless you want me to!” She also wrote about some of the answers the band members gave when asked what their first love was. Tim said Annette Funicello and Garry Gary Beers said surfing and surfboards. Jonathan James Farriss said, “My first orgasm, I guess. When I was fourteen and a half!”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wX6NeYHVWuk Video of Annette Funicello

5/9/84

Almost time for my management final. I’ve been up at 5:30am for the past two days because of finals. Tomorrow is the last one and then I have to pack up my shit and hit the trail back home. I’m just so excited. I hope I can stay awake for this exam. Hopefully I can answer the questions.

I want simplicity, doldrum, sleep, boredom, to twiddle my fingers, to watch TV, to avoid thinking, to avoid this.

5/10/84

Last day of finals, last full day in Phila. There must be more important things in life than brand loyalty.

Back in Hillsdale, NJ for the summer

The portion of Hillsdale, NJ that includes my house, Terri’s house, Friendly’s, the supermarkets, library, and my high school.

I had to walk to many places. The supermarkets were half a mile from my house. The Hillsdale Library was three-fourths of a mile away and Terri’s house was another two hundred yards further up the street from the library.

5/11/84

I’m watching MTV. That’s right I’m home. I just got back and already I’m scheduled to work tomorrow and Sunday. Keep thinking of the money-what I can do with it, where I can go.

Saw “Eat It” for the first time. [Music video by Weird Al Yankovic. A parody of Michael Jackson’s “Beat It”] I’m going to miss school. Well maybe not the work. I better get used to not eating. I made myself a hamburger omelet- it was good at least for scrounging. It takes so long to walk to the stores. This is going to be a long, long summer. I hope it doesn’t kill me.

I’m going down to the Meadowlands tonight with Terri and Jess to hang around and maybe see Randy and Eddie Money. I’m dressed to kill in my fedora and Michael Jackson earrings. [Randy was the keyboard player for Eddie Money. Terri and I met him when I was thirteen and Terri was fourteen and we went to Central Park for some soundcheck.]

Randy Nichols, keyboard player for Eddie Money

Eddie Money backstage at the Wollman Ice Rink in Central Park. NYC. Dr Pepper Summer Music Festival. August 9, 1978

5/12/84

11am- Just got out of bed. I could sleep all day, but I have a lot to unpack before I go to work. Urgh. My feet are aching in anticipation.

5/13/84

I’m exhausted. I worked Sat. night until one am. and then today (Mother’s Day) from 12-9. I made $90 which makes it worth it. It wasn’t really hectic tonight. I was managing OK. My brain is in a daze and my body hurts. My feet ache and itch and they swell up after I work.

5/14/84

Ho hum. Going to NY [New York City] tomorrow perhaps to spend money on whatever. I have been spending money so fast because there is so much to buy. I’m becoming manic again. I want to get away from here, but I know I’m stuck for now. I’m looking for a way to be free and hopefully I’ll find it. Mother dear better keep her nose out of my journals.

Showed Terri where Kirk and I ate. Stopped by INXS’ record company. Dirtbag men followed us in Greenwich Village.

5/15/84

Next summer I’m definitely going to stay in Philadelphia. This place is going to drive me nuts. My only desires are becoming food and sleep. There is no privacy here. I can’t live my own life here.

I went shopping in the city today. I bought some cool shoes, a couple of pocketbooks, t-shirts, and assorted other things. I have a headache now. We passed the Milford Plaza and Beefsteak Charlies, and I showed Terri where we sat. We also spent some time and energy searching out the Power Station. We went to Atco but no word. We hit the village and saw lots of interesting looking people. We caught the attention of a couple of skeevs who followed us for a block but finally left when we ducked into a store to get away from them.

5/16/84

I’m going for a walk as soon as I get dressed. I need to get out. I want to cry again.

I’m in Lisa’s Pizza before I go to Terri’s for a Cosmos meeting. This area is the pits. If I don’t go nuts, I’ll be thankful. I’ve been debating whether or not to buy cigarettes. I bought a Lotto ticket instead.

In Music Merchant [Record store in downtown Westwood, NJ that survived until 2024] some people were trying to decide what record to buy for some kid as a gift. I suggested the Swing. I don’t know why I should bother.

This meeting tonight will probably be boring. I don’t think I’m going to shake my mild depression but at least I’ll be bored and depressed away from home. I don’t belong there. I’m too used to being on my own and now I have to tell mommy where I’m going when I leave the house. I should have been born with money. I know money doesn’t solve all problems, but I would be better off with it than without it.

I wish there was a decent cafe around. Somewhere quiet that I could go to for a cup of coffee and some inspiration. I sound like a member of the coffee generation. [Reference to a “Coffee Achievers” TV commercial for the coffee industry.]

Coffee Achievers video

5/17/84

Eskie [Eskandarian] and Johan [Neeskens] [NY Cosmos soccer players] were at the meeting but I spent the time rewriting the Swing album. I did three songs. I’m beginning to feel panicky about everything. NAUSEA. I am hyper. I just got back from Bamberger’s. [A New Jersey department store owned by Macy’s. All the stores were renamed as Macy’s in 1986] I lost my card, so they gave me a temporary one but the Casio thing I want to buy is out of stock. [Casio portable music keyboard]

I have to save up for tuition. I don’t know what is wrong with me. Now I’m becoming vain about my appearance. I shouldn’t worry because I can’t change what I was born with, and I didn’t get a raw deal so why this urge to look in the mirror all the time? Maybe I’m going through adolescence at the age of 19.

Rewritten songs from The Swing

Dancing on the Jetty video-INXS

Walking off the Jetty [My version]

Why don’t you take a long walk

Off a short pier

Who’s gonna teach you

Teach you how to swim

You could talk forever

Just never get tired

Listen to your words

Find out why you get us down

Long stories, bad jokes

Loud clothing

Go walk off the jetty

Cause we’re sick of you

Why don’t you take a long walk

Off a short pier

Who’s gonna teach you

Teach you how to swim

You told your life story

You started years ago

Prayed like hell that you’d shut your mouth

Another story and I’d kill myself

Bore the world, too sorry

Give anything

for a moment’s silence

We want to stop you from making noise

Nothing but trouble, leave town

Don’t you come back

We hope you got the hint.

INXS Video Melting in the Sun

Lying in the Sun [My version of Melting in the Sun by INXS a la Weird Al Yankovic]

Sung to the tune of Melting in the Sun by INXS

More from the diary

5/18/84

I just got out of work. I go back to work dinner in a couple of hours.

I’m hyperactive again but I’m not depressed because I’m raking in the dough, and I got a nice letter from Jackie Fuhrmann. [I still have this letter. Jackie wrote about how she was planning to come visit once she knew when INXS would be touring the east coast. She also asked me if I had heard from Kirk Pengilly again. She asked me that every time she wrote. But no, I only heard from him that one time back in November 1983] Tonight, when I get home, I have to write to Jackie and Jen.

My Michael Jackson t-shirt came out well. Mom and Dan thought I bought it with sunglasses and burning hair.

I hit four numbers the first time I played Lotto. I’m psyched.

I’m back from work. I got a tip from one of my customers that included a balloon cat and mouse. It was great.

5/19/84

A Saturday night off! This event should be marked down in history. I have to eat dinner soon. I’m starving. I’m sitting on the living room couch. Junior [our dog] is lying on the floor next to me and my mother is in the kitchen. Barbara Streisand is blasting on the stereo.

My mother changed the record to Neil Diamond. I bought a Weekly World News at Quick Chek. The headline is “Famed Psychic’s Head Explodes”. The National Examiner had an interesting story about Jesus’ secret life, but I didn’t buy the paper. I think it is owned by Rupert Murdoch, the wealthy Australian newspaper magnate, who wanted to buy Warner Communications. All My Children [my favorite soap opera] had on someone named Hubert Drydoch-I think that he is supposed to be Murdoch because of the accent and the allusions about newspapers and magazines.

[I was wrong about the National Examiner. The tabloid was never owned by Rupert Murdoch. He owned The Star. Read about it on Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Examiner]

Dr. Pepper tastes best when it is warm and flat. Gary Grant is supposed to be back in America sometime in the next couple of days. I had a really severe muscle cramp in my leg last night. I thought I would never be able to use my leg again.

Tonight, I’m going to read my paper, watch Tootsie on TV, and then INXS on MTV. [I don’t know what MTV showed. Maybe the debut of I Send A Message? INXS were in Europe at the time.] Tomorrow is going to be a long day, but I should survive. I hope I’ll get decent tips. I’m only halfway through Nausea. [Book by Jean Paul Sartre] I hope Mom and Carl leave soon. I like having the house to myself.

Cover of the Weekly World News from May 22, 1984

5/20/84

I like my job for the most part. It is just very painful to the feet and back. To most people there I am still a baby. I’m not supposed to know about sex and all of the other grownup things. I’m too young. They should think back to the time when they were my age. Some of them were already married. My job is less frustrating and easier than last summer. I even found out when I was home for Christmas that I could handle five tables no sweat. Now that it has gotten easier, it is also more profitable.

5/22/84

I was just at the Emerson Hotel nine hours ago and I’m going back in another hour to work lunch.

I would rather be reading

5/23/84

I slept so late this morning. Carl is home. [My mother’s husband. The guy who owned the Ho-Ho-Kus bakery.]  I’m so tired. I bought my Casio thing yesterday. I have to figure it out. Junior is barking now. He is such a pain. One minute he wants in and then out again. I hope I get my paycheck from school sometime soon. This town is getting boring. I need to find a place to go away from here where I can sit and think or read. Maybe the library is open. Maybe I can go see a movie tonight.

I wonder if I am sane. I was walking backwards down the railroad tracks singing earlier this afternoon. I went to the bank and just made it into Friendly’s before it started to pour. The lightning was really close. It scared the shit out of me. I had a cup of coffee and now I’m at the library. I brought my backpack just in case I found some books to take out.

There are so many things I should read and learn and know about that it all gets overwhelming. Insignificant things like working to earn a living and sleeping get in the way.

[Friendly’s was an ice cream place with food that was half a mile from my house. The one in Hillsdale closed and is now a Chipotle.]

Modeling doesn’t sound so great

5/24/84

Lunch was sooo dead today. I only made ten dollars. I have to go back in two hours and work 5-10. I’m working in the middle, so I have two big tables and three little ones. I hope I’m not run to the ground tonight although I would like to make some money.

I told them about my school job. They listened to me like I was E.F. Hutton. I guess because I don’t talk much. I don’t know why they expect me to talk more. What am I supposed to say? Frank and Toni always tell me to shut up because I’m talking too much or giving them a headache. They must tell me this at least ten times a day. It’s getting on my nerves.

I read a book about modeling, and I don’t know if I want to be bothered that much. Every part of your body has to look perfect. You have to get test shots and then maybe you’ll get some work, but it is long hours. I don’t know how much money it takes before I would even get work. My waist is too thick. The book talks about how guys that are halfway decent are almost impossible to find if you are a model. How about decent guys are hard to find period? Everyone tells me how lucky I am not to have a boyfriend. Freida, Joanne, and even my grandmother approves of not having one.

Well, I’m not a millionaire this week. I only got one number. I might have been a bit richer if we weren’t on pool. I had eight tables, and we were busy. I worked extremely hard and I’m tired. On one twelve-dollar check the people left me a twenty-dollar tip. That has to be the best tip I’ll ever get. I had to give it in to the pool. I’m expected back at work in eleven hours. Tomorrow, hopefully it will be busy for two hours then I can get paid and leave. I’ve certainly changed. Work is not as bad as it used to be, and I’ve become almost ambitious.

5/26/84

I try to convince myself that school is worth the cost. I’m sure I won’t regret it later so I can’t be too impulsive now. I went to a store on Route 4 and played with some keyboards. Today’s technology blows me away. It is so cool.

5/27/84

It’s good to be home. Work was long, slow, boring, and not very profitable. I’m tired from standing around all day. At least I got out around 8:15 and didn’t have to do ketchups. I had to eat Cornish hen because they didn’t sell any. Yuck. Everyone has been giving me compliments on how good a waitress I am. Barbara is back for the weekend and then she goes back to school for the summer. A new girl named Valerie is starting on Tuesday. I’m still the youngest there. Joanne thought I was about 22. I’d like to be 21 so I could do anything I want without a hassle. Tomorrow, we have to be in at 4:45 in case the rush starts early (if there is any).

I must stop thinking before I depress myself. I can see where drugs might come in handy at times like these-to forget everything: good, bad, or otherwise.

[The restaurant used to have bottles of ketchup on the tables and we would have to fill them up by pouring the ketchup from almost empty bottles into half-full ones to fill them up. I didn’t like to do this task.]

September 19, 2025
Blog Post 8- No Postcard from London. Fall 1983

Xeroxed photo of INXS used for stationery

Fall semester of my sophomore year at school was difficult. My classes were Finance 1 which was called Monetary Economics, Accounting 1-A which was financial accounting, Introduction to Marketing Strategy, Psychology 162 which was abnormal psychology, and Sociology 4- The Family.

A lot of material was covered in every class, so it was bad that I skipped classes to go see Kirk Pengilly in New York City. Especially my finance class which was very difficult. On my first test, I scored 13 points out of 100 but because the test was graded on a curve, it was a passing grade. It was a D. That means that most of the students got low scores but did somewhat better than I did.

I had to get a work-study job for the first time to pay my expenses. Freshman year I didn’t work during the school year. I seem to recall that I was getting a check from Social Security because my father was disabled but the law was changed in 1981 and that payment was being phased out for college students so maybe I remember it wrong.

Diary entries from this period were few-maybe one per month. So, whatever I might have been thinking about Kirk Pengilly was lost to time. I saved some letters from my friends though and through their responses to my letters I can glean some information.

Long-distance phone calls-an 80s thing

Jess wrote to me on September 16, 1983 which was two days after we were at the Power Station music studio together with INXS. She had to write a letter because she couldn’t afford to make a long-distance call to me to say what she wanted to say.

It was so long ago that I don’t really remember exactly how the phone company billed for calls. Back then the telephones were attached to wall in the house. If you had more than one phone, then you were financially well-off. An unlimited number of local calls were allowed for a monthly fee. The area around your home that was considered a local call was a small one. Every other call was long-distance, and those calls were expensive and charged by the minute unless you were calling a toll-free number.

@carmenqgollihar
Things in the 1900s that we no longer say… Long distance calls. 80s kids had to be super quiet when parents were making a long-distance call. Stick around to see the 3 new additions to my Phone collection. #80saesthetic #80snostalgia #longdistancecall #vintagephones
♬ Call Me – Blondie

https://kiowacountypress.net/content/rise-and-fall-landline-143-years-telephones-becoming-more-accessible-–-and-smart

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-distance_calling

https://www.nytimes.com/1983/05/07/style/saving-on-costs-of-long-distance-calls.html

More about our visit to the Power Station

Jess gave me her address at her college in New Jersey so I could write back to her. She wrote, “Dear Donna (Pengilly),” and said she was feeling guilty and wanted to apologize for not finding a way to give Kirk and I more time alone. She thought she should not have gone out to dinner with us.

I must have given her $50 towards the fee she had to pay to get her car back after it was towed from a parking spot near the studio because she said she put it in her account but would not touch it and offered to give it back to me.

She mentions a couple of things from the studio. One is a slightly different take on what I wrote in my diary- Jon says, “It makes about as much sense as natives wearing turquoise and silver” when asked about the “dream on white boy, dream on white girl” lyric. Jess remembered Michael’s answer the same as me-“You have no idea what I’m talking about.”

Jon Farriss was making a reference to the INXS song, “Old World, New World” from the album Shabooh Shoobah.

While we were in the lobby area of the studio, “the guys” (some number of the band members of INXS) sang “like an animal.” Jess asked me if I remembered that and “what that was for or from?” We would not have an answer to that until the album (The Swing) came out and we heard the song, “I Send A Message” because it’s from that song.

Someone must have said something about Andrew having a good head on his shoulders because Jess quotes that in her letter after expressing her disappointment with Garry Gary Beers. The way he acted towards her made her feel that he didn’t like her. That Garry knew she liked him and was avoiding her to the point where he could not be friendly or have a normal conversation with her. She said would forget Garry and pick Andrew as the band member to like instead.

The letter from Jess ended with her saying she can’t wait for the new INXS album to come out. Original Sin was an excellent song that should be even better with the vocals.

Terri’s letters to me from the fall of 1983

Terri wrote to me on September 30, 1983

Another bit of information that didn’t make it into my diary was that Michael Hutchence said his mother had run away before he was born. He just came out with that while he was out there in the lounge- probably when he was telling those high school girls that were his guests about the Chinese restaurants in Australia.

Apparently, I had written to Terri and told her “Weird INXS additions.” I also wrote to her about “Krik.” She wrote, “I don’t mind your talking about ‘Krik’ or whatever he calls himself (Bob Smith?) He’s a doll, I like Kirk.

Where this came from, I have no clue now. There are many references from back then that I no longer understand. Terri said she was thinking of the time in Atlanta when Kirk and Tanya discussed hair products. Kirk used Vidal Sassoon hair mist to make his hair stick up. He said, “All I do is stick my head under a sink and I’m normal again!” And the joke about Kirk not being normal writes itself.

Terri told me that she found the single for To Look At You in the New Releases section at a record store in Tampa. The B-side for that single was “The Sax Thing”, an instrumental by Kirk Pengilly. She couldn’t tell me what it sounded like. Said that she would have to bring it to Jen’s house to listen to it. She said that she had a bad feeling that it might be a saxophone version of The One Thing and that she liked to hear singing and not just music.

While she was there, she saw an issue of Trouser Press magazine with the Flock of Seagulls on the cover and asked me if I still get the magazine. The answer was yes. I had a subscription to Trouser Press magazine up until the time it went out of business. Terri said that I would notice that my Shriekback was profiled and also New Models. Both bands were now connected with INXS. Shriekback because it led to everything that happened with Kirk Pengilly and New Models because they opened for INXS at the Ritz in New York City. If you have it, do me a big favor and xerox it for me, is what she wrote.

Flock of Seagulls. Trouser Press magazine

I had written about the bootleg concert tape from Atlanta and that I heard her on it. She thought INXS would be upset if they knew that Tanya had taped them, and she explained that Garry had kicked over a cup and ice went under her bare feet.

Postcards were mentioned. Terri told me to let her know if “Krik’s” postcard arrives before March! (I think we had heard that INXS would come back in March?) She mentioned that Jess told her about the postcard I sent to her that was wacko, I’m sure. I wrote and drew lot of strange things back then. The postcard said something about Andrew Farriss. The two main songwriters for INXS were the two people in the band I didn’t like. I seem to have drawn a cartoon about Michael Hutchence that I sent to Terri. Mocking him, I’m sure. Terri said she sent a copy of it to Michael with my name on it. Then she said she was just kidding. (Terri had an address in Australia where she did write to members of the band.) She also told me I have nerve to say Michael is strange. That’s because I was strange, but I liked my kind of strange and not his.

Another letter from Terri is dated October 23, 1983. This letter was written on homemade stationery. We used to xerox photos of INXS (or others) at the top of the page and then write the letter on the rest of the paper. Terri used this photo and called it “To jump at you!”

INXS stationery, photocopies of pictures

This letter informed me that I had sent a 90-minute-high fidelity blank cassette tape so Terri could record The Sax Thing for me on a low fidelity stereo. I really wanted to hear the song! She taped it three times for me so I wouldn’t have to rewind it as much. Very thoughtful. Terri complimented Kirk’s song and said she played it over the phone for Jess to hear it. My friends were great-they shared their music purchases with me. We all shared as much as we could with each other, but my resources were the most limited.

I tried to make up for it by being entertaining. I wrote poems about INXS, and I drew cartoons. Pretty sure I wrote a poem about Michael Hutchence called “The Drug Thing”, but I don’t know if it was what Terri referred to in this letter. She wrote, “Like I already told ya, I lurved your poems. Write anything on rhymable Kirk yet?! What the heck does Kirk rhyme with? Jerk, perk, clerk, turk, work; not normal words, fer sure! And what of this story you mentioned- I’m almost afraid to ask!” It would be nice if I had an answer to the question about the story I seem to have written way back when. Not a clue what it was.

My work-study job involved checking IDs to keep people who weren’t students out of the dorms in the western part of Penn campus where my dorm was. Sometimes I would work behind the front desk at the high-rise apartments that were dorms where I would answer the phone, etc. I would write these letters and create my poems, drawings, and cartoons while at work instead of studying for class or doing my homework.

About my cartoon, Terri wrote, “You were right-I did hang it up! Thanks for your highly unusual ‘masterpiece!’ I’m so proud to be the owner of the original-this thing will be worth big money someday! I had to share it, tho, so I xeroxed it for Jackie and Jess (haven’t sent it to Jess yet)…I laughed so hard. I especially got a kick out of “Garry Gary Baah” and the bit about Andrew…that was really funny, probably because it’s true!! Thanx very much, Mrs. Penguinilly!” I can only assume that I turned every member of INXS into some kind of animal in the cartoon.

There was a part of the letter where Terri talked a lot about music because she had finally found a radio station in Tampa that played new wave music from midnight until 3am. She taped it so she could listen to it and find new bands. “Soon we MAY see the days when I get to name some obscure band and maybe someone will take notice of ME! I can dream, ya know!” That’s what happened with me and Kirk Pengilly. One night Terri called the new wave program and requested INXS- supporting our band!

I must have mentioned that I was smoking clove cigarettes and that made Terri angry. She was right- it was a bad and stupid habit. Yelled at me that she would fuck me up and that Kirk would think he was kissing a dirty ashtray. It turned out that I was never going to kiss Kirk again, but we didn’t know that at the time.

One last quote from Terri’s letter, “When Jess and I were talking about the band taking turns on the b sides of the single, we couldn’t help but wonder what the hell GG might come up with. We figured, maybe “The Bass thing” of all bassline! (His spine is the bassline) And what of “Duh” Hutchence? He doesn’t write music, to my knowledge. That is, what will he do-recite poetry or something? “Gimme drugs…I need some Silly Shit!!””

Kirk writes Donna a letter from Japan

And then one day in November 1983, I checked my mailbox and there was a letter from Kirk Pengilly. I still have it and I’ll say what is in it because it’s not some kind of personal love letter but I’m not going to share it. Here is a picture of the envelope instead.

Envelope from Kirk’s letter

As you can see, it was posted on November 2, 1983, from Akasaka in Tokyo, Japan. The letter was written on November 1st on one side of one sheet of hotel stationery from The President Hotel. The hotel’s address was 2-2-3 Minamiaoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan. Located kind of in between Meiji Jingu and the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. There is still a building at this address today in 2025 but it is no longer a hotel.

The site of the hotel where INXS stayed when they went to Japan to shoot videos for Original Sin and I Send A Message in November 1983

Kirk apologized that he had not written sooner. He said that the day after we had visited him in New York City and the car had been towed, that his wallet had been stolen. No story about how that happened-just a list of what went missing: money, credit cards, passport, and my address. That was the day (September 14, 1983) when they were back in the studio at the Power Station recording the vocals with Daryl Hall of Hall & Oates.

Now in New York City back in 1983, especially in Hell’s Kitchen, there was a lot of crime, so the story was believable in that respect. So many years have passed now where I didn’t even think about INXS or what transpired that I can’t remember what I knew back then when I received this letter. But I surely would have known which address was on which piece of paper that I had given to Kirk. The bank where I had my checking account was near the Penn campus in West Philadelphia. That’s where I lived for most of the year. My school address would have been on the deposit slip if there was an address on it.

He wrote that while he was packing to leave for Japan, he found my address on the postcard from me that was given to him in Atlanta. INXS left London for Japan on the day before he wrote the letter. Back when I wrote the postcard for him, I’m not sure I even knew my address at college. Also, the whole point of that postcard was to tell him where I lived in New Jersey and that would have been in Hillsdale, not Philadelphia. So, I think I took this story as a lie. Well-meaning, but still, a lie.

If Kirk really had had his wallet stolen, and he wasn’t just writing this letter to me to be polite because he said he would write to me, then he could have told me his address and asked me to write to him and give him the contact information that was lost. Besides just trying to let me down easy, I think he did what he did because he was living with the future mother of his child, Karen Hutchinson, before he even met me. And that’s what bothers me today. Neither of us women deserved to be treated like that.

Even if they had some kind of understanding with each other about activities on the road, I wasn’t part of that. It wasn’t fair to me. I deserved respect. Toby Creswell interviewed Karen for his book, “Shine Like it Does: The Life of Michael Hutchence”. On page 105, Karen said, “You’d be crazy to think that twenty-year-old guys who had it thrown at them every night were not seeing other people occasionally.” That was not what happened between Kirk and me. I was pursued just because I was there and too pretty to be left in peace; it was not by invitation. We weren’t there for sex and they knew it.

Kirk was not a pig about it and didn’t obviously salivate over me the way Michael Hutchence was going to a year later. If he had done that then I would not have liked him. He wasn’t coming on to me. We were having conversations and I enjoyed them. I thought Kirk Pengilly was interesting. But now it seems that the goal was to take advantage of being out on the road. I’m not going to let women take the blame for these guy’s behaviors. INXS as a rock band was not as badly behaved as Mötley Crüe. That’s a fact. But that doesn’t make them good guys or excuse them.

Back to the letter- Kirk wrote that he was in Japan for one week and INXS would be making a couple of videos. The recording of the album was going well and after Japan they would be going back to Sydney to finish the album (The Swing). He hoped that school was going well for me.

He had fun in London where he spent all his money on clothes and saw the band Big Country in concert. And that’s pretty much all he wrote. He said he hoped I was well and happy before signing off. Of course, I was happy to get a letter and I told my friends immediately!

While INXS was in Japan they made videos for Original Sin, and I Send A Message. I lived in Japan from 2021 until 2024 so I visited the temple where I Send A Message was filmed. Gokokuji Temple in Tokyo. I have Matthew Marsland to thank for that. I didn’t know where the video was filmed but he did.

Location of the temple where INXS filmed the video for I Send A Message

Matthew Marsland’s Facebook post about visiting Gokokuji Temple

https://www.facebook.com/profile/501692468/search?q=%20temple%20tokyo

July 5, 2025