Sexism, Bruhs, and Rock n Roll

Tag: INXS

Blog Post 5-INXS records Original Sin. September 13, 1983

Kirk Pengilly and Rick Sales, Stone Mountain, Georgia, photo by Jess, 9/5/1983

Photo of Kirk Pengilly (guitar, saxophone, vocals) of the Australian rock band INXS and Rick Sales, their tour manager. Arriving for the soundcheck at Harlow’s Club in Stone Mountain, GA (15 miles east of Atlanta) on September 5, 1983.

This was the last INXS concert on their first tour of the United States. I didn’t go to this concert, but Terri and Jess did. So did someone by the name of Tanya. She was friends with Jess. I don’t remember anything about her such as where she lived or how she knew Jess. It’s my understanding that a bootleg tape of some of this concert was recorded by her.

Not the actual postcard but something like this.

When I found out that my friends were going to Atlanta to see INXS, I bought a postcard with a map of New Jersey on it to give to Kirk. New Jersey was part of our conversation and I had even drawn a crude map for Kirk so buying it for them to give to him seemed like a great thing to do.  On the front of the postcard, I made a mark in the area where Hillsdale was located and I wrote, “This is where I live” with an arrow pointing to it. I wrote my address on it. I can’t be 100% sure anymore if it was the address of my mother’s house in Hillsdale but odds are that it was. If I wrote anything else, it would have been that I enjoyed talking to him or something like that. I no longer remember some specific details, but I remember how I was and how I behaved. The guesses I make are based on my likely behavior.

By this time, the band recognized Terri and Jess. When they showed up to do their soundcheck, my friends were already there. Jess took photos of everyone in INXS except for Timmy. Jess gave my postcard to Kirk, and he must have known that they were going to be recording at the Power Station in New York City with Nile Rodgers by that time. He asked Jess for my phone number. She gave him the phone number at my mother’s house in Hillsdale.

If my friends told me details about the show, I did not write them down. They were invited back to the hotel lounge after the show by INXS. I’m sure they went. I was happy to know that Kirk asked for my number because I thought we had hit it off. He was interesting. And then he called!!

After this last INXS concert, the band went to Florida to write songs for their next album, The Swing. Where in Florida? No idea. Kirk called on Friday September 9, most likely because I know he called the day before I had to leave Hillsdale and move into my dorm room in Philadelphia. My mother worked so she was probably taking me on Saturday. My mother answered the phone and then gave it to me. She was not amused to find out that the man who called was a member of an Australian rock band. Some man fucking up my life was not something she wanted for me.

Kirk invited me to visit him at the studio in New York City. He told me where they would be and when they would be there. INXS were scheduled to be at the Power Station on Tuesday, September 13 and Wednesday, September 14, 1983. I told him that I couldn’t go because it was the first week of classes. The professors take attendance during the first couple of weeks of class and if you miss class then you risk being dropped from it so someone from the waiting list can take the class. And I was afraid of that. Money was tight and I couldn’t afford to make a costly mistake.

University of Pennsylvania Academic Calendar 1983-1984

It’s possible he called me a couple of days earlier and I went back to school a couple of days earlier because that would have given more time for my roommate, Dohi, to perm my hair using a store-bought kit. That was something that happened before I went to visit Kirk. It was a bad perm. I looked like I stuck a fork into an electrical outlet.

This is a photo of me from a month after I went to NYC so you can see my perm. My mother married the man who owned the HoHoKus bakery. They are the two sitting next to me. It’s from the wedding reception.

Mom and Carl’s wedding reception at the Iron Horse in Westwood, New Jersey. October 1983. Me and my perm.

But then I told Jess, and she was willing to do whatever needed to be done to make it happen. I thought about it and changed my mind. Somehow, Terri had the phone number for the rehearsal studio in Florida where INXS was. She had already called there to talk to Timmy- maybe? Terri gave me the number and I called to talk to Kirk and tell him I was coming. When I called, he wasn’t there so I left a message with the person who answered the phone that I would come to the studio after all.

On Tuesday, September 13, I took a train from 30th Street Station in Philadelphia to Newark, New Jersey. While I was waiting for my train in Philly, I browsed at the newsstand, and I saw the Weekly World News for the first time. It was a black and white tabloid paper full of ridiculousness. The cover said, “I AROSE FROM THE DEAD AS A ZOMBIE.” I bought it. The paper was a mix of strange but true stories and crazy stuff like Elvis sightings and space aliens. I loved it. I had a subscription to it a few years later.

An example of the Weekly World News tabloid paper from the 1980s.

Jess drove to the train station in Newark to meet me and we had lunch at Burger King before going into New York City. The Power Station was in Hell’s Kitchen and back in the 80s, it was known to be a dangerous area of the city. Jess drove us into Manhattan and drove around the block where the studio was supposed to be. It didn’t look like there was anything there. There was a school with a playground on one side of the street and graffiti-covered buildings on the other.

Jess parked at a space with a parking meter, and we walked around until we found the building. The window on the door was boarded up. We didn’t know what was going on because we expected something that didn’t look abandoned.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_Station_(recording_studio)

I was extremely, extremely nervous and I kept saying, “I’m not going in there.” That’s because the sex part of this trip just got real. They were in a rock band after all and that was what I felt was expected in this situation. Kirk didn’t say on the telephone to come spend the night with him, but I felt it was implied. And I wanted to do it, but I also didn’t want to do it. I was a lot more interested in finding a boyfriend before I took that step. At 18, almost 19, I was still a virgin and had now kissed two guys, one of them being Kirk Pengilly of INXS. Jess insisted that I was going in there.

Jess rang the bell, and someone opened the door. She pulled me into the lobby. There was a camera focused on the door, so I smiled and waved to it. Later, I noticed the monitor for it in the studio. Jess asked the guy in the lobby if INXS was in the studio. He picked up the phone and asked who was here to see them. She said, “Jess,” and quickly added, “and Donna.”

When he got off the phone, he told us to take the elevator to the third floor “but do not go into the recording studio.” The elevator doors opened into what looked like a living room. On the left side there was a couch against the wall and the door to the recording studio. Straight ahead were other couches against the wall. To the right, there were windows that looked out to the street, more seating and a low table. There was also a kitchen area with countertops and a refrigerator. And there was a bathroom.

We walked in and Jon Farriss, the drummer, was sitting on the couch in front of us. He was talking on the phone with his girlfriend from Texas, Lisa McCormick. When he noticed Jess, he said, “Boy, you really get around.”

Garry Gary Beers, the bassist, was also in this lounge area. He was talking to a man about getting a sponsorship to play their bass. Jess asked Garry if Kirk was around, so Garry went inside the recording studio. There were no windows so we couldn’t see what was happening in there unless we were in there.

https://dittomusic.com/en/blog/how-to-get-sponsored-as-a-musician

I sat down on the couch near the elevator and started reading theWeekly World News. It was 3pm and I thought about how I would be in my finance class right now if I had not come to the studio and that I probably should have gone to my class instead.

Timmy Farriss, the guitar player for INXS, came out and came over to me. He said, “Hi! How are you?” I think he remembered me from that night in Poughkeepsie. Timmy told me that Kirk was busy “at the moment” and that he would come out as soon as he could. I showed Timmy the Weekly World News and he said, “Wow! This is great! Can I take this in to show the guys?” Of course, I was going to let him take it. I said, “Sure” so he took the paper and went back into the recording studio.

Jess and I were just sitting there along with Garry and the guy he was talking to about the bass sponsorship. There were other people in the lounge and the studio from time to time. Jess recognized Neil and Colin who were part of the INXS road crew. And there were three girls there who were invited by Michael Hutchence, the lead singer. One girl had part of her head shaved like Anabella Lwin, the singer for Bow Wow Wow, so Michael called her Anabelle.

From time to time, Jess had to leave the building to feed coins into the parking meter. Kirk came out of the studio when Jess was outside. He poked me in the stomach with his index finger and said, “What are you doing here?” I told him I came to say hi! He said I should have called Florida like Terri had done and I told him I had and that I left a message. Kirk didn’t get the message. He told me he was sharing a room with Garry and that it wasn’t possible to switch because Tim already had a guest staying with him. He asked what I did to my hair, and I told him the story.

Jess came back in and told us that her arm had been hit by a passing car while she was out there. She didn’t need medical attention. She was only slightly hurt. Kirk offered us something to drink. The choices were beer, vodka, mineral water, or milk. Now I’m very picky- there are many things I cannot eat or drink. And when I am nervous or stressed, my stomach and digestive tract cause me all sorts of problems too. Carbonated beverages are something I avoid so the beer and the mineral water did not appeal to me. Straight vodka tastes nasty, and I don’t drink a lot of alcohol. But if there had been some orange juice or cranberry juice, I would have had some vodka with that. That left milk. So, yes, I went into their rock and roll studio and had a glass of milk. Kirk laughed when I chose milk but then he brought me a glass of milk.

We spent almost no time in the actual recording studio that day. That I didn’t want to leave Jess by herself after she came back from dealing with the car was one reason. I also didn’t want to get in the way of the work. We saw Nile Rodgers, guitarist from Chic and the producer of Original Sin, but we didn’t interact with him much.

Jess and I were sitting in the lounge on the couch near the elevator and we were laughing hard at something when Nile came out. He saw us cracking up and he said, “And I thought I was really happy.” He thought we were high on something like he was. Nile Rodgers referred to cocaine as “silly shit” sometime during our time there. I don’t remember the details.

Tim Farriss came out to do a line of coke on the low table that faced the windows. The windows looked out onto the school playground so when he got up, he said, “Hi, kiddies!”

Michael also mentioned cocaine. He told his three young guests that he had bought some Peruvian Marching Powder (his term for cocaine). He said he was saving it for when they went slam dancing later.

There was a time when I was chatting with the three girls. I don’t think anyone else was around. It was how I found out that they had been invited to the studio by Michael when they saw INXS play at Mississippi Nights, a club in St. Louis on August 31, 1983. That was two nights after my friend, Jackie, saw them open for Men at Work in Chicago. I’ll tell her story from that concert in another blog post.

https://www.riverfronttimes.com/music/remembering-mississippi-nights-st-louis-most-iconic-nightclub-38988508

These girls were claiming that they had just graduated high school. Well, that was me the previous summer, so I started asking questions to find out what we had in common like where they were planning to go to college. Stuff like that. One of the girls decided to confess that she was fifteen and about to be a sophomore in high school. She was not the girl with the shaved head. They had told their parents that they were going on a trip to Chicago when they were really going to New York City because that way the parents would allow them to go. I was told that they would not have been allowed to travel to New York City if their parents knew that was where they were going.

It wasn’t very hard for me to get the truth. I wonder what the band knew or believed or if they even cared. The people in the music industry back then were quite disgusting and perhaps only cared about not getting in trouble when it came to messing with their young fans. I didn’t do anything about it at the time, but I also never forgot about it. Given Michael’s reputation when it came to having sex, it’s hard to believe that nothing untoward happened but maybe nothing did. Still, why did this 23-year-old man invite high school girls to hang out with him? At least Kirk knew that I was in college and over 18. But I can still find fault with Kirk too because he was 25 so I think I was too young for him.

Michael was telling them some weird things. What I wrote down was that he said that all the animals in Australia except for rabbits are protected so you aren’t allowed to kill them. And then he said that no one ate at the Chinese restaurants in Australia after they heard that the restaurants were using possums in their dishes.

At one point Jess and I were in the lounge by ourselves. Jess went out to deal with the parking meter again. Kirk came out and asked if I wanted to come inside the recording studio, but I said I would wait in the lounge until Jess came back. Then I was alone and, I looked at the sheet of paper that Michael was writing the lyrics on.

I sat down on the couch again and waited for Jess. Michael came out to work on the lyrics and I ignored him. He wasn’t the reason I was there, and I was still very nervous about what would happen with Kirk. Michael asked, “How is New York treating you?” I answered him by saying, “Is that a question?” We did not have a conversation.

A little later, Michael sang the Led Zeppelin lyric, “Big-legged woman ain’t got no soul” from the song Black Dog. And you should know that I have extremely long legs, disproportionately long legs. They are my most distinctive feature. The feature that caused me to be called “Daddy Long Legs” like the spider and that meant I often wore “high water” pants because I couldn’t find pants that were long enough. They looked fantastic and they were why I was a track star in high school but nevertheless, I was highly offended by this. I felt that Michael Hutchence was singing to me that I had no soul. I glared at him, and he said, “Sorry.”

Jess came back and she was very upset because her car had been towed and it was going to cost $110 to get it back. Kirk came out again and he almost stepped on my bare feet. Apparently, I had taken my shoes off at some point. It’s likely I was wearing sandals, but still, it could be considered a weird thing to do. The three of us discussed what happened to the car. Kirk offered to pay the money. Jess declined his offer. I told her that in her place, I would take the money and Kirk said that he would do that too. Still, she said no and left again to retrieve the car.

Kirk invited me into the recording studio again and this time I went in with him. I stood near the control panel. Timmy was playing his guitar part for the song. Garry was sitting on one side of me, and he was reading the Weekly World News. He laughed when he read the story about two lovers lying on a beach on Long Island who had their heads run over by a garbage truck and survived.

A true story.

https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/08/09/Heads-run-over-by-truck-they-live/7094429249600/#google_vignette

Nile Rodgers was into the music. He kept saying “Dis shit is happening” and “Bingo, this is fucking happening!” I loved it and started using those phrases whenever possible going forward. Andrew Farriss was sitting down eating a sandwich and making suggestions to Tim about his guitar work. I heard Timmy play one part of the song about twenty times.

Kirk asked if I wanted anything so I said I would have some mineral water. He got a glass of water and brought it back to me. I only took two sips of it because it tasted awful. We went to check the lounge to see if Jess came back and when she did, she came into the studio with us to watch for a couple of minutes. Then Jess and I went back out to the lounge to talk about the car.

We both sat on the couch by the elevator door again where we had a view of the kitchen area. Michael came out and went to the refrigerator where he took out a beer. Michael was looking around for a bottle opener but did not find one, so he started banging the top of the bottle on the edge of the counter to try to open it. Jess said, “Michael, I have a knife. Do you want it?” He said, “No, I enjoy whacking” while he continued to hit the counter. He said it in such a way that it was clear he was talking about masturbation. Then he was successful at opening the beer bottle and at that time he looked at me and smiled and said, “I love getting tops off.” It was clear by the way he said it that he meant he loved taking off the shirts that women are wearing. It was gross and I didn’t appreciate it. He was about as mature as some stupid boy from my junior high or high school.

Jon, Kirk and Timmy came out and Michael wanted to know what they thought about his lyrics for Original Sin. At that time, the lyrics said, “Dream on white boy, dream on white girl.” He asked, “Do you think it sounds okay?” Jon replied, “It’s no different from ‘natives wearing turquoise and silver.’” That lyric is from the song “Old World, New World” which is on their Shabooh Shoobah album. Michael got frustrated and said, “You have no idea what I’m talking about.”

Perhaps that led to Michael adding the “dream on black boy, dream on black girl” part that Nile Rodgers mentions in the INXS Access All Areas podcast. Because I don’t remember that part from the day I was there. Maybe Michael added it that to make it clearer that the dream was for some kind of paradise where all races got along together. Nile Rodgers says he talked them into mixing up the races even further within the lyrics and that is how the song was recorded. I wasn’t there for that because the vocals were not recorded until the next day. More about that in the next blog post.

https://www.inxsaccessallareas.com/post/episode-166-nile-rodgers-interview

The guys all started talking about the song. They were very excited about how it was going. They wondered if Original Sin would go to number one on the charts-they all wanted it to be a big hit.

Timmy said that Nile was in the studio playing some guitar lines to add to the song. He said that it would make the song harder to reproduce live, “but who cares as long as it sells more records.”

Kirk said he wanted to be famous, and that he also wanted to buy a house. Andrew started talking about how Nick Launay (the man who was about to produce the rest of their album, The Swing) and his girlfriend are a team and that they go everywhere together. Andrew didn’t want the band to pay to fly Nick’s girlfriend from London to Australia. Kirk said, “Why not? It’s only $1500.” Andrew suggested that they should wait until the album was recorded and then tell him that they won’t pay for his girlfriend. Andrew thought that if Nick knew this before they recorded the album that it might affect his work.

Someone in the band popped a cassette tape of Original Sin into a boombox and we all listened to what had been completed so far. The song didn’t have any vocals, but it sounded good. The work was done for the day, so everyone left.

In the podcast, Nile Rodgers said that it was a late night, but it wasn’t. Maybe the next day they ended late, I don’t know, but it was no later than 8pm when we left, and I think it was more like 7pm.

June 8, 2025
Blog Post 4- INXS concert August 16, 1983

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

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

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

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

8/16/83

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A photo of Jon wearing that hat from 1983.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Michael Hutchence holding the red Japanese boom box.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kirk Pengilly autograph

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

May 31, 2025
Blog Post 3- INXS 6th Anniversary, Soundcheck, August 16, 1983

Garry Gary Beers, INXS, photo by Terri, 8/1983

Australian rock band, INXS, finished the first leg of their first U.S. tour about a week after they performed at the US Festival in California on May 28, 1983. The band went back to Australia where they had some time off and then did shows in Melbourne and Sydney for the last nine days of July before coming back to the U.S. to perform. They played again in California on August 4, 1983

US Festival

Jackie came out to New Jersey from Chicago to visit us in June. When INXS left, their co-manager, Gary Grant, stayed behind and MMA Management opened an office in New York City in the same building as Atco Records. Atco Records had signed INXS to a record deal in the U.S. in 1982. We didn’t know that Chris Murphy and Gary Grant had done this until the day we walked into the office of Atco Records.

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

Terri, Jess, Jackie and I went into the city to have fun. We walked into the building where Atco Records was located. We went to Atco Records and asked the receptionist when INXS was coming back to America. She called Gary Grant on the phone, and he came out to meet us. He invited us into his office. I didn’t write about this day in my diary, so I don’t remember anything that was said. I don’t know if we got an answer to the question of when INXS was coming back to America.

Did Gary Grant ask us about ourselves and why we liked the band? Probably. He was there in America to help with relations with their record company, do promotions, and increase their fan base. Gary Grant was sent to New York City by Chris Murphy who became the manager of INXS through MMA Management in March 1980. He brought in Gary Grant as co-manager after a year or so as the INXS tour manager.

https://www.smh.com.au/national/visionary-manager-s-belief-in-inxs-paid-off-in-spades-20210120-p56vow.html

Gary Grant gave each of us an INXS promotional poster. The poster was hung on my wall when I met my husband eight years later in 1991. I think I threw out the poster at the same time I threw out the Tropicana juice bottle (internal link) I was married, and we were moving often so I threw some things away. Jess had her poster autographed by all the band members-probably as soon as they returned to America.

Before INXS came back, I went “down the shore” with Terri and Jess one day. Jess brought a boom box and a tape of the first INXS album. The first two INXS albums had not been released in the U.S. at that time, but it was easy to buy imported albums where we lived. Jess bought them and also INXSive which was a compilation album that had We Are The Vegetables and Simple Simon on it. I remember listening to INXS multiple times that day and I liked it, so I was ready to see the band in concert again.

INXS came back to America in August 1983. I didn’t see an INXS show until August 16, 1983, when they played at a club called The Chance in Poughkeepsie, NY-about 60 miles north of Hillsdale, New Jersey.

Farewell to The Chance in Poughkeepsie, NY

Terri and Jess saw INXS a couple of times before I did. On August 13, 1983, Terri, Renee (Terri’s younger sister who went to school with my younger brother, Dan), and Jess went to see INXS open for Men at Work at the Mann Music Center in Philadelphia. There is a mention of this in one of Terri’s letters. Jess gave Garry the INXS pillow that she made. They gave the band carnations. There was a photo in a magazine that we think is from backstage and shows their carnations and the pillow. Terri made a photocopy of the photo from the magazine and then wrote a letter to me on the rest of the paper.

INXS stationery, photocopy of magazine photo. L to R- Gary Grant, Michael Hutchence, Jon Farriss, Tim Farriss

I think they also saw INXS play at Toad’s Place in New Haven, Connecticut on August 15, 1983. I surmise that they spoke to the band again and perhaps met Dana there.

On August 16, 1983, Terri or Jess drove us up to Poughkeepsie from New Jersey and we waited outside of The Chance for INXS to arrive for their soundcheck. This was a routine way of doing things by that time. We had done it in May at the Ritz, and we likely did the same thing when Adam Ant had a concert in November 1982. Terri told me in a letter that she got me a ticket for the show at the Capitol Theater in Passaic, NJ on November 20, 1982, and that the plan was to wait for Adam Ant to come for soundcheck to try to meet him. It was a Saturday, so I came from university in Philadelphia, but I don’t remember what happened and I did not write it in my diary.

When INXS arrived, we went inside with the band. I think they let us in because they recognized Terri and Jess already. And my impression was that they were quite friendly and liked to meet their fans. Inside there was a bar and then a section with tables and then the dance floor and then the stage. I bought a screwdriver (vodka and orange juice) at the bar. I was only 18 and the drinking age in New York was 19 but they served me without question. We sat at a table that was behind the table where Kirk Pengilly, Jon Farriss, and Michael Hutchence were sitting. I sat facing their table and the stage. I was minding my own business. Terri and Jess went off to an area on the right that had video games. They either played or watched someone else play.

I sat there with my drink and took a pen from my purse. I amused myself by taking one of the Rockbill magazines that were on all the tables and drawing on it. I liked to draw women’s hairstyles on men’s pictures. Sometimes I also drew on some eyelashes or eyeliner. I also liked to fill in the holes in the printed letters. I was altering Sting’s picture on the cover when Kirk came over. I had given Sting a Fu Manchu mustache and a long, pointed beard and I was coloring in his hair. Kirk asked me what I was doing so I showed him. He said, “Oh, Sting is Chinese now.”

Kirk sat down at my table, and we talked. I talked to him about our car ride up to Poughkeepsie-how long it took, etc. I drew him a crude map to show him where we were in New York and where we had come from in New Jersey. I told him that we had to make a U-turn in the middle of the highway (I guess we had to go back for something we forgot?). Kirk said that the tour bus did that once, but it wasn’t on purpose.

He told me that I looked like I was going to a cricket match. I was wearing a white t-shirt, a denim skirt, white sandals, and a camouflage bucket hat. Terri and Jess came back to the table and apologized for interrupting us. I told them that they were not interrupting. Kirk left our table after a minute. I guess he took my comment to mean that he should go away. Even though Kirk Pengilly was my favorite member of INXS, I wasn’t there to hook up with him or anyone else so my friends were not interrupting.

The band started doing the soundcheck. Garry Gary Beers was up on stage. He was replacing the strings on his bass. He threw the old strings off the stage, and they sat there on the dance floor. Jess said that she wanted to have those strings. Garry Gary was her favorite band member. She felt it was too embarrassing to go get the strings. I did not care what any of them thought of me, so I got up and walked onto the dance floor; picked up the strings and brought them back to the table. I kept one and gave the others to Jess. From then on, we all made jokes about having Garry’s G-string.

One of the memorable events of this soundcheck happened when the other members of the band started scolding Michael, their lead singer. He was not participating in the soundcheck. He was playing around instead. He was refusing to sing. Andrew Farriss said something like, “If you aren’t going to sing then you should have stayed at the hotel.” Others in the band chimed in and said, “yeah, go back to the hotel.” It might have been Tim Farriss and Kirk or maybe all of them. I can’t be sure anymore.

This was probably my first impression of Michael Hutchence as a person, and it wasn’t a good one. He was screwing around instead of taking his job seriously- acting like a child instead of an adult. And I got a close-up look at the band’s dynamic; their interactions with each other. I found it interesting. I was definitely on the band’s side.

After the soundcheck was finished, we left the building to go grab something to eat. When we came back to The Chance, the people working there would not let us back into the building. We had to wait outside until they opened the doors again for the show. The rest of the story will follow in the next post.

May 24, 2025
Blog Post Two- INXS concert, The Ritz. May 21, 1983, NYC.

The photo is of me and my friends before an INXS concert in 1984. I want to introduce the people in it. Jess is not in the photo because she was taking it. I met Jess through Terri. Terri is third from the left, wearing the purple shirt. Terri and I met in the seventh grade when I moved to Hillsdale, New Jersey. Jess, Terri and I met a few years later because of a mutual interest in soccer and the New York Cosmos. Jess lived in Wayne, New Jersey.

Jess, Susan (fourth from the left, between Terri and me), and Dana (far right, wearing the Relax t-shirt) can be seen in the Wham documentary that is on Netflix. add link? They are in the footage from an autograph signing at Sam Goody at the Willowbrook Mall in New Jersey. I was at school in Philadelphia, so I wasn’t there.

@luindriel
When you show up in the Wham documentary on @Netflix ! #wham #whamdocumentary #80smusic
♬ original sound – Susan

Maria, first on the left in the photo, was a fan of Kirk Pengilly, same as me. We met her at an INXS concert earlier in 1984. I think we also met Susan at a different INXS concert or maybe she was a friend of Dana’s. I don’t remember. Dana had some kind of INXS fan club going. I think it was called INXS Alliance. We either met her because of that or at an INXS concert. Jess, Terri, and Dana all saw INXS open for Adam Ant at St. John’s University in April of 1983 and met members of the band but I don’t think they met each other.

Jen, second from the right, lived in Tampa, Florida which is where Terri went to college. Jen also had an interest in soccer and music. I don’t know how Terri and Jen met. It’s possible that they were pen pals long before Terri went to Florida.

What I remember most about the day Terri, Jess and I went to the Ritz to see INXS in concert was how tired and uncomfortable I was. We didn’t just go there for the show. We went early (around 3pm) and waited on the steps in front of the Ritz for the band to show up for soundcheck.

Remembering the Ritz

My mother’s future second husband owned the Ho-Ho-Kus Bakery and he gave me a job there during the summer between high school and my freshman year of college. Now I had just come back home from finishing freshman year of college and I worked at the bakery that morning from 6am until 1pm.

We were eating while sitting on the steps when INXS showed up for soundcheck. Tim Farriss, the guitarist, said, “Are you having a picnic?” I was wearing a sleeveless shirt with a blue diamond pattern and long pants. Jon Farriss, the drummer, looked me up and down when he passed me and he said, “Hi!” I said, “Hi!” back. I didn’t mind because I thought Jon Farriss was the best-looking and sexiest guy in the band. But we weren’t there for that. Nothing else happened as far as I can remember.

The band left and we still had hours to wait. I had to pee, so we pleaded with the doorman to let us in to use the bathroom. When I got in there I couldn’t go. Either my bladder was shy, or I was holding it too long. I couldn’t stay in there for long so I went back outside and had to wait a few more hours before I could try again. It was not fun. I thought I damaged something in my body.

We were first in line so when the doors opened, we took spots up against the stage. We still had to wait for a while. I was able to use the bathroom successfully. What a relief! We met another girl named Donna- Donna B while we were waiting for the show to start. We went to future shows with her too and she is also part of my story.

First the opening act, New Models, took the stage. I was so tired that I put my head down on the stage while they were playing. I was oblivious until Terri tapped my arm and told me to get up. I looked up to find the lead singer jumping up and down two inches from my head. I think he was trying to wake me up.

INXS came on and I listened and watched- no sleeping. They were good. I liked them. A couple of times when Michael Hutchence, the lead singer, was in front of me, I touched the top of his shoe with my index finger. No screaming, nothing crazy, just a tap with my finger.

Later on during the show, Michael drank some water from a glass Tropicana orange juice bottle and then handed it to me. I was thirsty so I drank some water and then passed the bottle to Terri. She drank and then passed the bottle to Jess and she drank. They passed the bottle back to me and I drank the rest of the water and then kept the bottle as a souvenir. I threw the bottle away a few years later.

We hung around near the stage after the show and the band came out onto the floor. I don’t remember anything about that except that Kirk Pengilly (guitar, vocals, saxophone) was standing around and I took a close look at the back of his head. He had very short hair in back and there were zig zag designs cut into his hair there. He turned around and said, “Hi!” I said hi and told him that I liked his haircut. He said, “thanks.”

I have no idea what time it was exactly, but I would have been awake for close to 24 hours at that point. I don’t know how long it took me to write anything down from this night. If I was really busy, I would just jot down notes and not write out the whole story until later. I was probably too tired to remember much. Maybe Terri or Jess talked to some of them. I don’t remember. We made it back to New Jersey without incident. I don’t remember who drove. I just know it wasn’t me because I didn’t have a car. I could use my mother’s car to drive to work but that’s it. Terri had her own car- a little Datsun, back when those existed!

May 10, 2025