As you know from the last post, INXS traveled directly to Hartford after finishing their concert in Cedar Grove, New Jersey.
INXS stayed at the Parkside Hilton in Hartford. How did we know where they were staying? I don’t remember where we got that information.
There are a lot of things I knew but I don’t remember how I came to know them. For example, Michael Hutchence’s fake name during that part of The Swing tour was Fabian Sparkle but I can’t remember if he told us that himself or if we found out from someone else. The same with Tim Farriss. His name was Alvin Purple.
Jess, Jen and I left for Hartford at one in the afternoon and arrived at the hotel at 3:30 pm. The hotel was easy to find. Back in those days, we navigated using street signs and paper road maps.
The Parkside Hotel
The club where INXS was playing that night, The Agora, was across town from the hotel so we decided to wait at the hotel until the band left for the club and we would follow the bus there in our car. We were not in the Chevy Suburban this time. Jess took her car. It was some kind of four-door sedan, but I don’t remember what brand it was.
NY Times article from June 10, 1990
The three of us were exhausted so we sat in the lobby to wait. When I am tired, I feel like I am drunk- out of it and kind of floating in space. The sun was shining on me, and I felt like I was in a dream.
I used to feel the same way at the end of working a graveyard shift or when I had a very strenuous track meet where I was in multiple events and/or I had to run heats. Sometime soon I will write about track.
The young woman who was taken for a ride
There was another young woman waiting in the lobby, so we talked to her to find out if she was also an INXS fan and she had a story to tell us.
She was waiting for a family member to pick her up and take her back to New Jersey. This young woman was at the concert in Cedar Grove the night before just like us and after the show she went on the tour bus to meet the band.
What she didn’t know was that INXS was traveling to Hartford, CT and not to a local hotel. By the time she found out what was happening, it was too late and she had to accompany the band to Connecticut.
Then when they got there, she had no place to sleep and got stuck in the same room as the tour bus driver, Randy, the same Randy who was going to buy us a drink and then make love to me. I felt so bad for this young woman. All she had done was make an innocent mistake and her punishment did not fit the crime.
She told us that Randy asked her to give him a massage. What a scary and uncomfortable way to have to spend the night! (Although it was probably more like 6am by the time INXS checked in at the Parkview Hilton.)
Accidentally running into Chris Murphy
Somehow, we heard that there was a vending machine on the fourth floor and we wanted something to drink so Jess, Jen, and I got on the elevator and went up there.
The plan was that Jess would try to hold the elevator for us while we got the soda from the machine. But we took too long and the elevator door closed before we could get in.
Jess came back up to the fourth floor on the same elevator right away and we got in but instead of going back down to the lobby, the elevator kept going up. When it stopped at the 14th floor and the doors opened, Chris Murphy, the manager of INXS, was standing there.
Chris looked at us and when he got inside the elevator he asked, “Didn’t I just see you yesterday?” And we said yes because he had just seen us a few hours before. We felt so embarrassed because it was not our intention at all to run into any of those people in the elevator but now it seemed like we were roaming the hotel looking for them.Â
Later, when INXS started mentioning in interviews that fans were following them around, I was sure they were referring to us because even Chris Murphy was recognizing us. I’m sure there were other groups of fans who followed them around at other times or in other parts of the country but that doesn’t change my thoughts on this subject.
Gary Grant is less than happy to see us
After we got back to the hotel lobby, more people from INXS started coming down there too. When we saw Gary Grant come down, we walked over to him and when he saw us, he was quite annoyed. “What are you doing here?”, he asked in a stern, accusatory tone. “You said it was your last show yesterday.”
I quipped that we were here because I had forgotten to buy a t-shirt the day before. Jess also offered an excuse and pointed to Jen. “Do you remember that Jen is from St Petersburg?”, she asked him. Gary said that he remembered Jen being there when we were in Florida. Jess told Gary that we decided to come to one more show for Jen’s sake so she could see INXS one more time before she went back to Florida.Â
Gary might have told us that he didn’t want to see us again after tonight and we assured him that we meant it this time.
Hanging out in the lobby
Jess, Jen, and I sat on one of the couches in the lobby while we waited for the band to assemble and then leave for the Agora. Kirk and his girlfriend Karen sat on the couch across from us, along with Jon and Garry Gary, while they waited to leave for the venue.
Randy, the bus driver, was also in the lobby with Gary Grant, and the whole group were waiting for Tim and Michael.
At some point, Randy left to bring the tour bus to the front door of the hotel. That was our cue to go get our car as the members of INXS who were in the lobby got on the tour bus.
Behind the tour bus
Jess pulled the car up behind the bus and we waited. I sat in the back seat. Everyone was waiting for Michael Hutchence. He was the last one out of the hotel.
Michael saw the car sitting behind the bus and he waved at us while he walked to the bus. But then he stopped and turned to get a closer look at our car. I think he was trying to see if I was in the back seat. Then he saw me and he smiled.
The Agora
The Agora looked like an abandoned warehouse. We had to get into line at the front door and wait because the club was general admission so there were no seats. Being at the front of the line when the doors opened was the way to get a spot in front of the stage.
Articles about the Agora
https://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2011/09/hartford-agora-165-dexter-ave-west.html
https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/business/80s-music-hall-to-be-demolished/1849706
Some photos of the inside of the Agora
https://www.mmone.org/agora-ballroom
While we were waiting in line, I met a few girls. Kirsten (Kira) was probably one of them. She lived in Connecticut and we exchanged letters after this date so I don’t know where else I would have met her.
My diary tells me that I also met a guy named Bob and I liked him. When we were standing around and chatting, I told the group that I knew Mel Gibson and they believed me. After that I told them I was from Mars so they would know I wasn’t being serious and they shouldn’t believe the Mel Gibson thing.
Glitter Girl againÂ
Glitter Girl, one of the women from the night before in Cedar Grove, also showed up in Hartford. If I recall correctly, she was petite (maybe five foot two and thin) and she had long brown hair that was wavy. She wasn’t ugly but she also wasn’t someone I thought was beautiful. I thought she was either of Italian descent or maybe Jewish because she reminded me of some of the young women at my school who were from Long Island and Jewish.Â
But I could be confusing her with her friend Leopard Woman. It doesn’t say in my diary if Leopard Woman was in Hartford; it only mentions Glitter Girl. My diary says, “someone told me that Glitter Girl claims to have had sex with Michael Hutchence tens of times”. Perhaps while we were in line, one of my new friends, maybe Kira, saw Glitter Girl and told us what she knew about her.
Front row
When Jess, Jen, and I got into the club, we got spots right up against the stage. We were just slightly left of center. Since I told Gary Grant that I was there because I forgot to buy a t-shirt, well, I had to buy a t-shirt. So, I left my spot and walked over to the merchandise table where Ronald was working.
We had met before so while I was looking at the shirts, we talked for a few minutes. He told me that he was from Tampa, Florida. I told him that I was definitely buying a shirt and he made a deal with me. If I bought him a Heineken beer and brought it to him, he would sell me a shirt for half price.
Not being twenty-one, I couldn’t buy him a beer. So, I went back to my spot by the stage and told Jess about the deal. Jess was twenty-one so I gave her the money, and she went to the bar and bought the Heineken for me.
The INXS t-shirt I bought
When she came back with the beer, I left again and brought it to Ronald. The t-shirt I bought was a white, cropped tank top. It looked like both the neck and the arm holes had been cut out with scissors.
On the front was the artwork from the cover of the single for Original Sin. It was a flower and then something was written in stylized Japanese katakana. If there was something on the back of the shirt, I no longer remember.
The shirt was too skimpy for my taste, so I never wore it out in public. Eventually, I threw it away. Now that I have lived in Japan (from 2021-2024) and studied the alphabets while living there, I know that the writing on the shirt said INXS (in-eh-ku-seh-su) in katakana which is the Japanese alphabet invented to transliterate foreign words into Japanese.
When I got back to college, I wanted to learn a little Japanese and maybe figure out what the shirt said so I bought a travel-size phrasebook published by Berlitz called “Japanese For Travellers.” I still have it. It tells you how to say things like, “I would like film for this camera.” As usual, my ambitions were far greater than my time and energy, so I did not learn any Japanese while I was in college.
With my new INXS t-shirt in hand, I walked back through the crowd to the spot in front of the stage where Jess and Jen were. Glitter Girl was in my place but not for long. She got angry with me when I moved in front of her but there was nothing, she could do about it.
Waiting for INXS to go on
Now I was extremely tired, and I did not enjoy having to stand some more while waiting for INXS to perform for us. My diary doesn’t say the name of the band who was the opening act that night. I only wrote that they sucked and that they played for over an hour.
Finally the show starts!
INXS finally went on after midnight. Then we got to be crushed against the stage by the audience that was behind us and pushing their way forward. We were miserable. Michael was very lucky to have us down in front though. The people who wanted to grab him couldn’t do it because we were in the way.
I don’t know why but Michael was often in front of us
Michael spent a good chunk of the concert standing with his foot on the monitor that was right in front of me. That night I was wearing a loose, V-neck, white t-shirt and I don’t think I was wearing a bra. The t-shirt was something like a regular Fruit of the Loom men’s undershirt so for me it was a bit like a tunic.
I don’t know if he spent so much time in front of me because he was able to look down my shirt from where he was or because I was crushed against the stage the most severely whenever he was in front of me. Or maybe he wanted to see Glitter Girl. Who knows?
Tim wore his birthday gift!
Timmy had cut the collar out of the shirt. When he saw that all three of us were looking his way, he made a point to let us know that he was wearing the shirt. He used his left hand to grab the hem of the shirt and pull it to one side, and he looked at us and nodded his head. We got the message and clapped and cheered.
Jess had her camera with her, and she took some photos of Tim on stage wearing the shirt so that Terri would get to see it. It was really great thing for Timmy to do for us and I never forgot it.
After the show
I didn’t write much in my diary about the concerts themselves; no set lists and few thoughts about the music. For this one, I wrote that the show was great as usual.
After it was over, I spoke to Ronald again and I also spoke to Chris Murphy. But I don’t know what we talked about. When I wrote in my diary, I would mention having conversations but not what they were about and I regret that now because I don’t remember. I haven’t learned my lesson to write down more details either because I still do the same thing today.
At the Parkside Hilton to say goodbyeÂ
Then Jess, Jen, and I drove back to the hotel so we could say goodbye to the band there when they returned. When we saw Timmy in the hotel lobby, he said that he wore the shirt just for us and said that he wished Terri had been there to see it.
Timmy gave me a kiss goodbye, and he also shook my hand and said, “Thanks a lot, Donna.”
When Gary Grant came in, he complained to me that I had said, “This is it” yesterday and I said, “I never said that!” But I’m pretty sure I did. Gary was like, “Yes, you did,” and I was like, “No, I didn’t,” and it went back and forth like that a couple of times. I think I said, “This really is it this time.”
Gary Grant gave all three of us a kiss goodbye. If I said goodbye to Kirk at all, my diary doesn’t say. Maybe he didn’t stop to say goodbye to us or maybe I just waved or something. I wasn’t about to go looking for a goodbye kiss from him or anything else because his girlfriend was there and I was not going to get between them or mess anything up for him.
Saying goodbye to Michael HutchenceÂ
In my diary I wrote that Garry Gary gave me a kiss goodbye and Jon did too. The last person we said goodbye to was Michael. Michael thanked us for being there and said, “You are too much!” He kissed Jess and Jen and said he would see us sometime.
Then he gave me a kiss and we hugged. Gary Grant was still in the lobby and standing a bit behind Michael and to one side. When the hug was over, I took a step back and I was reluctant to leave so I started walking backwards while giving Michael a lustful look.
I looked away from Michael for a second and glanced at Gary Grant and I noticed that he was now looking at Michael and me with a curious expression on his face like he was wondering if something had happened between me and Michael. And if you have been reading earlier posts of the blog then you know that something had happened.
Michael and I looked at each other while I took several steps backwards but then I had to face reality. As usual, I had to work later in the day, and I was not going to do anything other than go home and go to the Emerson Hotel.
I turned my palms face up and shrugged my shoulders once before I turned my back on Michael and walked out of the hotel. 🤷‍♀️ That was around 3 am.
Falling asleep at the wheel
Jess drove for the first part of our trip back to New Jersey. She pulled over on the shoulder of the highway after an hour because she was falling asleep behind the wheel, so I switched places with her.
That was not a solution to our problem because I was also too tired to be driving. Fortunately, we didn’t crash on our way home from the INXS concert. When my eyes closed for a second, the car didn’t swerve off the road, but when I realized what happened, I felt a surge of adrenaline from the fear and that helped.
We didn’t use cocaine to handle driving while exhausted and we didn’t have any caffeine so instead, I opened the window next to me so that I had an uncomfortable, continuous rush of air blasting my face.
Tenpole Tudor
I also put in a Tenpole Tudor cassette tape in the car stereo and played it extremely loud. I’m sure I sang along to it also and that worked to keep me awake. When we got to my house around 5:30 am, Jess got back in the driver’s seat and drove herself and Jen to her house in Wayne.
Before INXS, for me, there was Tenpole Tudor. Tenpole Tudor was another band I discovered through MTV, and I loved them, but they broke up in 1982 which was not long after their videos first appeared on MTV. They only made two albums. My cassette was something that was released in Canada and it combined songs from both of their LPs.
There is a word in German and I think it says it all. Wunderbar!
Back when I was in high school, or maybe during the summer before I first went to college, I hunted down at least the first of Tenpole Tudor’s albums and a couple of singles and recorded them on cassette tapes. There was a record store in Bergenfield, NJ that had imports and I think that was where I found them.
When I went off to college in Philadelphia for the first time in September 1982 when I was still only 17, I brought Tenpole Tudor’s music with me. That and Adam and the Ants. I tried very hard to introduce other people to their music and I wanted them to share my enthusiasm for such beloved songs as Wunderbar. Except for my roommate Karen, no one was interested. Maybe that is why she is still my friend today.
One week until Jackie could see INXS again
INXS had a show at a club in Providence, Rhode Island that day (August 12), and then the band made its way north and west, doing shows along the way before stopping in Chicago for a show one week later on August 19. Back where Jackie could see them again.
