Nile Rodgers, Tim Farriss and Garry Gary Beers. INXS at the Beacon Theatre in New York City. Photo by Jess
Michael Hutchence and Belinda Carlisle’s last night together
INXS opened for The Go-Go’s for the last time on July 29, 1984 at a show at Kings Dominion amusement park near Richmond, Virginia. Neither INXS nor The Go-Go’s had a concert on July 30. It’s not clear whether Belinda Carlisle and Michael Hutchence spent a final night together after the last show or if it was the following night. INXS did not arrive in New York City until the day of their show at the Beacon Theatre on the 31st.
Belinda Carlisle wrote in her book, “Lips Unsealed: A Memoir”, that she and Michael spent a sweet, sad, romantic, and passionate last night together where they promised to remain friends.
The Go-Go’s did their next show in Berkeley, California on August 1, 1984. INXS presumably traveled by bus to New York City from Richmond on July 31 to perform.
A screenshot from Google Maps showing the drive from the last INXS concert with The Go-Go’s to New York City where INXS would perform at the Beacon Theatre.
Front row seats
We had front row seats to the show because Jess, Terri and Dana had waited in front of the theater all night on the night before tickets went on sale to buy tickets for all of us. When that was, I don’t know because it isn’t in my diary. Probably some day or night when I was working and couldn’t spend all night on the sidewalk with them.
The page from my 1984 pocket-sized appointment book showing July 30 to August 5. INXS concerts and waitressing shifts.
Renee [Terri’s sister] is coming along with us. She is a great kid and a lot of fun. She isn’t a wet rag like some people I know. I’m going to run into Susan and Maria tomorrow and they’ll want to know everything that has ever happened to me. It might be fun to be infamous, but I don’t know. If I don’t want other people to spread gossip around, I have to watch what I say.
I think deep down inside I want to be notorious and have people whisper when I walk by. It might be fun to be on people’s bad side for a while. I am a weirdo.
I’m bored now. I have stuff I could do but I don’t feel like it. I’ll watch TV.
The morning of the show
On Tuesday morning, July 31st, Jess, Terri and I went into New York City. Terri or Jess would have driven us in. I’m 61 years old now and I have never driven into New York City. It’s too scary. If I was in charge of this stuff, we would have taken a bus into the Port Authority Bus Terminal.
While we were there, I made an INXS poster to take to the venue. If I didn’t have a letter from Maria that she wrote on 9/4/84, I would not know about the poster because I don’t remember.
It’s possible I also filled out a form for Dana’s INXS Alliance club. I remember writing that my goals were to be independently wealthy and a world traveler, but I don’t remember if that was at this gathering or some other time.
Back in 1984, I was envious of Dana. If I recall correctly, both of her mother and father were entertainment lawyers and based on their nice apartment in New York City, they seemed successful at their jobs.
They also had connections, so I was envious that Dana had opportunities that I did not have. My family could not fully foot the bill for my education even with financial aid, so I had to earn money to pay for part of my tuition and all of my expenses.
The waitressing job I had was essential because I made well above the minimum wage there. The tips were great because the Emerson Hotel was popular and busy, and I was a pretty young woman. It would have been stupid and dangerous for my future to blow off my job to stay with Michael Hutchence.
Some books by Jean Paul Sartre, French Existentialist
After thinking about it, I went out and purchased another book by Sartre so I could read it and then also give it to Michael. I didn’t write any of this down, so I no longer remember the name of the book I bought but I believe it was a different book in Sartre’s trilogy of novels than the one Michael showed me that night.
It was quite nice of me to spend some of the little money I had to buy a book for someone who had a hit record album in Australia. And it wouldn’t be the last time I gave him a book or spent money on a book that I tried to give to him when I barely had money myself. Lots of fans give gifts but I think Michael misconstrued what it meant when I did it. In a way, I was like Oprah Winfrey and wanted to share books I loved.
Waiting for INXS in the lobby of their hotel
At some point before we expected INXS to arrive from Richmond, Terri, Jess, and I got back into the car and drove to the Barbizon Plaza Hotel where INXS was staying.
A screenshot from the website nycago.org with a photo and description of the Barbizon Plaza Hotel.A screenshot from the website nysonglines.com that shows that the Barbizon Plaza Hotel was across from the Helmsley Windsor Hotel back in 1984
As we waited in the hotel lobby, Jon and Garry walked in and walked straight into an elevator. When Andrew walked by, he said hello to us. Then Timmy and Michael came into the hotel and the two of them looked extremely tired.
We stopped Michael and asked him to please wait because we had something to give him. Jess left to go to the car and retrieve the books and magazines. I asked him if he had read “Nausea” and when he said he had not, I told him that I had it for him.
I think it’s funny to say that I gave Michael Hutchence nausea.
Here is a video about the book. It’s a weird book.
Jess came back with the three Jean Paul Sartre books and also a couple of magazines about flying airplanes that she had found at her house in the den. She brought them for him because Michael had said he wanted to fly a plane that night when we were all in his room.
Michael’s manners
Michael said, “I’m forever in your debt” after I solemnly handed over the books to him. That was a bit much although I think it turned out to be true in the end. He was using the manners he had learned somewhere whether from his father or from the British community in Hong Kong.
Many people have remarked upon his somewhat unusual way of behaving. In this case I would describe him as being dramatically debonair. To me, it was memorable but weird. A regular “thank you, that’s nice of you” would have been better. I suppose I was being weird too by acting like books are holy. But they are!
Someone came over to ask us about Michael Hutchence. This person wanted to know who he was, so I said he was Michael Jackson and he was playing across the river. Michael Jackson and his brothers were doing a concert at Giants Stadium at the Meadowlands in New Jersey.
We left the hotel after that because Michael had gone to his room to sleep. I have no idea what we did until it was time to see the concert. Maybe we grabbed something to eat or went back to Dana’s apartment? If Dana lived on the Upper West Side, then we would have been able to walk from her place to the theater.
Beacon Theatre
The Beacon Theatre was and still is at 2124 Broadway between 74th and 75th Street. In Manhattan, 20 north-south blocks equal one mile. It would have been no more than fifteen blocks to walk there. But that is another thing I no longer remember.
Like I said earlier, we had front row seats, and they were near the middle of the stage. At least six of us, perhaps even a couple more girls I didn’t know, were there too. The concert itself is another thing I don’t remember. I’m sure I enjoyed it. If INXS had not been a good live band, I would not have wasted my time going to eleven shows that summer especially after Kirk Pengilly had brought his girlfriend over for the tour.
Screaming girls
The main things that I disliked were when girls screamed or jumped on stage to attack Michael and when Michael messed up the words. And by screaming, I don’t mean cheering. I didn’t mind cheering. Some of the girls let out the loudest, high-pitched screams like they were seeing the Beatles and while I hate to describe it as hysterical, the word fits. It was painful and I think it damaged my hearing.
Nile Rodgers, former guitarist for Chic and famous record producer, came onstage and played guitar when INXS performed Original Sin. The photo at the top of the page is from the concert. Nile Rodgers had produced the song almost a year earlier in New York City at the Power Station.
If it wasn’t for the letter from Maria that she wrote on 9/26/84, I wouldn’t know that Michael Hutchence came over to me during the show and sang The One Thing right into my face. She wrote, “Something like that is hard to forget!” and yet, over the years, I forgot!
The Beacon Theatre stage door
After the show, we waited along with dozens of other INXS fans on 75th Street where the stage door to the Beacon Theatre is located. There must have been some kind of lounge on the second or third floor where the band was hanging out.
There were windows facing 75th Street and we saw Tim Farriss at one of the windows. He was looking at the crowd of fans who had gathered and he yelled, “No shit!” to all of us because he was pleased to see so many fans.
Michael then leaned out of the window and threw a bunch of white, rectangular cards that were about 3 inches by 5 inches in size. We grabbed some and saw that it was an invitation to an after-show party at some club called Pizza A Go Go.
The invitation to the INXS concert after-party that Michael Hutchence threw from the window of the Beacon Theatre.
When Michael saw Terri, Jess and I, he tried to pour beer on us from the bottle he was holding. He missed. That was not the kind of behavior that I found amusing. It was not something that would win me over. Just the opposite-it was the behavior of a 12-year-old boy in middle school who was a jerk, and I hated those boys.
After a while, everyone with INXS came out from the theater except for Timmy and Jon. We stayed and waited for Timmy because Jess and Terri wanted to show him a list of VHS videocassette tapes they had made with movies and shows on them and find out which ones he wanted.
When Timmy and Jon came out of the stage door, some weird guy walked by and asked us where the stars were. I pointed to the sky and told him, “Up there.” Timmy had hurt his head somehow, so he didn’t want to look at the list of tapes and we let them leave.
Pizza A Go Go
We decided to drive downtown to check out the club. When we got there it did not look interesting but then I saw that Ronald, a guy who sold t-shirts for INXS, was there and that seemed like a good sign so we decided to stay for a while and see if anyone from the band would show up.
We greeted Michael and he kissed each of us hello. Michael was wearing a bright blue shirt. When a song by the Talking Heads started playing, all of us went out on the dance floor and danced together. The lead singer of INXS danced in the club the same way he danced when he was performing onstage.
Nile told me he didn’t remember me after I said that I was not the girl with the shaved head. You can read about that day in the studio in Blog Post 5. He was friendly and nice, but I don’t think we talked for long after that. Maybe I talked to him about the concert, but I don’t remember.
We saw Gary Grant making out with Ellen, someone we had met in Philadelphia, so we left him alone. Bonny and Franny were glommed on to Jon Farriss, same as they were in Philadelphia, and they also recognized me from there. They were talking his ear off again, so we spent most of our time at Pizza A Go Go chatting with Garry Gary Beers.
On that day in Florida, the tour with the Go-Go’s was close to its end and Garry had told the woman who took care of the Go-Go’s clothes while on tour that he would be breaking things off with her and she was very upset about it. He felt bad about that so that’s why he didn’t feel like talking.
Terri, Jess and I left the club before the band did and drove home. Timmy had not shown up at the club so there was no reason why Terri would want to stay.
We had spent a lot of time with Garry Gary, so Jess was happy. I didn’t have to work the next day for a change, but I usually didn’t want to be out with INXS in the first place, so I didn’t mind leaving.
We needed to get some rest because we would be driving to Toronto, Canada in about 24 hours, on the night of August 1st, to see INXS play at The Concert Hall in the Masonic Temple. It was going to be an eight-hour drive.
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 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-
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.
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, 1984Screenshot 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.
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.
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.
Michael Hutchence, INXS, July 1984, Photo by Jackie
Where I left off:
Sophomore year of college has ended, and I have returned to Hillsdale, New Jersey for the summer. I’m waitressing at the Emerson Hotel (which is not a hotel but only a restaurant) for the second summer in a row. My friends and I are waiting for word on when INXS will tour.
5/29/84
I just pigged out on Doritos and two candy bars. Now Frank keeps telling me I’m going to get fat. No way. I’ve been working a lot and also doing stretching and exercise as well. I just have to get a haircut and I’ll look great.
Meatballs is on TV. I’m reading the Weekly World News. I’m getting slightly bored. I shouldn’t have eaten so much. I’m drinking Dr. Pepper to stay awake.
I got out of work late today. The party wasn’t too much work. I made $21 today.
I’m still waiting to get paid from the school. Hopefully the financial aid thing will come soon so I know how much I need to save this summer. Then when I’ve saved that I can buy things.
Time to go to bed. After tomorrow I will have worked seven days straight. Kim B has broken my 100m record. [One of my high school track records.] It makes me nauseous.
The trailer for Meatballs from 1979
More diary entries
In this entry I am sitting in Friendly’s eating a Sunday for some of the time. I mention opening a bank account because I had to hide my tip money from my brother (not Danny). This brother would steal various things like my coin collection or money so he could buy pot (marijuana). He would also eat the food that I bought. During both summers I was home waitressing I hid money in a suitcase in my closet-much of it was in dollar bills.
5/30/84
For the third day in a row the weather has been for the ducks and other amphibious creatures. I just saw Mr. DeCaro in Westwood. [A teacher from my high school.] I’m surprised he recognized me.
Sammy (one of the Albanian kitchen workers) kept saying “You get mashed potatoes for lunch”. He made sure I’d get some because I didn’t yesterday. He is nice. I still don’t understand him half of the time like when I was leaving, he said something about plants or something. Who knows?
David [Head cook at the Emerson Hotel] is starting in again with the still waters run deep stuff. Now I’m a prostitute in NY on my days off. Alicia [a fellow waitress] is the only one David treats halfway nicely, and he does it to get whoever he can steamed about it. He fed her Veal Parm a couple of times.
I should open a bank account and get my money out of the house.
Original Sin made it into the 50s and is now falling.
I’m at Friendly’s now. Another fit of hyperactivity and a whipped cream craving brought me here.
Gary Grant called Terri today. It seems that June is the month. I wonder what the future will bring?
Oh gee, I think life is just too exciting for me. I pity the people who work here. If I had to deal with all of these definite psychopaths every day, I don’t know what I’d do. They probably think I’m one of them. At least I’m quiet.
At least where I work, they’re too old to be rowdy. Too much excitement and they’d probably have a stroke. I should check out the parking lot in front of Medi Mart to see the lake.
Hillsdale is such a beat town. Two rednecks followed me in Music Merchant today. Where are all the real men? If I get some definite plans soon, I can arrange for days off. I love when people in jogging suits come in for a sundae.
David was saying how Alicia came in and told everyone she played the flute. The skin flute? These people must make garbage money. There’s another lone girl drinking coffee and smoking.
5/31/84
I said I wasn’t going to waste time, but it is three o’clock and I’ve done nothing. I just went to Quick Chek [a convenience store near Friendly’s. Half a mile from my house] to get lunch. Maybe I’ll go for a long walk later. I slept until after noon. It was so cold and dark outside I just couldn’t get out of bed. That is a habit I must break if I want to make the best use of my time. I made an appointment to get my haircut on Saturday.
I went up to PV [Pascack Valley High School where I went to school. Eight-tenths of a mile from my house] and looked to see if the record board was on the wall. It wasn’t. I jumped over a hurdle a few times and took a couple of long jumps. I jumped almost fourteen feet in my estimation. That’s pretty good for not having trained for two years and for wearing pants. There’s junk on TV as usual. I’m watching Oh Heavenly Dog. On my second walk I watched a rabbit eat.
6/1/84
I’m going to see Breakin’ today. I spoke to Terri on the phone recalling past stupidity over the wire like when someone called for Nora and I said, “She’s not here right now”. “When will she be back?” “Actually, she doesn’t live here”.
Breakin’ had good dancing but not much plot and terrible acting.
INXS is going to be here in the next two or three weeks. They have a date in Seattle on June 21.
I’m kind of depressed. I’m going to sleep now.
Trailer for Breakin’
Jean Paul Sartre and a new haircut
I needed to cut all my permed hair off because it looked like this. This photo also shows the hat I wore to the first INXS concert I went to in 1984. More on that soon.
At Jes’ house in 1983. Old photo. Donna. Sometime after start of sophomore year at Penn.
6/2/84
It’s almost time to get my haircut. My hair will probably never be this long again. I hope it turns out nice.
I finally finished Nausea. Roquentin’s life is over even though he is still alive because he has discovered that existence is meaningless. He thinks he is superfluous. “Every existing thing is born without reason, prolongs itself out of weakness, and dies by chance.”
A YouTube video about Jean Paul Sartre’s novel, “Nausea.” I chose this video because it features a real person and isn’t created or narrated by AI.
6/3/84
Another Sunday over and done with. In twelve hours, I will be back working. I hope I don’t have dreams where I wait on people all night like last night. Everyone has complimented me on my haircut. It is very short, but I like it a lot. I have to see how punky it can get.
One table of Joanne’s was very nice. The woman said I could be a model pretty much because I am tall. “Tall is in”, she said. I suppose I can stop in at Reinhard’s [the Philly modeling agency] when I get back to school. It couldn’t hurt. I’d like to do a commercial or get into acting maybe. I wonder where I’ll be when I’m forty.
After the haircut
My new haircut. I am next to my brother Danny.
Mostly entries about work
I’ve included these to give an idea of what my job was like and how much money I made. Also to show that I did not have my own car and I had to share the cars with my mother and my mother’s husband, Carl. He had a vintage Mercedes that he brought to the marriage. He was not at all wealthy though. As a baker, he worked long hours and very hard, but he made very little profit. My mother was the primary wage earner. She was a chemist at a paper company.
Some guy was choking today. Jackie [a fellow waitress] tried to help him, but she wasn’t strong enough. Some man gave him the Heimlich maneuver and got the food out.
Yesterday, the police and ambulance were there because some old lady looked like she had an attack. She was OK too. It was a decent lunch today-$23. Usually, I only make about $15. I was worried this morning that I wouldn’t get to work because Carl took the car somewhere, but I made it.
I just went up to the track and ran a mile in 7:06. I’m not in terrible shape but I’ll be sore tomorrow. I saw Mr. Heinz [a teacher from my high school and one of my track coaches] and he told me that Kim B broke my 100 and long jump records. Heinz thinks it will take two more years for her to break the rest of them.
6/6/84
I hate working parties at lunch. Alice [my boss] wanted me to work on Friday, but I said no because I’m going to be up all of Thursday night. [Going to see Thomas Dolby in concert.] Alice is such a bitch. She doesn’t tell us anything and then chides us when we make a mistake. Jimmy (the owner) was getting on my nerves too. I don’t like people talking condescendingly to me. David (the cook) got on my nerves too. I want to get my ear double pierced tonight. Terri was bothering me about getting my hair cut short, but I told her to shut up until she sees it tomorrow.
6/7/84
Good morning. Off from work at last!
I went to Nanuet last night and got my right ear double pierced. People lie when they say it doesn’t hurt. I also bought a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. I’m listening to Taking Tiger Mountain, the Brian Eno tape I bought yesterday. All of his records are the lowest price on the chart at Music Merchant.
Mom better not be getting nosy in my stuff because it is not her business. If she does then no way am I coming back to live here again if I can help it. Time to eat and watch the soaps. I have an hour to kill before I have to be at Terri’s.
Thomas Dolby concert & INXS is coming soon!
6/8/84
In three weeks, they are here. [INXS] June 28 at Radio City. June 30 at Jones Beach and July 2 at Holmdel.
The concert last night wasn’t as good as the other one I saw. It was too hot and sticky and hard to see. I’m sure that girl keyboard player is a transvestite. If she isn’t then she is an extremely ugly girl. My stomach acted up on me again. I missed Windpower because I had to go to the bathroom.
Terri and Jess seem to be sticks in the mud. I’ll deal with it if the time comes to. Driving in NYC is enough to give anyone an ulcer or heart attack. The drivers are crazy. We drove through Harlem, and it was really sad. Some places looked like they’d been bombed. We drove past an open fire hydrant and Terri said “Open the window” so I did, and we got soaked. She was only kidding but I’ll do just about anything if it is suggested.
Windpower video
Soccer
6/10/84
It has been a long day. It went by like it was three days instead of ten hours. I didn’t make much money today. My tables were cheap tippers. I told people I was getting a tattoo because Toni [a fellow waitress] is my idol. I was afraid to ask Alice for days off, but I did it and she marked it down in the book. I used Jackie Fuhrmann as my excuse.
It is so fucking hot. I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep well tonight. Yesterday was the Sting game. Karl Heinz Granitza gave us some tickets and so did Seninho. Karl Heinz gave his jersey to Terri. The Sting left right after the game. We hung out and then went to the Front Row and talked.
My dad was a psycho
6/12/84
I woke up early today because Mom needed a ride to work. She is going to be away until Friday. I drove the Mercedes for the first time. It is easy to handle but it moves by itself, and I get startled every time it shifts gears on its own.
Yesterday, Danny drove me into Westwood. I went to Berkeley elementary school. It is a lot smaller than I remember. Of course, everything looks big when you are small. I can’t imagine myself that short. I went down by the brook and saw the waterfall. There was a no trespassing sign and a bunch of geese. I thought they were patrolling the property because they came towards me when I stepped on the grass. I don’t know why I was afraid of them. They don’t even have teeth. I walked back home and then ate dinner. I have to get out of the house when everyone else is there.
I went to the diner with Danny and Steven Flood. I think we were a bit loud while we were there. We were reminiscing. We talked about the old neighborhood in Westwood. We talked about the crazy and delinquent things that we did and about how psychotic my father was. We went driving in NY state and then came back here. We brought back Bill with us. He is also a busboy at the diner.
We played a game of Trivial Pursuit. Steven won with the help of a few lucky guesses. I came in second. Danny finally came in third at 2:30 in the morning.
I think I will close tonight at work. I don’t mind because I get a break to eat. Everyone there keeps saying how I talk more now and I’m getting wise. I can talk to other people easier. I’m more friendly than I used to be.
More harassment in New York City
6/13/84
I’m getting a taste of the days when there was no electricity. There was a huge storm when I was in NYC, and I guess that caused a power outage. I don’t think people ate Chef Boyardee mini ravioli in those days. I’m writing by candlelight-how romantic.
Terri and I went into the city to shop for clothes. I bought shoes, shorts, a dress, and some tops. It was hot earlier. Terri wore shorts but she regretted it when the comments and looks started. I bought a bird whistle from a man with one arm, and I decided to give it to Garry Gary for his birthday. Terri bought James Lee a red shirt and is going to put Stay Young on it and give it to Timmy. Someone gave me grapes for free and some other people offered us coffee. I don’t know why.
Working Tuesday night was a bitch. I got stuck with a lot of parties at one point. I had a fucking jerkoff table of six that left me $4.50 on a $70 check. Dicks.
I have to copy some good Ed Anger phrases so I can remember like “I’m sicker than a hog with a belly full of wild onions” and “Madder than Richard Simmons with a run in his leotard.”
I don’t think I would be able to survive without electricity. I’m too accustomed to it by now. I can still play my Casio because it has batteries.
Financial Aid
6/14/84
Someone is paving our driveway, and it is very noisy. I made a lot of money in May, but I haven’t saved much. I should enter the MTV party house contest. I would win a house in Indiana! Oh wow! Then me and John Mellencamp would paint the mother pink.
I don’t think I’ll ever be satisfied with my wardrobe. I still need something decent to wear. The dress I bought was too small and I don’t like it. My stomach is a pain. I don’t look good in some things because of it and buying pants and skirts is a pain. I’m not satisfied with much of anything today.
I got the good news from the school. The grand total for my fine institution is $15,200. [That’s equivalent to about $47,400 in 2025.] I have to come up with $1300. [I paid a share determined by the university. My mother paid a share determined by the university. The rest was covered by financial aid, grants, and student loans.] That’s not too bad. I’ll have that in two weeks.
I finished reading 1984. It is a great book. I don’t know how easily I would succumb to doublethink. I did solve a mystery because of that book. I read about the snakes and ladders game which in this country is called chutes and ladders. I’m restless again. I feel like going for a walk or staying up all night.
A video about Chutes and Ladders. George Orwell’s novel, “1984”, mentions a game called Snakes and Ladders and I was able to deduce that the game was the same as the one in America called Chutes and Ladders. The INXS song “Melting in the Sun” has the lyric, “take a snake or take a ladder” and now I knew what that lyric meant. I had never heard of Snakes and Ladders before.
6/16/84
Bridget [fellow waitress] was encouraging about my future. She said I would get a new wardrobe, a good job, make lots of money, take vacations. I guess I should want that. I don’t know. She was encouraging me to go to Florida. [To see INXS in concert.] I suppose I could afford another trip.
I bought gray pants today. I have my outfit for Radio City. I keep going back and forth between thinking I look good and thinking I look awful. People are overly critical about their own looks. I saw Kathy [member of my high school track team] where I bought the pants. She works there doing the same thing as Terri-straightening out the racks and shit. We don’t have much in common besides track.
6/17/84
Home at last. Work sucked as it usually does on Sunday. I forgot Dad on this Father’s Day. Out of sight, out of mind.
6/18/84
Jackie will be here a week from tomorrow. I might go to Florida. [To see INXS in concert.] I have enough money for school, so I just need money for Florida. I’m going to see Ghostbusters tonight. There is too much to do. I want to be wealthy-then I wouldn’t have to work and could spend time on more important things.
Fun in New York City
6/19/84
Tomorrow I’m going into the city again. We are going to check out Canal St. I have a month to save the money for Florida.
6/20/84
I’m so tired. I got a message that Alice [my boss] called. She must have called this morning, but I’ve been in the city all day. I didn’t get back until 11:30pm.
I met Dana, the INXS Alliance girl. She has a job with the booking agent for The Go-Gos. That is a good job to have. I can’t afford to have a job just for making connections.
I’m not in the best of moods right now. It’s the usual anxiety attack.
I’m listening to a Chinese tape that I bought in Chinatown. I had fun today. I bought some earrings that mean happiness in Chinese. The owner translated all of the earrings for us. I also bought a Chinese mask. I got my fortune at a Buddhist temple for 50 cents. It says-“Probability of Success- excellent. Wherever in the world you may travel, some mystery you sure will unravel. A simple mallet dug out from gravel may turn to be a president’s gavel.” Some Chinese woman got me to buy four chicken sandwiches for her.
I met a guy who works security during concerts in the city. He will be doing Michael Jackson’s shows. He is into the martial arts. He told us not to be strangers but to keep being strange.
I’m getting sick of people calling me strange. Strange is the guy who asked me if I ever had frozen pink. He said I should put Jess’s Dekadance t-shirt in the freezer and then cut out the pink and eat it.
Danny is graduating from high school tomorrow. Dr. Poli [the high school principal] has banned cap throwing. Danny looked forward to chucking his cap and the whole place away.
Jess’s Dekadance t-shirt had a picture of the album cover on it. INXS released two different versions of the Dekadance EP. The one released in the U.S. had remixes of songs from Shabooh Shoobah.
INXS
6/22/84
Today is Garry Gary Beers’ birthday.
Yesterday I went to Danny’s graduation and saw some people I knew and then went to Terri’s to pick up my Casio.
I’m not in a good mood today. I hope I get my period soon to get over this soon. [PMS] I have to go to work today.
I got the concert days off but not the days around them. It’s going to be interesting. Terri called Gary [Gary Grant, INXS tour manager] in Michigan. He said Original Sin went to number one in France, but I didn’t see it.
Freddie Soehnlein [a family friend] died in a swimming pool. I read that in the paper while I was on the phone with Terri.
I made a ton of money today. $110. [The equivalent of $343 in 2025.] Somebody left me a $26 tip. It is pouring rain outside, or I’d go out. Van Halen is annoying me on MTV. I’m not into the videos they play these days.
I asked for July 7 off so I can go to Philly. [To see INXS in concert.]
I asked Aunt Barbara for my oboe back so I can get into it again.
6/25/84
I bought five tapes and went out to dinner at the diner. Then I went to see The Karate Kid and now I’m at home watching David Letterman.
6/26/84
I’m hyperactive now. Only 24 hrs. or so to go. I can’t wait. Jackie talked to them, [INXS] and they remember Terri. Terri is getting all of the inside information no problem.
The bird whistle
The plastic whistle that was shaped like a bird was extremely cheap. It wasn’t something I wanted. I only bought it on June 13th out of pity for the one-armed man who was selling them on the streets of New York City.
To turn it into a gag gift for Garry Gary for his birthday, I placed the whistle in a shoebox along with some articles that I cut out from the Weekly World News. I wrote a note from Eric, the bird whistle, that explained he was an orphan whose owner had been killed in a tragic boating accident. I named the toy, Eric, because I loved Monty Python’s Flying Circus which I watched as a kid. Channel 13 was the PBS (Public Broadcasting) channel in New York City, and they started showing Monty Python in 1974.
Channel 13 promo video
The sketches that included animals named Eric:
Fish License sketch video
Eric The Half a Bee video
I wrapped the shoebox in the cover of an issue of The Weekly World News. The headline was “Jealous Computer Kills Top Scientist.” I can’t find a photo of that issue on the internet.
Here’s a photo of a different issue from that time.
The cover of the Weekly World News tabloid paper from June 26, 1984.
On June 27, 1984, Jess, Terri, Jackie, and I went to New York City in the evening to wait in the lobby of the hotel where INXS would be staying. Terri drove us. I wrote in my diary that it was the Windsor Harley Hotel, but the internet tells me that the Helmsleys owned a hotel named Windsor and a hotel named Harley and not a hotel called Windsor Harley. My best guess is that INXS stayed at the Helmsley Windsor Hotel on 58th St and 6th Ave just up the street from Radio City Music Hall where they were to open for The Go-Go’s the next night.
Everyone had birthday presents for Garry Gary so what I remember is all of us being around Kirk and Garry while we gave him his gifts. Michael came over and planted a kiss on my cheek. Not something I was interested in because I still didn’t like him. The wrapping on my shoebox gave everyone a laugh. The gift though? Maybe not. It was weird.
Kirk told us that he had to go to the airport and pick up “the little battler.” That’s some kind of Australian slang that seemed kind of misogynistic or insulting like “the ball and chain” or “the old lady.” Not being Australian, I had no idea what he meant. The internet says that he called her a working-class person.
He was talking about his girlfriend, Karen Hutchinson, who was flying in from Australia to spend some time on tour with Kirk. Pretty clear message there that nothing further was going to happen between me and Kirk Pengilly.
I think I had already gotten that message though after getting the friendly, polite letter with no contact information and the revelation in the magazine that he had a girlfriend.
Before Kirk left, I told him that I had started playing the lottery and I asked for a number. He picked 26 which was his age. I also asked Gary Grant for a lottery number, and he picked 27 which I believe was also his age.
Scary drive back to New Jersey late at night
While Terri was driving north on Amsterdam Avenue to get to the George Washington Bridge, the car hit a huge pothole. I don’t know if we were in Harlem or already north of Harlem when it happened. Afterwards, we heard a scraping noise of metal in contact with the road. Terri pulled into a gas station, and we wanted the attendant to help us, but he refused to leave the booth he was in. That was a sign that we were in an area that had a lot of criminal activity.
Jackie was panicking and she lived in Chicago, so it was surprising that she was so frightened. The rest of us were also frightened and it only got worse when a car full of Hispanic guys stopped and asked if we needed help. Because now we have two problems; a broken car and several men we don’t know who might be looking to take advantage of an opportunity to hurt us.
Terri and I put on our toughest tough girl attitudes and Terri said no to them. She told them to go away very firmly when they asked again, and thankfully they did.
A piece of the car was hanging down and touching the ground. It turned out to be the oil pan, but I didn’t know what it was at the time. I had the idea to tie it back up to the underside of the car using my belt. I had a cool-looking hip belt. A hip belt was not worn through belt loops but was worn slung around your hips. My belt had a bunch of silver-colored rings about one inch in diameter and they were connected by strips of black leather. It was a sturdy belt.
An example of a hip belt from the 1980s. Mine had similar rings but they were held together by strips of black leather.
So, I took off my belt, got on the ground, and managed to loop the belt through some part of the oil pan and then loop my belt through some metal part of the underbody so the oil pan was not scraping the ground. Then I buckled the belt to secure it. After that, I bought a quart of oil from the attendant in the booth just in case the car was leaking oil, and we would need to add some on the way home.
We got back on the road and didn’t have any more problems getting back to New Jersey. Terri had to take her car to the shop to have the oil pan fixed, so we had to use Jess’ car to carry on with our adventures.
The INXS concert
The next day, June 28, 1984, was the day of the concert. Jess drove Terri, Jackie, and I into New York City in the afternoon and we parked in the Port Authority Bus Terminal lot.
When we went to Radio City Music Hall, we discovered that we had missed the soundcheck, so we walked over to the hotel. I wore big black felt hat with a flat top and a wide brim that I found at a thrift shop in Greenwich Village. It was similar to the hat that Michael Hutchence wore in the INXS video, “The One Thing” except that it didn’t have a band and the brim was wider. My shirt was black and gray striped-it was sleeveless, and it came up to my neck in front but was low-cut in back. Paired with gray cropped pants and cheap black sandals that looked a little punky because they had cheap metallic bits sewn to the straps across my feet. Around my hips was the famous belt that I had removed from underneath the car.
While walking to the hotel, we just happened to pop into a pizza parlor and Andrew Farriss was in there. Andrew wasn’t much into socializing, so we didn’t bother him often, but I took the opportunity to walk over to him to introduce myself. I extended my hand and said, “Hi! I’m Donna,” and we shook hands. Because other than Kirk, I don’t think any of them knew my name and they all already knew Terri, Jess, and Jackie.
We ran into Michael Hutchence on the sidewalk outside the hotel. I was surprised by how nice and friendly he was when we were talking to him because he had come across as arrogant in the past. This was the first time I had something other than a negative impression of him. As a person and not as a singer, that is.
He told me he liked my hat. I loved my hat! Terri often asked him, other members of the band, and Gary Grant, the manager, to do things for us. She told Michael that we did not have good seats near the front and asked him to tell the audience to move up to the front when he got on stage so we could move up closer. I can’t remember if he did that, but it was definitely something he would be willing to do.
The only thing I remember from the show is being angry because there was one girl who jumped up on stage and ran up to Michael three different times. Now, instead of singing the song for everyone, he had to hug the girl to try to be nice and then deal with her grabbing onto him until someone could pull her away.
The third time she jumped onstage, several other girls joined her, so Michael had multiple girls mauling him when he was trying to sing. They ruined more than one song. We hated that. It’s so rude in so many ways. Fans like that are a terrible problem.
After the show
We left Radio City Music Hall before The Go-Go’s took the stage and waited outside for INXS to leave. Gary Grant came out and we talked about the girls jumping onstage. He was also very angry and used rude language to talk about those girls. Called them all sorts of names.
Kirk Pengilly was outside signing autographs for some fans. He had his head down while doing it. I went over and said something like, “Kirk, you’ll never believe what happened to us when we drove home last night.” Without looking up he said, “What is it, Donna?” So, I told him the story about how we hit a pothole, and I used the belt that I was wearing to tie up the bottom of the car so we could drive home. For the second time in a row, we had a problem with the car when we went to see INXS. I had to tell him because it was like a thing now.
I’m sure plenty of other stuff happened but I was too busy to write it all down and I don’t remember anymore. All I know is that we took a horse-drawn carriage to get back to the car at Port Authority. It was fun but not at all scenic.
Here is a photo from 1991 and the black hat is sitting on the coatrack. You can see that it was collecting dust and I eventually got rid of it because I didn’t wear it and it did was take up space and collect dust.
My room in the apartment I shared in West Philadelphia. My hats and also some INXS stuff on the exposed drywall.
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!”
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 MoneyEddie 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’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.
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.]
INXS stationery, Someone decorated the xeroxed photo. I think it was Terri.
As I wrote about in my last post, it was fall semester of my sophomore year in college when I got that letter from Kirk Pengilly. I managed to pass all my classes that semester, but I did not want to be in school. I wanted to learn things, but I didn’t want to be in school.
Letter from Terri about INXS
Terri sent me a letter dated January 19, 1984. She said that she was answering a letter from me that was dated December 5, 1983, and apologized for the delay. She had some INXS news for me-she told me she got INXS played on the radio again, “just a few minutes ago”, and said that they should pay her for doing promotions. That’s funny because I wrote the same thing in my diary a few months later-that they should be paying me for promoting them. We were great fans.
Jess called Terri and told her that MTV had announced that INXS would be back in the U.S. in early March and that the new album would also be out in March. “A little later than they expected,” according to Mark Goodman, the MTV VJ who reported the news. This information turned out to be wrong and the album showed up even later than that in the U.S. and the band didn’t show up until June! Terri wanted to know what was taking so long!
I know I visited the Australian consulate in New York City with somebody, but I can’t remember exactly when or with whom. It was during the fall of 1983 because Terri wondered in her letter how Kirk Pengilly, of Neutral Bay, with the silent listing was. Apparently, I called the operator in Australia to ask for his number and I was told that it was unlisted. When I was looking through the Sydney telephone books at the consulate, I ran across a listing for a K. Pengilly who lived at 59 Yeo Street in Neutral Bay. “That must be him” is what I thought so I gave it a try. I didn’t know he had a girlfriend when I did that.
Terri “lurved” the poem I wrote about Kirk Pengilly. If only I had a copy or remembered anything about that! It was probably at least somewhat flattering because I liked him a lot; unlike any poems I wrote about Michael Hutchence, but I probably also mocked him a little. No one in INXS escaped that treatment. Perhaps I mentioned his dislike for clothes dryers because Terri makes a reference to that. He must have talked about that when we were with him in Poughkeepsie, and he was washing his shirt in the bathroom sink.
The jerk from Scotland
Spring semester of college started out terribly. I wanted to do something else so badly. Instead, I was taking five classes and four of them were in business. My mental health was poor-a constant cough kept me from sleeping for over two weeks. And to top it off, I dated a jerk from Scotland who went to my school. He was very charismatic, and people flocked to him. I thought he liked me, and I came close to having sex with him, but I lost my nerve. After that he said we would go out but then he didn’t call and in the following days he started ignoring me.
My roommate Karen spoke to him at a party, and he told her that his friend had asked me out and he couldn’t believe it that I turned him down, so she walked away thinking he was an asshole too. And he was. A couple of weeks later, I ran into a fellow student, and she told me about her experience with the Scottish guy. They had dated during the fall semester, and he told her that he had an impotence problem. She helped him “solve it.” Then he spent Thanksgiving at her house and when he got back to campus, he had sex with a friend of hers.
In my diary, I asked, “why did he have to bother me?” and “how could I ever fall for him?” “This hasn’t been a good experience, and I don’t want to go through it again.” “He’s really done a number on me and I still don’t understand exactly what happened.” I said I was sick of people pestering me.
My world blew up. I felt on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Dropping my accounting class eased some of the pressure. I considered transferring to Terri’s school in Florida, but my mother wouldn’t let me. Trying to find the bright side of meeting this awful jerk, I told myself that maybe it was good because it caused me to think about why I was in school and what I really wanted to do with my life.
The movie, “Monty Python’s Life of Brian” was a big influence on me and especially the song, “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life.” I quoted a lyric from it in my diary while I was writing about my problems.
After thinking about it, I decided to stay in Wharton and major in marketing instead of accounting because I couldn’t afford to switch to the College of Arts and Sciences and stay in college an extra year to study something else. My diary says, “I just have to get through the semester without killing myself and I should be OK.” I wished I could afford to quit school and travel and bum around. My financial situation depressed me. I owed $5200 in student loans at that point, and I would still owe that if I quit.
Billboard magazine
The management class I was taking did not interest me. The professor made me come talk to him after the first exam and he told me I had to do a lot better on the paper and the final exam. I used to go to the Lippincott Library of the Wharton School, but it wasn’t to do my schoolwork. It was to read the copies of Billboard magazine that they had there. Billboard magazine covers the music industry.
Here are links to a Wikipedia article about Billboard magazine and an actual copy from April 28, 1984 that has information about INXS.
It was important to find a topic for my paper that would interest me, so I chose to write a paper on the mergers and acquisitions of Warner Communications. Why that company? Because it was related to INXS, the Australian rock band, and the New York Cosmos soccer team. They owned Atlantic Records and the Atco imprint that was INXS’ record label in the U.S., and they also owned the Cosmos.
Both Atlantic Records and the NY Cosmos were founded by Ahmet Ertegun who was a horrible pig of a man who abused numerous women. That was not something I was aware of at the time, but I absolutely believe the accusations. I will write more about that in a future blog post.
Original Sin
It was now March and almost time for spring break. Terri heard that “Original Sin” would be released during the second week of March, 1984 and that INXS would be the opening act for Duran Duran. I called Capitol Records, Duran Duran’s record label, to ask if INXS would be opening for them. The person I spoke to didn’t know and suggested that I call Madison Square Garden, so I did, and they didn’t have any information either. None of this turned out to be true. It’s hard to find an exact date for when the song was released in the United States.
Towards the end of March, I wrote in my diary that I called WKDU which is the student-run radio station for Drexel University and asked them to play “Original Sin”, but they didn’t have it. The first time I tried calling, I dialed the wrong number and said to the old woman who answered, “Do you have original sin?” She said, “Excuse me?” so I said it again. Then she told me I had the wrong number. That was both embarrassing and hilarious because I must have sounded like a religious freak.
A screen shot from the April 28, 1984 issue of Billboard magazine.
On April 5, 1984, I saw in Billboard magazine that The Swing, the fourth album by INXS, had debuted at number one in Australia and the song “I Send A Message” had debuted at number seven there. Original Sin had been released in Australia in December 1983. It wasn’t until April 28, 1984 that Original Sin debuted on the Billboard chart for the U.S. at number 87.
Big Country
Big Country. Trouser Press magazine. March 1984Big Country concert in Tampa, Florida with Jess and Jen. March 1984.
Jess is a big part of my story but this is the first photo of her to be included in the blog. From left to right is Jess, Jen from Florida, and me with my permed hair. A guy at college told me I looked like David Lee Roth.
For spring break, I took a trip to Tampa, Florida to visit Terri. I needed a vacation. Jess came down for the week too. We went to a couple soccer games and hung around at Jen’s house. We also saw Big Country in concert and met Stuart Adamson and his young son.
Me with Big Country singer Stuart Adamson in Tampa, Florida
My diary says that I was reading A Clockwork Orange (not for school). I also had to read books and work on a paper for my sociology class. The conversations that my friends and I were having were about Duran Duran, INXS, and soccer. I also spent time drawing pictures of punk-rock cats that I called Anarkitties.
Big Country video
Graveyard shift
Two things I started doing during spring semester were smoking real cigarettes and working the graveyard shift at my work-study job in the dorms. The previous semester I had started smoking clove cigarettes. I stopped smoking them after they made me nauseous but unfortunately, I switched to smoking the regular kind. They helped me stay awake through my midnight to eight am shifts. It wasn’t a regular habit yet-that came later. When I worked all night, I drank Dr. Pepper and listened to music-sometimes INXS, Falco, Tenpole Tudor or something else I had on cassette, or I listened to the radio.
I wanted a boyfriend, and I wanted to have sex, but I still didn’t have any luck there. Hookups were not for me. My diary at the time said “I’ve never had any qualms about sex before marriage although I wouldn’t sleep with just any Joe Schmo off the street.”
I went to parties and met guys. One of the guys was named Mike and I wrote about him in my diary. He was funny. He showed me the P-Funk All-Stars sign which is when you make your hand into horns by holding your middle fingers down with your thumb. And he told me to sing, “Shit, Goddamn, Get off your ass and jam!” That was fun. We tried out different accents on each other. I used to pretend to be Irish or Scottish from time to time. When I came back to college for my junior year, I finally found a boyfriend and it was Mike!
Before I left school for the summer break, I went to an interview with Reinhard Modeling agency. They had advertised in the school paper that they would be on campus looking for models. I wasn’t sure if they were legit, and I wondered how much of the money they would get. One woman I spoke to said that models in Philadelphia were paid $100 an hour. The agency was interested but I was unsure-I thought my waist was too big and I was leaving Philadelphia for the summer so pursuing modeling would have to wait.
Modeling is another one of those industries where a lot of disgusting and bad things happen-especially to women. But the agency I went to is still operating and seems to be legit.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
