We left Montreal and went back to New Jersey. INXS probably stayed in Montreal for another day because they didn’t have a show until the following day. Their next concert was at Toad’s Place in New Haven, Connecticut on Monday August 6th.
INXS at Toad’s Place
Terri and Jess probably drove up to New Haven to see the show. I don’t remember if they did because I was working that day so I could not go with them if they went to yet another INXS concert.
Our friend Dana, the girl from New York City, went to the show at Toad’s Place. Perhaps she went with Terri and Jess? Dana usually posts a photo on Facebook of herself with Michael from the day of the Toad’s Place show when it’s his birthday and on the anniversary of his death.
They are standing outside the club and they both look very cute. It must have been taken before the show because it was daytime.
In the photo, Michael was wearing the same clothes as he was when he did the interview in Montreal, including the hat. He has his arm around Dana’s shoulder, and she is resting her head against his shoulder. She only came up to his chin. His cheek looks to be against her big hair. They are looking at two different cameras though. Dana looks straight ahead while Michael looks at someone off to the left.
Toad’s Place article
https://apnews.com/article/toads-place-music-club-new-haven-1856abb962348b7313e6a5cfd285e938
It would have been fun to see a show at Toad’s Place, but I never went to one there because I wasn’t free.
Between New Haven and Cedar Grove
After playing in New Haven, INXS went off to play shows at clubs in Washington, DC and Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania. None one I know went to those shows. I guess even we had limits!
Jon Farriss’ birthday and Smokey Bear
INXS played at the Meadowbrook in Cedar Grove, New Jersey on Friday, August 10, 1984, which was drummer Jon Farriss’ 23rd birthday. I had the mistaken idea that Smokey the Bear (Smokey Bear), a cartoon bear used in a public service ad campaign by the US Forest Service to educate people about wildfires, was introduced on August 10 and therefore had the same birthday as Jon.
In fact, Smokey Bear was introduced on August 9, 1944, which made the birthday card I gave to Jon Farriss even more nuts than it already was because what would a young Australian guy know about US Forest Service ad campaigns? More about that later.
Memories from the Meadowbrook
Normally, I add a link of some kind to an article about the club we went to for the INXS concert if I can find one. This time there is an entire book about the place!
I found out later that I am in the book which was published in August 2014.
Here is an article from 1977 that tells of the Meadowbrook’s importance in the 1940s as a place where all of the popular “big bands” or swing bands played regularly.
https://www.nytimes.com/1977/09/18/archives/new-jersey-weekly-the-meadowbrook-show-time-again.html
On May 26, 2020, I was scrolling through my feed on Facebook, and I recognized myself in a photo that was posted to the private INXS Facebook group that I had joined because of Jackie.
I grabbed a copy of the photo and posted it to my own Facebook page where I mistakenly said that the photo must have been published in a newspaper back in the day because I didn’t know about the book at that time. It was great to have something pop up from the past that corroborates my story.
The photo also provided new information to me because I had no idea that someone had to pull Michael Hutchence off of the balcony’s railing. More about that later.
It was supposed to be our last INXS show
The show at the Meadowbrook was supposed to be our last INXS concert for the summer. I don’t know if we told INXS that when we were in Canada, but they knew this information sometime before the show on August 10th.
Jen flew up from Tampa, Florida to visit and to see INXS. She probably stayed with Jess at her parent’s house in Wayne. Jess lived in a big house with lots of extra room. Her house was twice as big as where Terri lived and Terri’s house was twice as big as where I lived.
I know Jen didn’t stay with me. And if she had been staying with Terri then Terri would have known about the plan that Jess, Jen and I hatched before we got into the concert that night and Terri didn’t know.
Cedar Grove was closer to where we lived than all of the other places where we saw INXS. We didn’t have to spend hours in the car so that was nice.
The INXS gang hangs out in another parking lot
Seven of us met up in the parking lot of the Meadowbrook in Cedar Grove, NJ in the afternoon. We arrived before the band showed up for their soundcheck. While we were waiting, we posed for this photo. Jess was not in it because she took it. Both Terri and Jess brought their cameras to the club.
From left to right are Maria, my fellow Kirk Pengilly fan, Jen from Tampa, Terri, my friend since seventh grade, Susan, a new friend, Donna (me) still in possession of my hat, and Dana, the person I mentioned earlier who was at the show at Toad’s Place.
Most of us wore skirts to show. Later on, during the concert, I will no longer have my red hat, and my hair will be loose. In the photo, I have it in a little ponytail. My skirt was made from the same nylon material used to make parachute pants which were popular at the time.
Article about parachute pants
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parachute_pants
The shirt I was wearing was the same one I wore on the night of July 2, 1984, the one that Michael was tugging on and pulling at the neck while trying to stick his hand down the front of it. You can read about that here.
The crew arrives
Soon some people arrived to set up equipment for the soundcheck and the show. They were the road crew traveling with INXS and I think some local guys who worked at the club. Tommy and the others knew us at this point because we were at so many shows.
One of the guys asked us if we worked. I said to him, “I have a job and I worked every day this week!” My calendar doesn’t show that I worked every day but if I had been asked to fill in on short notice then I probably didn’t write it down. And I think I would have taken more shifts because I wasn’t working on Friday or Saturday which were the best days to make money.
Timmy throws a table in Wilkes Barre, PA
We talked to Tommy again and he told us that the club where INXS had played their last show on the 8th, a place called The Station in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, really sucked.
The place was an old train station that had been abandoned after the coal mines closed so besides being old, it probably wasn’t in good condition. I’ve never been there, but I imagine it was a shitty bar in a boring town full of people who probably didn’t have MTV and never heard of INXS.
Tommy told us that Tim Farriss got angry (it doesn’t say why in my diary) and threw an antique table. He broke it if I recall correctly. Timmy didn’t seem like the kind of guy who would do that so that was a surprise.
Birthday presents
Terri and Jess had birthday presents for both Jon and Timmy because Timmy’s birthday was coming up soon on August 16th, but we would not be around for it. The show at the Meadowbrook was supposed to be the last one we would see. All I had was the birthday card I made for Jon.
The other Donna who couldn’t be there
I don’t think I have mentioned that there was another young woman named Donna who was a fan of INXS. Perhaps I mentioned her when I wrote about the show at the Beacon Theater because I think she was there. But if I met her there or at other shows in the NYC area, I didn’t write about it. I’m pretty sure she lived in New York City and was friends with Dana and that was how she became part of our group.
She is in this blog post because she wrote letters to Jon Farriss and Kirk Pengilly and either mailed them or gave them to Terri so that Terri could pass them along to those band members.
INXS arrives and we get our money back
INXS arrived in their tour bus for the sound check but not all of the band got off the bus. I think Gary Grant got off the bus first because he had some business to settle with us. He gave me a kiss on the cheek.
Gary Grant probably told Jon, Timmy, and Kirk that we had things to give them because they came off the bus while the others stayed inside.
Jon and Timmy open their gifts
Jess and Terri gave Jon a photo album full of INXS concert photos that they had taken. The photo at the top of this post shows him opening his gift and posing for a fun photo by making that surprised face for the camera. I think he said, “There are a lot of photos of me in here!”
Jon opened my card which I think contained some drawings and some words about forest fires along with birthday wishes and he looked at me like I was from outer space. He handed the card to his brother Tim after possibly commenting that it was weird, and Tim looked at it and said something like, “I think she’s very artistic!” And I said, “Did you say I was artistic or autistic?” because I knew that card was incredibly weird. Absurd was what I was going for.
Timmy thanked me for his birthday gift which I had nothing to do with buying for him, but I think he thought it was from all of us. Terri bought him a red t-shirt that had a V-shaped geometric design, sort of like an increase in sound volume, on the front. A photo of it will be in Blog Post 26 once I write it.
The other Donna’s letters to Kirk and Jon
Terri handed a letter to Kirk and said it was from Donna. He looked at me like he thought it was from me and I quickly let him know that it was not from me but from Donna B, the other Donna.
At the same time, Terri gave Jon his letter from Donna. After Jon read it, he spoke to us about it with concern. He told us that in the letter she kept putting herself down, calling herself a bitch and saying that she was such a jerk. Jon said, “I don’t understand why she is being so hard on herself and saying those things about herself!”
As young women we understood quite well why any of us would be harsh and judgmental towards ourselves. It was a common thing to do. That is what internalized misogyny looks like.
Kirk. Jon, and Timmy got back on the bus, I believe, because it wasn’t time for soundcheck. We remained in the parking lot behind the club near where the bus was parked.
I know Andrew didn’t want my hat. Why did he ask for it?
I think I was sitting on the same wall where we had posed for photo before the band arrived. Suddenly, Andrew Farriss came off the bus and walked over to me. That was fucking weird in and of itself because as far as I could tell, he had no interest in chatting with me or anyone else. That was the impression I had of him after seeing INXS so many times.
Then, to make it even weirder, he said, “I like your hat. Can I have it?” Now, I also really liked my hat.
I. Goldberg Army Navy store in Philly
There used to be a store in downtown Philadelphia on Chestnut Street called I. Goldberg. It was an Army & Navy surplus store where they sold Levi’s, cheap t-shirts, and other potentially punky clothes that I could afford.
Article about I. Goldberg
https://www.phillymag.com/news/2019/08/23/i-goldberg-philadelphia-closed
I had bought my red baseball cap from I. Goldberg for three dollars, and I liked it for its color and also because it had a longer bill than a regular baseball cap so it reminded me of the kinds of hats that Alannah Currie from the Thompson Twins would wear.
Why did I give away my red hat?
After all these years, I still get worked up over this incident. It was so strange that Andrew walked up to me and just asked for my hat. I had to think about whether I wanted to give Andrew my hat and I thought, “Both of his brothers just got gifts from us and so did Garry Gary and Kirk for their recent birthdays. Even Michael got something from us.”
So, I took my hat off and put it on Andrew’s head. It fit him so I said, “It looks good on you. You can have it as a birthday present.” Andrew replied, “It’s not my birthday. It’s my brother Jon’s birthday.” (Yeah, no shit, Andrew! We were all well-aware of when every member of INXS had a birthday.)
I told Andrew, “I know that, but since your brothers are getting birthday presents today, you can have my hat as a present for your next birthday.” After that, Andrew said, “Thanks” and then walked away and got back on the bus. The interaction ended as abruptly as it started.
My diary says, “That was the only time I had a conversation with Andrew. He’s a weirdo and I don’t like him.” It’s only recently that I stopped wondering what was wrong with Andrew because I realized that he was sent out there by Michael Hutchence.
What happened to my hat?
Michael would have been looking down at me from inside the bus and I think my hat was getting in the way so he couldn’t see my face. Now the question is, “How much of a fuss was Michael making to get Andrew to do something that I don’t think he ever would have wanted to do of his own accord?” Also, “what happened to my hat?”
Did Michael keep my hat? Was it tossed in the trash? Because something else that got me worked up over what happened with my hat was that I never saw it again. I expected to see Andrew wear the fucking hat after he said he liked it and then asked to have it. Every time I was reminded of that day for decades afterwards, I thought, “Where’s my fucking hat?” and I felt anger towards Andrew.
My head was now uncovered but I don’t know how long Michael might have had to watch me from inside the bus. All I know is that sometime after that, INXS was ready to do their soundcheck. They came off the bus, and they let us follow them inside the club.
Soundcheck
The Meadowbrook had a similar layout to the club in Toronto. Downstairs there was a stage at one end. In front of the stage, there was an open dance floor and no seats. To the left of the stage there was access to a stage entrance and a small backstage area. There was also a staircase leading up to the balcony along that side of the building.
The main entrance was toward the front of the building. Upstairs, there was a balcony that wrapped around on three sides and there were tables and chairs. If I recall correctly, there was also a bar up there, but I can’t be sure about that. It’s possible there was only one bar, and it was downstairs.
Our group of seven girls walked upstairs to the balcony that was facing the stage to watch the sound check. We sat down at a table. The guys in the band were playing around a lot at this soundcheck. Some of them found a few chairs that had wheels and used the large open dance floor downstairs to race each other back and forth.
Michael is teased using Steve Perry’s video
Steve Perry was the lead singer of the band Journey. He released his first solo album in April 1984.
If you watch the Steve Perry video for “Oh Sherrie”, a hit song in 1984, you will see Steve Perry rebelling against the director of the music video. It was meant to show his integrity but at the same time he came across as a bit of a diva.
Steve walks off the set and then sings the song to his girlfriend. Some of the people in charge of shooting the video call out things like, “Steve, Steve! Come back!”
While members of INXS were playing around and being rowdy during the soundcheck, they started teasing Michael and saying things like, “C’mon, Steve!” to him. It was clearly a parody of the “Oh Sherrie” video.
They could have been referring to the woman we saw with Michael a couple of times. We didn’t know her name but, after the summer with INXS was over, when I got a letter from Kristen that talked about a woman named Sherrie who had been with Michael, I assumed it was the same woman we had seen.
Steve Perry’s Oh Sherrie video
Wikipedia article about Oh Sherrie
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oh_Sherrie
Here’s Andrew, but where’s my fucking hat?
I’ve misplaced 14 of the original prints I had bought from Terri, Jess, and Jackie so now I can’t look at the back to see who took the photo and when. They were all scanned into my computer back in 2008 and the only information I have right now is what I entered into my computer at the time. Sometimes the original photos have more information on the back.
This photo was taken by Jess at the soundcheck at the Meadowbrook. I bought it because Gary Grant is in it. He seems to be wearing a t-shirt from a New Jersey radio station, and he is playing Tim’s guitar. The Yosemite Sam sticker is how I know it is Tim’s guitar as I was never a guitar player or a guitar aficionado.
It’s my only photo of Gary Grant and the only photo I bought that has Andrew Farriss in it. The microphone is blocking Andrew’s face and as you can see, he is not wearing the hat I had just given him. Michael is in the photo behind the drum set, hitting the bass drum with his foot and tapping on the cymbal.
Vance, the INXS roadie who “hassled me at the bar”, also took a turn playing the drums before the whole band took their proper places and treated us to a rendition of “Bang a Gong” by T Rex.
Bang A Gong video INXS and Zazie 1997
I just wanted to watch the Burn For You video
After that, Terri went downstairs to talk to Tim Farriss. Someone had set up a screen above the stage so the band could screen their latest video from The Swing which was Burn For You.
Even though I had already seen the video while on the INXS tour bus in Florida, I still wanted to see it again during the soundcheck. While the video was playing, some white guy from New Jersey who was either the owner of the club or the manager of the club, came up to our table and said something like, “Hey girls, it’s time for you to leave now.”
I put my hand up with my index finger pointing to the sky in that gesture that means, “just a second” because I was quite happy to leave but I wanted to finish watching the INXS music video. Also, Terri had not come back upstairs yet.
An article about the “wait a moment” hand gesture
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Index_finger
I don’t think I was being the slightest bit rude or unreasonable, but this guy got angry anyway and yelled at us that we had to leave immediately. Jess chimed in and explained to the man that we were waiting for our friend to come back from downstairs.
We are kicked out and banned from the concert
The man didn’t care about that and had to show us who was boss. He said that I was rude to him and because of that he was kicking all of us out and we would not be allowed back into the club to see the concert later. What an asshole!
Terri came back up and we told her what happened and that we had to leave. Six of us left the club while Terri went over to the owner/manager to explain to him and to try to smooth things over. The guy told Terri that she was allowed back into the club for the concert but “the blond one and the rest your friends will not get back in here tonight.” From then on, Terri referred to him as “the coke head.”
Of course, we weren’t about to give up and go home. We went somewhere nearby to kill some time and have dinner. Before the club opened its doors for the concert, we were back in the parking lot to wait for INXS to arrive for the show.
Gary Grant to the rescue
When I saw Gary Grant, I said, “Gary, I need to talk to you because I got us in trouble.” He said in a serious voice, “Donna, come here.” I started walking in his direction and the other six people in our group were following behind me. Gary Grant forcefully said, “No! Only ONE Donna.” So, I went to talk to him by myself.
I took responsibility for what happened and sheepishly explained to him that while we were upstairs watching the video during soundcheck, I had made the owner mad, and he had kicked us out and banned us from the show. “I don’t know what I did!” I told Gary and that was the truth. The guy was some hot-headed New Jersey macho man, and I didn’t show the proper deference or something.
Gary asked me how many of us there were and I told him six because Terri could get in the normal way through the front door. He said he would try to get us into the club later on, but he wasn’t sure he could get us all in. Then he went inside.
So, I went to my friends and told them what Gary said to me. Because I was responsible for getting us kicked out, I decided that I would be last in line to get in and if Gary could not manage to sneak in all six of us then I would sit outside in the parking lot until the show was over.
We see Rick Sales again
The six of us waited near the backstage door for a while and then a car drove up Rick Sales got out. Rick Sales was the tour manager for INXS in 1983 when they toured the U.S. for the first time. He was carrying garment bags because he was delivering new stage outfits for the band. I think Jess had met him a couple of times before, so she stopped him and he told us what he was doing. He had just driven over from Manhattan with the clothes the band had bought there.
Gary Grant gets us in
A little later, Gary Grant came out and escorted Dana, Maria, and Susan into the club through the backstage door. While Jess, Jen and I waited without knowing if we would even get in to see the show, we decided to go to the INXS show in Hartford, Connecticut the next day, just the three of us, and we wouldn’t tell Terri, Dana, Susan, or Maria that we were going. It would be easier to manage it that way.
At 11:45 pm, Gary Grant came out again and handed each of us a backstage pass before we followed him in through the backstage door. The pass was the size of a business card. I think the club had them printed in bulk and then just filled in the name of the band and the date as needed as you can see from the photo.
On the balcony
Inside the club, I decided to split from my friends because I didn’t want them to get in trouble if that owner/manager guy happened to see me inside the club. I thought that if I went up to the balcony that I would not be noticed. The club was full and the show was about to start. I found a spot along the railing near the first table where I could see everyone on stage pretty well except for Jon, the drummer.
My friends were down on the floor and about the same distance away from the stage as I was. If we had not been banned from the show, we would have waited at the front door for at least a couple of hours and gotten a good spot at the front. Perhaps against the stage. That’s what we did back then.
A free drink!
So, I had just been sneaked into the show that I had been banned from when a guy walked up to me with a drink in his hand and he asked me if I wanted it. My first response was no because I was not interested in meeting any guys. Then he told me that he had bought the drink for some other girl but that she had disappeared on him and now he had this drink he didn’t want. So, because it came with no strings attached, I accepted it and the guy left.
It was probably stupid of me to take the drink, but the guy seemed okay and not someone who wanted to drug me. I believed his story. The drink was a Long Island Iced Tea and there was nothing in it besides alcohol which I wasn’t supposed to have because I was not 21. It was my lucky night!
They showed the Burn For You video before the concert started. I watched the show from my spot in the balcony while getting drunk from my cocktail.
The new stage clothes
I thought the new stage clothes INXS wore were awful- at least what Michael and Kirk were wearing anyway. In my diary I wrote that Michael wore a one-piece jumpsuit that was a mess of brown, white, and beige and that Kirk wore an ugly, ripped suit of pink polyester with his green Day Glo socks. Ugh!
A link to a photo of the horrible new outfits:
https://www.gettyimages.com/collaboration/boards/XvzaAuzCr0aYYkAOe-GuEw
When INXS was playing the song “Black & White” from their album Shabooh Shoobah, I think Michael spotted me in the balcony. I raised my glass and toasted him when I thought he was looking my way.
All seven of us were thrilled when later in the show, Michael dedicated the song, “The Loved One”, to “all of the people here who are underage” because we were sure that he was dedicating it to us.
Here in the suburbs it’s all so Wishy Washy
INXS started playing “Wishy Washy” from their self-titled debut album. There is a long instrumental break in the song. If you watch this video from when INXS played in Hamburg before they came to the US for their tour in 1984 you can see Michael taking off his boots during the break.
When the break came during this show, Michael ran off the stage to the left while the rest of the band played their instruments. I leaned over to try to see where he went but I didn’t see him. I was still leaning forward and braced with my hands on the railing when I felt myself being jostled and pushed against a chair or table to my right. At the same time, I felt water being poured down the front of my skirt.
At that moment I had no idea what was happening and I was just trying not to fall over the railing or anywhere else. In my diary I wrote that Michael nearly pushed me off the balcony and I was scrunched between him and a chair.
When I saw the photo that was published in the book, I was surprised by what I saw because I had no idea that Michael had tried to climb on top of the railing and that there were a couple of guys who worked for the club pulling him down from there. In the photo you can see that I was not even looking to my left at all.
By the time I looked to my left, those guys were gone and Michael was standing next to me. Michael must have gone off stage to grab a jug of water and then he ran up the stairs to the balcony while holding the microphone out so the cord would not get caught.
Michael up on the balcony
The guys who grabbed him must have knocked the jug of water out of his hand and that was how it got on me. I wonder if Michael’s plan was to pour water from the balcony onto my friends. He was known for throwing water or other liquids at the audience from time to time.
When I became aware that Michael Hutchence was standing next to me on the balcony, I said, “Oh! Hi, Michael.” Then I noticed that a couple of young women were behind him and they were pinching his ass. That is just wrong, so I took it upon myself to fix that situation. I yelled at those women, “Cut it out! That’s not nice.” while I slapped their hands off Michael.
Once I took care of Michael’s attackers I turned my attention to the audience below me. It was great fun to be in the spotlight, and I made the most of it. My friends were cheering me and I waved to them.
Now it was time for Michael to start singing Wishy Washy again. The last verse is the same as the first. I sang along to the song which is what I did for all of the songs that INXS played in concert. When it got to the part where the lyric is, “Hello cars!” I waved hello to my friends below while I shouted that to them.
We share the microphone
Michael heard me and leaned towards me, so his face was right next to mine. He put the microphone between us, so I was able to sing the bit of Wishy Washy that isn’t in the recorded version of the song, but that Michael added to the song during the concerts in 1984. He would spell out the letters for the word bar- “B-A-R” after he sang, “to clubs and bars.” You can hear it in the video from Hamburg.
The INXS show from the Rockpalast Festival in Hamburg Germany on May 8, 1984, was recorded for television. This is the footage for Wishy Washy again which includes two minutes of clapping for an encore after the song ends and some backstage footage before they come back for an encore of The Loved One (not shown)
I knew it was coming because I had been to other concerts, so I chimed in at the right moment and we said it together. Afterwards, Terri and Jess said I did a good job.
Later, I also asked them if they had gotten a photo of us on the balcony and they told me that they had already used up all of the film in their cameras. That was disappointing.
I tried to find Cathy Miller, the woman who took the photo that is in the book, on the internet but I had no luck. It would have been amazing to have a photo of us sharing the microphone if she had taken a photo of that while we were up there.
After Michael was finished singing, he ran back downstairs because the women had started grabbing him again.
I hid outside after the show
When the concert was over, I gave my backstage pass to Terri and I waited outside. I didn’t want to get Gary Grant in any trouble with the owner after all he had done for me, so I made myself scarce.
Terri used the time to talk to Timmy again. She told me later that Timmy said that he loved her and she was happy about that. The rest of the band hugged and kissed her goodbye also.
INXS was going straight from the show in Cedar Grove to Hartford, Connecticut in their tour bus. So, they didn’t stay for long after the show was over.
Glitter Girl and Leopard Woman
We saw other fans hanging around and two of them stood out. They were hanging around with Garry Gary. We nicknamed them Leopard Woman and Glitter Girl because one was dressed in a leopard print outfit and the other was wearing a short dress that was silver and it sparkled. Both of the women wore makeup that had a lot of glitter.
In my diary, I wrote that I didn’t remember saying goodbye to anyone but Michael. He gave me a kiss and hugged me, and I had some warm feelings. He said to me, “Take care and be good.”
INXS left and so did we and it was around 4 in the morning when we got home.