1992-Wayward hippies, Local heroes, Athens dance party, El Moz and a Beatle?

1992 brought with it an awakening of more alternative music in me.  I was becoming a die-hard R.E.M. fan, but they were not going to tour.  So who else could I go see?  I started listening to Alternative Rock stations to listen to not only R.E.M., but bands like the B-52's, Morrissey, the Smiths, Robyn Hitchcock, Cowboy Junkies, local band Gin Blossoms, Pearl Jam, Tori Amos.

The Cowboy Junkies with lead singer, Margo Timmins, and brothers Michael and Peter Timmins were quiet, ethereal, dreamy Canadian alternative rockers.  Margo was occasionally described as a wayward Hippie farmer's wife.  Their cover of the Velvet Underground's "Sweet Jane" was about all I had heard of them from the Trinity Sessions.  But in 1992, they had released Pale Sun, Crescent Moon.  A duet between Margo and folk singer, John Prine, on "If You Were the Woman and I was the Man" was a minor hit on radio and MTV that spring.  The Cowboy Junkies were opening for John Prine at the Celebrity Theatre in May 1992.  I thought, "Aha, a chance to see someone other than Nils, Bruce, Neil!"  So I took a friend from library school, Tracy, and we went to see this amazing show.  Margo and the rest of the Cowboy Junkies and were in fine form.  They played songs from the new album, and had John Prine come out to duet on "If You were the Woman."  It was also the night of Bruce Springsteen (sans E Street) on Saturday Night Live.  Margo asked the crowd when SNL came on in Arizona as she did not want to miss Bruce!  We yelled out 10:30.  We were all thanked.

The crowd was a John Prine crowd.  I only knew "Hello in There" but I was impressed with his song stylings and humor. Margo and John dueted on Angel from Montgomery.  It was an amazing show.

The Gin Blossoms were a local band from Tempe, Arizona.  The lead singer, Robin Wilson, worked at both Tower Records and Zia Records in Tempe and I think I talked with Robin at Tower in 1985 asking if he'd caught the U2 show at Compton Terrace.  Well, I didn't know his name then.  He ended up in my Trig class in Fall of 1986 at Mesa Community College.  I made sure I sat in the same row as him when they passed the sign in attendance sheet around and then I found out his name!  But I did not know he was in a band.  By 1991, the Gin Blossoms had released an EP with Allison Road, Hey Jealousy, Mrs. Rita, South of Nowhere, but the next year they released a full length album, Hey Jealousy. 

I did not see them playing in Arizona until the fall 1992.  They were opening for Del Amitri (remember them?  they are pretty forgettable) at Hayden Square Amphitheatre on October 11, 1992.  Who do I take with me?  My cousin of Monkees, Frank, Liza, Sammy, and Neil Young concerts.  It was the small "stand outside on Bermuda grass and concrete."  We were fourth in line to get in to the square (we heard a short soundcheck while waiting, guitarist Scott Johnson walked past me at some point).  We were let in at 5:30.  Opening opening band was Rain Convention whose songs reminded me of early R.E.M.  As soon as that act was over, people rushed the stage.  We wisely stayed on the elevated step to see over the bopping heads.  The Gin Blossoms opened with a few songs I did not know 2 covers: No. 1 by the Rutles and then "something they didn't know very well 'in the Gin Blossoms tradition' said Robin."  Robin was pretty chatty probably because it was cool to be back home.  He talked between every song.  He said that in 2 months they had traveled 17,000 miles or was it 7,000?  But Tempe had the best Mexican food!  This was the second outdoor venue on the tour, the previous one was in Colorado with a running stream, he said he thought he should have gone fishing. I remember he said how he was obsessed with playing his GameBoy to the point where he would close his eyes and see the Tetris patterns!  

Songs played were Hold Me Down, Mrs. Rita, Allison Road, Just South of Nowhere, Until I Fall Away, Hands are Tied, Cajun Song, and Hey Jealousy.  Robin kept spotlighting the new guitarist, Scott Johnson, he would push him out to the front of the stage and would do the Wayne's World "We're not worthy" bow.  One of the last songs had a guitar duel between Scott and Jesse Valenzuela.  Awesome! It was great to see the home town band return victoriously even if  opening for a two-hit wonder band.

Here are the ticket stub and t-shirt
  

Front (above), back (below)

So I think I listened to about 4 songs from Del Amitri and decided it was time to just head home!  As I was driving my light blue 1969 Volkswagen Bug, the driver's side door it decided to not latch (a problem my dad fixed later), but my cousin sat in the back seat and held the car door closed as we drove back.  It was harder on turns.  Whew.

The Arizona State Fair was coming up in October.  The B-52's would be there on October 20!  The B-52's had a new album Fun Stuff out with Fred, Keith and Kate but no Cindy.  For the tour, they enlisted Twin Peaks chanteuse, Julee Cruise to sing Cindy's parts on the songs.  The fair concerts were general admission only, so we got in for a mere $5 per person. So who was my plus one?  My mom!  Now, this was due to me not wanting to torture (in her unsaid words) my cousin any longer (especially after that crazy car door not latching episode).  Mom was more of a John Denver, Doris Day, old school Hit Parade kind of music fan.  But it didn't seem to be a Dad thing so I drove over and the B's were unbelievable.  They were energetic, and loads of fun!  Song list: Is that you Mo-Dean?, Your Own Private Idaho, Bad Influence, Hot Pants, Revolution Earth, Dreamer, Channel Z, Cosmic Thing, Good Stuff. Roam, Tell It Like it T-I-S.  First encore, Love Shack.  Before this song each person had to share a "Love Story": Julee said "Ferris Wheel at the Fair" Kate said something to do with Bell Road, and Fred said, "Big Cactus makes me think nasty thoughts!"  There were funny introductions too like Kate said of Fred, "Mr. Strange Himself, Fred Schneider." Fred described the others with intros like "Fiction", "Nonfiction" and "Stranger than fiction." They finished with a Second Encore of Planet Claire and then Rock Lobster.  Wow!  What fun!    

The snazzy ticket from the State Fair for the B-52's show, October 20, 1992.

I had been worried my mom would be overwhelmed, but she really was impressed. I had wanted to see Morrissey at the Mesa Amphitheatre in November, but still had no one to go with.  The day after Mom and I went to the concert at the State Fair, she left me a note that said, "I can't wait to see Morrissey."  That is something you don't expect your mom to say.

Ah, Morrissey.  There is no one like him.  He came to fame with the Smiths but had been doing solo stuff since the breakup.  In 1992, his album was Your Arsenal.  Morrissey was known to have rabid fans who loved to cluster in the Mozz pit.  (not Mosh Pit).  I stayed away from the pit and Mom and I sat back on grassy steps on a blanket.  Looking at old notes I don't have songs in order but he did a lot of songs from the new album but did lots of classics like "November Spawned a Monster", "Alsatian Cousin" and "Suedehead."  Most interesting was Morrissey and the Mozz Pit.  At one point he said, "I hope...I hope you're not too squashed and that you have room ... for what you want to do."  The pit was really wild throwing flowers and notes up to the stage.  He  would bend real low and take the crowd's hands.  No one got on stage. (Little did I know I would see him two more times-1997 and 2017).

Now wait a minute, I did see a few people I had already seen before.  Ringo and Nils and Joe Walsh.  Ringo had his Second All Starr Band tour with him in the Summer of 1992.  I believe only Nils Lofgren and Joe Walsh were repeat musicians.  Ringo was joined by Burton Cummings (of the Guess Who), Todd Rundgren, Dave Edmunds, and Timothy B Schmidt.  At the Desert Heat (Sky) Pavilion in August of all things.  Yikes!  My cousin was the brave soul that drove us out there.  It was her opportunity to see a Beatle so that was a reward for her.  

So my records indicate I only wrote down the songs Nils did "Shine Silently" and "Just a Little" Beau Brummells rocking cover.  AND that it was the hottest (temperature-wise) concert I had attended to date!  Here are photos from the tour book!  I don't think this was the most attractive group of guys except for Nils, Dave Edmunds, Ringo and Zak!  But the music was good! If I could figure out the side by side photo thing this would be a shorter blog.  As Ringo would say, "Peace Out!"