Big Thrill #5

Don’t judge a book by its cover. Don’t presume a person is just another stereotyped figure based on the poor behavior of others before them.

Eddie Money (an ex-NYPD cop) was absolutely real, meeting with a young reporter and me for about an hour prior to a show at a small bar in Overland Park Kansas called “Pogo’s”. They actually made us feel welcome and not like leprous media in the rigged-up “green room” that was actually the bar manager’s small office. They were just starting out. We stood around while the band cracked jokes and tuned their guitars on strange oscilloscopes and such; the show was pretty OK.

After that introductory year of the band touring little shows everywhere, Eddie got a couple videos on MTV and more than just a couple hits, which all began with “Two Tickets to Paradise” – and he actually stayed big for quite a while. Maybe about 18 months after my first assignment to his show, I was very glad to be sent to his second concert on another tour through KC, but no reporter was necessary this time!

It was in a bigger hall for larger crowds, and there was more backstage territory to wander through beforehand. I wasn’t really looking but found Eddie with a couple of the guys and … he actually recognized me!  I couldn’t believe it. He said something about having better food for us this time. Didn’t know my name, but of course for me that wasn’t the point. Imagine all the thousands of people he’d met during his rise to fame! He gave me hope for -and less cynicism towards- show biz types in general, realizing that it was possible to be big and still be very genuine.

The poster shown above is NOT mine.  UNBELIEVABLY — I can’t find any of my Eddie Money prints or film! I know I turned in what little I had from the first show to the photo desk. But the second?!? The main print in particular I remember, shooting upward from the sticky bar floor, hands of fans reaching and flailing up towards him, Eddie smiling big while singing and looking at my camera. BUT WHERE IS IT? Ugh!

Maybe with my dying words I’ll remember: “….oh yeah. I stashed it in the silver Halliburton camera case. Wherever that is.”