appearing at the tiny brew pub on NW Flanders street in Portland, OR
Justin Hayward played to a packed house Sunday Dec. 8th 1996.
appearing at the tiny brew pub on NW Flanders street in Portland, OR
Justin Hayward played to a packed house Sunday Dec. 8th 1996.
40 die-hard fans lined up in the rain about 8am for his scheduled 5pm acoustic set. we had worried that many would not be able to see the performance, and set out to make sure that we would. once we were let into the pub a little after noon the party began! it was fun to visit with new and old Moody friends, sharing pictures and stories.
there was a shriek when Justin's limo was spotted outside about 4pm. he met with 10 contest winners backstage and signed things for them. one lady came back out with her vinyl cover "Days of Future Passed" autographed, and was crying. most of us shed a few tears during the course of the singing and then the meet 'n greet.
Jus was in excellent voice. he joked and talked with the crowd, and when "Blue Guitar" was requested he Looked at the acoustic he held and said, "it's a brown guitar, is what it is." another time he pretended to struggle with the fingering for a complicated series of chord changes. it looked to me as if he knew his way around that guitar pret-ty well!
then he *did* play "Blue Guitar", and got especial appreciation from
Margie and Wendy. the pub had closed its doors at 4:15, maxed out on
an occupancy of 175 (Drew made a point of showing me the Fire Marshals
report). we all sang along on most songs. it was heart-filling.
when it was my turn to speak with Justin, i had him sign an 8x10 i took of him last weekend in Tahoe, and showed him my artwork of "Meanwhile" that didn't quite make it into his L-C birthday card. i had shrunk the illustration to 5x7, and laminated it with my biz card on the back. he got a laugh out of my drawing! flashes were going off all around me, but i couldn't turn away from his gaze. "thank you" was all i could get out. i wanted to thank him for so many things! for making the music; for touring all those years until my dream did come true, and i got to see him. he might have wanted to say something to me, but i had fled.
my legs were shaking so badly i thought i better sit down! everyone wanted to know what i said that cracked him up, but it was the drawing.
i thought it couldn't get any better than Lisa and i'se dino shuffle in Tahoe, but it did! the best is yet to come for fans of Justin Hayward!
my thanks as well to Kathleen, Lisa, Jeanne, Helene, Teresa, Robin, Bob,
and everyone who made yesterday a huge success. (and Justin, of course)
