Here's how I remember it: |
| The Psychedelic Furs, July 23 1984, five days before I saw them |
I started high school in the fall of 1982, already with the reputation of being Minneapolis' #1 New Wave fan (if only in my own head) and with a voracious appetite for "new" music. There were a few hardcore mohawked-and-leather-jacketed punks at the school, but aside from myself and a kid named Chad (who's phy-ed attire were those 70's running shorts with the white piping up the side, and an Ian Dury & the Blockheads tour shirt) there were no other obvious New Wave kids in attendance. After a few months of school I met KT (see my Saturday Night Dance Party for a little more of her backstory). KT was one of the few New Wave kids that made themselves known, and told me in the back of Social Studies class "there's gonna be a band we like on King Biscuit this Sunday, but I can't remember what band it is." I logged it in the musical notebook that lived in the back of my brain, and when Sunday night rolled around I tuned into KQRS (now the "classic rock" station, back then they had the exact same playlist but it was just called "rock") at the appropriate hour and slid in to a hot bath tub to find out who the mystery "band we both like" was. I was very happily surprised when the announcer said that that night's King Biscuit Flour Hour welcomed The Psychedelic Furs. Now, I had of course heard The Furs thanks to KBEM's Friday overnight punk and New Wave show Ready Steady Go, but I never paid really close attention. However, after listening to the KBFH I was sold and considered myself a firm fan.
Fast forward about 16 months. I was "dating" An(gie) Archy and we heard through the New Wave grapevine that the Furs were going to be playing at the Orpheum Theater, and Talk Talk was slated to be the opening band. Tickets were purchased immediately, then came the torturous wait from the time the show was announced until the actual showtime.
A few weeks before the concert it was announced that The Psychedelic Furs were going to be signing records at Hot Licks (soon to change their name to Northern Lights Music) the afternoon of the show.
When the day finally rolled around I went to the in-store by myself, about half an hour before the band were supposed to arrive, and I grabbed a copy of Forever Now. Mirror Moves was the album they were touring on, but I wanted Forever Now as it was my favorite then (and still is). Soon enough the band and managers rolled in to the store and took up residence behind the counter. Richard Butler, lead singer, had throngs of people vying for his attention and signature, and I didn't feel like pushing my way through just to get a record singed. What I noticed, however, was the sunglasses-wearing John Ashton, Psychedelic Furs guitar player, standing near the window at the opposite end of the counter with nary a fan recognizing him let alone asking for an autograph. Since no one was bothering him I sauntered up and thrust my virgin copy of Forever Now towards him. He graciously took it and signed his name in gold Sharpie. While handing it back he asked if I wanted him to have Richard sign it. I politely declined and said "everyone's gonna have his autograph. How many have you signed so far?" to which he replied "about four."
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| Photographer Unknown |
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| All other photos by Ron Clark |
Autograph session completed I hopped a bus back home and prepared for the concert. The plan was to meet An(gie) and her friends downtown before the concert and hang out for a bit beforehand. I slapped my newly acquired album on the cobbled-together garage sale stereo I had and figure out what I was going to wear. My typical togs of the time were suit pants or army fatigues, some kind of t-shirt, and one of the many old, thrifted suit jackets that were in my closet. My parents were gone for the weekend, so I had no supervisory interference and could get on with it at my leisure.
Showered, and in my best New Wave gear I hopped a bus back downtown at about 4:30. Half an hour later I was waiting for the girls to show up at our designated rendezvous point, Slice Of New York (the first of many hang-outs I haunted from my teens til my 40s). Shortly they showed up with the news that one of them had forgot their ticket and they had to bus it back to her place for retrieval. I was asked if I wanted to go with, but it was more important to me to see Talk Talk, so I politely declined and said I'd see them in the theater.
With an hour or so to kill I wandered around City Center, a now-defunct but then-thriving shopping center in the middle of downtown just kind of window shopping and people watching. It was your typical mid-80s mall and held very little interest to anyone whose taste may have ran outside of the mainstream, but since I had nothing better to do I just meandered. While walking past the teeny-bopper shop clogged with neon socks and skirts I noticed a sign in the window that said "free ear piercing with purchase of earring. MUST BE 18 OR OLDER!" "well," I thought to myself, "I'm gonna go in and get my ear pierced. I have an extra $4.50, why not?" Now keep in mind I was only 16 and hadn't even started shaving yet, but I thought I'd see if I could get away with it. I strolled in acting as natural as can be, and an older New Wave woman asked if she could help me. "Older" as in she was probably 20, maybe 21... I told her I wanted my ear pierced and she handed me a board covered in black velour with about 40 ear studs poked thru it. I picked out a nice faux ruby on a gold plated post. The clerk fished around in plastic bin, found what she was looking for and loaded it into the piercing gun. 20 seconds later I had a new hole in my head and a slip of paper laying out how to care for my new embellishment. I handed her a $5.00 and told her I didn't need change. As I was walking out she casually asked "oh, uh, you ARE over 18, right?" and I assured her that I was. With that I made my way to the food court and sat down with a Mountain Dew and a wee bit more time to kill, and a mild sting in my no-longer-virgin earlobe.
Soon enough it was time to mosey over to the theater where the concert was being held, and I dutifully took my place in line and waited for the girls to join me. The line started moving, and just before I reached the door tAn(gie) and her friends showed up. We took our seats, I showed off my earring, and I seemed to be the only one impressed with it. After what seemed like ages the lights dimmed, and 5 guys dressed all in white took the stage. It was Talk Talk, and I was just as geeked to see them as I was the headlining band. At this point the only record of Talk Talk's that I had was a 5 song EP. I'm not sure if their actual album had come out in America yet, but more on that later. Talk Talk put on an amazing show, if a bit brief, and left the stage. Lights up, small talk made between the 4 of us, and then the lights dimmed again. I don't remember much about the Furs' performance. All I remember was thinking they were one of the best live bands I had seen so far. An encore or 2 later and the show was over. The girls and I slowly shuffled out of the theater, and then one of us had the idea to go around to the stage door in the alley to see if we could catch any of the Furs as they were leaving.
There was a big tour bus sitting there with the engine running, and we could tell there was movement inside, so one of An(gie)'s friends knocked on the door. As she stood back the door opened and one of the guys from Talk Talk popped his head out. Yeah, we were hoping for the Furs, but as I said, I liked Talk Talk just as much. Soon enough the entire band alighted from the bus and were talk-talking to us, asking us how we liked the show, telling tour stories etc. Mark Hollis, the singer (and later known to be a publicity-shunning recluse [sadly he died in 2019]) said "Hang on a minute, kids, I'll be right back." He went back into the bus and a minute later came back out with posters and album flats (reproductions of album covers used as promo material), and had the band sign everything. He said "sorry we don't have any records or shirts to give you, these are the best we can do." We all HAPPILY took our swag just as the tour manager started hustling everyone back on the bus. We thanked everyone and made our way to the bus that would take us all back to An(gie)'s house for a little post-concert decompression.
We all hung out for a few hours , then An(gie)'s mom drove us all home, dropping me off last. An(gie) followed me to the back door of my house, out of sight of her mom, and we both enjoyed a quick smooching session. She then pulled herself away and as she was running back to the car told me she'd call me in the morning.
When I went in the house I immediately realized that, with my parents out of town for the weekend, my brother decided to throw a party. The house was crammed with drunken high schoolers making weak attempts to cop off with someone of the opposite sex. I pushed my way through, giggling to myself with the thought of just how much trouble my brother was getting himself in to. I got up to my bedroom, which was currently occupied by a young couple engaged in their own smooching session. I kicked them out, shut the door behind me and tried to go to sleep.
The next day my parents called. My brother was frantically trying to straighten the house back up after his night of party hosting, and threatened me with death if I ever said anything about it. I asked my mom where the hydrogen peroxide was. Nervously she asked what I needed it for, and I calmly told her I got my ear pierced. With a sigh of relief she told me where in the overcrowded bathroom closet to find it and some cotton balls. Then she handed the phone to my dad, who gruffly asked what dumbshit thig I did that I needed the peroxide for. When I told him that I had got my ear pierced there was about 27 seconds of silence, then he just said "well, I hope you got the left one done, 'cause if you got the right one done it'd mean you're 'funny'!"
July 28 1984
