8/1/93 (Joe's Birthday) Harvey's Lake Amphitheatre
We arrived nine hours early so we'd be front row!
Sat outside gate from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m. Ran up
front for UKJ set. Witfield Crane went on top pavilion
roof to sing. We couldn't hold our places for
Def Leppard due to head-walkers and then my head and
neck had gotten crunched. Someone kicked me near my
right eye, so I ducked. A redhead had taken my spot
at the barricade. In a blind fury, I ferociously
pulled her hair. Then someone violently pulled my
hair, her husband I guess, because next he threatened
to kill me! Dawn was about to pass out and climbed
out over the barricade, so I followed hurriedly.
I found her later then held up my illuminatin
calligraphy poster for DEF LEPPARD to see. About six
cups of beer hit it from behind, so I put it away. We
went to the back near the sound stage and then ran
into the five girls Dawn had befriended while waitin
outside the gate for nine hours. I heard "Happy
Birthday," bein sung to Joe. I did not see Joe even
when he played acoustic "Two Steps Behind", but from
where we were standin, the arena and crowd looked
just fantastic! I danced then from that distance, as
if I knew I would get closer to the stage eventually!
We were askin some of the sound technicians after the
show if we could get Joe's autograph and give him
cards and gifts we'd brought. They said they could
give them to him, but we opted to try it for ourselves.
So with the five girls from Wilkes-Barre, the seven of
us went around to the main street and stood outside
the fence to see if Joe was around to receive cards/
gifts and sign autographs. While leanin against a
skinny tree, I felt a pinch on my ass. A man leered at
me from behind a larger tree. I yelled, "Sexual
harassment!" I was wearin pink biker shorts and he
said to me, "You shouldn't wear clothes like that!"
When I leaned back against a larger tree, he did it
again! >:-< I ran around that tree and smacked him
hard on the nose with the four markers I had banded
together in my hand, yellin, "Security! Security!
I will have you charged with harassment!" As the guy
walked away yellin profanities at me, I yelled after
him, "Go home and f--k yourself!" Just then, a
security guard named Dave, walked over to the fence.
One of the five Wilkes-Barre girls, Sharon, I think,
asked Dave (she said he was a friend of her's) where
we could see Joe and he told her where he would be
stayin. She told her friend, another friend, but not
two of the others. For reasons, she later explained
(havin to do with one of the girls' mother being
brutal) she did not want that other girl to go with us
to the Woodlands Motel, where DEF LEPPARD were stayin.
Instead, the three who knew the location began yellin,
"Chicken Coop! Chicken Coop!" I thought there was
a chicken coop across the road or somethin!
Five girls, including Dawn, had jumped into a sedan,
while another girl and I stood there. I said to Dawn,
"But, Dawn--you're drivin!" Then she realized what
she'd done. The seven of us soon figured out we had to
go there in two cars, since the two outsiders were not
drivin themselves, we volunteered to let them ride with
us, to the hotel and hung out there in the parking lot.
It was a little past midnight and we had a 1/2 hour
wait. Dawn and I changed clothes in her car, gettin
our T-shirts ready for autographs! As the other six
girls waited outside the bar entrance in the parking
lot, I waited near the driveway entrance. A white
van pulled in and around as the six girls chased after
it. It kept driving past the parking lot and into a
back road that circled around the motel. "Phil was in
that van!", one of the six girls yelled. The six
proceeded to walk back up to the entrance. I stood near
the driveway as another black van pulled in and around
the small parking lot. As the van pulled in to stop
in front of the entrance, a security guard walked to
it, said, "Good evening, Mr. Elliott. Would you care
to sign some autographs?"
The six girls, Dawn with the five Wilkes-Barre girls
lingerin behind her, all stampeded up toward Joe. I
casually approached Vivian, "I have a T-shirt I
designed myself and would like the band to sign it!"
Vivian said, "I'm not the band, but I'll sign it!"
I asked him which color he would want to sign it with,
red, green or blue. He said, "Green, because I'm
Irish!" I said to him ecstatically, "If it were your
birthday, I'd give you a kiss!" He replied, "My
birthday's comin up soon," but I was stupid--blindly
goin toward Joe, who was through signin and posin
with the six girls. I sort of surprised him by walkin
up behind him (Two Steps Behind)!
I said to Joe, "Hi! Would you sign this T-shirt I
designed myself?" He looked at it as I had pulled it
across my front, as I had said to Vivian, "What color
do you want to sign with, red, green or blue?" He
said, "I really don't give a shit!" and grabbed
the red pen impatiently. These pens were secured by
a tight rubber band so that when he grabbed it, the
cap flew right past his head and across the parking
lot! Dawn went and picked it up. I said, "Red--
that's a good color--it shows up well!"
Just as I had asked Vivian, I said, "Do you want to
sign it on the front or on the back?" but he was
already done signin! ******
Sharon had taken our picture while he was signin my
purple T-shirt. I asked her if I could get that
picture. After Joe circled around to see if anyone
else wanted an autograph, I asked him, "If I had a
gift--if that gift was a necklace--would you wear
it?" He said, "I'm wearin' this one a handicapped
girl gave me tonight for my birthday," pullin his
neckband down to show me [we had a moment] ;-) I
looked into his eyes. I asked how I could get the
gift to him on Tuesday (since Jeremy had retrieved
the crystal/pewter cross necklace out of my luggage)
and he said to give it to a roadie and they would
give it to him, as he ran his fingers through his hair.
THANKS TO DAWN FOR REMEMBERIN ALL THE DETAILS! B-D
I then said, "OK, thank you," and let him turn and
walk away. I turned to talk to Sharon and asked her
to get a copy of that photograph to me givin her
my name and phone number... but she never called me
about it.