A friend of mine

I wanted to remember a friend of mine today on his birthday. He's been gone now for close to three years but I still feel like he's around sometimes. He was so full of spirit and hilarity I sometimes wonder if it was just a dream of his passing.
My friend Mike Meros. I met Mike 28 years ago when I was 15. I was a giggly fan of the Beach Boys and he was their keyboard player. I had met some girls at a Beach Boys concert in Clarkston MI in 1982 who travelled around to see the band. I had dreamed for 3 years up to that point of meeting that band. I loved the Beach Boys! I asked constant questions on how everyone was in real life and what kinds of things they did when they met up with them all the time. I think they must have taken pity on me because they asked if I wanted to go the next time they came to town. YES! That was all I could think of. That August the Beach Boys came to Michigan to play the State Fair. The girls told me if I could get dropped off at one of the local girls homes I could ride with them. I BEGGED my mom to take me over there and reluctantly she did and plopped a little bit of money in my hand and told me not to ask for any more. She was a single mom after all and money was tight. I had enough to cover my part of the hotel and maybe get a meal. Well without going into too much detail about all that, more later..lol..that night after the concert arriving back at the hotel I met Mike Meros. The band was in our hotel and although I was searching out Carl Wilson left and right we ran into Mike several times that night. I only knew two of the backup band members at that time. Ed Carter - and my future boyfriend Bobby Figueroa. Bobby wasn't there that summer because he injured his back so I was clueless on who anyone else was. Meros was a treat that first trip because he was so nice and not a bit stand offish. My friend Kathy and I must have run into him at least 5 times that night. The next day he remembered me as the band all were checking out and I made my way around them all with my autograph book.
The next time I saw him was nearly a year later and he was just as kind and funny. We talked little bits but nothing to the extreme. That whole year after I met him we would occasionally run into each other during the 13 times we saw the band all over the mid west. By the end of that summer tour Mike and I were Pac - Man buddies. We would try to outscore each other and it was always a big competition. The year after that we saw the band 12 times and we were starting to chat a bit more. One of the girls I traveled with had a crush on him to the extreme that it sometimes made him uncomfortable. Still he would single me out and we would grab a coke or something in the bar of the hotel. (I was still only a teenager so couldn't stay in there past 8pm!)
By the third year of me around the band we had gotten to the point of having lunches and talking about family, love interests and so on. We did many weird trips. Driving to a brewery, taking a drive to find all the Drive In Theatres, stuff like that. Mike was my first REAL friend in the band. By the end of that year he would call on the phone to see what was new or to tell me his life up to that point. When he finally had kids and got married, (yes in that order! geesh) I was really excited for him. We still remained close friends and he even invited me to his wedding which I couldn't attend because I had a new job.
Over the next 20 years we always stayed in touch even when I started to take a leave from seeing the band for a couple of years. He'd always try and coax me to come, but for two years I didn't want to. He was the one to tell me that Carl Wilson was dying of cancer and to get my butt to the show the night they were in town. I was so glad because it was the last time I saw Carl again.
When Mike got let go from the Beach Boys I was sad for him but knew it was stressing him out too with his family. He wasn't meant to stay home however I saw. He was happier on the road being a touring musician. When Bobby and I started to date, I was curious to see if he'd stay my friend, and he did. In fact he and Bobby got to be closer when we did because they got to talk again without all the drama of what was going on in the band. The last time I saw Mike was in May of 2006. I had him come out to my Beach Boys convention and he had the time of his life. He and Bobby talked for hours and I was happy. Mike died of a Heart Attack a year later and I was so shocked because he was so healthy and spirited. I can still hear his laugh and his silly sayings. He will be so missed!

Wasn't public

I guess I didn't have my profile set for public. Ha ha..have a lot to learn yet on how to do this blogging stuff. Don't worry I plan to get good at it. I like to write and I have nearly 30 years worth of journals to prove that. Though I do have a problem keeping at it excessively. For example, I haven't picked up my current journal in nearly 3 months. Some of the most fun stuff has  happened in those three months too and I'm slacking!
I started on Father's Day this year, June 19th and with my boyfriend in tow I left Michigan with my jeep packed to the gills. We spent the next three days heading west as I was moving into his California home. We stopped in Chicago, Lincoln, and some little town in Wyoming before stopping in Northern Utah to stay with Ricci Martin. That was 3 fun filled drunk days. We stayed in Ricci's guest cabin which is about about 20 feet away from the main house. Its where his mom stays when she is in town..its GORGEOUS. All woods and raging river outside the windows. We bowled, we drank, we skyped Wayne Tweed, we drank, we ate, we sang..you get the picture? We were exhausted when we left Ricci's and then just increased the fun by staying the next two nights in Las Vegas. I had my first drive through the desert. Not impressed after all.
I've already been to Palm Springs where Bobby played with Al Jardine - his boss too, since I've been here. I've gotten my job within a relatively quick period of time, and I've constantly been on the go since being in CA. Way different from my life in MI.
So now that I have run out of things to say for today..(the posts will get better, I'm just being monitored by my job at the moment)..so if you haven't run off bored yet..I hope it gets better!

Test Ricci Martin Blog

Ok..this is the unedited blog I just wrote for Ricci Martin...any critiques would be appreciated. Not that I will change it mind you, but go ahead and give me your opinion.

Milwaukee, WI.

July 14th, 2010

                Here I am getting ready to board my flight from Ontario CA to Milwaukee. I’m actually a part of the crew this trip! While Bobby Fig and I visited Ricci at his home a few weeks ago he decided I should be an official tour member this trip. I get to be in charge of recording the new cd. Yes Ricci is actually entrusting me to this great task that all of you will hopefully enjoy for years to come. I will do my best. I’m feeling that now that I’m officially going on the road as a working employee or as Jimi calls me one of the boys, that  I should get a luggage tag! Yes I did ask Ricci for one and he said I could have one but I think he was just trying to be nice and to get me to leave him alone. I’m still waiting Mr. Martin!

We are coming from all over this trip. Normally I would be flying out with both Bobby’s but  Bobby Figueroa is coming from New York as he had a prior commitment there this week.  I’m currently  sitting here at the Ontario airport with Bobby Z at this awful hour of 5:30am. Actually quite pretty here in California at this early of an hour though I don’t want to make a habit of it!  The rest of the guys, Ricci, Jimi and Jerry are all flying respectively out of Salt Lake City and Long Beach for a flight into O’Hare. They will be picked up in Chicago and driven to Milwaukee. So Z and I will be the first to arrive into Milwaukee today. Got to run for now as the flight attendants are not happy with me for typing as we are getting ready to depart the gate. Lets hope I have nothing exciting to note about this flight!…more soon!

Arrival in Milwaukee – Well , Z and I have arrived here in Wisconsin. We met at the baggage claim (as he had a much closer to the front seat than I had) to see if we could find our ride to the hotel. After much searching with Z toting around his B3 keyboard which is luckily on wheels (heavy!) we found our guy.  Only problem is he is also waiting for  one of the Four Lads who are also playing the Festa Italiana so we have to wait. Although how we are going to get anyone else in this van with all the stuff we have should be interesting. We waited about 10 minutes and out comes an older gentleman and woman and they are pushing an airport cart with about 15 suitcases on it. I wish I were kidding when I say that! Z and I are sitting in a 7 passenger  mini van – with his B3 and both our suitcases packed for 5 days already in the back. There is no way all that luggage and those two were going to fit in there. Our driver asks the Lad if he can come back for them while he drops us off first. Lad isn’t happy about it, but has to go with that otherwise some of his 15 pieces of luggage are not going to make the trip. Z and I are secretly happy we aren’t the ones left on the curb!

Bobby and I arrived and are greeted by this swanky art deco hotel  lobby and feel we’ve had enough of each others company for a few hours (wow that didn’t take long!) and go to our own rooms. I sat for about 30 minutes running through every channel on the TV I could – as back home I don’t get the remote long enough to know what’s even on TV any more;  before I was bored and ready to go exploring. I know when Bobby Fig lands he  will want a nice big beer cooling in a big old ice bucket so that was the next task. Deciding to brave the humidity I walked across the parking lot of the hotel next door  to  us and to the gas station on the corner  scouring the fridge sections and what do I find – no beer! I then walked across the very busy intersection to the gas station on the other corner ( I think this deserves a luggage tag by now – no?) and again, no beer! Thinking I’m in a dry county by this time (but isn’t this the Beer Capital of the World?)  I finally decided to ask someone at the gas station where is the nearest place to get some, they directed me to a place a mile down the road and I passed. As much as I love these guys, I will not walk 1 mile in 95 per cent humidity carrying a case of beer! (just lost the luggage tag rights on that I guess?)

A few hours after arriving at the hotel I went down to the pool to take advantage of the hot tub and pool.  Mind you it is about 93 degrees in the pool area but the water is like 40 degrees. And it never warmed up the entire time I was in it! Amazing how they can do that.  Z is already down there when I arrived working out in the gym. I could see him through the glass walls from the pool area. I managed the ice cold temperature of the pool for about 30 minutes before I felt like frostbite was going to set in. Z when he was done working out in the health club managed to get into the pool for less time than I did. He preferred the hot tub but since it was already a balmy 93 in the pool area we opted to sit and watch the others nearby. One of my favorite things to do is people watch and when I’m around these guys I get to do a lot of that. So if you ever run across me on one of the tours, I am watching you and yes you could end up in the blog one day! Bobby  Z sat a couple chairs down from me and we had a laugh at the guy across the pool from us who was wearing a purple Speedo and trying to get a tan from the sunshine coming through the window.  I think he’s with one of the other bands that are staying in the hotel. The girl at the front desk said the hotel was full with Festa  acts.  

The sun was setting a bit later on and I was wondering where everyone else was when Ricci called the room. He was meeting the others who already made it in down in the restaurant for a welcome reception.  Bobby Fig  arrived from the airport just as I was heading down to the restaurant so we dumped the bags in our room and went back down together. For once no one had any airport drama!

 Donna was our server tonight. She could tell the boys were going to have a bit of a giggle at her expense and she caught them unawares at their own game! She gave as well as she got. Very fun loving but knows when to put her foot down. Ricci told her to come to tomorrow night’s show.  We were sitting  at a table near the bar and while we waited for our dinners to arrive I noticed some of the boys giving a gentleman near the bar a couple of second looks. Z and Jimi kept trying to place his name and eventually someone realized, and I can’t remember which one finally figured it out, but it was musician/comedian Pete Barbutti  who had performed on the Tonight Show.  Ricci, as I’ve seen him do many a time, went over and introduced himself along with the band. A couple of the guys I noticed had a bit of a star struck moment and I offered to get a photo of them with him. 

Thursday -  July 15^th.
Today was hot! We all had breakfast with Ricci this morning in the hotel restaurant. It’s always amusing to see who is the last at the table. Jerry was the late comer today. Once we were done Ricci called to have Festa send a van over so we could all go to the fairgrounds early and scope out the layout of the stage and see where we could get the recorder set up.  We made it a field trip for the whole band. Everyone had to go. Actually everyone wanted to go as its rare on the tours that they get to do some fun stuff together as a band.  The Festival  opened at 2pm today and we got there about 2 hours early. They did let us in the gates but none of the vendors were open yet.  We are on the Harley Stage tonight a very different looking stage that had motorcycles hanging above and below each other on each side of the stage. I think someone mentioned it was the oldest stage in the park but also the biggest. I thought it would have made a great photo op for the band to all sit on one of the motorcycles with their tuxes on but no one was game. I guess the appeal of dangling from the scaffolding on a Harley 10 feet off the stage just wasn’t there.  Still the stage was large and very accommodating. We met Paul and Rick the nice sound guys who were going to take care of them once the show began. As the day was still early there was no reason for us to go back to the hotel yet. We walked around the grounds a bit to take in some of what Festa had to offer.  The lure of the beer stands was too much of a temptation for some! They had to wait until 2pm for the stands to open so we continued on our walk around the tents and more until it was time for them to clutch a cold one.  As we strolled I got a shot of the band in front of a large Venice painting to make it look the they were actually in Italy. I’ll have to crop out the sidewalk that you can see plain as day below their feet to make it more realistic! Again we continued on our trek and were stopped by a gang of Italian maidens with lovely flowers in their hair and when they found out who Ricci was asked to have their photo taken. Surrounded by the pretty girls all decked out in costumes of  swishing skirts of green, white and black Ricci and the girls took quite the nice photo!

 
Once 2pm did come and the beer stands beckoned the band’s name towards them we lost Jerry and Jimi.  Jerry’s  friend from the band Ambrosia (who was also playing at Festa tonight at the same time we were playing on another stage!) lives here in Milwaukee and had invited him to  his recording studio downtown.  Jimi, who always wants to see new things in town, went along for the ride too. We were just down to me, Bobby Fig, Bobby Z and Ricci now and off we went to the beer stand.  I got to have my first “Blue Moon” brewski and I have to say I’ve become a fan. Especially of the little floating orange slice that they put in the cup to enhance the flavor!  I was the only one who went for that option and the other guys were jealous and curious because I got the bonus of having the floating orange.

On our way back to the hotel this afternoon Mitch, police officer extraordinaire , excellent driver and new friend to the band gave us the history of the large highway bridge that loomed behind our stage. Rumors or speculation have it crumbling soon and they will have to replace it. Hopefully the crumbling will wait until we are all out of there and long gone!  It’s such an imposing thing when you stand underneath it, which you have to do when going into the Festa Italiana. Ricci asked if I would take a photo of him with Figgy and Z  to show the magnitude of the thing. In order to get this shot I had to crouch on the ground and shoot up. Yes folks on my knees on the cement taking a photo of a picture that may not even make it into the blog. If it shows up now you all will know the sacrifice I had to make so you could see it!

My days as a recording engineer are numbered after the show tonight. We had plugged the recorder Ricci brought into the PA system but it picked up nothing. Seems Ricci’s little recorder was way more advanced than the PA system for the fair.  My job officially dissolved I am back to band photographer.

Not everyone could agree on whether to go downtown tonight. I think majority were up for a trip downtown, but a bit of tiredness prevailed and we went to the local steak house on the corner.
The “Branded Steer” became home to not only our small group but of just about everyone who played at Festa tonight.  We saw the Four Lads there, members of Ambrosia and several others I am not yet familiar with. Definitely the place to be if you want an autograph from someone  from the show.

 

July 16^th, 2010

Friday! And its hotter is seems today than yesterday!  The Arctic pool is sounding like a great plan right now.   However we are going to the fair grounds again this morning as we have to come up with some idea on how to get these shows recorded so we can put out a new cd.  Jimi is a wiz and getting all the technical talk with these guys so we are going to let him do his thing!
I’ll let you know the results when we get back.

And we are back! A very productive afternoon it was too. Especially the stop at the market we made on the way to the grounds. Yes we stopped before we went to the fairgrounds not after which would have made more sense.  We couldn’t keep the grocery bags in the van since they didn’t know if they would need to make a run with it for another act. We had to carry all our bags to the hospitality trailer so they wouldn’t be left in the heat. Next time they will do their grocery shopping after our excursions to the fair!  On a side note it was very amusing to see Ricci, Bobby F, and Jerry all running around the grocery picking up snacks and drinks for later on.

Back to the afternoon - AFTER we dropped off the groceries in the hospitality tent to keep cool we headed back over to our stage to see if Paul was there.  Ricci and Jimi went into technical talk and Bobby and Jerry went to check on the musical equipment.  I made myself useful and went over to the stage managers office and raided his fridge for cups and waters for tonight. We were a bit limited last night with the water and being as hot as it was and these guys wearing Tuxedo’s  I wanted to make sure we were covered. I did get a kick out of handing the band their water last night that had little sponge bob square pants all over the label. I meant to get a photo of that tonight but it didn’t materialize. I have a feeling they will avoid the camera in that case!

It looks as if Paul had a solution to the recording problem but as I know next to nothing about that stuff lets just put it that things are looking up!  We decided to spend another hour at Festa before going back to the hotel. We were piled in two golf carts and were carted around the grounds. That is definitely the way to get around there! It can definitely spoil one.  Our first stop was the Mass Tent. Every imaginable Catholic artifact you could find was in there. We walked through there and then were taken to the Opera tent which was so warm the boys had beads of perspiration gliding down them!  Seeing that everyone was in need of a shower we headed back to our hotel.

 
Thanks to Officer Ed who was there tonight in uniform and was so helpful to me in taking care of the band and anything we might need. Ed and Mitch are going to replace me one day I can see it!

The meet and greet tonight was spectacular. We got it in before the fireworks went off and met some really great people.  

Saturday, July 17^th, 2010

We gathered in Ricci’s room this afternoon so the guys could go over a couple things for the show and then stayed to watch several episodes of Animal Planet’s Whale Wars. (Ricci is addicted to this show and Cash Cab for all of you out there who wanted to know what’s on his telly) Otherwise it was a slow afternoon that Bobby Fig and I spent doing some swimming and having lunch in the hotel restaurant.
We are starting to get to know some of the other bands that are staying in the hotel. Seems the only time we can see them is here.  
We got to have a police escort to the Festa tonight! Our buddies Ed and Mitch when picking up Ricci, Jerry and Jimi from the airport the other day said they wanted to give that to them as a special gift. I really didn’t expect them to pull it off. But surprise, surprise as we walked down to the lobby tonight we not only saw our van waiting for us but a nice shiny Milwaukee Police car with all its lights flaring.  We met Officer Esteban (I hope I spelled that right!) who was kind enough to give us a escort to the highway but then had to leave for real police work! Believe me the guys were totally excited to have had that much! I know I was.
 I got to chat a bit with the band that came on after Ricci’s show. They came last night too to see our show and I found out that they had once been Ricci’s sister Deana’s band in Branson. They were the Bronx Wanderers and had a really cool looking guy who looked like Elvis that I ran into many times backstage. Our audience tonight also had quite a few repeat fans!  Many had been to the show the night before and had come back just to see Ricci again. One was a family with a young daughter who we were very happy to see again. Super great people!
After the Meet and Greet we were whisked back to the hotel were a very colorful Indian wedding was going full force and the lobby and restaurant were crammed with people wall to wall.  We decided to change and have our driver who volunteered to drive us over to our new favorite place the Branded Steer so we could once more have another late night dinner. They know us all by name there already since we had been there every night since we got here.  Ed and Mitch were supposed to have taken us downtown to do some fun stuff, but they both were saddled with commitments from the Festa. (boo) 

I forgot to mention yesterday that we did get to record the show via Paul the soundman! I also forgot to mention that I was reassigned in my duties! Ricci found it too difficult to see people when he went into the audience so it was up to me to go out and get the questions with the mike from the people.  This would have worked well had I known certain technical aspects of the stage. Seems my swinging the mike back and forth and holding it upside down on occasions was giving off tons of feedback. They had to eventually turn me off and Ricci came into the audience. Once again fired!

Sunday July 18^th, 2010
Today is our last full day in Milwaukee. We sure have had fun and wouldn’t you know it the last day was probably the most fun. I had the guys come down early to the lobby before we left for the show so I could take group and single photos of them for the Cd. We changed backgrounds many times eventually finding the wall behind the check in desk to be the most effective with the Red paint. Thanks to the girls at the Crowne Plaza for letting us crash your work area! The red looks stunning in the photos!
We then gathered at the hotel bar to have a drink and wait for our ride when we saw Micky Dolenz of the Monkees standing right next to us. He was also waiting for his ride to Festa where he was performing on the stage next to ours . Ricci went over and introduced himself and told Micky the story of how his sister Deana broke Davy Jones heart back in the 60’s. Micky actually got a chuckle out of it. The bar normally closed early on Sunday but they said if there were enough people in there after the show they would stay open. Ricci and Micky said they could arrange it that there were enough people in there.
One we knew who would not be in there that night was Frankie Valli who also was on a stage nearby ours. Mr. Valli arrived into the hotel on Sunday and didn’t have a suite waiting for him and was put in the room next door to Ricci’s. Well he wasn’t happy that he didn’t have a suite and asked the hotel to ask Ricci if he could share his parlor with him. Ricci’s parlor was small, and they would have been in each others’ way all the time so Ricci gently declined. I think ole Frankie won’t be a fan in the future!

We actually had a interesting show tonight. Too bad it won’t make the cd, but Ricci usually tells a joke during the show but this time he gave the punch line before the joke. Ahh memories, though he will deny this  (Van Halen anyone? Those of you who have seen the show will know what I’m talking about!)
Our  family of 3 from the previous two nights came back to see us again tonight with more family in tow! Also we saw again more faces that we had seen the first couple of nights return to the show tonight. Including the blonde in the striped shirt who really liked Ricci! We wished Ed and Mitch well as we knew we wouldn’t see them again for awhile. (Except for Jimi and Jerry who are getting a ride from them tomorrow back to O’Hare airport!) A shout out to Ed’s daughter Mia as well who stuck with us pretty well!  When we arrived back to the hotel we went straight to the bar to make sure it was still open and Micky Dolenz and his sister were there as well as some of the other bands from Festa. Mitch and Ed had packed us up some dinners from the nearby food vendors to take back with us so we mowed down our dinners and had some very fun conversations with everyone else in the bar. Most of us have early flights tomorrow so it was a short night and we’ve been out on the road now for 5 days so I think we are ready!  Great people here in the Midwest (as I knew there would be having come from the Midwest myself!) and we are definitely looking forward to coming back next year!

Woo Hoo - not

Why do men always think what they say goes and they are always right? Case in point - my significant other ranted to me on the phone the other day while he was on tour because I was going out with his sister to his favorite restaurant. Why are we going when he's not there was what he wanted to know. Well because she had just gotten paid and we wanted a margarita! He made such a stink that he does all the cooking for dinners and lunches (not true at all..but he does do more than me but we go out more, and then I pay for it!) that he thought we were taking advantage of the situation. Meanwhile - he's in PA somewhere with the Ricci band having a nice dinner and staying in a fancy hotel..Hello?? Did I hear that correct? A band that I usually get to travel around with but since this wasn't a normal show (showcase for buyers to see the show) I couldn't go..so I was a bit bummed over that too.
I'm just venting but its so frustrating to be talked down to when I didn't even do ANYTHING wrong!