HeY PrEsTo!

Experiences with Nigel

Kate's April 12th 1997
Marci's July 4th 1997
Kate's July 6th 1997
Deena's amBUSH Hawaii Trip November 18-21, 1997

Kate's April 12th 1997 I met Nigel for the first time at the April 12th aftershow in Boston, Massachusetts, at the Fleet Centre. Nigel was standing outside of the room they crammed us into, much like sardines for the aftershow. There was a security guard, who I learned by the end of the night was Bone, at the door who wouldn't let me through. I started yelling Nigel's name, who was about 10 feet from me. Finally I struggled past Bone and got to Nigel. The girls who were with him before were gone now, and I had him to myself. I said to him, "Hi Nigel, I'm Kate Downing." Nigel and I had met through my best friend and had been conversing for three months via email before today. I figured he’d recognize my name, considering he arranged the passes for the gig. He grinned broadly, which helped me relax. "Hi Kate, it’s great to finally meet you!" he said to me warmly. I decided autographs were best to get out of the way first. So he signed my Sixteen Stone tour book on one of "his" pages, as well as my Razorblade Suitcase CD book. "I got my guitar today." I told him, my face covered in a huge grin. Nigel, although online, helped me select a new acoustic. "Oh really?! That’s great. Which one did you chose, the Yamaha or the Washburn?" I was surprised he remembered the choices. "The Washburn." He grinned, happily. "So do you like it, is it fun?" Nigel fingered imaginary air-guitar chords. "Yes, I love it!" I told him I’d be back, I had to go get something. Then he gave me a hug. I came back and had him to myself again. "I heard Judith is here…" I said to him, then Nigel turned around and shouted, "Judith, Judith, come here." A short (sorry Nigel and Judith) attractive woman came and stood between Nigel and I. "Kate this is Judith," Nigel said. We shook hands. Nigel said to his wife, "Judith, this is my friend, Kate. She painted my blue guitar." I laughed a little, here I was standing between my idol and his wife. My friend and his wife! "I know. You did a great job, it’s beautiful. Maybe you’ll paint one of my guitars someday!" I said to Judith. She laughed with me. I took out a pen and my Razorblade Suitcase CD book and asked her to sign it. "You mean, like an autograph?" Judith asked me. I told her yes, so she did. It was the first time someone had asked her for her autograph she told me. I was happy about that. So I told Nigel I had yet to get to Gavin, and would be back. We hugged again and I left for a brief while. I came up and smiled, Nigel did too. "This time you don’t have to sign anything." Nigel raised an eyebrow in a humourous gesture. "I’m giving you something, I have something for you." Out of my tour book I took a birthday card I’d made for Nigel a week or so before since he’d turned 33 the day before. He looked at it and read the cover aloud. "To a phennnomenal guitarist, friend and mentor." We all laughed. "The phenomenal is from something you said at a chat a month or so ago," I told Nigel. "Thank you, that’s very sweet," he told me, "a kiss for the card?" So without a minute's hesitation I hugged him again, he kissed me on the cheek and I kissed him on his needing-to-be-shaved cheek. Then he told me to take care, which he always does and we left.

Marci's July 4th 1997 I was fortunate enough to be offered a backstage pass very unexpectedly for the show in Hershey, PA on July 4, 1997. The after-show meet and greet got cancelled, but by some miracle, a total of four of us managed to get in. Before Nigel came out, we got to meet the band Souls, who were all very nice. We were even given firecrackers from Cecilia to celebrate the 4th. It was rather noisy back there at first, as several of the crew kept shooting bottlerockets and lighting firecrackers behind the trailers.

When Nigel walked out, he had Judith with him, and immediately came up and introduced her to us. He was quite soft-spoken, which I had not really expected, and extremely kind. I had been very nervous about meeting him, (which I now feel silly about, since I am a 26-year-old married mother) but everyone was so sweet that we were all quickly put at ease. I think we stayed back there for about 45 minutes in all; and it was very enjoyable. I didn't have much to say, and I imagine I must have looked like a dimwit, but I was just taking everything in and sort of savoring the moment. Nigel was kind enough to autograph a few things for me, and I snapped a sweet little picture of him with his head on Judith's shoulder. The atmosphere was very relaxed.

When it came time to go, Nigel gave us each a small kiss on the cheek & thanked us for coming. In the end, I ended up somewhat glad that the meet and greet got cancelled, because we would have never had the opportunity to speak with everyone as long as we did & in such an intimate group.

Kate's July 6th 1997 The second and most recent time I met Nigel was on July 6th. My sister, her boyfriend, my best friend and another friend went to see Bush. This time it was at the Great Woods Centre for the Performing Arts in Mansfield, Massachusetts. Gavin thought it was Boston though. So we got the usual lecture from Bone about how the whole band may not show up, they don’t have time for pictures, blah blah blah... It’s not true though, as I’d learned before. We got into the room and it had tables and chairs with the usual - drinks, food to munch on. I was talking to Kasia and when I turned around Nigel was standing right behind me. I was like, "Oh wow!" So I went up and shoved my way through the people around him. "Hi Nigel, I’m Kate." I sounded really stupid, but made up for that. "Hey Kate! How you doing?" He asked me. "Good. Thank you so much for the tickets, Nigel. Why did you do that, we didn’t deserve them!?" He looked at me kinda funny. "I thought you were expecting them." We weren’t. I woke up the whole town of Mansfield when I saw the section 2 tickets with the backstage passes because I screamed so loud! "Well, thank you very much." Kasia told me she was going to see Dave and I said I was going to stay ‘here’ with Nigel. I bumped my elbow on the glass door of a drink cooler behind us. Nigel noticed and asked me if I was okay. I told him I was fine then I handed him the things I’d brought for him. "This is for you." I handed him a big envelope and a t-shirt I’d gotten for him. He looked at the envelope and I told him to turn it over to the front side. He did. It had 100% of his name on it. He said, "Oooo, don’t tell anyone!" "Oh, I won’t," I assured him. He held up the shirt and thanked me. He put it on the table next to him that had his cigarettes on it as well as his daiquiri on it. "I didn’t know what size would be good, so I asked Jan." Jan is Nigel’s eldest sister who plays keyboard for Cyndi Lauper's band. "Oh, Jan, I haven’t talked to her in ages! I lost her address!" Nigel told me. I told him I’d send it to him. I told him I was going to find Dave and he hugged me, good luck, I guess. So Dave and I spent some ‘quality time’ bashing Apple computer, putting out his cigarette and so on. Then it was back to Mr. Pulsford. I weeded my way back to the crowd around him, then I realized I was still holding his shirt and I felt really stupid. I put it down on ‘his’ table, then I put his pack of cigarettes on top. I came back to him. "What’s this about your grades and your guitar, Kate?" I was like, "Huh?" I know Nigel said something. To make a long story short I got a B- in Math and my parents were going to take away my guitar permanently. "I’m keeping it. I have to work on my grades, I know." He told me, "Yes you do. Grades come first. You can do both [guitar and school] at the same time, I did. Keep up school and guitar!" I was shocked, Nigel Pulsford was *yelling* at me for my bad grades, it was actually kinda cool. "I thought I saw Judith, she here?" He grinned, "Yeah, she’s off doing something fun, I suppose." The other person I was with came over and took a picture of me and Nigel, which I hope to have up soon. I started playing with Nigel’s all access pass that was around his neck. I didn’t realize I’d picked it up until he looked at me. "Do you mind?" He shook his head. The first piece is the tour logo, which was a blue sunflower in April, Winston in July. Then there was a picture of Nigel on the next ‘page’. The next one was a picture of Judith. Then Nigel said, "Kate, oh yes, picks!" That jolted me into the state of reality that I was in before, but it wasn’t really reality. A very good dream maybe. Nigel pulled about 25 guitar picks out of his pants pocket. "Here. They’re all used, hope that’s not a problem," he said putting a pick in my hand. "You remembered? Thank you!" I’d asked him if he could bring me a pick in a past email. "Of course I did! Where’s Kasia?" We couldn’t find my best friend Kasia so I took matters into my own hands. "KASIA!!!!" I yelled at the top of what was left of my lungs. She came, Nigel smiled when I did that. Through out that night he signed many things for me: the cover of my Littlethings Enhanced CD Super Single (thanks for getting that done Sean!), his signature in the back of my tour book, a note in the front of my tour book "Hi Kate, Enjoy the text, Nigel 7/6/97", a note for my friend’s friend, Amy, and a note for my boyfriend Collin. He told me he never signed his full name, just Nigel Pulsford. (I wanted him to sign his middle too) He also complained about how Americans never spell their names right, meaning Collin…2 l’s. (Sorry sweetie!! Nigel just has a problem with us Americans!) I spell mine right! He learned that my name isn’t Katelyn, Kathryn, or anything like that, just Kate. It was a great night. Lots of people around Nigel looked at me funny cos we just had a conversation the whole time. It was great. We’ll be meeting up when they come on tour again.

Deena's amBUSH Hawaii Trip AMBUSH HAWAII, NOVEMBER 18-23

TUESDAY NOVEMBER 18

me and bushkitten (the girl i went with--i DO know her name she just wants to remain known as bushkitten:) arrived at the hotel, we basically hung around, watched alleys and motorways with the rest of the group (there was 15 of us), and had fun. we were all like one big family, it was great!!! then, while we were all in the room, i look out the window... i see a guy standing on the balcony at the hotel across the street from us, who looks exactly like... DAVE PARSONS!!! he had on a red shirt and black pants, and had short black hair. i seriously thought i was halucinating. i start freaking out and everyone asks whats wrong, and i pointed out to them what i saw, then we all saw this short bald guy in all black who looked exactly like NIGEL PULSFORD!!! me, sandra and nasreen bolted out of our hotel room and spent an hour in the humid hawaiian rain looking for the hotel since the buildings were so damn confusing. once we found it we waited for 5 hours, 8pm-1am, sitting there on the balconys that we thought we saw nigel and dave on. we even knocked on some doors but no luck, a bunch of old farts kept answering. we were so bored sitting there doing nothing on the 14th floor that we dared sandra to throw a "caution wet floor" sign into the pool and she did, we got a kick out of that. we kept calling dave and nigel's names saying "c'mon guys, we just want to talk to you for a bit!!!" and we put our ears up to doors to try and hear some british accents... bushkitten, kenna and her husband even joined our search for a bit when they were done drinking:) and kenna's husband even suggested that we slept in the elevators cos they'd have to use them SOMETIME. well, bush was NOT in that hotel and we must have been halucinating the whole fucking time:) but here lemme get on to the neat stuff...

WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 19

bush day! first let me tell you something really neat! maureen, denise, and crystal went to the beach for a bit that morning. then they saw gavin and bone walking along at around 10AM. gavin had on orange shorts with white flowers on them, he was shirtless, and he had sunglasses on. denise asked him if she could take a picture and he was sooooo embarassed he said "not like this!" and he kept walking with bone. well denise did take a few pictures of his back:) well what do you expect, eh? how many times does one see gavin walking along a beach in hawaii in shorts?:) and it was also funny because maureen told denise later "oh i saw a really cute surfer with curly hair and orange shorts walking on the beach!".... we'll move on:) so me, bushkitten, kenna and her husband rented a jeep and bought the "deconstructed" tape to listen to while we were cruisin':) we decided to go to the arena to see if bush was there doing a sound check. but some other snooty british guy kicked us out:\ oh well. me and bushkitten did some poses on the stage and i stood in the spot where i knew dave would be heehee:) that night, us 15 ambush members crowded int he back of the arena. i was totally stoked about what i was in for, me and nasreen were pacing back and forth anxiously looking like retards:) finally they let us in through the back 10 minutes before the gates opened to get out places, it was general admission and we were in the front of the moshpit. the security guards were nice enough to let us take a bunch of pictures wich turned out super! they even agreed to our plan to lift me over the baracades during the bush show so i could be inches away from bush! EVERYONE knew about my little... er... HUGE crush on dave and they were all bugging me about it--i was so embarassed, but it was really funny:) dale and clint, the technitions, came out. i recognized clint first and said "hey, i know that dude he's in the 16stone booklet!" and when i saw dale i said "i know that dude too!" so we called them and they came down and we talked to them for a bit. they're real nice! they even gave us their autographs:) heehee and we talked to clint about winston and winston is BOY for those of you who want to know!:) well pretty soon the gates opened, and people crowded in, and i was smooshed. after the opening band (Spiny Norman--by the way they're really good!) finished i had to get lifted up and out of the mosh pit by the guards cos everyone thought i couldn't handle the moshing, which i knew i could!!!:( i sat there outside the pit all sad, bone even came up to me and asked if i was okay and i said yeah. they played that song elvis "are you lonesome tonight" and i was like "what the hell was that?!"... then... BUSH CAME ON.... i went completely nuts you guys, i've never been that close to them in my life. i SCREAMED so loud, and PUSHED myself in front of dave. my adrenaline was on turbo and i don't know how i did it, but i pushed myself up really close to the front from where i began, and i must have knocked out at least 3 people during the process:) i was crying a little, it was so overwhelming and amazing seeing them that close. dispite all the crowd surfing and being kicked in the head by them i was lovin it, i still managed to keep in front of dave. during the first song (A tendency to start fires) gavin came to our side--RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME!!!!!! and people started climbing me like a ladder to get closer to him. i swear people were on top of me. thanks a lot gav:) lol it was cool though. i was about 6 inches from touching him, and he was so high up, the light shined on him and his eyes looked hazel... it was awesome! i cried when he played glycerine cos i missed this guy i've been in love with for years. i was holding my hand out to gav and i think he looked at me. i was really sad. all four of them did an amazing job. dave kept going over to robin and nigel to talk to them it was really cute:) then robin picked up this balloon that was onstage and pretended to play drums with it it was really funny! backstage was a trip! even though i was all sweaty and my hair looked like a bird's nest i was still psyched. i managed to brush the knots out of my hair. i swear i looked like i just survived a tornado. we all crowded into this tiny room with a cake that said "bush final cut" on it and there were sodas. geez, you seriously think i could eat or drink anything when i was about to meet my idols? right when i thought that, dave parsons walked in. one look at him that close and i started trembling like crazy. i just kinda stood there 3 feet away from him, listening to him talk to this guy and staring. everyone else seemed to be sane except me. i was so star struck. he sounds a tad bit different in person, his voice. it was still really cute. bushkitten pushed me over to him cos i was so shy. she was like "go talk to him deena!" and even though i tried my legs would not move. she said a few things to him i forgot though, i was still staring at him and when he looked at me my face lit up and i had this big smile and he smiled back a little. then bushkitten goes "can i get a picture with you?" and he said "sure" and i took a picture for them. geez i can't believe i was able to even hold the camera straight. then she asked if i could get a picture with him and he let me. bushkitten said "deena, go stand next to your DAVE" and he laughed, and i turned BRIGHT red!!! he was so gentle placing his hand on my shoulder, i was melting!!! anywho the picture turned out really good. then i got his autograph--the picture of him in the 16stone book getting out of the car with a ciggie in his mouth. he is soooo sweet. bushkitten handed him the necklace i made for him cos i was too damn shy. then he had to go, like 5 minutes after he just arrived:*( next came nigel, me and bushkitten approached him and we talked for a bit. we even told him about us waiting at some hotel for 5 hours and he laughed so hard! sandra, nasreen and i even told him how we were "accidently looking for you" and he kept laughing. he is SO nice, you can talk to him for days about everything. bushkitten gave nigel his necklace and he posed with it in a few pictures. he must have really liked it!! he is so darling. i got nigel's autograph and said i'd be right back and left bushkitten to talk with him, i saw robin and approached him. he signed something for me and i handed him his necklace and said "i made this for you." he said "why thank you, that was very thoughtful of you" and i blushed and said "your welcome" with a smile. why do i have to be so God damn bashful? that was my very brief moment with robin, i wish i would have talked to him a bit more. next came gavin, i approached him and asked for an autograph. he sighed and smiled when he looked at the picture of him in the 16stone book walking with his toungue sticking out, and looked at me like, "i'm not gonna sign this" then i knew he was kidding so i kinda hit his arm playfully and he smiled and signed it. then he touched my arm and said something but i don't remember what, and we smiled at eachother kinda. right after that someone called out "GROUP 1, GET IN THE PICTURE!" i was like "huh?" then someone told me "go, get in the picture!" it was a group picture with about 5 of us, gavin, nigel, and robin. they did this with another two groups until everyone was in one. then i went back to nigel and talked to him some more, and it was funny cos bushkitten bought him this "tequilla lei" and leid him with it, he's all "TEQUILLA!" like a little kid and the WHOLE room was looking over. that was the highlight of the night, we got a bunch of pics of him posing with it, and i got a picture with him. gavin was looking over and laughing. i went to gav one more time for one more autograph, and he signed for me. then i got a picture with him. he looked like if he had to take one more picture he'd punch someone, and he said "the flashes hurt my eyes... one more." i felt so bad! but when bushkitten was all "ready?" i'm all NO WAIT! and i put my arm around him THEN she took the picture. in the picture he has this smile on his face cos he was laughing, and its so cute he has this lei around his neck. then the amBUSH members had to leave:( kenna, her husband, bushkitten and i waited to follow bush back to their hotel, cos we had our jeep. sure enough, we saw a white limo and a white van pull out. gavin and nigel were in the limo and robin was in the van (dave left earlier). we followed them (we looked sooooo obvious) and saw them step into the "hawaiian prince hotel". we just sat there amazed as they came out of their limos/vans and walked in, and we followed them in a bit of the way. that was a trip, i got two pics of gav walking into the elevator from far away.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20

alright so we get up get ready and head for honolulu airport to go to maui. after begging and pleading me and sandra and nasreen found out that bush was leaving right after us at gate 52, so we went there to wait. us amBUSHers were at gate 60 so they weren't too far from eachother. after we got our stuff down at 52 i decided to go tell bushkitten where we were. i had a funny feeling about something as i was making my way over there. meanwhile, bushkitten was talking to Dave. she asked him what he did with the necklace her friend made him (referring to me) and he said "ohhhh, it's in one of the pockets of my trousers in my suitcase!" well i'm walking down the huge airport hall when i see gavin and bone standing in front of burger king next to gate 60 and some of then crew members were talking to them. gav had on the same army pants as the night before, and a blue and black stripped long sleeve shirt, and carried this bright orange bag. my mouth DROPPED when i saw them... i turned... and RAN over to where sandra and nasreen were, and we RAN back to burger king, and on the way we slowed down, we were about to walk past nigel, gavin, and robin. we walked along kinda shocked and gav smiled, laughed, and said hi to us and waved and we said hi back. i kept looking back at them and they were smiling and kinda laughing cos we looked so shocked. nigel waved at us. we kept walking and i saw DAVE... i was like thinking 'YESSSSSS!!!' but then right behind him was his girlfriend sarah, and i felt like i just got punched in the stomach and the wind knocked out of me:*( i was thinking 'should i say hi, should i not say hi, should i say hi, should i not say hi,' before i knew it i said really loud, almost yelling "HI DAVE!" and he SMILED and said "hi, how ya doin?" after that my mind went blank and my knees went numb:) so we stood around and got a few candid shots of nigel and gavin on pay phones and dave ordering a "whoppa, two ketchup, fries, and a soda" at burger king. that was sooooo funny and sooooooooo cute... that's all i ordered eat for the rest of the week whenever we went out for lunch:) we boarded our plane about 5 minutes before bush's plane:) when we landed in maui, we went to the baggage claim area and 5 minutes later bush shows up to get their luggage! it was unbelievable. i finally noticed the streaks in robins hair cos the light was shining on it. we saw nigel standing outside by the pickup area with some other dude, and me and bushkitten went to talk to him. we talked for a bit about the concert. nasreen and sandra joined along with us a few minutes later. then the other members of bush came, along with :*( ::sniff:: dave and sarah. BOOM! another punch to the stomach. oh, the pain. bushkitten was asking me if i was okay cos i kept looking at him and i was so sad seeing them two lovebirds together. but i didn't want to be depressed and decided to go talk to gavin. he was a lot more talkative than the night before. nasreen showed him her bruises from the mosh pit and he mouthed out "oh, fuck!!!" it was funny. we talked to them for a total of 15-20 minutes, then they had to go. well meeting bush in the airport was a treat. the concert that night was cool too! we were in maui which was a lot cooler and windier. we got let in 10 minutes before the gates opened once again, but this concert we weren't allowed cameras:\ that was kinda sucky. the opening band was soulflower. i was soooo sleepy i said to bushkitten "wake me up when bush comes on." then they played "are you lonesome tonight" once again and i went nuts cos i knew bush would be right after it:) they came out and i went nuts again! i screamed for nigel and he smiled at us cos he remembered the airport and stuff. well the FUNNIEST part was in glycerine, gavin was singing and stuff. these technitions come out in hula skirts and start dancing and hulaing around gavin while he was singing it was SOOOOOO FUNNY!!!!!!!!! gav just looked plain confused and kept singing, and they were all touching him and stuff, nigel robin and dave were on the side cracking up. well the concert was over in a flash:( i swear it went by too fast. and gavin dedicated "alien" to the amBUSH members so we felt kinda special... and it was just another chance for me to scream for dave:) heehee. gavin took off his shirt, that was... nice... :) the best part of the concert was after. bushkitten got all this stuff, a setlist, gav's guitar string, picks... and i got nothing so i was bummed, and plus i was depressed cos bush went bye bye:*( so she went up to this security guard and asked for a souvenir. the guard went back and came back out, and handed her this pretty pink rock. it was something from dave!!! dave didn't have any pics or anything with him, but he pulled this the stone out of his pocket for the guard to give to me. is that sweet of him or what? it could have been his good luck charm, or just something he found on the beach. he just gave it to me. i will treasure it FOREVER.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 21

let me just skip the luau and tell you what happened that night. the adults in the group (dawn, stephanie, bushkitten, kenna and her husband, rouzan, crystal, maureen, denise)went out to this club. robin, clint, and dale walk in. it was so cute clint had this huge crush on crystal, same with dale with maureen. they all took the taxicab together with robin and everything, bushkitten got his drumstick and shotglass. what a trip!!! and the same thing happened on SATURDAY night, NOVEMBER 22 too! bushkitten even got some of gavin's weed. God, what a trip!!!!!!!

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