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Date sent: Wed, 25 Jun 1997 14:51:08 -0400
From: "Dana"
To: The Constellation
Subject: Baltimore Show - Long
Send reply to: "Dana"

Dear 'Gazers,

Since this is my first message, let me say: "Testing" Now that wehave that out of the way, "Hi" to everyone. I've been getting thedigest version for about a month now and I've been enjoying it. Thanksto everyone for making this a neat online community.

For anyone who doesn't know, let me just "out" myself right now: I'mRomeo Rainbow. I'm writing from my work address, which is where I canbe contacted during the day, and where I read the digest.

We (my Juliet and I) were at the show last night in Baltimore. It wastotally great. Here's my brief rundown (it sounds like there will beseveral!):

We got to Bohager's at 8, and unbelievably the doors were not openyet. Sound check sounds were emanating. The line was *short* and wewere surprised by that. When we got inside we were pleased to see theyhad remodeled the venue, abandoning their "restaurant" idea and justgoingwith a nice big stage with backstage access. So different from twoyears ago, when Keanu had to enter and leave right from the front ofthe stage!

Anyway, there was a dedicated group of people (ok, mostly ladies of awide age range) in front of the stage. Some ladies were more dressedthan others, but mostly it seemed there were a lot a "guy-catching"outfits on. As a married man I just look, and boy was there a lot tolook at! Whew. The gender ratio was tilted slightly more toward malethis time: instead of 9 to 1, I'd say it was 6 to 1. Yet unbelievably,I ended up standing next to *two* guys during the show. Strange.

We all stood there in front of the stage for two hours, waiting foranything to happen. It was a little odd, all of us just standing therepatiently, waiting. Some were drinking, but not a lot. A lot weresmoking, and my eyes burned.

Silver Jet was good, as previously reported. I mean, Keanu wasn't INSilver Jet, so how good could they possibly be, but they weren'tannoying and bad. The bass player's mouth hung open the whole night,and he was utterly relaxed. The lead singer was animated and seemedcomfortable talking to the crowd. They were fun, and didn't last toolong, so they were good.

After an interminable wait between bands, Dogstar finally cameon. Brett's hair was slicked back. Keanu was skinny! Wow. Althoughfrom the DA pictures, I'd say he's coming back from a *very* skinnytime. He looked great. He had shaved (this is not a commentary, justan observation!). He looked happy, and he waved to the crowd, andhollered. During the songs, he seemed to go within himself, reallydiving deep inside as he played. He didn't look up: it seemed to be awhole internal experience for him.

He got more energy after every song. He started to jump up and downbetween songs. He would hear what the next song was going to be and hewould be SO EAGER to play it. He would be saying to Brett, "Go!Start!" Then during the song he would have his eyes almost closed,experiencing the music inside.

He got happier and happier after every song. He was grinning andhaving a *really* good time. He would make his hair stand on end as hewiped sweat from his brow. He loved it. I felt lucky to see him havingso much fun.

They came back for their encore, and Keanu was jazzed. But when theyplayed "Ticket To Ride" he went NUTS! He got so much *bliss* at thatpoint, he just went over the top. He was spinning, jumping. He was nolonger having an internal experience. He was exploding with happiness,bliss, and energy. It was great, and awesome.

After they had played their last song, Keanu was supposed to give his bass to the stagehand. One problem: he was bouncing off the groundlike Tigger! He was so excited and happy and filled with energy, hecould have played until noon the following day.

It was, to say the least, a great time. We have three more shows:Philly, Sea Bright, and NYC. I can hardly wait.

All the best,

Dana

Hi - just got home from New Haven!

What a fantastic show!!! Three opening bands, then you-know-who. The firstand last opening bands were really pretty good. The first band was Fuel, outof Pennsylvania. They were great. The middle one was just so-so, but worthlistening to. The last, Silver Jet, has a single out that I'd heard before.

Then, a loooong delay, and DOGSTAR! Did they play any music? I think so,but despite my good intentions, all I could focus on was Keanu. Between theset and the encore, Bret sang "32 Stories." It was the only song I could paycomplete attention to because Keanu was offstage at the time. It was quitegood. I bought the cd as well as a t-shirt, so I hope to find out how therest of the music sounds tomorrow ;-)

Can't wait for NYC tomorrow night! (Well, tonight, actually.) Bye! :-):-):-)

Dear G.,

Since this is my first message, let me say: "Testing" Now that wehave that out of the way, "Hi" to everyone. I've been getting thedigest version for about a month now and I've been enjoying it. Thanksto everyone for making this a neat online community.

For anyone who doesn't know, let me just "out" myself right now:I'mRomeo Rainbow. I'm writing from my work address, which is where I canbe contacted during the day, and where I read the digest.

We (my Juliet and I) were at the show last night in Baltimore. It wastotally great. Here's my brief rundown (it sounds like there will beseveral!):We got to Bohager's at 8, and unbelievably the doors were not openyet. Sound check sounds were emanating. The line was *short* and wewere surprised by that. When we got inside we were pleased to see theyhad remodeled the venue, abandoning their "restaurant" idea and justgoingwith a nice big stage with backstage access. So different from twoyears ago, when Keanu had to enter and leave right from the front ofthe stage!Anyway, there was a dedicated group of people (ok, mostly ladies of awide age range) in front of the stage. Some ladies were more dressedthan others, but mostly it seemed there were a lot a "guy-catching"outfits on. As a married man I just look, and boy was there a lot tolook at! Whew. The gender ratio was tilted slightly more toward malethis time: instead of 9 to 1, I'd say it was 6 to 1. Yet unbelievably,I ended up standing next to *two* guys during the show. Strange.We all stood there in front of the stage for two hours, waiting foranything to happen. It was a little odd, all of us just standing therepatiently, waiting. Some were drinking, but not a lot. A lot weresmoking, and my eyes burned.

Silver Jet was good, as previously reported. I mean, Keanu wasn't INSilver Jet, so how good could they possibly be, but they weren'tannoying and bad. The bass player's mouth hung open the whole night,and he was utterly relaxed. The lead singer was animated and seemedcomfortable talking to the crowd. They were fun, and didn't last toolong, so they were good.

After an interminable wait between bands, Dogstar finally cameon. Brett's hair was slicked back. Keanu was skinny! Wow. Although from the DA pictures, I'd say he's coming back from a *very* skinnytime. He looked great. He had shaved (this is not a commentary, justan observation!). He looked happy, and he waved to the crowd, andhollered. During the songs, he seemed to go within himself, reallydiving deep inside as he played. He didn't look up: it seemed to be awhole internal experience for him.

He got more energy after every song. He started to jump up and downbetween songs. He would hear what the next song was going to be and hewould be SO EAGER to play it. He would be saying to Brett, "Go!Start!" Then during the song he would have his eyes almost closed,experiencing the music inside.

He got happier and happier after every song. He was grinning andhaving a *really* good time. He would make his hair stand on end as hewiped sweat from his brow. He loved it. I felt lucky to see him havingso much fun.They came back for their encore, and Keanu was jazzed. But when theyplayed "Ticket To Ride" he went NUTS! He got so much *bliss* at thatpoint, he just went over the top. He was spinning, jumping. He was nolonger having an internal experience. He was exploding with happiness,bliss, and energy. It was great, and awesome.

After they had played their last song, Keanu was supposed to give hisbass to the stagehand. One problem: he was bouncing off the groundlike Tigger! He was so excited and happy and filled with energy, hecould have played until noon the following day.

It was, to say the least, a great time. We have three more shows:Philly, Sea Bright, and NYC. I can hardly wait.

All the best,
Dana

Date: 30 Jun 97 15:10:57 EDT
From: "John"
To: constellation@thepentagon.com
Subject: Philly Dog show

Dear G.,

Well, first off, let me just say that my first Dogstar experience wasperfect :-) Oh, and by the way, I don't belive in paragraphs, so bear with mehere. First of all, at 5:30, my mom and I were driving to the theater, aboutto turn on to South Street. Ya know how when you'rte about to turn on a corner,you can't always see all the way around it? Well, that's how it was. So wewere the second car about to turn, and I saw this guy, and what struck me rightaway, for some strange reason, was his hair. So I went, "OMIGOD! That's BretDomrose!" Now, my mom really doesn't know much about Dogstar, so she wasprobably thinking I was talking about some kid from my school. And then Robstepped into view, and so I did another double-take, and said, "That's RobMailhouse!!". Now, at this point I just KNEW that Keanu must be walking withthem, so it was only a small (well, okay, so it was still big) surprise when hestepped into view. And then my mom had the sense to look over, and then shepractically had a spasm. So they crossed the street, we turned onto SouthStreet, and we were driving right next to them for a while. Well, okay, sothere were parked cars between us, but it was STILL really close. They lookedQUITE happy with the minimal attention they were getting, so I let them be andsat where I was, without bothering them. Seriously, the only attention they gotfrom the people on the street were a few small double-takes when they saw Keanu.Noone asked for autographs, nothing. Bret and Rob I think were wearing the sameclothes as they did later for the concert, and Ke was wearing the suit pantshemmed way up above his shoes, sunglasses, and a suit coat. Quite dashing :-)After a while they sat down in front of a store a little way off from thetheater, so we stopped driving next to them, and headed for the parking lot.

By the time we had gotten McDonald's to eat while we were in line,it was about 6:00, so we had an hour and a half wait til they let us into thetheater. Whenthey did, I'd say I was in the second row, and when Dogstar came on I was rightsmack in front of Bret.

But let's go from the beginning. PURR was okay. Iguess the singer had a good voice, but it was annoying how she looked stoned, orsomething. And I don't know WHAT she was doing when she wasn't singing.............

So next was SilverJet. They ROCKED!!! I love 'em. Andthey talked a nice amount in between songs. So at 10 Dogstar finally came on(my knees were killing me, so I was VERY impatient). Since Dana alreadyreported what Ke was wearing, I'll just say that Bret was wearing all black, andRob was wearing a T-shirt which APPEARED to say something about a Norton, andshorts. I've always had an attachment to Honesty Anyway, so that rocked. Asdid the other songs. I _really_ wanted to hear Ticket to Ride, since I neverhave before, but I guess Bret's vioce wasn't in shape to sing that.

Romeo wrote-->>The first song in the encore was performed by Bret alone, with theacoustic guitar. He sang really well, and his playing was great,too. Please, please everyone forgive me, I have no idea which song itwas. Please, the next person who reads this: Post the name of the songbefore I get hanged from the highest tree for not knowing!<<

In my opinion, this was one of the greatest parts of the evening. The song,BTW, was 32 Stories, which some girls had been requesting on a poster throughoutthe show. Other posters throughout the night ranged from things like, "Speed 2Sucks!" to girls wanting to show the boys around town to a huge "I LOVE BRET"poster. There were a few camera flashes throughout the night, but I didn'treally see anyone getting in trouble for it. After the show, I stayed longenough to talk to the SilverJet boys, and to hear that Keanu had already left ina cab, then decided I was tired, and left. Later, after I stopped at DairyQueen for a milkshake(g), I saw Bret walking with three other people I didn'trecognize. It was my last sighting of the evening, and so I took home manyhappy memories. Thankyou to those Gardners who I _did_ meet, who made theevening even MORE enjoyable! If I remember any more moments of the evening,I'll be sure to post them.

Signing Out,
Rebecca :-)

Date: Wed, 2 Jul 1997 14:48:23 +500
To: constellation@thepentagon.com
Subject: constellation - Will & Me
From: "Dana"
Subject: Will & Me

Hi All,

I talked to Dan at the concert last night. I asked him if Dogstar was justin a movie. He said "Yes. Yes they were. With Sherrie Rose. I don't knowwhat it's going to be called, but yes."

TTYS,
Dana

Date: Wed, 2 Jul 1997 14:52:48 +500
From: Jami
Subject: Silver Jet
To: constellation@thepentagon.com

Okay, I usually don't post, I like to remain a lurker, but I feel that some things should be clarified.

First of all, in response to MANY questions regarding age of the Silver Jet bassist: Jeff is 25, sweet and very sexy :-)

Second, as I read the posts, I notice many people saying Luke and Jeff are brothers. They aren't. They met up 4 years ago which is when the band formed. That's all really. Just wanted to put my two cents in on that.

Jami

From jogaus@chesco.com
Wed Jul 2 16:39:38 1997
Date: Wed, 2 Jul 1997 16:21:51 -0400
To: constellation@thepentagon.com
Subject: Philly show additions

just wanted to add a couple of things about the Philly show,

Rebecca wrote:
There were a few camera flashes throughout the night, but I didn'treally see anyone getting in trouble for it..

Well..yes they were getting in trouble for it (g)...I was right up frontright to the left of Keanu and right after Dogstar came on someone behindme was taking pictures...Michael Elgard came walking between the barricadeand stopped in front of us and (I guess cuz he couldn't reach *her*)decided to poke *me* in the shoulder to get her attention..(g)...toldher..no..YELLED at her..to stop..he had to come back several moretimes..yes ..my shoulder ended up with a bruise on it...and finally toldher that he would confiscate her camera if she kept taking pictures...All in all..it was a great show...the guys have really gelled together andalthough there wasn't that much banter between them vocally..you could tell by the body movements and eye contact that they were all having a good timeup there..of course we all know that they wanted to get out of there fastto watch the Tyson-Holyfield fight..(g)...and it amazes me to watch Keanuplay that bass and immerse himself totally into the music..closing ineyes..like he is *feeling* every note...

And yes..the girl in Purr was a little spooky if you ask me...and Silverjetdid indeed Rock..they seem to have gotten a big following now and werehaving a lot of fun with the audience...

Jonell

From dmiles@eos.lmms.lmco.com
Wed Jul 2 16:39:43 1997
Date: Wed, 02 Jul 1997 16:22:59 -0400
From: "Dana"
To: constellation@thepentagon.com
Subject: The Supper Club!

"New York, New York, a wonderful town!"Hey everyone, this is an NYC show report.The venue was awesome: nice carpet, red velvet couches, small"intimate" stage, lovely balcony with VIP seating, waitresses bringdrinks into the crowd on the floor, bouncers dressed up allfancy-like! Luke commented on how nice this place was. The airconditioning actually worked very well!

Juliet took a couple of friends from work to the show, and they gotthere early and ended up in the 2nd or 3rd row. I got there at 7:30,handed out hearing protection (even sold a pair to a stranger!) andretreated to the balcony. Even at 7:30 there was a lot of pushing andjockeying for position down there.

In the balcony I was very pleased to run into friends old and new fromGarden and Village. Everyone is so nice. We had the center balcony toourselves and it was never crowded or pushy up there. It was far backbut we had a great overall view of the stage and great sound.The lights dimmed right at 8pm and a band started to take thestage. We were all mortified to see what looked like Purr taking theirplaces. Luckily some instruments were different, and it turned out tobe Joy Drop instead. The lead singer was anotherspacey/disturbed/scary Ewok from Hell. When did this look becomepopular? Why wasn't I notified! :-) She wasn't as gross as the Purrsinger, but they were definitely cut from the same cloth. "Why thehair up on each side, as if to make big furry ears? Why lick themicrophone? Are you a cat?" Their music was creative and occasionallyoutside the expected. It was good. Funny thing, the crowd was yakkingand yakking away, hardly paying attention to this band and barelyclapping between songs. Then she announced that they had arrivedyesterday from Toronto. Suddenly the crowd turns on to this band, andthey are *much* more popular after that! LOL!

Silver Jet came on before 9pm. It was clearly going to be an earlynight. Probably Keanu has to get up and get filming today. Of coursethey were great, and they were well-received. Before you knew it theywere off again.

The stage crew didn't let a lot of time pass between bands. Dogstarwas on before 10pm. They rocked all the way out. Bret went crazy. Robwas his usual wild self. Keanu was mellow for the first few songs, butthen really cut loose. He was marching around in circles and 8's (likea dog on a chain <-- this phrase courtesy of Helen :-) and reallyjammin' big time. They put on a really, really awe-inspiring show.For the first time ever (ok, in the 4 concerts *I've* seen on thistour, anyway! LOL!) there was an actual light show during theconcert. I mean, moving spot lights with colors and patterns playingover the band and audience. It was kind of funny to see Dogstar likethat, after so many bars that barely have lights at all.

At one point in between songs, Rob flipped a drumstick toward theaudience. I don't know if it was intentional or accidental. Anyway, itdidn't make it. It landed on the stage. Keanu picked it up and headedfor the people in front of him. Of course a bunch of hands went up. Inthe balcony I held my breath and watched intently: who is going to getthis thing? I can see my Juliet there. He threw it. She told me laterthat she was saying to him "Me! ME! I want it! ME!" Keanu tossed itlooking at her as he did, and he tossed it in a way that made it easyto catch. She has a height advantage, plus an arm-lengthadvantage. She caught it with both hands and held it up there in a"Touchdown!" pose for several seconds. Needless to say, she wasecstatic. From the balcony I couldn't see for certain exactly what hadhappened, but I was pretty sure it was something good.

They continued to rock the night away. Bret's voice was still strainedgetting to the high notes, so I'll bet he's glad to get a week off. Ihope he rests his voice.

I have a theory about the Boston show: restedguys, together again after a week off, rested voice -- it all adds upto what I think will be a really kickin' show. Tons of energy and fun between band members, great sound, great show. That's my little theory. Somebody please post here and tell me if I was right, ok? As of now we're not going.... But Eastwinds airlines serves Boston forlike $59.... Leaves right from my town.... I can quit any time I want.LOL!

It was a four-song encore with "32 Stories" kicking it off. This timehe announced the name of the song, and yes that was what he played inPhilly, too. Thanks for rescuing me everybody :-) "Ticket To Ride" waspopular and they did it very well. Bret ripped off a positively greatguitar solo during it, and that wasn't the only song in which heblazed butt-kicking solos. I never really noticed his solos before --they were unremarkable. But he went out on a limb a couple of timeslast night with experimental riffs, and man, he should never lookback. They were awesome.

Keanu was busy knocking out his share of the audience with his awesomebass playing. This was a show with lots of flash photography and lotsand lots of screaming "I love you"s from the audience. At some pointbetween songs, a guy near the front with a good solid holler yelledout "WYYYYYYYYYYYLD STAAAALYYYYYYYYYYYYYYNS!!!!!!" just exactly theyway they do in the B&T movies. Before he was even finished, Keanusuprised everyone by aiming his bass at the audience, bending over,and hollering "RUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUULZ!!!!!!" right back in theguy's general direction. I was stunned! Wow! Later we reflected onthis incident and my wife pointed out how Keanu's attitude wasn't"F-you, that was a decade ago, get over that f-ing movie already," theway you might think some actors would. He just went with it. He'sreally cool.They blasted through "Denial" and Keanu almost fell over as he wascoming out of the final cord and about to run off stage. It was agreat show and a great night. I heard from someone after we got homethat they saw Keanu getting whisked away in a cab *right* after theshow was finished.

We decided to get a Silver Jet CD even though we already have the freeone with a couple of their songs on it. So we were waiting in themerch line when Rob came down the steps and started to walk pastus. I'm usually oblivious to this kind of thing, but not last night. Igot my wife's attention (she was still enthralled with her trophy) andshe managed to ask him to sign her stick. "I mean, it *was* yourstick, but now it's mine!" He obliged, even though it was clear thiswas not what he was hunting for, and went on his way. So now she's got2 pics and a stick -- you don't get any more band members than that!That did it. We called it a night and blasted OLV on the ride home. Itwas another great concert, as I'm sure all the various posts will tellyou. Dogstar RUUUUUUUUULZ!

All for now. Next concert (probably (bg)) one month from last night, August 1st in San Francisco. See you there!

Dana