Spring, 1985. Athens, GA
true west played a gig in athens and peter buck came to hear us. he introduced himself after
the show and invited us to a party at his house.
REM’s “fables of the reconstruction” wasn’t out yet, but he had a cassette copy of it.
i remember sitting on his porch with a walkman and headphones listening to it.
when we got home from that tour we only had a short break before leaving for a european
tour. by the time we got back from europe we were pretty wiped out. then we got a call from
REM’s management asking if we were available to open for them on the west coast leg of
their tour – 17 dates in the US and canada. we were surprised and excited – it felt like a big
break. we packed our bags and went back out on the road.
all the guys in REM were friendly. a couple times they invited us on stage for their encore.
one night i played bill berry’s drums on “wild thing” while he banged on the floor tom.
my favorite shows were at the greek theaters; one in los angeles and one in berkeley. they
had big dressing rooms, served great food, and even gave us each a gift. in LA it was a
travel alarm clock. i think berkeley was a jacket.