In 1985 my friends and I went to see Aztec Camera in Salt
Lake City. It was a general admission show so we got there several hours early
to hang around the place.
A van pulled up and 4 guys got out. I said, "Hey, are you A Drop in the Grey?"
That was the name of the support band. They seemed annoyed, muttered and walked
into the arena. A few minutes later, to our horror, we watched as these same four
walked onto the stage to warm up... it was Roddy and the boys! I was so
thoroughly embarrassed. My only excuse is that Roddy had cut his hair very,
very short. Much shorter than the photos on Knife. I still feel sad for them
as I'm sure they were a bit humiliated since we thought they were A Drop in
the Grey (a horrible band, by the way).
My humiliation was softened as I was able to catch Roddy's scottish tartan
tie when he threw it to the crowd during the show. I still have and cherish
it to this day! They did "Jump", "Born in the USA" and "Like A Virgin" in the
encore just before Roddy threw his guitar in the air and let it smash and
Dave Ruffy kicked over his drum set. I think it was pure adrenaline mixed
with a bit of anger over being mistaken for talentless slobs.
