Let's Start At the Very Beginning

I'd like to think that it all started June 16, 1999, the day that we discovered that we could. It was the adventure of the Magic Bus, for those who don't know of it, check out the commentary "Magic Bus". We realized that we could make a Magic Bus and that we could run around downtown and sing Who songs on the street corners.

And now let's jump to March of this year 2000. I was pleasantly reading my e-mail and I found a bit of correspondence from Brooke of Brooke's Who Site, check it out. She sent me a link telling about The Who's upcoming tour. I had heard tell of Roger's blathering about it, however, I hadn't believed it. And here it was, the Tour Dates. I looked them over and said to myself, "What a shame, they aren't coming to Missouri. But why would they?" And I went on my sad way. Then, a minute later I realized, "Wait a minute! WE COULD!" And why couldn't we? Why couldn't we just get a group together and go to Chicago to SEE The Who? So I Instant Messaged Erika and said, "Why not?!" And she said, "Why the Bloody Hell not?!" So it began.

We had already heard the rumor that Jimmy Page and the Black Crowes were touring in tandem, but we hadn't actually thought that we could see BOTH concerts. Erika and I privately discussed which we wanted to see, we knew it was The Who (or I knew that), but then Erika said, "Why cain't we see both?" And I said, "Why not?" And she said, "Why the Bloody Hell not?" So we consulted the others. There were seven others at the time. And the group began to form.

Tickets went on sale in April, I think it was. We ordered right away, just half an hour after they went up. I'll skip the boring part. Basically I finished high school with Pete on my mind. It could be called PPMS ~ Pre-Pete Moodiness Syndrome.

So we prepared. One person joined and two dropped out of the group due to miserable circumstances. On June 24, 2000, we piled eight people into the seven passenger Starship and headed East. "Eastward Ho," someone said. The passengers included myself~John Paul Jones, Erika~Jimmy Page, Ana~Bonzo, Ann~Groupie Plant (who was determined not to be Robert Plant), Esther~Richard Cole, Jo-Keith, LeRoy~Roy Harper, Andrew~Peter Grant. Grant drove. Eastward Ho! BASH!!

We arrived in Chicago around one thirty or two or maybe three thirty, I don't really know. John Paul Jones turned into Motley Crue's manager and checked the Crue into the hotel. They behaved themselves fairly well. We had a rendition of "Farmer Tom" from the Dischords (Roylee Moon Starr and Barry Recorder). And then an encore of "Abusive Etc." Well, the riotous laughter had begun and we knew that we were in for a good time.

Next, we were visited by Ana in the form of Mr. Led Zeppelin himself. He's a hubratic one. And he was joined by the Sheik of Imnaughtsure. So the pre-concert time passed quickly and soon it was time to get ready to see Jimmy Page and his Black Crowe nephews in person. Clouds had begun to form outside and we knew that we were in for some rain, but no matter. We were about to see Jimmy Page.