Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 6, 1993 TAG: 9304060220
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KATHLEEN WILSON
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
THE ROCKERS WERE ON A ROLL - BEFORE THE CONCERT
You'd have thought the Prince of Darkness himself was about to walk right through the door to start signing autographs."There's a bunch of hard rockers on their way, and I think we need a uniformed police presence here!" one plain-clothes officer said nervously at the Record Exchange last Tuesday.
The hard rockers in question were the Damn Yankees. And hundreds turned out at the record shop in Salem's Lakeside Plaza to meet the band.
When guitarist Tommy Shaw, bass player Jack Blades and drummer Michael Cartellone wandered through the crowd into the store, it seemed fairly safe to call off the SWAT team.
Forget the star attitude. They unfolded themselves from a crammed Ford Taurus wagon - with no beefy security.
The Damn Yankees were here to meet the people before their concert at the Salem Civic Center.
Fans were told the group - sans Ted Nugent - would only sign official Damn Yankees stuff. Those clutching CDs and well-worn albums by Styx and Night Ranger - the pre-Damn Yankees groups Tommy Shaw and Jack Blades respectively belonged to - groaned.
But rules were made to be broken. And hard-rock rules were meant to be trashed.
They signed it all.
"Hey, you paid for it. I oughta sign it," Jack Blades would comment when he noticed a Night Ranger CD in someone's hand.
Somewhere, the mothers of Tommy Shaw, Jack Blades and Michael Cartellone oughta be mighty proud.
When one little boy approached the table, Jack introduced the group as Raphael, Donatello and Michaelangelo.
"I'll bet you're surprised I know who they are," Jack said to me of the Teen-age Mutant Ninja Turtles.
"Wow! Look! I got roses!" Jack said when one of the first women in line handed him three roses and a stuffed bunny. "And I'm going to put the bunny in my bunk on the tour bus."
"Our tickets say we can't bring cameras," one girl told Tommy.
"Oh, go ahead and bring your camera," he told her. When she asked him to write on the back of her ticket that it was OK with him if she photographed the concert, he obliged.
"Hey! This guy bought a cassette and a CD," Jack crowed to Tommy. "You've gotta love that!"
B.C. Brandt of Roanoke just about passed out when Tommy picked up her guitar after he signed it and started strumming along to the Damn Yankees tune the store was blasting.
"I cannot believe he just played my gee-tar!" she squealed.
Dan Johnson - who must be the coolest teacher at Franklin County High School - got the band to autograph a sign he planned to post at school for the students who couldn't go to the concert.
For Dean Selbe, 7, of Vinton, an aspiring drummer who came with his mom, the band had this advice:
"Play REAL loud," said Jack.
"Yeah, and play REAL late at night," Tommy added.
"And the minute you roll out of bed in the morning, hit the drums," Jack advised.
They had conversations with everyone. Remembered their names. Looked you right in the eye when they spoke to you. Obligingly mugged for countless cameras and camcorders.
"Hey, the flash didn't go off. You'd better shoot it again," Jack told one guy.
Though the concert was just a couple of hours away, they stayed until they'd signed every hand, T-shirt, CD, poster, album, photograph, guitar and drum cover the crowd had to offer.
Tommy Shaw seemed surprised everyone seemed to think this was such a big deal.
"This is just the way it oughta be done," he kept saying.
THE PARTY LINE: If you'd like to invite free-lance Mingling columnist Kathleen Wilson to a party or social gathering, call her at 981-3434; when asked for the mailbox, dial MING (6464) and press the # key. Then leave a message as directed. Or write her in care of the Features Department, Roanoke Times & World-News, P.O. Box 2491, Roanoke, Va. 24010-2491.