• Venue: Roxy Theater
• Place: West Hollywood, California
• Date: 17 October 1995

Thursday night, two days later, I saw Heather perform in San Diego at Brick by Brick, a much better venue than the Roxy in LA. I couldn't make it for her sound-check, but showed up around 6:30, and poked my head inside her tour bus to say "hi". Actually I poked my whole body inside and asked Heather if she'd like to show me the picture she carries of my friend Ilka and her bird. She recognized me as "Joel", teased me about not believing her, and went to fetch it. I thanked her for the LA concert, and she said that she was happy to hear that I had gotten a ticket after all. Great memory. I introduced my friend to her, and then we left for a Thai restaurant, getting back at 8:30 to find a front row table, after chatting with the club's new owner. There were 3 acts: Kings Road (great), will see them on the 30th at the Belly Up in Solana Beach, Bens Folds Five (from Chapel Hill, NC -- the act that opens for Heather), 3 very loud guys, funny, good piano and clowning, but without my ear plugs I'd be deaf. And of course Heather and her band -- drums, cello, bass and guitar + Heather on electric guitar (or is it bass?). Heather didn't go on until 11:30 and performed until 12:45. I thought the audience sucked, with several nitwits talking heatedly to each other and not once looking up at Heather! Then there were the dancers and cheerleaders, and the miscellaneous screamers, surprising for an older, mixed audience. But her performance was primo, she is superb, and over-all, the distractions just added to the ambiance. Afterwards I stopped by her tour bus where she was greeting fans. Two German men told me they wanted her to have their baby. I said that was a great goal. They thought that Brick by Brick was an extraordinary venue, "like something out of a movie"; in Germany there is always heavy security, and the fans could not get so close and intimate. They thought the crowd was well behaved, compared with German audiences. Finally, I thanked Heather, glowing and energized by her performance. She signed her early album for me, Blow, remembering my name, and telling me to "take care" in her inscription. She said the album was an old one, and I told her how much I loved Blessed and had used a quote from it as part of my email signature. With that she put me on the spot by asking, "Which quote?". I think I may have mangled it, as I tried to recall "It's easy when you're blessed, with money, love and sex." I then asked her about US/European audiences. "When I perform on stage, people are just people", she said. She asked me to thank everyone on the "Net" who has been so kind to her, and especially the guys who have set up web pages to pass along information about her music. She said that she is working on getting a computer and having access to the Net and to email. With that, I wished her luck for the rest of her tour, and touching her lightly on her arm, said goodbye. My friend was in ecstacy over the concert. I retrieved a poster from off the wall and gave it to her.

Only two drinks and no long freeway drive. It was a good night!