- 2 pints Rainier - Solo Bar
- 1 Maker's and ginger ale - Solo Bar
I had always been a WHAM! fan in high school; I had all three of their albums, including Fantastic, which was their first. George was 19 and Andrew Ridgely was 17 (if I remember correctly) when it was released. The music wasn't that great, but it was fun to listen and sing along to. Later, after I moved to California, my sister and I memorized "Wham Rap (Enjoy What You Do)" and would trade lines back and forth with each other. If I had known about karaoke back then, I would've been dangerous. So then Make It Big came out and that was a bigger than big album. I listened to "Careless Whisper" over and over and was impressed when I read that George had written it when he was 15. When Music From The Edge Of Heaven came out, I was a little confused because it sounded as if it were for a movie soundtrack. "What is this "Edge of Heaven" movie?" I thought, "I've never heard of it." I was already in California and working at Licorice Pizza/Sam Goody when this album came out and one of my friends, Craig Keipp, and I, would obnoxiously yell the lyrics to "I'm Your Man" whenever we'd go out and hear this song, whether at a club or in the car together. I was 19. "Last Christmas" was a beautiful song, as was "A Different Corner" and it really showed another side to George Michael. Edge of Heaven was pretty much a George Michael album, as Andrew wasn't really a part of it even though he was given credit on the album. WHAM! was huge at this time and Craig and I daydreamed of creating a pop duo much like WHAM!Faith was released in 1987. It's remarkable to think how closely the three WHAM! albums and then Faith were recorded - four albums in four years. I was working at the record store, back when CD's were really gaining in popularity and they were packaged in the long boxes. We listened to Faith every day while in the store, if not two or three times. Faith was H U G E. It was everywhere and George was loved by everyone, especially me. I bought most every CD single that was available - I have a "One More Try" picture CD (who does these anymore?), "I Want Your Sex" special remix in three parts, a 3 1/2" CD single (these aren't even made anymore) of 3 versions of "Monkey", and a few singles he did with Queen and Elton John. Since I worked at Sam Goody, I was able to keep many of the cardboard squares with pictures of the album cover and I had about 10 and kept them for the longest time, even taking them to UCLA with me and hanging them in my room. I even had a GM poster! Back then, people were OPEN to liking George Michael. Needless to say, I knew all the lyrics to all the songs on the Faith album. Zodiac boots were big back then and I had a pair with silver tips, just like, of course, GM.
I saw George during his Faith tour at Irvine Meadows Amphitheater, an outdoor concert venue in lovely Irvine, California. Unfortunately I can't find my ticket stub, but I'm pretty sure I bought the program too. I wore faded jeans, my Zodiac boots, grew three days of stubbly beard, and wore a large gold cross earring in my right ear. I'm even embarrassed to admit all this now. The final piece of clothing was a white t-shirt that Craig had labeled with "I Want Your Sex" in large black iron on letters on the back and given to me. Remarkably, I was not shy (or smart enough to think better of it) to wear it. (Craig and I went to the concert together. Years later when I visited him at his new home in Honolulu, we went to see Ozzy Osbourne. Ironically, we both wore the same boots that we had worn to George Michael.) Anyway, the concert was great even though I don't remember details. That was about 1988.
Tonight George was in Seattle for his 25Live tour. It was his 25th year in the music business and this is supposedly his last tour. He's only 44! I didn't originally have tickets because they were expensive and I also haven't really listened or bought any of his recent albums, although I do listen to his songs on occasion. A week before the concert a certain number of $25 tickets (I know!) went on sale and I was fortunate enough to get some. And I'm so glad I did. The concert was incredible. There were images and videos playing on the gigantic video screen. The pictures above were taken by Susan's friend Karla who was in the 9th row. George has an incredible voice and the production was awesome. I had forgotten how many great songs he had and how easily the words came back to me as he sang them. I felt like a teenage girl singing the songs and yelling the choruses. Wonderful. *sigh*
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