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Random thoughts from his grown fans, on finally meeting an untouchable man. |
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I would like to share with you one of my most memorable experiences as a Rollers fan. I hope you dont find this boring.
I first heard Saturday Night during the summer of 1975, right after I graduated from high school. I have to admit that I wasnt exactly enthralled with the song, and all of the surrounding Bigger than the Beatles hype had me skeptical. It took a first look at the band in September of that year, when Howard Cosell played that tape of them from a concert in Britain. I was home alone, and I watched the show, and fell instantly in love with the band, and Leslie in particular.
My best friend at the time, a girl named Gail, had also seen the show, and she fell hard for Woody. We made plans to go to the Ed Sullivan Theatre for the night that you did your live appearance. We had no tickets, but we would be there. We hung out by the backstage door waiting for the Rollers to emerge, and making friends with the policeman on duty so that he would give me a clear path to take a picture of them as they passed. The group flew by in a flash, and soon they were sitting in the limousine, waiting for the cue to turn onto Broadway. All of the other girls somehow were on Broadway already, but Gail and I were by the limo, snapping pictures and waving and smiling. We were both hooked!
We spent all of our money on the teen magazines, searching for pictures of the Rollers and poring over the articles, believing every word that was written about them. We would write letters to one another, and address them to Kari McKeown and Gail Wood, and our postmen would actually deliver them to us! I would drag out my trusty cassette tape recorder for every television and radio appearance the Rollers made, and we would try our best to be around every time they came to New York.
In January of 1976, the Rollers came back to New York, and Gail and I planned to follow you everywhere. Somehow we were the only ones who didnt know the bands schedule, and we had a taxi follow them from your hotel all the way to the Channel 5 Studios on East 67th Street, where they were about to tape the childrens TV show, Wonderama.
Gail and I were admitted into the green room, where the producers gracefully decided that us fans that didnt get in to the taping would be allowed to watch. We were sitting with a few other people, mostly adults, parents of the kids inside. While we were sitting, a young fan of about 14 walked into the room. Where is the lady whos gonna sign me in? she bellowed. An elegantly dressed woman rose from her chair, and asked the girl how many friends she had with her. Fifteen, the child replied. The lady tried to explain to her that she could not possibly take the responsibility for signing in fifteen girls. The young fan, rightfully frustrated, nevertheless began to berate the woman, and curse her repeatedly. I was outraged at the young girls behavior, and I got up from my seat. I began to lecture the young lady about manners, and how she should be happy that they were allowing us to at least watch the taping on TV. I guess I must have impressed the lady, because she turned to me and asked how many people I was with. I told her it was just me and Gail, and she took us into the studio and signed us in! We were now inside to see the taping live!
The studio was filled with teenyboppers; I think Gail and I had to be two of the oldest girls in the room. I tried to quickly snap a picture of the group, only to be surrounded by stagehands who were poised to confiscate my camera! I put up such a fight that one of the cameramen offered to take my camera and take pictures of the band for me! I gave the man my camera, and he walked up to each member of the band, and they all posed for him! He got some fantastic pictures!
During a lull in the proceedings, girls in the audience shouted questions, and one of the Rollers would answer. At one particular point, Leslie held up his arm and complained that the denim jacket he was wearing was torn at the sleeve. Being brave, I shouted, Ill take it! Les looked right at me and said, Ill see you after the show. Ill never forget that moment as long as I live; Les had spoken directly to me! I couldnt wait for the taping to be over so I could talk to him in person!
The taping finally ended, and we all filed out of the studio. We waited for the band to come out, I was going to get to talk to Les personally, and maybe even get that jacket. When the Rollers came out, I approached Leslie, and took hold of his arm. (I even have a picture of Leslie with their limo driver, with the back of my head beside him, holding his arm!) Anyway, I got Leslies attention, and when he recognized me, he shook his head sadly and said, Sorry love, Tam said no, then he got into the limo with the rest of the band and took off! ... continued on Kari C. page 2
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