I Slept with Bjork and Lunched with Michael Stipe

Thanks to my own personal “Penny Lane,” I got to meet many of my music heroes in the 1980s.

Bjork, Photo credit Wiki Commons under Creative Commons License

Cold-boiled shrimp slowly expiring amidst a rainbow of fruits and veggies was ubiquitous at most bands’ backstage food tables. I always tried to get backstage before the ice melted on the sticky Southern summer nights.

I experienced almost every concert I attended in the 1980s from backstage, thanks to Judy Woowoo.

The Outfield

Judy was a gorgeous and vivacious rock and roll groupie, and she loved music even more than I did. We were servers at a high-end steak house, and I had a huge crush on her. Her favorite band was the Outfield, three guys from England who had a huge radio hit at the time — “Your Love.”

Judy’s ex-husband had written several hits for the band Styx, and she had traveled with several big bands. She knew the ropes of getting backstage, but to join her, I needed to win her heart.

I overheard her say she’d give anything to see the Outfield and meet them. We were in Podunk Montgomery, Alabama, a town that was unlikely to attract a show with a European band. Luckily, a local high school had won a national contest for collecting bottle caps. The prize was a…