REM: From Brian's Point of View

Brian Bell & His Kat

Today I'm sharing this space with my friend Brian. He lives in Edinburgh and has a darling daughter and a clever mouth. I find myself on the receiving end of good stories so much of the time, I feel an obligation to share them. Some of them (like this one) do so deserve to be shared.

I record myself singing songs to my grand daughter (Evie Mae) because she lives all the way across the island and I will not get to be near her enough for her to know who I am. These videos are my way of, at least, introducing her to the idea of me. Yesterday's recording was one of my most favorite REM songs ever (You Are The Everything) and I received what follows in response to that.

Evelyn Mae Bartel - Shockin' it

23rd May 1989 - REM is pretty much an "Uh, Who?" band here but, I'm into them through some college friends who have a band called Baby Hurricane (yeah, possibly one of the coolest names I've ever heard.)

We have had tickets to see them on the Green tour at the Playhouse in Edinburgh for months and finally the day has come around - it's a 60 mile drive from home and we'd no travel booked as I knew I was getting my first car for my 19th birthday the day previous (22nd.) I had been told by the parents that no way was I to drive the motorway in what was a pretty old and unreliable hunk of junk, but hey I was 19 so one white lie later I was off on the road with three quarters of the Hurricanes and pretty much the whole REM back catalogue on cassette for company.

We hit Edinburgh early and went to the bar next to the Playhouse for a drink. Quite a crowd had gathered at the back of the bar, and to our astonishment there was the band - Buck, Mills, and Berry around the pool table, and Stipe sat cross legged and cross armed in the corner in almost a meditative state.

REM when they were just babies.

Names went up on the blackboard, coins hit the side of the pool table, and about 30 minutes later there I was, cue in hand, standing next to Peter Buck as he crouched over the table to break - and what a break it was! Memory suggests he cleared from the break but I know that's not likely so I guess he dropped maybe 3 or 4 balls, but within another couple or three shots the game was over without my appearance at the table. He shook my hand, made some quip about being 'lucky' and that was it, my game of pool with Peter Buck over!

The gig itself rocked obviously - World Leader Pretend still lives with me - I think mainly because Stipe sang it a Capella, keeping time with the beat of a drumstick on the back of a metal framed chair he'd pulled onstage. Memorable also for his request before beginning for complete silence from the audience - yeah right! In that fine old Scottish tradition, a solitary voice rang out through the hush "Go on yourself, big man!" Ignored at the time by Stipe but once the applause had subsided he did encourage everyone to "Lynch that asshole that screamed out" Humour not his strong point that evening, but musically they were on fire!

Nobody had the foresight 21 years ago to record it for YouTube, but I found this from the same tour but in Germany 5 days before we saw them - the same baggy white suit - the same eye makeup even back then - and I love the memories it brings back... This is just about what it looked like.

The next time I saw them was '94 on the Monster tour. They'd graduated to stadiums over here by then and despite the lack of intimacy we were giving it a shot anyway. This time, just myself and my Uni (Uni = University) buddy Steve (more of him later in the tale but he's also the guy that I went with to Bill Hicks which I think I ranted on about some time in the past?) We'd been to countless gigs together during the 4 years at Uni, and this was to be the last one before we went our separate ways in the world.

The plan was straightforward enough - catch a train to Edinburgh in time for lunch and spend the whole afternoon drinking before heading out to Murrayfield Stadium for the gig around 8pm - we'd timed it to maximise pub time and skip the support bands - from memory The Cranberries and a couple others who escape me now.

As the afternoon wore on we became more and more engrossed in the beer and less and less inclined to be bothered with R.E.M. and hatched a plan to walk to the stadium from the city centre, hitting every 2nd bar on the way, and attempting to sell our tickets to fund the evening's alcohol abuse and japery instead.

It backfired - despite our best efforts we couldn't shift the tickets, we were clearly lousy touts, although the state we were in from all the beer probably didn't help. We 'resigned' ourselves to attendance at the gig instead and somewhat dejectedly ambled onto the pitch and squeezed as close to the front of the crowd as we could get.

REM when they grew up.

Whether it was the drink, or the atmosphere, or God knows what, everything changed when the band came on - to this day I couldn't tell you what they played - I guess it's obvious - given the album they were touring and the songs that went before - but we came away at the end raving about probably the best gig we'd ever been too, and how goddamn stupid we would have been if we'd sold the tickets and missed it.

I haven't seen R.E.M. since that day, and have only crossed paths with my buddy maybe a dozen or so times in the 16 years that have passed - but here's the small world part...

I hadn't seen or heard from Steve in maybe 12 years by 2007 when I was flitting across to Wichita, I used MySpace at the time and had my home location set to KS - mainly because for the times I was back here, it still made me feel 'virtually' there. So I get an email on it, totally out of the blue, from my long lost partner in crime ... bizarrely he's been living in Kansas City for the past 6 years!! Spooky small tiny world indeed!

One of the guys had his cousin who lived in the States with him - I forget which State now - but he had seen them at home before he came over for his vacation and was blown away by the gig - I don't know if you ever went to the Playhouse here but it's an old traditional Victorian theatre with about 2500 seats. He had just seen REM on a US Arena tour from behind a security fence so the experience was night and day for him.

What really nailed it was that we all went around to the Stage Door at the back after and just walked inside and got our T Shirts signed by the band (except Stipe who just very politely apologised that he didn't do autographs) You could do that here back then - I miss those days!

And if you ever get the urge to film yourself singing some Waterboys to the little one (I would recommend This Is The Sea) then I'll dust down my tale of chasing Mike Scott through the streets of St. Andrews after a gig one night trying to get him to sign a poster.

Thank you for sharing, Brian. You rock.