Me and R.E.M
My infatuation with the band R.E.M started innocently enough with a misunderstanding about how they were billed for their Summer of 1983 show at Larry’s Hideway in Toronto…
“REM — Band From Athens”
“….I think they’re some sort of Greek rockabilly band” my friend Dan said.
So I shrugged my shoulders, said OK and accompanied Dan to see a Greek rockabilly band at Larry’s. I was expecting to see something like Matchbox, The Polecats, or Crazy Cavan which meant being in the company of a bunch of greasers that followed local bands like The Bopcats or The Paladins around town, but instead, I was quite dumbfounded to see Larry’s around two-thirds full with people in their early 20s dressed similar to me (tee shirt, Levi’s and Clark’s Desert Boots) waiting for the band to start.
“…doesn’t look like a rockabilly crowd to me”, Dan noted. I just kind of grunted and looked around. Larry’s was sketchy at best, but that night it felt kind of normal…a bit buzzy with excitement rather than liquored up.
Without a lot of fanfare, R.E.M hit the stage (I can’t remember if there was an opening act or not…I probably wasn’t paying attention and was spending more time people watching or ensuring that I had an escape route planned just in case something stupid happened).
It wasn’t rockabilly….it was jangling Rickenbacker guitar, a solid four on the floor beat, rhythmic bass playing and a capable, but off key singer mumbling his way through (what I could make of it) hypnotic lyrics.
“…it’s like The Byrds, but different…” Dan said. I didn’t respond…I just watched. Three songs in, I was hooked. I wanted to dump my shitty job at the manufacturing plant, get a band together and play drums like Bill Berry.
I bought the “Chronic Town” EP at The Record Peddler that week, then “Murmur” the week following. Watched them on Letterman during the Fall of 1983…“Reckoning” would come out during the year I returned to college, and I would play “Little America” during my closed-circuit college radio show that no one listened to (they put my show on at 4 PM on Friday afternoons — who the hell is hanging around in the cafeteria or lounge on a Friday afternoon at a community college???).
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I saw them in concert three more times during the 1980's..
Concert Hall / Masonic Temple Summer of 1984 with my 1984 girlfriend. Completely loved it. Played a few psychedelic garage songs for their encore.
Concert Hall / Masonic Temple again in August of 1985. No girlfriend, went on my own. Great show — good mix of old and new, a few killer covers as well. Chatted with Erica Ehm in the lobby of the venue. She was wearing a blue silk cowboy shirt with two large white stars on each collarbone. I thought she was quite nice, but I was probably very annoying. In 1986, she would “man on the street” interview me about my thoughts on David Cassidy on his birthday. We’re connected on Linkedin now.
Massey Hall, October 1986 — can’t remember who I went with but it was a month or two after the death of a friend so my heart wasn’t really into it, nor did I enjoy the show except for the opening act, The Feelies, who I quite liked. The show felt too slick…the sound was loud, but not good loud.
I was very excited that Joe Boyd had produced “Fables of The Reconstruction”…he produced albums by Nick Drake, who was rapidly becoming my favourite British Folk Hero…but the album left me deflated, “Life’s Rich Pageant” had a couple of redeeming tracks (Begin the Begin, Cuyahoga) but I found myself fast forwarding through most of the album. “Dead Letter Office” was an interesting collection of oddities, but not a playable album.
“Document” ended for me. “It’s The End Of The World As We Know It” was too snappy and reminded me of the song “Life Is A Rock” by Reunion with the numerous references and catchy lyrics….
R.E.M had exited my musical building…the IRS years were over, Warner Bros was their new label and I was gone. It felt like the working world when I listened to those last three albums of the 1980’s —the college years were over.
Footnotes….
— if everyone who said they saw The Police’s debut at The Horseshoe Tavern in 1978, the The “Shoe” would have had to have held at least 150,000 people. With the first R.E.M show at Larry’s, I rarely encounter anyone that even knows they actually played there. It was part of the allure as to why I liked them so much…they were a bit of a secret.
— At Larry’s, I was an armlength from Peter Buck before the show. I would be an armlength from Mr. Buck again at the Nuggets 50th Anniversary show at The City Winery in NYC in 2024, but the 20 year old me was still too nervous to talk to him. One time, I saw Michael Palin (from Monty Python) eating dinner at a restaurant in Toronto — I desperately wanted to go up to him and say “Did I ever tell you that I still wet my bed?” from the Cannibal Restaurant sketch (aka “My Husband’s an Architect”), but my wife told me not to bother him, and that he should just enjoy his dinner in peace. Peter Buck was enjoying a drink, so I didn’t want to blather on about Larry’s Hideway so I left him alone to enjoy his drink in peace.
Sw 8–2–2026
