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Baltimore-area radio station 98Rock (an early supporter of the band, by the way) hosted a listening party for _waiting for the punchline_ on January 11, 1995. The "local" branch of Extreme fandom first heard about it around January 6th. We went into a frenzy, trying to win tickets from the radio station...I even set my alarm to wake me in the middle of the night, figuring there would be less competition for the phone lines at such an ungodly hour! :-) Alas, I couldn't win to save my life, and calls to various people at A&M were equally fruitless. Success did come--finally!--from someone at A&M, via my Extreme friend, Clare, who worked for a local record store chain. Clare scored passes to the event, and generously allowed me to be her guest for the evening. (Clare, if you're reading this, I *still* owe you one for this!)
Gary and Nuno represented the band at Flight 3 Studios. As the tunes from the new album filled the room, the guys mingled among the crowd, signing autographs and posing for photgraphs. I *tried* to concentrate on the music, I *swear* I did , but it wasn't easy, knowing that the guys were in the same room!
Nuno and Gary both seem to be pretty good "schmoozers," and they were very approachable and generous with their time that evening. (Yes, I know, that's why they were there, but they both appeared to be fairly comfortable with being put on display for the fans' benefit, even though I seriously doubt either one of them is really much "at ease" with that sort of thing...) Each of them gave me a great memory to take home that night:
--As I was preparing to have the photo at the top of this page snapped with Gary, I thanked him for coming all the way to Maryland to share the album with us. Before I realized what was happening, he put his arm around me and I felt some razor stubble on my face... He'd kissed me on the cheek. That's why I look semi-giddy in that photo... ;-)
--We were in line, waiting to say hello to Nuno. As Nuno was signing an autograph for the gentleman in front of me, the man asked for a photo by holding up his camera and asking, "Do you have time for a quick one?" Nuno obliged. When it was my turn, I did the same thing--showed him my camera and asked, "Do you have time for a quick one, Nuno?" Nuno said "Sure..." He grinned, then added, "And I'll take a picture with you, too!"
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Nuno signing autographs at Flight 3 Studios
