:

The Adios Amigos 1995 tour kicked off in Providence, Rhode Island on August

2. We drove ninety-eight miles to the Strand Theater, where we were going to

play that night. While we were there we visited two radio stations. I did

them with Marky Ramone and this kid who's been a big fan forever. I call him

the Professional Fan. His real name is Rick Johnson and he's from Athens,

Georgia, the home of R.E.M. He's always traveling around with us. Every time

he gets a vacation from work he comes out on the road with us. He drives to

Canada, all over the South, up to New York... But we don't mind. He's a nice

guy. We got to know him after a while. He's a smart guy but not a smart ass.

At first he was John's friend, and I didn't really like him. But now I got to

know him somewhat, and I like him. He's a friend of the whole band.

Anyway, we asked him to come to the interview with us. We were also with

this girl from MCA who is really cool. Her name is Diane Monk. She was real

efficient, effervescent, and spunky. We kind of made a connection. We went

to WBRU and WHJY. As we were leaving BRU, the program director opened up

their CD cabinet and said, "You guys can take whatever you want." It was an

unexpected surprise. They had some cool stuff, and I took about ten or

fifteen CDs. I got Elastica, Spearhead--I'm happy about that because I really

like them, The Muffs, Catherine Wheel--I found out the name of the song that

I like so much. It's called "Waydown." I thought the name of it was "I'm On

My Way To Hell." I didn't see the title on the CD sleeve, but when I listened

to it I figured out which one it was. I like my title better. I got P. J.

Harvey, Hum, Pavement, Everclear, the new Neil Young album, Mirror

Ball, Silverchair, and Vitalogy. I was looking for Green Day, but

they didn't have any. I also got the Mike Watt album, Ballhog or

Tugboat. I really wanted that, it was something I was going to buy. It was

kind of cool getting the CDs. The Professional Fan carried all the CD's for

me. Not only is he nice, he's helpful.

(To be cont.)