It all started in February 1998. I was in Perth (the city of DM3 as it is otherwise known) for work for a few days. As I was getting ready to go to work one morning, my hotel room phone rang. It was my loved one, The Iron Pharaoh. "Are you sitting down?" He said. Yeah. What's going on? I wondered. "Guess who's coming to town?" I dunno. Surprise me. "Who is your favourite musician?" Roger McGuinn. So who's coming to town? I put two and two together in one moment and then collapsed on the bed in a hyperventilating heap. "Roger's coming to Australia to play the Blues and Roots Music Festival in Byron Bay over Easter." My first reaction was "I wonder how we're going to get to Byron Bay?" My second reaction was "So is he coming to Melbourne?" Didn't look like it then. That's OK - we're off to Byron Bay. I hung up the phone and went to work that day with the biggest spring in my step I've had since starting at my extremely tiring and trying job! I arrived home the following Saturday to a note from Lady Maria OPC to the effect of "It's pretty much confirmed. Roger's coming to Australia, we better book our tickets for the Blues and Roots Festival!". I still have that note by the way. ALL RIGHT, it really is true!!

The long and tortuous plotting to acquire tickets commenced the following week. The research phase came first. If we were heading for Byron Bay we would need tickets for the Festival, transport to get there and accommodation. I contacted the Festival organisers and they sent me some information about potential accommodation. I started ringing around and all the hotels were booked already! Drama no. 1: we would have to camp; that was OK, we'd be far away enough from Roger that he wouldn't have to smell us. Travel was next. How do you get to Byron Bay? Well I know now - fly to Sydney and get the bus, get the bus all the way or drive all the way. In other words, it wasn't going to be easy. And during all of this the Festival organisers still couldn't give me a 100% confirmation that Roger was indeed coming.

At this point I started to worry - the fact that the tour wasn't confirmed was niggling at me. We couldn't book tickets, accommodation and flights on less than a confirmation. So how do I verify that Roger is absolutely definitely coming to town? Simple. I logged on the www.mcguinn.com, Roger's very informative website, and looked up his 1998 tour dates. Lo and behold there was a list of dates for an Australian and New Zealand tour listing April 11 - 12 at The Continental in Melbourne and April 13, 15 and 16 in Sydney. AAAHHHHH!!! Being the neurotic that I am, I still didn't believe it so I emailed Roger. And on Tuesday 16 February, Roger replied and confirmed that he was indeed on the way. I even got a "See you soon!", from Roger...AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

OK so it came straight from the Byrd's mouth (hee hee hee!), we were to have the pleasure of Roger's company in mid-April. So the next step was to harass The Continental for tickets. When I called them, they didn't even realise Roger was playing, so I basically had to tell them who he was. Then they told me I was too early and the tickets weren't available yet. So I called back a few days later and coerced The Continental into letting me book a truckful of tickets for myself, The Iron Pharaoh, Lady Maria and the Northcote Hill crew for dinner and show on both nights. And yes I managed to get my tickets before the tour was publicly announced the following week. Nothing was going to stop me! The tickets arrived a few days later and I remember looking at them reading "Roger McGuinn. The Continental.", over and over. I still couldn't believe it!

So my next drama was the seating arrangements. These tickets did not have seat numbers, so where exactly would we be? Would we have a good view of Roger? I NEEDED to have a good view or else. I proceeded to harass The Continental again and they couldn't tell me where we would be seated as they had to sell all the dinner tickets first before finalising the seating arrangements. I wasn't going to get a quick answer and this was to be an ongoing source of stress for me during the next seven weeks. You'll hear the outcome towards the end of my little tale...

So it was the end of February and our tickets were sorted out. Unfortunately a week later, our dear friend Guy Lucas passed away and all of a sudden the pending McGuinn tour faded into the background. Guy was a huge Byrds fan too and I had even been thinking of asking him if he and his lovely Sara wanted to come to see Roger with us. I didn't get a chance to ask him and when they played The Byrds' "Hickory Wind" at his funeral, I wished all the more that I had. He would have been thrilled to see Roger too... Anyway, I emailed Roger and told him about Guy because I thought he needed to know.

Fast forward five weeks. The weekend of April 11 - 12 had finally arrived. My excitement had escalated to fever pitch again. I woke up that morning, ran to the stereo and put on Younger than Yesterday (my fave Byrds album) immediately. Then I proceeded to run around the house bellowing out Byrds' lyrics much to The Iron Pharaoh's bemusement.

The first duty for that day was Lucas Aid. You see this was the day that all of Guy's friends were getting together to pay tribute to him with a day of music and bands at The Tote. I was still a keyboardin' Boyette at this stage and we were playing in the afternoon. So I did my bit, played the best I could (which is not great I might add!), and then promptly went home to prepare for Roger. I remember the time really dragged that afternoon ... Waiting ... Waiting ... Waiting ... Then finally it was time to go. Lady Maria and I trotted off to The Continental. We were so excited you'd think we were actually going to see The Byrds at Ciro's on Sunset Strip!

We arrived at The Continental and were shown to our table. Not bad. We were on the edge of the mezzanine level and pretty much had a "byrds" eye view of Roger. The Iron Pharaoh could not be in attendance as he had to be at Lucas Aid, however, we had sold his ticket, via the 3RRR airwaves, to a lovely gentleman who was quite taken by our "Roger obsession" by the end of the evening.

The entertainment commenced with a short set by Ashley Naylor, singer and songwriter of Melbourne pop band Even. Ashley has been a self-professed 60s fan for many years and his influences, such as The Kinks, The Beatles and of course The Byrds, really shone through. You could tell he felt VERY privileged to be playing support to Roger; he even seemed a little nervous.

THE TIME HAD COME. A voice over the PA announced "Ladies and Gentleman. Roger McGuinn." Then he walked out on to the stage. A man with a guitar and a cheeky grin. I was breathless. I was taken by the simplicity of it all. It was just Roger, his Rickenbacker and a PA. And then he started to play. From the first strum of his guitar I was mesmerised. Roger proceeded to play most of his well-known songs from both his time with The Byrds and his solo career, such as "Eight Miles High", "Turn! Turn! Turn!", "Chestnut Mare", "Feel A Whole Lot Better", "So You Want To Be A Rock 'n' Roll Star" and "King of the Hill". Of course he played "Mr Tambourine Man". I was in tears. There he was, my favourite musician EVER, right before my very eyes, playing all of my favourite songs. The audience loved him and didn't hesitate in showing their appreciation. I have to say that Roger is an exceptional entertainer - he really put on a show as he punctuated each song with commentary detailing his personal career highlights. For an example of the type of show Roger put on, buy his CD Live from Mars, which finally got a local release when Roger toured.

Roger's first show in Melbourne came to an end after approximately an hour and a half. I was a VERY HAPPY PERSON and ready to go home quite content. But Lady Maria had other plans. "Come on, you have to meet Roger." WHAT? I sat and cowered in my seat while Lady Maria went to investigate whether or not Roger would be signing autographs. (We were prepared you see - between us we had a bag full of Byrds and Roger memorabilia). She came back to advise there seemed to be little movement back stage. Then the purple velvet stage curtains parted and Camilla McGuinn (yes Mrs McGuinn) placed a solitary chair at the edge of the stage. Lady Maria and I looked at each other; we knew what this meant! Before I could blink she was in the growing queue at the front of the stage. I joined her shortly after. Our dinner companion very graciously stayed at the table to mind our handbags and coats - what a gentleman!

And so Roger came out, took his seat and commenced greeting his fans and signing autographs. Soon it was our turn. I'll never forget that feeling when he shook my hand, looked into my eyes and smiled. I mentioned that I was the person who had been harassing him by email and he remembered who I was! After a few more words, I'd gained some courage and asked him if we could take some photos with him (yes we brought a camera too!). He very graciously obliged and I took a photo of Lady Maria with Roger, then she took a photo of Roger with me. Camilla very kindly stopped other fans from getting in the way. Then Roger thanked us for coming! THANK YOU ROGER! By that stage I was delirious. It was time for Lady Maria to take me home, so we went back to The Tote where I started yelling "I met Roger. I met Roger." I like to believe everyone was amazed and impressed.

Sunday. Well the next day I was just as excited. I was heading for encounter no. 2 with Roger. The day went faster this time and before I knew it we were at The Continental with the extended family - The Iron Pharaoh, Lady Maria, Jo Boyette, Claud Boyette, Fatty and Ricey. The waiter led us to our table and what a table it was! I was sitting right in front of the stage facing exactly where Roger would sit! GOOD GRIEF! The support act was a haze for me as I waited for Roger to come out again. Then out he came in his casual attire of t-shirt and jeans - and mighty fine he looked too! Roger sat down and I realised I was so close I could practically see up his nostrils. Then he looked over and smiled...oh my...I was a whimpering mess...

Roger played many of the same songs as the night before but he also threw in a few different ones such as "Cardiff Rose". The highlight tonight was "Eight Miles High" where he really displayed his expertise on guitar. Every now and then he would look over and smile ... Oh my ... It felt like a dream, but oh no, this was oh so true ...

After a couple of encores, the show ended and I felt a pain as Roger walked off. I thought it would be a long time before I would get to see him in the flesh again. After the previous night's experience, we thought it wise to hang around and yep, it was worth the wait again. Roger came out to meet his fans once more. It was no surprise to see many of the same people in the queue again. It was our turn when Roger turned around and asked me if I'd enjoyed the show and which night I had preferred! Roger wanted MY opinion on HIS show!!!! I babbled something about loving each show equally as it was such a thrill to see him playing live here - what a suck! I couldn't help it, I just blurted. Needless to say, we were equipped with camera again and this time the lovely Camilla took a photo of the girls (aka The Boyettes) with Roger. We're all grinning so much in that photo, we look like we're in a Colgate ad! And notice how Roger is wearing sunglasses in the photo? Lady Maria and I suspect we may have blinded him the night before with the flash on my camera, so he opted for protection tonight! After the photo we continued to chat with Roger and Camilla. When it was time to go, I held Roger's hand tightly; I didn't want to let go.

So that ends the tale of my meetings with Mr McGuinn. I'm left now with an impressive collection of photos and autographed books and records touched by the hand of Roger. But most importantly, I'm left with precious memories of when Roger (and Camilla) came to Melbourne. I continue to love his music, both solo and with The Byrds. Keep on rockin' Roger...

Jackie