Fan's Stories

Here's how my Ambrosia adventure occurred on Friday, October 16th 1998.
First let me say that I have loved this band ever since I heard Holdin On To
Yesterday back around 1974. Circumstances in the past have prevented me
from ever seeing them live. Until this wonderful night. My girlfriend Kim
and I left St Louis, MO at 1:00 PM Friday for the 320 mile trip south to
Nashville. We made hotel reservations right next to the venue so we could
check in, clean up and go.

Ambrosia was playing 2 shows this night at 7:30
& 9:30. As luck would have it, we hit two separate traffic jams and the
trip ended up taking 6 hours. Thats bad time for me and I was stressing out
as time slipped away. We finally got to the hotel at 7:30. I was being
kind of a jerk to my girlfriend because I was po'd that we were running
late, so I decided there and then that we'd blow off the first show and just
enjoy the late show. We relaxed and took our time and got some room service
when I decided to check out the Nashville scenery.

I looked out the hotel window straight down and to my
horror, saw about 40 people lined up for the second show.
I told Kim to get the curlers out of her hair and lets go. I
wanted good seats for this show and it looked like I blew my chance. We
hurried down to the Cafe and took our place in line. I was bummin because
we were so far back but remained upbeat because I knew this was going to be
great. It got to be 9:30 and the line had not budged but the bar was
emptying out with a lot of folks with big grins on their faces. All of them
were raving about what a great time we were in for. I was getting a little
anxious because the line was not moving and I could see why. Some "jerk"
with a clipboard was walking down the line talking to everyone. Well, my
frustration suddenly turned to delight when this "jerk" called out my name.

He said "you are on the guest list, come with me, we have a table reserved
for you." You can't imagine how hard it is to look cool walking past
everyone when you want to jump up and down and scream with joy<g> They
showed me to my table, dead center, right up front. If Kim hadn't been my
girlfriend for so long, I think she would have been impressed. Anyway,
after all the little people<bg> were seated the show began. I'll give you
the set list here and share some favorite moments of mine.

1. Nice Nice
2. Kid No More
3. Livin On My Own
4. Your The Only Woman
5. Time Waits For No One
6. Hopes and Dreams
7. How Much I feel
8. Angola
9. Life Beyond LA
10. Holding On To Yesterday
Encores
Biggest Part of Me
Mama Frog

Dave & Joe work the crowd

Highlights for me were of course the first few notes of Nice Nice because it
was my first glimpse of Ambrosia Live. Kid No More rocked with some awesome
harmonica playing by Tollack. Daves beautiful guitar on You're the Only
Woman, and rocking guitar on Time Waits. Joes awesome song Hopes and
Dreams. Joe messing with our heads on a supposed sing along on Angola, when
he wanted us to repeat what he sang, only making it so bizarre, that he knew
we wouldn't be able to respond. New member (to me at least) Ricky
Cosentino's awesome percussion solo with Burliegh. Daves friends in the
crowd singing harmonies on Biggest Part of Me, very well I might add. And
hearing Mama Frog. One of my all time favorites. I got a chuckle when Dave
thanked Jesus Christ and Burleigh yelled out "AND BO DIDDLY" It was a
great, great show that I waited a long time to see.

Ricky!

After the show, I introduced myself to Joe who
then introduced me to Chris. Joe wanted to get
some food backstage and Chris and I talked for 15 or 20 minutes.
WOW, his mind is unreal. I asked him if I just missed them in St Louis because I
never remember them coming there. He remembered that 20 years ago, they
cancelled a show because of a bad sound system at the bar. He even knew the
name of the bar. We talked about influences and Chris' work on SINT.

cmchris.jpg (18791 bytes)
Chris North

In the meantime, Joe came back out with a plate of food and talked with us in
between bites. He asked Kim and I if we wanted to come backstage (closer to
the food<g>) and we said of course. Joe had to move his basses so the stage
could be torn down and he asked Kim and I each to hold one. I'm sitting
there sweating, scared to death I'm going to drop his beautiful mahogany
five string, and Kim picks up the one he gave her and starts plucking on it.
I thought I would kill her and she's laughing at me for being like a giddy
little schoolboy. Tollack joined us and the four of us sat and laughed and
joked (Joe ate some more<vbg>) Things started to break up.

cmjoe.jpg (23360 bytes)
Jumpin' Joe Puerta

cmtollack.jpg (18213 bytes)
Chick Magnet Tollack

Dave was heading to the Sunset Grill with his friends, and others were heading
back to the hotel. It was very cool to be there watching when Joe and Dave and
Chris and Burleigh and Tollack each embraced and congratulated each other on
a job well done. We headed back to the hotel and met up with Tollack and
Rich Rees in the lobby.

A job well done!

I thanked Rich for the free tickets but he didn't
know anything about it. I have to say I admire Rich for the work he puts
into making an Ambrosia show possible. I sensed some of you got a bad
impression of Rich in Vegas, but on this night, he was totally cool to me
and it was obvious in my opinion, that this 27 year old "kid" really looks
out for the guys<g>.

cmburleigh.jpg (25543 bytes)
Can't touch Mr. Drummond

My one pet peeve of the evening was the bar manager.
Every time he referred to the band (at least 3 times) he referred
to them as David Pack & Ambrosia. Probably bothered me more than any of the
members, but still, it bothered me. All in all, a magical night. I still
don't know who put me on the guest list. All band members claimed
ignorance, as well as Rich. But whoever you are......thank you, thank you,
thank you.

Dave belts out a tune

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