On Donald, yeah, dark, dark guy. I don't like using the word evil to describe him or his sleazy pals because I think it elevates them to some weird supernatural level. Really, I just think they are shitty people full of bad intentions. Greed, ignorance, hate...these are their drivers. 

On the music, yeah, love it!

I probably have told this story, on one of Van Morrison's trips through Boston I ended up sitting right behind the J. Geils Band, who appeared to have bought two rows of seats for the show because they and their friends, girlfriends, family, guests, took up one row and then there was an empty row behind them. My friend and I ended up sitting in the empty row. Right behind the Geils guys. All very nice with the exception of Seth Justman who appeared really pissed off that we were there. I ended up chatting with Magic Dick because he was right in front of me. Super nice guy as was Geils himself. Justman had an epic attitude. Peter Wolf, also very cool. 

I got along so well with these guys they told me they were going to a bar with Van right after the show and they invited me along. This also seemed to piss off Justman so blatantly that Geils laughed, and Magic Dick told me to ignore him. I got a lot of nasty glares throughout the show from Seth and it seemed to be a source of comedy for the other guys in the band. 

Van is one of my all time musical heroes and so, I went along to the bar. Once we got there, Magic Dick and Geils came right over and were chatting with me. Van walked in with his then girlfriend at the time Michelle Rocca and members of his band. I think Georgie Fame was there as well. It was the hotel bar at the hotel where Van and the band were staying. Van, after having played an absolutely transcendent show looked more surly than Seth Justman. He positioned himself behind his girlfriend and essentially seemed to be keeping his back to everyone. We sat for a while talking. Van was no more than 10 feet away from me. Magic Dick said, go over and say hello. I was hesitating because people were only briefly speaking to him and he seemed not to be saying much and when he was talking to people he did not look happy about it. 

I heard him say a few things, not quite picking up what he said but he sounded angry some of the time. I told Magic Dick I thought I'd wait a bit. I had heard before this that Van was not big on strangers approaching him and that he often would not acknowledge them. Being that I had loved the guy and his music for so long I did not want to get into a beef with him. I can be sort of reactive in situations and so I thought if he jumped at me, I probably would end up saying something to him and who knows what it would be and what would follow. I also did not want to give Seth Justman, who was still glaring at me the satisfaction of seeing me get into a fight with Van Morrison. 

I explained myself to Magic Dick and some guy from Van's band and one of them said to me, I think the guy from Van's band, "Wait until Michelle is alone and then tell her you would like to meet Van and let her introduce you to him."

I was told she was a sweetheart and would prevent Van from being too much of a jerk. She was very nice, she was smiling and friendly to everyone, just wonderful. I could not bring myself to talk to Van though, particularly because he never looked happy and I was just not about to go down that road. I did not want a memory of having Van tell me to go fuck myself and me responding in kind. So, I chatted with everybody but Van. Still a regret for me, as I still wonder how things would have played out. 

On Boston, I drank with Brad Delp several times. He was with a Beatles cover band for a while called BeatleJuice and they played in a bar that was basically right in front of a house I was renting. So, I ran into him at the bar one day and he was a great guy. We ended up talking every time we bumped into each other. Very sad when he took his own life. He seemed such a happy guy whenever I was around him, I never would have guessed he was suffering so badly.