Monday lunchtime (March 10th) We met up with Chris and Christine and as we were all chatting a face that we kept seeing about the hotel reappeared. Were we being followed ??? No, it was Keith who was there for The Clash. No tickets, just the hope of catching a glimpse of Mick Jones or any of the other Clash members. He had met Mick Jones the previous day so his trip from Florida was worth it for him. He had also met both Stewart and Andy and had nice chats with both of them. Guests were arriving by the truckload at the Astoria, both for the H o F and for a paper convention. Famous faces popped up all over. Jer was well chuffed when Gwen Stefani walked right by and beamed over his way. Jer and I were off to Oscar's again for lunch so we invited Keith to join us. A couple of really great coincidences ensued .... Jer, Keith and I sat down to eat and then another familiar face sat two tables away. This time it was Mick Jones. He recognized Keith from the day before and came over to him to say hello--Keith was so happy about that. How cool that Mick came over to say hello to Keith!! He introduced us to Mick, who was charming. Mick introduced us all to two guys who had been part of the road crew when The Clash used to tour. Keith had lots of pics taken with all of them. Next, the blonde lady who had asked me who I was upstairs at the ballroom walked into Oscar's. I decided to go and see who she was, since she had asked who I was. Turns out that she is the wife of the late Steve Douglas, one of the sideman inductees. She was there with her 80 year old mother and was in Oscar's to get some food to go. Lunch hadn't arrived yet so I invited her to join us at our table and she did. What a lovely lady. Jeanette is her name and she was going to be accepting Steve's award, which Paul Schaffer was to present to her. When I told her that Keith didn't have a ticket for any of the show she immediately told him that she would get him into the rehearsals. At this point in time The Police were scheduled to do their set then do a finale tribute to The Clash: I Fought The Law with guests The Edge, Elton John, Gwen S, Steve Tyler and Tom Morello (Rage Against the Machine). Keith was delighted to have this opportunity--and couldn't believe this turn of events. Jer and I headed up to get ready ..... passing Aerosmith in the lobby as they checked in. The Police Rehearsals (March 10th 3-4 pm) So Keith is inside the ballroom now, as are Chris and Christine (who couldn't find us and just happened upon an unmanned entrance to the ballroom). Wanda is there outside still. Sting stopped and said hello to her while Jer and I were at lunch so she was happy. Fred managed to get out of work early and joined us in the hallway. Kathy saw him and yanked him inside and stuck him in front of the stage next to her. Steve had also managed to get inside while looking for the rest of us !! As it turns out, Andy Summers was given a hard time getting in for the rehearsals as someone had inadvertantly left his name off the list. The people at the desk didn't recognize him. Obviously that situation got sorted out in the end. Jer and I were outside and couldn't see but we heard everything crystal clear. I was so happy that I had tears coming down my cheeks--I was listening to The Police play live !!!!!! And in a few hours I would be seeing them play live !!!!!!!!! We knew that they were going to be playing Roxanne, Message and Every Breath. We got lots of wee jams in addition during the rehearsals, including a the first part of When the World is Running Down. They did Roxanne twice. Message only once .... but it sounded close to perfect. As many times as I have seen Sting play Every Breath live, it sounded so awesome to hear The Police play it live, with Stewart's opening drumbeat. Almost Time ... (March 10th 5 pm) Getting on our gear was fun but stressful. We were excited and running out of time. Our good friends Darla and Don from Manhattan stopped by to send us off with some wine and make sure that our tux and gown looked good. Jer looked super in his black tux, black shirt and silver tie ... I wore a burnt velvet brown/black dress. It's almost 6 pm and time to head down for cocktails... 2003 Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony (March 10th 6 pm) Coctails We get our red wristbands and table assignment and are then ushered into the cocktail area. Loads of celebs there ... Andy Summers and family (all of his kids are taller than him), John McEnroe, Darryl Hall, Tina from Outlandos (in a lovely black dress with red accessories), Neil Young, etc. People were mixing nicely and it was easy to talk to everyone. I gave Andy my congratulations and he told me that he was genuinely excited to be playing with Stewart and Sting again, that they had rehearsed loads and that he was proud to be there. He seemed a little tense, but who wouldn't be in his shoes. At 7 pm the cocktail party was moved on into the Grand Ballroom. The tables were all set and the guests were all arriving now. Sting arrived with Trudie, Coco and Kate (no Joe anywhere in sight). Sting wore a a very striking shirt and trousers combo, somewhat oriental looking. He was carrying a cane so Jer asked him if he was having a problem with his legs. Sting told us that he wasn't so Jer asked about why he was carrying a cane. Sting replied, "It's not--it's my weapon," and proceeded to show us a sword inside a black sheath that was disguised as a walking cane. Great accessory to his outfit! We later found out from Fred that Nasser (Cheb's darbouka player) had given this to Sting as a gift some time ago. Trudie looked stunning in a lovely flowing short black gown with a white jacket. She definitely won the award for the most sparkles of anyone (diamonds, we assume). Stewart arrived shortly thereafter with his wife and three of his kids. He was the person I was most anxious to meet and as luck had it I met him so many times through the course of that evening that it became a joke in the end. He exudes such charisma and yet seems way more low key to me than the Stewart that I had seen in the vid's, interviews, etc. Of the three Police members, he was the only one in a formal black tux (Andy had on a tux but with black trousers with red satin trim). Stewart and family (including Miles and Ian) were at the same table as Andy and his family -- which was three tables away from Sting's table. Dinner Dinner started a little late as there was so much socializing going on. There was no press in ther ballroom--only the inductees, their families and the other inviteees. Jer and I were seated at a table with the Hall of Fame bigwigs. They were all an absolute hoot and we couldn't have asked to be with a more fun group. The table that looked the most star-studded was the one to the left of Sting's ... Elton John, David Furnish, Steve Tyler, Gwen Stefani, Billy Joel and The Edge--all of them at the same table!! Gwen looked stunning in a 50's-esque outfit, somewhat like something that the sexy Sandy from Grease would wear. At each table setting there was a menu, a program and a CD with songs of all inductees. Dinner consisted of a salad with goat cheese and raspberry vinaigrette, rack of lamb and then brownie millefeuille with coffee, cookies and truffles. The wine flowed throughout the evening. The Show The Mayor of New York opened the cermeony, followed by some speakers from the H o F Museum. Then Billy Joel inducted The Righteous Brothers. Not as thrilling speech nor a particularly memorable perfomance of You've Lost That Loving Feeling but enjoyable nonetheless. Our new pal Jeanette gave a lovely speech for her late husband, Steve Douglas. She especially wanted to thank Phil Spector on his behalf (the only person who mentioned Spector). Paul Schaffer is a good friend of hers so it was nice for her that he inducted her late husband. The rest of the evening was electric .... beginning with Elton's induction of Elvis costello. Elton cussed a whole bunch which surprised me. He was hilarious. I grew up on the British rock music of the late 70's and early 80's so the rest of the evening was right up my alley. Elvis C whomped out a great rendition of Pump It Up and really got the audience rocking. Sting appeared to really enjoy his performance. There was apparently much tension going on between Elvis and members of his band, but it was not detrimental in any way to the cohesive performance that they gave. The museum people with us were rocking out to Elvis' music, as were many throughout the ballroom. He commanded a standing ovation after he performed Peace Love and Understanding. Neil Young and Paul Simon did a nice intro for Mo Ostin and Paul Simon's performance of Still Crazy After All These Years seemed to be a crowd pleaser. Now it's the turn of The Clash. Yes!!! Bono was supposed to have inducted them but apparently he had some health concerns and had to back out of this and other commitments this week. Instead, The Edge was there to do the guys proud alongside Tom Morello. I felt that he dissed The Police ever so slightly by going on about how The Clash were undisputedly the best band to emerge during that era bar none. I was unaware of the comments that Joe Strummer supposedly made against Sting during the heyday of the Clash. Regardless, The Clash were without doubt one of the most influential bands of their time. Mick Jones acknowledged the influence of the Sex Pistols on them (a band curiously missing from the H o F's list of inductees). Mick was really nervous about his speech and told me so afterwards. He also told us that originally they were to have reformed for the event. If only Joe were still here .... The next performance was AC/DC and this proved to be the best surprise of the evening for me. They totally shook the place after the amazing speech by Steve Tyler with Highway To Hell and then again in You Shook Me All Night Long for which Tyler joined them. They are a bunch of raving lunatics and they are damn good fun!! Stewart really seemed to enjoy them, up until the point at which he went backstage to get ready for The Police's performance. Before the guys came out onstage, a video showing some of the highlights of their career was shown (as had been done for each artist briefly--just that the one for The Police was longer). The suspense among the crowd was intense, the excitement level definitely elevated. Gwen did them proud. I loved her induction speech and am curious to see what everyone else thinks about it after they hear it. Her sheer ecstasty at being the one who got to induct The Police was touching. She seemed to be saying everything I was thinking. Truly adores the band --and not merely because she has had the chance to meet them and perform with Sting recently. She is a genuine fan, just like all of us on this list. Then the guys spoke ever so briefly ... and then the moment of their reunion was here. Stewart took his tux off and sat down as Andy started the opening chords of Roxanne. Andy's guitar echoed throughout and Sting's voice resonated. He sounded not too different from how he did back in the Police days. I wish that they had done the Police version of Roxanne and not the Sting (solo) version, but I still loved it. The audience were all up on their feet for Message In A Bottle, which was the clear highlight for me. Stewart beat through the skin of his snare but kept on going strong during Every Breath You Take. The entire audience was singing and loving it. All too soon it was over and we were all clapping. Ian filmed the entire thing on his camcorder and it turned out really well. I am counting on VH1 showing the entire performance in their 2hr summary of this event. In truth, I cannot imagine how they couldn't, as brilliant as it was. Yes, there were errors, and no it wasn't the same as back in '83, but it was exactly the reunion I had hoped for. No, the finale tribute to The Clash didn't happen. When I asked Andy about it afterwards he replied that it was becasue "Sting didn't want to do it," in rather a dour tone. I really can't say why it didn't happen, but that's that. After the show was over everyone mingled in the ballroom for quite a while. We were invited to a BMI party by Jeanette so we headed up to our room to drop off our goodies from the ceremony. Yet again we run into .... Stewart. He laughed about it--as did we. We saw him again inside the party. Who else should be in there but none other than Chris and Christine, Fred and Andrea, Keith (our Clash friend), all of the Copeland brothers, Andy Summers, Paul Simon, Rob Thomas, Paul Simonon, Mick Jones, etc. etc. No Sting or Gwen though. It was at this very party that we started chatting with Ian ... for hours. What a fabulous guy. I hope that he is safe and sound back in LA by now after having kept us all up all night !!! We checked out the next morning, along with half of the people at the ceremony. What memories we will carry forever of that trip to New York. So many of our ffriends and fellow fans that should have been there couldn't, but they were all there in spirit