F8 At Bank Street Cafe

F8 AT BANK STREET CAFE

New London, CT - March 9, 2002

I got to the Bank Street Cafe late. The show started at 10 and I got in New London at 10, but it took me 45 minutes to find the bar. Bank street is a one way street and very long. The cafe was 639 Bank Street. The band's rental camper was parked out front. The bar was wall to wall biker type guys and gals. The opening band (33hz) was finishing up a Creed song and I thought it was the cd, they sounded so good. I saw Leif after about 15 minutes, after I got in the bar. I was thirsty so I got a beer right away and I found myself trapped by these 2 guys who thought I used their money, that was on the bar, to buy my beer. I couldn't leave that spot until it was all cleared up. It was a little scary, however I knew the bartender would fix it all. She was the one who took the money thinking it was a tip.

A couple Leif fans told me Leif has been walking around the bar. When I saw him I just watched him to see what he was doing. He was talking to a few people, then he walked up to the bar to get a drink. He was a couple stools away from me and he looked over at me and then he looked away and started walking away. I took his arm and asked him to please come over here, and say hi to someone who has liked him, since she was 10 but was too shy to approach him. He gave her a hug and he talked to her and signed an autograph for her. So I snapped their picture. I felt badly since I blinded Leif. Ooops! Angela wanted me to mail her the pciture and I did. After he was done talking to her he started walking away so I started talking to him. I gave him a small photo album with pictures from last Saturday's show in it. He then remembered me since I gave him another photo album like it the week before with pictures of me as a teen in my Leif room, my room, my collection, me as an adult, me and my kids at many Halloweens in our costumes, me and my sisters, my mom and dad, and my boyfriend Rob and I. There was a 4 page letter and 2 pages all about me in the album too. It was nice that he remembered me and that he looked at the other photo album that I gave him as a gift. I had Leif sign my Skateboard movie and the shy fan Angela, took the picture of Leif and I together. He held me really close. He smells good and he had just shaved (something I was wondering about!). He makes his fans feel appreciated. I showed Leif that I brought 2 big bags full of Leif things for him to look at after the show. He saw that I had the Leif puzzle and pulled it out of the bag and said he has only ever seen that puzzle once before. (That was on the Rosie show, she had him sign hers from her teen days for ebay) He said he doesn't even own one. He called Darrell the bass player over to see it. A fan said I should give him it. It would be hard to replace so that's when I gave him the 16 magazine book, Who is Your Fave Rave, since he told me last week that he didn't have one and had never seen it before. I had planned on giving it to him when I saw him at this show. I know that I can replace that. He asked me to hold onto the books for him until after the show.

The show started before long (11:30) so I sat closer to the stage with another Leif fan, Emma. Leif invited the audience to come closer so Emma and I stood right next to the stage so that's why all my pictures came out so great. The show was really rockin' and everyone in the place was really into it. We all danced and hollered and clapped after each song. I would say that everyone there had a great time and really got into the show. It was mostly the regular crowd that goes to the bar it seemed with several of us Leif fans. Leif even said that we all want to rock. For a special treat Leif wanted to do a Led Zeppelin song, the one that goes, "hey, hey what do I do....I got a girl who won't stay true". He half knew the words so he was asking for some help. A couple guys from the opening band joined him. It was a great version. Leif seemed to know all the words. After the last song, Darrell told the audience about the t-shirts and cds for sale and they will be over there to do signings. Well I saw Leif talking to a few people then he disappeared into the camper for the rest of the night. We hoped Leif would come back, but he didn't. We waited until the place closed. After the show, I visited with the other band members and Leif fans. A few Leif fans and I looked at all the Leif stuff that I had brought and we saw an article in my scrapbook which had both Virgin (Chuck's band in the 70's, he is an ex-teen idol too) and Leif in it. I told Chuck to come over and see it. He thought it was cool that I had it although he wondered what happened to the first page of the article. Maybe it had a poster on the back of it or the first page didn't have Leif in it. I asked Chuck if they were heading out and he said yes so I gave him the books to give to Leif. We heard they were on their way to a casino to go gambling. This was the last night of their tour so they were heading back to California the next day. I am glad I caught Leif before the show.

All in all it was a fun night. I would say both times I saw Leif and his band were equally as fun. (I saw F8 perform the Saturday before at Northern Lights in Clifton Park, NY) The second time was scarier since I was alone and I got lost. Although the second time was really cool, in that guys and girls both rocked out to Leif and his band. The first show had mostly fans in attendance.

So that's pretty much it. Leif, Chuck and Darrell remembered me but I don't know about Joe since I had only introduced myself and got him to sign my cd at the first show. I talked to him more this time around. He seems to be the quietest and sweetest of them all. He told me that the band's name is pronounced either "fate" or "F 8". Leif was sweet, but he swore and talked dirty, which is fine too. Kind of like me, angelic and devilish. He is definitely a fun guy. Chuck and Darrell even remembered my name and pronounced it correctly. Darrell gave me a guitar pick...cool!! Darrel has seen my site before and he says it blows him away, he wasn't sure what the Hanson and Leif connection was, so I filled him in. It's sort of like teen idols now and then. All 4 guys are really nice and they make the fans feel special.