Open letter to Brian, Lee and Jim.....

Fuck, where do I start?
Having seen the Cats on Tuesday in Adelaide, I knew I was in for a awesome time in Melbourne. Catching up with good friends that live in Melbourne and finally meeting AussieSam for the first and definately not the last time, was just the prelude to a trip that I won't forget in a hurry. What Sam told me about his experience, revved me for the show. If I said I wouldn't have been disappointed in not trying to meet the Cats and to get Lee's autograph on my pickguard, after a 18 year time span in gathering all the 3 autographs, I'd honestly be lying. My wife knew how important this trip was to me. Without going into details, we've had a shit couple of years where lifelong friendships, alot of money and self esteem were lost. Music, particularily the Cats music, kept me going and honestly kept me from going over the edge.
Anyways....to cut a long story short, I got to meet Lee, Jim and Chris Cheney after the show. And yes, I finally got that last autograph! I saw Brian, but honestly, he seemed exhausted..what do you do? I gotta respect him. As much as I would have loved to say "Yo Brian! It's me Pickon' Pete", I decided to let him join his wife and get on with his night. The show they put on, along with Chris Cheney had made our trip well worth it.
The next morning I awoke with the need to at least try and see if I could see Brian. We made our way to the Hotel with no real plan, just hope. Was I disappointed? Nah man, we got our chance to meet all of them, get our photos taken and shoot the shit a bit. I gotta agree with Sam, they all seemed down to earth and geniunely thankful that we enjoyed the show. My greatest buzz was when I mentioned to Brian that I was Pickin' Pete and he said something along the lines of "Oh right, you're him? Cool". He may not know or realize, but that made my day. The fact that he said he recognized us from previous shows and that we'd come from Adelaide, made us all think that they DO appreciate their fans. He even apologized that the stage lights made it real hard to see past the first few rows. We took photos and shook hands etc, and it was enough. He owes me nothing except for continuing to make great music for everybody to enjoy. Lee and Jim, same goes to you guys. Infact, I apologize to Jim for not paying more attention to him. As far as I'm concerned there are 3 Stray Cats, each being the best in the field of what they're doing. Jim, if I ever get a chance to meet you again, we gotta have a photo together! Hahaha!
How do I finish off? I can understand the sentiments of Sam, cause I can't think of words that represent my appreciation for making my wife, my friends and myself feel special that Sunday. What I can say is that this Sunday you can be guaranteed that you'll have 1 life long fan screaming and applauding for the great show you've put on for every single time you go out and do your thing.
Cheers Pickin' Pete

Sensational Pete, bloody sensational. Brought the memories flooding back. Gee i love Brian....see ya Sunday champ.

...

kelleyM wrote:

so Pete, you did get to meet Brian?? great!
wanna see pics

and yes there are 3 stray cats, three of the best rockin' people in the galaxy!!

thank you for sharing your story

Kelley

Yeah Kelley, my wife, good friends and myself met Brian and we all walked away thinking what a fantastic bunch of guys they all are. He honestly made US feel that he was just as happy to meet us.
I can't quite put the pix up yet, but I will.
Cheers Pete

cool stories,

and your stories shows me that my first impression was right, these 3 guys are great people and down to earth. And at the end they are human beings like we all.

To all the critics out there who think they doin' that all for buissness:

These guys are great and where do you find such a sensationel band with such a great tour, with so many great fans, so much emotions WITHOUT a new record.
And i hope they make money with the tour, so we`ll could expect more fanatstic music of them. (if together or solo, we`ll see)

Thanks Pete, Thanks Aussie_Sam

Man, i wish i could be in Australia...

edit2: would be great to get an official Tour-CD,
doesn´t matter from Europe or Australia, but it is an amazing Tour.

...

This may sound stupid, but so what, I'm among friends here I feel honored and deeply touch that the Cat's came to Australia to say goodbye. The tour so easily could have ended in Europe and I would have accepted and understood that. The fact they traveled half way around to world to see us moves me in ways I can't express. I told KelleyM that the shows are almost spiritual experience for me. That's the closet way I can describe what this means to me.

The fact that my Wife and I could make the last show on the Australian Tour in Melbourne is quite emotional to me, that I'll be sharing that experience with my Wife and friends is priceless!! Thank you Cat's, your music means the world to me, you playing live and me seeing that takes it off the planet!!!

To say I'm looking forward to Sunday is a gross understatement.

René

I think we're all feeling pretty emotional and overwhelmed by having Cat Class and Cat Style down under.

Has anyone taught the Cats the Aussie Cheer yet?

Aussie Aussie Aussie! Oi Oi Oi!

(Remember, USians, it's pronounced Ozzie- not ossie!)

Let's see if we can get that happening at the remaining gigs!

....

The natural Aussies would have to definitively answer that, but to my California-born-and-bred-ears, it actually sounds like "Melbin". You do not under any circumstances pronounce the hard R!

(edit: or maybe "Melbun". Still, no R.)

andi wrote:

The natural Aussies would have to definitively answer that, but to my California-born-and-bred-ears, it actually sounds like "Melbin". You do not under any circumstances pronounce the hard R!

(edit: or maybe "Melbun". Still, no R.)

Geez, you gals got my Aussie brain in a spin. How does Melben sound? That's how I say it, but then I'm from Adelaide. Ask anyone from Melbourne or Sydney and they will say we speak funny over here. Little do they know it's them Then there's the people up north, they speak through clenched teeth due to the flys

...

I reckon Melburn

Hmm..
I don't know if these posts get back to Brian, Lee and Jim, but let me assure you that there is no way they won't recognize and hear Rene, Arnu, Sam and myself this Sunday, along with the rest of the crowd. I think we should make it our goal to raise the roof for them in appreciation. 18 years is a long time, I'll be fucked if I don't enjoy myself!
What do you say??

make us proud, folks...

shout it out loud...

Pistol Pete wrote:

Hmm..
I don't know if these posts get back to Brian, Lee and Jim, but let me assure you that there is no way they won't recognize and hear Rene, Arnu, Sam and myself this Sunday, along with the rest of the crowd. I think we should make it our goal to raise the roof for them in appreciation. 18 years is a long time, I'll be fucked if I don't enjoy myself!
What do you say??

What we say is go cat go, Raise the roof !!

Pistol Pete wrote:

Hmm..
I don't know if these posts get back to Brian, Lee and Jim, but let me assure you that there is no way they won't recognize and hear Rene, Arnu, Sam and myself this Sunday, along with the rest of the crowd. I think we should make it our goal to raise the roof for them in appreciation. 18 years is a long time, I'll be fucked if I don't enjoy myself!
What do you say??

I don't know about you, but I'm going to totally trash my voice. I'll only leave enough to maybe have a chat with the guys.

Brian if you get this, I'll have a present waiting for you and the guys. Have a lighter handy

René-a-pony

pony65k wrote:

Pistol Pete wrote:

Hmm..
I don't know if these posts get back to Brian, Lee and Jim, but let me assure you that there is no way they won't recognize and hear Rene, Arnu, Sam and myself this Sunday, along with the rest of the crowd. I think we should make it our goal to raise the roof for them in appreciation. 18 years is a long time, I'll be fucked if I don't enjoy myself!
What do you say??

I don't know about you, but I'm going to totally trash my voice. I'll only leave enough to maybe have a chat with the guys.

Brian if you get this, I'll have a present waiting for you and the guys. Have a lighter handy

René-a-pony

Hey, who's the handsome guy with his arm around you in your avatar Rene?????

Just heard someone else may be joining us as well this Sunday......

JUST BOUGHT MY PLANE TICKET!!!! SEE YOU IN MELBOURNE!!!!!!

andi wrote:

JUST BOUGHT MY PLANE TICKET!!!! SEE YOU IN MELBOURNE!!!!!!

Oh, it's you!! hahaha!!

Jump on board the Mystery Train!

Pistol Pete wrote:

Hey, who's the handsome guy with his arm around you in your avatar Rene?????

I was standing there quietly minding my own business. Then this guy walked up to me and threatened to beat the crap out of me unless I agreed to have a photo taken with him. This guy was huge and would have made a mess out of me, so I cautiously agreed. Once I saw the pic I thought it was quite nice of me considering I don't think I photograph too well. Before using though I thought I'd edit the pic so I didn't have to relive the emotional trauma that this situation caused.

Oh hang on a minute, it's Pete

Ha ha ha , I crack myself up sometimes

René-a-pony

andi wrote:

JUST BOUGHT MY PLANE TICKET!!!! SEE YOU IN MELBOURNE!!!!!!

Brilliant stuff, so we're gonna get a chance to meet and hang out, cool!! All we need is Kid Setzer and we've got a huge Aussie boards contingent going

Andi check your pm.

René

Awesome Pic Pete!