An Earthquake in Slow Motion
Joining the tour: Copenhagen, September 21st, 1987
“Give her the dates,” Bob told Victor as we were putting on coats and getting ready to leave for the night. Bob had just finished his concert in Rotterdam, and he, his tour manager Victor Maymudes, Tom Petty, Roger McGuinn and a few others were passing through the dressing room, heading out to the bus. Victor did a double take, assuming he had misheard Bob´s request. Lifting his eyebrows, Bob smiled and nodded a few times to convince Victor he meant it. “Christie´s coming with us. She´s getting on the bus in Copenhagen.” Reluctantly handing me a copy of the tour schedule, Victor shrugged and said, “I guess we´ll see you in Copenhagen,” and walked out. Bob gave me a look that meant, “He doesn´t understand,” and said, in that soft rasping way, “I´ll be on the lookout for you.” I smiled and thanked him for an unforgettable concert and the invitation. “And thanks for helping me,” he said.
It felt good to have something to hold onto, even if it was just a few pieces of paper stapled together. Otherwise, I might have gotten home to my apartment in Amsterdam and wondered if Bob´s invitation was genuine, or if, perhaps, I´d dreamed it all, assisted by some herbal creativity enhancement.
My boyfriend Billy – who had made fun of me for thinking I had any chance of getting backstage to ask Bob for help in making a movie about Michael Bloomfield – was asleep when I got back. I would tell him in the morning that Bob had asked me to come along on the tour to be his movement teacher, though I had no idea for how long. He seemed to be leaving that up to me.