Hello all! This will be a short YM in light off the 2 tests I have
onThursday, and the heaps of reading I have to do for them. Also, pleaseunderstand that the next YM you get will be Friday, my
studies do have totake precedence sometimes you know... My parents have threatened to seize mycomputer, it was one of those gifts
that seems to have come with conditions,something about getting A's, getting into law school, passing the bar exam...
I know
I promised a bunch of stuff, but I have to study, so my apologies tothose who's ad's I promised to run, I swear I'll run them soon!
(Nancy: January is FREE!)
Nonetheless, this is the promised "Despite Letting Your Little Brother ShaveHis Head, We Love
You Anyway Melanie!" Yes, today is George's sisterMelanie's birthday. I'm not totally sure of her age, but I think she'sturning
36 today. Now as we all know, or should know, Melanie Panayiotou isGeorge's hairdresser. She is responsible for all of George's
'do's andprobably 'don't's too. Yes, from the cute little ducktale in the Wham! Rapvideo, to the very Princess Di of the mid 80's,
to the Faith cut and bleachwe all loved, to the current Cfsar, Melanie's done it all! And so, today onher birthday, we salute her
for all her fine colouring, cutting, andblowdrying, you've done a hell of job, and whether he wants to admit it ornot, you've
probably helped his career a bit too! But I mean, really, can'tyou talk to him about maybe growing out the current look, just a
bit...And so, just as I sang it 5 years ago tonite at George's request, despite thefact that she refused to come out on stage and
receive her tribute:
"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Melanie, happy birthday
to you!!"
Having done that, let me warn you in advance that on Friday, YM will be atribute to my sister, her
contribution to my love of George cannot gounpraised...
Notes to all the new members: WELCOME to the family! TO post, send
an e mail to me, NEVER reply to all!!!
AND AWAY WE GO... YOU'VE GOT ANGEMAIL!!!
AG
rambles:
OK, by popular request--well just one person who asked really nicely--here ispart 1 of ANGEMAIL. For any of you who
don't know, Ange is one of AndrewRidgeley's many nicknames, but also the most common.
So this will be part one of a couple:
Andrew
John Ridgeley bounced his way into this world on Saturday January26th, 1963. Born to Albert Mario--an executive at Canon
cameras--andJenny--a teacher--a little brother Paul--who would drum for Wham!'s firstalbum--would follow 13 months later.
Andrew's
youth was a boisterious one, punctated by a few spills into thepool--one of which broke his nose, and another that just about gave
his mum aheart attack--he was a very athletic boy, a particular fan of football (soccer).
He and George met in 1975--The year
I was born, co-incidence? I thinknot...--at Bushey Meads Comprehensive School and became fast friends--despiteGeorge heaving him to
the ground in a game of King of the wall--and the restwe know as rock and roll history...
But what happened to the man George
describes at the beginning of I'm YourMan as: "He's brave, he's tough, Mr. Ridgeley, do your stuff!" AFTER June28th, 1986?
As
he was commonly mocked for, Andrew took up Formula 3 motor car racinghaving relocated to Monaco to avoid British taxation. Quick
dubbed "TheSmasher" for his uncanny ability to smack up his race cars, he soon foundhimself without sponsor, when Renault
dropped him.
Circa late 1987, Andrew relocated to LA, where he made a point of enjoyinghis money, and not working.
During
late 1989, Andrew moved home to England, and re-settled in his formerstomping grounds of Hertfordshire. There, he set to work on
writing musicwith a gentleman called Gary Brougham. In late 1990, he released his debutalbum "Son of Albert." (Oh, you
haven't heard of it? Yeah, well, that waskinda a problem....) usNOW!!!!! What're we waiting for???
(They're just punishing
you... AG)
Oh yes...I'm also looking for these items to buy that I forgot to mentionbefore: LWP Vol. I on vinyl, Older on
vinyl, Fastlove twelve inch single vinyl, SoulFree CD single, Edge of Heaven vinyl, The Final on vinyl, and basically mostof the
WHAM! records on vinyl of 12 inch and george michael 12 inches...Espthe Hard Day 12 incher and all the others too.
(I have
Older on vinyl, Alicia got it for me at an import shop in California. It's the Virgin/Fgean release. It was said DreamWorks was
going to releaseit, but when I went to my local shop to get it, they said it would have to beordered, and that it was not coming
from a "reputable distributer", so theyadvised me not to bother... And oh yeah, sorry, mine's not for sale... I canget you
a copy of Faith though. I'm sure I can get my sister-in-law to sell me her copy if you want. Let me know OK? AG)
I got all
these but I explained in my other note about me and my mom's feud. "I hear the sound
of a memory..."
October 22nd 1991
AG rambles:
It was 5 years ago tonite that I last laid eyes on Mr.
Michael. It was aTuesday, but the party started at 3:30 when I got off school. I was going tothe show with a bunch of friends and my
brother and his wife. My friendscame back to my place and we had dinner, and started blasting the George! then at around 6pm we
jammed 6 people into my brother's car, and set off forToronto. By showtime we were comfortably in our seats, but George was nowhere
to be seen... Well there was that impersonator down front, but thereal man didn't grace the stage until an hour later! I will still
neverforget hearing the familiar strains of one of my fave tunes of the 80's. Nota George song, but rather the song he chose to
bring the sound level up andlet us know he was about to get to work..."Welcome to the Pleasuredome". Welcome indeed. The
music eased it's way up in volume, I got back mybinoculars from my friend's who had been using them to scope the crowd formen...but
there was only one man I was there to see. The lights got dimmer,the music louder...soon we were in blackness, and that's when I
snapped! Istarted to yell louder than anybody in the place!! It had been too longsince I last laid eyes on him! George emerged, and
the rest can only bedescribed as sheer ecstasy! George did his thing, promising a "serious show"and then only a short
while later, grinned devilishly, cocked his brow to nogood and began to grind in a way that reminded me of the Faith tour...
Whilethis time he stayed on his feet the whole show--he had wiped out in Torontoon the Faith tour right at the end of "I Want
Your Sex", dropping to the justas the lights fell and muttering "F***!" as he hit the ground--there was oneclose
moment, during which I had my binocs focused on his face, he just aboutstumbled on his little platform at center stage and flew into
the drum kit,and I saw him kinda look to the heavens with relief. Near the end of theshow, he called our attention to the date--and
he actually had to stop for asecond to think about it--and asked if we could sing for his sister. Feelinga pang of regret that my
own sister had had to cancel on what was her BDaygift (her's being the 25th), I sang along anyway. The last things I rememberabout
him that night were his cute little bows and his "Thank You Very Much,Good Night, Take Care!" Oh, one more thing I will
never forget about thatnight? Losing my voice for a week. But not to fear, for the love of George,the loss of the ability to speak
is no great sacrifice. In fact, I'm lookingforward to doing it again real soon...
Thanks for indulging me, I'll catch up on
posts again soon, but for now, thetextbook calls...