I loved all that stuff, Replicas and Pleasure Principle remain in my top
twenty - massive influence.
It was great. That was a really exciting period to be living near a city
where bands played and working at a store/influencing the stock in the
late 70s/early 80s.
As for touring with his mam and dad, well his mam still runs the fan
club and his dad does the post run once a week :)
Back then it was such a surprise. The exposure I had to punk/new wave,
etc. often happened at Detroit bars like 'Bookies Club 870.' Detroit has
a rich 'punk' history, and Bookies is a huge part of it.
Gay bar through the weekdays, punk bar on weekends and most nights - it
was in an infamous strip on 6 mile that became a fairly wild culture
clash (just the sights)on punk nights. All that to say that Numan's
onstage persona fit very much into the whole scene back then, but his
offstage demeanor seemed, well, radically different.
It was like Wendy O Williams becoming a nun (not simply wearing a habit
;-) or something. Speaking of Wendy (God rest her soul), she actually
reached down the front of my pants (I had one a one-piece jumpsuit thing
from work. It fit there. Trust me) as part of a Plasmatics show at
Bookies. I was the envy of my male friends.
jeff
