Steph/Electric Blue's Later With Jools Journal

With a dying car I scraped my way back down the motorway to 'L'hotel des parents', only just making it before the car died on me! Scary journey!! What a time for car failure at the beginning of another Bowie week! My bemused cat was sat on the front seat wondering where on earth I was taking her again so soon! Off the motorway and Hours... gets turned up even louder to cover the horrendous engine noises!

Fortunately me and dad get my car fixed the following day so all was well again!! I wasn't gonna let my car screw up the week ahead! Aren't Dad's fab for that sort of thing!

Tuesday arrives - Jools Day!! Wooohoooooo! I was lavishly lazy and lounged about in my dressing gown all day and then spent the rest of the time getting ready. Even so I was still ready far too early but decided to leave anyway. I had the cunning idea of getting on site BBC parking as a visiting dignitary from BBC Wales hahahah... so it didn't matter what time I arrived. I got to Television Centre at 4pm - doors didn't open until 7:30 but never mind! There was already a small contingent of fans waiting outside and amongst them was Alex with some pics he took of me and DB at the Radio One session! How sweet of him to bring them for me!

After about 10 minutes David arrived at the gate in his car and we waved to him as he went in. By this time it was getting more than a little nippy outside so I headed to main reception to check out the new building courtesy of my BBC Wales staff pass! Having not been to Television Centre for about six years lots had changed and it took a minute or two to orientate myself but I was soon off on the prowl to check out what studio the taping was going to be in.

I was soon rewarded in my task by bumping into Mark Plati, Sterling and the rest of the band on the stairs by the Red Crush bar - damn that Paul Kinder gets everywhere ;) So I knew it was to be TC1 for the recording and the location of the dressing rooms was sorted but I kept a low profile and didn't say anything. After some coffee from the machine I headed back down to the front gate to see the others still freezing themselves to bits. I had some surprised looks from them as I was inside the BBC! After another tour of the building to get sorted with where everything was I came back out to wait with the others.

Eventually chatters began to arrive, first Susans and then Simone, then Paul and SteveK. After the rounds of 'hellos' we headed off to the nearest pub for some heat and beer! En route I get a call from Spidey and Don who are on the tube and I hurriedly give them the directions to the pub - not that I had a clue where we were going! Somehow they found us in the pub and we all eventually trudged back to wait in the cold - by which time Helen2 and Blam had put in an appearance. Yet another round of hugging ensued and eventually we got to go collect our tickets and mess about putting our bags and stuff through the x-ray scanner machines!

Whilst wandering about inside we were lucky enough to 'bump' into David as he was taken through the corridors to his dressing room and we all had a nice 'hello' from him which was lovely. We were then treated to free beers while we waited to be taken to the studio. Much chatting and catching up was done before we had to dash for the studio to get a decent place to stand.

I got a great view of Bowie and the band from across the studio where I was stood with Paul, Susan and Helen. There were BNetters on each side of the studio! Some people had even brought along a little Bowie flag! We all waited for the show to start and desperately hoped the cameras wouldn't obscure our view.

The waiting and the cold was well worth it! Bowie totally stole the show and got the whole studio going - the other bands watched in awe and the audience really came alive. Despite his flu David sang for all he was worth and it was brilliant. So much so that after the end of the show everyone - including other bands, crew and audience demanded more and we were rewarded with an amazing rendition of 'I'm Afraid Of Americans'.

The hour long taping was over all too quickly and we left the studio grinning like mad. Brandishing the BBC staff pass I managed to fend off the audience staff and get them to let us stay on the premises. Whilst the others stood out in the cold, Susan and I went in search of the after show party, but Spidey and Don had to leave to catch their train home :(

I dragged Susan round the maze of a building - we were hurrying in case we missed David leaving - found the party and it was awful so we breezed in and got some beers before hurriedly leaving again! The look on the faces of the others outside as we returned swigging our beers was hilarious! That was until I produced an extra bottle of beer I had managed to acquire - then it was smiles all round.

Eventually the doors opened and David appeared. The small contingent were rewarded with a short autograph signing and smiles from David even though he was feeling pretty lousy. Then all too soon it was all over and we retreated back inside to get coffees and discuss the events of the evening - along with giving directions to a slightly geographically challenged Bowie band who were looking for the exit! Eventually we all made our way back out to wend our separate ways home. The end of another amazing evening - but all was yet to come in the shape of the Astoria gig and signing 2 days later and the airing of The Jools Holland show the following weekend!

By Steph - (Electric Blue)
30th October 1999 - (written 5/12/99).