STEWART COPELAND

So, who is going to the concerts? Are we all forty-somethings professionals? I was a freshman at Mizzou when I became a Police fan, Zenyatta Mendata was the most recent release. I am really having fun with the anticpation and excitement of the upcoming concert in St. Louis. I don't think I could have been any more excited 25 years ago!

Are we all forty-somethings professionals?<<

god I hope I never become one of those. I enjoy being a 30ish fuck up.


My last sting show was the Broken Music tour. Drove 10 hours up to Mizzou to see him. Great show. Cool town and cool bar. We stayed at a hotel on the main bar strip in town and missed Sting by two hours.

A lot of us are mid-30's professionals (of what?! I haven't figured that one out yet, though I like Duke's "fuck ups") who were too young to go see them live the first time around. I didn't become a fan until Synchronicity came out in 1983.

I've been a die hard fan since I was about 10. Around the time either Ghost or Zenyatta came out. I was supposed to see them in Memphis on the Synch. tour but something came up - I think someone died or something like that. Figured I'd just catch them on the next tour. Little did I know that would be more than 20 years later.

Can you imagine seeing The Police in Memphis these days? That'd be a clash of paradigms, for sure.

I grew up in middle of nowhere, Kansas, and my only opportunity to see them Back in the Day was a 1983 date in Wichita - the week my parents had planned a family ski vacation.

Oh, I'm a 30-something f0ckup too.

30 something here. 1st exposure to Police was Zenyatta on the radio 1980, 9 years old. Went to K-mart with my gramps and bought the cassette. Wore it out completely.

'Behind my camel' used to scare the shit out of me when I was little. I always had to fast forward that one!

>god I hope I never become one of those. I enjoy being a 30ish fuck
>up.

Hah. I resemble that statement.

30-something attempted professional here (with the degree from MIT to prove it) who threw it all away to be an artist.

Yes, I must be insane.

But I didn't discover the Police until around '85-86, too late to see them in concert. I always seem to be a few years behind the curve on these things...

Can you imagine seeing The Police in Memphis these days? <<

I think they'll either play there or Nashville on the second let. Keep your fingers crossed.

Heh...<rummages around> there was an intro thread around here!

I pretty much babysat myself while listening to MTV in the afternoons as a youngun from it's launch so their early videos were where I first saw them, that and the radio, too but when Synchronicity came out that's when I was hooked...I bought it and I remember paying for it in change, heh...I got into Ghost shortly after it but didn't get into the first three albums (aside from the hits everyone knows) until years later, which was like discovering another band, almost...it was great...Have always loved Stewart, have taken up the drums and have been playing off and on for a it, and when Stewart's movie came out, it all came back (like any addiction, hits you ten-fold on the flipside)...now they are touring once again and "Stewart" is a one-name star like Madonna or Seal around my house and everyone I know...

After finishing my degree at the end of this year I will officially be Dr. Fuckup but I do have an alter-ego feline superhero (MEOW) who loves the Police, is a Stewart-Girl at heart, and will be rocking out and dancing her ass off at 12 shows during this tour, that is, if they don't add anymore dates I can't resist (like Atlanta, which I could not imagine them not playing)!!

I will D*I*E (which I threaten to do every time some new exciting news comes up, but I really will) if they play Nashville. Especially if they play the Ryman, where everyone in the world, just about, has performed.

I'll show up in Atlanta. I bet we have some good times this fall.

(p.s. looking forward to meeting Dr. Gina-to-Be this week. And the rest of youse guys coming to 'Roo.)

I'm hearing Atl in November. I'll be there.

Coming out of the woodwork here, I'm a 22-years-old, currently in college, and still with no clue what my purpose is in life. I've been into The Police since as long as I could remember, at around eight I think. I dug-around in our video library one day and discovered a VHS tape of EBYT: The Hits music video collection that my Dad bought sometime around the late-eighties. Got hooked on it and I used to watched it everyday after school, mostly just to be in awe of Stewart's drumming. I was born after the Syncronicity tour ended, and since then always wondered what going to one of their gigs would be like...

Then came last wednesday's concert in Seattle. I scrambled for tickets once they first went on sale and anxiously waited months down the line. That night finally came and at the end of the show I walked-out, ears ringing and all, all I could say was "Holy shit! Wow!" It was my first-ever rock concert and I don't think I could ever experience such a show with this level of energy and excitement again like this Police concert. I regretted not getting tickets for their second and final show in town, but I wanted to let others have the chance to see them too. Well, that and I'm nearly broke.

32--the Police were big on the radio and with my older brother's friends during my formative years, so I've always been familiar with their music. Around 13 I started playing guitar, and have been very serious about it and playing in bands up until recently when it's started to get lost in a combination of not fitting into my life and a general loss of interest in the direction music has taken. No inspiration out there. Seems like everything has been done already. I have some facility on a variety of instruments, and some experience on the production/recording side.

In the process of being obsessed with music, over the years I amassed a CD collection approaching 1,000, covering pretty much every artist of any significance in almost every genre.

The more I listened to what others were doing, the more I began to appreciate the Police, and they have been one of my favorite bands for a long time now. The hardest thing to do from a musical standpoint is to come up with something new. The Police are in a rare category--they do not sound like anyone who came before or after them. Their sound is totally unique. Andy and Stewart have highly distinct, idiosyncratic approaches to their instruments, and Sting's voice is also pretty unusual. Combining those elements with Sting's basic sense for pop songwriting is what set them apart.

Also, as I've stated here before-- Stewart is, in my opinion, the best rock drummer there has ever been, period. The only other drummer who I would throw into a debate against him is John Bonham, but I give the nod to Stewart because I like his style better.

I think a lot of musicians appreciate the Police because of the above factors. People always raise the question of why they don't seem to have had many imitators, and the answer is because you can't imitate them. Their sound is a direct result of the combination of three unique individuals who each have their own style. You can't point to previous bands and say "this is where they got it from" (with the partial exception of Bob Marley). They came up with their own totally original sound, as Stewart has said--by accident--which is probably the highest praise you could give any group.

Old enough, wasan't around last time. A soon to be college freshman, started listening to our boys, proably 6 or 7 years ago (wow it's been that long?).

[quote]god I hope I never become one of those. I enjoy being a 30ish fuck up.

[/quote]

Duke, are you thinking in murder (maybe you vs you) by numbers to never become a 40ier?