Early Fan Days Stories . . .

By MotherSaid from Minnesota:

My early fan memories are few and far between. I think I was just to busy being a wife, mother and holding down a job. I did see Air Supply on HBO in 1982 when they did their Hawaii concert and fell madly in love with them; eventually I bought their Greatest Hits Album. ( I still have that LP and wouldn't give it up for the world).  I had my record player completely redone so I could continue to enjoy AS music on LP.  Not until years later did I buy their Live 1995 CD and Christmas Album.  This was all I had until Christmas 2002 when my son asked me what I wanted for Christmas.  I told him I wanted a DVD of Air Supply; if one existed.  You can imagine my surprise when I received The Definitive Collection for Christmas.  If he had only know what he was starting. 
 
 After that I became obsessed with acquiring everything they had ever done.  I spent hours scouring music stores, e-bay, Amazon.com. and other music sites.  Over a period of several months, I saw my collection growing along with my Visa bill.  By now I was hooked, and nothing could have stopped me.  I learned of the upcoming Fan Day in Las Vegas at The Orleans.  It was then I knew that I had to meet them.  I had loved them for so long and I wasn't getting any younger.  Now just to find someone to go with; at that time I had never flown alone and was not keen to start.  I finally talked a friend of mine into accompanying me.  She loved to gamble, so was happy to go to only one show and leave the rest to me.
 
The night of the Fan Dinner arrived, and I was so high just from the excitement and expectation of meeting the guys.  I was early, so checked the room to see where they would be sitting.  I saw the reserved sign on one of the tables up front, so quickly claimed a chair at the table right next to them.  When they all walked in, and I saw them up close for the first time, I was in complete awe.  Up until then, I'm not sure I thought they were even real.
 
We had a great meal, but I'm not sure what we even ate.  I think I was to busy sneaking peeks at the guys and getting to know the people at my table. Just knowing I was with others who felt as strongly as I did about Air Supply was such a high.  I had always felt I was alone in my obsession.  I admit my sister loves them....she even saw them in concert a couple of times in the early years.....but she is not an obsessed Airhead (plus she doesn't live by me).
 
Anyone who was there knows that it was a fabulous night.  We all won a piece of AS memorabilia, mine being a 45 of Russell's solo "The River Cried".  See, I knew I kept that record player for a reason.  When I went up to collect it from Graham, I asked him if I could have a kiss....he said sure.  Now that was my FIRST Air Supply kiss. The guys were all so friendly and everyone was relaxed and having a great time.  After everyone had won something, there were still a few things left, so they started throwing out questions for us to answer in order to win.
 
Russell asked "How long is Graham's inseam?"  I did some quick calculating and called out 37".....and, low and behold, I was right.   This got me a personal shirt of Graham's plus some friendly ribbing from people as to how I could possibly have known that..lol.  Graham made a point of telling me it was from his personal collection.  He later, along with Russell, signed the shirt.  It remains one of my favorite collector items.
 
The band was nice enough to pose for pictures with everyone who was there.  I thought that was so nice of them.  Mine was less than exciting, but it stands as a tribute to one of the best nights of my life.  After everyone got their pictures, we were asked to get in line to have items signed by the guys.   When I got up to the table, Graham quickly took Russell's record and signed it.  I commented that it was Russell's solo record....he said, " No problem, we share everything".  I thought that was so sweet.  I did manage to get Russell to sign it also....at the same time I told him I hadn't gotten a kiss from him yet.. lol...now that was my SECOND Air Supply kiss.
 
The evening eventually had to end with us all looking forward to Graham's poetry reading the next day.  Plus, we still had the concerts to look forward to.

By MotherSaid