Part One - Fort Wayne, IN

Aaaahhhh, the memories come pouring in of the good 'ol ROCK ON days. Travelling from city to city, seeing new and exciting things…Well those days are back!

6/25/02
Catherine Williams arrives in Cincinnati to be my travel buddy on an upcoming road trip with Michael Damian. Having never been on a "road trip" before, Catherine is in for some fun and adventure!

6/26/02 Catherine and I make the 1½ hour trip from Cincinnati to Indianapolis airport to meet Michael and his brother Larry who will be arriving from a few days of promotions in New York. After they gather their luggage and the driver packs it all in to the trunk of the car, we are off to Ft. Wayne, Indiana. On the way, I get to hear SHADOWS IN THE NIGHT for the first time! Woo hoo, I just had to crank it up, what a great song! As we get closer to Ft. Wayne we tune in to the local radio station and get to hear Shadows again. 2 ½ hours after leaving the Indy airport, we arrive in Ft. Wayne. Right as we are pulling up to the Hilton Hotel, BAM! -the sky lets loose with a downpour of rain. It only lasted a few minutes, but it was just a preview of what was to come later. We had a little over an hour to rest and get ready for the evening's festivities. Michael was to have dinner and sing a few songs for some contest winners of WAJI radio station.

7:00 PM We are picked up and head to the restaurant Eddie Merlot's. As we arrived, it started raining again with lots of thunder and lightning. The event was being held on the covered patio, so after we arrived, they decided to move everyone in to keep us from getting drenched. While Michael was busy talking with fans and signing autographs, we were busy keeping an eye on the ominous weather outside. After all, we are in Tornado country! At one point the electricity went out, but luckily it was just for a moment. After Michael was finished chatting, and doing an interview with the local CBS affiliate, it was time to hear Shadows "unplugged". The weather was being a little too unpredictable to use the PA system. Michael wowed the intimate audience with his acoustic versions of SHADOWS IN THE NIGHT, and ROCK ON accompanied by Larry on the guitar.

Finally it was time to go back to the hotel. As we piled into the Magic Van, it started to rain harder and the winds were really whipping around. On the road up ahead, we saw police cars and fire trucks with red lights flashing. As we slowed down, we noticed tree branches and debris all over the road. When we got up to the flashing lights, we saw live power lines had fallen across all 4 lanes of the road. Was there a Tornado? I started getting a little nervous and Larry whipped out his video camera to get some of the action, and Catherine was excited to be in a thunderstorm-crazy people! We took an alternate route, and guess what we ran into? Flooding in the streets-yikes!

We pull in to a parking lot and pray for a break in the rain, so we can make it back to the hotel in one piece. We tuned in to WAJI to get the latest info on the weather and hope to hear it will soon be passing. We finally made it back safe and sound. After thanking our driver Jim for his wonderful driving skills, we bid each other goodnight and head up to our rooms to get some sleep so we're ready for tomorrow's adventure.

6/27/02
Michael had to get up early to do some radio interviews for some East Coast stations, while Catherine and I slept in. After Michael was finished we all met up for breakfast. After that it was time to get back on the road again. Today we are driving to Evansville, Indiana.. After a while the weather starts to get dark and cloudy. Uh oh, are we getting ready to have another round of the nasty storms we encountered last night?

We've not been on the road long before the rain and lightning starts again. Larry pulls out his video camera to try and get some more of the action, but manages to miss every big lightning strike. So, Michael takes the camera from him to have a go.

Six long hours later we arrive in Evansville at a beautiful Bed and Breakfast. It was amazing! We had the whole top floor to ourselves with each suite being more beautiful than the last!

Soon after we arrived, my good friend Kim shows up after making the 4-hour drive from Cincinnati to join in all of our fun.We are all pretty exhausted so we decide to order some pizza and "veg out" for the rest of the evening. The owner of the house, Coy was nice enough to set places for us in her formal dining room, it was beautiful! While munching our pizza and salad. She entertained us with stories of spirits living in the house. Then Michael joined in with his own ghost stories. -oooohhhhh. Well, it was now time to get some sleep. The limo was going to be at the B&B at 7:45 to pick Michael up to do the morning show at WSTO.

 

Continued in Part Two - Evansville, IN

All Photographs in this report are the copyright of Catherine Williams and Angel Gardner and may not be reproduced without permission.