Again, we found ourselves hanging around a good bit. In fact, he came over for dinner one night. I guess it was the evening of his solo show in DC. Imagine my surprise when he produced a video camera and started wandering around my home filming whatever came to mind.
I'll give you an example of what I mean by mutual sympathy. After a show at the Ritz in New York, Arista or someone held a party for the band in some plush room amidst the backstage labyrinth that was attended by lots of notable musicians, actors and the like. Donnette [Thayer, of Hex] was there, and I remember her jumping from group to group, talking, laughing, having a good time (animatedly spotting herself in the Reptile video), my then-girlfriend in tow much of the time. Marty, as you noted recently, is a live wire, and was having no trouble interacting with the crowd. Peter, I'm sure you'll agree, is almost universally amiable, and while not as overtly expressive as, say, Marty, he inspires good will and is easy to be around.
As I watched all this, a little tired and more than a little cross, arms folded and alone in a corner of this room, I suddenly became aware of figure virtually mirroring my own in the equally dark corner to my right. Arms crossed, head slightly angled down, rocking back and forth on the back of his boot heels, SK was clearly as enthralled with this gathering as I was. I walked over there and he shook my hand with his surprisingly limp handshake, we looked at each other momentarily, enough to register a common distaste and resignation, and stood together in silence.
Return to the stories page