Each time I visit a Hard Rock Cafe, I’m on the lookout for Depeche Mode memorabilia.  If you saw my earlier post, you know I went to the Hard Rock Cafe in London - the heart of the country where all my favorite music originated - and found only Seattle band memorabilia. *yawn*

I’ve traveled to Las Vegas three times and hadn’t made my way to the Hard Rock Cafe (HRC) until this past June.  I exchanged tweets with friends from Twitter and learned that I might find a suit Dave wore during the Singles tour or Ultra promo photos and a leather jacket signed by the band!  I have never seen any Depeche Mode memorabilia other than what I own, so I was looking forward to finding these items.

There were no DM items at the HRC in Las Vegas, so I checked the Hard Rock Hotel and asked employees if there were any DM items, just as I did at the HRC.  Nobody there could give me a good answer - they explained that the inventory rotates and changes all the time.  My friend Rebecca and I walked all over the hotel, looking ourselves and did not find anything DM-related. 

I was very disappointed but would not be defeated, so on our last day in town we went back to the Hard Rock Hotel and I noticed unmarked leather jackets placed above some of the casino games.  They were way up on the wall and it irritated me that they didn’t label them, so I slowly walked by and studied each jacket.

THERE IT WAS!  I would know those signatures anywhere!  I found the jacket that all four band members had signed!  It was a proud moment to have located exactly what I was looking for, and Rebecca and I snapped as many pictures as we could sneak.  We took this picture so that other fans could locate the jacket more easily than I did.  This was the only DM item I found.  The pictures probably look a little distorted, but you’ll get the idea:

This is a close up picture I took of the autographed Depeche Mode jacket:

While you’re there, you may as well ask to purchase a few of these babies for keepsake:

:)

It’s my day off and I was looking through an old photo album when I came across pictures from my old bedroom.  I think I was 18 when I had this room.  Sorry for the picture quality, but for time’s sake, I just took digital pictures of the old photos in my album.  Did your room look like this, too, as a teen?  I still have all of these Depeche Mode posters in a safe place and have added several more to my collection.

Do you remember the 1970’s disco band The Bee Gees?  I remember them all too well because they were a huge part of my childhood.  I’ve always loved music, and the music I listened to in my early years was the music of my parents.  They had lots of records, and these were the groups and artists that shaped my early years: The Bee Gees, The Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, Roberta Flack, Elton John, Seals & Crofts, Bread, The Muppets, Alvin & the Chipmunks, and the Annie Soundtrack.

My father has been a salesman for as long as I can recall and in my younger days, he wnt on a handful of business trips each year.  His initials are RGB (red green blue!) and one of his nicknames was “Beeg.” 

As a kid, I remember staring at a Bee Gee’s record album that opened up into three panels.  Each inside panel had a large photo of one of the three Bee Gee brothers.  Maurice Gibb looked shockingly similar to my dad, and I remember thinking it was him - after-all, with a nickname of Beeg, and this being the Bee Gees, it had to be the same guy!  Whenever he’d go away on a business trip, I thought he was on tour with his band and I’d lie on the floor for hours while he was gone, just staring at the picture of my dad, missing him.

I think this is the picture from the album - here’s the late Maurice Gibb who passed away in 2003: 

My parents have all the pictures from the ‘70’s & ‘80’s at their house, so I can’t show you a picture of my dad from then, but trust me - he looked just like this from the neck up!!  Here is my dad in 2000:

Next week, my dad will be SIXTY!  I can hardly believe it!!  He just became a grandpa in July, and he doesn’t look or act like a 60 year old.  It’s amazing my dad is turning this landmark age!  Anyway, happy birthday to my wonderful Dad, who is not really a Bee Gee.  :)

I have an identity crisis.  I’m a Realtor by day, I create handmade cards under the name Dawson Designs in the evenings, and I love Depeche Mode and U.K. music.  My custom license plate says “DEPMODE” and I have accounts at Twitter and YouTube as “depmodechick.”

Listed By Stephanie + Dawson Designs + depmodechick = me

So, as of moments ago, I have changed my Tumblr site name from DawsonDesigns to depmodechick and unlinked the blog feeds from my business blog.  Now you can read my Seattle Real Estate blog posts at Listed By Stephanie; check out the cards I make and cool creations I knit at Dawson Designs; and join in my appreciation and adoration for Depeche Mode right here on this site.  I’ll probably also discuss concerts and other bands here.  And good news: I think I’ve just figured out how to allow people to add comments to my posts here, so that is now enabled.

Whew!  I now think I have my multiple personalities separated.  Thank you.  That is all.

Fifteen years ago, as I moved on with life and lost touch with friends from different places, I never imagined being able to find them again and reconnect!  Facebook, Twitter, Google, and the internet are amazing, useful tools that allow people to locate long lost friends.  I just love having my virtual arms around everyone I’ve ever known or cared about… but I am still out of touch with a lot of former friends.

Last night I received a message on Facebook from someone who knew me 18 years ago when I used to be on computer bulletin boards (BBS).  This was before the internet and it required a modem (they were external back then - separate hardware from your computer) and someone else had to have their modem turned on so you could log on to their computer and chat or post messages and emails on their ‘board.  Anyway, this former acquaintance and I are now friends on Facebook because he found me, and I started thinking about the lost friends I had as a teen.  I had so many friends from other schools, thanks to the BBS, and lost touch with them.  I would organize get-togethers (we shortened that to GT’s) at South Center Mall or I’d throw parties or we’d go to a bulletin board meeting.

I frequented several BBS’s in the 1980s as a kid and the early 1990s.  I remember buying credits on ProStar and Black Mariah, and hanging out on Gyroscope BBS.  If you were on one of those boards, I was known as Gizzzy or Gizz - just words I came up with.  The “G” is not a J - it’s like the “G” in girl. 

Here are the long lost friends I can remember (in random order) and would like to hear from.  The best way to reach me is on Twitter: @depmodechick or you can look me up on Facebook - my maiden name was Stephanie Baldwin.

Puppychow - Mike Wallendahl

SysOp- Ed Cattey (graduated from Kentridge HS in Kent, WA in 1991 or 1992)

Ace - Mike Austin (graduated from O’Dea HS in 1993 & lived on Capitol Hill in Seattle)

Abaddon

Captain Natas

Stark N. - Ned Kelleher / Ed Kelleher (lived on First Hill in Seattle)

Chad Fondren (graduated from Kentridge HS in Kent, WA in 1993)

Lord Prometheus - Chad McCutcheon (graduated from O’Dea High School in 1993?)

Rempke - Mike Phillips (graduated from Auburn HS in Auburn, WA in 1992 - last I heard, he was a police officer in Arlington, WA)

Tasselhoff - Lynn Phillips (Mike’s older brother)

Sean Cottrille - not sure I spelled that correctly. Graduate of Auburn HS 1994 - very tall, blonde hair, was a swimmer I think.

Drew - he lived in Mercer Island

Matt Buckmaster - he made me several mix tapes on Pink Floyd, Syd Barrett, etc.

Summer - she had blonde curly hair and her dad looked exactly like the lead guy in the SNL band in the 1990s.

Jessica - I think she married Mike Austin!

Shasta - Shasta Lubin

Mikey - Mike Buckley (graduated of Kentridge HS 1993, I think)

I went to see The Cure on July 1st, 1992 in Seattle with a BBS friend but I can’t remember his name.  He made recordings of himself singing “Just Like Heaven” and he had huge speakers and sub-woofers in the back seat of his car, making it a 2 person car.

Temeka Sankey - I think she graduated from Rogers HS in Puyallup in 1994.

Jimmy Fursman - graduate of Tahoma HS 1995 and we went to the Paula Abdul/Color Me Badd concert on May 1, 1992, haha! :)

Well, there seemed to be a lot more past friends in my head when I started this post.  :)  So, if you knew me in my “past life” and I knew you, please contact me!

Update: I have created a Facebook group page for Prostar Plus BBS.  Please join!