John Stewart and Chuck McDermott recently toured the East Coast.  As a representative of the travel agency booking the trip, I had the dubious fortune of accompanying them on this journey.

The first stop was Tampa, Florida for a series of business meetings.  Arrival to, and departure from, LAX went smoothly and S&M, as we shall refer to them, met John's friend, Bill Bush, in Tampa right on time.  During the two days in Florida, the weather was spectacular and given the charm of the view from their Gulf Coast hotel, S&M were clearly falling for Florida. (However, Chuck was overheard rhapsodising to the lounge band after one too many mai tai's about the beauty of fall in LA when the birds change colour and fall from the trees).

The morning of Saturday June 16th, the guys roused themselves at an ungodly hour to catch their 8.30 flight to New York and were incensed, when they wearily reached the gate, to find that departure had been delayed thirty minutes.  The clerk pointed out that they should feel lucky; they would have missed the plane by five minutes were it on time.  After simultaneously sighing "ooh", they sat down to argue over who misread the tickets.

If S & M barely made it to NewYork, much of their audience did far better.  I mean, many of these people had travelled - one came from Atlanta, Georgia.  He made it fine.  S&M did perform a wonderful show there however and the people loved it. They demanded encore after encore.  The guys were joined onstage by New York's own "Washington Squares," three wonderful young punk rockers-turned-folk-singers.  They were most entertaining and John rewarded them with original Kingston Trio shirts.  It was quite a moment.

S&M got very adventurous in a travel sense when it came time to head to Boston.  They took Amtrak.  They saw America from the train window.  They heard the clack, clack, clack.  John began to cry.  Chuck fell asleep.  They were both very happy.  The show in Boston was also a success.  John attracted fans who knew the words to every song.  Chuck attracted friends who knew the names of all his old girl friends.  There were encores, just like in NY.  Thsse guys were hot.  And they were tired.  They went to bed.

The following day, S &M were to meet at the airport to fly to Washington, DC.  Big mistake.  John arrived with time to spare and found a seat at the gate to wait.  And wait.  And wait.  With only moments to spare, Chuck rushed in.  They boarded and Chuck explained that a friend had offered to give him a ride to the airport.  The ride turned out to be a speed boat that left him at some bait-and-tackle shop a quarter of a mile from the airport.  Holding the tickets and watching the minutes fly by, Chuck was forced to flag down a passing auto and beg a ride to the Delta terminal.  John bought him a stiff drink to reward this logistical touchdown.

They were in Washington as a stopover to see friends, among them John's daughter Amy, and to accept an invitation from Presidential speechwriter and JS fan, Tony Dolan, to lunch at the White House.  They arrived thirty minutes late.  They were for some reason served anyway.

The travel highpoint came on the leg from DC to Chicago.  Determined to reduce the now constant airport anxiety, S & M arrived with time to kill.  However, Chuck found he had no reservation on this flight.  They put him on a wait list.  He didn't make it.  Neither did John.  He'd beenwaiting for Chuck and they closed the door of the plane.  The next plane was in three hours.  They waited.  John boarded the plane.  Chuck made the waiting list.  They arrived at O'Hare, the world's busiest airport, about an hour and a half before showtime.  The airport was an hour from the gig.  They let the aircraft empty before deplaning.  The promoter, Allan Shaw, there to meet them, was visibly shaken.  They hurried to the show and went on on time.  By now I knew the meaning of professional.  If you don't believe me, it was taped for cable TV.  Watch it.

After the show, the promoter and his friends took S & M to a local bistro for a cocktail.  The guys needed to unwind.  When the decision was made to move the party to Allan Shaw's home, Chuck decided to invite the entire bar.  He likes people.

The following morning, after a country breakfast, they were poured into Shaw's car and driven to the airport to head for Cedar Rapids, Iowa - the last stop.  They made this plane with oh - two or three minutes to spare.  No sweat.  They were met in Cedar Rapids by Chuck's brother, Dan McDermott.  He escorted them on to nearby Stone City for the show.  The countryside was gorgeous.  The crops were calf high.  The air was clean.  Prairie Home Companion played on the radio.  John began to cry.  Dan said the Pledge of Allegiance.  Chuck hummed the Battle Hymn of the Republic.  They all bawled like babies.  They were glad to be Americans.  This show, too, went well.   Many McDermott relatives attended.  The guys had seen the country.

They're home safe now and planning a trip to Europe.  I've taken up a new line of work.  I don't want to be anywhere near these two when they miss their plane out of Hamburg.

So many people contributed to the success of John and Chuck's tour.  At the risk of causing offence by unintentional omission, I would like to record my public appreciation to the following.

In Edinburgh - The Acoustic Routes Quintet, Mike Tait, Stuart Mair, Neil Thomson, Bruce Haddon and Stewart Skirving. Plus Andy Fergus, Bert Muirhead and Mike Craig.

In New Brighton - Bill Holt, Spencer Leigh, Phil Wilson and the Legendary Hank Walters.

In Harlesden at The Mean Fiddler - Vince Power and David Sandison.

In Bristol and Kingswinford - John Atkins and family, Terry Johnson, Paul Grimble and Mike Davies.

In Putney at The Half Moon - Lynda Morrison, Joe Pearson and Willy Glass.

In Cardiff - Gary Price, John Tobler, MalcolmYoung and Geraint Davies.

For their help in various ways, mention should also be made of Willie Morgan, Stuart Coleman, Patrick Humphries, Barry Ballard, Nick Coler, Dave Moore, Geoff Davies, Dave Burton, Gary Anderson, Paul Templedon and Jennie Tomlinson, not forgetting Rod and Judy, and Kingsley and Susan.

"Peter, you worry too much." - John Stewart, London, England - August 1984.