On all hallow's eve I went and saw REM 
perform at the pond courtesy of Mary Berry, 
Bill Berry's wife, with the added pleaseure 
of backstage passes.  What a show, I was very 
impressed by the tightness of the band, the power 
of Micheal Stipe's vocals, and the way in which 
they dealt with the industry afterwords.  REM 
may not be everyone cup of tea, but they should 
be a must see for everyone none the less.
	Because of favors I did for someone that I know 
I got to go to the REM show, got backstage 
passes, and did not have to pay a dime for 
it(remember that next time you can help someone 
out).  I asked some friends of mine if they would 
like to go with me, and one of them, Jaime, was 
a big REM fan, so he and I went down to this show.  
The traffic on Halloween night in L.A. was horrible.  
It took me two hours to get accross the city, but 
I got to his house, we got in his van and cruised 
to Anaheim.  Nice light partying scene in the van, 
we got there, prepped up and went inside.  We 
had missed the opening act, Luscious Jackson, 
but were just in time for the main act.  We 
were in the thirteenth row, front and center.  
Talk about the place to be.
	I thought about the people we must be sitting
 around, they must be family, record exec's, 
radio contest winners, and so on.  None of 
those people probably paid for their tickets.  
Maybe not a huge point but when 15 rows are 
all freebees that tells you what kind of an 
organizaton that is.  But back to the show.
	REM came onto the stage no big fanfare, Michael 
was dressed up as a big blue rat and was carrying 
a "Pumkin Sheild" that was done up like a 
jack-o-lantern and immediatly started into their 
first song.  From that point on it was solid for 
2 and a half hours.  They switched instraments, 
changed positions, and went to the bathroom.  
No problem, they new where they could do what 
and worked like a well oiled machine.  REM 
plays on the road with 6-7 players, while they 
only record with 4.  This is because the musicians 
who comprise REM are excellant and can play 
multiple instrments.  Sort of odd the difference 
between them and Ministry who records with as 
many as 15 but only plays the road with about 7 
and REM who records with 4 and plays the road 
with 7.  Leads me to beleive that is the optimal 
number for a band playing on the road.
	Talk about being on the road, you would think 
that would play havok with their personal lives, 
but I got to see a facet that was still intact, 
and made me very happy with the way the band did
 things.  After the concert there was a large # 
of people backstage, but it was not the record 
execs or the money people who had Michaels 
attentions, rather it was his brother whose 
birthday it was.  I thought is was classy for 
him to sing happy birthday to his brother, and 
for him to prioritize his brother above money.  
Family before all.

Thats all for this littl review of, REM, but stay 
tuned next month when we will reveiw somthing else. 
 Or maybe someone else will send in a review
(hint...hint...) and we will publish that.

f.